Five African Americans Named to New Administrative Posts at Universities

Greg Hart has been named chief technology officer at Washington University in St. Louis. Most recently, he has been vice president of corporate engineering for Faith Technologies Inc. of Lenexa, Kansas. Prior to that, he served for four years as vice president of enterprise project management and performance improvement for Mosaic Life Care, a four-hospital health system in Kansas City.

Dr. Hart earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and technology from California University of Pennsylvania. He holds an MBA from Ashland University in Ohio and a Ph.D. in information technology management from Capella University.

Brenda Murrell is the new associate vice chancellor for research in the Office of Sponsored Programs at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. She has served in the role on an interim basis for the past year. She has been on the staff at the university for 17 years.

Murrell holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Memphis and a bachelor’s degree in management from Lemoyne-Owen College in Memphis. She earned an MBA in finance from Christian Brothers University in Memphis.

Todd Misener was appointed assistant vice president in the Division of Student Affairs at Oklahoma State University. Since 2016, he has been the chief wellness officer at the university. Earlier, Dr. Misener was assistant director of wealth and fitness at Western Kentucky University.

Dr. Misener is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, where he majored in kinesiology. He holds a master of public health degree from Western Kentucky University and a Ph.D. in health promotion from the University of Louisville.

D’Andra Mull will be the next vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Colorado Boulder, effective June 1. Dr. Mull most recently served as vice president for student life at the University of Florida. Prior to her position at the University of Florida, she held leadership positions at Ohio State University.

Dr. Mull is a graduate of Kent State University in Ohio. She holds a master’s degree in adult education and human resource management from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in educational policy and leadership from Ohio State University.

Khala Granville is the new director of undergraduate admission and recruitment at Morgan State University in Baltimore. She is the former dean of admissions at the College of Charleston in South Carolina and a senior associate director of admissions, diversity recruitment, and outreach at Indiana University.

Granville holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Louisville. She earned a master of divinity degree from the Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis.

Higher Education Grants or Gifts of Interest to African Americans

Mississippi State University received a $347,959 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for development of a hands-on, research field school for students to help preserve a historic Black cemetery near campus. The cemetery was used by the Black community in Starkville from the late 1800s to the mid-1950s, with the oldest marker dated 1882. Students will learn Geographic Information System and Ground-Penetrating Radar analysis while also delving into archival searches and oral histories within the community. The project is under the direction of Jordon Lynton Cox, an assistant professor of anthropology

Coppin State University, the historically Black educational institution in Baltimore received a $2 million grant from Truist Financial Corporation to establish the Truist Hub for Black Economic Mobility. The hub will enhance the quality of advising, programming, and technology related to educational opportunities and career pathways for Coppin students. The $2 million grant is the largest corporate commitment in Coppin’s history.

Historically Black Fayetteville State University in North Carolina received nearly $400,000 from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to enhance the Collegiate Recovery Community Program. The funding will create the Bystander and Mental Health First Aid training programs, enhance alcohol/drug-free social activities for students, and increase involvement of student groups and peer mentorship.

Saint Augustine’s University, the historically Black educational institution in Raleigh, North Carolina, received a $490,000 federal grant to fund the Public Health Education Center at the university. The Public Health Education Center will support health and wellness education, student research regarding the long-term effects of COVID-19, and related programs. Funding will also support faculty, establish smart classrooms for students, and purchase research and lab equipment.

The University of Georgia received a $5 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development for the implementation of a program entitled Higher Education Conservation Activity in the Republic of Liberia in Africa. The program aims to strengthen forest management and conservation in Liberia through education, training, and technical assistance.

Historically Black Morgan State University in Baltimore was awarded a $420,000 grant by the Army Research Office to conduct pioneering, interdisciplinary research integrating mathematics with computational science, mechanical engineering, and medical research in the study of respiratory conditions and other lung diseases. Using high-performance computing, including mathematical equations, and lung geometry, researchers in the School of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences will pursue simulations of respiratory mechanics that can replicate the condition of lungs, and provide knowledge about respiratory patterns and rates that lead to pulmonary fibrosis, as well as asthmatic, chronic breathing conditions.

In Memoriam: Arthur E. Thomas, 1940-2023

Arthur Thomas, the former president of Central State University, the historically Black educational institution in Wilberforce, Ohio, died on February 9 in a hospital in Silver Springs, Maryland. He was 82 years old.

A native of Philadelphia, Thomas enrolled at Central State University after serving in the U.S. Army. After graduation in 1962, he secured a job as a teacher in the public school system of Dayton, Ohio. There he was a leader in the effort to end racial segregation in the school system.

Dr. Thomas went on to earn a master’s degree in education from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a doctorate in education administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

In 1985, Dr. Thomas was appointed president of Central State University. He was the first alumnus of the school to serve as university president. He resigned in 1995 when it was revealed that the school was $5 million in debt.

Later in his career, Dr. Thomas was the senior administrative coordinator of the Ph.D. program in bioenvironmental science in the School of Computer, Mathematical, & Natural Sciences at Morgan State University in Baltimore. He then served as a presidential fellow for the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education.

Higher Education Grants or Gifts of Interest to African Americans

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.

Renã Robinson, the Dorothy Wingfield Phillips Chancellor’s Faculty Fellow and professor of chemistry at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, received a $2,040,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to start a program that will help underrepresented minority faculty further their success in STEM. The program aims to support underrepresented minority faculty members at predominantly White institutions and provide them with the tools and resources needed to be successful biomedical scientific leaders. The programming will explore how to cope with race-related stress, avoid burnout, set boundaries, and more. The initiative also will provide training in publications and grant writing to increase NIH grant submissions and awards to underrepresented minority faculty. Professor Robinson joined the faculty at Vanderbilt University in 2017 after teaching at the University of Pittsburgh. A graduate of the University of Louisville, Dr. Robinson holds a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Indiana University.

Alverno College in Milwaukee has been awarded a five-year, $2,890,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education for programs to increase the number of highly trained, bilingual, and racially and ethnically diverse school-based mental health professionals. “There is a need for school psychologists who represent the communities they serve, especially in Milwaukee,” said Jessica Willenbrink, an assistant professor in the educational specialist training program for school psychologists at Alverno and the project director. “There are significant financial and scheduling barriers to complete a school psychology program, especially for underrepresented racial and ethnic minority groups. Through this grant, we will be able to offer students scholarships, provide mentorship, and place them in a job in a high-needs school district. We hope that this, in combination with our flexible hybrid program that offers all courses on the weekend, breaks barriers that individuals from underrepresented groups face.”

Historically Black Bowie State University in Maryland received a $2.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation for programs to increase the number and diversity of individuals entering the cybersecurity workforce. The Cyber Scholarship for Service Program at Bowie State will recruit, educate, mentor, and train three computer science majors and two transfer students from community colleges each year over five years. In addition, the undergraduate students will be engaged in research while enhancing their technical skills in critical information infrastructure protection.

Morgan State University, the historically Black educational institution in Maryland, has received a $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to launch Black Queer Everything (BQE), a pioneering initiative that seeks to enrich the discourse of race and racialization nationwide with a specialized focus on the interplay of racialized blackness in the LGBTQ+ community. The goal of the program is to develop innovative research opportunities, humanities-centered collaborative projects, and transformative teaching and curricula to provide meaningful experiences, training, and mentorship opportunities to the next generation of scholar-activists in Black queer studies. The program is under the direction of Anika Simpson, an associate professor in the department of philosophy and religious studies at the university. Dr. Simpson is a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, where she majored in philosophy. She holds a master’s degree in elementary education from Ohio State University and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Memphis.