More than two-thirds of all African American males who begin college never finish. This and a legion of other discouraging facts about African American males are the usual headlines. Sharon Fries-Britt suggests that "the disproportionate focus on Black underachievement in the literature not only distorts the image of the community of Black…

Too often, innovation in undergraduate education unfolds something like this: the latest, best idea is implemented by itself, as an add-on to existing curricular and cocurricular practice. While most of the student experience remains the same as it was before the innovation, the new idea offers a twist: a service learning class here, a learning…