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HOWARD UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL AND YALE UNIVERSITY TO LAUNCH BOUCHET HONOR SOCIETY
ANNOUNCEMENTS September 7, 2005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Contact: Gwendolyn S. Bethea Director, Communication and Public Relations 202-806-6156/6800 gbethea@howard.edu

In an effort to advance academic excellence at the Ph.D. level, Howard University , in collaboration with Yale University , will launch the Bouchet Honor Society in commemoration of Dr. Edward Alexander Bouchet on September 15, 2005, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Andrew Rankin Chapel on the Howard University campus (PROGRAM). Yale University will launch its Bouchet Honor Society at the same time and will participate in a simulcast of the two events. Dr. Richard A. English, provost and chief academic officer, Howard University , will present the keynote address. Dr. James Stith, vice president, American Institute of Physics, also will present remarks.

In 1876, Dr. Bouchet became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from an American University – Yale University , as well as the sixth American of any race to receive a doctorate in physics. Dr. Bouchet's passion for learning and relentless desire to teach paved the way for future scholars, particularly African-Americans in the professoriate and in the sciences.

Graduate students at Howard and Yale have worked together for the past year to develop the Bouchet Honor Society. In addition to honoring the memory of Dr. Bouchet and his accomplishments, the students believe that it fitting for his alma mater, Yale, and the nation's largest on-campus producer of African-American Ph.D. recipients to launch a Ph.D. honor society in his name.

After earning his doctorate, Bouchet was unable to obtain a position at the university level because of racial bias. However, Dr. Bouchet did not waver in his scholarly quests; he taught physics and chemistry for the next 26 years at the Institute for Colored Youth (ICY), a Quaker institution in Philadelphia .  After the Civil War, the ICY played an important role in training the thousands of black teachers that were needed throughout the country to provide freed men and women with the education they sought. Later, Dr. Bouchet taught at St. Paul 's Normal and Industrial School in Virginia ; served as principal of Lincoln High School in Galipolis , Ohio ; and was a professor at Bishop College in Marshall , Texas . 

For more information, please contact Dr. Chontrese Doswell, assistant dean for retention, mentoring, and support programs, cdoswell@howard.edu , or 202-806-6156.