Digital Divide

This web site supports a "Conferencing Alliance to Bridge the Digital Divide Between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Other Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in this Country."  

This unique project is sponsored through Tennessee State University (TSU) by the AOL Time Warner Foundation's  Digital Divide Bridge Grant program for the year 2000 (a list of all of these awards is presented at AOL News Release).

Goal and Objectives

The "digital divide" refers to the increasingly disparate access to, and use of, technology in this country that is  a function of race or ethnic group, income, education, gender, household composition, age, and location (see references). 

The "divide" is projected to widen and  have a greater negative impact on minorities in this country.  Hence there is direct relevance to HBCUs, where over 75% of the student population is African American. Of course, other factors than demographics determine the "extent" of this divide.

The goal of this TSU-AOL project is to develop, plan, and produce four summit  conferences that are addressed primarily to the top leadership, management, or prime decisionmakers of the nation’s 104 HBCUs (see HBCU CEO List) in alliances with  industry, government, other major academia, and other stakeholders. 

The tentative plans for the next conference will  focus on practical methods to help bridge (close) the "digital divide" that allegedly exists on many if not most HBCU campuses in comparison with other Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).  This "divide" is accented by observable variances at HBCUs in such factors as:

  1. Technology-underserved students

  2. Priorities for technology growth

  3. Acquiring funds to sustain technology growth

  4. Technology planning and budgets

  5. Technology infusion in all curricula

  6. Technology use for cost-productivity tradeoffs

  7. Requisite human resources 

The primary objectives of each of the planned TSU-AOL conferences will be to:

  1. Assess technology priorities, plans

  2. Assess  economics of technology

  3. Assess impact on HBCU graduates

  4. Enable alliances for solutions

Questions related to any aspects of this conferencing alliance may be directed to either of the following:

Dr. Eugene Jones 
Co-Project Manager, 937-233-9118 

Dr. Michael Busby 
Co-Project Manager,  615-963-7013

Ms. Goli Sotoohi
Technical Assistant, 615-963-7326

The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors, and need not necessarily reflect those of the grant sponsor, the AOL Foundation, or Tennessee State University. 

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