Members of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity convened Thursday, October 2, 2014 at the International Colloquium on Black Males in Education (ICBME) in Atlanta, Georgia to respond to contemporary challenges for Black males in society.

A panel of members including Wei LAB Founder and Director, Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson, Gregory J. Vincent, Leonard L. Moore, Marcel Henry, and Samuel Bacote III discussed Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, also known the Boulé, and the actions the organization takes to augment the lives and educational trajectories of Black males, and well as other underrepresented groups.

The Boulé, founded in 1904 in Philadelphia, consists of nearly 4,000 active members with 131 local organizations spanning from the Bahamas to the United States and London. Boulé is the nation’s oldest African American professional fraternity.

Samuel Bacote III, Grand Grammateus-Executive Secretary, began the discussion by positioning the ways the organization steps up to improve the current status of Black Males in Education.

Amidst the responses included Gregory J. Vincent’s remarks, stating the Boulé serves as an umbrella organization, bringing community groups together to engage in social action. Because of the Boulé’s access to important decision-makers in the United States, the organization can financially support community efforts to improve the lives of Black males.

Furthermore, the panel agreed, many members of the invitation-only fraternity contribute insightful perspectives due to their leadership in other service-based groups.

“The advantage I see is Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity’s membership cuts across multiple social groups and policy spaces, along with leadership opportunities and decision making spaces as well,” Jerlando F. L. Jackson said. When the nation’s leadership voices are among your membership, it provides the Boulé a unique ability to strategically orchestrating community efforts.”

Leonard L. Moore stated nearly 80 to 90 percent of the fraternity’s members are involved in a mentoring program with young African American males.

Soon the conversation shifted from the Boulé’s efforts in supporting Black males on the educational pathway, to supporting Black males post-graduation outcomes.

“Our job is not done just when a brother gets a degree,” Moore said. The panel agreed the fraternity must support Black males entering the job market by surrounding them with men who experienced the same challenges.

This support, Marcel Henry asserted, is the true meaning of the Boulé. “Our mission is to have an impact in changing the lives of men we interact with on a daily basis,” he said.

In the future, the panel wants members of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity to share their stories, encouraging young African American males to draw inspiration from Black men with successful careers who made education and citizenship a priority.

Following the panel discussion, Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity’s Grand Commission on Young African American Males and Grand Social Action Committee co-sponsored the opening reception at the Atlanta University’s Center Library Exhibit Hall for the third annual International Colloquium on Black Males in Education. The reception featured an exhibit of the paper collection of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was also a member of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of America is a VIP Sponsor of the 2014 International Colloquium on Black Males in Education. Dr. Damon Williams is the Senior Vice President of Program, Training & Youth Development with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Q: Why did the Boys and Girls Clubs of America step forward to participate in this year’s Colloquium?
DW: The Boys and Girls Clubs of America is one of the oldest and largest youth development organizations in the world, and I believe we play an incredibly important role in helping millions of young people to become successful. We have about two million boys in our membership at around 4,000 clubs. Of that total, about 30 percent of our membership is African American, while another 27 percent of our membership is Hispanic. That allows us to be a really important place for translation of research, because our professional staff is on the front lines of working with youth, many of them in underserved communities, around the country.

It’s our organization’s belief that research should help to drive practice. Ultimately, we want connections with thinkers. Our support of the colloquium and the top researchers in attendance who are from top-tier research universities will ultimately benefit us, because it will strengthen the translation of the theoretical into the implementable. Connecting our organization to this platform for some of the most prominent voices in the field who are guiding and shaping the study of black males in education will hopefully allow us to overcome the opportunity game, which shows up as an achievement gap for Black boys in school.

Q: In your opinion, what are the most pressing education-related issues facing young black males today?
DW: One of them is definitely summer learning loss. Many African American males or males of color growing up in undeserved and under-sourced communities don’t get involved in educationally enriching activities over the summer. They’re hanging out in the pool or their neighborhoods, having a really informal summer, rather than having an engaged summer out-of-school time learning experience. Research says that they’re losing as much as one month of learning each and every month of the summer, and then coming into the academic year in a deficit. Over time, that deficit becomes a real part of the cracks and fissures we see in the academic pipeline.

Q: What do you personally hope to get out of the event?
DW: I would love to develop a better understanding of evidence-based youth development intervention across the board. Things like mentoring, supplemental education experience at the pre-college level – I’d like to see studies on those things that were substantiated with some form of quasi- or fully-experimental design.

Overall, I want an exchange of epic proportion between those doing scholarship and those in practice with our youth. Unfortunately, there are just too few evidenced-based programs that are out there. If we can find some in the course of this colloquium, that would be amazing.

And lastly, a big reason for my involvement is because I really believe deeply in the mission of Wei LAB, especially the equity and educational issues it pursues. I think the colloquium occupies a very unique place in the landscape on research meetings on the educational challenge facing African American males. And the fact that many of the people at the colloquium grew up as boys and girls club members themselves, including Jerlando F. L. Jackson, Juan E. Guilbert, and Ivory A. Toldson, makes the BGCA participation really personally meaningful. If we can connect this amazing group of scholars who’ve had experiences at the club that have probably touched them, to the BGCA’s national platform and resources, that could potentially create something incredibly valuable – the ability to drive successful ideas into practice to a huge scale. That’s something the BGCA can do in a way that only a couple of organizations in the nation have the ability to do.

