36-year-old African American named Dr Sydney Freeman, has set an outstanding record as the first black male to be promoted to the rank of a full professor in the University of Idaho, United States of America.
Dr Sydney Freeman has earned the full professorship in just 5 years and 7 months on a tenure track that usually takes an average of 10 to 12 years to earn it. Though the average age of full professorship is 55 years old, Dr. Freeman earned it at the young age of 36.
Dr. Freeman obtained his first degree in Higher Education Administration from Auburn University, United States in 2011 and he was immediately hired at Tuskegee University, where he served as a Director in the Teaching and Learning Center for more than 3 years.
After this, he started working at the University of Idaho as an Associate Professor before recently becoming a Full Professor in the same institution.
He shared on his Twitter page with a picture of himself in a “Full Professor” t-shirt that he received he good news from home, where he has been teaching his students virtually. The young professor said he couldn’t wait to share the good news with his students.
“Humbled to share that I will be the 1st African American (American Descendant of Slaves) man to be promoted to rank of Full Professor at the University of Idaho, the state’s flagship research university,” Dr Freeman posted.
Dr Freeman said he hopes the University of Idaho invests more in diversity inclusion, in a way that the Black community would be more hired as faculty members.
“If we want to see Idaho grow and be more inclusive, we have to bring that inclusion in and so it’s important for us to not only have conversations about it but actually invest in diversifying faculty and staff but also retaining them,” Dr. Freeman said.
He follows in the footsteps of other black professors who made same histoer such as Dr. Wudneh Admassu, an Ethiopian native who became the first person of African descent to earn full professor rank at the university and Professor Shaakirrah Sanders, the first and only Black woman to earn the rank of Full Professor in 2019.