DECEMBER 2024

Outreach Sessions to Black High School Students

In October and November, two virtual information sessions hosted by BAMIT in collaboration with the MIT Admissions Office were attended by over 100 students with their parents. The MIT Admissions Office recruited high-achieving Black seniors from across the nation (based on SAT/PSAT test scores) and sent emails and postcards to invite them and their parents.

Darryl M. Fraser ’80, Leslye Miller Fraser ’78, Heather Cogdell '89, and Patrice Langford '95, long-time Educational Counselors (ECs), worked with Trinidad Carney, Associate Director for Outreach, the MIT Admissions Office and the Alumni Association to organize the sessions, recruit student and recent alumni speakers, develop a framework for ECs to address race and ethnicity in their interviews, and successfully execute the two virtual sessions.

The Alumni Association prepared a slide deck showing a historical perspective of Black excellence at MIT. The sessions were organized in a way to excite students about applying to MIT, to show that MIT can be a great place for Black students, to highlight the admissions process and to provide tips to students and parents. The Zoom platform provided by the Admissions office allowed participants to enter questions in the Q&A box; over a dozen questions were answered live during each session and many more in the chat.

In order to make the sessions meaningful for high school students, Black current students and recent alumni were speakers. Participating were Rod Bayliss ‘20, Peyton Bryant ‘27, Danielle Geathers ‘22, Elissa Gibson ‘22, Devin Johnson ‘22, Adedoyin Olateru-Olagbegi ‘20, Mohamed Suufi ‘27, and Colin Webb ‘18.

Overall, the feedback was very positive from the participants. A number of participants wrote into the chat and/or the Q&A Box how helpful the sessions were and appreciated receiving so much information they did not know.

If you have any questions, please email [email protected].

Black Educational Counselor Campaign

John L. Mack ’74, shown in the 1970s, was among the first Black Admissions Associate Directors to spearhead the increase of under-represented students at MIT. Photo: Calvin Campbell/MIT News Office. Courtesy MIT Museum

We Did It!

We have exceeded our goal!

We asked you to BE one of the 100!

We have 122 new Black Educational Counselors (BECs) that have answered the Call to Action.

The BEC Campaign started right after ALC, with the goal of mobilizing and deploying large numbers of Black alumni as Educational Counselors (ECs) to assist the Admissions Office with outreach and interviewing students. These BECs would also assist in addressing the concerns around this years’ Black enrollment numbers. There were alums that only wanted to interview students and those that only wanted to do student outreach. Some alums expressed interest in both. Thus, working with the Admissions and the EC offices, two pilot initiatives were created. One initiative focused on recruiting BECs to interview students and the other focused on creating avenues for BECs to connect with prospective Black applicants.

Pilot 1: Recruitment of 100 BECs

With a kick-off on October 12th, initially, our efforts concentrated on informing Black alums of the impact they could make as an EC and what their responsibilities would be. In short, making clear the value of their contribution in building the next year's class. We started with 4 BECs and through the broad support of Black alums we are now at 122 new BECs who answered the call and 331 total BECs counting those who were ECs before the call to action. We partnered with the Admissions Office and the EC Office to monitor BEC totals and to create an infrastructure that supports our BECs and their interviewing process. BECs have participated in Early Action interviewing and are gearing up for Regular Action interviews. With the growing numbers of BECs, we moved focus to outreach activities for Black students, because now we had the needed manpower to do so.

Pilot 2: Student Outreach

Our collaboration with Admissions and the EC continued as we devised ways to conduct student outreach. Leveraging lessons learned from the two Informational Sessions for Black students hosted earlier in October and November (referenced in this newsletter), a model for student outreach was developed. Yet, now with a force of BECs, we could do individual student outreach allowing BECs to make personal contact with students, sharing their personal stories of MIT and college life. High-achieving Black seniors from across the nation that had not yet started an application to MIT were sent emails and postcards authored by Heather Cogdell '89 that offered seniors the chance for a one-on-one conversation with BECs. She then individually matched each senior who responded with an alum who was well-aligned to answer their questions and/or connect with them on the basis of a shared element of their background. Several dozen BECs volunteered for this initiative, and these conversations are continuing to happen right up through the end of December, ahead of the January 6, 2025 Regular Action deadline.

