Position: Sponsorship Manager
COMMISSION SPONSORSHIP AGREEMENT

As a Sponsorship Manager for CHMA, you are expected to

• Develop a plan for growing the CHMA’s base of sponsors for the HBCU Awards and 3 conference events put on by the CHMA and future conferences designated by the CHMA, including identifying at least – top prospects that will be targeted for active pursuit, and
• Manage sponsor relationships to allow the renewed sponsorship of past sponsors of the CHMA’s funding objectives.
• Our sponsorship breakdown should look as close to the following:
  • Top tier awards and conferences are African Diaspora owned companies.
  • 90% of sponsors are African Diaspora owned companies.
  • 5% of sponsors are African or Caribbean owned companies.
  • 1% of sponsors from America are outside of the southeast United States.

In this position, you will receive the following incentives:

• 4.50% commission from dollar one on new revenue generated based on the commission schedule described below. Joint sales are encouraged and commissions will be split in accordance with Treasurer’s policy.
• 4.00% commission from dollar one on renewed revenue generated based on the commission schedule described below. Joint sales are encouraged and commissions will be split in accordance with Treasurer’s policy.
• Commission payouts cannot exceed $80,000 for a sponsorship manager in a calendar year unless otherwise approved by the CHMA’s board of directors.

Revenue commission is credited only as a sponsorship contracts are signed and delivered to the CHMA and is paid monthly. During the CHMA’s relationship with the sponsor, you will be paid for all sponsorships directly generated from your work and delivered to the CHMA in your account. Commissions on all other sponsorships will be determined by the Treasurer’s policy. The commission structure will be based on the sponsorship compensation plan in effect during the calendar year and is subject to change annually. You must continue to add value to the growth and management of the sponsor to receive on-going commissions.

For 2012, targeted bonuses will be based on the levels of individual quota attainment.
BONUS PAYOUT                     % ATTAINMENT OF YEAR END GOAL
$250                            75%
$500                            100%
$750                            115%
$1000                            130%

Quotas will be constant through any calendar year. Bonus payouts will be made end of quarter’s following achievement of the above thresholds and will be credited as long as you are employed by the CHMA.

In order to qualify for commission and bonus payments:

1. You must be employed by the CHMA. Should you resign from or be terminated by the CHMA for any reason, you are no longer eligible to receive commissions from the moment of your departure from the CHMA.
2. No sponsorships are considered without a signed contract on file and no commissions are paid except on signed and delivered sponsorships. Thus, you are responsible for submitting signed contracts with all sponsors.
3. You must perform at a satisfactory level to retain your position as a sponsorship manager. This includes such factors as achievement of quota, stellar customer management and ownership of the success of the CHMA’s internal processes that support our sponsors.
4. You must continue to add value and actively work to manage/grow the CHMA’s sponsorship revenues to receive commissions.
5. The commission agreement and CHMA’s compensation agreement may be altered annually based on the CHMA’s financial objectives.

College and university students need outlets to promote and publish their works. This is especially true of mass communication and/or journalism students who face a field of interdisciplinary skill, including sedentary storytellers’ fear: multimedia.

At the Black College Communication Association Student News Media Conference in spring, students from various HBCUs expressed the challenges that they faced with their campuses’ administrations and Student Government Associations.

They also revealed that some student journalists are at a standstill because their schools do not have radio, television and/or newspaper outlets for students to hone their skills.

The conversation could easily steer into a critique of why some schools have these outlets and others do not. While conversing about the status of these schools and their ability to provide for students is healthy, for students who want to become published and/or gain experience in the interim, there are options.

Black College Communication Association Chair Dr. Valerie White shared possibilities.

“Students may take advantage of the service offered by Black College Wire or they may freelance to get published wherever they can,” White said.

(Black College Wire representatives offered to publish student journalists whose schools don’t have media outlets.)

“Students can also start their own online blogs through free or low-cost web services. However, news stories are most important to secure internships and jobs.”

Beat writing, which tends to focus on specific content areas, was not cautioned against, but versatility was encouraged.

“Students need to make sure the stories are of interest to a national audience and should submit stories in a timely manner,” White said.

