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Bowie State University Professor Appointed to National Postsecondary Board

(Bowie, Md.)-Bowie State University Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Human Services, Dr. Annie Leslie, has been appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to serve a three-year term on the National Board of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE).

FIPSE is a unit of the higher education programs within the Office of Postsecondary Education of the U.S. Department of Education. The board was created in order to improve postsecondary educational opportunities by supporting the implementation of innovative educational reforms ideas, evaluating such programs and communicating the findings with the community. Dr. Leslie began her term December 10, 2010 and will serve in this capacity until August 31, 2013.

"It is an honor to have been appointed to the FIPSE Board," said Dr. Leslie. "Our global educational status in the world has weakened considerably at a time when our survival as a nation depends on innovative and progressive educational models and programs. Therefore, I only hope that I might assist in the progress of postsecondary education and students."

In addition, the board advises the secretary of education, the assistant secretary for postsecondary education, and the director for FIPSE on priority initiatives and on the evaluation, dissemination and adaptation of demonstrated improvement in postsecondary educational practice.

"We are very pleased that Dr. Annie Leslie has agreed to join the FIPSE National Board," said Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education Eduardo Ochoa. "Her insights and expertise will prove invaluable in helping guide the FIPSE program to fully support the transformational changes necessary in higher education to achieve the President's 2020 education goal of being once again the most highly educated country in the world."

Dr. Leslie received her Master of Arts and PhD degrees from Northwestern University, where she specialized in race, class, and gender. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and chapters in books, including Contemporary Sociology, The International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, The Journal of Women in Social Work, The Journal of Marriage and the Family, The Chicago Fact Book and Single Mothers. Recently, Dr. Leslie became one of two faculty investigators at Bowie State University trained to conduct cancer research. As a faculty associate, she studies cancer health disparities and the impact of spirituality on cancer prevention among American Africans. She is presently completing the writing of two different cancer and spirituality papers for publication. 

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Amanda Sutton, a Bowie State University undergraduate student majoring in communications, was a contributing writer for this press release.