The 2014 International Colloquium on Black Males in Education is taking place Oct. 1-4 at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga. For more information, visit the Colloquium Website.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of America has signed on as a VIP sponsor of the 2014 International Colloquium on Black Males in Education (ICBME), a research gathering set to explore the global dynamics of Black males in the educational pipeline.

This year’s colloquium will take place October 1-4, 2014 at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. The Wei LAB is the lead organizer of the colloquium.

“The Boys & Girls Clubs of America is one of the oldest and largest youth development organizations in the world, and I believe we play an incredibly important role in helping millions of young people to become successful,” said Dr. Damon Williams, BGCA Senior Vice President of Program, Training and Youth Development. “This colloquium occupies a very unique place in the landscape of research meetings on the educational challenge facing African American males. Our support of the colloquium and the researchers in attendance who are from top-tier research universities will ultimately benefit us. If we can connect this amazing group of scholars … to BGCA’s national platform and resources, we could potentially create something incredibly valuable – the ability to drive successful ideas into practice to a huge scale,” Williams said.

The theme of this year’s colloquium is “Doing Something Different in the 21st Century: Informed by What Works with Black Males in the New Global Economy.” The colloquium will bring together leading scholars and thinkers, high-impact practitioners, and students from around the globe. It will offer a diverse array of programs that serve to elicit intellectual thought, discussion, and ideas that can be implemented to serve and improve the experiences of Black males throughout the world.

“This year’s colloquium will draw an impressive cadre of scholars from communities across the world to examine Black male experiences in education from a variety of lenses. Our hope is that every colloquium attendee and participant leaves inspired, equipped, and motivated to improve the educational dilemma for Black males through research, practice, and policy,” said Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson, Director and Chief Research Scientist for Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

For more information about the International Colloquium on Black Males in Education or the Wei LAB, visit the Colloquium Website or contact: Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson, Colloquium Chair, Director of the Wei LAB, and Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at University of Wisconsin-Madison by email.

Mauriell Amechi, a research associate at Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB), was recently named to the committee that will search and screen for the next dean of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Graduate School.

Amechi was appointed to represent the graduate student body on the committee by the university’s Shared Governance Leadership Team following a competitive application process. In March, Amechi was appointed to serve in a similar role as he joined the search and screen committee for the open position of Provost for Diversity and Climate at UW–Madison.

Amechi, a second-year Ph.D. candidate in UW-Madison’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, studies the experiences and educational pathways of first-generation, low-income, and racial minority students, with a special emphasis on foster care youth and their college transitions. In addition to his graduate-level studies, Amechi has served as a research associate for the Wei LAB for more than a year.

A native of Chicago, IL, Mauriell earned a master’s degree from The Ohio State University in higher education and student affairs, as well as a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he served in a variety of leadership, service, and professional capacities within student life.

A new profile of UW–Madison Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson has been posted on the Iowa State University School of Education’s website.

Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson received his Ph.D. in Education focused on higher education in the department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Iowa State University in 2000. He has remained active in assisting Iowa State University in his area of expertise, diversity in higher education. Dr. Jackson has assisted President Steven Leath in conducting “the most comprehensive diversity study ever” undertaken at Iowa State University, according to the article.

The article also mentions the work of the Wei LAB, which Dr. Jackson founded and where he currently serves as director and chief research scientist.

“My current professional goal is to continue to build and provide leadership to Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB) so that it emerges as a global leader and champion for equitable and inclusive educational organizations,” Jackson says in the article.

MADISON, WI — (Tuesday, September 2, 2014) The implementation of a national clearinghouse on exemplary educational studies, practices, and policies on males of color is one of the many federal policy recommendations offered in a new report, Advancing the success of boys and men of color in education: Recommendations for federal policymakers. Drawing from President Barack H. Obama’s initiative (i.e., My Brother’s Keeper) that seeks to improve educational outcomes for boys and men of color, the report outlines numerous policies that federal policymakers should undertake to address systemic barriers endured at every juncture of their education.

The report represents a joint policy statement from seven university-based research centers that have an explicit research focus on boys and men of color in education, including Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB).

“Input from a group of esteemed education researchers from seven separate centers is a major strength of the report,” said J. Luke Wood, a report co-author and co-director of the Minority Male Community College Collaborative (M2C3) at San Diego State University. “Through this collaboration, we wanted to provide federal policymakers and other thought leaders with important information to improve education outcomes for males of color.”

Across the nation, there is a growing awareness that greater efforts are needed to ensure the educational success of boys and young men of color. “Throughout the educational pipeline, too many males of color are not performing optimally. The United States just cannot continue to ignore the consistent challenges and pitfalls that males of color experience throughout their schooling,” said James L. Moore III, a co-author, and Distinguished Professor of Urban Education and Director of the Todd Anthony Bell National Resource Center on the African American Male at The Ohio State University. “My colleagues and I are very committed to the My Brother’s Keeper initiative. We also stand ready to serve as a resource for the Obama administration and public and private foundations,” said Moore.

Leading education researcher centers partnering on the joint policy brief included: the Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education (University of Pennsylvania), Minority Male Community College Collaborative (San Diego State University), Morehouse Research Institute (Morehouse College), Project MALES and the Texas Education Consortium for Male Students of Color (University of Texas at Austin), Todd Anthony Bell National Resource Center on the African American Male (The Ohio State University), UCLA Black Male Institute (University of California, Los Angeles), and Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (University of Wisconsin-Madison).

