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“The American Presidency and HBCUs: A Preeminent History”
2024 Inaugural HBCU Studies 
Emblem Award Recipients 
Curtis Lee Ross is the Founding Director of 
KHBCU of Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. 
From its inception, KHBCU dedicated itself 
to enriching the repository of HBCU literature 
through the establishment of a HBCU exclusive 
publishing division of Kendall Hunt. Ross 
expanded opportunity by leading the field to 
provide Black College faculty with an ability 
to publish their cutting-edge scholarship. His 
commitment to safeguarding the study of 
Historically Black Colleges and Universities was 
once considered rare. 
Yet for over 24 years, Curtis has worked with 
HBCUs to create low-cost, academic publications 
based upon the needs of their faculty, staff, and 
students; thereby, demonstrating the unique 
analytical capacity of Black Colleges. A native of 
inner-city Richmond, Virginia, Curtis has a passion 
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for helping those underrepresented 
in higher education develop and excel 
academically through access to diverse 
books and scholarly concepts. 
A 1992 graduate of the University 
of Virginia, Curtis strives to drive 
educational output by offering his 
expertise, time, and more importantly, 
canon of literary thought to those 
historically denied a pathway to literacy.  
He is supported by his wife of 20 
years, Ann, and daughter Lexi, who is a 
Freshman at Bucknell University.

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