Robert Hill

Pitt Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Robert Hill and four other individuals will be honored by the Pennsylvania Black Conference on Higher Education (PBCOHE) during the organization’s annual conference, Feb. 16-19, at the Pittsburgh Hilton Hotel, downtown.

Hill will receive a PBCOHE (www.pbcohe.org) Presidential Award for his contributions to PBCOHE as well as to the community. Other PBCOHE Presidential Award winners will include Judy Hample, chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education; Terrell Jones, vice provost for educational equity at Pennsylvania State University; and Alisha King Redfern, associate professor of psychology at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and former editor of the PBCOHE Journal. Frank G. Pogue, president of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, will receive the PBCOHE Community Service Award.

PBCOHE was founded in 1970, when K. Leroy Irvis, then minority leader of Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives, convened a conference of African American college administrators and instructors, political leaders, and other professionals to provide input in creating a master plan for higher education in Pennsylvania. PBCOHE’s role was to ensure equal education for African Americans and other minorities in the Commonwealth. Irvis became Speaker of the Pennsylvania House in 1976, the first Black speaker of a state house in postreconstruction America.

For more information about the conference, contact either of the conference cochairs, Vonnie Hunter, assistant director of financial aid, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (vonnie@iup.edu or 724-357-2218), or Carmelle Nickens, Pitt director of School and College Alumni Relations (carmelle.nickens@ia.pitt.edu or 412-624-3362).