“This alliance of research centers and committed scholars who lead them is a powerful example of the collaboration and coordination required to advance the success of young men of color in schools and society” said Shaun R. Harper, a report co-author, and Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education at the University of Pennsylvania.

The joint report provides 15 federal policy recommendations focused on increasing the utilization of data, partnerships, training, and evaluation. The recommendations offered are based on extensive research conducted by the centers’ researchers on the experiences of boys and men of color in education. According to Tyrone Howard, a report co-author and Director of the UCLA Black Male Institute, “the importance of this collaboration cannot be overstated. At a time when the value of the lives of young boys of color continues to come into question, our report provides research-based interventions, responses, and solutions to vexing problems that policymakers, philanthropic organizations, and community-based institutions sorely need to take to heart.” Some of the key policy recommendations in the report include, but are not limited to:

• Mandate that PreK-12 schools and postsecondary institutions create equity plans to improve outcome disparities for boys and men of color.
• Adopt data tracking systems and scorecards to identify preK-12 schools with disproportionately high suspension and special education placement rates and low participation in gifted education and other accelerated education programs.
• Implement sustained professional development structures to better train educators (e.g., teachers, school counselors, and administrators) to effectively work with boys of color.
• Require all postsecondary institutions to implement an institutional-level, early alert system to identify students in need of support interventions.

According to Frank Harris, a report co-author and Co-Director of the Minority Male Community College Collaborative (M2C3) at San Diego State University, “As education researchers, my colleagues and I believe that the policy recommendations, if properly implemented, will not only improve education outcomes for males of color, but will also improve education success for other student populations as well.”

Advancing the Success of Boys and Men of Color in Education: Recommendations for Federal Policymakers is the second collaboration of the centers. In June 2014, they released a joint statement on the My Brother’s Keeper initiative. It was in response to a White House earlier report on boys and men of color.

A report issued on September 2, 2014 by the Wei LAB and six other university-based research centers focusing on boys and men of color in education has been featured in a number of news reports issued by national and regional publications.

In an article published on September 2, 2014 on the Chronicle of Higher Education’s website, titled, “U.S. Is Urged to Curtail Alarming Dropout Rates Among Minority Men,” reporter Katherine Mangan focuses on the policy recommendations mentioned in the report pertaining to K-12 and higher education.

Also on September 2, 2014 reporter Jamal Eric Watson covered the release of the report for Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. His article, “Report Recommends Educational Policy Adjustments to Aid Minority Males,” included a quote from Wei LAB Director and Chief Research Scientist Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson.

“I appreciate this effort of male scholars of color inserting our voices, based on our empirical research, to help shape the national discourse surrounding very important challenges for males of color in education,” Dr. Jackson said in the article. “As a group of researchers who have had a long commitment to addressing the experiences of males of color in education, we feel it very important to find ways to assist the current efforts of policy makers focused on making a difference.”

On September 4, 2014 Pat Schneider, a reporter for The Capital Times in Madison, WI, authored, “UW–Madison Education Research Lab Calls for Changes to Boost Outcomes for Black Boys and Men.” Dr. Jackson is also quoted in Schneider’s article.

“We want the discussion to move from one focused on problems and deficit challenges to one that is solution-oriented,” Dr. Jackson told Schneider. “We are very aware of the challenges in federal initiatives drilling all the way down to the classroom.”

Women and people of color working in higher education continue to bump up against glass ceilings despite years of effort to eradicate discriminatory employment practices, according to a new book edited by Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB) Director and Chief Research Scientist Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson.

The book, Measuring Glass Ceiling Effects in Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges, reveals the glass ceiling phenomenon to be more complex and harder to solve than previously thought. The book seeks to provide institutional decision-makers and researchers with evidence about the pervasiveness of glass ceilings in higher education workplaces, and strongly encourage them to commit more time and resources towards their elimination.

“This issue demands an intensive time commitment and often the cooperation and involvement of institutional researchers at colleges and universities who are in a position to help people understand how the glass ceiling impacts workforce dynamics in our society,” Dr. Jackson said. “Those in positions of power in higher education must do more to confront the challenge of glass ceiling effects across different institutional environments.”

Jackson and co-editor Elizabeth O’Callaghan, a lecturer in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, dedicated a chapter of the book to reviewing methodological issues surrounding the measurement of glass ceiling effects and summarizing findings from a cross-sectional analysis study. Along with Wei LAB Research Associate Ryan P. Adserias, who also contributed to the chapter, they found that longitudinal data when possible to collect may help to clarify and explain the specific patterns of discrimination detected at any given cross-section in time.

Another chapter of the book, authored by Wei LAB Assistant Director and Senior Research Associate Dr. LaVar J. Charleston, provides a possible route forward for higher education leaders aiming to mitigate glass ceiling effects. Newly developed software technology designed specifically to assist institutions in exploring glass ceiling effects is now being used as an effective method of managing diversity in higher education, Charleston writes.

Eastern Michigan University Assistant Professor of Higher Education— and former doctoral advisee of Dr. Jackson—Raul A. Leon, the book’s third co-editor, also contributed a chapter to the book. In it, he identifies select programs and initiatives in higher education that demonstrate great promise in addressing glass ceiling effects in the workplace.

Another prominent researcher to contribute to the book is James T. Minor, the deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Education who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in Higher Education. His chapter explores eliminating faculty-related glass ceiling effects through academic governance.

