CLASSACT NEWS

SACP Founder Robert Clayton and SACP National Program Manager Christien Oliver have been selected to moderate two data science panels during the 2019 HBCU Week Conference, sponsored by the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. 

Participants will explore how HBCUs can position themselves as global leaders in efforts to improve society through teaching and research based on the powerful, emerging field of data science. The amount of available data in the world is more than doubling every two years and there is a shortage of qualified data scientists to analyze and interpret the data and to help make data-informed decisions for the betterment of society. Schools of Data Science, which may offer both graduate and undergraduate degrees and certificates, help to meet soaring demand for qualified data science professionals in a field that plays a key role in the global information-based economy.

Learn more about SACP's work in their most recent newsletter: here

Register for the conference: HBCU Conference Registration Link

Classmate and Federal Judge Amy Totenberg is working to ensure that the election process is just. Click here to read the Washington Post article about her!

What's wrong with democracy? Classmate and journalist Dick Friedman has an answer in his writeup on the discussions about democracy that took place that took place during our April 12th Weatherhead Assembly. Check it out here!

Interested in the panels, speakers, and events happening this Friday? Click here to find and share the program for the 2019 Weatherhead Assembly!

On Saturday, April 13th, the South Asia engagement group of HKS will hold the South Asia Symposium - Challenges Facing the Leaders of Tomorrow. Come to discuss common problems being faced by the region such as insufficient energy, lack of youth participation in politics, corruption in governance, the implications of regional peace and human rights in business.  

On April 12, 2019, the Benazir Bhutto Leadership Program will host a symposium, co-sponsored with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, to consider democratic institutions in the Middle East and South Asia against the backdrop of assessments of democracy in America.

In the course of the day, BBLP will convene experts on democratic institutions in the U.S. and abroad and bring them together with ClassACT HR73 affiliates, BBLP’s inaugural Fellows at HKS, BBLP Associates from the broader Harvard community, and the general public. Together and in panels and working groups, we will explore the motives and means to deliver on the ideals that drove Benazir Bhutto’s career and generate next steps for the BBLP community.

Classmate Erum Khalid Sattar writes in Newsweek about managing Pakistan's water resources. Read her article here!

BBLP Fellows are on to great things! Read up on Natasha Jehangir Khan's Tribune article on tolerance, diversity, and inclusion in Pakistan. 

We want to extend a big thank you to the many classmates who donated in 2018! We couldn't have done it without you! See donor list below.

John Adams   

Earl Bennett   

Joe Bertagna   

Gary Bond   

Marion Dry   

James Engell   

Mark Ferguson   

Julia Frank   

Peter Galbraith   

Sallie Gouverneur   

Sara Greenberg   

David Griffin   

Leigh Hafrey   

Sharman Haley   

Jerome Harris   

Debi Hendler   

Thomas Howell   

Terry Hunt   

Andrea Kirsch   

Alice Kleeman   

Fritz Klein   

Rob Lawrence   

Anne MacKinnon   

Peter Mazareas   

Tom McNamara   

Steve Milliken   

Roger Myerson   

Debi Neipris Hendler   

George Putnam   

Tina Rathborne   

Patricia Rosbrow   

Nick Sakellariadis   

Joshua Schwartz   

Charles Sink   

Jonathan Sprague   

Therese Steiner   

Phil Straus   

Leslie Tolbert   

Seth Waxman   

Helen Weeks   

Juliet Wheeler   

Henrietta Wigglesworth Lodge   

Alfred Williams

ESPN2's Defy the Odds tells the story of the Sports Analytics Club formed by inner city youth at Edmondson-Westside High School in Baltimore and their data analytics research project to get alum Marvin Webster, "The Eraser," elected into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.

Click here to watch the video and read this article from The Undefeated!

The Sports Analytics Club Program concept, the brainchild of HR73 classmate Bobby Clayton, is designed to address the underrepresentation of African American and Latinx young men and women in STEM advanced studies and STEM relevant careers. Bobby has enlisted Professor Ben Shields of MIT Sloan School, Faculty Advisor to the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, as his lead partner. While underrepresented students remain a priority, the initial concept has been broadened to embrace youth, regardless of ethnic, racial, or socioeconomic status. In the 2018-19 academic year, the Program has established Sports Analytics Clubs at 14 high schools across the nation, partnering with 18 major universities. A University Advisor is selected for each Club to collaborate with the STEM Teacher Advisor, Professor Shields and SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) from the professional sports teams to design the actionable sports analytics research projects to be completed by the Club members.

The University Advisor partnerships include such major universities as American, Howard, Tufts, Morgan State, George Washington, Tulane, University of Maryland Baltimore County, University of Akron, University of New Orleans, Xavier University of Louisiana, Southern and Tuskegee.

ClassACT has gone to bat for this one. Over two dozen HR73 classmates across the country have been helping out with planning, networking, and business development.

If you are interested in helping out with this ClassACT initiative and would like to learn more, send us a note.

Read Marvin Webster’s bio and check out The Baltimore Sun’s story.