Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists
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W. E. B. DuBois Award Recipient - 1997
James A. Hefner, Ph.D.
During his tenure at Tennessee State, he
has served on the Third National Bank’s External Council for Community
Economic Development Program, Success by Six Steering Committee, and
Leadership Nashville. He also serves on the Alliance for
Environmental Education Board of Directors, United Way Board Trustees, St.
Thomas Hospital Board of Councilors, National Board of Advisors; Board of
Directors, Institute for College Research Development Support, and Vice
Chairman of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce. His professional memberships include the
Community Economic Development Council, TVA Minority Economic Development
Council, Mayor's Council of College and University Presidents, and the
Council on Families in America. Dr. Hefner also serves on the Mayor’s Job
Corp Advisory Committee and 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee,
Inc. A renowned authority on minority
economic issues, Dr. Hefner serves as an economic and business consultant
to many organizations. He has authored more than 50 articles on
economic research and authored and co-edited two books: Black
Employment in Atlanta and Public Policy for the Black Community:
Strategies and Perspectives. He is researching two
additional books: A Biography of Ashbury Howard and a book
examining Black Wealth in the United States. He holds membership in
several national and regional associations devoted to scholarship in
economics, labor relations and public management, including the American
Economic Association and Industrial Relations Research
Association. Dr. Hefner has pursued a distinguished
career in public service, and his achievements have led to his appointment
as consultant to the Congressional Black Caucus, the National Institute of
Public Management, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the
Department of Transportation, and Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of
Atlanta, New Orleans Branch. His scholarship and public service have
brought him numerous honors and awards, including election to Phi Beta
Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi, membership in MENSA, the NAFEO Achievement Award
in Research, and listings in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in Black
America. A native of Brevard, North Carolina, Dr.
Hefner graduated from North Carolina A&T State University in
Greensboro, North Carolina. He earned a Master’s Degree in Economics
from Atlanta University and a Ph.D. Degree in Economics from the
University of Colorado, Boulder. Dr. Hefner is married to the former
Edwina Long, and they have three sons: Christopher, who resides in
Nashville; Jonathan, a medical student at Michigan State University; and
David, a graduate student at the University of Tennessee at
Knoxville.
Dr.
Hefner became sixth
president of Tennessee State University in 1991.
Prior to coming to
Nashville, he served as President of Jackson State University in Jackson,
Mississippi and as Provost at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University)
in Tuskegee, Alabama. He also served as Professor and Chairman of
the Department of Business Administration at Morehouse College in Atlanta,
Georgia. While at Morehouse, Dr. Hefner was the first professor to hold the
Charles E. Merrill Chair, endowed at one-half million dollars by Merrill
Lynch . He has been a visiting research associate at Harvard and
Princeton Universities and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.