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Today’s Black History WOW!
Dennis W. Weatherby, Ph.D. was born on December 4, 1959, in Brighton, Alabama, and was an inventor, scientist, university administrator, and proponent of minority college students' success.
While working for Procter & Gamble in the 1980s, Weatherby patented lemon-scented Cascade, a detergent with a new chemical formula that would not stain dishes, unlike the detergents of the previous decade.
Cascade quickly became a household name, known for its superior cleaning power and ability to cut through tough grease and grime. Weatherly's invention revolutionized how people washed their dishes, saving countless hours of scrubbing and soaking.
As the founding director of Auburn University's Minority Engineering Program, he made Auburn one of the top universities for graduating African Americans in the engineering fields.
Dr. Weatherby attended Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1982. From there he moved to the University of Dayton where he completed a master's degree in chemical engineering in 1984. He later earned his PhD in Educational Psychology from Auburn University in Alabama.
Soon after finishing his studies, Weatherby began working for Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a process engineer, and he received U.S. patent No. 4,714,562, issued on December 22, 1987, for his breakthrough "Automatic dishwasher detergent composition." The solution is the basic formula behind today's "lemon-scented" cleaning products containing bleach.
in 1989, he began working for his alma mater, HBCU Central State University, as an academic advisor and recruiter in the water resources center. Under Dr. Weatherby's leadership, the program experienced a more than 400 percent growth in student enrollment with a better than 80 percent retention rate.
In 1996, Weatherby moved on to Auburn University to become director of the school's new minority engineering program. There he served as a role model and advisor for black and other young minority men and women. He also chaired external programs such as an undergraduate science symposium for showcasing students' research from six area colleges and universities. He also developed MEPs (Minority Engineering Programs).
Weatherby left Auburn to become an associate dean of the University of Notre Dame graduate school in 2004. In 2006, he became the Associate Provost for Student Success at Northern Kentucky University, where he served until his death on September 15, 2007. He died of a blot clot at age 47.
Today In Black History
In 1665, New Amsterdam legally became an English colony and was renamed New York after the English Duke of York.
In 1840, the World Anti-Slavery Convention was convened in London, England.
In 1876, the first known monument erected by an African American honors Rev. Richard Allen, one of the founders of Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia.
In 1963, WWII veteran, civil rights activist, and NAACP Field Secretary Medgar Evers was assassinated in his driveway in Jackson, Mississippi, by white supremacist Byron de la Beckwith.
In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Loving v Virginia, unanimously approved and ruled that the Virginia law banning interracial marriage was unconstitutional.
In 1964, attorney and activist Nelson Madiba Mandela was sentenced to life in prison by the South African government. He was imprisoned for 27 years and later was elected president of South Africa.
In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that workers could file a lawsuit claiming discrimination if they felt their company’s Affirmative Action program adversely affected them. Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall dissented.
In 1996, HBCU Fort Valley State University was founded in Fort Valley, Georgia.
In 1972, the National Black MBA Association was incorporated.
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