Other chapters in the book examine glass ceiling effect in higher education through the metric of salary equity; looks at the glass ceiling phenomenon in the context of historically Black colleges and universities; and investigates the importance of qualitative approaches to studying the glass ceiling and its effects, in contrast to exclusively quantitative measures.

The book’s penultimate chapter, which could be the most useful to higher education leaders seeking to eliminate their own organization’s glass ceiling, is written by Damon A. Williams, former Vice Provost and Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and now Senior Vice President and Chief Educational and Youth Development Officer at Boys and Girls Clubs of America. His writing centers on solving the challenges of translating glass ceiling research findings into meaningful organizational change initiatives, moving from theory or scholarship to practice.

According to Dr. Jackson, Measuring Glass Ceiling Effects in Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges is designed not only to deepen the understanding of how the glass ceiling impacts women and people of color in higher education, but as a sourcebook for aiding in the discovery and elimination of glass ceilings in institutions of higher education across the nation and globe.

“While the book offers a systematic overview of glass ceiling effects in higher education, readers will find this book particularly useful thanks to its discussion of the implications of moving from theory into practice,” Dr. Jackson said. “Institutional researchers will find step-by-step protocols to collect and analyze glass ceiling data as well as a variety of rich examples, and departmental leaders can use it as a sourcebook for institutional planning purposes.”

Dr. Jackson called for increased cooperation and involvement from institutional researchers at colleges and universities who are in a position to help people understand how the glass ceiling impacts workforce dynamics in modern society.

“This book fills a gap in the literature that will illustrate why the glass ceiling is not a simple form of discrimination, and why it is such a pervasive and concealed phenomenon with weighty implications for women and people of color and their future career aspirations,” Dr. Jackson said. “We must do more to confront glass ceilings in society and especially in higher education, which is often looked at as a model in the creation of equitable workplaces.”

Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson, Director and Chief Research Scientist of Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB) and Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, served on a panel of experts discussing “Jobs and Businesses: Trends in the Political Economy of Black Men in Milwaukee,” on September 13, 2014, at the Milwaukee County Innovation Center in Wauwatosa, WI.

Dr. Jackson’s panel will be preceded by a presentation by Keenan D. Grenall, the Chief Executive Officer of Global Capital Group, a Wauwatosa-based financial consulting firm. The event took place from 7:45 to 10:45 a.m.

The many unique obstacles Black male student-athletes face in their development as scholars is the subject of a new paper, “From the Gridiron to the Ivory Tower: A Case for Cultivating a Student Identity Development Curriculum for African American Male Student-Athletes,” written by Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory’s (Wei LAB) Assistant Director and Senior Research Associate Dr. LaVar J. Charleston.

The article, which was published in the most recent issue of the Black History Bulletin (Volume 77, Issue 1), argues that Black male student-athletes are often unfairly perceived as benefiting from numerous institutional advantages compared to other college students. In fact, Charleston contends, student-athletes must navigate a complex set of pressures as they seek to balance the competing demands of academic and athletic imperatives.

These pressures originate in popular culture, Charleston argues, building on previous studies over the last 15 years. Pervasive images of successful Black athletes in the media contribute to an unrealistic over-identification among student-athletes with sports—and an inter-related under-identification with academic performance, identity, and development. The antagonistic relationship between these two self-concepts presents the single largest barrier to success that Black male student-athletes must overcome in their pursuit of postsecondary education.

Following graduation, Charleston notes, the majority of Black male collegiate student-athletes are woefully underprepared to enter the workforce outside of the world of athletics. Meanwhile, the select few who have the fortune of “making it” as professional athletes may continue to encounter hostile stereotypes in the mass media as well as other challenges. Many remain unprepared for employment after their professional sports careers come to a close.

Charleston says his experiences as an African American former Division 1 athlete inspired him to write the article. Now as a social science researcher, with the benefit of hindsight, he has been able to reflect on his own academic progression, identifying numerous points in his personal narrative that substantiate the scholarly literature on student identity development. Charleston states that his extracurricular experiences outside of sports promoted his self-identification as a student. These activities provided invaluable opportunities to engage with non-athlete peers and faculty, and those successes, in turn, allowed him to combat negative stereotypes about Black male athletes he had internalized from various media.

In light of the myriad challenges and obligations Black male student-athletes face, Charleston calls on colleges and universities to do more to assist Black male student-athletes in their undergraduate development as scholars. He recommends that college and universities offer specialized curriculum for their Black male student-athletes so that they may better navigate the non-athletic components of the higher education system. This training will help supplement and augment existing efforts to better engage student-athletes academically.

As an example, Charleston details his experiences teaching a course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison entitled “Undergraduate Student Identity Development,” intended for first-year Black male student-athletes enrolled at the university. The course uses participants’ personal educational journeys to illuminate student development theories and practices. Course evaluation data indicate that student-athletes benefit from the course, as demonstrated by their interests in and inquiries into career opportunities outside of athletics, as well as their satisfaction with course components.

Charleston’s account of his own path from student-athlete to academic researcher offers one possible model for improving the educational outcomes of black male student-athletes. More research is needed, however, to evaluate the long-term impact of curricular efforts like the one Charleston proposes and other solutions offered to counter the negative effects of media imagery on the identity development of Black male student athletes.

Wei LAB Director and Chief Research Scientist Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson was the recipient of the first Dr. Anthony Brown Award for Excellence in Higher Education and Community Service from the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute at the organization’s annual awards luncheon fundraiser on August 5, 2014, in Madison, WI.

