Dr. Jerry Wallace and Dr. Vida Robertson, Consortium and Advisory Council members from the University of Houston-Downtown, have recently published “The Men of L.E.G.A.C.I. Student Success Program: Building Strategic Platforms for Collegiate Success” as a book chapter in Overcoming Challenges and Creating Opportunity for African-American Male Students.
This research supports the development of more widespread solution-oriented approaches to confronting, confirming, and mitigating any perpetual disparities that may exist among these students. Featuring research on topics such as access to education, racial battle fatigue, and mentoring programs, this book is ideally designed for administrators, policymakers, educators, scholars, researchers, students, and academicians seeking coverage on the many factors that influence African American male success in various educational contexts.
Strategic and intentional engagement of first-year collegiate males aligned with faculty cultural competency development are areas that can impact persistence in the first year. African Americans only represent 11.4% of the overall Texas population, with 12.6% of students enrolled in P-12 and 13.4% of students currently enrolled in institutions of higher education in Texas. The percentage of African American males that are entering college and persisting through the first year is already overwhelmingly in a category red based on overall numbers. Colleges will need to make sure that recruitment efforts and appropriate advertising is available in areas that African American males would generally search for job postings. This chapter will explore platforms in establishing a student success academic program at a university campus geared to support African American males. Congratulations to Dr. Wallace and Dr. Robertson on their publication!
