Creating Opportunities for Black Students
When D’Wayne Edwards started making shoes 32 years ago, he was one of the very few black designers. Over the years, he made time to find more.
During his career, he has worked for a variety of well-known footwear companies, including Skechers and Nike. At the same time, kids began emailing him their designs, looking for feedback and guidance, and some became his apprentices. Edwards eventually retired, and founded Pinsol Academy, a shoe design school based in Portland, Oregon, bitten by the “teaching bug,” with the goal of directing more talented black students into the field of design.
“I conducted a study of 96 colleges and universities of design in the United States, and on average, enrollments of African Americans were less than 9 percent,” he said. “Half of those nine percent drop out.”
Edwards is now looking to reopen the Lewis College of Business, which was the only historically black college in Michigan, like the Pensol Lewis College of Business and Design. The plans call for the Detroit institution to be tuition-free. The project has passed its first hurdle, state approval, but there is still work to be done before it can begin enrolling students.
A hole in the industry
For an aspiring shoe designer, the two most important college majors are product design and industrial design, according to Edwards. But not many HBCUs offer these majors, which he says contribute to the underrepresentation of blacks in the shoe industry.
Companies such as Nike, The North Face, and New Balance have sought the Pensole Academy as a potential source of black talent. More and more corporate donors began donating big dollars to black initiatives and to educate black youth after the murder of George Floyd.
“Some of these companies were asking me to work specifically with HBCU students because they knew these schools didn’t necessarily have product design or industrial design,” Edwards said.
After hearing from an alumnus of Pensole Academy about Lewis College of Business, which closed in 2013 after losing its accreditation, Edwards investigated the possibility of reopening the college under a new name.
“That was when the seed appeared in my head,” he said.
first steps
In January, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed two bills to support reopening the college. One declares that the state is home to the HBCU. Although Lewis’ original campus, at John R and Ferry Streets in Detroit, has been designated a Historic Landmark, it is not recognized as an HBCU by the state. The other law sets out the steps any college wishing to reopen in Michigan must follow. Edwards helped draft both bills.
Edwards said in an email to record.
One of the reasons Lewis Business School lost its accreditation was that its curricula were outdated. Edwards attributes this to a lack of government funding.
Whitmer said in a statement to Detroit news. “I am committed to expanding educational opportunities for Michiganders throughout our state to put Michigan first.”
I look ahead
Now that Pensole Lewis has received state approval, Edwards is working on the curriculum.
The college has partnered with the College of Creative Studies, in Detroit, while that institution is applying for accreditation. Once opened, Pensole Lewis will be housed in the School of Creative Studies’ A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education until his permanent home in Detroit is selected and developed.
Edwards does not require state or federal funding to keep the college free of tuition fees.
He says it will be funded entirely by donors. The Gilbert Family Foundation and Target Retail Corporation signed on as founding supporters. Edwards says they have also arranged free housing for students at the St. Regis. He has held talks with the Society of American Industrial Designers about the possibility of Pensole Lewis being the first HBCU to join the organization.
The college plans to open in March.