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White House Initiative on
HBCUs conference forges partnerships
Industry, government and university reps come together for serious partnership-building
 In April of 2009, more than 400 representatives of HBCUs, private industry and government agencies met at Norfolk State University (Norfolk, VA). The occasion was the annual technical assistance conference of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The 2009 conference theme was “Change is here – are you ready?” Sessions focused on stimulus funding and other funding opportunities for research and business  partnerships, and on the opportunities created by emerging and growing technologies like nanotechnology and renewable energy.
An ongoing effort
The White House initiative was started in 1980 under President Jimmy Carter. Its mission is “to strengthen the capacity of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to provide excellence in education.” The initiative is administered by the U.S. Department of Education. A national conference, a technical assistance conference and several smaller meetings are held each year.
Putting people together
The object of the Norfolk State event was to connect HBCU officials and administrators with federal and local government agencies as well as private industry. The conference is about “putting people together, through networking and conference capabilities, bringing agency people together along with small businesses or large businesses and the HBCU communities so that they can talk about mutual interests and how they can benefit each other,” according to Dr Leonard Haynes, then executive director of the initiative. Haynes was quoted after the event in a local business magazine, the Hampton Roads Business Journal (www.insidebiz.com).
Broad representation
The list of federal entities represented on panels or as speakers included the U.S. Departments of Agriculture Commerce, Interior and Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, NASA, the Army Test and Evaluation Command, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the National Science Foundation and more. The keynote speaker was Dr Lezli Baskerville, president and CEO of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (www.nafeo.org).
Industry participation was strong as well. Wayne Smith, a researcher from Harris Corp, was part of the program, and representatives from other large and small government  contractors attended to network and listen.
A conference with results
According to Haynes, the conference has produced some impressive results. In 2008, the U.S. Navy established a sizable HBCU-focused scholarship fund. This year, NSU and Georgia Aerospace Systems Manufacturing (Atlanta, GA) formed a new partnership for research on solar technology. Other partnerships among industry, government agencies and a variety of HBCUs are ongoing.
At this and other White House Initiatives on HBCUs conferences, “Good things happen,” Haynes says.
D/C
Kate Colborn
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