Sydney Freeman Jr.

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Sydney Freeman Jr.
Born1984 (age 39–40)
Camden, New Jersey
Alma materOakwood University, Auburn University
OccupationAcademic
Websitedrsydneyfreemanjr.com

Sydney Freeman Jr. (born 1984) is an American educational theorist, social scientist, and former educational administrator. Freeman's early education was at Seventh-Day Adventist, historically black schools and institutions, and has written several articles about the history and state of the denomination. His areas of research includes higher education, the challenges in higher education administration programs, the university presidency, the faculty career cycle, and the leadership of historically black colleges and universities. He is a professor in the Department of Leadership and Counseling at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, the first African American male to be promoted to full professor in the university's history.

Early life and education[edit]

Freeman grew up in Camden, New Jersey, the third generation in his family to reside there, to Christian singers and musicians Sydney and Cassandra Freeman. His grandmother was Mary Lewis, a community service advocate in the Adventist church. He attended Seventh-day Adventist Church schools from preschool to college, including Pine Forge Academy in Pennsylvania, an Adventist high school that is one of four historically black boarding college-preparatory academies, where he was a leader in singing and drama ministries, and Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama. While at Oakwood, Freeman founded the Progressive Black Caucus. Freeman's early influences were gospel singer Tye Tribbett and actress Tasha Smith; he said that they helped him "see excellence in other ways".[1]

After shadowing the president of Oakwood, Delbert Baker, Freeman decided to go into field of higher education, with the goal of becoming a university president.[1] He earned a master's degree in 2008 and a PhD in higher education administration in 2011 from Auburn University.[2][3]

Career and research[edit]

Freeman's areas of research include higher education, the challenges in higher education administration programs, the university presidency, the faculty career cycle, and the leadership of historically black colleges and universities.[4][5]

In 2014, Freeman served as director of the Teaching and Learning Center at Tuskegee University.[3] In 2016, he was named a certified online instructor by the Learning Resource Network.[2] As of 2019, Freeman was a professor and instructor in the Department of Leadership and Counseling at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.[6] Also in 2019, he served on the University of Idaho's presidential selection committee.[7] In April 2019, Freeman was named to a three-year term on Auburn University's College of Educational National Alumni Council. He was the youngest member of the council.[6] As an African American instructor at the University of Idaho, where 13 percent of its faculty are people of color, Freeman recognized that he was "often the first black professor that many of his students have had".[8] Freeman has published numerous journal articles and was the lead editor of Advancing Higher Education as a Field of Study: In Quest of Doctoral Degree Guidelines (2014), which received the Auburn University Graduate School "Book of the Year" award in 2015. He founded and served as editor-in-chief of The Journal for the Study of Postsecondary and Tertiary Education. He served on several academic journal editorial and review boards.[9]

In 2021, at the age of 36, Freeman became the first African American male to be promoted to full professorship in the history of the University of Idaho.[10] Freeman was named the director of the University of Idaho's Black History Research Lab, which was founded in the fall of 2021.[11] In late 2021, he was the first Black person to earn the Barbara Townsend Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education, for his work focusing on higher education leadership preparation; he also gave, as part of earning the award, a keynote lecture at the association's annual conference.[12] In 2022, he was named a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.[13]

Freeman's theology and Christian beliefs were influenced by Maury Jackson, an Adventist theologian at La Sierra University. He stated that although "the cross unites all Adventist and Christian theology...it begins and ends at the cross".[1] He also stated that one's culture and experience informs theology and beliefs. He called for more African American theologians trained at the doctoral level, as well as the development of a black Adventist theology.[1][14] In 2019, he was researching the life and works of Owen Troy, the first Adventist of color to earn a doctorate in theology.[14]

Freeman is married to Lynda Murphy Freeman, an assistant professor at the University of Idaho medical school program. In 2019, they were working together on a book chapter about their experiences retaining their cultural heritage as black professors in a majority white university and rural community.[1][14]

Awards[edit]

  • American Association of University Administrators’ Robert MacVitte Emerging Leader of the Year (2015)[15]
  • Auburn University Graduate School 2015 Auburn Authors Award (2015)
  • National Pine Forge Academy Alumni Association Meritorious Award (2018)
  • Auburn University's College of Education Outstanding Young Alumni Award (2020)
  • Idaho Business Review's Accomplished Under 40 Honoree Award (2020)[16]

Selected publications[edit]

Journal articles[edit]

Edited books\periodicals[edit]

