University News Desk

The Fifth Annual Regional HBCU Summit on Retention is set to convene in Ocean City, Maryland. This year's summit, which runs from March 7-9, 2002, is expected to draw educators, policy-makers, parents and others from across the Mid-Atlantic region to discuss issues related to improving retention rates at historically black colleges and universities.

"It is a significant problem," says Dr. Jay C. Chunn, associate vice president of Academic Affairs at Morgan State University and chairman of the Conference Steering Committee. "We are making progress. And, while that progress is not coming nearly as fast as we'd like, it does show us that there are strategies out there that work and our challenge at this summit is to find those strategies and replicate them at all HBCUs."

Entitled Improving Retention at HBCUs: In Celebration of Best Practices, Programs and Documented Successes, the 2002 summit will address retention problems among African American students with a particular focus on successful retention programs throughout higher education.

The average retention rate for students at HBCUs in Maryland was less than 50 percent of enrollment over 6 years, an indication of the continuing challenges faced by historically black institutions, according to Dr. Chunn. "Our goal at this year's regional summit is to come up with a plan that will help young African American students to stay in school and become successful. My hope is that our students here at Morgan will be able to benefit from our work."

Organizers expect the 2002 summit to attract a diverse group of participants with positive and innovative ideas along with extensive knowledge to be shared on best practices that are already improving retention rates at HBCUs. Among those attending will be William E. Cox, this year's summit honoree. Mr. Cox is publisher of Black Issues in Higher Education, the nation's only news magazine dedicated exclusively to minority issues in higher education. He is also editor-in-chief of the Black Issues Book Review.