The Black College Mystique

This study compares the educational goals and cultures of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) of a generation ago with those that exist today. The authors also analyze the personal characteristics of the presidents of these institutions and outline their alternative career pathways. They conclude by suggesting some action strategies for presidents and boards of HBCUs. The authors are affiliated with the graduate school of education at Harvard U. The volume is not indexed. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Charles Vert Willie, Ph.D., is the Charles W. Eliot Professor of Education Emeritus at the Graduate School of Education, Harvard University. Before his Harvard appointment in 1974, he served as Chairman of the Department of Sociology and Vice President of Syracuse University. Professor Willie earned a Ph.D. degree from Syracuse University, a M.A. degree from Atlanta University, and a B.A. degree from Morehouse College. The latter two schools are historically black institutions. A past Vice President of the American Sociological Association, he has received the Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award from this professional organization in 2005, and the Distinguished Career Contribution Award from the Committee on the Role and Status of Minorities in Educational Research and Development of the American Educational Research Association in 1990. Professor Willie is co-editor (with Ron Edmonds) of Black Colleges in America, co-author (with Michael Grady and Richard Hope) of African Americans and the Doctoral Experience, and author of The Ivory and Ebony Towers.

Richard J. Reddick is an advanced doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. A former teacher and student affairs administrator, Reddick is the co-author of A New Look at Black Families, Fifth Edition with Charles V. Willie (AltaMira Press, 2003) and co-editor of Legacies of Brown: Multiracial Equity in American Education with Dorinda J. Carter and Stella M. Flores (Harvard Education Review, 2004). Reddick is a Spencer Research Training Grant recipient, teaching fellow for courses in higher education and school leadership, former editor of the Harvard Educational Review, and former tri-chair of the Harvard Graduate School of Education Alumni of Color Conference. A native Texas, Reddick is a 1995 Distinguished Graduate of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin and earned an Ed.M. at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1998. His current research centers on