In the News: Hunter Discusses His Role in Mentoring Young Men

Jevon Hunter, Woods-Beals Endowed Chair in the School of Education and chair of the Social and Psychological Foundations of Education and Adult Education Department at Buffalo State College, was recently featured in a story on local NPR affiliate WBFO-FM.

In “Honoring Black History by Looking Towards the Future,” reporter Thomas O’Neil-White looked  at Hunter’s role in mentoring young people, especially young Black men, through a summer literacy program Hunter started. 

“The history of Black teachers is a history of service,” he said in the piece. “It’s a history of justice. It’s a history of giving back.”

Hunter was named a member of the 2021–2022 class of the American Council on Education (ACE) Fellows Program and is spending the academic year at SUNY Fredonia with Fredonia President Stephen H. Kolison Jr., learning how a college president builds a cabinet, interacts with the community, and conducts the daily business of higher education.

The article also looks at Hunter’s path to Buffalo State and some of the programs he started on campus. Hunter discusses the role literacy plays in his life, and how his mother inspired him to embrace education and literacy. 

“I remember early on the importance of literacy, the importance of reading, and everything that comes with that. The importance of speaking,” he said. “She was one of those early adopters of ‘Hooked on Phonics’ before it was called 'Hooked on Phonics.’”

What used to work with students may not now, and Hunter has adapted to the challenges of relating to “Generation Z.” His background in hip-hop has allowed him to do that. 

“I grew up at a time in the mid ‘80s, late ‘80s, where Public Enemy, Spike Lee, Sister Soulja, all of these folks were really kind of speaking to a new level of consciousness,” he said.

Hunter said it’s his job to give back to the younger generation, the way those who came before him gave back to him. 

“I understand my role here as a professor,” he said. “Someone who has a Ph.D., as a Black man working with young people. But for me, I also wanted them to understand, like, this is what service looks like. This is what teaching could look like, right? I think about that old adage by Mary Terrell Church, right? ‘We lift as we climb.’”

Photo by Buffalo State College Creative Services. View the entire Student Organizations Black History Month Networking Event (February 2020) photo gallery.