John K. Pierre and Dr. Charity R. Welch
Why Historically Black Colleges and Universities Are Needed in the 21st Century
Introduction There are currently more than one hundred Historically Black Colleges and Universities HBCUs) in the United States.5 Approximately half of the HBCUs are publicly funded and half are privately funded. At the beginning of the twenty-first century HBCUs comprised only three percent of the nation’s two and four-year higher education institutions, but they produced twenty-eight percent of all bachelor degrees, fifteen percent of all master degrees and seventeen percent of all first professional degrees earned by African Americans. During that same period, HBCUs enrolled approximately twenty-six percent of African Americans attending four-year colleges or universities.6
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Biographies:
John K. Pierre has been on the law faculty of the Southern University Law Center since 1990 and was promoted to vice chancellor in 2006. Pierre is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association and the Texas Bar Association. He has previous teaching experience as a visiting and adjunct professor at California State University, Southern Methodist University School of Law, Loyola University Law School, Southern University College of Business, Saint Leo's College, Webster University, Louisiana State University, and Baton Rouge Community College. He received the bachelor's degree in accounting from Southern University in 1980, a master's degree in tax accounting from Texas Tech University in 1982, and a juris doctor degree from Southern Methodist University School of Law in 1985. Pierre has published numerous articles on tax law, sales and contracts, real estate and commercial law, ranging from magazine features to legal journal and law review articles. Charity R. Welch, Ph.D. Is the Director of Graduate Education Programs at the Van Loan School of Graduate and Professional Education at Endicott College. Dr. Welch is a dynamic and highly regarded research scholar with a profound ability in transferring education and social science research into meaningful practice. Her primary areas of focus include teacher preparation and increasing the pool of diverse teachers for twenty first century classrooms. She was previously employed as the assistant director of Special Education at Measured Progress where she led teams responsible for developing and implementing large scale state alternate assessment contracts in Florida, New Hampshire, Mississippi, Maine and Rhode Island. She has also served as Associate Professor at Coppin State University, Executive Assistant to the President at Suffolk Community College and Executive Assistant to the Superintendent in D.C. Public Schools. Dr. Welch earned her Ph.D. in Education from the Curry School of Education at the University of the Virginia where she was a Doctoral Fellow. While completing her Doctorate, she twice served a facilitator at the Harvard Graduate School of Education Summer institute for Special Education Administrators. |