Description: The Georgia National Conference on Blacks in Higher Education was organized to develop strategies to deal with the problems of recruiting, promoting, and retaining African-American faculty members within the University System of Georgia. Between the years 1988-1990, three conferences were held. Although a fourth conference was planned, it was never held. The conference was sponsored by Kennesaw State College, through the Continuing Education Program. The conference was founded by: Rodney Dennis, Assistant Professor of Psychology and conference chair, Harold Wingfield, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Rosa Bobia, Assistant Professor of Psychology. Professor Wingfield and Professor Bobia, were conference co-chairs.

Dr. Harold Wingfield and Dr. Rosa Bobia are now professors with Kennesaw State University. Dr. Wingfield is a Professor of Political Science. Dr. Bobia is the Director, Program of African and African Diaspora Studies (PAADS) and Professor of French.

The first conference, Georgia National Conference of Blacks in Higher Education: Examining the Issues for Proactive Strategies, was held April 28 and 29, 1988 in Atlanta, Georgia.

This conference won a regional “Program of Excellence” award from the National University Continuing Education Association (NUCEA). In addition, the conference garnered a national NUCEA award for the creativity of the program. This award honored the conference founders, Harold Wingfield, Rosa Bobia, and Rodney Dennis.

The second conference, Impacting the Decision Makers: Beyond Discussion Toward Implementation was held May 4-6, 1989, in Atlanta, Georgia. This conference was aimed at developing strategies for implementing the recommendations for improvement that resulted from the first conference.

The third conference, Higher Education in the 21st Century, Examining Models of Success in the Multicultural Environment, was held May 3-5, 1990. The third conference was designed to provide educators with successful models of multi-cultural diversity that could be adapted or modified to fit the needs of an individual campus.

The fourth conference, The Multicultural Imperative: Achieving Legitimacy through Empowerment, was originally scheduled for October, 1991. The second attempt at the conference was October, 1993. The final attempt at the conference was October, 1995. The fourth conference was never held. Documentation from the collection indicates the conference was cancelled for several reasons. Among these are, lack of funding, conflicts with the Continuing Education Department, lack of university support, and lack of recognition.

This conference collection includes correspondence, publicity, reference materials, pre-conference materials, and conference materials from all four conferences. Audio-visual materials: audio-cassettes and video cassettes are available from the third conference.

Series: This collection consists of seven series

Series 1: Audio-visual Materials
Series 2: Georgia First National Conference on Blacks in Higher Education, April 28 and 29, 1988
Series 3: Georgia Second National Conference on Blacks in Higher Education, May 4, 5, and 6, 1989
Series 4: Georgia Third National Conference on Blacks in Higher Education, May 3, 4, and 5, 1990
Series 5: Georgia Fourth National Conference on Blacks in Higher Education {1991,1993,1995}
Series 6: Related Materials on African Americans in Higher Education
Series 7: Mailing Lists

Title: Series 1: Audio-visual Materials
Date: May 3, 4, and 5, 1990
Description: Audio cassettes (88), floppy disks (9), and video cassettes (31)
Extent: 2 boxes
Container Listing: Box #1: Audio Cassettes and Floppy Disks

Audio Cassettes
1. Complete Set of Conference Lectures (33 Cassettes - 3 boxed set)
2. Additional Copies of Select Conference Lectures (Cassettes 34-55)
3. #14 Perspectives on Black Faculty, 1:30 Session (Cassettes 56 and 71)
4. A National Perspective (Cassette 57)
5. Being Black and A Woman in Higher Education (Cassette 58)
6. Models of Collaboration (Cassette 59)
7. Including Minority Access in Administration Positions (Cassette 60)
8. Mastering Stress in the Work Place (Cassette 61)
9. Locating and Recruiting Black Faculty (Cassette 62)
10. #16 Perspectives on Black Students (Cassettes 63 and 72)
11. Racism in Academia: A White Problem (Cassettes 64 and 66)
12. The Administrative Role in Recruitment and Retention (Cassette 65)
13. Concurrent (Cassette 67)
14. Patricia Russell McCloud (Cassettes 68-70)
15. Unobtrusive-Obtrusive (Cassettes 73 and 76)
16. Dr. Reginald Wilson, Afternoon Session (Cassette 74)
17. Initiatives for Black Faculty (Cassette 75)
18. What White Academics Need to Know about Multicultural Academic Setting (Cassettes 77-79)
19. Applying Principals of Organization (Cassette 80)
20. Racism on Campus (Cassette 81)
21. Akbar Workshop, May 5, 1989 (Cassette 82)
22. Dynamic-Stimulating Inspiration Lives Series of Lectures, Naim Akbar, Ph.D. (Cassette 84)
23. Mary D. Dumais (Cassette 85)
24. Session #19, May 5,1989 (Cassette 86)
25. Impacting First Line Decision Makers (Cassette 87)

