Soror Johnnetta B. Cole Establishes an Articulation Agreement with the Milwaukee Area Technical College
If there were a picture in the dictionary next to the word mentor, it would be Johnnetta B. Cole, who distinguished herself as a leader and educator as the first African-American female to lead Spelman College a little more than a decade ago. Cole is now the 14th president of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C. In her own right, she's a history maker: She was the first African-American to serve as chair of the board of United Way of America. She serves on the board of Merck & Co. Inc. and the Atlanta Falcons. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the Links Inc. and the National Council of Negro Women. She now is reaching out as a mentor and educator to other women, particularly in Milwaukee, under an articulation agreement with the Milwaukee Area Technical College that will help women in the metropolitan area gain admission to Bennett. The agreement, signed April 20, will honor MATC credits toward a four-year degree at Bennett, now the fifth historically black college to enter such an arrangement with MATC. Cole was in Milwaukee recently and talked about the details with Journal Sentinel urban affairs reporter Leonard Sykes Jr.
Q. Is this agreement the first of its kind with an institution like MATC?
A. We have what we call articulation agreements with community colleges in our state. But this is the first time that Bennett College for Women has ventured beyond the state of North Carolina. And I'll tell you, we're very excited about it. We've got an agreement with Williams College, the top-notch liberal arts college in the country. And that centers around science. We've also got an agreement with Agnes Scott College, a women's college in Atlanta, Ga., where the agreement is around our respected teacher's education program. A third is with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where the agreement is around our women's studies program. What you hear me saying is that all these agreements operate around curricula. But what's exciting to me about this arrangement is we're not saying, "What about this field or that field?" We're saying, "Send us your students." They will have had an outstanding education at MATC, but when they come South into a small nurturing liberal arts college for women, something magical is going to happen.
Q. But this isn't for everyone, is it? It's really directed to women.
A. Clearly, we're not saying, "Come ye, come ye all." We're a women's college. So we're going to have to say to the (men) who might be interested, "Remember, MATC has an arrangement with Texas College (Tyler, Texas), with Lane College (Jackson, Tenn.) and with Miles (Birmingham, Ala.) and Paine (Augusta, Ga.) colleges." But when it comes to Bennett, the focus is on women.
Q. Which would be the same kind of deal here in Milwaukee at Alverno College, isn't that right?
A. Exactly. There are now in the United States - at least within the women's college coalition, including a few not in the coalition - 66 (schools). There was a time about, say, 20 or 30 years ago when there were maybe 300 women's colleges. What always strikes me is that one of the strengths in American higher education is the choice. Do you want to go to a community college, or a four-year institution? Is your preference a predominantly white school or a historically black college? Do you prefer maybe an all women's college? So fit becomes terribly important.
Q. That's true with almost every college, isn't it?
A. Right. Most colleges and universities, but not all, are doing the best they can to provide a good curriculum and quality education. But fit does matter. And I think it's going to be interesting to see what happens to the women who will leave this institution, which is technologically about as up-to-date as any I've seen, and come into a very small, nurturing black environment. My prediction is they will end up saying, "Wow. I had the best of both worlds."
Q. That's quite an advantage, isn't it? What I mean is, it's been a tradition of historically black colleges to send its students on to advanced degrees, right?
A. It is so true. And not just at Bennett. Let me give you a figure for all black folks in America. Of all African-Americans with a PhD, three-quarters did their undergraduate work at a historically black college. I don't have the figures at the top of my head, but we're talking about something like 70% of the country's black lawyers, 85% of the doctors, 90% of the federal judges. In other words, historically black colleges really educate on a baccalaureate level professional black America. It always leads me to say, if we didn't have historically black colleges and universities, we'd have to invent them, because there is something in these environments that not only educates but graduates our students.
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