Franita Tolson Appointed as First African American Dean of USC School of Law

Interim Dean and Professor Franita Tolson has been named the dean and Carl Mason Franklin Chair in Law of the USC Gould School of Law. Tolson is a nationally recognized thought leader and dialogue shaper in election law, voting rights, constitutional law and legal history with research and insights appearing in leading law reviews and major media publications across the country.

“I feel inspired and excited for this opportunity,” Tolson said. “Our law school is a tapestry of talent, and I look forward to working together with the entire Gould Trojan Family to carry on its legacy of innovation and achievement. I’m honored to lead and serve this outstanding, collaborative scholarly community, which I believe is unmatched by any other.”

She becomes the first Black dean and second female dean in the history of USC Gould, which is home to one of the most academically excellent and diverse student bodies of any law school in the nation.

“We are pleased to have Franita Tolson as the next dean of the USC Gould School of Law,” USC President Carol Folt said. “She is respected and beloved by Gould, and I cannot imagine a better person to lead the school into its next phase of excellence.”

Tolson has served as the interim dean at USC Gould, where she held the George T. and Harriet E. Pfleger Chair in Law, since 2023. Before that, she was the law school’s vice dean for faculty and academic affairs from 2019 to 2022.

“During her tenure as interim dean, she promoted a culture of openness, understanding and respect,” Folt said. “She has a strong student-centered, inclusive focus and a deep appreciation for all areas of the law school, and is nationally recognized for her scholarship in election law, constitutional law and voting rights and access. We know she will continue to lead the school to even greater heights.”

Before coming to USC in 2017, Tolson was the Betty T. Ferguson Professor of Voting Rights at Florida State University, eventually becoming just the second Black woman to be promoted to associate professor with tenure at the law school in 2014.

Will you be watching the new Good Times Netflix reboot?

I made the mistake of actually watching the trailer for the reboot, reimagining, update, or whatever BS they want to call it of Good Times as an adult comedy. If the trailer is any indication the show will be a ghetto @ss minstrel show that features a baby as a drug dealer. Yeah you read that right, a baby as a drug dealer. I was disgusted and surprised by some of the "jokes" beacuse of some of the names behind the show such as showrunner Ranada Shepard Executive Producer Stephen Curry.

You can watch the trailer below, but be warned it is straight trash! After watching the trailer please scroll down and take the poll.

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Morehouse School of Medicine Researcher’s Global Team Wins $25 Million Cancer Grand Challenges Award

Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM)  announced Team SAMBAI, a global team led by Melissa B. Davis, PhD, director of the MSM Institute of Translational Genomic Medicine, has been awarded a $25 million grant funded by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute, through Cancer Grand Challenges, to address cancer disparities in populations of African ancestry, becoming the first Cancer Grand Challenge awardee to focus on cancer inequities.

Called Team SAMBAI (Societal, Ancestry, Molecular and Biological Analyses of Inequalities), Dr. Davis is leading an interdisciplinary research group from the United States, Ghana, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. The award not only marks the first one to focus on health disparities and to be led by an African American woman, but it is also the first one awarded to a researcher at a Historically Black Medical School and is the first one given to a host institution in MSM’s home state of Georgia.

“We are so incredibly proud of Dr. Davis’ leadership in directing the effort to create a truly historic and precedent setting winning proposal to Cancer Grand Challenges that holds the potential to have a tremendous impact on how we treat cancer for people with African ancestry,” said MSM President and CEO Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice. “For nearly 50 years, the driving mission of Morehouse School of Medicine has been to address health inequities for communities of color, and we are honored to have the unique opportunity to carry that mission forward in partnership with Cancer Grand Challenges.”

“I want to extend my appreciation to Cancer Research UK, the National Cancer Institute, Cancer Grand Challenges, my Team SAMBAI colleagues around the world, and my Morehouse School of Medicine family on being selected one of five world-class global research teams to win this award,” said Dr. Davis. “We are looking forward to engaging into what we hope will be groundbreaking research that will shift the paradigm for cancer inequity amongst people of African descent and hopefully helping to save lives in the future.”