Jackson, the Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at University of Wisconsin-Madison, was honored for his “exemplification of the Wisconsin Idea both at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and in the Madison community by contributing to the advancement of educational excellence and to the causes of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” according to the Madison-based institute, which was founded in 2001 to serve the local Black community and strengthen the entire community through social, educational and economic outreach programs.

The man whom the award is named after Dr. Anthony L. Brown, was a friend of Jackson and was among the first group of African American Ph.D. graduates in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB) is serving as one of the sponsors for the biennial International Conference on Urban Education (ICUE), taking place November 6-8, 2014 in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

ICUE seeks global improvement in urban education, and has been “strategically developed to bring various stakeholders (educators, community members, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government officials, business leaders, faith-based officials, healthcare providers, etc.) together who have a vested interest in improving educational opportunities for students in urban settings around the globe,” according to the conference’s website.

The conference was hosted by the Urban Education Collaborative, housed in the College of Education at the University of North Carolina–Charlotte. Two members of the Urban Education Collaborative have worked with the Wei LAB on previous occasions. Chance W. Lewis, director of the Urban Education Collaborative, was a Wei LAB Visiting Scholar in 2013 and served on a panel at the Wei LAB’s 2013 International Colloquium on Black Males in Education (ICBME), and Ruth L. Greene, an adjunct professor in the Urban Education Collaborative, was a Wei LAB Visiting Scholar in 2013.

Wei LAB Director Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson and Wei LAB Assistant Director Dr. LaVar J. Charleston will both attend the conference and serve on a research presentation panel titled, “The Effects of Media on Scholar Identity Development.” Moderated by Chance W. Lewis of the University of North Carolina, the panel also included James L. Moore III of The Ohio State University, Lamont A. Flowers of Clemson University, and Marlon James of Loyola University Chicago.

Jackson will additionally serve on a panel titled, “Strengthening the Educational Pipeline to Historically Black Colleges and Universities for School-Age Black Males.” Moderated by Ivory A. Toldson of the White House Initiative on HBCUs/Howard University, the panel also included James L. Moore III of The Ohio State University, Lamont A. Flowers of Clemson University, and Chance W. Lewis of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

Enlarging the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) pipeline in Wisconsin is vital to increasing and maintaining its economic stature, according to a new article co-authored by Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB) Director Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson, Wei LAB Assistant Director Dr. LaVar J. Charleston, and University of Florida Professor of Computer Science Dr. Juan E. Gilbert.

The article, “The Use of Regional Data Collection to Inform University Led Initiatives: The Case of a STEM Education SWOT Analysis,” was published in the Journal of STEM Education: Innovations and Research, Volume 15, Issue 1. The article is based on information retrieved from 192 email interviews with STEM professionals in the M7 region, administered via a web-based data collection site. In it, the authors point out that although science and engineering jobs constitute a growing sector of the United States economy, the number of science and engineering degrees has lagged behind this occupational growth.

In their article, Jackson, Charleston, and Gilbert identify that Wisconsin is nationally ranked 23rd in the number of Ph.D. scientists produced and 26th with regard to the number of Ph.D. engineers produced. Increasing rankings in these areas is perhaps most important in the seven-county region of southeastern Wisconsin (M7), as it accounts for 34% of the state’s workforce and, according to the 2000 Census, is the most racially diverse area of the state. The counties that comprise the M7 region are Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth, Washington, and Waukesha.

Jackson, Charleston, and Gilbert conducted a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis to understand how to: (a) boost student participation in STEM at all educational levels in the M7 region, (b) increase STEM participation in order to bolster industry hiring in the region, (c) convince more STEM graduates to remain in the M7 region and attract STEM professionals on the whole, and (d) gain a greater understanding of the activities or initiatives that cement cooperative relationships among STEM organizations.

As a result of the study, the findings identify that a key component in addressing the state of STEM economic development within the M7 region is directly related to education or the lack thereof. This concern echoes other economic studies that necessitate interventions starting with K-12 education systems, particularly grades 8-10, as they relate to increased exposure and development in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The researchers’ efforts also produced a fully searchable database of STEM programs as a result of the case study’s data collection process. To their knowledge, it is the only STEM program database of its kind within the country, and the functionality of it enables users to quickly and efficiently assess and reassess the state of STEM affairs within the M7 region.

The article not only discusses opportunities for improvement and threats that impede the STEM workforce, but consequently offers seven recommendations for the improvement thereof in the M7 region, organized into foundational efforts and unique opportunities. Foundational efforts are recommendations that are critical but not new, and unique opportunities are recommendations that could position the region as a national center for STEM education and workforce development. The foundational efforts they recommend include increasing the number of underrepresented groups, recruiting from outside the M7 region, and starting as early as possible. The unique opportunities they recommend include strengthening inter-STEM organizational relationships, marketing STEM programs, prioritizing STEM education, and creating a research institute.

In response to a recent task force report to President Barack Obama on My Brother’s Keeper, an initiative that unites the private sector and philanthropic organizations to improve the lives and outcomes of boys and young men of color in the United States, seven university-based research centers including Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB), have collaborated to issue a statement.

The seven centers, which also include the Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education (University of Pennsylvania), the Minority Male Community College Collaborative (San Diego State University), the Morehouse Research Institute (Morehouse College), the Texas Education Consortium for Male Students of Color (University of Texas at Austin), the Todd Anthony Bell National Resource Center on the African American Male (The Ohio State University), and the UCLA Black Male Institute (University of California, Los Angeles), are all research enterprises that rigorously and routinely study factors that enable and limit educational, social, and occupational opportunities for boys and young men of color.

