Friday, October 31, 2008

Creating More Opportunities for American Indians in Science and Engineering

Creating More Opportunities for American Indians in Science and Engineering: While many have doubted the ability of American Indian students to thrive in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, Dr. Herb Schroeder is converting skeptics with his Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program.

“The attitude is you can’t get native kids to do engineering,” said Schroeder, the associate dean of undergraduate studies at the University of Alaska at Anchorage.

“I confronted so much racism from the administration,” Schroeder said about the program he launched in the early 1990s. “I was a new professor and my dean told me, ‘we are not going to dumb our program down just to get more native around here.’”

Since that conversation, Schroeder has expanded his program from the Anchorage campus to other colleges and universities. He recruited more than 350 native students majoring in engineering to both the University of Alaska’s Fairbanks and Anchorage campuses as well as Alaska’s Kuskokwim Community College, the University of Washington, the University of Hawaii Manoa and Kapiolani Community College. Roughly 200 more indigenous students are studying biology at these schools.

More than 70 percent of students who participated in Schroeder’s programs graduated with science or engineering degrees, he said.

Race and the Suburbs - Campaign Stops Blog - NYTimes.com

Race and the Suburbs - Campaign Stops Blog - NYTimes.com: ...It’s not that most suburbanites are racist, but rather that they tolerate more manifestations of racial bias than their urban and rural counterparts. What’s more, although minorities (particularly blacks and Hispanics) are moving in greater numbers to the suburbs, these bedroom communities are among the most segregated counties in America.

The problem, according to research by the Brookings Institution, is that minorities moving into the suburbs tend to be lower income families, and they are choosing (or in some cases are forced to for financial reasons) to live in the same communities, creating pockets of poverty in affluent areas. Indeed, a number of recent studies show that the income gap between blacks and whites is greatest in the suburbs.

Op-Ed Columnist - What? Me Biased? - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - What? Me Biased? - NYTimes.com: For the last year and a half, a team of psychology professors has been conducting remarkable experiments on how Americans view Barack Obama through the prism of race.

The scholars used a common research technique, the implicit association test, to measure whether people regarded Mr. Obama and other candidates as more foreign or more American. They found that research subjects — particularly when primed to think of Mr. Obama as a black candidate — subconsciously considered him less American than either Hillary Clinton or John McCain.

Indeed, the study found that the research subjects — Californian college students, many of them Democrats supportive of Mr. Obama — unconsciously perceived him as less American even than the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

It’s not that any of them actually believed Mr. Obama to be foreign. But the implicit association test measured the way the unconscious mind works, and in following instructions to sort images rapidly, the mind balked at accepting a black candidate as fully American. This result mattered: The more difficulty a person had in classifying Mr. Obama as American, the less likely that person was to support Mr. Obama.

It’s easy to be skeptical of such research, so test for your own unconscious biases at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo or at http://backhand.uchicago.edu/Center/ShooterEffect.

Fewer Children Entering Gifted Programs - NYTimes.com


Fewer Children Entering Gifted Programs - NYTimes.com: The number of children entering New York City public school gifted programs dropped by half this year from last under a new policy intended to equalize access, with 28 schools lacking enough students to open planned gifted classes, and 13 others proceeding with fewer than a dozen children.

The policy, which based admission on a citywide cutoff score on two standardized tests, also failed to diversify the historically coveted classes, according to a New York Times analysis of new Education Department data.

In a school system in which 17 percent of kindergartners and first graders are white, 48 percent of this year’s new gifted students are white, compared with 33 percent of elementary students admitted to the programs under previous entrance policies. The percentage of Asians is also higher, while those of blacks and Hispanics are lower.

Parents, teachers and principals involved in the programs, already worried at reports this spring that the new system tilted programs for the gifted further toward rich neighborhoods, have complained since school began that they were wasteful and frustrating, with high-performing children in the smallest classes in a school system plagued by pockets of overcrowding.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Women Buying Health Policies Pay a Penalty - NYTimes.com


Women Buying Health Policies Pay a Penalty - NYTimes.com: WASHINGTON — Striking new evidence has emerged of a widespread gap in the cost of health insurance, as women pay much more than men of the same age for individual insurance policies providing identical coverage, according to new data from insurance companies and online brokers.

Some insurance executives expressed surprise at the size and prevalence of the disparities, which can make a woman’s insurance cost hundreds of dollars a year more than a man’s. Women’s advocacy groups have raised concerns about the differences, and members of Congress have begun to question the justification for them.

The new findings, which are not easily explained away, come amid anxiety about the declining economy. More and more people are shopping for individual health insurance policies because they have lost jobs that provided coverage. Politicians of both parties have offered proposals that would expand the role of the individual market, giving people tax credits or other assistance to buy coverage on their own.

Black College Advocates Praise Report Calling for More Equitable Funding of Maryland HBCUs

Black College Advocates Praise Report Calling for More Equitable Funding of Maryland HBCUs: The formula to bringing Maryland’s historically Black universities on par with the state’s traditionally White institutions will require increased funding for critical improvements, according to an expert panel established by Maryland state officials.

The six-member Panel on the Comparability and Competitiveness of Historically Black Institutions in Maryland released a 33-page report earlier this week calling for numerous enhancements to Maryland’s four historically Black universities, including the construction of new science and technology facilities and increased investment in undergraduate retention efforts as well as in doctoral programs at Morgan State University and the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore.

Dr. Earl Richardson, the president of Morgan State University, praised the report for validating what Morgan State officials and Black college advocates in Maryland have been saying about the state’s Black universities being seriously underfunded and lacking resources. Between 2000 and 2005, the state of Maryland was under order by the U.S. Education’s Office of Civil Rights to improve programs and facilities at historically Black institutions in the state, a remedy to vestiges of past discrimination. Black college advocates have since contended that the state has failed to fulfill its obligations to the predominantly Black campuses.

Minorities less likely to receive care for depression - Better Life - USATODAY.com


Minorities less likely to receive care for depression - Better Life - USATODAY.com: Whites in the USA are much more likely than racial or ethnic minorities to receive needed care for depression, and, for some, the lack of care can be life-threatening, two new studies suggest.

About 60% of whites with symptoms of depression had received treatment in the past year, compared to only 41% of blacks and about a third of Asians and Latinos, in one new study, published in the November issue of Psychiatric Services. The results were pooled from three national surveys of 9,000 adults by researchers at Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School.

Care is one thing -- good care something else. Using widely-accepted criteria, minorities also came up short on access to good-quality care even if they were treated, researchers say.

Depression isn't just about the mind or emotions, it's a mental disorder that can endanger physical health. There's strong evidence that patients with heart disease who are depressed have a 2-to-4-fold higher risk for complications and death from their cardiac problems.

Depression is common in heart patients, but blacks are only half as likely as whites to receive treatment for their mental disorder, suggests new research from Duke University Medical Center. The Duke researchers studied 827 patients who received cardiac care over three years at their center.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Illinois Professor Wins Poetry Prize

"Paul Martinez Pompa, a faculty member in the English department at Triton College in River Grove, Ill., is the 2008 recipient of the Andres Montoya Poetry Prize given by Letras Latinas, the literary program of the University of Notre Dame's Institute for Latino Studies (ILS), university officials announced.

