Howard University’s all-Black men’s swim team wins 2023 Northeast Conference Championship 

By Sheyla Fairley

The Howard University, Washington, DC, men’s swimming and diving team won the 2023 Northeast Conference Championship, the team’s first conference title in 34 years.

According to an article, Howard University is the “last remaining HBCU with a swimming program and has seen an incredible amount of growth in the past decade” and the “only all-Black college swim team in the U.S.”

“Howard can’t be the only place, the only option because we only have so many roster spots. There are so many people we unfortunately can’t have at Howard to be able to swim,” said Nicholas Askew, Howard alum and coach of Howard’s swimming and diving team. “We are so glad to be able to see the success and so prayerful that it will be taken note of by the other HBCU’s to restart their program so we can no longer be the only HBCU.”

For more information, read the full article here.

FAMU secures $5.4M grant to expand internet access on campus and the surrounding community

By Sheyla Fairley

Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL, has received a $5.4 million two-year grant from the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) to expand internet access to students and the Southside community members.

According to an article, the project is called “Building a Digital Pipeline to Prosperity” that will “produce a ‘FAM-G’ network, which will drastically change the digital landscape of the 422-acre FAMU campus and the targeted community.”

“FAM-G will be fast, secure, robust, and readily available to our constituents, and will contribute to breaking down the digital divide that, unfortunately, still exists today,” said chief information officer Robert Seniors, co-principal investigator for the grant and vice president for information technology services. “FAM-G will be a key component of the digital transformation that is occurring at FAMU, strengthening our current capabilities. While we have good Wi-Fi networks inside of buildings, FAM-G will power our next generation, high-speed Wi-Fi networks that deliver wireless broadband internet access outside, enabling learning and collaboration to occur anywhere and anytime.”

For more details, read the full article here.

$1.5M granted to Bowie State for Black Male Educators Project

By Sheyla Fairley

According to an article, Bowie State University, Bowie, MD, has been awarded a $1.5M grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence program which will support the school’s Black Male Educators Project, which aims to “increase the number of black male teachers working with early childhood, elementary, secondary, and special education students and supplying them with the knowledge, understanding, and skills in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).”

“Blacks comprise 6 percent of all teachers and black men are less than 2 percent. This grant will enable us to recruit and prepare 50 Black male educators in early childhood/special education, elementary or secondary education who can provide culturally relevant instruction and work with students and families,” said Dr. Julius L. Davis, founding director of the BSU Black Male Educators Project and College of Education professor. “Through our program redesign, we’ll create a pathway for Black male teachers to become certified in ESOL to meet the changing demographics in our schools.”

Read the full article, here.

President of Prairie View A&M University named senior adviser to President of Harvard

By Sheyla Fairley

Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX, president Ruth Simmons has been appointed as a senior adviser to Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, president Larry Bacow on engagement with HBCUs and will officially assume her role on June 1, 2023.

 “I applaud President Bacow’s vision and Harvard’s hopes for a more inclusive future for higher education,” said Simmons in a release. “From his courageous defense of the importance of diversity on our campuses to his support for the work of the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery initiative, he has led with great wisdom and integrity. I am proud to work alongside Harvard to shape a new vision for higher education, one which acknowledges the need for institutions with different histories and missions to share expertise and productively collaborate in the interests of a more equitable society. Harvard’s recognition that HBCUs have much to contribute is a welcome and timely message.”

Fisk University creates dorm rooms using shipping containers

By Sheyla Fairley

In order to decrease the high demand for student housing, Fisk University, Nashville, TN, has decided to convert decommissioned shipping containers into dorm rooms for the 2023 fall semester to accommodate the students.

As stated in a release, students like how the containers are a “sustainable solution” to the housing issue and are “repurposing something that was old and making it new.” The only problem is getting to decide who will be the first to live in them.

“I think to date, we’ve probably had 30 prospective students who called and said, ‘If I choose Fisk, do I get to be in the containers?’” said Fisk University executive vice president Jens Frederiksen. “And we’re like, ‘No, we can’t leverage that as a decision-making tool’. The reality is we’re going to end up doing some kind of lottery.”