Contact: John Burrow

STARKVILLE, Miss.—The Mississippi State College of Arts and Sciences’ Institute for the Humanities is hosting a virtual panel discussion Friday [Oct. 29] highlighting Historically Black Colleges and Universities and their enrollment growth.

Free and open to the public, the 3:30 p.m. event will be livestreamed on the institute’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/msu.humanities.institute.

Julia Osman, institute director and MSU associate professor of history, will lead the discussion featuring Leigh Soares, MSU assistant professor of history, and Sheena Harris, associate professor and program coordinator of Africana studies at West Virginia University.

Osman said Soares is an expert on the history of HBCUs, and Harris—until recently—taught at Tuskegee University and is a specialist on African American history and education.

“I recently read a chronicle of higher ed article stating that while many universities struggle with enrollment, HBCU enrollments are at record highs,” Osman said. “It made me wonder why students were choosing them over more ‘mainstream’ American universities, especially as so many universities are currently focused on issues of equity, diversity and inclusion.”

Osman said she hopes the panel discussion will open future dialogue about the connection between race and education.

Part of MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences, the Institute for the Humanities seeks to promote and raise awareness of research, scholarship and creative performances in the humanistic disciplines, both at MSU and within the broader community. The institute is active on social media—Instagram @msstatehumanities, Twitter @Humanities_MSU and Facebook @msu.humanities.institute.

For more information about the College of Arts and Sciences or the Institute for the Humanities, visit www.cas.msstate.edu or www.ih.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.