  • Freeman, Jr., S.; Hagedorn, L.S.; Goodchild, L., eds. (2014). Advancing Higher Education as a Field of Study: In Quest of Doctoral Degree Guidelines. Sterling, Virginia: Stylus Publishing. ISBN 978-1-62036-111-5
  • _____ (2014). "Special Issue: Diverse Organizational Issues in Higher Education". Journal of Education Policy, Planning and Administration.
  • _____ (2014). "Special Issue: Emerging organizational Ussues in Higher Education". Journal of Higher Education Management. 29 (1).
  • Freeman, Jr., S.; Chambers, C.; King, B. R. (2016). The Role of Institutional Research in Academic Program Development. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Publishing. ISBN 978-1-119-29971-4.
  • Felder, P.; Freeman, Jr., S. (Summer 2017). Special Issue: Black Students in Doctoral Education". 40 (2). Western Journal of Black Studies.
  • Freeman, Jr.. S. (November 19, 2017). "Special Issue: Shared Governance in Higher Education". Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14288/workplace.v0i29.
  • Freeman, Jr., S.; Lee, J. M. (2018). "Successful Financial Models at HBCUs". In Davis, S.: & W. Kimbrough, W. (Eds.). Models of success: How Historically Black Colleges and Universities Survive the Recession, pp. 59-76. Information Age Publishing.
  • Freeman, Jr., S. (2018). "Forward". In Hartlep, N. D. (Ed.) Asian/American Scholars of Education: 21st Century Pedagogies, Perspectives, and Experiences, pp. xv-xxi. Peter Lang Publishing.
  • Freeman, Jr., S.; Kochan, F. (2020). "Mentoring across Race, Gender, and Generation in Higher Education: A Cross Cultural Analysis". In Irby, B. J.; Boswell, J; Searby, L.; Kochan, F.; Garza, R. (Eds.) International Handbook of Mentoring: Paradigms, Practices, Programs, and Possibilities, pp. 471-186. Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
  • Freeman, Jr., S.; Shaw, M. (2020). "Preparing for the Storm in Times of Peace: Strategies for Preparing Higher Education Presidents for Campus Racial Crises". In Douglas, T.M.O.; Shockley, K.; Toldson, T. (Eds.) Campus Uprisings: Perspectives for Parents, Students, Faculty, Staff and Administrators on Race, Resistance, and Hope, pp. 116-141. Teachers College Press.
  • Felder, P. P.; Liggans, G.; Chirombo, F.; Freeman, Jr., S. (2020). "Programmatic Efforts and the Black Doctoral Experience: A Literature Review". In Felder, P.; Barker, M.; Gasman, M. (Eds.) SANKOFA: African American Perspectives on Race and Culture in the U.S. Doctoral Education, pp. 41-60. SUNY Press.
  • Freeman, Jr., S. (2020). "Prologue: A Tribute to Dr. Kochan, the Model Mentor". In Searby, L.; E. Reames, (Eds). The Art and Science of Mentoring: A Festschrift in Honor of Dr. Frances Kochan. Charlotte, North Carolina: Information Age Publishing.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Llewellyn, Tiffany (23 May 2019). "Is There Room for a Blackness in Adventism? — Adventist Voices". Girl Meets Church. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Three Black Scholars Making News". Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. 20 May 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Sydney Freeman, Recent Auburn Graduate, Named to Administrator's Board". Auburn University School of Education. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  4. ^ "About Sydney Freeman Jr., PhD, CFD, COI". Bepress.com. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  5. ^ "Sydney Freeman, Jr., Ph.D., CFD, COI". University of Idaho. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Sydney Freeman Jr. Named to National Council". Daily Register. 16 April 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  7. ^ Pfannenstiel, Kyle (30 April 2019). "UI goes Green". The Argonaut. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  8. ^ West, Charlotte (2 August 2019). "A Debate Over Race, Inclusion, and 'The Idaho Way' at Boise State University". Bitterroot. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  9. ^ "Sydney Freeman, Jr., Ph.D., CFD, COI". University of Idaho. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  10. ^ Pyper, Ariana (28 March 2021). "36-Year-Old Becomes First African American Man to be Promoted to Full Professor at U of I". Idaho News. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  11. ^ "Black History Research Lab". University of Idaho. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  12. ^ Millet, Debbe, ed. (10 November 2021). "Inside Oakwood: Reaching Your Dreams, Redistricting, and More". Oakwood University. Office of Integrated Marketing & Public Relations. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  13. ^ "Visiting Scholar: Sydney Freeman, Jr". Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty. University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  14. ^ a b c Jaime, Kowlessar (10 July 2019). "A State of Emergency: Trained African-American Adventist Theologians Needed". Raise Your Voice. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  15. ^ "About Sydney Freeman Jr., PhD, CFD, COI". Bepress.com. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  16. ^ Burgess, Kim (20 March 2020). "Idaho Business Review Announces 2020 Accomplished Under 40 Honorees". Idaho Business Review. Boise, Idaho. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
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