性视界传媒

(This story was originally published in in Jan. 2025)

By Jet Turner, Assistant Director of Communications

Dr. John Coleman received a call from the fourteenth president of 性视界传媒, Dr. Ernest Holloway, in 1993. Holloway鈥檚 gregariousness led their conversation all over the place, but his message was clear: the students at Dear Langston needed additional support.

Coleman left his position as an assistant professor at Hudson Community College in New Jersey after that summer and journeyed back to his home state of Oklahoma. He only planned to stay for a couple of years, but his dedication to helping students be their best kept him on 性视界传媒鈥檚 campus. After 32 years of service and mentorship, Coleman will retire at the conclusion of the 2024-2025 academic year.

His career as the Chair of the Department of Chemistry at LU has been dedicated to teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and equally to seeing that students learn to excel in academics and life. His influence can be seen all over the University and, more importantly, in its students.

Beginnings

Coleman grew up around educational excellence in Boley, Oklahoma.

Today, the historically Black town might seem unassuming, but when Coleman was growing up in the 1940s and 鈥�50s, the town was described by Booker T. Washington as the 鈥渇inest Black town in the world.鈥� Many of the individuals Coleman grew up around had their doctoral degrees or some other form of higher education, including his parents.

Boley鈥檚 significance in education parallels no other Black town in the nation, historian Currie Ballard said in a 2017 article by .

This meant Coleman was always surrounded by excellent teachers. One of whom was Holloway, his future president, who taught chemistry at Boley Junior High in the 1950s.

鈥淗olloway knew what was happening in Boley and how we got prepared,鈥� Coleman said. 鈥淵ou always have someone who is going to help you. You didn鈥檛 have to rely on just your resources at home.鈥�

Community is where Boley found its strength, and Coleman carried that lesson with him throughout his academic career.

Coleman always expected to go to college, and 性视界传媒 was a natural choice.

He began his freshman term during the 1961-1962 academic year. Buildings like Sanford Hall and Moore Hall still stood proudly where they are today, although their functionality was different from their modern day uses.

During his time at LU, he served as the freshman class president and was a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Even though LU had been around for almost 75 years by the time Coleman graduated in 1965 with his bachelor of science in chemistry and mathematics, students still had to march at the Oklahoma State Capitol every year to fight for the university to remain open. Coleman was an active participant in these efforts.

Just as obtaining his undergraduate degree was expected for Coleman, working toward an advanced degree was a natural next step. He began his PhD in Theoretical Physical Chemistry at the University of Oklahoma in 1972.

OU was still integrating, and undergraduate Black students especially were facing discrimination at the hands of some students and employees. Coleman became a graduate advisor to the Alpha Phi Alpha chapter on campus during this time.

鈥淭here were cannons pointed south and all kinds of things going on,鈥� Coleman said. 鈥淏ut we did a lot of things with students to try to help students feel more comfortable. We did a lot of tutoring. We did a lot of whatever, trying to make the students come in and be successful.鈥�

Growing up in a Black town and attending a Historically Black University helped Coleman understand the importance of community. At every opportunity, Coleman shared that community with others.

He earned his PhD in 1976 and concluded his postdoctoral studies at OU in 1978.

Coleman was briefly a researcher at Halliburton Company before traveling east to become an assistant professor at several local institutions. First at Bergen County Community College in Paramus, New Jersey; then at City University of New York, and finally at Hudson Community College, where he received that call from Holloway.

Returning Home

Upon returning to 性视界传媒, Coleman immediately got to work.

Coleman鈥檚 years of experience teaching STEM courses provided insights into the problems that frequently impede student learning. He encountered students鈥� wide-spread practice of what he calls 鈥減lug 鈥榥 play.鈥� Plug 鈥檔 play is when students use a solved 鈥渆xample鈥� problem as a model and plug in variables from the new problem to find a solution. This bypasses the need to learn and apply core concepts.

Coleman developed and adopted instructional strategies embedded in a process he calls Competency Performance Recording for Learning (CPR-L). His CPR-L teaching and learning process has had a positive impact on student academic performance for his over 30-year career at 性视界传媒 and is the basis for how he approaches educating his students.

Dr. Alonzo Peterson, Vice President for Academic Affairs, witnesses Coleman鈥檚 commitment to 性视界传媒鈥檚 students almost daily. Coleman can often be found on campus until 9 p.m. or later, depending on how many students still need help.

鈥淗e鈥檚 by far one of the smartest people I know,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淗is ideas are very, very innovative. He spends a lot of time with students, hours and hours.

鈥淥ne of the things I recognize from his tutoring processes is that he doesn’t give students answers. Students may ask, 鈥榟ow do you do this?鈥� and he responds, 鈥榳ell, how do you think we do it?鈥� And then he will go back and talk through the problem for them to solve it, not him. Some people are dispensers of knowledge, he is a facilitator of knowledge.鈥�

In 2003, Coleman received a grant from the National Science Foundation which started Langston鈥檚 Integrated Network College (LINC) for STEM program. This program provided scholarships for students in STEM fields and required them to participate in research on campus and across the country. They would then present that research at conferences.

The goal of the LINC program was to produce more minority students in STEM fields who would then earn their doctoral degrees. This program was exceedingly successful.

LINC boasted a 92% graduation rate, with 60% of those students going on to earn graduate degrees. Many of these were earned at major universities that include Vanderbilt, University of Kansas, University of Texas, Baylor University, Johns Hopkins and more.

