CAARP Advisory Board

Includes six well-established researchers and policy personnel in their respective areas, including two members of the inaugural CAARP leadership:

Jerlando F. L. Jackson, PhD, is professor of Higher and Postsecondary Education in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, Faculty Associate for the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education, and Faculty Affiliate in the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship (School of Business) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Jackson’s central research interest has been to explore workforce diversity and workplace discrimination in higher education. In addition, he serves as the Executive Director for the Center for African American Research and Policy, which is developing and publishing a new generation of research on policy issues confronting African Americans in both the academy and the society at-large. Frequently sought as a keynote speaker, he is credited with over 90 publications, 125 presentations, and has edited the books- Strengthening the African American Educational Pipeline: Informing Research, Policy, and Practice for SUNY-Albany Press (2007) and Toward Administrative Reawakening: Creating and Maintaining Safe College Campuses for Stylus Publishing (2007).

Chance W. Lewis, PhD is the Carolyn Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor and Endowed Chair of Urban Education in the College of Education at the Univeristy of North Carolina at Charlotte. Additionally, he is the Founding Executive Director of the UNCC Urban Education Collaborative which is dedicated to disseminating the next generation of research on the improvement of teaching and learning in urban schools. Dr. Lewis formerly served on the faculty at Texas A&M University and Colorado State University.

Along with esteemed scholars:

Marybeth Gasman, PhD is a professor of higher education in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.  After ten years in university and community administration, Dr. Gasman received a Ph.D. in higher education from Indiana University in 2000. She came to Penn GSE in 2003. In 2006, Dr. Gasman was awarded the Association for the Study of Higher Education’s Promising Scholar/Early Career Award for her scholarship. In 2008, she received the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education Excellence in Teaching Award. In 2009, Dr. Gasman was selected by the Provost as one of eight Penn Fellows. Dr. Gasman is a historian of higher education. Her work explores issues pertaining to philanthropy and historically black colleges, black leadership, contemporary fundraising issues at black colleges, and African-American giving. Dr. Gasman is the author or editor of several books, including Envisioning Black Colleges: A History of the United Negro College Fund, Supporting Alma Mater: Successful Strategies for Securing Funds from Black College Alumni (with Sibby Anderson-Thompkins), Uplifting a People: African American Philanthropy and Education (with Kate Sedgwick), Gender and Philanthropy: New Perspectives on Funding, Collaboration, and Assessment (with Alice Ginsberg); Understanding Minority Serving Institutions (with Benjamin Baez and Caroline Turner), Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Triumphs, Troubles, and Taboos (with Christopher Tudico), and Philanthropy, Fundraising, and Volunteerism in Higher Education (with Andrea Walton).

Leon D. Caldwell, PhD is a senior research associate at The Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore, MD. Prior to this position, he was the founding Director of the Center for the Advancement of Youth Development housed at Rhodes College. He also served as the Lead Evaluator of the JustCare Family Network, a system of care implemented in Shelby County. Considered a national leader in scholar-activism, Dr. Caldwell has developed several national and local initiatives aimed at addressing the needs of vulnerable populations and community capacity building for finding solutions to challenges. While in Memphis, he facilitated two National Think Tanks for African American Progress (2008, 2009), launched the Memphis Area Fatherhood Coalition (MAF-C) with community partners, and conducted over 100 empowerment evaluation training opportunities, teacher in-services, parent and youth focused workshops. Dr. Caldwell’s theory of change is based on the belief that by building the capacity of youth service providers you can create more effective youth and family interventions to better serve youth. Dr. Caldwell has focused much of his community based participatory research efforts at improving the quality and outcomes of African American families, particularly men and boys. Dr. Caldwell earned a doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Pennsylvania State University. He holds a Master’s Degree in Education and a Bachelors’ Degree in Economics from Lehigh University. Prior to the moving to Memphis he was an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln where he founded the Family Potential Center and the Educational Psychology in Ghana Study Abroad Program. He has taught at the University of Memphis, the University of California, Irvine, North Star High School (Lincoln, NE), and the University of Ghana Winneba. Born and raised in West Philadelphia, Dr. Caldwell and his wife Celika are raising their two children, Kahlil and Kendi, to be the next generation of scholar-activists.

Juan E. Gilbert, PhD, is Professor and Chair of the Human Centered Computing Division in the School of Computing at Clemson University where he leads the Human-Centered Computing (HCC) Lab. Dr. Gilbert has research projects in spoken language systems, advanced learning technologies, usability and accessibility, Ethnocomputing (Culturally Relevant Computing) and databases/data mining. He has published more than 80 articles, given more than 120 talks and obtained more than $9 million dollars in research funding. In 2002, Dr. Gilbert was named one of the nation’s top African-American Scholars by Diverse Issues in Higher Education. He was recently named one of the 50 most important African-Americans in Technology. He was also named a Speech Technology Luminary by Speech Technology Magazine and a national role model by Minority Access Inc. Dr. Gilbert is also a National Associate of the National Research Council of the National Academies, an ACM Distinguished Speaker and a Senior Member of the IEEE Computer Society. Recently, Dr. Gilbert was named a Master of Innovation by Black Enterprise Magazine, a Modern-Day Technology Leader by the Black Engineer of the Year Award Conference, the Pioneer of the Year by the National Society of Black Engineers and he received the Black Data Processing Association (BDPA) Epsilon Award for Outstanding Technical Contribution. Dr. Gilbert recently testified before the Congress on the Bipartisan Electronic Voting Reform Act of 2008 for his innovative work in electronic voting. He is a Fellow in the Center for Governmental Services at Auburn University as well. In 2006, Dr. Gilbert was honored with a mural painting in New York City by City Year New York, a non-profit organization that unites a diverse group of 17 to 24 year-old young people for a year of full-time, rigorous community service, leadership development, and civic engagement

Dr. J. Luke Wood is Associate Professor of Community College Leadership and the Director of the Doctoral Program in Community College Leadership at San Diego State University (SDSU). Dr. Wood is also Co-Director of the Community College Equity Assessment Lab (CCEAL) – Minority Male Community College Collaborative (M2C3), Chair for the Council on Ethnic Participation (CEP) for the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) and Co-Editor of the Journal of Applied Research in the Community College.Wood’s research focuses on factors affecting the success of men of color in the community college. His research examines contributors to student persistence, achievement, attainment, and transfer for these men. Dr. Wood has delivered over a 120 scholarly professional and conference presentation. His research has been featured by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans, New York Times, Fortune Magazine, Chronicle of Higher Education, Huffington Post, C-SPAN, and National Press Club. Dr. Wood has authored over 100 publications, including six co-authored books, six edited books, and more than 60 peer-reviewed journal articles. Wood is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.