The seven centers praise the importance of effective research-based interventions and are jointly issuing the following statement in response to the task force report:

“As Black and Latino male professors and research center directors, we salute President Obama as well as the philanthropic and private sector funders for their commitment to improving the condition of our nation’s boys and young men of color.

The task force report offers a commendable articulation of challenges and opportunities for young men of color and various agents who play some role in their life outcomes. Recommendations offered therein are appropriately informed by research from multiple academic disciplines.

As the nation prepares to enact recommendations from the task force, we call for programs and services that are guided by research and documented effectiveness. We caution, for example, against the widespread replication of mentoring programs that haphazardly match young men with adults, as evidence concerning the outcomes of such programs is mixed. More significant investment in the dissemination of existing research on what works, as well as funding new studies on promising policies and practices, would help ensure the success of My Brother’s Keeper and the young men it aims to effectively serve.

We urge private foundations and other entities that invest in projects associated with My Brother’s Keeper to take seriously the evidence base of projects that are proposed, as well as rigorous evaluations of newly funded projects that aim to improve outcomes for boys and young men of color. The success of the initiative depends heavily on the quality of research produced about its effectiveness.

My Brother’s Keeper affords our country an important opportunity to reframe hopeless, deficit-oriented narratives about young men of color, schools that educate them, and communities in which they live. We are hopeful that the initiative will produce replicable models of success. Doing so requires more investment in research on what works.”

Dr. Sharon L. Holmes, an associate professor at Binghamton University in New York, spoke at the University of Wisconsin–Madison on April 17, 2014 as part of her visit to campus as a Wei LAB Visiting Scholar.

Holmes, the founding chair of the Department of Student Affairs Administration in Binghamton’s College of Community and Public Administration, is a nationally recognized scholar whose research focuses on issues related to equity and access of African American women and students in higher education.

Holmes’ lecture at UW–Madison was titled “The Developmental Process of Identity in African American Females: When Race, Class, Gender, and the Environmental Context are Mitigating Influences.” Her visit was sponsored by the Wei LAB.

Wei LAB Director and Chief Research Scientist, Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson was acknowledged as a 2014 Outstanding Educator by the 100 Black Men of Madison at the organization’s annual awards breakfast on May 10.

100 Black Men of Madison was founded in 1994 to “improve the quality of life within our communities and enhance educational and economic opportunities for all African Americans,” according to the organization’s website. It has awarded honors in education since 2011 to educators in the Madison metropolitan area who have made positive differences in the lives of the city’s children.

Jackson was honored for his contributions to the improvement of African American student learning and for his leadership in education development of African American youth.

Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB) Director Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson participated in a panel on Thursday, April 3, 2014 that investigated the role Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HCBUs) can play in expanding college access to black men.

The panel, co-hosted by the White House Initiative on HBCUs, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the Journal of Negro Education, and the Wei LAB, took place in Philadelphia in advance of the 2014 AERA Annual Meeting.

Panelists included Jackson, Ohio State Professor of Urban Education James L. Moore III, University of North Carolina–Charlotte Professor of Urban Education Chance W. Lewis, Clemson University Professor of Educational Leadership Lamont A. Flowers, and Howard Univesrity Associate Professor of Counseling Pscyhology Ivory A. Toldson, who also serves as deputy director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs.

The event’s participants discussed the latest research on the subject of black males in higher education and examined how education researchers can use federal resources to help young males of color.

Twice in the past two months, the work and life of Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson, director of Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory, have been featured prominently in media outlets with national reach.

On February 18, an article in Diverse Issues in Higher Education explored the impact of a cadre of prominent academics, including Jackson, who have worked both individually and collectively to study the status of African-Americans throughout the educational pipeline. The article was the most popular story on Diverse Issues’ website and social media in February, despite being published late in the month.

In the article, Dr. Ivory A. Toldson, the deputy director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, lauds the work of Jackson and Dr. Lamont A. Flowers, Dr. Juan E. Gilbert, Dr. Chance W. Lewis and Dr. James L. Moore III.

“Collectively [they] have changed the paradigm of success in the academy,” Toldson said. “Not only are they prolific scholars, but they are also dedicated social advocates who are assertive and unapologetic about creating opportunities for the Black community. They exude the intelligence, confidence and charisma to influence systems, and the patience and genuineness to effectively mentor a cross section of students.”

On March 6, a profile on Jackson appeared on the home page of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where Jackson is the Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education. The article follows Jackson’s path from being the first member of his family to attend college, through his following the footsteps of George Washington Carver to attend graduate school at Iowa State University, to eventually becoming the first African American in UW–Madison’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis to earn tenure and as the first to gain a named professorship.

The article lauds Jackson’s involvement in a half-dozen major projects, including an exploration of glass-ceiling effects in academia, an initiative to encourage more African American students to pursue computer science, and a survey of hiring practices in Division I, II, and III athletic departments.

According to the article, “Jackson is known for barraging unwitting collaborators with phone calls, text messages, or emails at all hours of the day or night, sharing his excitement about a new idea or impatiently seeking an answer to a suddenly pressing question. He refuses to settle for a good discussion, demanding from himself and his colleagues ‘actionable solutions to change the world.”