The practice of constant writing was also recommended.

“I suggest that these students write as often as possible, at least weekly. They should challenge themselves to submit the story the day it happens usually within two hours for spot news and as soon as possible for issue-oriented stories,” White said.

HBCU Digest Founding Editor Jarrett Carter Sr. shared publication requirements and also offered insight for student journalists.

HBCU Digest will publish student journalists from HBCUs given that the students submit three clips of published work for academic review to info@hbcudigest.com. Preference is given to students who submit clips along with a resume and personal statement not exceeding 500 words.

Carter emphasized the power of individual content that can be produced, directed and distributed via smart phones.

“What must happen for students of color is for more of us to begin thinking constantly with media in mind,” he said.

With organizations like Black College Wire and HBCU Digest offering to aid student journalists, the onus shifts and it becomes a matter of personal pursuit of publication.

Both sites redistribute news and posts from HBCUs.

While finding homes for content remains a concern, journalistic integrity and cultural competence must remain the focus.

“As racial and ethnic rhetoric increase and frame perceptions on black culture, achievement and progress, it is critical that we have capable and responsible members of our culture sharing our stories,” Carter said.

“We must have more journalists, more bloggers, more podcasters and filmmakers working to tell our stories for better and for worse,” he said.

“If we are not successful in creating a new generation of storytellers, much of how we are viewed in popular culture will be left to people who aren’t from our communities, haven’t lived our experiences, and don’t know the full thrust of our history. And by the way – people who don’t know who we are can look exactly like us; don’t be fooled.”

“I encourage all HBCU students to read the news from many different sources daily. Become knowledgeable about things happening around you. Learn to write to inform your people. Become comfortable with the processes of asking questions and cultivating relationships,” Carter said.

“Our culture needs more great people willing to tell our real stories, and the more immersed students become in sharing these stories, the greater chance we will have of being honestly portrayed and represented in media, ” Carter continued.

With regard to student opportunities beyond publication, White had this to say, “I encourage students to explore outside of traditional newspapers for internships and work experience.

“Almost any profession needs writers to tell their stories. Students who don’t have internships should volunteer with organizations and network. But most importantly, students should make their school media the best possible through commitment, hard work and excellence.”

Find Black College Wire on Facebook and visit hbcudigest.com to make additional inquiries.

As HBCUs continue to solve historic academic, social and cultural disparities in American society, we are glad that leadership and outside partners of these institutions grasp the importance of media positioning in the collaborative strategic plan for black colleges and universities. We hope that this conversation will be the first of many to create future perspectives and solutions.

Instead, the email called for registration to its newest conference, “HBCUs Under Attack: What Must We Do?” I’ve heard of strategic retreat from attack in times of war, but never to a Spa and Resort in Orlando, FL.

Promising discussion on Funding & Development; Retention & Graduation; and Student Relations & Engagement, the conference promises to be a lot more than a sun-bathed Spring break in Orlando for HBCU thought leaders and executives. TMCF assures participants a provocative opportunity to create new business strategies and best practices to stave off a circling media.  But, as the TMCF is prone to do with many of its initiatives for scholarship provision and technical assistance to HBCUs, the help is lost in the hype.

There is no topic on this matter that HBCU leadership, alumni and students have not turned over and inwards over the last 40 years, searching for a way to keep public and private enemies of the HBCU at bay. HBCU alumni don’t give, unprepared students drop out, and HBCU recruiters and service providers are doing a poor job of speaking to a new generation of college student. Economics, popular culture and social construct all contribute healthily to this circumstance.  Media, in its nefarious pursuit of the sexiest and most provocative story line, reflects these absolute truths through an often racist and opinion-based prism.

And our organizations, at least those that take real interest in this crisis situation, believe the attack is the sole activity of the media. The war of headlines and news briefs is but a small battle in the larger cultural war facing HBCUs. If there is an attack to speak of, it is not perpetuated by the enemy at the gates, but the disease of complacency with HBCU leadership and resulting lethargy of its alumni and students.

