In honor of Black History Month, UConn students gathered this past week at the University’s African-American Cultural Center for a panel discussion featuring six panelists from two student groups, Collective Uplift and Brothers Reaching Our Society (B.R.O.S.). Panelists discussed issues facing today’s African-Americans, including how Black males are and can continue to “take control over their own image.”

These words, spoken by Joseph Cooper, assistant professor in the Neag School of Education and the founder of Collective Uplift, served as the driving force behind a discussion that touched on self-image, stereotypes, resiliency, and more.

This past fall, Neag Assistant Professor Joseph Cooper began reaching out to black male student-athletes at UConn, gathering them for a new grassroots effort called Collective Uplift, which seeks to empower, educate, and inspire ethnic minorities at UConn to maximize their full potential as holistic individuals, not exclusively in the realm of athletics, but also beyond.