Photo: UW-Communications/Jeff Miller

Mauriell Amechi, a Research Associate at the Wei LAB, was recently named to the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Search and Screen Committee for Diversity and Climate.

Amechi was appointed by the university’s Shared Governance Leadership Team following a competitive application process. He will represent the graduate student body on the committee, which has the immediate duty of identifying, researching, and interviewing candidates for the open position of Vice Provost and Chief Diversity Officer in the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Educational Achievement at UW–Madison.

Amechi, a Ph.D. student in UW-Madison’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, studies the experiences and educational pathways of first-generation, low-income, and racial minority students, with a special emphasis on foster care youth and their college.

Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson has been named the inaugural speaker for the Distinguished Scholar/Mentor Lecture Series at the University of Miami’s Graduate School.

Jackson is the Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at UW-Madison, coordinator of the Higher, Postsecondary, and Continuing Education Program, a WISCAPE Faculty Affiliate, and director of Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB).

Jackson’s planned lecture for his University of Miami visit is entitled “Ethnic and Racial Administrative Diversity: Understanding Work Life Realities and Experience in Higher Education.” It will explore how policymakers, administrators, faculty, researchers, and governing boards can better understand the work life realities and experiences of administrators of color in higher and postsecondary education. The talk will also discuss the enhancement of leadership possibilities for people of color in higher education.

Jackson’s lecture is free and open to the public, and will take place from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Friday, March 7, in the Alumni Center of the Bruce and Robbi Toll Alumni Library at 6200 San Amaro Drive in Coral Gables, FL.

In addition to his presentation, Jackson will meet with graduate students and faculty during the visit. According to Dr. Brian Blake, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Miami, Jackson was selected both for his research on higher education and for his reputation for mentoring graduate students and faculty as they matriculate administrative roles in academia.

Wei LAB Director and Chief Research Scientist Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson has been selected to serve on the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s National Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) Advisory Council, a new initiative intended to guide the clubs’ STEAM programming and collaborations. He will serve on the council along with a roster of expert advisors from public and privation higher education institutions.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of America will consult with its STEAM Advisory Council in the creation of a strategic plan for its STEAM programming. Specific goals the organization has outlined for the council include best practices within STEAM programming with K-12 youth; best practices within youth development and out-of-school time; models for partnerships, particularly between clubs and industry; and implementation of the new STEAM initiative both within the clubs’ structure and at local clubs, including training staff, measuring outcomes and ensuring program sustainability.

Jackson and other advisory council members will attend an annual meeting and participate in quarterly conference calls, and are invited to attend a STEAM Great Think event in Silicon Valley, CA. The first meeting of the council is scheduled for January 29, 2014, in Atlanta, GA.
According to its invitational letter, “The work of the National STEAM Advisory Council will have a far-reaching impact on providing STEAM experiences to young people across the country.”

Wei LAB Director and Chief Research Scientist Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson will speak at a national summit taking place at the University of Michigan’s National Center for Institutional Diversity on January 29 and 30, 2015.

The summit is designed to examine existing and future efforts to ensure the postsecondary success of young men of color in the United States. Over two days, participants seek solutions to better align research, policies, and practices to further the impact of initiatives aimed at ensuring the postsecondary success of young men of color in the United States.

According to National Center for Institutional Diversity, the meeting “will engage scholars, institutional leaders, foundation representatives, community leaders, and students with the ultimate intent of identifying shared sources of influence and determining how it might best be leveraged for genuine, lasting change.”

Jackson was chosen by the center to attend due to his long-standing success and commitment to advancing the success of young men of color, according to the center. Additionally, he served as the NCID’s first Visiting Scholar in 2008-09, while on sabbatical from UW-Madison.

Wei LAB’s Director Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson and Assistant Director Dr. LaVar J. Charleston traveled to Montego Bay, Jamaica November 5-8, 2014, to participate in the International Conference on Urban Education. The event, hosted by the Urban Education Collaborative, housed in the College of Education at the University of North Carolina–Charlotte, gathered stakeholders, government officials, business leaders, faith-based officials, healthcare providers, and non-governmental organizations dedicated to improving urban education globally. The Wei LAB and the International Colloquium on Black Males in Education were co-sponsors of the event.

On November 6, a panel of scholars, including Charleston and chaired by Jackson, discussed the role of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in shaping the lives of school-aged Black males. The panel discussed ways in which HBCUs have the potential to play a major role in expanding college access, particularly for black males. Additionally, panelists provided examples of policy solutions for HBCUs to resolve inequities in U.S. public schools that impede academic progress, as well as how HBCUs can use civic engagement to provide schools, parents, policymakers, and community leaders with strategies to support Black males in schools.

On November 7, the UW-Madison School of Education’s Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings delivered the luncheon keynote address, “Hip Hop/Hip Hope: The (R)Evolution of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy.”

On November 8, Jackson chaired another panel, featuring Charleston and others, discussing the effects of media on the scholar identity development of Black males. The aimed to uncover solutions to new challenges, driven by media perceptions, in preparing Black male students to develop, embrace, and sustain an identity focused on scholarly aspirations.

Wei LAB Assistant Director and Senior Research Associate Dr. LaVar J. Charleston’s September 9, 2014 webinar on African Americans in STEM and the computing sciences is available for download.

The talk, organized by the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) was part of the CIRTLCast Series, which explores topics in science, technology, engineering, and math education. The title of his talk was, “Cultivating African American Undergraduate and Graduate Student STEM Career Choice and Aspirations.”

The CIRTLCast session recording is available to be downloaded online.