BEC Training

On December 2, BECs were invited to attend training as they prepared to meet with students. Information regarding what is currently happening on campus and issues of concern to Black students was requested. The team that did the informational Sessions was excellent and was called again for a round 2 performance. The first 15-20 minutes or so were focused on the outreach initiative, and the remaining 40 minutes provided education on key points about the MIT of today and the strong community and tradition from current admissions officers (led by Trinidad Carney, Associate Director of Outreach) and BAMIT members (including Myles Noel ‘24, Danielle Geathers ‘22, Leslye Miller Fraser ’78, and Darryl Fraser ’80) that may be useful for BECs to review for any of their volunteer activities. The session was well attended with a lively Q&A session. We will be reviewing and assessing each pilot initiative as we look at creating permanent programming from each.

Thanks: I want to thank the people that have worked so tirelessly with me to make all of this happen. Dedicated from the start and with the urgency of a problem set that is due, we started with the beginning of an idea and figured out solution after solution to make these pilots a success. Kudos to MIT Admissions and the Educational Council that supported these efforts.

Respectfully submitted,

Michelle Harton, SM ‘83

Black Educational Counselor (BEC) Campaign Coordinator, “Group of 8” Concerned Black Alumni

Still want to answer the call? It’s not too late!

To find out more information and sign up, see EC Volunteer Information

(For EC application question: “Anything else you'd like to tell us? ”Answer BAMIT)

Comments and questions? [email protected]

Update from the "Group of 8" Concerned Black Alumni

The “Group of 8” (Reggie Van Lee ‘79, Keith Bevans ‘95 Jim Gates ‘73, Evelynn Hammonds ‘80, Michelle Harton ‘83, Chris Rose ‘79, Bobby Satcher ‘86, Don Wesson ‘74) concerned Black Alumni is focused in three areas:

• Creating and deploying a cadre of Black Educational Counselors (BECs) to enhance the Admissions process’ pursuit of Black applicants — this initiative is underway in partnership with MIT leadership and over 100 BECs have been recruited to date
• Revamping the Admissions process to enhance the return to more representative and enriched MIT classes from a demographic perspective — this initiative has launched and has a significant amount of work to do, again in partnership with MIT leadership
• Ongoing, active and substantive engagement of “concerned Black alumni” with MIT leadership, including President Kornbluth, to drive a more representative and enriched demographic perspective on MIT’s campus and in the broader MIT community — two meetings have been held to date, with a significant amount of work to do

The concerned Black Alumni look forward to ongoing and active engagement with President Kornbluth, directly, as these initiatives unfold and progress is made. The President’s proactive, visible and ongoing involvement is critical to our collective success.

Other Updates Re Black Student Admissions

As a result of discussions the admissions and administration held with alumni and other communities, MIT admissions has filled a new position for community engagement.

Beginning with the 2025–2026 academic year, students whose family income is under $200,000 a year attend MIT tuition-free.⁠

Additional actions were shared by the Chancellor's team with the students that included:

• Restored the fly-back program
• Making yield events (CPW, Ebony Affair, Sin LiMITe) easier for student hosts, including increased funding
• Meeting with the exec of student affinity groups to develop and maintain a strong, trusted partnership in joint recruitment and yield efforts
• Increased recruitment travel by Office of Graduate Education in partnership with departments focusing on HBCUs, HSIs, and Tribal Colleges

Click here for the document that includes all the actions that have been taken.

MAKE AN IMPACT

Fill out form if interested

Click here for more details or contact Elsie Otero [email protected]

2024 Final Appeal

This is a critical time for the future of MIT and Black students at MIT. With the changes coming through the courts and the next administration in Washington D.C., it is more important than ever that we come together as a community to ensure that the opportunity continues to exist for Black students at MIT.

As a Black alum, BAMIT can help amplify your voice both with current students, future students and the administration. Through our programs of outreach to potential students and collaborating with MIT departments, BAMIT helps provide some of the support necessary to make these students successful. Some of our efforts are:

• Supporting recruitment of candidates of color through events like the Black Graduate Celebration and the Ebony Affair where newly admitted students meet current students, alumni, staff and faculty.
• Working along with MIT admissions to recruit and train more EC’s who can work with local schools to inform and recruit students who can be successful at MIT
• Providing support to help current students be successful through programs such as our Research Slam.

Your contribution to BAMIT helps to fund these efforts and others. While we’re a small group of alums, we can have a big impact on MIT and the lives of the students there.

