Washburn University to Celebrate Black History Month with a Banquet Feb. 19

     Topeka, Kan. – Washburn University invites the public to join the Washburn community as it celebrates the achievements, contributions and history of African Americans in the United States. The Washburn University Black Student Union will host a banquet 6 – 8 p.m. Feb. 19 in the Washburn Room in the Memorial Union, on the Washburn Campus. This event is free for Washburn students, faculty and staff, and is $10 for community members. Everyone who plans to attend needs to register here: https://BHMBanquet2026.eventbrite.com. Registration includes dinner.

     Guests will enjoy the entertainment of the Union High Steppers and a keynote address by Dr. Beryl New.

     “The story of Black History Month is filled with the voices of those yearning to be heard, those citizens who helped build our country but were often discounted because of the color of their skin,” said Isaiah Bryant-Collier, director of student involvement and development, Washburn University. “Voices like Carter G. Woodson who has been coined the ‘father of Black History Month.’ This Harvard educated historian fought to bring us the stories of all Americans, an endeavor we continue today with the events we hold throughout Black History Month and beyond.”

About Dr. Beryl A. New, Ed.D.

     Beryl A. New, Ed.D., received most of her public education in Topeka Public Schools. She and her family moved to the community in 1961 from Lake Elsinore, California. However, the entire family ended up settling in Topeka, where she has lived ever since.

     As a young child, she loved organizing activities that involved teaching others. This desire grew to become her passionate profession later in her life. After high school, she enrolled in secretarial college, but then married and began a family. After she had her first six children, Beryl enrolled in Washburn University where she graduated with high honors, earning her bachelor’s degree in 1988.

      She then began her career doing what she had always felt a calling to do – teaching English at her alma mater, Topeka High School. Later, she earned her master’s in educational administration from Washburn in 2001. Following that, she earned a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Kansas in 2007. Nearly 30 years after beginning her education career, she is still passionate about making sure all her students do well. She instilled in her own eight children a love for learning, and many were early readers – reading before they entered preschool. She served in Topeka Public Schools and in Lawrence schools in areas of increasing responsibility until July 2017 when New moved to the Burnett Administrative Center to serve as the Director of Certified Personnel and the Director of Equity.

     New also serves as a member of the KAAAC and Kansas Advisory Group on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency. She is on the board of directors for Midland Care Hospice, SENT and Keys for Networking Kansas. New also is a member of the NAACP, TABSE (Topeka Alliance of Black School Educators), Topeka Public Schools Equity Council, Topeka Public Schools Minority Leadership Academy, Included, Momentum 2022, American Association of School Personnel Administrators, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, School Superintendents Association and Faith Temple Church.

     In 2022, New was selected to be the Chair of the African Affairs Commission for Kansas. And she was elected to the Kansas Board of Education for District 6 in 2025.

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