Creating a forum for HBCU leaders to come away with solutions that their schools can’t afford to implement with overworked administrators and officers lacking the vision to develop is at best, a waste of shrinking school travel budgets. At worst, it is a false promise to HBCU constituents and an additional weight upon those who care most deeply about improvement. It is but another glimpse of what could be, and a crushing realization that it can’t be without proper focus and consistency.

But since TMCF has made this into a reactive opportunity to position its brand within a provocative public issue, let’s look at some hard truths about its reaction. How interesting that TMCF was unable to host this event on the campus of one of its member schools, to better harness resources, community buy-in and regional media coverage to better capture the attention it wants.

How unfortunate that TMCF, an organization which partners with alcohol corporations with predatory marketing practices to minority communities throughout the globe, lists Wells-Fargo as a presenting sponsor for the conference; the same Wells-Fargo under current investigation for predatory lending practices against African-Americans in cities like Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia.

And how disingenuous for TMCF to cultivate a conference and national call against media bias towards HBCUs, and invite no prominent African-American journalists, distinguished HBCU journalism faculty, or HBCU student media officials to keynote on how the new story on HBCUs will be authored. A look at the conference’s established agenda has “Telling the HBCU Story” as a bullet point on the ‘Funding and Development’ topic strand. If you cannot hear from those best trained and versed in the nuances of media culture and advancement, everyone else within the steady hum of half-baked solutions is talking loud and saying nothing.

The story of historically black colleges is one that we’ve long come to parallel with the history of the African-American; a story of doing more while receiving less, creating excellence in the face of extermination, and quiet dignity in the face of certain danger. The Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund has played an important role in the evolution of this American success story, and deserves credit for pioneering community support for the best and brightest minds of our communities.

But this conference may prove to be little more than a self-promoting exercise in the same withering talk that never saved one HBCU from the burn of misguided editorial influence – all under the warm springtime Orlando sun.

Conveniently, Vedder disarms the majority of his argument by invoking the usual biased and incomplete methodology of assessing the worth of HBCUs… Morehouse College graduate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s legacy of advocating for racial harmony, college rankings lists, and low-performance statistics are just a few of the uninformed fastballs just a bit outside of addressing the way to appropriately measure minority-serving institutions.

There is no benefit to rehashing the history of HBCUs in America, but there is some benefit to revisiting why desegregation in American higher education has not mirrored the measurable success of desegregation in American research, arts, politics, business, and entertainment. Put aside the fact that the black experts and leaders in the aforementioned fields are disproportionately HBCU graduates; there is still the biting hypocrisy of expecting black students and their families to make the choice for diversity when the same expectation is not present for white students.

There can be no honest discussion on racial diversity in higher education without acknowledging the historical burden of diversity for African-American students, past and present. The grave reality of rampant underfunding, media smearing and political sabotage of HBCUs is a very tangible part of HBCU culture to this day, and continues to have a significant impact on students of all races in their assessment of an HBCU as a higher education option. This is particularly painful for the black student, who recognizes the benefit of attending a cost-effective, nurturing institution that provides the academic attention and the socially-fulfilling experiences for minorities not commonly found at larger, “diverse” campuses.

They recognize that being one of a handful of minorities in a class of hundreds, learning from professors who may not understand varying cultural perspectives influencing their academic experience may not always complement the allure of better facilities or the prospect of career advancement after graduation. And yet, black students are consistently exposed to massaging beckoning them to choose the right side of racial harmony.

Black students are continually asked to be the sole armor-bearers of Dr. King’s dream.

At last check, the speeches and writings of Dr. King did not preclude white students from attending HBCUs. They did not call for a prohibition on white lawmakers providing equal funding to these institutions, and they did not call for predominantly white media to ignore the innumerable successes of these institutions and their graduates. Members of the majority have always been able to handle diversity with white gloves; to provide the opportunity and to see that access to the opportunity is equitable for minorities. Yet, according to Vedder and others sharing his philosophy, it is the God-given duty of the black student to bear the loneliness and ground-level discrimination or disadvantage that can be experienced as a racial-minority at a predominantly-white institution.

