Higher Education Notebook: Adams calls for postponement of HBCU conference in Virginia
U.S. Rep. Alma Adams has urged President Donald Trump and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to postpone the 2017 National HBCU Week Conference in September because, she said, Trump hasn't fulfilled the promises he made when he signed an executive order in February.
Under the order, the federal government would provide greater investments and additional resources to the country's historically black universities and colleges.
The conference is scheduled for Sept. 17-19 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Va. The White House Initiative on HBCUs organizes and conducts the annual conference.
"It has become painstakingly clear that these promises are not being kept," said Adams, a Democrat who represents North Carolina's 12th Congressional District. "In this current environment, and with zero progress made on any of their priorities, it would be highly unproductive to ask HBCU presidents to come back to Washington."
A large group of HBCU presidents and chancellors visited the White House in February when Trump signed the executive order.
Wake Forest University's new engineering program to start soon
Like any aspiring engineer, Meredith Vaughn, a first-year student at Wake Forest University, gets excited about building something from the ground up, so WFU's new undergraduate engineering program appealed to her.
In high school, Vaughn focused on vocal performance at Weaver Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts, an arts-based magnet school in Greensboro, WFU said in a statement. But she chose to attend Wake Forest because it will allow her to pursue her passions across the liberal arts — from STEM to singing.
Vaughn is one of about 50 students in Wake Forest's first cohort of undergraduate engineering students who will begin taking classes at Wake Downtown later this month in downtown Winston-Salem.
"I want to study engineering, and I also want to be in an a cappella group," Vaughn said.
"When I found out that Wake was starting these new programs in engineering and biomedical sciences, I thought, ‘This is perfect,'" she said.