Joining only a small handful of black, male administrators at Duke, Milton Blackmon left his position as an academic adviser at the University of Akron last semester to become an assistant director of Duke's Pre-Major Advising Center.
The assistant director position opened up last spring when former assistant director Diane Alexander became the University's coordinator of services for disabled students.
Blackmon's responsibilities will include assisting in the training of advisers, maintaining the PMAC library, student outreach and advising the Phi Beta Sigma freshman honor society, said Norman Keul, director of PMAC and assistant dean of Trinity College.
Keul predicted that Blackmon will reach out to black students in advising and mentoring capacities, but he stressed that the new adviser will not be pigeonholed into this role.
"We won't be steering African-American students toward him but he stands out as a reserve," Keul said. "I would hate that African-American students think they should only go to him or that he should work with only African-American students."
Ben Reese, assistant vice president for cross-cultural relations, said the presence of minority administrators fosters a more comfortable environment for many students.
"One of the tenets of higher education in general, especially at Duke, is that we expose students to as many different perspectives as possible-African-American males bring a perspective," Reese said. "For many African-American students in particular there is a certain comfort level that they have in speaking with someone whose experience they perceive as being similar to theirs."
Thus far, Blackmon said, he has seen considerable differences at Duke from the advising program at Akron, which had an open admissions policy.
"The students are a lot more motivated and more focused at a school of this reputation," he explained. "Also, the academic rules are a lot stricter.
"It's good that the University is going in the right direction trying to increase African-Americans to be mentors," he added. "It's both a privilege and a challenge."
The national search during the fall semester drew 185 applicants. Following on-campus interviews in October, the search committee chose Blackmon, who was in his 10th year as an academic adviser at Akron. Blackmon also holds a doctorate in education and has teaching experience in the United States and Japan.
"What impressed us most about Dr. Blackmon was his extensive experience as an adviser over many years, his maturity, good judgment and nuanced understanding of students and of the goals of a liberal education," Keul said. "He also possesses a warm and engaging personality and fine sense of humor, qualities that will enhance his effectiveness with students and in all that he does."
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