Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice is Now Open!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Brandy Jones
Telephone: 848-932-0788
Email: brandy.jones@gse.rutgers.edu
New Brunswick, NJ (September 5, 2019) — The Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions is proud to announce the opening of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice (Proctor Institute) at the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
The Proctor Institute is a national center under the direction of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Endowed Chair in Education and Distinguished Professor, Marybeth Gasman and will focus on issues of leadership, equity, and justice within the context of higher education. The Institute brings together researchers, practitioners, and community members to work toward the common goals of diversifying leadership, enhancing equity, and fostering justice for all. The Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions will be housed within the Proctor Institute and will continue its operations and programs as an initiative fulfilling the mission of the Proctor Institute.
“We are thrilled to not only continue our important work at Rutgers Graduate School of Education, but also to expand the reach of our work to further examine leadership, equity, and justice on a national scale,” said Executive Director for the Proctor Institute, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Endowed Chair in Education, and Distinguished Professor, Marybeth Gasman. “Rutgers, New Brunswick is the ideal location to begin this work and I am excited to get started.”
The Proctor Institute is named in honor of the late Samuel DeWitt Proctor, the first African American faculty member at the Graduate School of Education and the first to have an endowed professorship named after him. Proctor served as a Rutgers faculty member for 15 years and made significant contributions to advancing equitable practices in education, all while being committed to teaching, scholarship, mentoring, and service. Prior to Rutgers, Proctor was president of two historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) — North Carolina A&T University and Virginia Union University — Associate Director for the Peace Corps, a Civil Rights activist alongside Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and a nationally renowned pastor.
"We are pleased to welcome Dr. Marybeth Gasman and the Center for Minority Serving Institutions to the Rutgers GSE community and look forward to working with the Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice to advance our commitment to excellence and equity in education," stated GSE Dean Wanda J. Blanchett.
This year, the Proctor Institute hosted a series of programs and events. The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Grand Opening event, celebrated the Institute’s launch, was at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education in New Brunswick, NJ on Wednesday, September 11, 2019.
The Proctor Institute also hosted “Making Scholarships Public,” a series of workshops that offered the best practices on making scholarship more accessible to the general public. There was three workshops within the series, “Writing Opinion Pieces,” “Turning Research into Policy/Practice/Research Reports,” and “Engaging Media with your Research” and each session focused on different methods to extend the reach of one’s research. Additionally, the Proctor Institute hosted “Proctor Power Lunches” with invited speakers, the “Varying Viewpoints” podcast series featuring prominent scholars and leaders, and Twitter Chats.
In the spring, the Proctor Institute hosted the “Samuel DeWitt Proctor Distinguished Lecture Series,” which included lectures from former Florida A&M University president, Elmira Mangum, Paul Quinn College president, Michael Sorrell and President of American Association of State Colleges and Universities, Mildred “Millie” García. Each speaker discussed one of the foci of the Institute: leadership, equity, and justice.
For more information about the Proctor Institute, please check out the website here.
About the Samuel D. Proctor Institute
The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice (Proctor Institute) is a national center that focuses on issues of leadership, equity, and justice within the context of higher education. It brings together researchers, practitioners and community members to work toward the common goals of diversifying leadership, enhancing equity, and fostering justice for all. The Proctor Institute is located at Rutgers University—New Brunswick, in the Graduate School of Education and houses the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions (CMSI). Learn more at https://proctor.gse.rutgers.edu.