Floppy Disks
1. Mailing List of Georgia National Conference on Blacks in Higher Education
2. Blank Disks (2-9)

Container Listing: Box #2, Video Cassettes Third National Conference
1. Minorities in Higher Education 5-5-89
2. Minorities in Higher Education 5-6-89
3. 1st Annual Conference on Blacks in Higher Education
4. Blacks in Higher Education
5. Blacks in Higher Education
6. Unmarked VHS
7. Students at Risk
8. Afternoon General Session
9. Dr. Akbar
10. Georgia Conference on Blacks in Higher Education
11. Blank VHS
12. Blank VHS
13. First Annual Georgia Conference Blacks in Higher Education
14. First Annual Georgia Conference Blacks in Higher Education
15. Closing
16. ABC – Why Students are Flunking Out
17. Opening Plenary
18. Edited Version of Conference of Black Educators
19. Edited Version of Conference of Black Educators
20. Georgia’s Thirds National Conference on Blacks in Higher Education
21. Round Table Discussion, 5-3-90
22. Terrell Bell, 5-5-90
23. Georgia Conference on Blacks in Higher Education
24. First Annual Georgia Conference 25. School Within a School
26. Siner City Elementary School, 1993
27. Opening Session, 5-3-90
28. Robert Albright, Banquet, 5-3-90
29. Dr. Akbar, 5-4-90
30. Dr. Hale, Luncheon, 5-4-90
31. Round Table #2,5-5-90

Title: Series 2: Georgia First National Conference on Blacks in Higher Education, April 28 and 29, 1988
Date: April 28 and 29, 1988
Description: Correspondence and Publicity
Extent: 2 File Folders, Box #3
Container Listing:
1: Correspondence: June 16, 1987 – February 9, 1988
2: Publicity

Title: Series 3: Georgia Second National Conference on Blacks in Higher Education, May 4, 5, and 6, 1989
Date: May 4, 5, and 6, 1989
Description: Correspondence, Conference Materials and Publicity
Extent: 3 File Folders, Box #3
Container Listing:
1: Correspondence: July 11, 1988 – August 15, 1989
2. Conference Materials
3. Publicity

Title: Series 4: Georgia Third National Conference on Blacks in Higher Education, May 3, 4, and 5, 1990
Date: May 3, 4, and 5, 1990
Description: Correspondence, Mailing Lists, Pre-conference Materials, Conference Materials, Publicity and Planning and Reference Materials
Extent: 8 File Folders, Box #3
Container Listing:
1. Correspondence: January 5, 1989 – December 29, 1989
2. Correspondence: January 8, 1990 – February 28, 1990
3. Correspondence: March 1, 1990 – May 14, 1990
4. Mailing Lists 5. Pre-conference Materials
6. Conference Materials
7. Publicity
8. Planning and Reference Materials

Title: Series 5: Georgia Fourth National Conference on Blacks in Higher Education, [1991, 1993, 1995]
Date: 1990-1994 (Conference never held)
Description: Correspondence, Pre-Conference Material, Planning and Reference Materials
Extent: 7 File Folders, Box #3
Container Listing:
1. Correspondence: March 1, 1990 – December 17, 1990
2. Correspondence: January 24, 1991 – May 6, 1991
3. Correspondence: May 6, 1991 – November 21, 1991
4. Correspondence: March 24, 1993 – April 2, 1993
5. Correspondence: April 3, 1993 – August 1, 1994
6. Pre-conference Materials 7. Planning and Reference Materials

Title: Series 6: Related Materials African-Americans in Higher Education
Date: 1991-1993
Description: Journal Articles, Newspaper Articles and Conference Announcements
Extent: 2 Folders, Box #3
Container Listing:
1. Journal Articles
2. Various Conference Announcements 1991-1993

Title: Series 7: Mailing Lists for Georgia National Conference on Blacks in Higher Education
Description: Mailing Listings of United States College and Universities
Extent: Box #4, 6 Folders
Container Listing:
1. Mailing List #1
2. Mailing List #2
3. Mailing List #3
4. Mailing List #4
5. Mailing List #5
6. Mailing List #6