From Cotton Fields to University Leadership

From Cotton Fields to University Leadership
Author: Charlie Nelms
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2019-03-29
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0253040183

The renowned leader in higher education provides “a testament to the power of aspiration, character and education to overcome poverty and adversity” (Michael L. Lomax, President & CEO, United Negro College Fund). Charlie Nelms had audaciously big dreams. Growing up black in the Deep South in the 1950s and 1960s, working in cotton fields, and living in poverty, Nelms dared to dream that he could do more with his life than work for white plantation owners sun-up to sun-down. Inspired by his parents, who first dared to dream that they could own their own land and have the right to vote, Nelms chose education as his weapon of choice for fighting racism and inequality. With hard work, determination, and the critical assistance of mentors who counseled him along the way, he found his way from the cotton fields of Arkansas to university leadership roles. Becoming the youngest and the first African American chancellor of a predominately white institution in Indiana, he faced tectonic changes in higher education during those ensuing decades of globalization, growing economic disparity, and political divisiveness. From Cotton Fields to University Leadership is an uplifting story about the power of education, the impact of community and mentorship, and the importance of dreaming big. “In his memoir, the realities of his life take on the qualities of a good docudrama, providing the back story to the development of a remarkable educational leader. His is ‘the examined life,’ filled with honesty, humor, and humility. While this is uniquely Charlie’s story, it is a story that will lift the hearts of many and inspire future generations of leaders.” —Betty J. Overton, Director, National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good

From Cotton Field to Schoolhouse

From Cotton Field to Schoolhouse
Author: Christopher M. Span
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2009
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0807832901

In the years immediately following the Civil War_the formative years for an emerging society of freed African Americans in Mississippi_there was much debate over the general purpose of black schools and who would control them. From Cotton Field to Scho

From Cotton Fields to University Leadership

From Cotton Fields to University Leadership
Author: Charlie Nelms
Publisher: Well House Books
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2019-03-29
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0253040191

The renowned leader in higher education provides “a testament to the power of aspiration, character and education to overcome poverty and adversity” (Michael L. Lomax, President & CEO, United Negro College Fund). Charlie Nelms had audaciously big dreams. Growing up black in the Deep South in the 1950s and 1960s, working in cotton fields, and living in poverty, Nelms dared to dream that he could do more with his life than work for white plantation owners sun-up to sun-down. Inspired by his parents, who first dared to dream that they could own their own land and have the right to vote, Nelms chose education as his weapon of choice for fighting racism and inequality. With hard work, determination, and the critical assistance of mentors who counseled him along the way, he found his way from the cotton fields of Arkansas to university leadership roles. Becoming the youngest and the first African American chancellor of a predominately white institution in Indiana, he faced tectonic changes in higher education during those ensuing decades of globalization, growing economic disparity, and political divisiveness. From Cotton Fields to University Leadership is an uplifting story about the power of education, the impact of community and mentorship, and the importance of dreaming big. “In his memoir, the realities of his life take on the qualities of a good docudrama, providing the back story to the development of a remarkable educational leader. His is ‘the examined life,’ filled with honesty, humor, and humility. While this is uniquely Charlie’s story, it is a story that will lift the hearts of many and inspire future generations of leaders.” —Betty J. Overton, Director, National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good

From Cotton Field to Schoolhouse

From Cotton Field to Schoolhouse
Author: Christopher M. Span
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2012-04-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1469601338

In the years immediately following the Civil War--the formative years for an emerging society of freed African Americans in Mississippi--there was much debate over the general purpose of black schools and who would control them. From Cotton Field to Schoolhouse is the first comprehensive examination of Mississippi's politics and policies of postwar racial education. The primary debate centered on whether schools for African Americans (mostly freedpeople) should seek to develop blacks as citizens, train them to be free but subordinate laborers, or produce some other outcome. African Americans envisioned schools established by and for themselves as a primary means of achieving independence, equality, political empowerment, and some degree of social and economic mobility--in essence, full citizenship. Most northerners assisting freedpeople regarded such expectations as unrealistic and expected African Americans to labor under contract for those who had previously enslaved them and their families. Meanwhile, many white Mississippians objected to any educational opportunities for the former slaves. Christopher Span finds that newly freed slaves made heroic efforts to participate in their own education, but too often the schooling was used to control and redirect the aspirations of the newly freed.

