Argosy University

Congratulations to Dr. Santresa L. Glass: Social Media and Business Expert
Santresa L. Glass

(Photo Credit: Santresa L. Glass)

Today, Dr. Santresa L. Glass passed her doctoral dissertation defense and has been conferred a doctor of education in Organizational Leadership degree at Argosy University. The title of her dissertation is “Investigating the Effectiveness of Social Media: The Impact on Brand Identification and Organizational Performance in Small to Medium Business.” Less than 10 other dissertations have been written about social media; therefore, her dissertation positions her as one of the early leading experts in this area of research. Businesses of all sizes will benefit from the research she has conducted, especially small and medium-sized businesses.

Dr. Glass highlights the importance of having a sound strategic strategy for using social media platforms as vehicles for marketing, and she emphasizes how essential it is for businesses to empirically evaluate their social media marketing. She plans to have her dissertation published in book form soon, and Revolutionary Paideia will be the first media source to announce its publication and how you can obtain a copy.

Glass obtained her undergraduate degree in English at Albany State University in Albany, Georgia and a master’s degree in Management at Troy University in Troy, Alabama. She has over 10 years of executive business experience and over 10 years of experience as an educator.

Although Dr. Glass had to endure many challenges in her pursuit of the doctoral degree in Organizational Leadership, she found the perseverance and courage necessary to make it to the end of this rewarding journey. What lies ahead for her is endless possibilities.

Santresa, this is a day you will never forget. Never allow any overt and subtle negative messages from anyone to distract you from the significance of your accomplishments and from the bright future ahead of you. This is your day—make the most of it! Take time to celebrate Jesus and your accomplishments He made possible.

I would like for everyone to join me in congratulating Dr. Glass on her truly great accomplishments.

Today, you join a small percentage of people across the United States and world who have earned a doctoral degree.

You did it, San! Congrats!

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Online Education, Students of Color, and Access to Higher Education


Many people of color simply have circumstances that do not allow them to attend traditional brick and mortar higher education institutions. Fortunately, higher education has a strong online presence. Most traditional colleges and universities now offer some type of training and/or undergraduate and graduate degrees online. For example, at the University of Arkansas (www.uark.edu), one can select from a range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs (even doctoral degree programs). For students looking to attend a historically Black college or university, Albany State University (www.asurams.edu) offers undergraduate and graduate degrees online. Another traditional brick and mortar university that offers undergraduate and graduate degrees online is Troy University (www.troy.edu). For people of color looking to pursue higher education and need to benefit from the flexibility of not having to attend a college or university in person, I highly recommend you consider attending a college or university online. You may be thinking that you could attend college if only you could have the flexibility of not having to attend classes physically. This may be the thought of some people who think that their current jobs would interfere with them attending college.

In a post-affirmative action society, many students of color should really consider online education as a means of receiving training in higher education. You may not have the funds to live on campus, so it may benefit you to attend the college or university you plan to attend online. If you want to participate in student activities on campus, you can always drive to the physical campus—if the institution is near you.

One of the strongest reasons why I think online education can be one of the best ways to improve access to higher education is it reduces costs that accompany physically attending a college or university. For example, if you are attending college online, then you don’t have to worry about parking costs, increased fuel costs, having transportation to and from school, room and board expenses, and etc. For many people of color, these significant savings can make the difference in their ability to attend college.

Some acts of racism can be avoided by attending classes online. If you attend a predominantly White institution online, then you could avoid campus issues that involve race in undesirable ways.

For those interested in attending completely online universities that do not have challenging admission standards, then you might want to consider Walden University (www.waldenu.edu) and Argosy University (www.argosy.edu). Those two online universities are accredited by the same accreditors who accredit an elite university like the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Walden University and Argosy University are two quality online universities that some students of color who have not performed well coming out of high school or even undergrad should consider.

I am not trying to promote online education as the panacea to problems that students of color have with gaining increased access to higher education. Online education, however, is something we should consider when thinking about how to improve access to higher education for students of color.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison