Dr. John Hall Named Associate Vice President of Research, Sponsored Programs and Community Outreach John H. Hall, Ph.D., on October 30, 2014, was named associate vice president of Research, Sponsored Programs and Community Outreach. He will play a crucial role in forwarding the University’s research enterprise. “We are extremely fortunate to have Harvard-trained scientist, educator, and researcher John Hall join our ranks,” Vice President James Perkins said. “His vast acumen transcends the laboratory. He has proven his ability to structure, accelerate and advance the course of innovation and discovery from within some of America’s most important research organizations.” Hall, whose own research interests include theoretical studies of chemical bonding and experimental and theoretical studies of stratospheric ozone chemistry, previously served as the Bruce Raneur Professor of Natural Sciences and chair of chemistry at Morehouse College. He has also served as associate vice president for research and executive director of The Ohio State University Research Foundation, and as principle research scientist in the School of Earth and Atmospheric
Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He brings to his new post at Clark Atlanta University considerable federal government experience, having served as a program director at the National Science Foundation in the Environmental Program to Stimulate Cooperative Research. As one of several program managers, he was responsible for the review and administration of grants for the development of educational and research infrastructure capability, the establishment of cyberinfrastructure, and the establishment of proper cyberinfrastructure connectivity. Hall earned the bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Morehouse College, and the Ph.D. degree in chemistry from Harvard University, where he studied under Nobel Laureate William N. Lipscomb. Hall previously served as an adjunct professor of chemistry at Rice University, and his honors include service as a visiting professor of computer science at Rice University, visiting professor of chemistry at the University of Utah, and a Danforth Fellowship. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society.
The Du Bois Institute for Civic Engagement Presents Forum on Voter Participation CAU’s Du Bois Institute for Civic Engagement presented a forum on Nov. 14, 2014, that examined voter participation 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. The oneday symposium featured various experts who explored topics such as new barriers to voting, voting rights violations, gerrymandering, and ways to increase civic participation. “In 2013, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act was found to be unconstitutional, effectively rendered as moot in protecting voter rights,” said Obie Clayton, Ph.D., chair of the University’s Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice and director of the Du Bois Institute. “Since then, many organizations and groups have argued that this decision has limited voter participation for many minority groups, when states and jurisdictions engage in documented discriminatory behaviors. Unfortunately, given these abuses, a fully functioning Voting Rights Act is still necessary to protect voters.”
CAU Trustee Delores P. Aldridge Serves as Grand Marshal of 2014 Homecoming Parade CAU trustee Delores P. Aldridge, Ph.D., was the grand marshal of CAU’s 2014 Homecoming parade on November 1. In June, Aldridge, a double alumna, made two landmark donations to the University: a leadership gift of $150,000 and her academic papers, which will be housed at the AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library. In October, the University named the auditorium in the Thomas W. Cole Jr. Research Center for Science and Technology in honor of Aldridge and her late husband Kwame Essuon. Widely revered in academic circles, Aldridge earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and psychology from Clark College in 1963 and a master’s degree in social work from Atlanta University in 1966. In 1971, she became the first African-American woman to receive the Ph.D. degree in sociology from Purdue University. That same year, she became the founding director of the first degree-granting African and African-American Studies Program at a major private university in the South, Emory University, as well as the first African-American woman to receive a tenuretrack faculty position there. Aldridge served on the Clark College Board of Trustees and has been a member of the Clark Atlanta University Board of Trustees since the University’s consolidation in 1988. She is currently board secretary and chairs the Academic Affairs Committee. CLARK ATLANTA UNIVERSITY
SPRING 2015
9