Team SAMBAI Members:

• Melissa Davis, Team Lead, Morehouse School of Medicine, United States
• Yaw Bediako, Yemaachi Biotech, Ghana
• Tiffany Carson, Moffitt Cancer Center, United States
• Isidro Cortes Ciriano, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, United Kingdom
• Zodwa Dlamini, University of Pretoria, South Africa
• Olivier Elemento, Cornell University, United States
• Rick Fairley, TOUCH, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance, United States
• Fieke Froeling, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
• Marcin Imielinski, New York University, United States
• Sheeba Irshad, King’s College London, United Kingdom
• Lauren McCullough, Emory University, United States
• Gary Miller, Columbia University, United States
• Nigel Mongan, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
• Nicolas Robine, New York Genome Center, United States
• Clayton Yates, John Hopkins University, United States

The Team SAMBAI proposal integrates social determinants of health, environmental exposures, genetic contributions, and tumor biology to understand the complex interactions between genetics, environment, and social factors in cancer outcomes. The proposal also highlights the importance of patient partnership, advocacy, and support in addressing cancer disparities.

The proposal also focuses on breast cancer, particularly among Black women. While Black women have a slightly lower incidence rate of breast cancer compared to White women, they are more frequently diagnosed with advanced disease and have a higher incidence of aggressive forms of breast cancer, such as estrogen receptor (ER) negative (Triple-Negative) disease. This contributes to racial disparities in breast cancer outcomes.

“Together with our network of visionary partners and research leaders, Cancer Grand Challenges unites the world's brightest minds across boundaries and disciplines and aims to overcome cancer’s toughest problems,” said Dr. David Scott, Director of Cancer Grand Challenges. “With this investment, our largest to date, we continue to grow our global research community, and fund new teams that have the potential to surface discoveries that could positively impact cancer outcomes.”

Now in its fourth funding round, this year Cancer Grand Challenges funded five global teams providing up to $25 million in grants per team over five years for a wide range of research projects including cancer inequities, early-onset cancers, solid tumors in children and T-cell receptors.

For more information on Team SAMBAI, its members, and their approach to tackling the cancer inequities challenge, visit https://cancergrandchallenges.org/.

NAACP Inks Four-Book Deal with Amistad

The NAACP, the storied civil rights organization, has inked a deal with Amistad, the HarperCollins imprint and the country's oldest trade imprint dedicated to publishing Black authors. Amistad will publish two new books and a reprint of an existing work, as well as one previously self-published book nominated in the Outstanding Literary category the NAACP Image Awards, which will be selected by an independent group of judges. Judith Curr, president and publisher of HarperOne, and Patrik Henry Bass, executive editor of Amistad, who will edit the books, negotiated the international rights arrangement with NAACP president and CEO Derrick Johnson and Kyle Bowser, senior v-p of the NAACP Hollywood Bureau.

The first title in the series is tentatively set for fall 2025. The two new books include The Best of the Crisis, a "collection of essays and articles featuring the nation's most respected scholars, journalists, and authors from the NAACP's official magazine," which was founded by W.E.B. DuBois, and a cookbook "featuring recipes from celebrities across film, television, and the stage." The reprint is Twenty20 in Black, a "groundbreaking pictorial title that documented news and events from the pivotal year 2020," the publisher said.

Shateria Wilson Is Missing

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A 25-year-old Rochester woman has been missing since early March. Rochester Police say Shateria Wilson was last seen March 5 in the area of Lake Avenue and Driving Park, and is believed to be in the local area. A missing person report was completed March 7.

Shateria is a vulnerable adult with schizoaffective disorder and may be in need of medical attention, police said. She was last seen wearing a black jacket, blue scarf, blue jeans and moccasin shoes. Shateria’s mother says there has been no social media activity from Shateria, which is unusual.

Shateria is 5-foot-4 and 130 pounds. She is Black, with red hair and brown eyes.