Black Achievement Equals State Economic Success
President Dr. Beheruz Sethna, a Columbia-trained specialist in business education, heads the University of West Georgia, an institution of approximately 10,000 students. Sethna signals in his biography on the campus Web site his sensitivity to the issues of minorities. His profile describes him as, “the first person from any ethnic minority to become president of a predominantly White or racially-integrated university or college in Georgia. Also, the first known person of Indian origin ever to become president of a university anywhere in the United States.” The implication is there is much catching up to do if Georgia expects to have an educational system that looks like the state’s population.
Moreover, as a business specialist, Sethna ties together Black achievement and the prospects for state economic success. In his written introduction to the program, he says:
“While the University of West Georgia is committed to the success of each one of its students … we focus on a critical statewide and nationwide need, and that is the success of African-American males. We are in pursuit of a strategy and methods that increase significantly the retention and graduation rates of African-American males because that group is so under-represented in the set of college graduates, and because the economic and social success of our state and country depends upon their success.”
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