It was right after my thesis was accepted that my graduate advisor took ill and was hospitalized, so I was assigned a new advisor to help me prepare for the oral exam. Dr. Brownlee was a senior fellow at the nearby Institute for the Study of Curative Equity, but she had been Dean of the Sociology Department here at New Dominion University and, in fact, had developed the Black Studies program in which I was enrolled. So I...

"Wayne," Dr. Brownlee spoke my name, grabbing my attention amidst the group of academics attending the department's drinks party. "Here's someone I want you to meet." Standing beside the imposingly attractive older woman was a tall, lanky African-American man with a medium complexion and startling eyes: one brown, the other blue. "This is Dr. Kenneth Starke. Ken, meet my protégé, Dr. Wayne Wanley." I was flattered that Ad...