2001 AAPP Monograph Series

The African American Professors Program (AAPP) at the University of South Carolina is pleased to produce this premier edition of its annual monograph series. It is fitting that the program assume a leadership role in promoting scholarly products that will prove to be useful in future research efforts by faculty and students in higher education. Scholars who have contributed manuscripts for this monograph are to be commended for adding this additional responsibility to their academic workload. Writing across disciplines adds to the intellectual diversity of these papers. From neophytes, relatively speaking, to an array of very experienced individuals, the chapters have been researched and, comprehensively, written. AAPP was created in 1997 under the leadership of Drs. Aretha B. Pigford and Leonard 0. Pellicer, Department of Educational Leadership and Policies. It was designed to address the underrepresentation of African American professors on college and university campuses. Its mission is to expand the pool of these professors in critical academic and research areas. Sponsored by the University of South Carolina, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and the South Carolina General Assembly, the program recruits students with bachelor\u27s, master\u27s, and doctoral degrees for disciplines in which African Americans, currently, are underrepresented. An important component of the program is the mentoring experience that is provided. Each student is assigned to a mentor professor who guides the student through a selected academic program and provides various learning experiences. When possible, the mentor serves as chair of the student\u27s doctoral committee. The mentor, also, provides opportunities for the student to team teach, conduct research, and co-author publications. Students have opportunities to attend committee, faculty, and professional meetings, as well as engage in a range of activities that characterize professional life in academia. Scholars enrolled in the program, also, are involved in programmatic and institutional workshops, independent research, and program development. The establishment or genesis of this monograph series is seen as responding to an opportunity to be sensitive to an academic expectation of graduates as they pursue career placement and, also, one that allows for the dissemination of AAPP products to a broader community. We hope that you, likewise, will read this premier monograph of the African American Professors Program with enthusiasm or enlightenment. John McFadden, Ph.D. The Benjamin Elijah Mays Professor Director, African American Professors Program University of South Carolinahttps://scholarcommons.sc.edu/mcfadden_monographs/1005/thumbnail.jp