Anchored by its main campus of 61 acres (25 ha) near downtown Atlanta, the college has a variety of residential dorms and academic buildings east of Ashview Heights. Along with Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, and the Morehouse School of Medicine, the college is a member of the Atlanta University Center consortium. Founded by William Jefferson White in 1867 in response to the liberation of enslaved African-Americans following the American Civil War, Morehouse adopted a seminary university model and stressed religious instruction in the Baptist tradition. Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, the college experienced rapid albeit financially unstable institutional growth by establishing a liberal arts curriculum. The three-decade tenure of Benjamin Mays during the mid-20th century led to strengthened finances, an enrollment boom, and increased academic competitiveness. The college has played a key role in the development of the civil rights movement and racial equality in the United States.The largest men's liberal arts college in the U.S., Morehouse has been home to 11 Fulbright Scholars, five Rhodes Scholars, and five Marshall Scholars, and is the alma mater of many African-American civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Julian Bond, World Series MVP Donn Clendenon as well as entertainment icons Spike Lee and Samuel L. Jackson. Among Morehouse alumni, traditionally known as "Morehouse Men", the college has graduated numerous "African American firsts" in local, state and federal government as well as in science, academia, business, and entertainment.S.S.S.
In today's polarized sociopolitical climate, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts increasingly face backlash, with equity in particular becoming marginalized in both scholarly and practitioner discourse despite its central importance for ensuring fair allocation of opportunities and resources across the employee lifecycle. These concerns are magnified as human resource (HR) decisions become increasingly mediated by artificial intelligence (AI), which shifts the locus of equity from individual judgment to systems design. In this paper, we introduce the concept of HR-AI systems design, defined as the intentional planning and configuration of AI tools that support core HR functions in ways that reflect and embed focal organizational values. More specifically, we focus on equitable HR-AI systems design, which concerns the design of AI-mediated HR systems in which equity considerations are embedded in their underlying logics, evaluative criteria, and decision processes. Drawing on positive organizational scholarship (POS), we develop a values-based framework for equitable HR-AI systems design grounded in three core elements: a strengths-based orientation, justice as a virtuous value, and high-quality connections as a relational principle. These POS-informed design elements can redirect dominant merit-based, optimization-based, and homophily-based biasing logics embedded in existing HR-AI systems toward more equitable outcomes. This paper contributes to DEI scholarship by theorizing equity as a designable systems feature, advances research on AI in HR by identifying equity-oriented design logics, and extends POS scholarship to digitally mediated organizational contexts.
Background and ContextDespite the growing demand for computing professionals, high dropout rates and pronounced gender disparities persist in CS programs. While factors such as grit and programming experience influence student retention and success and may differ by gender, how these differences shape retention remains unclear.ObjectiveThis paper employs the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) to study how gender differences in grit and programming experience across the introductory computing curriculum affect students' intention to complete their computer science (CS) degree.MethodWe collected survey data from 303 undergraduate CS major students enrolled in CS1, CS2, and CS3 at an engineering-focused university in the southeastern United States.FindingsResults showed differences between men and women at different course levels in terms of grit and programming experience, which in turn influenced their self-efficacy to study CS, outcome expectations, attitude toward computing, and consequently their intention to continue studying CS as their major.ImplicationsThe study highlights the need for intervention strategies to enhance retention and provide tailored, gender-inclusive support for computer science students.
This case study explores the School of Rock (SOR), a multi-institutional research-practice partnership (RPP) that aims to broaden participation in geosciences and enhance teacher professional development in STEM content areas. The partnership includes several institution types, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), scientific research programs, and K-12 partners. Qualitative methods such as interviews and document analyses were used to gather data from 24 participants. Thematic analysis of testimonial videos revealed themes of gratitude and appreciation, personal reflections and experiences, collaboration and future opportunities, and program and event logistics. Document analysis highlighted five major categories of proposals developed by participants: STEM curriculum development, teacher professional development, multi-institutional partnerships, workforce development, and innovative learning. Ethical considerations for each category are discussed. This work also provides considerations for future multi-institutional RPPs in order to sustain growth in the geosciences.
ABSTRACT More than 2.5 billion people worldwide still lack internet access, while many others lack the devices, skills or support needed to benefit from digital services. This digital inequity has significant implications for health, education and employment. Closing the digital divide requires more than broadband infrastructure and isolated digital inclusion programmes. It also requires local governments to coordinate resources, actors and services over time. We examine how Clayton County, Georgia, United States, established an Office of Digital Equity (ODE), led by a dedicated Digital Equity Administrator (DEA), as a local government division. The ODE was the first county‐run Office of Digital Equity in Georgia and has received external recognition for its work. Drawing on a collaborative autoethnographic case grounded in longitudinal practitioner experience, narrative accounts, organisational artefacts and public records, we examine how local government capacity for digital equity is built in practice. We derive five recommendations for municipal leaders: secure political legitimacy while preserving operational autonomy; develop the DEA role; build partnerships to address resource constraints; tailor outreach and provide consistent training and events; and use data‐driven insights to guide decisions. These recommendations show that institutionalising digital equity through a dedicated local government division differs from operating standalone initiatives or coalitions because it requires sustained authority, coordination and accountability. We position digital equity as an ongoing local governance challenge and show how dedicated organisational structures can help local governments move from addressing the digital divide to sustaining digital equity.
