Fred Bonner, who earned a doctorate in higher education from the University of Arkansas in 1997, has been named the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Chair in Education at Rutgers Graduate School of Education.

“Fred is passionate about affecting change in education,” said Richard De Lisi, dean of Rutgers Graduate School of Education. “His research focusing on the achievements of African Americans in academic settings is a strong addition to the GSE community and to the legacy of Samuel Proctor.”

Serving as the second Proctor Chair at Rutgers, Bonner will have the opportunity and resources to work with De Lisi to develop an original vision of the Proctor legacy and new initiatives to realize the core mission of advancing civic leadership and educational excellence, according to a news release from Rutgers.

Proctor was the first African American faculty member at both the school and the university to have an endowed professorship named for him. He served as president of Virginia Union and North Carolina A&T Universities, pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church of New York, on the governing boards of the United Negro College Fund, National Urban League, Harvard Divinity School and in the Peace Corps before coming to Rutgers.

“I am committed to promoting a scholarly agenda that focuses on the advancement of underrepresented and marginalized populations in both domestic and global P-20 educational contexts,” Bonner said. “Undergirding my research is the ever-present emphasis on the acknowledgement and respect of the resilience existing within culturally diverse communities.”

Bonner was awarded a National Science Foundation grant to support his work focusing on factors influencing the success of high-achieving African American students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines in historically black colleges and universities. Additionally, Bonner served as co-editor and contributor to the recently released Diverse Millennial Students in College: Implications for Faculty and Student Affairs published by Stylus Publishing and authored the book Academically Gifted African-American Male College Students published by Praeger Publishers and released in May 2010.

Bonner previously served as professor of higher education administration and associate dean of faculties at Texas A&M. He received the 2010 Extraordinary Service Award from the Texas A&M College of Education and Human Development. 

In 2009, the University of Arkansas Black Alumni Society honored Bonner with the Citation of Distinguished Alumni.