Martinez Pompa was honored for his manuscript Men Watching Men.

The prize, a collaboration with Notre Dame Press, supports the publication of a first book by a Latino or Latina poet and is awarded every other year. The name honors the late Andres Montoya, author of the award-winning collection 'The Ice Worker Sings.”

Administrators of the prize said Letras Latinas seeks to enhance the visibility, appreciation and study of Latino literature, particularly projects that identify and support emerging Latino and Latina writers."

All-Star Player and Wife Start Education Foundation

Holli Martinez dropped out of college when she married a baseball star but returned 14 years later, partly to be a better role model for her three children. She recently graduated magna cum laude from the University of Washington's Bothell campus.

Her husband, Edgar Martinez, who retired after an All-Star career with the Seattle Mariners, returned to school, too, completing a nine-month business program earlier this year.

When they started their own foundation, education quickly became the theme.

The Martinez Foundation, which launched September 25, aims to help more Latino students attend college and more minority students become teachers.

"We want to offer opportunities," Edgar says. "That's what we can do.

What if I didn't have the opportunity? Maybe I'd still be struggling back in Puerto Rico."

The foundation is the latest in a long list of philanthropic efforts for the Martinez couple, so many that, in 2007, Edgar was inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.

They have contributed about $200,000 of their own money to their foundation so far, and at minimum will give 10 scholarships of $20,000 each to Latino undergraduates. But they are not making promises about how many scholarships they will offer to students in teacher-training programs until they see how much they raise at their first event, scheduled for Oct. 18 at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle.

The undergraduate scholarships will go to students with at least a 2.7 grade-point average who will attend a college in Washington state. The College Success Foundation, which administers scholarships for a number of organizations, will select those students.

Brownsville Wins $1Million Prize for Academic Gains

One of the nation's poorest school districts, already tousled by a hurricane and nervously awaiting division by a fence being built along the U.S.-Mexican border, won the coveted $1 million Broad Prize for Urban Education last week in recognition of its academic advances.

The prize will be divided among the district's graduating seniors for college scholarships.

'This is considered the Nobel Prize in education,' an elated Hector Gonzales, the district's superintendent, said by phone at the award presentation in New York. 'It will help us move to the next level where all our students succeed.'

Announcing the decision in New York, Eli Broad, founder of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, said: 'Brownsville is the best kept secret in America. In the face of stark poverty, Brownsville is outpacing other large urban districts nationwide because it is smartly focusing all resources on directly supporting students and teachers.'

The Brownsville Independent School District serves nearly 50,000 students -- 98 percent Hispanic and 43 percent who are learning English. Ninety-four percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, a common measure of poverty. Surrounding Cameron County had the highest poverty rate for a county of its size in the country at 34.7 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Notre Dame Among Hosts for 2010 Hispanic MBA Expo

The University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business will be the lead academic sponsor for the National Society of Hispanic MBAs’ (NSHMBA) National Conference and Career Expo in Chicago on Oct. 21-23, 2010. The university announced the selection last week.

'We have matching missions,' said Carolyn Woo, Martin J. Gillen Dean of the Mendoza College of Business. 'Both the Mendoza College and NSHMBA seek to develop business leaders who have a concern for the greater good of society as well as their organizations. The conference is an exciting opportunity for us to support their vision.'

Hispanic Magazine has ranked Notre Dame 13th on its 2008 list of 'Top 25 Colleges for Latinos,' the sixth year the university has made the list since its debut in 1999.

Past conferences have connected more than 8,000 Hispanic MBA students with 240 corporations and 70-plus academic institutions to promote professional development in the Hispanic community.

During the three-day conference, participants will be able to attend presentations by world-class leaders representing nonprofits, higher education and corporate America. The conference also offers resume and interview clinics, a case competition and the job expo.

HBCU Students Take the Stage at Kennedy Center

HBCU Students Take the Stage at Kennedy Center: Last month one of Renata “Toni” Roy’s dreams became reality when a choir of 105 students representing dozens of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities took the stage in front of a packed audience at the 2,500-seat John F. Kennedy Center concert hall in Washington, D.C.

Roy’s idea for the “105 Voices of History” concert began developing four years ago during her days as special assistant for private sector partnerships for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Roy, whose son and daughter are graduates of Dillard and Hampton universities, began to think about the role HBCU choirs traditionally have had in growing and promoting the institutions.

“Music is the legacy of our schools,” says Roy, who formed the choir and concert under her nonprofit, Partners Achieving Success. “That was the foundation. That’s what helped build buildings. When you needed money, you got the money from the choir. I really want to make sure that they still utilize that resource.”

Ohio University and Eight Historically Black Colleges and Universities Form Alliance

Ohio University and Eight Historically Black Colleges and Universities Form Alliance: Ohio University and eight historically Black colleges and universities have joined together in a strategic partnership aimed at enhancing the number of resources and educational options available to students at all nine schools.

The partnership emerged from a discussion Dr. Roderick McDavis, president of OU had with Dr. James Renick, the former president of North Carolina A&T University, and Dr. Andrew Hugine, former president of South Carolina State University, in 2005.

“We began talking about issues that related to students and faculty, pipeline issues and getting more people of color for administrative and faculty positions. Realizing that we were having similar issues, we said, ‘how about creating a consortium that would allow us talk about our issues of concern?’” McDavis says.

After a number of meetings and more conversation, the Interlink Alliance was born.

Through the alliance, nine inaugural members will share resources and talent to create new opportunities for faculty, staff and students. At the forefront of the agenda for the new alliance is faculty development, student leadership and Black male development. Among other activities, the collaborative will establish faculty- and student-exchange programs.

Cosby: Black Colleges Should Demand More from Alumni

Noted author and humorist Bill Cosby recently took historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to task for not making their alumni give back.

Cosby was the keynote speaker during the Oct. 7th dinner session of the three-day, ''Straight Talk Symposium — Securing the Financial Future of North Carolina HBCUs and Their Communities,” sponsored by several foundations, including the North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development, the Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity & Inclusion Institute, and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Cosby chided Black university officials for “begging” their alumni to contribute to their institutions, saying instead that administrators should “make them feel bad,” and demand better support from past graduates to insure a good education for coming generations of students, The Wilmington Journal reported this week.

“Do things with pride, and a sense of history,” Cosby told college presidents and administrators in attendance. “How dare you, dare you, think that you’re not worthy to raise money for your school.”

The conference focused on ways to secure the financial viability of HBCUs — many of which are struggling to stay open during tough economic times amid a worldwide financial crisis. But participants also discussed ways in which Black institutions of higher learning are closing the racial achievement gap, addressing high dropout rates and leveraging community resources.

Schools in need employ teachers from overseas - USATODAY.com


Schools in need employ teachers from overseas - USATODAY.com: A growing number of school districts are hiring teachers from foreign countries to fill shortages in math, science and special education.

