NEW YORK – At the American Educational Research Association annual conference that ended here this week, early career scholars and advanced graduate students spent an entire day working with established researchers on questions and methods that inform studies on African-Americans in education.
Now in its 11th year, the Asa G. Hilliard III and Barbara A. Sizemore Research Course on African Americans and Education is a collaborative project sponsored by Wisconsin’s Equity & Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB) at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; the Urban Education Collaborative at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte; the Bell National Resource Center on the African American Male at The Ohio State University and the Center for the Study of Regional Competitiveness in Science and Technology at Washington University in St. Louis.
“Each year, we go through great lengths to structure the course to target potential pitfalls and content likely omitted from their formal doctoral program and department-based mentoring,” said Dr. Jerlando F.L. Jackson, co-founder of the course and the Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “It is a meaningful part of my work to cultivate a research-focused experience that disrupts career barriers and glass-ceiling effects for scholars committed to explore the education experiences for African-Americans.”
Dr. Chance W. Lewis, who holds the Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professorship in Urban Education at UNC Charlotte, said the course takes a comprehensive approach to providing selected fellows with what it takes to be successful in higher education while simultaneously conducting research that uplifts African-Americans in education.
“We provide real strategies on producing high-quality work, strategies for being productive over their entire careers and strategies for being successful and overcoming the unspoken riles of higher education,” said Lewis. “Alumni of this course are now serving in impactful roles in all areas of education.”
Indeed, alumni of the course like Dr. J. Luke Wood, the Dean’s Distinguished Professor at San Diego State University, who said the course was one of the most important development experiences that he’s participated in.
“It provided me with an opportunity to learn from and network with the highest scholars in my profession,” said Wood. “The insights and ongoing mentorship that started from this course enabled me to transition from being a doctoral student and traverse the ranks of academe to become a distinguished professor within 10 years. I am also not alone. There are a number of us who have been able to become full professors, many with endowed and distinguished titles, because of lessons learned from this program.”
