Three regional education agencies have joined forces to increase the number of African-American, Hispanic, and Native American college professors.
The New England Board of Higher Education, the Southern Regional Education Board, and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education will use state, university, and foundation funds to recruit minority students for doctoral programs and to provide financial and academic support.
The announcement comes soon after two associations in public higher education launched a similar initiative focusing more specifically on the shortage of African-Americans with doctoral degrees. (See Education Week, April 20, 1994.)
The partners will focus on the 36 states that are members of the regional organizations.
Minority-group members make up about 12 percent of the full-time faculty at higher-education institutions.
The College/Community Partnership has awarded 20 two-year, $25,000 grants to support alliances between private colleges, schools, and community groups.
Each alliance will try to increase the number of disadvantaged youths who attend college.
The sites will use their grants to improve local academic-support programs or create new ones, and to develop community-scholarship foundations.
The effort is backed by a $1.05 million grant from the DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund.
The 20 alliances are:
Roosevelt University and the Chicago public high schools; Presbyterian College and the Laurens County Chamber of Commerce in Clinton, S.C.; Paul Quinn College in Waco, Tex., and the Youth Impact Centers in Dallas; Fresno Pacific College and the Fresno (Calif.) African-American and Hmong Community Partnership Program; Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Ind., and West Side High School in Gary, Ind.; Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C., and the Gaston County Chamber of Commerce; Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., and the Latino Scholarship Fund in Holyoke, Mass.; St. Peter’s College and the College Preparatory Incentive Program in Jersey City, N.J.; Mount St. Mary’s College and James Garfield, Alexander Hamilton, and Van Nuys high schools in Los Angeles; Bellarmine College and the Lincoln Foundation in Louisville, Ky.
Marymount Manhattan College and the Settlement College Readiness Program in New York City; Kentucky Wesleyan College and the Citizens Committee on Education in Owensboro, Ky.; Beaver College in Glenside, Pa., and Morris E. Leeds Middle School in Philadelphia; Pikeville College and the Community Educational Foundation of Pike County, Ky.; Livingstone College and the Salisbury Housing Authority in Salisbury, N.C.; University of Puget Sound and PUSH-EXCEL in Tacoma, Wash.; Heritage College and the Yakima Valley Farm Worker’s Clinic in Toppenish, Wash.; Tuskegee University and the Wil-Low Housing Authority in Tuskegee, Ala.; Utica College of Syracuse University and the Utica, N.Y., city schools; and the University of Detroit Mercy and Willow Run ABC Program in Ypsilanti, Mich.--MEG SOMMERFELD
