TheUnited Negro College Fund, also known as UNCF, is an American philanthropic organization that funds scholarships for underrepresented students and general operating support for 37 private Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In 1943, Dr. Frederick D. Patterson wrote to The Pittsburgh Courier proposing the creation of an alliance of Black colleges that would raise money for their mutual benefit. UNCF was founded on April 25, 1944, under the leadership of Dr. Patterson, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, and others on the belief that there is strength in numbers—that HBCUs ought to make a joint effort to appeal for funds—as well as the belief that education was crucial to Black economic and social mobility. At the start, UNCF served 27 member colleges and universities, totaling 12,000 students. Its first campaign received the support of many prominent Americans including President Franklin D. Roosevelt and John D. Rockefeller, II. During its first annual campaign, the collective effort raised $765,000, equivalent to $10 million today, which is three times what its member institutions had raised separately the previous year.
The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I for most sports; in football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly referred to as Division I-AA.
Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in operation since 1923. CSU absorbed the Cleveland-Marshall School of Law in 1969. Today it is part of the University System of Ohio, has more than 120,000 alumni, and offers over 200 academic programs amongst eight colleges. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio, United States. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
Willie James Wells, nicknamed "the Devil", was an American baseball player. He was a shortstop who played from 1924 to 1948 for various teams in the Negro leagues and in Latin America.
The Atlanta University Center Consortium is a collaboration between four historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in southwest Atlanta, Georgia: Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College, Morehouse College, and the Morehouse School of Medicine. It is the oldest and largest contiguous consortium of African-American higher education institutions in the United States. The consortium structure allows for students to cross-register at the other institutions in order to attain a broader collegiate experience. They also share the Robert W. Woodruff Library, a dual degree engineering program, and career planning and placement services and the AUC Data Science Initiative.
Frederick Douglass Patterson was an American academic administrator, the president of what is now Tuskegee University (1935–1953), and founder of the United Negro College Fund. He was a 1987 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, and 1988 recipient of the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP.
Huston–Tillotson University (HT) is a private historically black university in Austin, Texas. Established in 1875, Huston–Tillotson University was the first institution of higher learning in Austin. The university is affiliated with the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, and the United Negro College Fund. Huston–Tillotson University awards bachelor's degrees in business, education, the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, science, and technology and a master's degree in educational leadership. The university also offers alternative teacher certification and academic programs for undergraduates interested in pursuing post-graduate degrees in law and medicine.
Ruth Simmons is an American professor and academic administrator. Simmons served as the eighth president of Prairie View A&M University, a HBCU, from 2017 until 2023. From 2001 to 2012, she served as the 18th president of Brown University, where she was the first African American president of an Ivy League institution. While there, Simmons was named, best college president by Time magazine. Before Brown University, she headed Smith College, one of the Seven Sisters and the largest women's college in the United States, beginning in 1995. There, during her presidency, the first accredited program in engineering was started at an all-women's college.
The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a 152-acre (62 ha) campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, the Gardens at Newfields, the Beer Garden, and more. It is located at the corner of North Michigan Road and West 38th Street, about three miles north of downtown Indianapolis, northwest of Crown Hill Cemetery. There are exhibitions, classes, tours, and events, many of which change seasonally. The entire campus and organization was previously referred to as the Indianapolis Museum of Art, but in 2017 the campus and organization were renamed "Newfields" as part of a branding campaign. The "Indianapolis Museum of Art" now specifically refers to the main art museum building that acts as the cornerstone of the campus, as well as the legal name of the organization doing business as Newfields.
Inez Beverly Prosser was a psychologist, teacher and school administrator. She is often regarded as the first African-American female to receive a Ph.D in psychology. Her work was very influential in the hallmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling. After growing up in Texas, Prosser was educated at Prairie View Normal College, the University of Colorado and the University of Cincinnati. She was killed in a car accident a short time after earning her doctorate.
Denise M. Trauth is the ninth president of Texas State University. On June 11, 2002, Texas State Board of Regents voted unanimously in favor of Trauth beginning her term as President.
Charles Lane Venable is an American art curator and museum director. Early in his career, he published multiple articles and books on American art history, including on the history of silverware and furniture. Starting in 1986, Venable was a curator at the Dallas Museum of Art, before moving to the Cleveland Museum of Art in 2002, and the Speed Art Museum in 2007, where he served as the director. In 2012, Venable became the director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which was renamed to "Newfields" under a rebranding effort he initiated. Venable served as the head of the museum until 2021, when he stepped down from the role amidst calls for his removal.
Jeff Wilson is an American academic and serial startup entrepreneur. The pseudonym Professor Dumpster is based upon his role as part of 'The Dumpster Project', an educational and minimalist living experiment that transformed a trash dumpster into a fully sustainable home. Wilson lived in the dumpster over the course of the yearlong project.
James Andrew Harris was an American radiochemist who was involved in the discovery of elements 104 and 105. Harris was the head of the Heavy Isotopes Production Group, part of the Nuclear Chemistry Division of University of California-Berkeley. Harris is known for being the first African American to contribute to the discovery of new elements.
Jennie Hwang is an international businesswoman, entrepreneur, engineer, scientist, author, and speaker. She is the national president of the Surface Mount Technology Association, head of H-Technologies Group and the first woman to receive a PhD from Case Western Reserve University in Materials Science and Engineering.
Wilhelmina Ruth Delco is an American politician who served in the Texas House of Representatives. She was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame in 1986.
William Astor Kirk was a professor, author, a church lay leader and a social activist who worked for racial equality, gay rights, and to end segregation in the United Methodist Church. He also served in the Office of Economic Opportunity, after being appointed by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. A contemporary of Heman Sweatt he sought equal access to higher education at the University of Texas and eventually was the first African-American to be awarded a political science doctorate by UT.
Melva K. Wallace is an American academic administrator specialized in emotional intelligence development. She has served as the seventh president and chief executive officer of Huston–Tillotson University since 2022.