We all should be grateful that Vedder and others are so willing to bring up the discussion on the merit and value of HBCUs, because it gives the larger American community, with its 24-hour news cycle and vast access to punditry and opinion, a chance to know HBCUs in ways unimaginable just 25 years ago. Knowledgeable researchers and experts now have greater opportunities to discuss the mission-mandated admissions policies that, while creating a culture of high attrition and poor academic performance, continue to afford opportunities to students neglected by the country’s public secondary education system. Casual observers of higher education can now discover that despite being chronically underfunded at the state and federal levels, the professional and financial roots of the African-American middle class are inextricably cultivated within HBCUs producing the lion’s share of the country’s black graduates.

And above all else, people of all races can discover that HBCUs offer exemplary academic cultures that continue to uphold their commitments diversity and inclusion – even while predominantly white institutions scramble to put a multi-racial facelift on campuses that statistically still resemble ethnic compositions found in the early days, months and years of desegregation.

Any respectable call for diversity demands advocacy for opportunities, funding needs and cultural advantages present at HBCUs. As predominantly white colleges have grown from humble beginnings as liberal arts colleges and technical education hubs serving the interests of their surrounding cities and states, HBCUs demand the same opportunity, and cherish the chance to share it with students of all races.

The question is not if HBCUs should exist or how valuable they are, but how long before the exposure of their value will break the weakening push of racism and ignorance working against them.

It is no secret that public HBCUs continue to fight civil wars for equitable funding from state and federal resources, but recent years have revealed a new adversary in predominantly white colleges recruiting and enrolling high achieving black students. These institutions, armed with political leverage, corporate loyalties and favor of local media establishments, wreak havoc on the HBCUs’ efforts to solicit comparable support. Even worse, this disparity works against the HBCUs effort to attract the attention of an alumni base which, in the case of many of its members, has long-tired of the fight against institutionalized discrimination, and have since laid down their battle armor for the individual pursuit of the American Dream.

Without the reasonable support of the surrounding community, what student equipped with the freedom and power of choice would choose to invest years of study and small fortunes to the neglected and mistreated educational option? When weighed with the HBCUs’ laudable mission of educating those students who might not otherwise receive the privilege of college education, the mystery of low test scores, high attrition, and little pity from outside institutions makes the reasonable choice about as simple as a freshman-year, Friday night downtown spent partying vs. studying.

Yet even with insidious disadvantages working against their progress, HBCUs continue to develop and train leading minds in the STEM fields, education, agriculture, business and public health. So much so, that even the Civil Rights Commission in its conservative wisdom seeks to position HBCUs as the only higher education option for minority students hoping to excel in these fields, as they will experience “academic mismatch” and “unnecessary disadvantage” at predominantly white institutions. Riley’s argument that HBCUs do not prepare graduates for professional success is not only wrong and poorly expressed, but a slap in the face to those who would prefer to see preferential admissions and affirmative action removed from admissions processes at PWIs:

Processes that are still very much needed at the institutions Riley believes are better equipped to educate black students.

While one of society’s greatest collective accomplishments is growing racial tolerance, the ambiguity of support and nurturing at PWIs for these black students with high SAT scores and even higher career aspirations matches society’s evolution. While statistics indicate that black students are choosing PWIs at at higher rate than HBCUs, these statistics do not and could not measure the impact of HBCU graduates building minority communities and enhancing opportunities of those black students coming behind them. This is but part of the HBCUs mission – to produce a graduate that produces a better community. It isn’t simply a lofty ideal; improvements in public health awareness, educational progress, political awareness and business development in predominantly minority communities can be statistically and emotionally traced back to the influence of the HBCUs serving tirelessly within them.

The national higher education community is enriched by HBCUs, and the history of the United States continues to bear their imprint. We can only hope that Mr. Riley finds it prudent enough to venture outside of the narrow ideals of his politics and his own experiences, and into the historically black side of the town every once in a while.

Every year, news publications produce rankings of America’s colleges and universities. And supporters of historically black colleges and universities particularly enjoy this annual review, not just for bragging rights on the worth of their schools, but for the national display of productivity and excellence in comparison to some of the nation’s most commercially-recognizable academic destinations.

