Miles College Leadership Selected for 2026 Penn State Research Summit

Ujima Collective Implementation Team Expands National Research Partnerships

Miles College continues to advance its national research leadership through the work of the HBCU Ujima Collective.

Dr. Tonya Perry, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Miles College and a member of the Ujima Implementation Team, has been selected as a 2026 STAIR Summit Travel Awardee by Penn State University. The Summit convenes senior research administrators and institutional leaders from Emerging Research Institutions (ERIs) and R1 universities to strengthen research infrastructure through strategic partnerships, training models, and resource alignment.

Dr. Perry will join a national cohort of research leaders from institutions including Clemson University, Rutgers University, Bucknell University, Alcorn State University, Fayetteville State University, and others. Each awardee receives travel support to participate in this inaugural convening focused on scalable research development strategies.

This announcement follows the invitation for Dr. Jarralynne Agee, Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Principal Investigator of the NSF-funded HBCU Ujima Collective (Award #2430319), to serve as keynote speaker for the event. Together, Dr. Agee and Dr. Perry represent Miles College’s coordinated academic and research leadership model — a hallmark of the Ujima framework.

Through the Ujima Collective, Miles College is not simply participating in national research conversations — it is shaping them. The College’s approach integrates:

• Executive-level research strategy

• Provost-led academic implementation

• Faculty capacity building

• Cross-institutional collaboration

• NSF-supported infrastructure development

The joint presence of Dr. Agee and Dr. Perry at the 2026 STAIR Summit reflects Miles College’s deliberate trajectory toward expanded research capacity and its role as a collaborative leader among peer institutions.

As the Golden Bears have long demonstrated: growth is strongest when built in partnership.

For more information about the STAIR Summit and the 2026 awardees, visit the Penn State STAIR program website.