In July 2020, the Call Me Mister (CMM) program had its first virtual Summer Institute.
In previous years the on-campus Institute was a summer highlight for the young men in CMM and in “MISTERS-in-training” programs that have been formed in regional high schools. This year, due to COVID restrictions on group gatherings, the Summer Institute ran virtually for four-days in late July.
Among the highlights were presentations to the attendees by Dr. Roy Jones of Clemson University, the founder of the original Call Me MISTER program in South Carolina, and Mr. Mark Joseph, an accomplished educational leader who was part of Dr. Jones’ first cohort of MISTERS in South Carolina.
On the final day, Larry I. Palmer, former Professor of Law and Vice-President for Academic Affairs at Cornell University and author of the 2020 book Scholarship Boy, spoke to the Institute attendees about his own path in education as a young man of color, a path brought Palmer from inner-city St. Louis to Phillips Exeter in 1958 and then through Harvard as an undergraduate and Yale Law before embarking on a career that included positions at Virginia Commonwealth, William and Mary, University of Louisville, and Cornell.
