Sydney Freeman, Jr.

Sydney Freeman Jr. (born September 23, 1984) is an educational theorist, social scientist, and former educational administrator.Freeman's early education was at Seventh-Day Adventist, historically black schools and institutions, and has written several articles about the history and state of the denomination. His areas of research includes higher education, the challenges in higher education administration programs, the university presidency, the faculty career cycle, and the leadership of historically black colleges and universities. He is an associate professor in the Department of Leadership and Counseling at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.

Freeman grew up in Camden, New Jersey, the third generation in his family to reside there, to Christian singers and musicians Sydney and Cassandra Freeman.His grandmother was Mary Lewis, a community service advocate in the Adventist church.He attended Seventh-day Adventist Church schools from preschool to college, including Pine Forge Academy in Pennsylvania, an Adventist high school that is one of four historically black boarding college-preparatory academies, where he was a leader in singing and drama ministries, and Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama.While at Oakwood, Freeman founded the Progressive Black Caucus.Freeman's early influences were gospel singer Tye Tribbett and actress Tasha Smith; he said that they helped him "see excellence in other ways".

After shadowing the president of Oakwood, Delbert Baker, Freeman decided to go into field of higher education, with the goal of becoming a university president.He earned a master's degree in 2008 and a PhD in higher education administration in 2011 from Auburn University.

Freeman is a social scientist, educational administrator, and educational theorist.He has experience in various aspects of student and academic affairs, faculty development, student residential life, and career development and advancement.His areas of research includes higher education, the challenges in higher education administration programs, the university presidency, the faculty career cycle, and the leadership of historically black colleges and universities.He has earned professional certifications in online instruction, faculty development, executive management, and organizational leadership.

In 2014, Freeman served as director of the Teaching and Learning Center at Tuskegee University.In 2016, he was named a certified online instructor by the Learning Resource Network.As of 2019, Freeman was a professor and instructor in the Department of Leadership and Counseling at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.Also in 2019, he served on the University of Idaho's presidential selection committee.In April 2019, Freeman was named to a three-year term on Auburn University's College of Educational National Alumni Council.He was the youngest member of the council.As an African American instructor at the University of Idaho, where 13 percent of its faculty are people of color, Freeman recognized that he was "often the first black professor that many of his students have had".Freeman has published numerous journal articles and was the lead editor of Advancing Higher Education as a Field of Study: In Quest of Doctoral Degree Guidelines (2014), which received the Auburn University Graduate School "Book of the Year" award in 2015.He founded and served as editor-in-chief of The Journal for the Study of Postsecondary and Tertiary Education.He served on several academic journal editorial and review boards.

Freeman's theology and Christian beliefs were influenced by Maury Jackson, an Adventist theologian at La Sierra University.He stated that although "the cross unites all Adventist and Christian theology...it begins and ends at the cross".He also stated that one's culture and experience informs theology and beliefs.He called for more African American theologians trained at the doctoral level, as well as the development of a black Adventist theology.In 2019, he was researching the life and works of Owen Troy, the first Adventist of color to earn a doctorate in theology.

Freeman is married to Lynda Murphy Freeman, an assistant professor at the University of Idaho medical school program.In 2019, they were working together on a book chapter about their experiences retaining their cultural heritage as black professors in a majority white university and rural community.

• American Association of University Administrators’ Robert MacVitte Emerging Leader of the Year (2015)
• Auburn University Graduate School 2015 Auburn Authors Award (2015)
• National Pine Forge Academy Alumni Association Meritorious Award (2018)
• Auburn University's College of Education Outstanding Young Alumni Award (2020)

