2007 NETWORKING® MAGAZINE’S DAVID AWARD HONOREE.

DR.ALDUSTUS E. JORDAN III Ed.D.
Associate Dean for Student and Minority Affairs
Stony Brook University School of Medicine

BY MAUREEN TRAXLER

Growing up in South Jamaica, Queens, first child of five born to a pair of determined teens, “Al” Jordan admits there was potential for him “to go down the wrong roads.” His father was a young African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) minister, his mother took in ironing and cared for a
growing brood of children in their extended neighborhood
family, and he experienced an abundance of
learning opportunities through aunts, uncles and
cousins. “What we lacked in material things, we
made up in plenty of love, caring and support,” says
Jordan.

Today, in addition to his duties as Associate Dean
for Student Affairs at Stony Brook University School
of Medicine, Jordan works with at-risk youth and
teaches an online graduate level course on preventing
youth and gang violence. At the outset, he makes two
statements: All children can learn (a philosophy that
keeps him working in education) and all children are
at risk (a function of being young no matter what ethnic
or racial background).

Whether dealing with kids in the worst situations
or those in medical school, Jordan says their teachers
and mentors must “throw enough out there for kids
to grab onto.” He calls this continual flow of information,
instruction and opportunity, “handles of hope.”
Throughout his life and career, Jordan had both
grabbed and extended those handles of hope.
With his basketball reputation — and a strong recommendation from an alum — he says he was “able
to get into Cheyney State College,” in Pennsylvania.
But drawn by the restlessness of the 1960s, he left
school to join the civil rights movement. Despite
two arrests for participation in demonstrations,
Jordan helped set up “Freedom Schools” in
Philadelphia, so young Black children would learn
the history of their race in America.

“ I was always encouraged by my parents not to
be afraid to get involved and engaged in society,”
remarks Jordan, who returned to complete his
undergraduate degree. “At Cheyney, I learned that I
could compete with anybody.” This time, he was
focused, and knew he wanted to work with youngsters
of color and those who were poor. “My parents
taught me responsibility,” he adds, “and being
Black, I had a responsibility to help my community,
help youngsters move along, and support their
efforts.”

After graduation, Jordan intended to teach in
Philadelphia public schools, but with help from his
dad, he took a job as Assistant Director of the
Dowling College Upward Bound program, working
with academically and economically disadvantaged
Long Island high school students, and along the
way, provide services to parents and families.
Thanks to an opportunity from Dowling’s president,
in 1970, Jordan wrote the successful grant that
brought Dowling the Higher Education Opportunity
Program which assists college students with the support
services they need to succeed.

“ I learned everything from administration to the
mechanisms of the local school system and higher
education,” Jordan comments. “The environment at
Dowling was small, yet forgiving; if I made mistakes,
they weren’t fatal.”

One day, a coworker advised: You cannot talk to
kids about advancing their education unless you’re
advancing yours. And so, while continuing on the job,
he entered a master’s program at then Dowling’s parent
school, Adelphi University. “It wasn’t until I was
involved in a master’s program that I realized my own
intellectual potential,” remarks Jordan. “I gained the
sense that I could really be good at education.”
After success at Adelphi, Jordan says, “My lens on
the future became clearer,” and he accepted a scholarship
to The University of Massachusetts-Amherst to
seek a Doctorate. He set his sights on reaching the policy
level in education, where he might see his ideas
implemented. Following graduation, Jordan and his
wife Barbara returned to New York to seek a more
diverse environment in which to raise their newborn
son Aldustus IV, and Jordan became Director of the
City University system’s Discovery and Development
Program, working with City high school students
reading two years below grade level to prepare them
for two-year and four-year college experiences.
Jordan was recruited by Stony Brook in 1976, joined
its “young” medical school and now celebrates 30
years of service. Knowing that he could bring other
aspects to educating future physicians, Jordan says,
“ My office is the part of their education they’re not
going to get in the lab…it’s an education on life.”
Jordan believes in engaging medical students in bringing
the resources of the institution into communities
that have been traditionally bypassed, and he oversees
a “shadowing” program where high school students
don “white coats” and “follow” a faculty mentor for a
day.

Honoring a commitment to his grandfathers, who
while both illiterate emphasized education, Jordan has
established an Adult Literacy Center at Stony Brook
through Literacy Suffolk where he serves as president
of the Board of Directors. He says, “Literacy literally
opens up the world.”

Jordan has received faculty appointments as
Clinical Associate Professor, School of Social Welfare,
and Visiting Professor, Department of Africana
Studies. Among other University service, he is
President of the Black Faculty and Staff Association
and founding member of the Black Male Leadership
Commission; founder and advisor of the School of
Medicine Minority High School Student Program and
faculty advisor of the student-run Health Clinic.
In addition to grant writing, presentations and lectures,
Jordan received numerous awards, including,
Suffolk Community Council’s Long Island Man of the
Year, Urban League’s Community Service Award,
Student National Medical Association Faculty Mentor
Award, WCBS-TV’s Fulfilling the Dream Award, Stony
Brook University’s Hispanic Heritage Month Award
and Literacy Volunteers of America, Light of Literacy.
He serves on the Board of the Long Island Community
Foundation, and he is a founding member and chair of
the Board of Directors of ERASE Racism.

Indebted to his parents and extended family, Jordan
says, “They taught me that to whom much is given,
much is expected.” Together with his wife, Barbara,
assistant director of community relations for the
Middle Country Public Library, the Coram residents
continue family traditions in raising their two sons:
Aldustus (A.J.), manager of Government Relations,
Penn Mercy in PA, and David, a junior at Stony Brook
University majoring in computer science.

NETWORKING® January 2007