Event: As part of its fall lecture series, the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (DDCE) hosts a panel featuring Dr. M. Christopher Brown II, executive vice president and provost at Fisk University, and Dr. Roderick L. Smothers, vice president for institutional advancement and development at Langston University. The two administrators will discuss “Challenges and Opportunities of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).”
When: 2 p.m., Friday, Oct. 29
Where: Main 212
Background: Dr. M. Christopher Brown II has been a professor and dean at several well-known state universities for two decades, before assuming an executive role at Fisk University in 2009. His responsibilities include oversight for Fisk’s academic programs and faculty, curriculum realignment, institutional assessment and student life. He is the author and editor of 15 books and monographs, and more than 100 articles, book chapters and publications. His research interest includes black colleges, equity and access in higher education and society, and organization and governance in higher education. Brown has also held executive positions in the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, American Educational Research Association and Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute of the United Negro College Fund.
Dr. Roderick L. Smothers has been vice president for institutional advancement and development at Langston University since 2005. He began his career as a student aid officer in 1996 and moved up the administrative ranks, making him one of the youngest people to attain the position of vice president within the HBCU community. Smothers has secured more than $10 million in corporate and private funding in his work with non-profits. He received his doctor’s degree from Louisiana State University and completed his Fundraising Certification from the Center of Philanthropy at Indiana University’s Fundraising School. Smothers has also held positions in multicultural affairs, been dean of college enrollment management at the Louisiana Community and Technical College System and an assistant professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