As we ramp up our plans going into next year, anything you can contribute, time, money, ideas, helps us to achieve our overall goal of continuing to ensure that the best and brightest of our community have the opportunity to grow and succeed at MIT. These are the people who will go on to make a better world and tackle some of our hardest problems.

Please consider making your tax-deductible contribution before the end of this year. You will be partnering with your fellow alumni in helping bring the most talented people to MIT and helping them succeed. Thank you for all you do.

EVENTS

Tech Reunions

Thursday May 29 - Sunday June 1, 2025

Save the date for Tech Reunions then reserve a hotel room now at a discounted rate. (Dorm rooms will also be available when registration opens in March.)

We can’t wait to see you and your classmates on campus next spring! Visit alum.mit.edu/reunions for more information.

Class of 1975 50th Reunion

The Class of 1975 will be celebrating 50 years since we graduated from the Institute. Time to celebrate and lead the march at commencement in our Red Jackets!

You should have received an email regarding ordering your Red Jacket. If you did not receive it let us know.

We are planning a dinner as part of our celebration. Please let us know if you are planning to attend. If you have any ideas or thoughts of what you would like to occur or if you would like to help plan, please let us know.

Debra Carlton [email protected]

Rosita Parker [email protected]

CELEBRATING OUR BAMIT COMMUNITY

Philip Abel in Slice of MIT

Financial hardship struck Philip Adama Abel ’15 early in life and nearly derailed his dreams of building a prosperous future. Today, he is working to ensure economic security for others in his native Nigeria through his fintech startup, Cleva. He is also featured in the documentary Brief Tender Light, which follows the journey of five MIT students who ventured from Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe to study in the United States with the goal of creating meaningful change back home. Read the Slice of MIT article here.

Muyinatu Bell in MIT Technology Review

Nicole Harris MISTI Alum

Nicole Harris '24, Biological Engineering interned at the Center for Biological Research (CIB-CSIC) this past summer in Madrid, where she worked with two PhD students at the Microbial Systems and Protein Engineering lab on plastic-eating microbes. Hear about her experience here.

2025 Rhodes Scholars

Wilhem Hector '25 and David Oluigbo '25 have been selected as 2025 Rhodes Scholars and will begin fully funded postgraduate studies at Oxford University in the U.K. next fall. Hector is the first Haitian citizen to be named a Rhodes Scholar. Read the MIT News article here.

IN MEMORIAM

Emmanuel "Manny" Ikpo

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Emmanuel "Manny" Ikpo SM '83, a proud MIT alumnus, who passed away on November 19, 2024, at the age of 71. Manny was born on July 14, 1953, in Nnono-Oboro, Abia State, Nigeria, and earned two Master of Science (SM) degrees from MIT: one in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and another in Mechanical Engineering.

Over the course of his career, he made notable contributions to the engineering field, leveraging his expertise to lead numerous impactful projects. However, his professional accomplishments were only part of his legacy. Manny was an unwavering advocate for MIT’s alumni community, a member for over 40 years of the MIT Club of Washinton, D.C. club and served as president during the 1990–1991 term. His efforts to connect alumni and foster a greater sense of belonging for the African diaspora were crucial in strengthening the MIT community in Washington, D.C. He played an integral role in recruiting fellow alumni to join the club's board, ensuring that diverse perspectives were represented.

He served as Vice President of the MIT Alumni Association from 1999 - 2001, served on the MITAA Awards Committee, the MITAA Board of Directors, was Co-Chairman of the First Graduate Alumni Programs Advisory Committee, and served on the National Selection Committee. He received the Harold E. Lobdell '17 Distinguished Service Award in 1994. In 2002, he received the MITAA Bronze Beaver Award in recognition of his distinguished service to the Alumni Association, and the Great Dome Award in 2015 for the Blacks@MIT History Project Dinner by BAMIT and the MIT Club of Washington, D.C.

Manny’s influence and legacy, both professionally and within the MIT alumni community, will continue to inspire and resonate with all who knew him.

Click here for contact information, the full obituary, the family support request, and testimonials.

STAYING CONNECTED

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An email group was created in late August, 2024 to provide information, discuss and address the drop in Black Student enrollment from 15% in 2023 to 5% in 2024. The group currently contains 60+ alumni, some of whom are current or previous faculty and administrators, and the BSU. To join the [email protected] distribution list send your request to Rosita Parker.

Have news about you or another Black Alum? We'd like to hear from you. We welcome items about our Alumni to publish in the BAMIT newsletter. Contact us at [email protected].