But what these news outlets omit from these reports is far more meaningful and pertinent to the college experience, and for HBCUs, the data that isn’t seen perpetuates a true story being left untold. The HBCU legacy of providing access to the disenfranchised and achieving in the face of institutionalized depravity is one deserving of far more than rankings, but recourse from these same outlets.

There is a unique frailty to these rankings, a frailty that many college and university presidents at predominantly white institutions have long seethed about, and some at HBCUs have outright lamented. Publications like U.S. News & World Report and the Princeton Review use public opinion and hard numbers to sort the viability of schools, and freely admit that they are just mechanical foundations to aid the college selection process for parents and future students.

But they leave out the economic, social and cultural factors that would incline a poll taker or a reviewer of institutional data to mark HBCUs on the lower scale of capability. The U.S. News & World Report’s methodology for HBCUs includes the following quality indicators to construct an institutional rank:

• Peer assessment
• Retention
• Faculty resources
• Student selectivity
• Financial resources
• Alumni giving rate

Peer assessment, while a tangible measure to gauge public opinion, should never be used to account for an institution’s viability. There is no scientific way to account for negative or positive bias for or against one institution or another. That peer assessment accounts for 25 percent of a survey’s final score gives the message that popularity is the primary indicator of what makes a quality school.

Retention is perhaps the most dangerous measure for HBCUs, because it does not account for the mission-based efforts of these schools to provide opportunity to student populations most unprepared to enter the college setting. HBCUs cater to many first-generation college students with little-to-no direction on financial aid preparation or study skills. Many students come with zero financial or emotional support from family, and bring the baggage of loyalty to these family structures with them to the campus. Countless students, who work to finance school, are unable to balance professional and scholastic obligations.

And some are just lazy. But whatever the circumstances, HBCU have higher academic casualties than other institutions because they take the chance, regardless of student background or state of maturity. Retention rates cannot be measured and assessed without acknowledging the mission of all HBCUs, and how this mission impacts student selectivity and admission.

Additionally, it’s laughable for any HBCU to be ranked on faculty and financial resources. Federal offices have been established to monitor HBCUs and their treatment by state and federal government. Programs at HBCUs have been duplicated and eliminated by the encroachment of municipal and political motivations to diminish the autonomy of black colleges. Lawsuits have been filed and won, miles have been walked in protest over inadequate funding, and students and faculty have done more to produce the great minds of our time with little more than inadequate technology, dilapidated facilities, and a dream to do the ancestors proud.

When you account for academic programs offered at PWIs with low numbers of minority enrollment and little motivation to diversify, when you consider that many smaller HBCUs across the south are still charged with producing tomorrow’s teachers, nurses, ministers and agricultural leaders and little else in the professional disciplines, there is little wonder why alumni giving provides barely a drop in the ocean of financial need for HBCUs. And this isn’t to factor in the bitterness felt by HBCU alumni, who longed for sweet cultural enrichment and growth at an HBCU, but also found the sour grapes resulting from systematic discrimination at the highest levels.

They found disgruntled, overworked employees. Dormitories and classrooms unfit for learning, let alone inspiration. They found too few resources to ensure campus safety, and not enough programs to facilitate political and social development.

And they still find the same even to this day. And we wonder why graduates either hesitate or refuse to give back.

This isn’t to make excuses for what HBCUs do haphazardly and, in many cases, outright wrong. There are numerous strides to be made in customer service, creative marketing, integrity of leadership and alumni responsibility. And it’s up to every HBCU to look within itself and recognize the immediacy of making such a change, or to face certain extinction.

But to rank and review HBCUs on measurements without cultural consideration is not only journalistically irresponsible, but dishonest to the sensibilities of those who hold these rankings in high regard. Few may know of the constant hardships faced by HBCUs on a daily basis, but the surreptitious chiding of our institutions cloaked by the publishing of half-hearted rankings does little more than add another obstacle to every institution’s growing list of the same.

