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Former Arthur Ashe Scholar Named Trump’s New Apprentice
By Diverse Staff
Dec 19, 2005, 09:54

Randal Pinkett, who was honored as an Arthur Ashe scholar for his academic and athletic excellence by Black Issues In Higher Education magazine in 1990s, was named Donald Trump’s new apprentice last Thursday night during the NBC reality show’s finale.

“The Apprentice” seemed more like “Survivor” as Pinkett and his co-finalist, Rebecca Jarvis, a financial journalist, each fought for their professional lives in the boardroom with Trump. Pinkett had strong support from his fellow teammates, one who said that Jarvis was not even in the same league as Pinkett. Another said the decision between the two finalists should be a very easy decision for the Trump organization. When asked why Trump should hire him, Pinkett said, “Rebecca writes about business, I run one.”

It appeared to be a difficult decision for the real estate mogul, but Trump ultimately chose Pinkett as his new apprentice. And in an unusual and unprecedented move, Trump asked Pinkett whether he should hire Jarvis as well. Remarked Pinkett who dismissed the idea, “This is the apprentice, not apprenti.”

Pinkett’s academic distinctions are indeed impressive with Pinkett having earned five degrees. At Rutgers University, Pinkett graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. A star athlete in track and field while at Rutgers, he was named by Black Issues In Higher Education magazine as an Arthur Ashe Sports Scholar. He is also a former Rhodes Scholar and earned a master’s in computer science while at Oxford University in the Rhodes program.

Pinkett received his doctorate from MIT in 2001 and is a 1998 alumnus of MIT’s Leaders for Manufacturing (LFM) program, a two-year graduate program in which students earn a master’s degree in engineering and an MBA.

While at MIT, Pinkett acquired his Ph.D. as a student in the school’s prestigious Media Laboratory. The Media Lab program allowed him to meld his extensive engineering and technology expertise with a passionate interest in community development. As a doctoral candidate in the Epistemology and Learning Group in the Media Lab, Pinkett launched the Camfield Estates-MIT Creating Community Connections Project.  The Camfield Estates initiative introduced computer networking technology to residents in a low- to moderate-income housing development in Roxbury, Mass. At the end of a 10-week experimental period during the project, Pinkett documented substantial quantitative changes in how the residents at Camfield Estates communicated with each other.

“Most significantly, there was a real qualitative change in their perception of themselves as learners. Although reluctant at first, they made a 180-degree turn from where they started to where they are now,” Pinkett told Black Issues in Education.

In 2002, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) presented Pinkett with the Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award for his doctoral work in helping low-income Boston residents use digital technology to enhance their community.

After completing his Ph.D., Pinkett founded BCT (Building Community through Technology) Partners, a consulting company, in his home state of New Jersey, which has continued the work of his dissertation project.



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