A warm welcome to members of the media:
To contact Charlie regarding media inquiries, please use this Media Contact form.
Thank you for your interest in From Cotton Fields to University Leadership: All Eyes on Charlie, A Memoir, a candid exploration of my higher education leadership journey as an African American male born in Arkansas during a time of segregation and legal discrimination. I’d be happy to help you with a news story, take part in an interview, or participate in a review. To make your job as easy as possible, please find below some information that can help you. If what you’re looking for is not here, please use the Media Contact form. Thanks again for your interest.
— Charlie Nelms
Description
Charlie Nelms had audaciously big dreams. Growing up black in the Deep South in the 1950s and 1960s, working in cotton fields, and living in poverty, Nelms dared to dream that he could do more with his life than work for white plantation owners sun-up to sun-down. Inspired by his parents, who first dared to dream that they could own their own land and have the right to vote, Nelms chose education as his weapon of choice for fighting racism and inequality.
With hard work, determination, and the critical assistance of mentors who counseled him along the way, he found his way from the cotton fields of Arkansas to university leadership roles. Becoming the youngest and the first African American chancellor of a predominately white institution in Indiana, he faced tectonic changes in higher education during those ensuing decades of globalization, growing economic disparity, and political divisiveness. From Cotton Fields to University Leadership is an uplifting story about the power of education, the impact of community and mentorship, and the importance of dreaming big.
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Author Bio
Charlie Nelms, a native of the Arkansas Delta, has devoted his life to equalizing opportunities for disenfranchised peoples. He is currently a senior scholar at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and a Center Scholar at the Center for Postsecondary Research, Indiana University School of Education, as well as retired Chancellor, North Carolina Central University, and IU Vice President for Institutional Development and Student Affairs Emeritus. In 2019, Charlie was awarded an honorary doctorate from Indiana University. Proceeds from his memoir will help fund scholarships to historically Black colleges and universities across the nation.
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To contact Charlie regarding media inquiries, please use this Media Contact form.