The fourth annual HBCUstory Symposium will be held Oct. 31 through Nov. 1, 2016 in Dallas, Texas. Themed “The Will + The Way: HBCUs Reaffirming Their Mission, Redefining Their Vision,” the research and cultural symposium is presented by HBCUstory and Paul Quinn College. The 2016 Symposium will be hosted on the Paul Quinn College campus in Zale Library, located at 3837 Simpson Stuart Road, Dallas, TX 75241.
Offering open access to academicians and practitioners, the HBCUstory Symposium is the first of its kind for the nation’s HBCUs. The symposium’s collection of scholarly research and case studies outline the historic and contemporary value of HBCUs, and convenes expert voices in areas of history; information science; STEM; fundraising and development; partnerships and mergers, student persistence and retention; diversity and inclusion (LBGTQ, women studies); as well as athletics and wellness.
Expanded to two days to meet the growing demands of the HBCU community, the annual symposium has previously been held in Nashville, Tennessee and in Washington, D.C. Noted presenters have included Spelman College and Bennett College for Women President Emerita Johnnetta B. Cole, Paul Quinn College President Micheal J. Sorrell, then- White House Initiative on HBCUs Deputy Director Ivory Toldson, HBCU Digest Founding Editor Jarrett L. Carter Sr., and Dr. Beverly Wright, executive director of Dillard University’s Deep South Center for Environmental Justice.
“We who believe in the mission and vision of HBCUs must leverage our HBCU stories as more than mere memories,” says Crystal A. deGregory, Ph.D. “Our memories must serve as compelling evidence for the future of these institutions as educational, cultural and social treasures. We’re making HBCU memories matter.” Dr. deGregory is the Executive Editor, HBCUstory Symposium Convenor and HBCUR+C Editor-in-chief. The Journal of HBCU Research + Culture (HBCUR+C) is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal; HBCUR+C publishes a wide-range of scholarly articles relating to the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Founded in 2012 as a non-profit in the State of Tennessee, HBCUstory is an advocacy initiative, preserving, presenting, and promoting inspiring stories of the Historically Black College and University community’s past and present, for our future. HBCUstory’s goals are three- fold: first, to curate — popularizing existing historical and contemporary facts about HBCUs; second, to cultivate — to encourage new and groundbreaking research on HBCUs; and finally, to distribute — to develop a respected publication and promotional platform to launch discourse and share new ideas.
These goals will be pursued via increased exposure for the year-round work of HBCUstory as well as for the good work HBCUs have done and are doing; offering a unique presentation, publication and discursive opportunity to HBCU researchers, teachers and students; offering the public open access to the symposium’s proceedings via live-streaming broadcasts; and, providing meaningful academic networking and mentoring, as well as encouraging future collaborative projects between presenters and among attendees.
Presented in partnership with the Nashville Public Library and the Nashville Public Library Foundation, the inaugural 2013 HBCUstory Symposium, themed “Inspiring Stories of the Past and Present, For Our Future” featured scholars from across the nation.
The second symposium in 2014 was convened in the nation’s capitol at the headquarters of the Association of Public Land- grant Universities (APLU) themed “Where Do HBCUs Go From Here? Strategic Partnerships + Sustainable Futures” with presentations spanning a variety of topics ranging from history, library science and leadership to STEM, sports and millennial philanthropy.
The third annual symposium in 2015, themed “Reconstruction in a New Age of Resistance: Respecting our Roots + Restoring our Rites,” had an emerging purpose to provide educational support as well as the conservation and preservation of resources for researchers, teachers and students seeking to understand the place of HBCUs in the Reconstruction (1865-1875) period and its legacies (1870-1930) as well as their implications for and relationship to the world in which we now live.
Learn more about HBCUstory, its journal (HBCUR+C), and the annual symposium at the website http://hbcustory.org
