Call Me Mister gets $150,000 gift from BMW - noteworthy news

Black Issues in Higher Education, May 8, 2003

CLEMSON, S.C.

A recent $150,000 gift to the Call Me Mister program will be a "tremendous boost" to the project's future, says Dr. Tom Parks, a Clemson University professor and director of the program, which hopes to place 200 African American men in South Carolina's elementary school classrooms as teachers.

"We've emphasized the idea that a lifetime of teaching is not just a job but an opportunity to change the future, to make a contribution as a leader. And they've taken us at our word," says Parks, referring to BMW Manufacturing Corp., whose gift will be paid over three years.

"BMW is pleased to have the opportunity to help fund this innovative effort to increase the number of African American male elementary school teachers in South Carolina's classrooms," says Robert Hitt, media and public affairs manager at BMW Manufacturing. "Call Me Mister has the potential to significantly impact the lives of the young men participating in the project and the lives of students across South Carolina that they will teach and mentor."

The Call Me Mister program, which is coordinated through the Eugene T. Moore School of Education at Clemson University, is now in its third year. It combines the special strengths and resources of a public research university with the individualized instructional programs offered by three of South Carolina's small, private, historically Black colleges and universities. Clemson collaborates with Benedict College in Columbia, Claflin University in Orangeburg and Morris College in Sumter to recruit, prepare, certify and place 200 Black males as elementary teachers in the state's public schools, beginning with the first class of Misters scheduled to graduate in the spring of 2004 (see Black Issues, Oct. 10, 2002).

Participants are recruited out of high schools to fill a void in the ranks of teachers, where less than 1 percent are Black males, even though minority enrollment in South Carolina public schools is 39 percent. The project provides tuition assistance, an academic support system and a cohort organization to help ensure success for the young men enrolled.