The University of Rochester will honor a long time supporter of the Urban League, Professor Emeritus of History Jesse T. Moore Jr., by renaming its Urban League Scholarship the Jesse Moore Urban League Scholarship. The renaming will be formally announced during the Urban League of Rochester's 44th Annual Meeting on Tuesday, April 28, at 6:00 p.m. at the Rochester Museum and Science Center's Eisenhart Auditorium.
"Jesse Moore has spent his career at the University of Rochester committed to helping students excel and train for continuing leadership," said Jonathan Burdick, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid. "That dedication, coupled with his early work with the Urban League, provide compelling reasons to rename our Urban League Scholarships in his honor."
The University's Urban League Scholarship program has been offered since 1984. For the 2009-2010 academic year, the University will award approximately 100 scholarships to students around the nation, each valued at $20,000 annually. Applicants are expected to meet the admission requirements to the University and should demonstrate financial need, community involvement, and a commitment to the mission and values of the Urban League.
"It came as a complete surprise and it is a humbling thought to have my name added to the Urban League Scholarship," Moore said. "It is an honor to be singled out as someone who made a contribution to the University's educational and human relations efforts."
In his three decades at the University, Moore taught many popular classes on African-American history and also served as an associate dean in the College of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering and in the Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies. "It has been a pleasure working with the bright, intelligent, and interesting students who enroll at Rochester," Moore said. "These students reflect the kind of America that the Urban League has been promoting for the past 97 years."
In addition to his work in the classroom, Moore founded the Robert E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. The McNair Program identifies high-achieving sophomores and juniors from low income, first-generation, and underrepresented groups and encourages them to pursue doctoral degrees. The program's mission is to increase the number of students who pursue advanced degrees, making them competitive candidates for faculty positions in academic disciplines offered at American colleges and universities. A number of Rochester McNair Scholars now hold doctoral degrees from some of the nation's leading research universities. Moore said he is very proud of these students. In founding the program, Moore worked with former Rochester mayor William Johnson, then the league's president, and several Rochester academic officers, in particular, Jack Kampmeier, then Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.