SAN-DIEGO—The California Alliance of African American Educators (CAAAE) recently honored Dr. Anthony E. Beebe, President of San Diego Continuing Education, with a highly coveted Culturally Courageous Leadership award. Over almost a decade, Beebe is one of only four in the state to receive such recognition.
Dr. Beebe received the award because of his leadership in reaching out and serving members of our African American community. Over the last 20 years, Dr. Beebe has authored a number of articles related to the needs of minority students. Recently, he committed his organization to developing an Umoja chapter for African American students by summer 2009. There are currently 21 Umoja chapters in educational institutions throughout the state, and the chapter at San Diego Continuing Education will be the first of its kind for continuing education institutions in California.
CAAAE hosts professional development workshops to raise awareness of their organization and to determine solutions to the educational challenges faced by African American students. For the past two years, San Diego Continuing Education has partnered with CAAAE to support their efforts. “When we have a champion like Dr. Beebe helping us with our goals, we know we are making great progress,” said Debra Watkins, President of CAAAE.
The Umoja mission aligns closely with the mission of CAAAE. “Umoja’s mission is to develop a culturally-based learning environment, enabling the voices and histories of African American students to be deliberately recognized, so opportunities for self-efficacy emerge and form the foundation for academic success,” said Dr. Beebe.
“The CAAAE Courageous Leadership award is only given to those who truly exhibit the true meaning and name of the award,” said Watkins, “and Dr. Beebe is one of only four in the state to ever be honored with the recognition.”
“Receiving the Courageous Leadership award from CAAAE is very humbling,” said Beebe. “The organization’s commitment to their cause is contagious, and partnering with them helps keep San Diego Continuing Education focused on one of the important student populations we serve.”
San Diego Continuing Education serves more than 100,000 students annually through San Diego Continuing Education classes; however, only 9% are African American. “Our goal is to increase that number substantially by better meeting the needs of our community and understanding what educational barriers exist, so we can remove them. We believe an Umoja chapter will help with this effort,” said Dr. Beebe.
San Diego City College has a thriving Umoja chapter and San Diego Continuing Education plans to collaborate closely with City’s administrators and faculty, using the success strategies they have developed toward implementation of Continuing Education’s Umoja chapter.