Austin Lewter
Jeffeson Jimplecute
As the nation pauses to celebrate Black History Month, the Jimplecute is behooved to tell the story of African Americans with Marion County ties who are busy creating some history of their own.
A hometown success story returned to Jefferson last month to serve as the keynote speaker at the annual MLK Day banquet sponsored by MCDCSCO.
“Being asked to do that was the crown jewel of my public life,” Dr. Fred Bonner, II said. “Jefferson is home and to be thought so highly of in your hometown is truly humbling.”
Bonner is the Executive Director of the Minority Achievement, Creativity and High Ability Center at Prairie View A&M University where he has served as a Professor since 2014 and previously served as the Coordinator of the Ph.D. Program in Educational Leadership and Counseling.
He said his path to a full professorship, an Endowed Chair, and a directorship of an Academic Center with a $5 million budget would not have been possible without the grounding he received during his formative years in Marion County.
Bonner is a 1987 graduate of Jefferson High School. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of North Texas with a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry four years later.
“My original plan was to become a dentist,” Bonner said. “But, soon before graduation, I realized I just didn’t want to do that.”
He shifted gears after being offered a full scholarship to Auburn’s graduate program in chemical engineering.
“After two-quarters there, I realized I absolutely hated it,” Bonner said. “I loved Auburn and Alabama was beautiful, but I hated Chemical Engineering.”
So, Bonner came home to Jefferson.
“I had two extremely supportive parents,” he said. “They loved me and assured me I was not a failure for leaving school. They said, ‘you are a success story. You are a Magna Cum Laude graduate.’ And they allowed me time to find myself and my calling.”
He found that calling as a substitute teacher at Jefferson High School.
“I spent a year subbing at the high school and working part time at the Fairfield Inn in Longview,” Bonner said. “I took some time and soon discovered a passion for education.”
He enrolled in the graduate school of education at Baylor where he began his career in academia as the Graduate Coordinator for the Community Mentoring for Adolescent Development Program.
“It was there that I learned how colleges work,” Bonner said. “The students, the departments, the organizations… I was drawn to it all.”
Then it was on to the University of Arkansas, on another full ride, where he earned a Doctorate in Education.
“Both my parents were educators,” Bonner said. “It was a natural fit.”
His father, Fred Bonner, Sr., was the head football coach at Central High in Jefferson prior to racial integration. He later became assistant principal at Jefferson High School.
Mr. Bonner passed away in 1993.
His mother, Dorothy Bonner, was also a teacher and coach at Jefferson ISD. She now resides in Texarkana.
“My parents set the foundation for my success,” Dr. Bonner said. “There is no doubt about that.”
Prior to his tenure at Prairie View, Dr. Bonner was the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Chair in Education and Professor at Rutgers University from 2012–2014.
“It was a tough decision,” he said. “Leaving an elite, almost Ivy league, institution to come back to Texas… but I realized my research would be bolstered by being conducted through a lens that Rutgers couldn’t offer… the lens of the HBCU.”
Dr. Bonner studies race in academia.
His specific interests include Academically Gifted Black Males, Black Faculty in the Academy, Diverse Faculty, Minorites in STEM and College Student Development— particularly the development of black and brown students.
“My research is so much more vibrant through the lens of the HBCU,” Dr. Bonner said.
His lens for diversity was first fostered as an elementary student in Jefferson.
“It amazes me,” Dr. Bonner said. “When asked if you ever had a black teacher, how many people can honestly say they never have… I recall having at least one black teacher every year at Jefferson— from about second grade on. We had some brilliant black teachers and we all benefitted from that diversity. It was wonderful.”
Prior to Rutgers, Dr. Bonner served as professor at Texas A&M University from 2005—2011 where he was also Associate Dean of Faculties.
He has held other faculty positions at the University of Texas-San Antonio, Owens Community College, Bowling Green State University, and Centenary College.
“You ever know where the road will take you,” Dr. Bonner said. “The key is just staying the course and having an open mind along the journey.”
But, for this giant of Texas higher education, it is clear— his road started in Marion County and Jefferson was instrumental in shaping his success.