Online articles

• Freeman, Jr., S. (August 13, 2017). The Birth of a Denomination, Part 1: Black People in the Bibles". Adventist Today Magazine.
• Freeman, Jr., S. (August 16, 2017). " The Birth of a Denomination, Part 2: Black Adventists in the Early Years". Adventist Today Magazine
• Freeman, Jr., S. (August 18, 2017). "The Birth of a Denomination, Part 3: Black Adventist Leaders Today". Adventist Today Magazine.
• Jackson, M; Freeman, Jr., S. (October 21, 2018) "Adventist History, Herstory, and Ourstory: Towards a Peoples’ History of the Origin of Black Adventism". Adventist Today Magazine.
• Freeman, Jr., S. (January 20, 2019) "A State of Emergency: Trained African-American Adventist Theologians Needed". Adventist Today Magazine.
• Freeman, Jr. S. (February 6, 2019) "A Third Reconstruction?" Adventist Today Magazine.
• Freeman, Jr., S. (March 7, 2019). "Am I My Sista’s Keeper? A Response to Pastor Rebecca Davis". Adventist Today Magazine.

Journal articles

• Freeman, Jr., S.; Kochan, F. (2012). "The Academic Pathways to University Leadership: Presidents Descriptions of their Doctoral Education". International Journal of Doctoral Studies. 7: 93—124.
• Freeman, Jr., S. (2012) "The Future of Higher Education Preparation: Implications for Policy and Practice". Journal of Education Policy"]. 1: 1–8.
• Freeman, Jr., S.; Kochan, F. (2012) "The Role of Assessment and Accountability in Higher Education Doctoral Programs: A Presidential Perspective. International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation", 1: 1—13.
• Freeman, Jr. S.; Kochan, F. (2013). "University Presidents’ Perspectives of the Knowledge and Competencies Needed in 21st Century Higher Education Leadership. Journal of Educational Leadership in Action". 1: 1—20.
• Wolfe, B.; Freeman, Jr., S. (2013). [works.bepress.com "A Case Administrator of Color: Insights and Policy Implications for Higher Education’s Predominantly White Institutions"]. eJournal of Education Policy. 1: 1—11.
• Freeman, Jr., S. (2014). "Strategies for Doctoral Students Who Desire to Become Higher Education Faculty Members: Implications for Practice. International". Journal of Doctoral Studies 9: 271–291.
• Freeman, Jr., S.; Gasman, M. (2014). "The Characteristics of Historically Black College and University Presidents and Their Role in Grooming the Next Generation of Leaders". Teachers College Record. 116: 1—34.
• Freeman, Jr., S., (February 20, 2015). "Noble Progressivism or Dangerous Apostasy? A firsthand account of 'Surge Church,' a Seventh-day Adventist Sunday Service". Spectrum Magazine.
• Barnett, N. C.; Freeman, Jr., S.; Freeman, M. L. (2016). "Higher Education Graduate Programs at Minority Serving Institutions". Western Journal of Black Studies. 40 (3): 3—19.
• Card, K., Chambers, C.; Freeman, Jr., S. (2016) "Is there a Core Curricula across Higher Education Doctoral Programs". International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 11: 127–146.
• Commodore, F.; Freeman, Jr., S.; Gasman, M.;Carter, C. (2016). "'How It’s Done': The Role of Mentoring and Advice in Preparing the Next Generation of Historically Black College and University Presidents". Education Science. 19 (6): 1—14.
• Findlay, H. J.; Freeman, Jr., S.; Findlay, H. E. (2016) "Generational and Fatal Leadership in a Time of Unprecedented Challenges and Changes". Journal of Higher Education Management. 31 (1): 28–43.
• Freeman, Jr., S.; Mountford-Zimdars, A. (January 4, 2016). "The Under-Realized Potential of Higher Education as a Field of Study within and beyond the U.S."A Community of Higher Ed Scholars.American Educational Research Association.
• Freeman, Jr., S. (2016) "Higher Education as a Vocation: A Commentary". Teachers College Record.
• Freeman, Jr., S. (2016). "Introducing the Journal for the Study of Postsecondary Education". Journal for the Study of Postsecondary and Tertiary Education.1: 1–8.
• Freeman, Jr.. S.; Diramio, D. (2016) "Elitism or Pragmatism? Faculty hiring at top ranked in higher education administration". Journal of the Professoriate. 8 (2): 94—127.
• Freeman, Jr., S.; Gasman, M.; Commodore, F.; Carter, C. (2016). [https://works.bepress.com/sydney_freeman_jr/43/ "Leaders Wanted!: The Skills Expected and Needed for a Successful 21st Historically Black College and University Presidency". Journal of Black Studies. 6: 1—16.
• Hilton, A. A.; Freeman, Jr., S.; Lee, Jr., J. M. (2016) [works.bepress.com "The Governing Structures of State Supported Historically Black Colleges and Universities"]. Journal of HBCU Research + Culture, 1: 1—13.
• McGaskey, F.; Freeman, Jr. S.; Guyton, C.; Richmond, D.; Guyton, C. W. (2016). "The social support networks of black males in higher education administration doctoral programs: An exploratory study". Western Journal of Black Studies. 40 (2): 141–158.
• Freeman, Jr., S.; Palmer, R. T. (December 20, 2016). "Examining Characteristics of Effective Leadership at Historically Black Colleges and Universities".MSIs Unplugged.