Charleston’s talk explored the issues that play into an African American students’ decision to pursue a degree in computing science, with a particular focus on the factors that are salient to degree attainment. Charleston also discussed pipeline programs for creating and supporting African Americans in STEM fields through graduate degree completion. The webinar concluded with a question and answer session.

Wei LAB Director and Chief Research Scientist Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson served as a faculty member for the annual Leadership and Mentoring Institute (LMI) from July 6-13, 2014 at Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama.

The LMI is run by the American Association of Blacks in Higher Education (AABHE). The purpose of the LMI is to “support African-Americans who want to acquire information and skills to prepare them for senior administrative and faculty ranks,” according to its website.

Jackson’s session, titled “Planning for Success: Being Strategic about the Promotion and Tenure Process,” aims to teach participants how to develop a strategic plan for the promotion and tenure process and discuss strategies for making linkages between teaching, research, and service and what is valued at institutions. His session took place from 10:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on July 8.

Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson, Director and Chief Research Scientist of the Wei LAB, spoke at Cardinal Stritch University’s Summer Institute on June 19, 2014 at the Kliebhan Conference Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Attendees included Cardinal Stritch University doctoral students with backgrounds in a variety of fields, such as education, business, health care, and nonprofit management. The title of Jackson’s lecture was “Data Sources and their Links to Knowledge Claims.”

Students attending the two-week Summer Institute are seeking a Doctorate in Leadership for the Advancement of Learning and Service in Higher Education. The program is “designed for current and aspiring leaders working in two- and four-year colleges and universities and community and technical colleges who seek to be a catalyst for meaningful change within their organization,” according to Cardinal Stritch University’s website.

Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson, Director and Chief Research Scientist of Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB), spoke at the Athletes Development Institute Community Reception as a guest panelist on June 18, 2014, at the Fluno Center in Madison, WI.

The panel, concurrent with its theme “Athletes’ Transitions: Achieving Success on Every Level,” aimed to “provide a holistic discussion of the transitions to, through, and beyond college and professional sport,” according to its website. Moderated by University of Wisconsin Law School graduate Valyncia Raphael, the panel took place from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

This year’s guest panelists include Dr. Jackson, who in addition to his work with Wei LAB is the Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as Ashton Henderson, co-author of Beyond the Gridiron: How to Successfully Transition into Collegiate Football, and Dr. George Koonce Jr., former Green Bay Packers linebacker and Vice President of the Office of Advancement at Marian University.

Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson, Director and Chief Research Scientist of Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB), spoke to a group of high school students from the Robert M. La Follette High School in Madison, WI, at a special event on May 9, 2014.

Jackson addressed 23 students participating in Madison’s AVID/TOPS program, a college preparatory program run jointly by the Madison Metropolitan School District and the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County. He discussed his life experiences, personal motivations, his involvement in issues of diversity and inclusion at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and offered advice on the importance of a college education.

A recent assessment of Madison’s AVID/TOPS program found participating students generally had higher grade-point averages, earned more advanced placement credits, and increased high school graduation rates. AVID, or Advancement Via Individual Determination, aims to improve the readiness of students in the academic middle, many of whom come from low-income households and racial or ethnic groups historically underrepresented in postsecondary education. TOPS, or Teens of Promise, provides summer career opportunities, mentors, and college field trips and tutorials.

The University of Wisconsin–Whitewater’s inaugural Student Success Symposium featured Wei LAB Director and Chief Research Scientist Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson and Assistant Dean of UW-Madison’s College of Letters and Sciences and Director for the Center of Academic Excellence LeDeVon Levell Wilson.

The event, which took place Monday, April 21, and Tuesday, April 22, 2014 included meetings with faculty, staff, and students, discussions on academic and administrative affairs, and athletics.

Other speakers included William Keyes, the Director of the Institute for Responsible Citizenship, and Henry T. Frierson, Associate Vice President and Dean of the University of Florida Graduate School.

Wei LAB Director and Chief Research Scientist Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson, presented a lecture on the state of black males in education at the University of North Carolina–Charlotte on March 24, 2014.

Jackson spoke as part of the Urban Education Distinguished Lecture Series, organized by UNC–Charlotte’s Urban Education Collaborative. The goal of the Collaborative is “to serve as a central ‘hub and repository’ of empirically-based research and other valuable resources to improve urban schools in the state of North Carolina and the nation,” according to its website.

Jackson’s lecture is titled, “The State of Black Males in Education: Lessons from Research and Implications for Schools and Society.”

In addition to his lecture, during his two-day visit, Jackson met with university officials in administrative roles in the College of Education, Student Affairs, and Multicultural Services. He also hosted a fireside chat with graduate students at the university, focused on “Making the Most of your Graduate School Experience in Preparation for a Career in the Professoriate.”

Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB) Director and Chief Research Scientist Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson spoke at the Bell National Resource Center’s Black Male Retreat, that took place February 28 through March 2, 2014 in Mt. Sterling, Ohio.

The Bell National Resource Center is part of The Ohio State University’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Founded in 2004, the center seeks to examine and address critical issues in society affecting African American males. It has hosted its Black Male Retreat annually since 2009.

This year’s speakers include Dr. Jackson, who in addition to his work with Wei LAB is the Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as Dr. Hasan K. Jeffries, an Associate Professor of history at Ohio State, and Dr. Bryant T. Marks, an Associate Professor of psychology at Morehouse College.

More information on the retreat can be found here.