Dr. Charles F. Robinson II
Dr. Charles F. Robinson II received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in History at the University of Houston, graduating with honors. He earned a Masters Degree at Rice University and a Ph.D. Degree at the University of Houston. Dr. Robinson has been a college teacher for over 19 years. He taught his first nine years at Houston Community College and presently serves as an Associate Professor of History, the Director of the African American Studies, and the Vice Provost for Diversity at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. Teaching and lecturing are Dr. Robinson’s passions. In his time at the University of Arkansas he has been awarded the Fulbright College Master Teacher Award, the Arkansas Alumni Distinguished Teacher Award, and the Student Alumni Board Teacher of the Year Award. Dr. Robinson has also been cited for excellence and inducted into the university’s Teaching Academy. In 2006, the Black Students Association honored Dr. Robinson with the Lonnie R. Williams Bridging Excellence Award and in January 2008, he was given the Martin Luther King Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award by the Fayetteville MLK committee.
Dr. Robinson has been invited by numerous universities and professional organizations to speak on a variety of topics. Dr. Robinson has published two books, Dangerous Liaisons: Sex and Love in the Segregated South (2003) with the University of Arkansas Press and Engaging Missouri: An Epic Drama of Love, Honor and Redemption across the Color Line (2007) with iUniverse. He also currently has two books under contract that are scheduled for release next year—Forsaking All Others: Interracial Coupling, Violence, and Revenge in the Post-Reconstruction South with the University of Tennessee Press, and Reflections in Black: An Oral History of the Desegregation of the University of Arkansas with the University of Arkansas Press. Dr. Robinson strives to live by the admonition found in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."
Speech Title: Driving towards Diversity: Important Lessons from March Madness.
Dr. Charles Robinson will assess why important diversity changes have occurred in academic institutions since the 1960s.