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Our first program, Presidential Distinguished Lecture Series, provides learners with access to world-class lectures on a diverse range of topics and disciplines vital to our world today taught by distinguished thought leaders across multiple industries. Cataloged within the Center for the Study of HBCUs at Virginia Union University, the virtual sessions will give learners the opportunity to participate in an educational experience with the perks and flexibility of enrollment without the full-time commitment.
This year’s distinguished lecturers include notable personalities journalist Roland Martin; Larry Miller, Former President of Jordan Brand, Nike, Inc.; author Michael Eric Dyson, Professor, Vanderbilt University; prominent attorney Will Stute; gospel artist and musician Charles Jenkins; Ambassador Elizabeth Rice. All lectures are free and open to the public.
Michael Eric Dyson |
Michael Eric Dyson, Distinguished University Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies, College of Arts & Science, and Distinguished University Professor of Ethics and Society, The Divinity School, and Centennial Professor at Vanderbilt University — is one of America's premier public intellectuals and author of over 20 books, including seven New York Times bestsellers. A contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, and political analyst for MSNBC, Dyson is recipient of two NAACP Image Awards and the 2020 Langston Hughes Festival Medallion. Former President Barack Obama has noted " Everybody who speaks after Michael Eric Dyson pales in comparison." |
Roland Martin |
Roland Martin kicked off the series with two sessions held on Wednesday, October 21 and Wednesday, October 28 at 12 PM ET entitled “The Past, Present and Future of Black-Owned Media.” Martin also talked about racial injustice in the United States, the importance of HBCUs and the "3rd Reconstruction." Click the links below to view the first and seconnd installment of the lecture series. |
Elizabeth Rice |
Elizabeth Rice, educator, motivational speaker for schools, colleges, universities, churches, etc., founder of BPOS Foundation Inc., former talk show hostess, entrepreneur, coauthor & contributor of “Sitin-Stand Out” a children and parents book on character building. Civil rights activist, arrested in the 1960 sit-ins in Richmond, and has served as coordinator for the “Richmond 34” since 2004, including as the new ambassador of the “Richmond 34” to the Richmond Flying Squirrels. |
Larry Miller |
Larry Miller, founder and past President of Jordan Brands with Nike, will lead the conversation, entitled “The Building of the Jordan Brand: Lessons Learned, Future Perspectives” that will cover business and opportunities for expansion into similar fields and industries for students of HBCUs. |
Jalen Rose |
Jalen Rose, Current ABC/ESPN analyst and former 13-year NBA star Jalen Rose is one of the few professional athletes to maintain a high profile post retirement. Long known for his post-game quotes and great relationship with the media, Jalen continues to show his versatility in the broadcast booth, in the entertainment world and as a philanthropist. |
Charles Jenkins |
Join us for a thought-provoking conversation with Bishop Charles Jenkins, in the second installment of his two-part Presidential Distinguished Lecture Series discussion. |
"The Continuing Significance of HBCUs Today" Panel discussion lead by Dr. Terrell L. Strayhorn, Associate Provost of Research, Innovation & Graduate Education at Virginia Union University, addresses the roadmap for research and policy related to HBCUs.
Not for Ourselves Alone The Legacies of Two Pioneers of Black Higher Education in the United States |
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Modern Heroics: How HBCUs Reinvented Higher Education During the 2020 Great Separation, is an edited volume that sets out to collect the responses, measures, infrastructures, and leadership styles of the presidents of historically black colleges and universities to address the impact of COVID-19. This partnership is a collective anthology of nine HBCU presidents to address their responses and learnings from the COVID-19 crisis. It is a means to chronicle the reflective inputs and philosophies of these leaders during the alarming and dizzying side effects of COVID-19. It is, thus, informative and provides a handbook for future generations regarding how to manage during similar crises.
The occurrence of COVID-19 is undeniably the first global scourge of the twenty-first century. It has global impacts and affects every aspect of human experience worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic is heralding a shift of paradigm in every dimension of human activities; it is compelling both reflections on the traditional dynamics of human activities and adjustments to conduct human affairs in minimum contact and contactless fashion. The full brunt of this shift of paradigm is more acute in the educational institutions, which have been forced to shift their educational practices to contactless contexts. In addition to imposing an upending request on educators, the COVID-19 pandemic is relentlessly compelling administrators and instructors to create suitable alternatives to educate and to lead their institutions of higher educations.
Another purpose of this edited volume is to fill in an existing vacuum in both the management of higher education institutions at large and specifically the management of historically black colleges and universities. Most institutions of higher learning do not have a written catalog of responses, measures, infrastructures, and leadership styles to be put in use in case of major disasters. After all, most institutions of higher learning operate according to the assumption that the upcoming semesters of the new academic year will unfold seamlessly as the previous two semesters. Given the underlying assumption of this model, most presidents and administrators do not have any manual to peruse for advice about how to navigate the destabilizing events accompanying COVID-19. In gathering and preserving the responses, measures, infrastructures, and leadership styles of the HBCU presidents vis-à-vis COVID-19, this edited volume, hopes to serve as a reference manual for future generations of leaders to manage a similar crisis. It will serve as a reminder for leaders and administrators to plan for the worst and to adopt a fluid leadership style given the vagaries that may arise.Each one of the chapters of this edited volume is unique because they encompass the meditations, views, and generosity of presidents who have extensive experience and wisdom that yields results. In collegial spirit, the authors of this edited volume share how their responses, measures, new infrastructures, and leadership style flex to accommodate the burden that the COVID-19 pandemic imposes upon them. It is the editor’s reasonable hope that reading the input of these leaders is uplifting and inspiring.