UDC Featured in Maryland Public Television HBCU Series

Anika Spratley Burtin, Ph.D., an Associate Professor of Education and Chair of the UDC Division of Education, Health and Social Work, teaches participants of the Grow Your Own educator-prep program. Maryland Public Television featured the University as part of HBCU Week 2023.

UDC was in the spotlight last month when Maryland Public Television featured the University as part of HBCU Week 2023, a long-running initiative from the station that now includes national audiences. MPT highlighted UDC’s Grow Your Own educator-prep program and sat down with President Edington to chat about his vision for the University and the role of HBCUs in today’s educational landscape.

Grow Your Own—an initiative launched in 2022 and backed by $750,000 in recurring funding from the DC Council—aims to serve Black and Latinx residents by providing pathways toward teacher certification. Graduates of DC Public Schools and DC Public Charter Schools, as well as paraprofessionals, are eligible.

UDC’s roots in teacher training run deep; Miner Normal School (founded as the Normal School for “Colored Girls” in 1851) and its 20th-century descendant the District of Columbia Teachers College are forerunners to the University of the District of Columbia.

“We see this program as a way to continue our legacy of positively impacting the educational outcomes of students in the District of Columbia,” said Anika Spratley Burtin, Ph.D., an Associate Professor of Education and Chair of the UDC Division of Education, Health and Social Work.

The program serves some 40 students annually in both undergraduate and graduate programs.

Participants receive educational training specific to urban settings, with the goal that they will return to DC Public Schools as instructors. To keep the program accessible, Grow Your Own provides full tuition assistance and covers book fees, test fees and tutoring support for licensing exams.

One such participant, Brandon Frye, who teaches Algebra 1 at Dunbar Sr. High School, is getting his Master of Arts in Teaching and Secondary Mathematics. He said the teaching profession found him. His father suggested he become a substitute teacher to earn money in college. While doing so, he discovered his love for the profession, as well as some of the inequities in education.

After joining Teach for America, Fry decided he wanted to make an impact back home in the District. He was struck by the realization that males comprise a small number of educators in his field, and even fewer are Black male teachers. That disparity was magnified even further regarding black males teaching STEM subjects.

“We are pulling students from the city who want to go back into the city and giving them all the support that they need to be successful once they go back into those classrooms,” Burtin told MPT. Burtin is also writing a book examining the impact that alumni from Miners Teachers College and DC Teachers College have made on students in DC classrooms historically.

In a separate interview with the public television station, President Edington talked about his first few weeks in office and provided a big-picture view of what attracted him to UDC and where he’d like to take the University.

“Before I got here, I was at a point where I wanted to go somewhere to help elevate and do some things that hadn’t been done before, and I see that’s something that’s possible here at UDC,” Edington said.

The President also spoke about academic interventions he helped implement to improve student success outcomes while executive vice president and chief operating officer at Florida A&M University. One such intervention is known as “intrusive advising.”

“Intrusive advising at its core is trying to identify information that are indicators of potential issues with a student in real time and then having the technology to share that information and the services available to direct the student,” Edington said.

Edington also discussed the role of HBCUs in contemporary American society, saying the institutions “play a valuable role” in the menu of options for today’s students.

“It’s quite clear that many high-level professionals got their start on the campus of an HBCU,” Edington said. The lengthy roster of notable alums of HBCUs includes Basketball Africa League President Amadou Gallo Fall (UDC), comedian Wanda Sykes (Hampton University), vocalist Gladys Knight (Shaw University), filmmaker Spike Lee (Morehouse College) and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (Howard University).

“[HBCUs] provide avenues for social mobility and to alter the trajectory of a large population in this country,” Edington said. “There’s still a need for us to provide access, opportunity and achievement for a large segment of this population.”

Edington also emphasized his commitment to serving his new institution.

“The future is bright for UDC,” he said. “I just look forward to further engagement with the entire Firebird nation as we come together and continue the great work that’s been done to elevate this University to a higher level.”