On Friday, February 26, 2016 leaders from four school districts and 17 institutions of higher education from across the state of Texas convened at the University of North Texas for our 6th meeting of Texas Education Consortium for Male Students of Color (TECMSC). Dr. Melissa McGuire, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, at the University of North Texas, welcomed everyone. During the morning session Dr. Victor Sáenz provided the Consortium with updates and welcomed our three new Consortium institutional members; Forth Worth Independent School District, Mountain View College, and Houston Baptist University. Dr. Saenz also introduced our new Advisory Council members; Dr. Josette Bradford (Prairie View A&M), Dr. Melissa McGuire (University of North Texas), and Sonia Dominguez (Austin ISD).
The meeting featured a presentation by Dr. J. Luke Wood, Associate Professor of the Community College Leadership and the Director of the Doctoral Program in Community College Leadership at San Diego State University (SDSU). Dr. Wood shared the work he is doing on men of color in the community college, through the Minority Male Community College Collaborative (M2C3) which he co-directs with Dr. Frank Harris III. Other highlights from the meeting included a local partners panel where typically administrators , faculty, and staff share their experiences about how the Consortium has helped advance their work with males of color on their respective campuses. However, for the first time, the panel featured students who spoke about the how these male of color initiatives in their schools helped shape their experiences in myriad positive and constructive ways. Our meeting concluded with breakout sessions where groups were divided by institutional type and sector. Groups had the opportunity to share some of their ideas in building a Consortium “toolkit” focusing on the existing information and resources that can be shared by everyone who is part of the consortium.
We want to thank the University of North Texas for hosting a successful meeting. We are excited about our progress thus far and look forward to providing more updates regarding our Consortium work.