The trend is most evident in poor urban and rural districts, according to educators. Segun Eubanks, director of teacher quality at the National Education Association, the USA's largest teachers union, says many of those districts have trouble keeping teachers for reasons including low pay, disruptive students, and a lack of books and materials.

'American workers are not willing to do the work for the conditions and pay we offer,' he says. 'So we're recruiting them for the same reasons we recruit farmworkers and day laborers.'

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), a think tank, says a new teacher is generally paid $30,000 to $45,000.

The Department of Education does not track foreign teachers. The American Federation of Teachers union estimates at least 18,000 of the nation's 3.7 million teachers were hired elsewhere.

College costs up again: 6.4% public, 5.9% private - USATODAY.com

College costs up again: 6.4% public, 5.9% private - USATODAY.com: Amid the economic turmoil, students and their families are getting little relief from rising college costs, which jumped 6.4% at state universities this fall, according to new figures out Wednesday.

And with states aggressively cutting budgets, big increases look almost certain next year, too — if not sooner. At least two states — Rhode Island and Michigan — already have taken steps toward raising prices before next fall, and a half-dozen others are reportedly considering unusual midyear increases.

For the current academic year, the average list price of tuition and fees at four-year public universities rose $394, or 6.4%, to $6,585 for in-state students. At private colleges, prices rose $1,399, or 5.9%, to $25,143, according to the annual 'Trends in College Pricing' report from the College Board.

It's important to remember many students don't pay the full list price. On average, students receive about $3,700 in grants and tax benefits at four-year public schools, and $10,200 at private institutions.

When room and board is added in, some high-tuition private institutions can total $50,000 a year or more. Overall, though, more than half of four-year college students attend institutions where the list price for tuition and fees is under $9,000.

States forced to cut health coverage for poor - USATODAY.com


States forced to cut health coverage for poor - USATODAY.com: Economic troubles are forcing states to scale back safety-net health-coverage programs — even as they brace for more residents who will need help paying for care.

Many cuts affect Medicaid, which pays for health coverage for 50 million low-income adults and children nationwide, including nearly half of all nursing home care. The joint federal-state program is a target because it consumes an average 17% of state budgets — the second-biggest chunk of spending in most states, right behind education.

'Medicaid programs across the U.S. are going to be severely damaged,' says Kenneth Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association. He expects some hospitals nationwide may drop services and some hospitals and nursing homes may lay off employees.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Toni Morrison: A Mother, A Stranger, 'A Mercy'


NPR.org, October 27, 2008 · This special presentation of A Mercy will run in four installments from Oct. 27 thru Oct. 30. "Book Tour" is a weekly Web feature and podcast that presents leading authors as they read from and discuss their work.

In this special edition of Book Tour, NPR is honored to be the first to present Pulitzer Prize-winner and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison reading from her new novel, A Mercy. A stunning return to form for Morrison, A Mercy deserves to be counted alongside some of her most acclaimed novels, such as Sula and Beloved.

The stories in A Mercy are as layered and contested as the barely mapped topology traversed by its characters. Set in the 1680s, when this country's reliance on slavery as an economic engine was just beginning, A Mercy explores the repercussions of an enslaved mother's desperate act: She offers her small daughter to a stranger in payment for her master's debt.

Four women are central to this narrative: a traumatized Native-American servant known as Lina; Florens, the coltish enslaved girl at the story's center; an enigmatic wild child named Sorrow; and Rebekka, their European mistress — kind, politically contrarian and reeling from the loss of one infant after another in her isolated homestead.

The book shifts dramatically in tone as it recounts the stories of these women and of the men who both stabilize and disrupt their worlds — mostly through love. Those men include Jacob Vaark, the farmer and reluctant slaveholder, and a formidable free black man known simply as "the blacksmith." Their ability to move through the world intoxicates these women, whose own travels — mostly under duress — have been vile and dangerous.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Gathering Examines Lack of Minority Men in Post-Graduate Programs

The differences between men and women aren’t all that difficult to spot. Still, minority women far outnumber minority men in post-graduate degree programs – four to one on some U.S. campuses. So why do most colleges take the same approach with both sexes when it comes to recruiting and retaining minorities in post-graduate programs?

Two experts on minority enrollment offered their insights at a panel discussion Saturday at The Compact for Faculty Diversity’s 15th Annual Institute on Teaching and Mentoring. More than 1,000 guests attended the four-day conference in Tampa, Fla. It is the nations’ largest annual gathering of minority doctorate holders.

“Men of Color in the Academy: Helping Them Succeed” was among many panel sessions offered at this year’s event, which was hosted by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), based in Atlanta, Ga., and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, based in Boulder, Co.

Panelist Michael Cuyjet, an associate professor of educational and counseling psychology at the University of Louisville, Ky., transformed his study into a book, “African-American Men in College.”

His research found minority women were more likely than minority men to interact with faculty and spend out-of-class time in the library or with student organizations. Women also tended to hold more officer positions in Black student organizations.

New Report: Male Teachers Called ‘Endangered Species’

New Report: Male Teachers Called ‘Endangered Species’: The number of male teachers has hit a 40-year low, with men accounting for just 25 percent of educators. In preschools the numbers are even more skewed, with men accounting for only 6 percent, according to Community Advocates for Young Learners Institute (CAYL), based in Massachusetts. Stereotypes, low pay and lack of support are the reasons so few men go into teaching, says a report released last week by CAYL.

“Men in education at this level — arguably the most formative years of a child’s life — are an endangered species,” says Dr. Valora Washington, president of CAYL. “After parents, teachers are our earliest role models. Children need both male and female examples of how to behave and interact in a healthy, positive manner in today’s society.”

The CAYL report applauds initiatives in some states to recruit more men into the teaching field. In South Carolina, Clemson University’s Call Me Mister program offers tuition assistance and academic support to Black males pursuing education degrees. In Missouri, the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Mizzou Men for Excellence in Elementary Education program provides support, mentoring and financial assistance to men working towards teaching certification.

Deeper Meaning Below A Glossy Surface

...In the past year or so, the industry has been paying particular attention to the question of diversity: the lack of it on the runway, as well as behind the scenes. Glamour magazine was confronted with angry calls and e-mails after a white staff member -- since departed -- speaking on behalf of the publication, voiced her disapproval of Afros in the workplace during a presentation at a law firm.

In response, the magazine hosted several panel discussions bringing together a variety of viewpoints on the subjects of race, beauty and friendships across ethnic lines. This spring, members of the New York fashion community raised concerns because black models had been banished from the runway thanks to the prevailing preference for an Eastern European aesthetic. In July, American Vogue ran an article discussing diversity in the industry and also featured several black models in fashion spreads. And then there was Italian Vogue. The July edition of the magazine was called "A Black Issue" and all the editorial pages, as well as the cover, featured black models.

