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Pamela E. Scott-Johnson was named provost and vice president for academic affairs at Spelman College in Atlanta, effective August 1. She has been serving as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey. Before joining Monmouth, Dr. Scott-Johnson served as the dean of the College of Natural and Social Sciences at California State University, Los Angeles. She spent nearly 15 years on the psychology faculty at Morgan State University in Baltimore. Earlier, she held a tenured faculty post at Spelman College.
“I am thrilled to be returning to my alma mater as a member of the leadership team to help shape and enhance the academic landscape through which women of Spelman develop as change agents,” said Dr. Scott-Johnson. “Spelman has been and will continue to be a special place for women of African descent and how they impact the world. I look forward to guiding additional pathways for advancing faculty, at all levels, and delivering innovation in student success from retention to graduation.”
Dr. Scott-Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Spelman College. She holds master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology and neuroscience from Princeton University in New Jersey.
Allyson L. Watson was appointed provost and vice president for academic affairs at Florida A&M University. Dr. Watson, who came to the university in 2019 as dean of the College of Education, has served as interim provost and vice president for academic affairs since December 2022. Before she arrived at Florida A&M University, Dr. Watson served as the interim chief academic officer and dean at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg. Earlier, Dr. Watson spent nearly 14 years on the faculty at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, where she held the Eddings Endowed Chair for Urban Education, Outreach & Research.
“Florida A&M University is an institution of academic excellence. I am honored to represent the significance of our history and the academic contributions we have accomplished and be at the helm of such an important time for our future,” Dr. Watson said. “Our future is bright, and I look forward to leading with vision, tenacity, and innovation.”
Dr. Watson holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida. She earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in educational administration, curriculum, and supervision from the University of Oklahoma.
Ana Hunt was named provost of the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College. She has been serving as interim provost and previously was interim chancellor of the college. She joined Pulaski Tech in 2019 as registrar. Earlier, she was registrar at National Park College in Hot Springs, Arkansas. From 2012 to 2016, Dr. Hunt was registrar and enrollment coordinator at Baptist Health College in Little Rock, Arkansas.
“I’m humbled and very grateful that the search committee chose me,” Dr. Hunt said. “I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues to offer the best educational experience in Arkansas.”
Dr. Hunt is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Monticello. She holds a master’s degree in college student personnel from Arkansas Tech and a doctorate in educational leadership and management from Capella University.
Billionaires have found one more way to funnel our tax dollars into their bank accounts: sports stadiums. And if we don’t play ball, they’ll take our favorite teams away.
Ever notice how there never seems to be enough money to build public infrastructure like mass transit lines and better schools? And yet, when a multi-billion-dollar sports team demands a new stadium, our local governments are happy to oblige.
A good example of this billionaire boondoggle is the host of the 2023 Super Bowl: State Farm Stadium.
That’s where the Arizona Cardinals have played since 2006. It was finally built after billionaire team owner Michael Bidwill and his family spent years hinting that they would move the Cards out of Arizona if the team didn’t get a new stadium. Their blitz eventually worked, with Arizona taxpayers and the city of Glendale paying over two thirds of the $455 million construction tab.
And State Farm Stadium is not unique. It’s part of a well established playbook.
Here’s how stadiums stick the public with the bill.
Step 1: Billionaire buys a sports team.
Just about every NFL franchise owner has a net worth of over a billion dollars — except for the Green Bay Packers, who are publicly owned by half a million cheeseheads.
The same goes for many franchise owners in other sports. Their fortunes don’t just help them buy teams, but also give them clout — which they cash-in when they want to get a great deal on new digs for their team.
Step 2: Billionaire pressures local government.
Since 1990, franchises in major North American sports leagues have intercepted upwards of $30 billion worth of taxpayer funds from state and local governments to build stadiums.
And the funding itself is just the beginning of these sweetheart deals.
Sports teams often get big property tax breaks and reimbursements on operating expenses, like utilities and security on game days. Most deals also let the owners keep the revenue from naming rights, luxury box seats, and concessions — like the Atlanta Braves’ $150 hamburger.
Even worse, these deals often put taxpayers on the hook for stadium maintenance and repairs.
We taxpayers are essentially paying for the homes of our favorite sports teams, but we don’t really own those homes, we don’t get to rent them out, and we still have to buy expensive tickets to visit them.
Whenever these billionaire owners try to sell us on a shiny new stadium, they claim it will spur economic growth from which we’ll all benefit. But numerous studies have shown that this is false.
As a University of Chicago economist aptly put it, “If you want to inject money into the local economy, it would be better to drop it from a helicopter than invest it in a new ballpark.”
But what makes sports teams special is they are one of the few realms of collective identity we have left.
Billionaires prey on the love that millions of fans have for their favorite teams.
This brings us to the final step in the playbook: Threaten to move the team.
Obscenely rich owners threaten to — or actually do — rip teams out of their communities if they don’t get the subsidies they demand.
Just look at the Seattle Supersonics. Starbucks’ founder Howard Schultz owned the NBA franchise but failed to secure public funding to build a new stadium. So the coffee magnate sold the team to another wealthy businessman who moved it to Oklahoma.
The most egregious part of how the system currently works is that every dollar we spend building stadiums is a dollar we aren’t using for hospitals or housing or schools.
We are underfunding public necessities in order to funnel money to billionaires for something they could feasibly afford.
So, instead of spending billions on extravagant stadiums, we should be investing taxpayer money in things that improve the lives of everyone — not just the bottom lines of profitable sports teams and their owners.
Because when it comes to stadium deals, the only winners are billionaires.
FreshRSS 