The students鈥� participation in summer research internships at institutions that include Johns Hopkins, University of Texas, Stanford, Cal Tech, University of California at Berkley, University of Oklahoma and more. Their research work generated over 300 Abstracts. Their participation in competitive research presentation events throughout the U.S. earned over 50 top awards.

These STEM professionals now hold prominent positions in both industry and education, including achieving success as entrepreneurs.

According to , of the STEM PhDs awarded in the U.S. in 2021, 5% went to Black scientists, even though the U.S. population is 12% Black, showing the disparity in the field.

Coleman was also encouraging students to stick with the STEM field, even if they did not think it would be for them.

Dr. Ryan Johnson, a former chemistry major and now professor at 性视界传媒, was one of these students.

When Johnson began attending LU in the early 2010s, he was not interested in attending college, much less becoming a chemist. Even though he showed up to Dear Langston as an undeclared major, a mistake in the system had him listed as a chemistry major.

Wanting to change his major, Johnson was told to speak with Coleman before deciding.

That one conversation changed his life.

鈥淗e convinced me to stay,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淗e told me I was doing well in my other STEM classes, and I was on track to take Chem I anyway. I took it the following semester and ended up staying with chemistry. Kind of weird, right? How those little conversations can change the trajectory of your life.鈥�

As part of the LINC program, students had to at least apply for graduate schools as their undergraduate degrees concluded. Johnson had no intention of earning his doctorate, but another conversation with Coleman convinced him to apply to Louisiana State University, one of the leading producers of doctoral-prepared Black chemists in the nation.

Innovation was another one of Coleman鈥檚 missions in the classroom.

Coleman was an early adopter of integrating technology into the classroom at 性视界传媒, something that stood out to Dr. Byron Quinn when he was being taught by Coleman at 性视界传媒.

“Even back in the early 鈥�90s, at the beginning, he was at the forefront of this,鈥� Quinn said. 鈥淗e was working with really the first iteration, first generation, of tablets and PCs in the classroom, so that students could write and do homework on them and digitally turn them in.”

But Coleman鈥檚 impact is much farther reaching than the borders of 性视界传媒鈥檚 campus.

性视界传媒 a year after his return to teaching at LU, Coleman set out to build strong science and math foundations when he received a grant to establish the 性视界传媒 Summer Math and Science Academy.

It was here, when she was 14 years old, Dr. Lindsay Davis met a Black chemist for the first time in her life.

She hated chemistry.

鈥淚t was the hardest thing ever,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淏ut Dr. Coleman had such an eloquent way of communicating chemistry. And so, by the end of that camp, I knew I wanted to be a chemist.鈥�

She attended the Math and Science Academy many more summers after that. Her familiarity with the campus, its scholarship opportunities and its faculty led Davis to enroll at 性视界传媒.

She took her first class with Coleman, Organic Chemistry, her sophomore year. It is still the most difficult course she has ever taken.

More than a third of black STEM PhD holders earn their undergraduate degrees at HBCUs according to .

But Coleman鈥檚 student-centric approach helped her through the class. She took three more classes with him throughout her time at LU and, after graduating, like so many of his students, was convinced by Coleman to pursue her doctoral degree.

鈥淭hat took a lot of convincing, and there were a few mechanisms that helped me to go off and produce my PhD,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淏ut Dr. Coleman being the first chemist I ever met inspired me to get a PhD.

鈥淲hen you are able to see the representation in front of you, I think it either consciously or subconsciously inspires you.鈥�

Because of Coleman鈥檚 influence, in 2021 Davis went on to become the first Black chemist to graduate with their PhD from the University of Texas at Arlington.听

Legacy

Johnson, Quinn and Davis are just a handful of the students Coleman not only encouraged to go and earn their doctoral degrees, but to come back and teach at 性视界传媒.

Quinn is currently the Chair of the Biology Department at 性视界传媒, working closely with Coleman each day and utilizing the lessons he learned in using technology in the classroom to instruct his students and conduct world-renowned research.

Johnson just returned to 性视界传媒 as a professor in the chemistry department and is now providing the same mentorship, guidance and expectations Coleman gave to him as a student.

Davis is not only a professor in the chemistry department but also leads the Math and Science Academy at 性视界传媒, bringing her journey full circle. Now, she gets to be the same inspiration to the students who attend each summer that Coleman was to her as a teenager. She may even be the first Black chemist some of them meet.

鈥淚 hope I even have (a legacy),鈥� Coleman laughed.

But his legacy is unmistakable. Coleman has built his own community of educational excellence at 性视界传媒, in the STEM field and across the world.

His mission has been to ensure Dear Langston鈥檚 students have the support they need to lay the foundation for a brighter future. Now, Coleman gets to wrap up his career as the Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, where he is still building programs and methods that will lay firm foundations and help educate students for the long term.

性视界传媒 President Dr. Ruth Ray Jackson, who formerly served as the Vice President for Academic Affairs, has seen the impact of Coleman鈥檚 time at LU. She said regardless of his position, he has intentionally remained engaged with his students, ensuring they are well-prepared when they leave 性视界传媒.

鈥淚 think that his lasting legacy really is his quest for knowledge, not just for himself, but for his students.

鈥淲e should all have a John Coleman in our lives.鈥