PROFESSOR ERNEST IS COMING TO THE NATION’S FIRST HBCU!
I’m seriously speechless, like I don’t even know how to contain any of this right now. After receiving my master’s degree at USC Annenberg last year, I had hopes of eventually teaching in an official college capacity. For many years, I was a course instructor, guest lecturer, and master class expert for temporary positions. Those were enriching because they gave me the experience to educate, but I always yearned for what it would be like to be a professor at a university.
Well, I don’t have to wonder anymore: This fall, I’ll be teaching Communication Arts 311: Black Press at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania the nation’s first Historically Black College and University (HBCU). The course examines the historical, political, and social implications of Black journalism in America. Since 1837, this university has been striving to teach the most diverse in spite of the obstacles it’s faced. It meant a lot to me that my first major professor role would be at a place where I could impact students that look like myself and can be inspired in a unique way. My historical role model, the Black gay civil rights icon Bayard Rustin attended Cheney, in addition to media titans like Ed Bradley and Bob Bogle. I’ll be educating the best, the brightest, and the Blackest at an institution of higher learning that enthusiastically offered me an opportunity of a lifetime!
Cheyney Wolves are in good hands this upcoming semester, and I can’t wait to teach them about the Black press!
Class will soon be back in session, the honorable Professor Ernest will be presiding.