JSU to host lecture series on black males in post-secondary instititions

March 29, 2011

jsu_logo200.jpg Jackson, Mississippi- The Medgar Evers/ Ella Baker Civil Rights Lecture Series in cooperation with The Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy, The Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, and The Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University continues social discussions.
The sixth lecture of the 2010-2011 Medgar Evers/ Ella Baker Civil Rights Lecture Series—“A Growing Decline of Black Males in Post-Secondary Institutions: An Educational Conundrum””—will be held Thursday, April 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center located at 528 Bloom Street, Jackson, Mississippi 39202.
The enrollment of black males in higher education has not improved, despite many efforts to recruit and retain them. Although black female enrollment increased by 126 percent between 1976 and 2002, black male enrollment increased by only 51 percent.
In Mississippi, Black males made up only 11.7 % of students enrolled in Mississippi’s public university system in 2008, compared with 24.4 % Black females. Approximately one in four African-American males between the ages of 20 and 29 are incarcerated, on probation, or on parole; only one in five is enrolled in a two or four-year college program.
What steps can we take to reclaim the African American male in the education pipeline? How can social institutions develop a system to attract more black men to higher education and to help them succeed? The panelists— Dr. Alfred Rankins, Jr., Assistant Commissioner for Academic and Student Affairs, Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning; Dr. Marcus Chanay, Associate Vice President for Division of Student Life, Jackson State University; Mr. Albert Sykes, Coordinator with Young Peoples Project, Jackson, Mississippi, and Dr. Nikisha G. Ware, Executive Director, Mississippi Learning Institute; will explore this subject during the session on Thursday, April 14, 2011 at 6:30pm at the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center.
For details, call The Hamer Institute at (601) 979-1562, 601-979-1563 or email: hamer.institute@jsums.edu.