I am a candidate for Grand Sire Archon-Elect this June and I would be honored to receive the vote of you and your Member Boulés’ delegates. Since being inducted into Sigma Pi Phi in 1992, I have been very active at the Grand and Member Boulé levels. I know some of you well and it is very likely that I have met others of you at the previous 12 Grand Boulés or this past summer and fall at the five Regional Boulés. I have been an effective college administrator, having served successfully for the last 19 years as president of two institutions, University of Detroit Mercy (MI) and Gannon University (PA), and the previous 20 years as a tenured professor, Dean, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at Howard University, my alma mater, and Xavier University of Louisiana.

As you will see in my biographical profile and informational sheet, I am the author of 11 books and more than 90 chapters and articles, many of which focus on Black males, the status of African Americans in urban and higher education, Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other relevant topics. Some of those articles have been reprinted in The Boulé Journal, including my 2007 article, “The Educational Status of African American Males in the 21st Century,” which was originally published in Howard University’s Journal of Negro Education and summarizes my 1987-88 New Orleans Study on Black Males. One of my more recent publications, “The Expanding Gender and Racial Gap in American Higher Education,” originally published in 2014 in Howard University‘s Journal of Negro Education (Vol. 83, No. 3) and reprinted in Summer 2015 in The Boulé Journal (Vol.79, No. 2) addresses a core theme of my campaign, namely, increasing the number of African American males and females who enroll in and graduate from college, graduate and professional schools. Additionally, a summary of the panel presentations and speeches of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Forum II that my Grand Committee on HBCUs and Postsecondary Education Access organized in April at Morehouse College was published in the Summer 2019 issue. The opening and closing speeches and panel sessions are also currently available on Sigma Pi Phi Boulé TV.

I am very active in Detroit, currently serving on more than a dozen local and national boards, just as I was in New Orleans, Washington, DC and Erie, PA. And I have co-founded an economic development organization that supports the needs of and works closely with neighborhood residents and businesses near one of my three campuses.

I would like to use my experience and talents to serve Sigma Pi Phi at a higher level so that we Archons can make an even more profound impact on our youth, our communities and the world. I respectfully request your vote for Grand Sire Archon-Elect in June 2020!