The academy's new cast: young scholars step into the academy's ivied walls with a dual commitment to innovative research, students of color - Brief Article

Black Issues in Higher Education, Jan 3, 2002

We hear a lot of dire prognostications about African American doctorates and doctoral production. The rate is rising, It's falling. It's rising but not fast enough. It's rising but doctoral recipients are by passing the academy for the private sector -- or leaving the academy in droves.

What we don't hear often enough, however, are the success stories of young academics who have jumped through and over many hoops and hurdles, entered the ivied walls and begun challenging the academy -- shaping it to their own vision.

In the following pages, we profile 10 lives from the disciplines of business, education, engineering/computer science, humanities, law, math, life sciences and social sciences. The listing is by no means comprehensive -- perhaps, no such listing could be. But the young scholars you'll read about are united by intertwined passions: for research that makes a difference, and for reaching out to shape the next generation of scholars.

All of these scholars are under the age of 40. Two are associate professors -- most are assistants heading for tenure review. All are doing research that is on the cutting edge of -- or smashing paradigms -- in their chosen fields. And as significantly, each in his or her own way expresses a commitment to working with students of color or for communities of color.

So to paraphrase one of our featured scholars, these are not just Black faces in the academy -- these are lives of vision and purpose, and we're proud to present them to you.