• Chambers, C.R.; Freeman, S., Jr. (2017). "From margin to center: Rethinking the cannon in higher education graduate programs". Journal for the Study of Postsecondary and Tertiary Education. 2: 115–119.
• Forthun, G.; Freeman, Jr., S. (2017). [https://works.bepress.com/sydney_freeman_jr/50/ "Community College Leadership Preparation Programs: A Review of the Literature". Community College Enterprise. 1: 14–26.
• Freeman, Jr., S.; Kitchell, A.; Carr-Chellman, A. (2017). "The Negentropic Professor and the Online Curriculum". ELearn Magazine.
• Tomlinson, G.; Freeman, Jr., S. (2017). "Who Really Selected You? Insights into Faculty Selection Processes at Top-Ranked Higher Education Graduate Programs". Journal of Farther and Higher Education, pp. 1–13.
• Forthun, G.; Freeman, S., Jr. (2017). ["https://works.bepress.com/sydney_freeman_jr/51/ "Executive higher education doctoral programs in the United States: A demographic market-based analysis"]. Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology Education, 14: 1—19.
• Freeman, Jr., S. (March 28, 2017) "Moving into the New Trump Era: A Black Scholar’s Response". Berkeley Review in Education.
• Freeman, Jr., S. (May 18, 2017). "Homework for White Leaders." Diverse Issues in Higher Education. 34 (8): 25.
• Douglas, T. M. O.; Lane-Bonds, D.; Freeman, Jr., S. (Summer 2017). "Voices from the Field: There is No Manual for University Presidents: An Interview with Andrea Luxton, President of Andrews University, on her leadership in response to the #ItIsTimeAU uprising on her campus". The Journal of Negro Education. 86 (3): 368–380.
• Freeman, Jr., S. (2018). "The Manuscript Dissertation: A Means of Increasing Competitive Edge for Tenure-Track Faculty Positions". International Journal of Doctoral Studies. 13 (1): 273–292.
• Freeman, Jr., S. (2018). "Utilizing Multi-Grounded Theory in a Dissertation: Reflections and Insights". The Qualitative Report. 23 (5): 1160–1175.
• Freeman, Sydney Jr. (2018) "The Hidden Curriculum of Starting an Open-Access Online Journal: An Editor’s Perspective". Journal of Research Initiatives. 3 (3), Article 13.
• Freeman, Jr., S.; Bird, S. (2018). "Teaching Qualitative Research Online". Informing Faculty, 3 (1): 1—47.
• Freeman, Jr., S.; Carr-Chellman, A.; Kitchel, A. (2018). "The Negentropic University: A Commentary". Teachers College Record.
• Freeman, Jr. S.; Louis, D. (2018). "A Critical Examination of the Role of Mentoring in the Development of Black Male Higher Education and Student Affairs Scholars". Journal of African American Males in Education. 9 (1): 19–39.
• Wheeler, E. M.; Freeman, Jr., S. (2018). "'Scholaring While Black': Discourses on Race, Gender, and the Tenure Track. Journal of the Professoriate". 9 (2): 57–86.
• Carr-Chellman, A.A.; Freeman, Jr.; S.; Kitchel, A. (2019). "Leadership for Negentropic online enterprise". Nueva Revista: de Politica, Cultura Y Arte. (Spain) 77 (274): 437–454.
• Freeman, S., Jr.; Krier, K.; Al-Asfour, A.; Thacker, R. (2019). "An examination of the barriers to leadership for faculty of color at U.S. universities". Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology. 16: 361–376.
• Palmer, R.; Freeman, Jr., S. (2019). "Examining Unsuccessful Leadership Practices for Presidents at HBCUs". Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.
• Thacker, R.; Freeman, Jr., S.; Campbell, D. (2019). "Setting a New Global Agenda: Learning from International Approaches to Higher Education Leadership Development".Journal for the Study of Postsecondary and Tertiary Education 4: 299–306.
• Douglas, T.; Freeman, Jr., S.; Denham, A. (February 26, 2019). "The Three Hebrew Boys Revisited: Exploring Border-Crossing Brotha-ship in the Journeys of Three Tenured Black Male Seventh-day Adventist Professors". Religions. 10 (142): 1—18.
• Freeman, Jr., S.; Kochan, F. (4 March 2019). "Exploring Mentoring across Gender, Race, and Generation in Higher Education: An Ethnographic Study. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education". 8 (1): 2—18.
• Freeman, Jr. S.; Forthun, G. (Spring 2019). "The Paucity of Asian-American Distinguished Professors and Endowed Chairs: Toward a More Racially Integrated System of Advancement in the Professoriate". eJournal of Education Policy. 1: 1-12.
• Preston, D.; Freeman, Jr., S. (June 26, 2019). "The Future of Research and Practice about MSIs. Diverse Issues in Higher Education.
• Thacker, R.; Freeman, Jr., S. (June 27, 2019). "Avoiding derailment: symbolic leadership and the university presidency. International Journal of Leadership in Education", pp. 1–21. DOI: 10.1080/13603124.2019.1631388.
• Briscoe, K.; Freeman, Jr., S. (August 11, 2019). "The role of mentorship in the preparation and success of university presidents". Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 1-23. DOI: 10.1080/13611267.2019.1649920.