“One thing that we do know from a nurturing environment that you get from an HBCU, is that we want you to graduate and be successful in life,” he said. “So what we’re going to do is we’re going to take our HBCUs and we’re going to market them. We’re going to expand their online capabilities, and those [schools] that don’t, we will help them until we have our students back, until we can take care of our students at HBCUs. So, I think that’s the greatest challenge of 2010 and beyond.” – RollingOut.com

But Joyner’s comments aren’t particularly matched with action- actual or imagined. The vague nature of a major initiative for HBCUs without so much as a banner ad on Joyner’s online media vehicles is one thing. But without details outlining how Joyner’s program will succeed where HBCUs themselves have struggled over the last ten years, much is left to the imagination of the skeptic and supporter alike. There are far too many potential logistical, cultural and administrative nightmares for this kind of idea to be quickly embraced like the opening act of a Sky Show.

Joyner has stated that his online education initiative would develop a “black college experience” for working and non-traditional students. In the most positive of circumstances, this could mean an interactive faculty that embraces student development at each individual pace. It could mean partnerships that invite online students into on-campus programming opportunities.

At worst, it could put on a massive scale many of the challenges HBCUs face in online learning development, and lead to more questions than answers. If certain HBCU campuses that aren’t wired to run a comprehensive online learning system desire to participate with Joyner’s program, will the Tom Joyner Foundation finance the digging, laying of wire and renovation of facilities to meet the demand?

And what about the HBCU’s ability to field adequate faculty to teach certain courses? And who makes the decision on which courses are available online – Joyner or the HBCUs?

Culturally, there are few indications that online learning has the capacity to deliver an “HBCU experience.” Part of the endearing climate of attending an HBCU is attending athletic events, lecture series, yard events and the chance to hear brilliant exposition from instructors. It’s hard to visualize a virtual experience capturing these moments, simply through the posting of a colorful banner with a smiling Joyner in a mortarboard somewhere nearby.

Even if online learners are invited to be a part of residential student life on campus, has market research been done to indicate that students would actively take advantage of the opportunities? If they are too busy with work or other circumstances to take classes in person, is the HBCU cultural allure enough to draw them to the yard for anything other than graduation?

And what about the difficult road to climb in marketing this new initiative? Joyner’s direct competitors in for-profit education – Kaplan, University of Phoenix, Walden and others – have the benefit of established accreditation and years of market presence. While Joyner boasts the media platform and the corporate relationships to make a big splash in the market, there is no indication that the venture has a plan for sustainability beyond the idea that black folks should have more access to online education.

Each of these inquiries, questions that would take many days and many dollars to answer, and we still haven’t mentioned the possibility of political brushback with program availability online. A new era of program duplication and du jure systems of higher education is being ushered in with online accessibility, and while HBCUs in states like Maryland, Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia are at the front end of battles on this issue, Joyner’s plan seems to be a forged path to place HBCUs in a deeper wilderness of political consternation.

Higher education is not a concert tour or an appeal for scholarship dollars. It is a multi-layered enterprise encompassing financial, cultural and political considerations. No one can question Joyner’s commitment to HBCUs, or his ability to assist them. But his proposal isn’t assistance – it’s the first opportunity to offer a sustainable solution for retention and enrollment maladies at HBCUs.

This isn’t to say that online HBCU offerings couldn’t work, but it is to say that a lot more research and strategy should be made available to those whom will be affected by this plan. Our historically black colleges and universities can’t afford another ‘great idea’ song and dance with a ‘poorly executed’ record-scratched ending.

The reality for many historically black colleges and universities across the nation, particularly in economically trying times, is that resources from state and private factions are not easily routed to the institutions serving those with the greatest need. This reality is life-altering for those students seeking   funding opportunities for education, and life-threatening for the institutions striving to maintain operational integrity with thinly-stretched budgets. The Tennessean crafts headlines on TSU’s retention and enrollment challenges with students the state acknowledges as unprepared at the secondary level.   Yet the paper buries the more-startling lead on a more important story; the disparity of retention rates at Tennessee State and their direct relation to the economic struggles faced by minority families in Tennessee and beyond.

The Tennessean thunders headlines into print on expenditures made by TSU per student, yet whispers that Tennessee State was bested only by Austin Peay University for the lowest budget allocation projections amongst public colleges and universities in the state in 2008, and received the lowest allocation recommendations for the 2010-11 budgets, with just under $3 million in improvements.

