B-CC DEAN NAMED NATIONAL ASALH PRESIDENT

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA – Dr. Sheila Flemming, Dean of the Bethune-Cookman College School of Social Science, has been named National President of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Inc. (ASALH) .

Dr. Flemming is a life member of ASALH having served as Program Chair for the 87th Annual Conference in 2002 in Orlando.

Dr. Sheila Flemming

VIDEO Dr. Sheila Flemming discusses the significance of election as president of National President of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Inc. 57 seconds, .mpg format CLICK HERE

“This was my first opportunity to participate in a national election and I am grateful to all the members of ASALH who had faith in my abilities,” Dr. Flemming said. “I look forward to working with them to make ASALH fiscally secure and nationally dynamic.”

Dr. Flemming noted that Bethune-Cookman College founder Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune was a president of ASALH, founded by Carter G. Woodson founded ASALH in 1915. In 1926 the organization established Negro History Week, which was changed in 1976 to Black History Month.

“It’s an honor to follow in her footsteps,” Dr. Flemming said.

A historian of Africa and African America, Dr. Flemming authored the history of Bethune-Cookman College and is currently updating it for the College’s centennial this year. Her research on women in the anti-apartheid movement includes the biography of one of President Nelson Mandela’s contemporaries, Bertha Mashaba Gwoxa..

Dr. Flemming will be installed as the organization’s president during its annual luncheon on February 28, 2004 on the campus of Howard University in Washington, DC

For more information about ASALH contact the ASALH office at (202) 865-0053.

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Bethune-Cookman is a comprehensive college, which offers degrees in liberal arts as well as professional fields, such as business, education and nursing. A United Methodist Church-affiliated school, the College has a diverse and international student population of more than 2,700 and a solid reputation for academic excellence and community service. As evidence of its outstanding program, the College has been listed in the Templeton Honor Roll of Character Building Colleges and Universities, and it was ranked by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the “Top 50” schools in the nation for black students.  B-CC is one of 10 charter member colleges of Project Pericles, a program to create civic leadership and involvement on its member campuses.  The College will celebrate its 100^th year of founding on October 4, 2004.

For more information, contact our website www.bethune.cookman.edu. 

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