Sydney Freeman Jr. Explained

Sydney Freeman Jr.
Birth Place:Camden, New Jersey
Occupation:Academic
Alma Mater:Oakwood University, Auburn University

Sydney Freeman Jr. (born 1984) is an American educational theorist, social scientist, and former educational administrator. Freeman's early education was at Seventh-Day Adventist, historically black schools and institutions, and has written several articles about the history and state of the denomination. His areas of research includes higher education, the challenges in higher education administration programs, the university presidency, the faculty career cycle, and the leadership of historically black colleges and universities. He is a professor in the Department of Leadership and Counseling at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, the first African American male to be promoted to full professor in the university's history.

Early life and education

Freeman grew up in Camden, New Jersey, the third generation in his family to reside there, to Christian singers and musicians Sydney and Cassandra Freeman. His grandmother was Mary Lewis, a community service advocate in the Adventist church. He attended Seventh-day Adventist Church schools from preschool to college, including Pine Forge Academy in Pennsylvania, an Adventist high school that is one of four historically black boarding college-preparatory academies, where he was a leader in singing and drama ministries, and Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama. While at Oakwood, Freeman founded the Progressive Black Caucus. Freeman's early influences were gospel singer Tye Tribbett and actress Tasha Smith; he said that they helped him "see excellence in other ways".[1]

After shadowing the president of Oakwood, Delbert Baker, Freeman decided to go into field of higher education, with the goal of becoming a university president.[1] He earned a master's degree in 2008 and a PhD in higher education administration in 2011 from Auburn University.[2] [3]

Career and research

Freeman's areas of research include higher education, the challenges in higher education administration programs, the university presidency, the faculty career cycle, and the leadership of historically black colleges and universities.[4] [5]

In 2014, Freeman served as director of the Teaching and Learning Center at Tuskegee University.[3] In 2016, he was named a certified online instructor by the Learning Resource Network.[2] As of 2019, Freeman was a professor and instructor in the Department of Leadership and Counseling at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. Also in 2019, he served on the University of Idaho's presidential selection committee.[6] In April 2019, Freeman was named to a three-year term on Auburn University's College of Educational National Alumni Council. He was the youngest member of the council.[7] As an African American instructor at the University of Idaho, where 13 percent of its faculty are people of color, Freeman recognized that he was "often the first black professor that many of his students have had".[8] Freeman has published numerous journal articles and was the lead editor of Advancing Higher Education as a Field of Study: In Quest of Doctoral Degree Guidelines (2014), which received the Auburn University Graduate School "Book of the Year" award in 2015. He founded and served as editor-in-chief of The Journal for the Study of Postsecondary and Tertiary Education. He served on several academic journal editorial and review boards.[9]

In 2021, at the age of 36, Freeman became the first African American male to be promoted to full professorship in the history of the University of Idaho.[10] Freeman was named the director of the University of Idaho's Black History Research Lab, which was founded in the fall of 2021.[11] In late 2021, he was the first Black person to earn the Barbara Townsend Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education, for his work focusing on higher education leadership preparation; he also gave, as part of earning the award, a keynote lecture at the association's annual conference.[12] In 2022, he was named a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.[13]

Freeman's theology and Christian beliefs were influenced by Maury Jackson, an Adventist theologian at La Sierra University. He stated that although "the cross unites all Adventist and Christian theology...it begins and ends at the cross".[1] He also stated that one's culture and experience informs theology and beliefs. He called for more African American theologians trained at the doctoral level, as well as the development of a black Adventist theology.[1] In 2019, he was researching the life and works of Owen Troy, the first Adventist of color to earn a doctorate in theology.

Freeman is married to Lynda Murphy Freeman, an assistant professor at the University of Idaho medical school program. In 2019, they were working together on a book chapter about their experiences retaining their cultural heritage as black professors in a majority white university and rural community.[1] [14]

Awards

Selected publications

Journal articles

Edited books\periodicals

Notes and References

  1. Is There Room for a Blackness in Adventism? — Adventist Voices. 29 January 2020. Girl Meets Church . Tiffany . Llewellyn . 23 May 2019.
  2. News: Three Black Scholars Making News . 29 January 2020 . Journal of Blacks in Higher Education . 20 May 2016.
  3. News: Sydney Freeman, Recent Auburn Graduate, Named to Administrator's Board . 30 January 2020 . Auburn University School of Education . 16 July 2014.
  4. Web site: About Sydney Freeman Jr., PhD, CFD, COI . Bepress.com . 29 January 2020.
  5. Web site: Sydney Freeman, Jr., Ph.D., CFD, COI . University of Idaho . 29 January 2020.
  6. News: Pfannenstiel . Kyle . UI goes Green . 29 January 2020 . The Argonaut . 30 April 2019.
  7. News: Sydney Freeman Jr. Named to National Council . 29 January 2020 . Daily Register . 16 April 2019.
  8. News: West . Charlotte . A Debate Over Race, Inclusion, and 'The Idaho Way' at Boise State University . 29 January 2020 . Bitterroot . 2 August 2019.
  9. Web site: Sydney Freeman, Jr., Ph.D., CFD, COI . University of Idaho . 1 February 2020.
  10. News: Pyper. Ariana. 28 March 2021. 36-Year-Old Becomes First African American Man to be Promoted to Full Professor at U of I. Idaho News. 31 March 2021.
  11. Web site: Black History Research Lab. 5 January 2022. University of Idaho.
  12. Web site: 10 November 2021. Millet. Debbe. Inside Oakwood: Reaching Your Dreams, Redistricting, and More. 5 January 2022. Oakwood University. Office of Integrated Marketing & Public Relations.
  13. Web site: Visiting Scholar: Sydney Freeman, Jr.. 5 January 2022. Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty. University of Pennsylvania. en-US.
  14. A State of Emergency: Trained African-American Adventist Theologians Needed . 29 January 2020 . Raise Your Voice . Kowlessar. Jaime . 10 July 2019.
  15. Web site: About Sydney Freeman Jr., PhD, CFD, COI . Bepress.com . 1 February 2020.
  16. News: Burgess. Kim. 20 March 2020. Idaho Business Review Announces 2020 Accomplished Under 40 Honorees. Idaho Business Review. Boise, Idaho. 5 January 2022.

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