Academic reports

• Dirks, T.; Erickson, D.; Haruch, A.; Swensen, D.; Tomlinson, G.; Freeman, Jr., S. (2016). "Attracting and Retaining First-Generation Students at the University of Idaho". Moscow, Idaho.
• Esters L. E.; Washington, A.; Gasman, M.; Commodore, F.; O’Neal, B.; Freeman, Jr., S.; Carter, C.; Jimenez, C.D. (2016). "Effective Leadership: A Toolkit for the 21st-Century Historically Black College and University President". Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions.

Edited books\periodicals

• Freeman, Jr., S.; Hagedorn, L.S.; Goodchild, L., eds. (2014). Advancing Higher Education as a Field of Study: In Quest of Doctoral Degree Guidelines. Sterling, Virginia: Stylus Publishing. ISBN 978-1-62036-111-5
• Freeman, Jr., S. (2014). "Special Issue: Diverse organizational issues in higher education". Journal of Education Policy, Planning and Administration.
• Freeman, Jr., S. (2014). [http://www.aaua.org/journals/pdfs/JHEM-Vol29-2014.pdf "Special Issue: Emerging organizational issues in higher education". Journal of Higher Education Management. 29 (1).
• Freeman, Jr., S.; Chambers, C.; King, B. R. (2016). The Role of Institutional Research in Academic Program Development. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Publishing. ISBN 978-1-119-29971-4.
• Felder, P.; Freeman, Jr., S. (Summer 2017). "ia.com/library/p4575/the-western-journal-of-black-studies/i4166418/vol-40-no-2-summer Special Issue: Black Students in Doctoral Education". 40 (2). Western Journal of Black Studies.
• Freeman, Jr.. S. (November 19, 2017). "Special Issue: Shared Governance in Higher Education". Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14288/workplace.v0i29.