Note: Today’s blog post is co-authored with Nelson Bowman III, the Director of Development at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) in Texas. PVAMU is a historically Black university.

If you take a look at many of the fundraising and admissions brochures for our nation’s HBCU's, one thing becomes clear: Sports and the marching band are valued. There is nothing wrong with having school spirit and valuing athletic competition. Likewise, HBCU's have boasted amazing marching bands for decades. However, sports and the marching band should be ancillary to academics in truth and image. Although sports are often a window into the college or university experience for potential students, as the NCAA has mentioned in their recent ad campaign, the majority of student athletes “go pro” in something other than sports. All institutions of higher education should emphasize academics first.

Yes, the...

I just returned from South Africa—a country I have visited for the past nine years every summer.  With me were 23 doctoral students all studying American higher education. As part of their doctoral program, they participate in a two-credit course on South African higher education, history, and culture. I have been teaching this course for many years, but am continually intrigued by my students' reactions to discussions of race in South Africa. I thought I'd share some of their reactions. As you read, please keep in mind that this is a diverse student group, with Black, White, and Latino students of various ages, faiths, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Over the years, I've also taken Asian and Native American students with me to South Africa.

One of the first reactions my students have takes place right after being introduced to some South Africans. You see, many South Africans will...

I am here in South Africa with 23 of our Penn higher education doctoral students. I take students to South Africa every summer to study higher education, history and culture in this context.

Yesterday we were at the University of Cape Town (UCT) listening to Cal Volks, the Director of the HIV/AIDS Coordination Unit, discuss the institution's work with HIV positive students. Before beginning her talk, she asked my students if they knew how many people had HIV/AIDS in the United States; she wondered if we knew the percentage of our population. Not one of my students could answer her question.  

In South Africa, 5.7 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS; the country's total population is roughly 47 million. Among young women, ages 25-29, one in three are HIV positive and over a quarter of men between ages 30-34 are living with HIV/AIDS. Given these numbers, South African universities ...

Here I sit in Denver, Colorado. Tomorrow, I go home and then to New York City for a meeting the next day. After that, I fly to South Africa for a few weeks. I travel a lot. I'm not complaining. I love travel and being a professor. But, today, as I sat next to a woman on the plane, I thought about all of the crazy things that people have said to me while I'm traveling for work. Here's how the scenario typically unfolds:

I sit down and get settled. The plane sits on the runway for a long time as all planes do these days. Although I travel constantly, I am terribly afraid. The only way I can get through my fear is to work non-stop once the plane takes off. It's the time in between sitting down and taking off that is always fascinating. So, as I was saying …I sit down and usually smile at the person next to me. I can't help it, I'm friendly. We exchange pleasantries. My seat companion then ...

Last week I wrote a blog entry about the good things happening at a small Black college in Dallas, TX -- Paul Quinn College. In response, one of the blog readers called me a cheerleader for HBCUs. Although in the 10 years I've been a professor -- writing op-eds and blog posts for many of those years -- I've never responded to an anonymous critique, I thought I would in this case. Just for fun!

I have been conducting rigorous research related to HBCUs for the past 15 years. During this time, I have been supportive of HBCUs when they do good work and critical of them when they don't. In the case of Paul Quinn College, based on my past research and knowledge of HBCUs, they are doing good work. The president is working diligently to change the lives and experiences of the students at the institution. If this weren't the case, I would be critical as I have been in the past of Paul Quinn and ...

As the majority of my research pertains to historically black colleges and universities, I constantly watch what's going on with these institutions. I have a Google alert on the term HBCU as well as the individual institutions so I can stay up to date. By and large, news stories tend to be negative when they are about HBCUs—a fact about which I have written a peer-reviewed article and about which I have spoken publicly. I think some of the media attention is a bit more balanced as of late—a bit—but it could still be better. That said, there are so many positive stories about HBCUs that we rarely hear because no one covers them. I thought I'd write today about an HBCU in Dallas, Texas, Paul Quinn College.

Most people wrote the institution off a couple years ago, but it, and its president Michael Sorrell, are survivors. The school is located in a low-income area of Dallas and has roughly ...

In 2008, I co-edited a book with Benjamin Baez and Caroline Sotello Turner titled Understanding Minority Serving Institutions. One chapter in the book, authored by Robert Terenishi and Julie Park, focused on Asian American, Pacific Islander Serving Institutions. As a result of including this chapter, I was asked to serve as an adviser at a recent summit focused on these institutions. The summit took place this week in Washington.

One of the most interesting aspects of the conference was the diversity of the participants. The organizer, Neil Horikoshi, made sure to be inclusive when inviting speakers, advisers, and participants. He drew from the expertise of those who work with Hispanic Serving Institutions and Black Colleges and Universities. From my perspective, this was an important strategy. As there is much misunderstanding about the Asian-American student population and its needs, ...

Sometimes we professors pride ourselves on not doing the things that "others" do.  For a long time, many professors would brag that they didn't own a T.V.  They were above that.  I admit that I'm secretly proud that I own only one T.V. and I don't live and die by it.  I'd much rather live life than watch it. 

Sometimes professor-parents pride themselves on not letting their children do the things that "most" kids do or brag about providing their children with constant learning experiences that will make them smarter.  Okay, I also admit that I like to expose my daughter to lots of cultural activities and travel.  However, I'm happy to say that I don't pressure her to be a brainiac.

In the early 2000s, I remember some of my professor friends (okay, I was one of them) working very hard to avoid using a cell phone.  We did not need to have cell phones because we didn't have them in the...

About a week ago, I had a long conversation with a friend. He is pretty successful in his job—makes a fair salary and garners respect in his place of employment (a university). He and his family have a nice home and lots of good friends. During our conversation, we began to talk about the impact that we have on the world, or at least our small part of it. Outside of raising a child, he wasn't sure what kind of impact he was having and, in fact, had not thought about it in the past. Admittedly, most of his life had been spent having a good time—"partying."

When I asked him about his long-term goals, he didn't have any. When I probed him about going to graduate school, he responded that he had thought about it but just never did. Although my friend is nearly a half a century old and graduated at the top of his college class, he had stopped his intellectual discovery with college. ...

This past week I attended a symposium on Historically Black Colleges and Universities hosted by North Carolina Central University and its chancellor, Charlie Nelms. Nelms is a down-to-earth, innovative leader who is serious about the future of HBCU's. He is not about business as usual and neither was his symposium. Over the past 14 years that I have conducted research related to HBCU's, I've attended many, many conferences on these important institutions. Many of the same questions surface—about funding, fund-raising, graduation rates, retention. However, oftentimes speakers and conference-goers relive the past history of these institutions rather than thinking about the future. 

The current economic crisis in the United States has shone a light on the problems faced by HBCU's. In addition, President Obama's focus on results and accountability has pushed many HBCU leaders to face the...