The special issue of Italian Vogue caused the largest stir in part because it was an Italian magazine and the Italian runways have not, in recent memory, been emblematic of the kind of joyful ethnic diversity that one might find in a Benetton advertisement. But it was also significant because Italian Vogue has a reputation for devotion to aesthetics above all else. It is not interested in depicting the more practical, realistic elements of the fashion industry. It is unconcerned with being commercial. Its philosophy revolves around the high concept. Other, more commercial magazines might not go where it leads, but Italian Vogue provides inspiration.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Another dragging death in Texas raises tensions - USATODAY.com


Another dragging death in Texas raises tensions - USATODAY.com: PARIS, Texas (AP) — In a gruesome case with powerful echoes of the dragging death of James Byrd a decade ago, a black man was killed underneath a pickup in East Texas and two white men have been charged with murder.

Black activists and the victim's mother are calling last month's killing of 24-year-old Brandon McClelland a racist attack. But prosecutors cast strong doubt on that Friday.

McClelland died after going with two white friends on a late-night beer run across the state line to Oklahoma, investigators said. Authorities said he was run over and dragged as far as 70 feet beneath the truck. His torn-apart body was discovered along a bloodstained rural road on Sept. 16. His mother said pieces of his skull could still be found three days later.

The case has raised racial tensions in Paris, a town of 26,000 with a history of fraught relations between blacks and whites.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Kids less likely to graduate than parents - Education- msnbc.com


Kids less likely to graduate than parents - Education- msnbc.com: Your child is less likely to graduate from high school than you were, and most states are doing little to hold schools accountable, according to a study by a children's advocacy group.

More than half the states have graduation goals that don't make schools get better, the Education Trust says in a report released Thursday.

And dropout rates haven't budged: One in four kids is dropping out of high school.

"The U.S. is stagnating while other industrialized countries are surpassing us," said Anna Habash, author of the report by Education Trust, which advocates on behalf of minority and poor children. "And that is going to have a dramatic impact on our ability to compete," she said.

In fact, the United States is now the only industrialized country where young people are less likely than their parents to earn a diploma, the report said.

High schools are required to meet graduation targets every year as part of the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind law.

HBCU Students Take the Stage at Kennedy Center

HBCU Students Take the Stage at Kennedy Center: Last month one of Renata “Toni” Roy’s dreams became reality when a choir of 105 students representing dozens of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities took the stage in front of a packed audience at the 2,500-seat John F. Kennedy Center concert hall in Washington, D.C.

Roy’s idea for the “105 Voices of History” concert began developing four years ago during her days as special assistant for private sector partnerships for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Roy, whose son and daughter are graduates of Dillard and Hampton universities, began to think about the role HBCU choirs traditionally have had in growing and promoting the institutions.

“Music is the legacy of our schools,” says Roy, who formed the choir and concert under her nonprofit, Partners Achieving Success. “That was the foundation. That’s what helped build buildings. When you needed money, you got the money from the choir. I really want to make sure that they still utilize that resource.”

University of Maryland Archaeologists Find African ‘Spirit Bundle’

University of Maryland Archaeologists Find African ‘Spirit Bundle’: University of Maryland archaeologists have found what they believe to be one of the earliest examples of the spiritual traditions brought to North America by African slaves. The bundle of sand and clay, packed with metal bits and a stone ax, is believed to be about 300 years old.

University of Maryland anthropologist Mark Leone said the object appears to be an example of African religious practices and not a later mix of African and American practices. The discovery also shows “an unexpected level of public toleration” of spiritual displays around 1700, said Leone, who directed the project.

The archaeologist noted other African spiritual items found in Annapolis are at least 50 years younger and believed to have been used in secret while the object found in April is believed to have been openly displayed in front of a home.

Annapolis’ newspaper at the time, The Maryland Gazette, was filled with accounts of English magic and witchcraft, so African and English spirit practices may have also been tolerated, the archaeologist said.

“English witchcraft in this period existed openly in public and was tolerated,” Leone said in a statement. “It’s intriguing to speculate how English and African spirit beliefs may have interacted and borrowed from each other.”

Schools in need employ teachers from overseas - USATODAY.com


Schools in need employ teachers from overseas - USATODAY.com: A growing number of school districts are hiring teachers from foreign countries to fill shortages in math, science and special education.

The trend is most evident in poor urban and rural districts, according to educators. Segun Eubanks, director of teacher quality at the National Education Association, the USA's largest teachers union, says many of those districts have trouble keeping teachers for reasons including low pay, disruptive students, and a lack of books and materials.

'American workers are not willing to do the work for the conditions and pay we offer,' he says. 'So we're recruiting them for the same reasons we recruit farmworkers and day laborers.'

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), a think tank, says a new teacher is generally paid $30,000 to $45,000.

The Department of Education does not track foreign teachers. The American Federation of Teachers union estimates at least 18,000 of the nation's 3.7 million teachers were hired elsewhere.

Black church, researchers join up to fend off cognitive decline


...Though Alzheimer's disease incidence is higher among African Americans — ranging widely from 14% to 100% higher than among whites — much fewer blacks are involved in research studies than whites, says Peggye Dilworth-Anderson, professor of Health Policy & Management at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. "We know there are both genetic and environmental factors at play. We need more research," she says, but researchers can't get there without the study participants.

In the mid-1990s, only 11% of Duke's Alzheimer's study participants were African American, even though the African-American population in Duke's hometown, Durham, N.C., is 38%, Welsh-Bohmer says. As a result of the partnership, that figure now tops 20%, she says. "To really understand Alzheimer's disease, we want our research to be more representative of real life."

Mistrust of the health care system plays a role in why historically fewer blacks than whites get involved in medical research, says Scott Turner, director of the Memory Disorders Program at Georgetown University Medical Center. "The specter of the Tuskegee experiment still lingers," he says, referring to the unethical study conducted more than 40 years starting in 1932. In it, hundreds of African-American male participants were not told they had syphilis and were not given antibiotics.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Untapped Talents of Educated Immigrants - washingtonpost.com


Untapped Talents of Educated Immigrants - washingtonpost.com: One in five college-educated immigrants in the United States is unemployed or working in an unskilled job such as a dishwasher, fast-food restaurant cashier or security guard, depriving the U.S. economy of the full potential of more than 1.3 million foreign-born workers, according to a study released yesterday.

Immigrants in the Washington area are among the most educated in the country, and the plight of those who are underemployed is familiar to anyone who has gotten a ride from D.C. cabdriver with an engineering degree from Ethiopia or had a car parked by a garage attendant who used to practice law in El Salvador. However, the report by the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute is the first to quantify the extent of the problem.

Highly educated Latin American and African immigrants fare far worse in the job market than Europeans or Asians, the authors said. Almost half of recently arrived college-educated Latin Americans hold unskilled jobs, as do more than one-third of those who have been in the country for more than 10 years. The problem persists even when only immigrants who are in the country legally are considered.

Program Sells Mothers and Daughters on College Goals

The Hispanic Mother-Daughter Program at Arizona State University, which has helped thousands of young women finish high school and attend college, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, ASU announced.

As part of the program, first-generation students make a 10-year commitment in the eighth grade to attend ASU workshops with their mothers and learn the skills needed to succeed.

ASU partners with 14 school districts in Phoenix and the East Valley to mentor students, raise their aspirations and teach skills for them to succeed. The university said the program has promoted higher education to more than 6,000 young women and their mothers over the years.

