Hampton, Va. - In partnership with the U.S. State Department and White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hampton University will host eight Brazilian delegates that serve in various capacities in higher education across Brazil on Friday, Sept. 23.

The delegates visit will further an alliance between U.S. historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Brazil. The HBCU-Brazil Alliance was established by the White House Initiative on HBCUs and is a follow up to a U.S. delegation led by Russlynn H. Ali, assistant secretary for civil rights, U.S. Department of Education.

“We are establishing opportunities for scholarly exchange and research collaboration between U.S. HBCUs and Brazilian higher education institutions, ” said Dr. Cassandra Herring, dean of the Hampton University College of Education and Continuing Studies and a part of the delegation that recently visited Brazil.

The HBCU-Brazil Alliance is intended to establish ongoing education collaborative ventures such as student exchanges in science, health, technology, engineering, computer science, mathematics, teacher education, architecture and planning, transportation and other programs. The goal of the alliance and the collaborative projects is to share best practices in civil rights, access to education, health and prevention, environmental justice, education and economic empowerment.

The alliance between HBCUs and Brazil is part of a commitment to cooperation under the U.S-Brazil Joint Action Plan signed in March 2008 and affirmed by President Obama and Brazilian President Rousseff in March of this year. The initiative targets racial and ethnic discrimination and establishing a Historically Black College and University network, a short-term exchange program and other programs to target racism and human rights through education.