GHC Professor Honored

Dr. Jon Hershey, chair of the Humanities Division and professor of English at Georgia Highlands College, was honored Friday, April 15 at Macon State College for the success of GHC’s African-American Male Initiative called GHAME – Georgia Highlands African-American and Minority Male Excellence. 

The award was bestowed at a statewide conference and banquet sponsored by the USG’s African-American Male Initiative, which was created in 2008 to address the serious problem of enrolling, retaining and graduating minority male students.  During the past two decades, the percentage of minority men in college has dropped steadily. Perennially underrepresented within the general college population, the number of minority male students became perilously low during the early- to mid- 2000s. Worse, retaining those students through graduation was failing.

So the University System of Georgia addressed the problem with the creation of the AAMI in 2008. Each USG institution developed its own program to meet the challenges at its specific college or university.

Georgia Highlands’ program has been one of the most successful in the system. In addition to GHAME, the college also works with its chapter of Brother 2 Brother, a national organization that promotes the education and welfare of young black men.

Beginning in 2008 with just seven students on the Floyd campus only, the program has grown quickly to encompass all instructional sites, including Cartersville, and a membership of 91 students this spring. In a mere three years, Hershey has shaped a multi-campus AAMI program that is data-driven and focused on outcomes. The retention rate of African-American males at GHC has risen from 43 percent between academic year 2009-2010 to 76 percent currently.

Graduation rates for 2009-2010 also passed expectations. Two-year colleges typically have low graduation rates. The rates in 2009-2010 for all GHC students, for example, were 7.5 percent.  The overall African-American male graduation rate was 5 percent.  But for members of GHAME or B2B the rate was 33 percent. 

These results in retention and graduation in such a short time demonstrate the impact of personal interaction and mentoring among this group of students who might otherwise feel lost and isolated in the college environment.

Hershey attended the Macon conference with the GHC B2B group and fellow mentor Greg Shropshire, head of the 100 Black Men of Rome and Floyd County.

Also receiving awards from the USG were Thomas W. Dortch, chairman emeritus of 100 Black Men of America, Inc, who received the AAMI Best Practices Legacy Award for his leadership role in AAMI’s creation; the Lumina Foundation for Education, which received the AAMI Best Practices Advocacy Award for funding programs that enhance the college matriculation of black males and raising visibility about the challenges this group faces; Dr. Tyrone Bledsoe, founder and executive director of the Student African-American Brotherhood, out of which Brother 2 Brother was formed, and who received the AAMI Best Practices Impact Award for his leadership and help in launching the USG initiative; and Chancellor Erroll B. Davis, who received the AAMI Best Practices Sustainability Award for providing funding support to and community advocacy for the AAMI project during his five-year tenure with the USG.