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Dede leads delegation to PBCOHE Conference

Dr. Brenda Sanders Dede, assistant vice president for academic affairs at Clarion University, completed her two-year term as president of the Pennsylvania Black Conference on Higher Education (PBCOHE) at the organization’s 38th Annual meeting held in Pittsburgh. Dede led a delegation of 17 participants from Clarion University, including President Joseph Grunenwald.

“I am extremely elated to have had the opportunity to serve as the 17th president of this august body of professionals and students,” said Dede. “The executive council and the general membership of the Conference have all made this experience one of the highlights of my professional career.”

PBCOHE’s mission is to provide programs and services, which help ensure that the post-secondary educational needs and aspirations of African Americans in particular are met, and to work in concert with members of other underrepresented groups in the Commonwealth.

During Dede’s term as president, PBCOHE experienced significant growth in membership, especially from Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) institutions, of which Clarion is a member. That growth was reflected in more than 200 administrators, faculty, staff, and students attending the conference.

During her report at the conference, Dede listed many additional accomplishments including:

•Establishing three scholarships, beginning in 2009, to be given to Pennsylvania high school students going on to a post secondary institutions in Pennsylvania.

•The PBCOHE endowment, established in 2006, was increased by $25,000.

•The completion of a new, interactive website.

•Updating the PBCOHE strategic plan

•Updating the PBCOHE constitution and by-laws.

•Establishing the conference wide September Service Month.

A new session added to the 2008 conference venue was the Town Hall meeting. The Town Hall meeting focused on campus climate tied into to PBCOHE’s general conference theme of Back to Basics. It is hoped that the discussions during the Town Hall meeting will generate future agenda items for PBCOHE and drive discussions with state legislators.

The guest panelist for the Town Hall meeting were attorney Jacqueline Conforti Barnett, associate chief counsel, PASSHE; Deborah Walker, assistant vice president student affairs, University of Pittsburgh; and State Trooper Shawn L. Mell, Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Division, PA. State Police/Harrisburg. It is hoped that the discussions during the Town Hall meeting will generate future agenda items for PBCOHE and drive discussions with state legislators.

Grunenwald moderated the presidential forum on “Back to Basics.” The panel included presidents Tony Atwater of IUP, F. Javier Cevallos of Kutztown, Tori Haring-Smith of Washington and Jefferson, and Mary Hines of Carlow; and presidential assistant Barbara Simmons of Cheyney. The session was well attended and generated discussion and questions and answers.

Conducting workshops were Clarion University faculty members Dr. Joanne Washington, associate professor of mass media arts, journalism, and communication studies; Dr. Marite Rodriquez Haynes, professor of psychology; and Dr. Edna Reid, associate professor of library science.

Washington and Haynes presented, “Academic Success for Students in Courses Using Hip-Hop Content.” Reid presented, “Using Google Scholars to Analyze Who Your Publications Are Influencing.”

Also attending from Clarion University were: Dr. Jocelind Gant, assistant to the president for social equity; Paul Bylaska, vice president for finance and administration; and Basil Martin, librarian; graduate students Ivy Asiedu, Brian Wankiiri, Sasha Gardiner, Deepam Mistry, Kathleen Foreman, R. Wayne Tucker, and Brian Kehler; and undergraduate students LaShard Griffin and Angie Woods.

Kehler was the featured violin soloist at the scholarship luncheon and the annual awards banquet. Kehler of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is seeking a degree in English. His undergraduate degree is from Alcorn State University and he is a son of Martin Kehler of Winnipeg.

The conference featured speakers included Esther Bush, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh; journalist, poet, and activist Kevin Powell; and keynote speaker Antoine M. Garibaldi, president of Gannon University. Conference attendees had the opportunity to join in a service learning project reading to children at several schools throughout the city. PBCOHE donated boxes of books to those schools.

Asiedu is from Ghana and is seeking a degree in library science. Her undergraduate degree is from Cheyney University.

Wankiiri is from Pittsburgh and is seeking his master’s of business administration degree.

Gardiner from Nassau, Fla., is seeking a degree in speech language pathology. Her undergraduate degree is from Florida Memorial University.

Mistry is seeking a degree in English. She is a son of Drew Mistry of West Haven, Conn.

Foreman is seeking a degree in English and is a daughter of Diana Williams of Philadelphia and Andre Foreman of Philadelphia, and is a graduate of Philadelphia High School for Girls.

Tucker of Akron, Ohio, is seeking a degree in a mass media arts, journalism and communication studies. His undergraduate degree is from Cheyney University.

Griffin, a senior Spanish major, is a son of Susan Trent of Pittsburgh and is a graduate of Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts.

Woods, a junior speech communication major, is a daughter of Star Banks of Pittsburgh and is a graduate of Westinghouse High School.

PBCOHE was founded in 1970, when the Honorable K. Leroy Irvis, then minority leader of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's House of Representatives, convened a conference of African American college presidents, vice presidents, deans, department chairs, directors, instructors, and other political leaders and professionals to provide needed input in the formation of a master plan for higher education in Pennsylvania. PBCOHE's role was to ensure equal education for African

Americans and other underrepresented groups in the Commonwealth. Irvis became Speaker of the House in 1976, the first Black speaker of a state house in post reconstruction America.

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