The outreach program will celebrate its 25th anniversary at a luncheon at 11 a.m. Oct. 24 at the Phoenix Convention Center, 100 N. Third St., Phoenix. The celebration event is sponsored primarily by the Helios Education Foundation, assisted by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

More Alzheimer’s Risk for Hispanics, Studies Find


... Besides being young Alzheimer’s patients — most Americans who develop it are at least 65, and it becomes more common among people in their 70s or 80s — the three are Hispanic, a group that Alzheimer’s doctors are increasingly concerned about, and not just because it is the country’s largest, fastest-growing minority.

Studies suggest that many Hispanics may have more risk factors for developing dementia than other groups, and a significant number appear to be getting Alzheimer’s earlier. And surveys indicate that Latinos, less likely to see doctors because of financial and language barriers, more often mistake dementia symptoms for normal aging, delaying diagnosis.

“This is the tip of the iceberg of a huge public health challenge,” said Yanira L. Cruz, president of the National Hispanic Council on Aging. “We really need to do more research in this population to really understand why is it that we’re developing these conditions much earlier.”

It is not that Hispanics are more genetically predisposed to Alzheimer’s, say experts, who say the diversity of ethnicities that make up Hispanics or Latinos make a genetic explanation unlikely.

Rather, experts say several factors, many linked to low income or cultural dislocation, may put Hispanics at greater risk for dementia, including higher rates of diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, stroke and possibly hypertension.

White supremacists target middle America - USATODAY.com

White supremacists target middle America - USATODAY.com: The white-power movement is changing its marketing strategy to broaden its appeal.

The USA's largest neo-Nazi group is ditching its trademark brown Nazi uniform with swastika armband for a more muted look in black fatigues.

In Pennsylvania, the Keystone State Skinheads is changing its name to Keystone United to attract members.

The nation's largest white-power website, Stormfront, has a new feature that lets members create social-networking pages. The site has had as many as 42,700 unique visitors in a 24-hour period this month, a steady rise since it started in 1995.

Supremacist groups are on the rise as they market themselves to middle America, according to leaders of the groups and organizations that monitor them. They are fueled by the debate over illegal immigration and a struggling economy.

"Many white supremacist groups are going more mainstream," says Jack Levin, a Northeastern University criminologist who studies hate crime. "They are eliminating the sheets and armbands. … The groups realize if they want to be attractive to middle-class types, they need to look middle-class."

Levin estimates fewer than 50,000 people are members of white supremacist groups, but he says their influence is growing with a more sophisticated approach.

From 2006 to 2007, the number of such groups rose by 5% to 888, says the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which tracks them through news reports and other sources. The number is up 48% since 2000.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

If you're arrested for drugs, you're more likely to get a second chance if you're white - Metro - cleveland.com


If you're arrested for drugs, you're more likely to get a second chance if you're white - Metro - cleveland.com: These cases are among hundreds examined by The Plain Dealer in an effort to gauge whether white defendants get different treatment than black defendants in the criminal justice system. The newspaper focused specifically on drug cases, which not only dominate local court dockets but also are characterized far more than most violent or property crimes by judgment calls and policy decisions at virtually every level of the system.

The analysis was done against a national backdrop of questions about the racial justice of America's decades-long reliance on law enforcement to stamp out drug abuse.

Two reform-minded organizations -- The Sentencing Project and Human Rights Watch -- made essentially the same case in separate studies earlier this year.

Despite data consistently showing that far more white people use crack cocaine, powder cocaine and other illegal drugs than black people, both groups noted, it is black people who overwhelmingly dominate the ranks of those who are arrested, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned for drugs.

Cleveland -- where records show a black person is nearly four times more likely to be arrested on felony drug charges than a white person -- is no exception.

And since 2000, a black person has been 12.7 times more likely than a white person to be sent to a state prison from Cuyahoga County on drug charges.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

The First Black Woman To Run For President : NPR


The First Black Woman To Run For President : NPR: Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman elected to Congress, sought the Democratic nomination in 1972 as the first black woman to run for president.

When the congresswoman from New York launched her spirited campaign, she took on the political establishment. Chisholm said she ran for the office, despite the hopeless odds, to challenge the status quo.

In her announcement speech, Chisholm said: 'I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women's movement of this country, although I am a woman and I am equally proud of that. I am the candidate of the people, and my presence before you now symbolizes a new era in American political history.'

Chisholm lost the Democratic nomination to Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota.

Friday, October 17, 2008

UCLA Study Reveals Growing Gender Gap Among Hispanic College Students

UCLA Study Reveals Growing Gender Gap Among Hispanic College Students: UCLA Study Reveals Growing Gender Gap Among Hispanic College Students

Hispanic women are enrolling at higher rates than ever as full-time freshmen at four-year colleges and universities. They’re more likely to aspire to doctoral degrees. Their self-rated drive to achieve is higher than any other group.

Those are some of the findings in a report on Hispanic college freshmen released Thursday by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. The study — gleaned from three decades of freshman survey responses — provided more detail in the widening gender gap between Hispanic male and female college students.|

While women are outperforming men across all ethnic and racial groups, the gap between male and female Hispanics is the most pronounced. Last week, the American Council on Education reported that in high school completion rates, there is a 10-point gap between Hispanic males (63 percent) and females (73 percent). That same 10-point difference exists when it comes to college enrollment rates. While 31 percent of college-age Hispanic women are enrolled in college; just 21 percent of college-age Hispanic men are.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Meeting New Challenges


Meeting New Challenges: While leaders at North Carolina’s historically Black colleges and universities express optimism over the potential they envision for their individual campuses, they are mindful of the challenges they face.

Among North Carolina’s 11 Black colleges and universities, it’s possible to see them as a representative sample of the 105 institutions that make up the historically Black college and university community in the United States. While leaders at the state’s HBCUs express optimism over the potential they envision their individual campuses fulfilling, they are mindful of the challenges they face.

Chief among those challenges is the projected population growth in North Carolina over the next decade that has state officials planning for the 200,000-student University of North Carolina systemto accommodate an additional 80,000 students by 2017. In addition to state population growth pushing the public universities to increase capacity by nearly 50 percent in less than 10 years, officials project the state’s economy will need 400,000 new workers by 2014, according to UNC systemestimates.

“In many ways,North Carolina is a state on which to keep one’s eyes because of the population growth and the changes in demographics,” says Dr. Lucy Reuben, a higher education expert and professor of the practice of business administration at Duke University.

Tucson School District Seeking Minority Teachers

Tucson School District Seeking Minority Teachers: Tucson’s largest school district has launched a $550,000 effort to recruit minority teachers, hoping to diversify its staff and give minority students a better chance of seeing themselves as part of the education system.

Experts say the feeling of belonging translates into long-term success for students, an important goal for a district whose minority students traditionally trail Anglo counterparts in academic achievement.

The numbers show a disconnect with population rates.