The New College President

The New College President
Author: Terrence J. MacTaggart
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 158
Release: 2024-08-13
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1421448696

Think you know what it takes to be an effective leader in higher education? You might be surprised. Think you know what it takes to be an effective leader in higher education? You might be surprised. Why is it so difficult to find and hire college and university presidents? Perhaps search committees are recruiting in all the wrong places. In The New College President, Terrence J. MacTaggart and Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran share the stories of seven exceptional presidents from diverse backgrounds. Drawing on hundreds of interviews, these vivid, deeply researched narratives depict the life stories and academic careers of university presidents whose unconventional backgrounds helped them grow into uniquely qualified leaders. The university presidents whom MacTaggart and Wilson-Oyelaran profile exhibit strengths of character and perspective developed through a range of challenging life experiences. Personal qualities like grit, resilience, compassion, and intercultural competence—along with academic credibility—contribute to their effectiveness as chief executives and are critical to presidential success in a fraught era of higher education. MacTaggart and Wilson-Oyelaran, who developed a "forensic" model for improving presidential searches that requires a much deeper look into personal leadership strengths and weaknesses than is typical in current search practices, are uniquely qualified to write this book. They present a fresh perspective on higher education leadership and actionable recommendations to improve presidential searches while arguing that a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is not just a moral imperative, but a valuable opportunity to recruit extraordinary leaders. Featuring Jeffrey Bullock, Waded Cruzado, Mary Dana Hinton, Freeman Hrabowski III, Robert Jones, Kwang-Wu Kim, and Mary Marcy

Cattle in the Cotton Fields

Cattle in the Cotton Fields
Author: Brooks Blevins
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2014-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 0817357718

Blevins's study increases our understanding of the history of southern agriculture by providing a valuable model of a story repeated throughout the South.

Changing on the Job

Changing on the Job
Author: Jennifer Garvey Berger
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2011-11-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0804782865

Listen to people in every field and you'll hear a call for more sophisticated leadership—for leaders who can solve more complex problems than the human race has ever faced. But these leaders won't simply come to the fore; we have to develop them, and we must cultivate them as quickly as is humanly possible. Changing on the Job is a means to this end. As opposed to showing readers how to play the role of a leader in a "paint by numbers" fashion, Changing on the Job builds on theories of adult growth and development to help readers become more thoughtful individuals, capable of leading in any scenario. Moving from the theoretical to the practical, and employing real-world examples, author Jennifer Garvey Berger offers a set of building blocks to help cultivate an agile workforce while improving performance. Coaches, HR professionals, thoughtful leaders, and anyone who wants to flourish on the job will find this book a vital resource for developing their own capacities and those of the talent that they support.

How I Got Out of the Cotton Fields

How I Got Out of the Cotton Fields
Author: Raymon E. Crawford
Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2013-02-18
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9781482344974

How I Got Out of the Cotton Field is easy to read--hard to put down. Dr. Raymon Crawford adroitly uses vivid language to weave a remarkable story of a triumphant spirit that is victorious despite heartbreaking challenges. His words paint colorful images that breathe life onto the pages of the book—we smell the aroma of the sweet potatoes roasted in the fireplace as we do the pungent odor of the outhouse—we close our eyes and feel the cool breeze created by the cracks in the walls of the un-insulated house and strain to see by the dim kerosene lamp—we taste Grandma Kelly's scrumptious pinto beans and cornbread—we take the journey with him. Raymon takes the reader on a vicarious journey to the cotton fields of North Carolina, many of us recall, as he wishes, our own cotton fields—we are inspired! We appreciate the fact that there is nothing subtle about the lessons Raymon wants us to glean—in true educator style he enumerates them and as a seasoned military leader, he “commands” us (with his riveting account) to read more, and more, until we reach the end of this compelling book. We learn the lessons. The book is much more than a simple chronology of the writer's journey from the cotton fields of North Carolina to the halls of academia—some of the most Prestigious American colleges and to the corridors of the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense—the Pentagon. It takes each reader on an enthralling trek into the depth of the human spirit.

Cotton and Race in the Making of America

Cotton and Race in the Making of America
Author: Gene Dattel
Publisher: Government Institutes
Total Pages: 433
Release: 2009-09-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 1442210192

Since the earliest days of colonial America, the relationship between cotton and the African-American experience has been central to the history of the republic. America's most serious social tragedy, slavery and its legacy, spread only where cotton could be grown. Both before and after the Civil War, blacks were assigned to the cotton fields while a pervasive racial animosity and fear of a black migratory invasion caused white Northerners to contain blacks in the South. Gene Dattel's pioneering study explores the historical roots of these most central social issues. In telling detail Mr. Dattel shows why the vastly underappreciated story of cotton is a key to understanding America's rise to economic power. When cotton production exploded to satiate the nineteenth-century textile industry's enormous appetite, it became the first truly complex global business and thereby a major driving force in U.S. territorial expansion and sectional economic integration. It propelled New York City to commercial preeminence and fostered independent trade between Europe and the United States, providing export capital for the new nation to gain its financial "sea legs" in the world economy. Without slave-produced cotton, the South could never have initiated the Civil War, America's bloodiest conflict at home. Mr. Dattel's skillful historical analysis identifies the commercial forces that cotton unleashed and the pervasive nature of racial antipathy it produced. This is a story that has never been told in quite the same way before, related here with the authority of a historian with a profound knowledge of the history of international finance. With 23 black-and-white illustrations.

Ebony

Ebony
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2002-09
Genre:
ISBN:

EBONY is the flagship magazine of Johnson Publishing. Founded in 1945 by John H. Johnson, it still maintains the highest global circulation of any African American-focused magazine.