Dr. RoSusan D. Bartee
Amid the excitement of homecoming festivities at Prairie View A&M University, Dr. RoSusan D. Bartee delivered news that would ripple far beyond the weekend's celebrations: the launch of a transformative student support fund designed to eliminate financial barriers for future educators.
The announcement, made in conjunction with her first 100 days as the newly minted dean and during the historic homecoming celebration, represents a cornerstone initiative for the Whitlow R. Green College of Education under Bartee's leadership.
The Coming Home Giving Campaign—which Bartee is focused on raising $100,000—will provide critical assistance with tuition, books, and other educational expenses while supporting professional and career development opportunities that expose students to the full potential of careers in education.
"We know that students are often saddled with debt, and they make decisions about whether or not they will attend college or pursue graduate education because of cost," Bartee explained. "We want to eliminate that as a factor."
For Bartee– just 70 days into her tenure – the fund embodies a research-backed philosophy she has championed throughout her career: the transformative power of cultural and social capital.
“This work represents the intersection of policy, research, and practice in a meaningful way,” she said. “Once students are exposed to the expectations of their careers in education, that exposure takes them places they can only imagine.”
Bartee's pathway to the deanship reads like a map of American higher education itself – from the intimate classrooms of Tougaloo College, her HBCU alma mater in Mississippi, to the research corridors of Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, through the policy chambers of Washington, D.C., and across the faculty and leadership ranks of flagship institutions.
At the University of Mississippi, as a barrier-breaker, she became the first African American tenured, full professor in the Department of Leadership and Counselor Education. At the University of Central Florida, one of the nation's largest universities, she served as inaugural department chair. Along the way, she contributed to national accreditation work with the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and research initiatives with the Frederick Patterson Research Institute of the United Negro College Fund and outreach efforts at the Association of Public Land-Grant Universities.
Yet through this impressive trajectory, one principle remained constant: “I fundamentally believe in the importance of excellence,” Bartee said. “I believe it begins and ends with excellence – in generating the fullest potential of individuals and institutions.”
That commitment to excellence was instilled early on. Both of Bartee's parents attended HBCUs, her mother at Tougaloo, her father at Alcorn State. They produced two siblings with doctoral degrees. Education was non-negotiable in their Mississippi household.
“Being positioned to make a difference is something that has resonated with me and been taught to me through the lives of my parents,” she reflected in an interview. “Wherever I go, I seek to be a difference maker.”
Now, she brings that mission full circle to Prairie View A&M, Texas's second-oldest university and a fellow land-grant institution where, like Alcorn, her father’s Alma mater, the colors are purple and gold and the values center on access and opportunity.
Bartee arrives at a pivotal moment. Teacher education programs nationwide face declining enrollment, and the shortage of educators – particularly Black male teachers – has reached crisis proportions. But where others see a dismal landscape, Bartee sees an invitation to innovate.
“The flip side is allowing us to reimagine what education is, to expand our concept and precept of what education really means,” she said. “I see education as a proxy for community engagement – the ways in which we understand human interactions and connect with one another.”
Her vision extends beyond traditional pathways. “Yes, the college will continue producing teachers, principals, counselors, and superintendents,” she said.
But Bartee also sees the opportunity to increase doctoral degrees and grant productivity as part of the broader institutional efforts to become a Research I institution, as well as position the College to become a training ground for community and civic leaders. She further plans to target paraprofessionals who need certification, inviting them to "come home to Prairie View" through innovative delivery models that serve both traditional and non-traditional students.
"We're undertaking this reimagining of education to ensure that we expand our precept and concept of what education means today," she said.
The Whitlow R. Green College of Education has long been recognized for producing significant percentages of African American educators and administrators. Under Bartee's leadership, the college serves a diverse student population – all united, she emphasizes, by a commitment to excellence.
"On one hand, yes, there is a typical HBCU student. On the other hand, there are atypical HBCU students," Bartee noted. "But the main thing we understand is excellence. Excellence can uniquely bring people together with a certain set of values to impact the livelihood and lives of other individuals."
It's a philosophy she describes as non-negotiable. "Excellence is not something that is up for discussion. It is what it is. Simply put: Excellence is where it lives here at Prairie View."
The reception she has received in her first 70 days has been, in her words, "quite overwhelming and quite exceptional." The campus community has embraced her vision, and she feels "a sense of home, a sense of kinship."
"We are ready to work, and we are working," she said with enthusiasm.
“Dean Bartee is a Renaissance scholar/practitioner who is precisely the type of leader that our HBCUs in general, and our colleges of education, in particular, need. She is innovative and transformational in her approach to addressing issues across the P-20 spectrum and beyond into the workforce,” said Dr. Fred A. Bonner II, a prominent scholar who holds the Endowed Chair in Educational Leadership and Counseling and is the Founding Executive Director and Chief Scientist of the Achievement, Research, Creativity, and High Ability Center (ARCH-III) at Prairie View. “Our PVAMU 2035 Strategic Plan is titled, 'Journey to Eminence'. As a Texas A&M University (TAMUS) Regents Professor and Endowed PVAMU Endowed Chair, it brings me great joy to have an eminent leader to take the helm for this eminent journey.”
With her unique blend of experiences across public and private institutions, research and policy, accreditation and practice as well as leadership in community and cultural endeavors, Bartee brings an inside and outside understanding of higher education on all levels. She's building a team that shares her vision, preparing for what she calls “an exciting journey.”
The Coming Home Giving Campaign announced during homecoming is just the beginning.