The Tennessean can call to task the university for poor leadership and structural student support, yet has made no effort to balance expose’ reporting with reviews of the university’s successes – successes that would dramatically influence public perception of the university. TSU’s training seminar for area public school math teachers, its partnership with the Naval Engineering Education Center, and its perfect passing rates for the state’s board of nursing licensure exam are just a few of the recent achievements worthy of national attention, but barely gracing the pages of its local paper of record.

No true and informed supporter of Tennessee State University yearns for facts about the university’s performance to be manipulated or omitted from public review and account. But the partnership between higher education and media requires a mutually-collegial approach to the promotion and enhancement of the taxpayers’ money working in the form of academic and social talent being groomed to professionally benefit the State of Tennessee. For the good of its mission, and in spite of ever-dwindling support from the state legislature, Tennessee State University has kept its end of the bargain.

The Tennessean, despite its access to facts and ability to do better for all parties involved, remains a media resource challenged by unbalanced, divisive and unrepentant journalism towards one of America’s great academic and cultural treasures.

The 2010 edition of the HBCU Awards attracted more than 40,000 online voters worldwide to vote in more than 10 categories. This year, there are more categories, the submission requirements more exact, and the anticipation far greater to highlight the top HBCUs in the nation.

Please review the rules, categories and descriptions below and submit your entries for the 2011 HBCU Awards.

• 1. Nominations in each category should be comprised of a brief description of your school, individual’s or program’s merit for each category, not to exceed 500 words.
• 2. All pertinent individuals or groups associated with the nomination should be listed.
• 3. A point-of-contact should be listed with each submission.
• 4.  Any nomination not meeting these requirements will be disqualified for that category.

Nominations will be accepted through November 30, 2010. Entries will be voted upon by a national poll, and the top five finalists from each category will be reviewed by an independent committee of HBCU students, alumni and administrators. The committee will select the final winner from each category, with winners to be announced on the night of the Awards ceremony in March 2011.

Good Luck!

HBCU of the Year

Nominees for this category will have demonstrated impactful community outreach initiatives, comprehensive research activity, and measurable student engagement.

HBCU Student of the Year

Nominees for this category will have demonstrated academic excellence, campus leadership and a commitment to the development of their institution.

HBCU Faculty Member of the Year

Nominees for this category will have demonstrated influence in their field of instruction, diligence in student development, and institutional support.

HBCU Alumnus of the Year

Nominees for this category will have demonstrated support of alma mater through fundraising acuity, programmatic support on and off campus, and in ambassadorship for their institution.

Best HBCU Athletic Program

Nominees for this category will have championship-caliber teams/athletes across the school’s total offerings; and have measurable community buy-in through reported attendance figures.

Best Alumni

Nominees for this category will have demonstrated sustained alumni giving, engagement with the campus community, and established community service objectives.

Best Research Initiative

Nominees for the category will have established a research initiative in the disciplines of science, engineering, technology or mathematics, will have a sustainable model for future development of the research, and will have a concise vision of the potential impact of the project.

Best Homecoming

Nominees for this category will have demonstrated a diverse offering of homecoming activities, earned media coverage, and economic impact on the surrounding area.

Best Academic Programming

Nominees for this category will have demonstrated student achievement in a diverse offering of disciplines, faculty-published articles in scholarly journals, and institutional impact/influence on academic, professional and trade organizations.

Best HBCU President

Nominees for this category will have demonstrated personal commitment to student development, will have the support of the faculty senate, and will have executed effective partnership with the national alumni association.

Best Student Organization

Nominees for this category will have demonstrated exemplary community service, in-depth student programming and a commitment to institutional development.

Best HBCU Newspaper

Nominees for this category will have demonstrated reputable coverage of institutional culture, will have impacted campus community, and will have measurable presence in print and online.

Best HBCU Choir

Nominees for this category will have executed a number of off-campus performances and measurable history of ambassadorship for the university in the campus community.

Best HBCU Marching Band

Nominees for this category will have executed a number of off-campus performances and measurable history of ambassadorship for the university in the campus community.