news briefs

Wheatley named head football coach

Wayne State University Director of Athletics Erika Wallace recently selected Tyrone Wheatley as the next football head coach for the Warriors. He will become the 20th head coach in program history, which enters its 106th year and 105th playing season (due to COVID in 2020).

“I am beyond excited to welcome Coach Wheatley and his family to the Wayne State community,” stated Wallace. “Coach Wheatley has a passion for developing the student-athlete not only on the field, but off. His ability to mentor men, develop talent and recruit will elevate our football program. I’m looking forward to watching his leadership as he guides our Warrior student-athletes into a new era.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t thank CarrSports Consulting for its professionalism and guidance throughout the search process as well as the search committee, which consisted of staff, coaches, faculty and football alumni,” remarked Wallace.

Wayne State University Athletics

“First of all, I would like to thank Wayne State University and Athletic Director Erika Wallace for the opportunity to lead a great university and its football team,” commented Wheatley.

“Throughout the interview process, Mrs. Wallace showed that Wayne State was well prepared and very detailed in what they wanted in the football program and the direction of the athletic department. This made me really excited about the job. I am looking forward to coming home, as they always say: there is no place like home.

No matter where I have been, I’ve always tried to recruit the state of Michigan and the city of Detroit. I am pleased, honored and blessed to be back home and to coach at Wayne State University.”

Wheatley is a 16-year coaching veteran, including five years in the National Football League. He most recently served as the running backs coach for the Denver Broncos.

As a player, he earned three consecutive All-Big Ten accolades (1992-93-94) after graduating from Dearborn Heights Robichaud High School.

As a sophomore at the University of Michigan in 1992, Wheatley won the Big Ten’s Offensive Player of the Year award.

Wheatley surpassd the 1,000-yard rushing plateau each of his finals two seasons, garnering 1,129 yards and 1,144 yards, respectively. He completed his Wolverine career with 4,187 rushing yards, 510 receiving yards and 53 total touchdowns.

He was a first-round draft selection by the New York Giants in 1995 (17th overall) and concluded his 10-year professional career by spending the last six seasons with the Oakland Raiders.

Wheatley earned his bachelor’s in kinesiology in 2008 from Michigan. He and his wife, Kimberly, have five children: Tyrone, Jr., Terius, Tyrique, Tiana and Tamari.

Transfer students have clear path to bachelor’s degree with new partnership between Wayne County Community College District and Wayne State University

The new Transfer Pathways Agreement signed earlier this year between Wayne County Community College District (WCCCD) and Wayne State University provides transfer students with a clear path from an associate degree to a bachelor’s, limiting potential loss of credits and helping families save tuition dollars.

The program maximizes credits students earn while completing an associate degree at WCCCD and transferring to WSU to complete their bachelor’s. The program went into effect this fall.

Students will be eligible for WSU transfer merit scholarships valued at up to $6,000 a year and receive specialized academic advising and career counseling prior to transferring and once they enroll at Wayne State. WCCCD Pathways students who meet program requirements will receive guaranteed admission to Wayne State.

Wayne State University receives $6M grant from the Mellon Foundation to increase Black studies faculty and establish the Detroit Center for Black Studies

The Mellon Foundation awarded a $6 million grant to Wayne State University to launch a cluster hire program that will recruit and hire 30 new humanities faculty and create the Detroit Center for Black Studies. The grant advances Wayne State’s work to build a more inclusive and equitable university by prioritizing faculty and research centered on the Black experience.

“We are grateful that the Mellon Foundation recognizes Wayne State’s efforts to transform Black studies at the university with this impactful support,” said Wayne State Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Mark Kornbluh.

illustrated building with red, yellow, and green paint strokes behind

“Wayne State is located in the largest majority-Black city in America, and our curricula should reflect that with more courses that center on the Black experience and the role that race has played in American history, culture and society. This grant propels us to build a more inclusive curriculum, a broader research agenda and deeper impact on our community by dramatically increasing the number of faculty members whose work centers the Black experience.”

With the funding from the Mellon Foundation, Wayne State will recruit 10 new early career scholars in the humanities for the Pathway to Faculty program, an initiative to guide and prepare pre-faculty fellows for tenure-track positions; 10 new tenure-track hires; and 10 tenured faculty members at the associate or full professor level.

The focus will be on scholars whose research interests expand knowledge about people of color and the issues that affect them, along with studies involving the impact of race, racism, inequality, and struggles for equality and justice. This includes scholars who are committed to creating more inclusive curricula for students, who have experience in or demonstrated commitment to teaching and mentoring students of myriad backgrounds, and who are committed to engaging in service with the Black community.

“What Wayne State will achieve with this grant aligns perfectly with the goals of the Mellon Foundation,” said Phillip Brian Harper, program director for higher learning at the Mellon Foundation. “Working to ensure faculty members elevate humanities knowledge in their communities is critically important, as is the support of these faculty members in their efforts to build thoughtful, inclusive curricula.”

A second initiative that the Mellon Foundation will support is the launch of the Detroit Center for Black Studies, a faculty-led multidisciplinary center at Wayne State that connects Black studies faculty from institutions across Michigan.

The goal is an inclusive center that brings together the breadth of scholars who work in African American, African and African-diaspora studies and the interconnections with U.S. and global histories, culture, social, economic, legal, and health systems.

Wayne State University acquires Horace Sheffield Jr. Collection

black and white photo of Horace Sheffield Jr.

Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs

The Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, recently announced the acquisition of an archival collection documenting the life and work of Horace Sheffield Jr.

The Sheffield Collection will give insight into the life and work of a labor and community trailblazer through personal and family papers, correspondence, images and ephemera collected over a life of leadership: as an official in UAW Local 600, founding member of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), president of the Detroit CBTU, founder of the politically influential Trade Union Leadership Council (TULC) and Detroit Association of Black Organizations (DABO), director of the Detroit NAACP, and administrative assistant to UAW President Douglas Fraser.

The collection will complement the Reuther Library’s holdings documenting Black leadership in U.S. trade unionism such as the CBTU, Detroit Revolutionary Movements and the papers of AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy.

“The Sheffield family’s involvement in civil rights and trade unionism began in the Ford Rouge foundry, where Horace L. Sheffield Sr. toiled in pre-union years and Horace L. Sheffield Jr. emerged as a national Black trade union and civil rights leader,” the Rev. Horace Sheffield III said. “It is where he joined forces with the Reuther brothers, and it is here, in the Walter Reuther Library, where that record of his transformative work will now reside. The Sheffield family is honored that Horace L. Sheffield Jr.’s work is being made available to researchers, historians and students at the Walter Reuther Library on the campus of Wayne State University.”

Reuther Library staff will work over the next year to incorporate the collection into the archives, prepare materials for researchers and announce widely when open for public research.

Poet and scholar Melba Joyce Boyd named 2023 Kresge Eminent Artist

Melba Joyce Boyd, Ph.D., Wayne State’s Department of African American Studies Distinguished Professor, has added another honor to her exceptional career.

Boyd received the 2023 Kresge Eminent Artist, a lifetime achievement award that comes with a $50,000 prize.

Said Boyd: “I hope that my work serves as a portal into understanding at least one person, but I am hoping that anybody who is looking for some understanding of the human experience will get something when they read my work — when they see my work.”

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