According to 2005 U.S. Census Bureau numbers, the most recent available, more than 40 percent of Tucson's population was Hispanic then. That year, about 24 percent of Tucson Unified School District teachers were Hispanic. Last year, the number fell to about 21 percent.

Tucson Unified employed 1,009 high school teachers last year, and five were American Indian. There were two Asian teachers in all middle schools combined. Anglo teachers made up 74 percent of the teaching staff.

Richard Foster, who heads the district's minority teacher recruitment effort, said he will travel to other cities and states in search of candidates.

Monday, October 13, 2008

A Furious Voice, Forged In The 'Fire' Of Prejudice : NPR


A Furious Voice, Forged In The 'Fire' Of Prejudice : NPR: While on a tour of the University of Virginia, Jamaican-American novelist and short-story writer Michelle Cliff is informed by a doctoral student that Thomas Jefferson never owned slaves. ''Villagers,' as they're affectionately known,' says the student, 'built [this] university, Monticello, every rotunda, column and finial the great man dreamed of. They liked him so much they just pitched in, after their own chores are done.'

It's one of many unsettling moments in If I Could Write This in Fire, a collection of essays that is Cliff's first nonfiction book. Everywhere Cliff goes, she sees people treating history as if it were a story they could rewrite at will: women at cocktail parties uttering, 'Pinochet was not so bad'; guests at a dinner party disbelieving that the blacks in Birth of a Nation were white actors in blackface.

Cliff, 61, has always been an outsider — a lesbian born on a homophobic Caribbean island, an immigrant in the U.K. (where she studied) and the U.S. (where she settled), a mixed-race intellectual trying to make sense of a black and white world.

School Buses: Still Vehicles for Change - WSJ.com

School Buses: Still Vehicles for Change - WSJ.com: A generation ago, the yellow school bus became a symbol of school desegregation, with thousands of the iconic vehicles ferrying minority children away from schools in their own neighborhoods to others in higher-income white areas.

Although the Supreme Court has tightly restricted such overt racial integration efforts in recent years, buses are still crucial to many magnet schools, open-enrollment programs and other school-choice strategies designed to encourage diversity and provide options for students in low-performing schools, as is required under the No Child Left Behind law.

But more and more school districts are curtailing bus service for such programs as a result of higher fuel costs and other financial pressures. That has sparked fears that the only choice for many students will be neighborhood schools attended by classmates of their own race and economic background, which has the unintended effect of re-segregating schools.

"Basically, you can't have racial and class diversity of any sort if you don't provide transportation," says Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project, a research group at the University of California at Los Angeles. "This is kind of closing the last door for urgently needed opportunities for kids who are in schools that are really dysfunctional and inadequate."

Despite such criticism, Pinellas County (Tampa Bay) in Florida has cited rising transportation costs as a major reason for phasing out a school-choice program that was an outgrowth of a 1964 desegregation case. Meanwhile, aiming to cut its transportation budget by $20 million, Milwaukee plans to stop busing high-school students to schools outside their neighborhoods.

Report: Minority college attainment up, but stalls - Yahoo! News

Report: Minority college attainment up, but stalls - Yahoo! News: The number of minorities in college has increased substantially in recent years, but not fast enough to keep up with demographic changes.

As a result, U.S. adults in their late 20s are reaching only about as far as the age group immediately above them in terms of educational attainment. And among Hispanics, a lower proportion has completed at least an associate's degree when compared with those age 30 and older.

Unless the trend is reversed, the increases in Hispanic participation in higher education won't be enough to ensure that a growing proportion earn a college degree.

The findings are highlighted in a biennial report to be released Thursday by the American Council on Education, supported by the GE Foundation.

"One of the core tenets of the American dream is the hope that younger generations, who've had greater opportunities for educational advancement than their parents and grandparents, will be better off than the generations before them," said council President Molly Corbett Broad. "Yet this report shows that aspiration is at serious risk."

In fact, the report shows notable progress for minorities in higher education in several areas.

Between 1995 and 2005, total minority enrollment on U.S. campuses rose 50 percent, to 5 million students. The numbers of Hispanics receiving bachelor's degrees has nearly doubled over that period, as has the number earning doctorates.

However, significant gaps among racial groups remain, and by some measures are widening. In 2006, among 18- to 24-year-olds, 61 percent of Asian-Americans were in college. That compares with 44 percent of whites, 32 percent of blacks and 25 percent of Hispanics.

Shankar Vedantam - Does Your Subconscious Think Obama Is Foreign? - washingtonpost.com

Shankar Vedantam - Does Your Subconscious Think Obama Is Foreign? - washingtonpost.com: A few years ago, psychologists Mahzarin Banaji and Thierry Devos showed the names of a number of celebrities to a group of volunteers and asked them to classify the well-known personalities as American or non-American. The list included television personality Connie Chung and tennis star Michael Chang, both Asian Americans, as well as British actors Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley. The volunteers had no trouble identifying Chung and Chang as American and Grant and Hurley as foreigners.

The psychologists then asked the group which names they associated with iconic American symbols such as the U.S. flag, the Capitol building and Mount Rushmore, and which ones they associated with generically foreign symbols such as the United Nations building in Geneva, a Ukrainian 100-hryven bill and a map of Luxembourg.

The psychologists found that the participants, who were asked to answer quickly, were dramatically quicker to associate the American symbols with the British actors, and the foreign symbols with the Asian Americans. The results suggest that on a subconscious level people were using ethnicity as a proxy for American identity and equating whites -- even white foreigners -- with things American.

Field Where Tuskegee Airmen Trained Named National Historic Site

Field Where Tuskegee Airmen Trained Named National Historic Site: Lt. Col. John Mulzac stood on the asphalt at Moton Field Friday the same grounds where he trained decades ago to become one of the country's first Black military pilots and wept.

Mulzac and hundreds of his fellow servicemen, an all-Black group of pilots referred to as the Tuskegee Airmen, and their families and friends, reunited at the Alabama field where the men trained for World War II. Their role in the war eventually led to desegregation in the U.S. armed forces. The field was named a National Historic Site.

'When I think about what we went through, this just brings tears to my eyes,' said Mulzac, 84.

Thousands of people from across the country attended the opening ceremony Friday afternoon, which launched a weekend of festivities celebrating the fruition of a dream turned reality.

The airmen fought Adolf Hitler overseas and segregation and prejudice on American soil, being degraded as second-class citizens and watching as German prisoners of war were treated better than them.

At first called the 'Tuskegee Experiment,' the first aviation cadet class began in July 1941 with 13 students at the Tuskegee Army Air Field, about 40 miles east of Montgomery. Black people weren't allowed to fly in the military at the time, and the 'experiment' was to see whether they could pilot airplanes and handle heavy machinery.

HACU to Host Live Forum on Hispanic Higher Education Issues

The Hispanic Information & Telecommunications Network (HITN) along with the Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities (HACU) will broadcast a live forum on Hispanic higher education today at 5:30 p.m. (EST) featuring notable scholars and administrators.

Today’s forum is the second installment of a three-part series titled, “Destination Casa Blanca 2008: The Latino Voice in the Presidential Election.” The English-language program is expected to air in more than 30 million homes nationwide, network officials say.

