AHC Programs

Networking | Mentoring | Advocacy

 

Proposed Committees

Committees meet for 1 hour approximately 4-5 times a year

Member Recognition 

Recommend and support Caucus activities to recognize recent retirees from our community, particularly during the annual end-of-academic-year gathering. 

Website Administration

Recommend improvements to website content and appearance, in addition to completing regular updates. 

Event Planning

Plan and support Caucus events, such as professional development and social activities, throughout the academic year. 

Student Engagement

Identify opportunities to connect Caucus members with students who identify with the African Heritage community.

Faculty Support Program

Despite ongoing efforts at recruitment and retention, Black faculty remain underrepresented in the professoriate, while an increasingly diverse student body seeks access to higher education. In 2022, 4.9% of UD full-time faculty and 4% of UD full professors self-identified as Black (1), indicating a critical need to bolster recruitment, retention, and promotion efforts within this population. To this end, the objectives of the Faculty Support Program are 1) to foster the professional development and advancement of Black faculty, and 2) to provide resources to increase promotion and retention of early and mid-career Black faculty. Our program relies on informal support from senior Black faculty across Colleges where Black junior and mid-career faculty reside. 

(1) Source: UD HR Official and Daily Extract

Target Audience: Full-time faculty

Role of Faculty Support Contacts: to provide support to faculty, secondary to the primary faculty mentor, for navigating department, college, university, and/or promotion processes

Resources for Faculty

Faculty Support Contacts

College of Arts and Sciences 

Theodore J. Davis, PhD 

Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations

teddavis@udel.edu

Lerner College of Business and Economics

Francis Kwansa, PhD 

Associate Professor, Department of Hospitality and Sports Business Management

kwansa@udel.edu

College of Education and Human Development

Mellissa Gordon, PhD  

Associate Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences

msgordon@udel.edu

College of Engineering

Thomas H. Epps, III, PhD  

Allan & Myra Ferguson Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

thepps@udel.edu

College of Engineering 

LaShanda Korley, PhD  

Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

lkorley@udel.edu

College of Health Sciences 

Gregory E. Hicks, PT, PhD, FAPTA, FGSA  

Distinguished Professor of Health Sciences and Professor, Department of Physical Therapy

ghicks@udel.edu

College of Health Sciences 

Regina S. Wright, PhD, FGSA  

Professor, School of Nursing, Associate Dean for DEI, College of Health Sciences

rsims@udel.edu