Iowa State University


1-8-97

Contact:
Dan Robinson, Interim Vice President for Student Affairs, (515) 294-4420
Anne Dolan, University Relations, (515) 294-7065

FOURTH CARVER SCHOLAR VISITS ISU JAN. 15-17

AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State University's fourth George Washington Carver Visiting Scholar helped found an interdenominational network in Indianapolis that motivates inner-city youth to go after a college education. J. Herman Blake, as vice chancellor for undergraduate education at Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI), formed the alliance with eight black churches to promote education and improve students' performance in elementary and high school.

Blake, with his wife Emily Moore, will visit campus Jan. 15-17. They recently founded Scholars for Educational Excellence and Diversity Inc., Indianapolis, which provides services to schools and agencies seeking academic excellence for their changing populations.

Nearly all the Carver Scholar events will be presented jointly by Blake and Moore. They will give an address as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 15, in the Memorial Union South Ballroom. The address is titled "Martin Luther King Jr.: Liberal Education and the Philosophy of Nonviolence."

They also will give a talk titled, "Generations of Warriors" from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16, in the Memorial Union Gold Room. Their presentation is an analysis of the life patterns of nine generations of women from one family raised in the same community.

Blake and Moore also will present several research seminars and participate in receptions and small-group meetings with students, faculty, staff and administrators. A schedule of their public events is attached.

Iowa State created the Carver visiting scholar program in 1993 to bring professors from under-represented groups to campus. The intent of the program is to broaden students' educational experience and enrich the university environment. It is funded through a $500,000 endowment.

Blake has served as vice chancellor and professor of sociology, anthropology and education at IUPUI since 1989. From 1984 to 1987, he was president at Tougaloo College, Mississippi, a historically black, liberal arts college of 700 students. From 1972 to 1984, he was the founding provost of Oakes College at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Blake received the B.A. degree (1960) from New York University, New York City, and his M.A. (1965) and Ph.D. degrees (1974) from the University of California, Berkeley. All his degrees are in sociology.

Blake's published work includes Revolutionary Suicide, which he completed with activist Huey Newton in 1973, and a chapter titled "The Challenge in Diversity," which he co-authored for Ethics in Higher Education (1990). In Pathways to the Multicultural Community, published last year, Blake contributed a chapter titled "The Creative Abyss: Liberal Education Meets Diversity."

Moore worked for 14 years in the Concordia University System, at the Ann Arbor, Mich., and St. Paul, Minn., campuses. At Ann Arbor, she rose to the rank of dean of teacher education and served as interim academic dean for a year before moving to St. Paul. There she served as vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty for three years. She served as presidential advisor for program development for the college in her last year at Concordia College, St. Paul.

Moore received master's (1972) and doctoral degrees (1980) in health education from Washington University, St. Louis, and the University of South Carolina, Columbia, respectively.

George Washington Carver Visiting Scholar
Schedule of Events

Wednesday, January 15

Thursday, January 16

Friday, January 17

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URL: http://www.iastate.edu/general/releases/CarverScholar.html
Revised 1/8/97