Scholars such as Dr. Milton Gordon, president of California State University, Fullerton, Rosa Pérez, chancellor of San José/Evergreen Community College, and Dr. Antonio Flores, president and CEO of HACU, will examine both presidential candidates’ platforms regarding education issues that impact U.S. Hispanic students and highlight the strengths and flaws of the candidates’ agendas.

Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic minority group in the United States and are projected to be the largest school-age population by 2050.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Group Says Nebraska College Biased Against Whites

Group Says Nebraska College Biased Against Whites: A group supporting a Nov. 4 ballot measure to end affirmative action says the University of Nebraska College of Law discriminates against White students, but school officials say they never released data that could produce that finding.

The Virginia-based Center for Equal Opportunity released a study on Wednesday. The group says the study shows that minorities, namely Blacks and Hispanics, have been admitted to the college with lower test scores than Whites who were not admitted.

The ballot measure would prohibit state and local governments from giving preferential treatment to people on the basis of race, sex, ethnicity or national origin.

Law school Dean Steven Willborn questioned the statistics that were the basis of the group's findings. He said the college did not provide the group with information that showed the race and ethnicity of students.

...Willborn said the center reached broad conclusions based on a small number of students. According to statistics provided by the group, 14 of 41 Black students who applied to the law college were admitted to the college last year, although not all of them enrolled.

By comparison, 273 of 729 White applicants were admitted.

``They're talking about something like 14 or 15 African-Americans admitted to the law school, and that's why they want to change the constitution?'' to prohibit affirmative action, Willborn said.

Growing Latino Population Redefines Small Town : NPR

Growing Latino Population Redefines Small Town : NPR: Siler City, N.C., used to be the kind of town where almost everyone, black and white, had roots going back a century or two.

Characters on The Andy Griffith Show mentioned Siler City, and the actress who played Aunt Bee even retired there because it reminded her of Mayberry. It was just about the last place a Spanish-speaking immigrant was likely to land. That started to change in the 1990s. Today, thanks to chicken-processing jobs that no one else wants, Siler City is about half Latino.

Siler City is a traditional Southern sports town, long proud of its football and basketball teams. But because of the influx of Latino students, the town's high school added soccer teams a few years ago. The girls' team — the Lady Jets — is about half Latino and half white.

'But the funny thing is, when you go to the soccer games, none of their parents speak English,' soccer mom Jenny Pleasants says. Pleasants is white and a native North Carolinian. She says her daughter gets along well with her Latina teammates, but the parents have a different relationship.

'So they all sit on one side and we all sit on the other,' Pleasants says. 'How do you sit next to someone and tell them your kid's playing really good when half the time you can't even pronounce the name and they don't understand anything you're saying?'

Math Skills Suffer in U.S., Study Finds - NYTimes.com

Math Skills Suffer in U.S., Study Finds - NYTimes.com: The United States is failing to develop the math skills of both girls and boys, especially among those who could excel at the highest levels, a new study asserts, and girls who do succeed in the field are almost all immigrants or the daughters of immigrants from countries where mathematics is more highly valued.

The study suggests that while many girls have exceptional talent in math — the talent to become top math researchers, scientists and engineers — they are rarely identified in the United States. A major reason, according to the study, is that American culture does not highly value talent in math, and so discourages girls — and boys, for that matter — from excelling in the field. The study will be published Friday in Notices of the American Mathematical Society.

“We’re living in a culture that is telling girls you can’t do math — that’s telling everybody that only Asians and nerds do math,” said the study’s lead author, Janet E. Mertz, an oncology professor at the University of Wisconsin, whose son is a winner of what is viewed as the world’s most-demanding math competitions. “Kids in high school, where social interactions are really important, think, ‘If I’m not an Asian or a nerd, I’d better not be on the math team.’ Kids are self selecting. For social reasons they’re not even trying.”

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Building a Black Male Learning Community


Building a Black Male Learning Community: Robert Kelly remembers his freshman year at the University of West Georgia well. Like many Black students new to the culture of the college campus, he felt lost. But thanks to the African-American Male Learning Community, he was drawn into a group of 25 young men aiming to meet the challenge together.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” says the young man from Stratford, Conn. “But we came together, bonded and felt the comfort of having one another’s back. It eased us into the process of dealing with college studies, and as a result we stayed together.”

That African-American Male Learning Community, started four years ago by Dr. Said Sewell III, is part of the Center for African-American Male Research Success and Leadership. The center addresses challenges faced by Black male students in the academy through several initiatives, including a leadership development program and a precollege summer conference. Last year, the center and its learning community were honored by the Georgia Board of Regents with a “Best Practices” citation for innovation.

Students Are No Longer Surpassing Parents’ Educational Achievement

Students Are No Longer Surpassing Parents’ Educational Achievement: The American tradition of generational upward mobility is at a standstill, and for some minority groups the younger generation is obtaining postsecondary education at lower levels than older adults, according to a new report released Thursday by the American Council on Education (ACE).

The overall percentage of young adults in their 20s and older adults over 30 with at least an associate degree was almost the same. But lower numbers of Hispanics and Native Americans were earning higher education degrees than their elders. For Hispanics, 18 percent of the older generation held at least an associate degree as compared with only 16 percent of young Hispanics, according to the Minorities in Higher Education 2008 Twenty-third Annual Status Report.

“It appears we are at a tipping point in our nation’s history,” says ACE President Molly Corbett Broad. “One of the core tenants of the American dream is the hope that younger generations, who’ve had greater opportunities for education advancement than their parents and grandparents, will be better off than the generations before them, yet this report shows that aspiration is at serious risk.”

Study: Most depressed kids get antidepressants but no therapy - USATODAY.com

Study: Most depressed kids get antidepressants but no therapy - USATODAY.com: At least half of U.S. children who take antidepressants aren't in therapy, a large study suggests, and that delays recovery while greatly increasing the number of kids on the medication who are suicidal.

'Therapy with antidepressants is the standard of care. But is it what's going on in the real world? No,' says Sheila Marcus, child and adolescent psychiatry chief at the University of Michigan Medical School.

The report tracks insurance claims for antidepressants from a database of 6.8 million children and teens from 2002 to 2006. The analysis was done by the health care business of Thomson Reuters, a research firm.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Children Blame Discrimination for Lack of Minority, Female U.S. President

Children Blame Discrimination for Lack of Minority, Female U.S. President: A new study refutes the idea that children live in a color- and gender-blind world. The University of Texas at Austin study shows most elementary school-aged children know there has been no female, Black or Hispanic president of the United States. And the reason? Discrimination, according to the children studied, reports online magazine Science Daily.

Over a year before Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama entered the presidential race, researchers at UTA and the University of Kansas interviewed more than 200 children between the ages of five and 10 about their knowledge and beliefs about U.S. presidents. Researchers found the racially diverse group of children was aware women and minorities have been excluded from the U.S. presidency but thought people of both genders and races should be president, according to results published in the electronic journal Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy.

