Clip from NCCU’s 145th Commencement Exercises

On Saturday, May 10, 2025, my Provost at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) informed me at the One-Hundred Forty-Fifth Commencement Exercises that I have earned promotion to Full Professor with Tenure. Although I earned tenure in 2018 the first time at my alma mater, Suffolk University, a predominantly White urban university in Boston, this time feels like an incredibly different career milestone because my teaching, research, and service is now squarely situated in my roots – the HBCU environment. Being able to labor at the first public liberal arts university for Black Americans is truly an honor and privilege. Every day I get an opportunity to work in collaboration with students, colleagues, and friends who are changing the landscape of higher education for the better. They are my ancestors’ wildest dreams.

Black men make up 2% of full professors across colleges and universities. We are grossly underrepresented. Representation is vital. In fact, students at NCCU, former students at Suffolk, and countless others at national meetings have often told me that I am their first Black male professor, which is the most striking qualitative evidence of this imbalance. I write more about my experiences navigating faculty life in a book that was recently published on the future of Black leadership in higher education. 

My love goes to my family, particularly my wife, Dr. Courtney Lockhart McMickens, a trailblazing Tuskegee-Harvard trained child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist and my son who provide the conditions that afford me to do the work that brings me joy and to push back on the deficit-laden narratives about persons of color in the United States. Also, much of my work as a professor would be much more challenging without the support of my angels who have transitioned. 

I also would like to give a shoutout to my Board of Mentors, including noted scholars like Dr. Shaun R. Harper (Albany State University), Dr. Vivian L. Gadsden (Fisk University), Dr. James Earl Davis (Morehouse College), and countless others; these are scholars I intentionally assembled to serve on my dissertation committee while a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania and all are HBCU all-stars. Shout out to my many collaborators over the years; this recognition is also yours! I would be doing a disservice if I attempted to name each of you but know that you are appreciated and valued.

In my family, education was strongly encouraged and in fact, going to college was instilled as a requirement by my parents and those in my community. A mentor from my church, Ms. Frankie Shepherd, drove me down to Tuskegee University to go on a college tour and that set the trajectory for my higher education journey. My parents graduated from high school, and I am the first in my family to attend and graduate from college. I am blessed to have earned degrees from an HBCU, a master's comprehensive university, and an Ivy League University. I am a first generation, formerly low-income student who would not have been able to afford the private universities I attended were it not for my family, friends, and mentors along the way. After earning the Bill and Melinda Gates Millenium Scholarship, I was provided over $200,000 to attend and complete my bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees and this was one of the most important life-giving things that happened to me. It enabled me to complete my entire higher education, including a Semester at Sea global adventure with cross-cultural exposures to Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kenya, India, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Venezuela, and Vietnam, with no debt.

The public often does not understand what college professors do. The work goes far beyond teaching. Although teaching, in my opinion, ought to be the cornerstone of higher education and it should be valued as much as research and service. In fact, I received the 2025 North Carolina Central University Award for Excellence in Online Teaching for Graduate Programs when I learned the news about my promotion and tenure this year. 

Professors are ranked and the typical hierarchy includes Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Full Professor. These ranks indicate increased experience, expertise, and responsibilities. Ostensibly, promotion and tenure are recognition of one’s reputation in scholarship and research, teaching, and service to the public, profession, and university. Tenure is a type of job security where institutions are signaling that they see your good work and want it to continue to be a part of their mission for the foreseeable future. The gesture is evidence of a long-term investment in shaping the fabric of the university. The purpose of tenure is to safeguard academic freedom, which is necessary for all who conduct research and teach in higher education. Tenure provides the conditions for faculty to pursue research and innovation and draw evidence-based conclusions free from corporate or political pressure. It is important to note that the number of tenured faculty within the academic labor force has declined to about 21 percent across American higher education.

My work continues.  I plan to continue my scholarship with my students, colleagues, and friends across the globe who are seeking to understand how HBCUs socialize and prepare their students for success in workplaces and graduate school environments. I am best known in the field of higher education for my research on HBCUs.

I am continuing my line of inquiry on college mental health, particularly exploring the role of Black men’s mental health journeys. Did you know that Black men are four times likelier to die by suicide than Black women? I write about this topic and other mental health challenges in this book and this recent monograph that were recently published. 

The work continues because there is much to do to address the inequities in American society and to devise solutions. These are just some of the things on the horizon. I trust that my light will continue to shine to support those coming behind me so we can make meaningful change together, especially in this challenging socio-political environment that we will overcome.