Brandon Chapman to Attend Ralph Bunche Summer Institute at Duke University

Originally Posted by: wichmannkm | April 24, 2015

Brandon Chapman Photo

Political Science and African American Studies Double-Major Brandon Chapman will attend the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute (RBSI) at Duke University. This intensive five-week program is named in honor of the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize winner and former American Political Science Association (APSA) President, Ralph J. Bunche. The competitive program introduces doctoral study to undergraduate students from under-represented racial and ethnic groups.

Dr. Hollis France encouraged Brandon to apply during his junior year. “Brandon struck me as a ‘go getter’ and I thought this kid is going to go places,” Professor France noted. She added, “Brandon’s acceptance places him in a very elite group of minority political science students from around the country. He will be in classes with a diverse student body. Students are drawn from small liberal arts schools, master’s level institutions like CofC, and doctoral granting universities.  RBSI also brings in students from historically black colleges and universities and Ivy League institutions. This program works to increase the number of minority students attending Ph.D. programs and ultimately joining the ranks of academia.” Professor France speaks from experience as she also attended RBSI as an undergraduate student and credits the program for giving her the confidence to pursue a Ph.D.

Brandon is looking forward to making the most of this opportunity to develop the writing skills necessary for graduate school and meet top political science students around the country. Brandon said RBSI will encourage him “to do better, study harder, and buckle down.” He also hopes the institute will help him narrow his focus as he is also considering law school and community organizing. Brandon is especially interested in race implications on political institutions.

While he attributed his double major and spring internship with the Office for Institutional Diversity as factors in helping him stand out among other applicants, Brandon mainly emphasized the help he received from Professors John Creed and Hollis France on his personal statement. He noted that they were “very instrumental in securing this great opportunity” because they assisted him with revisions and met with him frequently throughout the application process.

For more information on the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute, please visit http://www.apsanet.org/rbsi.

A Student’s History of the Civil Rights Movement (Friday, Feb. 13)

 

This Friday’s Faculty Lecture, as well as the panel discussion on Freedom Summer on February 26, are great ways to learn more about the Mississippi Summer Freedom Project and the civil rights movement, the subject of next year’s College Reads book, Freedom Summer by Bruce Watson.

HonorsCollegeLecture-Hale

Remembering the Civil Rights Revolution: The Right to Vote and Quality Education 50 Years after Freedom Summer

 

 

A panel discussion featuring Freedom Summer participants, civil rights activists, and historians.

Thursday, February 26 at 6pm in the Addlestone Library, room 227

Free & open to the public.  Panelists will have books available for sale after the event.
AAST_PanelDiscussion-FreedomSummer

White Privilege: Who has it? Why does it matter?

White Privilege: Who has it? Why does it matter?
Start Date: 11/25/2014 Start Time: 2:00 PM
End Date: 11/25/2014 End Time: 3:30 PM
Event Description:

Stern Center 205
Co-facilitators: Carrie Ben-Yisrael and Kristi Brian
Wealthy or not, if you have ever been identified as a white person in the United States then chances are at least one form of privilege has been extended to you that people of color cannot easily count on. Learn how to use white privilege to take an effective stand against racism.

Location Information:
Main Campus – Stern Student Center
Contact Information:
Name: Kristi Brian
Phone: 843.953.6452
Email: briankj@cofc.edu

The Penn Center in Beaufort, SC is hosting a Civil Rights Symposium this Friday and Saturday

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Penn Center Civil Rights Symposium, 1862-2014
November 21-22
Beaufort, St. Helena Island, South Carolina

http://penncenter.com/articles/2014/11/penn-center-civil-rights-symposium

Since 1862, the Penn Center has been a historic site education that established a school to protect, defend and advance freedom for all citizens, newly freed and those already protected.  The Penn Center is organizing a conference to facilitate greater state and regional understanding of this history and developing a network to continue network development and organization. A longer term goal is to utilize this opportunity to launch the Penn Center Civil Rights Institute, the first of several regional institutes for commemoration and facilitation of civil rights discourse, organization and planning.

The Penn Center is situated to lead the contemporary effort to secure a quality education and voting rights for all students. As such, the Penn Center is inviting key stakeholders in this movement to speak, including  Dave Dennis, Bob Moses, Connie Curry, Cleve Sellers, Chuck McDew, Emory Campbell, Millicent Brown, Hayes Mizell, Jim Campbell, Myrtle Glascoe and other key civil rights activists who participated in the Penn Center’s involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. This can only be possible with local experts on the topic such as Emory Campbell, Victoria Smalls, and Maria Benac. Invited scholars and activists will address issues around the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the repeal of key components of federal protection of the right to vote, the re-segregation of public schools and the school to prison pipeline, the role (and peril) of historically black colleges and universities in today’s society, and the role of museums and programs of social justice for the contemporary civil rights movement.

As part of the conference, the Penn Center will also facilitate the participation of youth and young in workshops and panels on police violence and strategies around achieving a quality public education. This includes working with Dave Dennis, civil rights organizer from 1961-1965, and Algebra Project organizer since 1990, and Bob Moses, civil rights organizer from 1960-1965 and Algebra Project and Young People’s Project founder, 1990. There will also be screenings of recent documentaries on he Civil Rights Movement and issue facing our communities, such as: Freedom Summer, Freedom Riders, The Corridor of Shame, etc.

The outcome and benefit of the conference and launching the Civil Rights Institute at Penn Center is to further inform the local, state, and regional understanding of this very crucial history. This further develops the role of the Penn Center and Beaufort in the growing regional and national visibility of an area vital to ongoing discussions of quality public education in the country. This, as noted, will also develop the content and professional development of teachers, leadership development of youth and young people, and will contribute to enhancing the vitality of education throughout South Carolina.