Syracuse University and The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture have entered into a collaborative relationship to offer tuition scholarships to admissible members of the center's Junior Scholars Program. This is the center's first partnership that focuses on recruiting and providing scholarships to young men and women, most of whom are from the Harlem community.
The collaboration will serve as a feeder program to help recruit promising African American and Latino students for admission to SU. There is no limit on how many scholarships will be awarded each year. Nancy Cantor, Syracuse University's Chancellor and President, and Howard Dodson, chief executive officer of The Schomburg Center, announced the partnership at a media event held Dec. 1 at the center's headquarters in Harlem.
"This collaboration between Syracuse University and the New York Life/Schomburg Center Junior Scholars Program provides a unique opportunity for our Junior Scholars to continue their higher education within a student-centered research institution," says Dodson. "We are extremely pleased!"
Says Cantor, "The Schomburg Center and Syracuse University have numerous synergies and shared priorities. Our philosophies work in tandem on many levels and I look forward to future collaboration as we continue to educate those who put their scholarship to action for our entire society."
Cantor presented Dodson with a vase crafted by renowned African American ceramist David R. MacDonald, a professor of fine arts at Syracuse University.
Established by the Schomburg Center in 2002, with support from the New York Life Foundation, the Junior Scholars Program is a Saturday school for students of African American and Latino descent from throughout the New York metropolitan area. Students aged 11-17 attend a 26-week series of sessions designed to prepare them for intellectual and entrepreneurial careers. The program is under the direction of Carlyle Leach. "Although the Schomburg Center has had fellowship programs and other relationships with universities across the country for many years, this partnership is the first of its kind for the Junior Scholars program," Leach says. "The students of the Junior Scholars Program have been provided with a unique opportunity to further their pursuits of academic excellence through the visionary collaboration between Syracuse University and the Schomburg Center."
Syracuse University alumnus Jason Mills, co-founder, chairman and CEO of BLISTS, Inc., (Black and Latino Information Science and Technology Support), a non-profit organization specializing in technology and economic development in underdeveloped communities, praises the SU/Schomburg collaboration as a way to enable students of color to succeed in education and entrepreneurship. "On behalf of BLISTS, we are honored to serve the Harlem community in partnership with The New York Life/Schomburg Center Junior Scholars Program and Syracuse University, providing science and technology training and resources to students of African descent throughout the New York metropolitan area," says Mills, who is also the CEO of New Life Journeys, LLC, a company specializing in coaching and technology solutions for the wellness industry.
Participating in the partnership with the Schomburg Center are SU's Office of Enrollment Management and the Chancellor's South Side Initiatives program. The relationship offers advantages to both the Schomburg Center and SU. Those benefits include undergraduate and graduate scholarships to SU
for African American and Latino students who have demonstrated achievement and commitment to education and scholarly pursuit. The partnership will enhance outreach among prospective African American and Latino applicants to the university and demonstrate SU's commitment to increasing the numbers of African American and Latino students.
It will also provide an opportunity to potentially establish a similar program on the South Side of Syracuse, as part of the Chancellor's South Side Initiatives.
The success of the joint venture with the Schomburg Center could result in SU establishing partnerships with similar programs throughout the United States.
