DALLAS - The Meadows Foundation has awarded a $500,000 grant to the University of North Texas Dallas Campus to assist the university in its efforts to develop further its leadership program in educational administration. The grant provides scholarships for an additional 75 teachers seeking certification as school principals in public schools in Texas. The award also provides $200,000 for the study of at least two longer-standing school leadership programs in New York City and around the country, according to Joe Breshears, executive director of development at the UNT Dallas Campus. "An already outstanding curriculum will be refined as needed to remain state-of-the-art and at the cutting edge of training programs for school leaders," Breshears said. "We are grateful to the Meadows Foundation for their investment in this program that will increase the number of new, high-quality principals in our partner school districts and public education as a whole." The master's degree program in educational administration with principal certification at the UNT Dallas Campus has grown rapidly over the past two years. In the fall 2007 semester, graduate admissions increased 205 percent at the new campus, located on ...

By Jazzy Education and hard work are the consistent mantra that permeates the essence of the American Dream. Education, as we know, is not created equally nor is it extolled equally. Schools in lower socioeconomic areas are rife with underperforming curricula, in desperate need of updated teaching materials, and innovated ideas to excite beaten down students to achieve a goal they believe unattainable in the first place.   For many students in lower socioeconomic areas the belief that they have a chance to enter college is surreal. Many struggle with the basics because they are never driven to learn or even taught but rather pushed on to the next level. For those not lost in the public school systems they head off to college earn their degree and look forward to their future. A future, according to the America dream, should grant them privileges and entrance into a new world far from what many of them knew. Even though -according to data-there is a closing in income among Black household incomes in comparison to their white counterparts, a glaring disparity exists between white men and black men to the ...

Washington, D.C. – (July 9, 2008) Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson today announced that Dallas’s Cedar Valley College, located in the 30th Congressional District of Texas, will receive a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Strengthening Institutions Program. The college will receive $400,056.00 for FY 2009, and an equal amount in the four following fiscal years, for a total of five years. “Cedar Valley College is a community college that truly serves its community,” Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson said. “The faculty and administration work hard to meet the needs of the students, and the students work hard to balance their schoolwork with the other responsibilities in their lives. I am proud that Cedar Valley College is in my District, and I congratulate it on receiving this grant.” Cedar Valley College is a Minority Serving Institution with an enrollment of almost 5,000 students. It will use the grant money to improve both retention of students and student success, with a focus on enhancing instruction and academic services. Grants made by the U.S. Department of Education’s Strengthening Institutions Program are designed to enable institutions ...

DALLAS - The University of North Texas Dallas Campus has selected Peter Pincemin Johnstone, chief academic officer of Penn State University's Abington College in Philadelphia, to serve as its new deputy vice provost. Maxine Rogers, vice chancellor for administration and finance with the Baton Rouge Community College System, has also been named the campus' first director of finance and administration. Vice Chancellor John Ellis Price, chief executive officer of the UNT Dallas Campus, said the appointments round out the campus' executive leadership team, which will ultimately be responsible for transitioning the campus from a satellite of the UNT flagship in Denton to Dallas' first four-year, public university. "We had a rich and diverse pool of applicants for both positions," Price said. "The candidates selected were the best fit for the mission and vision of our campus. Both Dr. Johnstone and Maxine Rogers are experienced administrators in higher education. I believe they will well serve our students and the citizens of Dallas and the surrounding communities in North Texas." Johnstone, a noted author and professor of criminal justice specializing in white collar crime in Europe, is originally from the United Kingdom. There, he attended London Guildhall University, where he received a ...

By Earnest Gates As some of you are aware, Dallas ISD does not have an ethics policy. As a matter of fact, the newly re-elected Board President Jack Lowe's company has received over $9 million from the district while he has been a sitting board member. Can you imagine one of the Black board members reaping these types of benefits while sitting on the school board? The pressure from the media, not to mention the local community would be immense to force him/her to resign from the board. I would like to commend Board Member Carla Ranger for having to courage to bring this issue to the board and the public prior to the bond election. Can you believe she could not even get a second on the motion to discuss an ethics policy? What is really going on? How low will Jack Lowe continue to get contracts for his company while sitting on the board? It is time for us to tell Jack Lowe that he must go.

