On this anniversary date of the home-going of my beloved wife, I note that she was the mother of the Timbuktu Academy, an academic enrichment and a systemic student mentoring program at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge (SUBR). The academic enrichment component includes a six-week, intensive 'boot camp" for high school students. For decades in the row (from 1990-91 to 2018), the average jump in the American College Text scores of the participant students has been three (3) points - as compared to the two (2) and a half improvement by a typical high school in 36 weeks! The US Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (US_PAESMEM) to the Academy director and the Academy, in 1996, was in recognition of this pre-college work.
The systemic mentoring of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students, with emphasis on Physics, Chemistry, and Engineering majors, has helped to produce over 300 STEM BS degree holders at SUBR. Fourteen (14) of them were Student Grand Marshals of their entire graduation classes. The second US -PAESMEM to the Timbuktu Academy, with Dr. R. L. Ford and later Dr. Ella L. Kelley as principal investigators, was in recognition of the work of the Academy at the college level. In particular, the citation noted the large proportions of the Physics, Chemistry, and Engineering majors (i.e., 70, 60, and 40%, respectively) who successfully earned graduate STEM degrees, with emphasis on the Ph.D.
Dr. Ella L. Kelley's motherhood of the Academy stems not only from her co-directorship of it, from inception in 1990 to 2015, but also for her suggestion to me, in the late 1980's, to put my intellect to work in order to impact significantly the education of African American youth, in particular, and youth belonging to any other ethnic or racial groups, in general. Returning to my roots in Timbuktu, Mali, where universities flourished from the 14th to the late 16th centuries, I established, with Ella's invaluable assistance, the Timbuktu Academy. Its Web site (www.subr.edu/timbuktuacademy) provides much ampler information on the Academy, including its funding sources and various programs.
Diola Bagayoko, Ph.D. , Distinguished Professor of Physics