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High Honors Newsweek Names Morehouse One of Nation’s Top Service-Minded Institutions
Washington Monthly Names Morehouse Nation’s No. 1 Liberal Arts College
FOR RICHARD WILLIAMS, going out into the community to serve others – be it mentoring high school students or serving food to the homeless – is not something used to pad his resume. The junior psychology major said it is a welcomed part of being a man of Morehouse. “When you arrive at Morehouse, you are told that you have a responsibility to the world,” he said. “It’s really a culture.” Williams, a volunteer with the College’s Bonner Office of Community Service, is a prime example of why Morehouse was named by Newsweek magazine as one of the nation’s Top 25 Schools for the ServiceMinded in its annual College Rankings: The Best Schools in America issue. The magazine focused on the nation’s top institutions, particularly those with high academic standards and a wide range of degree programs. The editors looked at colleges and universities that prepared students to be successful educationally, socially and in other aspects of life. “Morehouse College is a school steeped in tradition – including a long history of service,” the article states. “Morehouse men are all about giving back to their community. A residential campus within a city of 500,000, 75 percent of the student body volunteers.” Williams, who is from Moncks Corner, S.C., mentored Atlanta high school students this summer. He also is a campus organizer for Advocates For Youth, a Washington, D.C.based organization that educates young men about sexual health and education. Helping others is something Williams and other Morehouse students take seriously. “Community organizations and people volunteering to help had a direct effect on my life,” he said. “I feel like now I have a personal responsibility to do the same.” To see all of the rankings, go to http://education.newsweek.com/choosing-aschool/college-rankings.html.
MOREHOUSE IS THE NATION’S best liberal arts college, according to Washington Monthly’s 2010 College Guide. The magazine’s editors picked Morehouse No. 1 based on their emphasis on social mobility, research and service to the country. “Morehouse enrolls an unusually large number of low-income men, graduates most of them, makes significant contributions to research and has an active ROTC program,” wrote the Washington Monthly editors in the magazine. Second was Bryn Mawr College, while Swathmore College was third. Spelman College ranked ninth.
U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, Princeton Review and the Huffington Post also laud College U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT has chosen Morehouse the nation’s third best historically black college, while Forbes magazine picked Morehouse one of “America’s Best Colleges” for the third consecutive year. The Princeton Review named Morehouse one of the Southeast’s best colleges. In May 2010, the Huffington Post named Morehouse in its list of “most grueling” colleges. Also making the grade were MIT, Johns Hopkins, University of Chicago, Caltech and the U.S. Naval Academy. The Huffington Post wrote that Morehouse made the list because of its commitment to upholding standards of excellence, as well as its reputation for having notoriously difficult pre-med courses. “It’s always good to be among the best company, so those rankings certainly confirm our brand,” said Weldon Jackson ’72, provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs. “It reinvigorates all of us who work here because obviously what we do is having the right benefit.” ■
To view the full list of colleges and universities ranked by Washington Monthly magazine, go to http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/index.php.
HBCUs Graduates Do Better Long Term in the Job Market Than Non-HBCU Grads STUDENTS FROM historically black colleges and universities do better long term in the labor market than nonHBCU grads, according to a new study by economics chairman Gregory Price and two Howard University economists. Their findings, published in the latest edition of The Review of Black Political Economy, consider the returns of earning a baccalaureate degree from an HBCU relative to a non-HBCU for black Americans. Their article counters a 2010 study that determined long-term returns of graduating from an HBCU were negative. “Our results lend support to the idea that HBCUs continue to have a compelling educational justification, as the labor market outcomes of their graduates are superior to what they would have been had they graduated from a non-HBCU,” said Price and the two other economists, William Spiggs and Omari Swinton. They also suggest “…HBCU graduates realize higher earnings relative to non-HBCU graduates. As such, our results lend support to the idea that HBCUs have a comparative advantage in nurturing the self-image, self-esteem and identity of graduates, which theoretically matters for labor market outcomes.” To download and read this article, go to http://www.springerlink.com/ content/63gq601620k9933k/. To read a story from The Chronicle of Higher Education about the economists’ article, go to http://chronicle.com/ blogs/innovations/the-returns-onan-hbcu-education/29217. ■ –AS S P R I N G
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