Here's an article that I wrote which appeared in Thursday's Dallas Morning News. Thanks to Keven Ann Willey and Sharon Grigsby for the opportunity. The University of North Texas at Dallas deserves more support from our city and more attention from its citizens than it has received thus far. Dallas has a chance to address a shameful civic designation – the title of largest city in America without a four-year public institution of higher learning. We can erase that label by ensuring that UNT-Dallas becomes that first free-standing school as soon as possible.   Also Online   Read previous editorials and commentary on Dallas' north-south gap Given the historic nature of this endeavor and what it could mean for our city, I had figured the school would have gained a higher public profile by now. Sure, there are ancillary billboards about town, but I would like to see an all-out media assault, along the scale of what the Dallas County Community College District has executed in years past. A new college is not ...

May 16, 2008 PROMOTION AT UNT'S DALLAS CAMPUS: PRICE NAMED VICE CHANCELLOR DALLAS -- UNT System Chancellor Lee Jackson announced today the reappointment of John Ellis Price as the chief executive officer of the University of North Texas Dallas Campus. Price was first appointed over the campus, the future UNT Dallas, in 2001. Price will "continue to oversee the day-to-day operations of the UNT Dallas Campus as its chief executive officer and spokesperson, ensuring that the future UNT Dallas meets its short-term and long-term goals. He has done a very good job of nurturing relationships that will enhance the new university and help us meet the goals of the Dallas community and its students," Jackson said. Jackson also said that Price's title would change from vice provost to vice chancellor, reflecting a clear line of authority within the UNT System. "His duties have grown in proportion to the growth of the Campus, and much of his work is now with me and various external groups, not just with UNT Denton," Jackson said. The UNT Dallas Campus began operations in the Spring 2000 semester and was designated by the state legislature to become the first and only public university within the City of Dallas. ...

  The Dr. Emmett J. Conrad Leadership Program matches highly motivated college students from Senatorial District 23 with jobs, mentors, character building opportunities, and community service programs/projects that will change their lives. The 2008 application process for this program is only on-line. No hard copy applications will be accepted. Please review the below-mentioned criteria and if you meet the criteria, please apply on-line by going to www.conradleadership.com and completing the application immediately. The initial deadline was April 28. Extended until Wednesday, May 14. We will initiate the process immediately when we receive your on-line application. Sponsors are anxiously waiting on resumes for their review for early consideration and placement. We are looking for all majors but have special requests for students majoring in mechanical and civil engineering, accounting, criminal justice, psychology, sociology, social work and computer science. These students need higher GPAs and must be at the junior and senior level. Please make certain that your email address and telephone number(s) on the application ...

CONGRESSWOMAN EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON TO DELIVER CBC MESSAGE TO AMERICA Congresswoman Johnson will discuss STEM education during Congressional Black Caucus address   Washington, D.C. – (May 9, 2008) Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson will deliver the weekly Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) “Message to America” radio address today. Congresswoman Johnson will discuss science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, and the importance of expanding educational opportunity to all young people. The CBC “Message to America” is distributed nationwide to the affiliate stations of the American Urban Radio Network (AURN). The text of Congresswoman Johnson’s radio address is as follows: “Good afternoon. I am Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, and I am pleased to be speaking to you this afternoon on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus. “In my work as a Member of Congress, I have long prioritized leveling the playing field for minority students. Particularly troublesome to me is the underrepresentation of minorities in science, technology, engineering, and math—or STEM—careers. “Skin color and socioeconomic status should not determine career choice, and we have been working hard to expand opportunity to all young people, in all parts of ...

Statement by Carla Ranger  (Dallas ISD District 6 Trustee) Conflict of Interest of Board President Jack Lowe Presented Thursday, April 24, 2008 at Dallas ISD Board Meeting Sometimes we must speak inconvenient truth simply because it is the right thing to do. I believe this is such a time. There is a difference between what is legal and what is right or ethical. For example, the doctrine of "Separate But Equal" was once legal in America. However, it was never right, and finally on May 17, 1954, nine judges dressed in black robes took a moral stand and declared that "in the field of education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place." This Board now has the opportunity to declare that in Dallas ISD the doctrine of mixing "private gain with public service" has no place. On Sunday, April 20, 2008 an article appeared in the Dallas Morning News under the headline "Dallas ISD hands millions in contracts to top leaders' firms." In that article the Board President is quoted as saying "to ask the company to support me while I'm doing this rather time-consuming volunteer job (at DISD), and also to ...