Researchers heard some surprising answers when children were asked why only White men have been president. One in four children said it is illegal for women and minorities to serve as president. And while a third of the children said voters’ racial and gender bias explained the lack of female and minority presidents, a third of the children also said women and minorities lacked the skills to be president.

More families requesting free or reduced lunch - USATODAY.com

More families requesting free or reduced lunch - USATODAY.com: The troubled economy may be prompting more families to turn to federal school nutrition programs that aid poor children, a survey suggests.

For the first time since 2004, a majority of cafeteria operators say the number of children getting free or reduced-price lunches has risen.

In the annual survey, out today from the School Nutrition Association, 51.4% of food service directors say they saw an increase in the past school year.

'We do see people that have smaller incomes, more single incomes rather than the double income because people are losing their jobs,' says Katie Wilson, group president and school nutrition director for schools in Onalaska, Wis. She predicts the economic slump will lead more families to apply for the federal aid this fall.

Monday, October 06, 2008

UMD Assesses Campus Climate Among Hispanic Students

UMD Assesses Campus Climate Among Hispanic Students: At the University of Maryland, College Park, Hispanic students want more faculty and administrative support, additional mentorship opportunities and a cultural center to address their needs and concerns, according to a recent survey conducted by the institution’s Adele H. Stamp Student Union for Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy.

Hispanics compose more than 20 percent of the population in counties surrounding UMD, yet the school only enrolls 5.5 percent of Hispanic students. Moreover, Hispanic faculty compose only 2 percent of the overall faculty at UMD.

To ensure that Hispanic students are thriving, the institution’s multicultural center conducted a survey to assess the needs of this demographic of students.

The survey found that more than 40 percent of Hispanics feel comfortable

at the university. The Latino Student Union and Lambda Theta Alpha Sorority Incorporated, the first Latina sorority in the nation, were among the top-ranking campus activities among Hispanic students.

Nearly 50 percent are satisfied with their academic experience, and the majority of the 86 students surveyed said the university did a good job in promoting diversity.

Tuskegee University Leader in Producing Black Vets

Tuskegee University Leader in Producing Black Vets: Ask any African-American veterinarian — anywhere in the country — where they attended veterinary school.

Odds are they’ll name a school in Alabama.

“If you see a Black face, that person probably came from Tuskegee University,” says Dr. Ruby Perry, associate dean at the School of Veterinary Medicine.

More than 70 percent of Black veterinarians in the United States are Tuskegee grads, Perry says, and the school continues to train 50 to 60 percent.

You won’t, however, stand out on campus if you're not one of the 120 Black veterinary students.

“We wouldn’t be truthful to the ideals of diversity if we only had African-American students,” Perry says.

Haylie Hendershot, for example, is one of 100 Whites on campus.

Hermanadad: The Next Best Thing to Family

Hermanadad: The Next Best Thing to Family: Tune in as Diverse explains through video how culture-based sororities can fill a void on college campuses other student organizations cannot. The Upsilon chapter of Lambda Theta Alpha has created a home for Latina students on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park, where Hispanic students represent only 5.5 percent of the student population. The sorority, founded on the principles of love, unity and respect, is among the most popular organizations for Latina students at UMD.

Click Here to watch.

Challenging Obesity in Black Community - washingtonpost.com


Challenging Obesity in Black Community - washingtonpost.com: The goal is to shed 50 million pounds. The target is the black community, which suffers disproportionately from obesity and its unhealthy side effects.

The 50 Million Pound Challenge, a national campaign aimed at encouraging weight loss and healthy living, comes to Prince George's County today with a 5K race, health screenings, entertainment and a fitness fair at Bowie State University.

The program, which has enlisted more than 690,000 people nationwide who have lost almost 3 million pounds since April 2007, provides a diet, an exercise plan and advice for changing unhealthy habits.

'Poor lifestyle choices and cultural entrenchments have, unfortunately, made African Americans extremely vulnerable to a wide range of diseases that are in many cases life-threatening,' said Ian Smith, the doctor and author who began the program. 'What we are trying to do is not only to get people to lose weight, but to get them to take a better look at the choices that are directly impacting their physical and spiritual health.'

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Hispanic MBAs Name Award Winners

Florida International University and Loida Rosario of DePaul University were among recipients of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs’s 2008 Brillante Awards for Excellence announced on September 19.

The Brillante Award for Excellence is part of NSHMBA’s mission to foster Hispanic leadership through graduate management education and professional development, the society said. Six recipients will be recognized at the Brillante Awards Gala, hosted by Deloitte, during the NSHMBA 2008 Conference and Career Expo on October 11 in Atlanta, GA.

This year, nominations are for three outstanding individuals and three leading organizations. Individual honorees for 2008, in addition to Rosario, director of the Partner Relations Multicultural Program at DePaul University, who was recognized for member service excellence; included Rudy Beserra, vice president/Latin Affairs of the Coca-Cola Company, recognized for corporate executive excellence; and Tillie Hidalgo Lima, President/chief executive officer of Best Upon Request Corporate, Inc. for entrepreneur excellence.

In addition to FIU, which was recognized for education excellence, organizations honored were American Express and the National Hispanic Business Association for not-for-profit excellence.

Perspectives: Can the Achievement Gap Be Closed?

It is said that preparing the youth for good citizenship and for living a productive life is a universally recognized purpose of private and public schools.

Therefore, to answer the question, “Can the achievement gap be closed?” we need to examine objectively both the purpose and the history of our educational system.

Noted German philosopher Johann Fichte saw education as a “reliable and deliberate instrument for fashioning in a citizen a stable and infallible good will.” Lester Ward, an American sociologist, considered education the “only available means of setting the progressive wheels of society in motion.” Justice Earl Warren saw education as “the very foundation of good citizenship.”

How can America promote good citizenship and instill in all its youth an infallible good will toward each other if its educational system continues to exclude the contributions of people of color from textbooks and school curricula? Most important, how can we close the achievement gap if our youth, especially our students of color, do not see successful men and women they can identify with in their textbooks or in their classrooms? Even though we tend to agree that a just, balanced and self-empowering education is needed for transmitting knowledge and for molding good citizenship, most of our institutions remain Eurocentric, and our curricula remain unaltered. The negative and lasting impact of such exclusive curricula on students of color, especially on Black students, is not difficult to imagine.

Needy Students Closing Test Gap Under 'No Child' - washingtonpost.com

Needy Students Closing Test Gap Under 'No Child' - washingtonpost.com: Since enactment of the No Child Left Behind law, students from poor families in the Washington area have made major gains on reading and math tests and are starting to catch up with those from middle-class and affluent backgrounds, a Washington Post analysis shows.

The achievement gap between economic groups, long a major frustration for educators, has narrowed in the region's suburban schools since President Bush signed the law in 2002, according to Maryland and Virginia test data.

In Montgomery County, for instance, students in poverty have earned better scores on Maryland's reading test in each of the past five years, slicing in half the 28 percentage-point gulf that separated their pass rate from the county average. They also have made a major dent in the math gap. In Fairfax County, another suburban academic powerhouse, such students have slashed the achievement gaps on Virginia tests.