Meet Dr. SAID SEWELL | Professor/Higher Education Thought Leader/University Administrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. SAID SEWELL and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. SEWELL, is there a quote or affirmation that’s meaningful to you?
“One should be afraid to die until they have made a difference in world” Horace Mann Bond. Since I was very young, I understood the transformative power of education for my family, especially my mother and myself. Realizing its power, I have, for the last 24 years, made it my personal mission to help college students, especially African-American men, succeed in college-ultimately completing their undergraduate degree and becoming outstanding men to their families and society. And, while I am pleased to have been able to help thousands of young people achieve their dreams, I am still working daily to help even more.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

I have worked in higher education for over two decades and have been saluted as one of the nation’s leading transformational thought-leaders in higher education, especially on student success issues.

I currently serve as President and Managing Partner for The Empowerment Group (TEG). TEG is a boutique consulting firm dedicated to providing high-quality educational services to a broad network of higher educational institutions. I am also providing executive leadership to the Atlanta University Center Consortium, Inc. The Consortium, which is comprised of two highly-selective liberal arts colleges, Morehouse College and Spelman College, a private comprehensive research university, Clark Atlanta University, and a private primary-care medical school, Morehouse School of Medicine, is the oldest and largest association of private historically Black colleges and universities in the nation.

Before serving at the Consortium, I was the Vice President for Student Affairs at Morehouse College. I have served as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Lincoln University in Missouri. I have held faculty appointments at Lincoln University, Fort Valley State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Nebraska, and the University of West Georgia.

I, a native of Houston, Texas, began my college journey at the age of 16 and graduated from Morehouse College in 1992 with a B.A. in political science. I earned a Master of Public Administration in Public Policy from the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University and a Ph. D. from Clark Atlanta University in Political Science. I have augmented his educational experiences by completing the Indiana University’s Lilly School of Philanthropy’s Certificate of Fund Raising Management, Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education’s Institute for Educational Management, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) Millennium Leadership Institute, the University System of Georgia’s Executive Leadership Institute (ELI), and the Higher Education Leadership Foundation’s (HELF) Leadership Institute.

While I have co-authored three books, Georgia State Politics, Conflicting Democracy: A Critical Analysis of America’s Political Process, and We the People: Reflections on American Politics, I am currently completing work on two books: Empowering Black Males Students to Greatness and Let Us Make Man: A Conversation with Black Men on Saving Black Boys. I have been featured on CNN, Larry King Live, and Today Show and have appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, Black Enterprise Magazine, Ebony Magazine, and Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

I, an ordained Baptist minister, am active in several professional, civic, and social organizations from the Center for African-American Males: Research, Success, and Leadership, Inc. to the Charles Wesley Educational Foundation to the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

-The Dr. Martin L. King Center for Nonviolence
-Tyler Perry Studios
-The National Civil and Human Rights Museum
-The World of Coke Cola
-The Georgia Aquarium
-The Beltline

We would go out for food and drinks at:
-Ra Sushi
-Neyo Restaurant
-Drift Fish House & Oyster Bar
-Okoo Restaurant
-Optimist Resturant

We would hang out at:
-Phipps Plaza
-Piedmont Park
-Ponce City Market
-Apache Cafe

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I am reminded of a quote that says, “If you see a turtle on a fence, he had help getting there.”

As I think about my life and success, I am the product of many women and men, who thought it not robbery to pour into my words of encouragement, provide me a listening ear, or support me financially, especially while in college or graduation school,

First, I have to thank my Mother and Father (Charlene Sewell Whitehurst and Joseph Whitehurst), Ms. Pasua Whitehurst, Mr. James Bonton, Mr. Jamahl King, Mr. Henry W. Cantrell, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Wilson, Jr., Mr. Nathaniel White, Jr., Dr. Larry E. Rivers, Dr. Belle Wheelan, Dr. Carl Walton, Dr. Michael Bailey, Dr. Harriett Walton, Dr. Robert Brisbane, Mrs. Anne Allison, Dr. Theo. Herrington, Dr. William Boone, Dr. Janet Clark, Dr. Jack Jenkins, Dr. Price Michael, Dr. George Rolle. and Mr. Paul Ledet.

There are several organizations and groups that have helped me to become the person I am today: St. Peter Claver Catholic Church (Houston, Texas), First Mount Pleasant Baptist Chuch (Atlanta, Georgia), Victory Baptist Chuch (Stone Mountain, Georgia), Greater Piney Grove Baptist Church (Atlanta, Georgia), and Vision Church of Atlanta as well as Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University, andTexas Southern University.

In addition to my faith communities, I have to recognize the following organizations and members that have played an instrumental role in my life: The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the Knights of Peter Claver (Junior and Senior Divisions), the Center for African-American Males: Research, Success, and Leadership, Inc., Black Men With Initiative (BMWI), the 100 Black Men of America, and the NAACP.

Website: www.saidsewell.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drsaidsewell/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saidsewell/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/be_great_now

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/said.sewell

Other: https://theempowermentgroup.org

Image Credits
All done by elvis piedra photography