Dr. Carter Savage

Dr. Carter Julian Savage is the Instructional Designer for the Faculty Development Center at Morehouse College. Concurrently, Savage is an Associate at the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at Harvard University. As an Instructional Designer, Savage provides leadership in the development, coordination, and assessment of a comprehensive, instructional design program for Morehouse College faculty. Focusing on the use of Apple technology, he develops skills-based programs as well as individual consultations to assist faculty in utilizing technology to improve delivery and reception of classroom content, strengthen their engagement with students, improve efficiency of course management and increase the production of their research and publications.

As a scholar, Savage’s writing is primarily concerned with the history of African American education as well as the social context of education for African American males. He has edited books and journals as well as published journal articles, book chapters, book reviews and magazine articles documenting the

• History of African American education,
• Impact of African American teachers in segregated schools,
• Agency of African American communities surrounding segregated schools,
• Social context of education for contemporary, African American males,
• Theoretical framework of after school programs, and
• Development and implementation of after school, prevention programs.

In December 2005, Savage co-edited a book with Dr. V. P. Franklin entitled, Cultural Capital and Black Education: African American Communities and the Funding of Black Schooling, 1865 to the Present. Savage’s current research documents the history of after school programs targeting African American males in the first half of the 20th century. The first article from this research, “’In the Interest of Colored Boys:’ C. J. Atkinson, William T. Coleman and the Extension of Boys’ Club Service into the African American Community, 1906-1931” was published in November 2011 edition of History of Education Quarterly. In September 2013, Savage edited a special edition of the Peabody Journal of Education entitled, “Progressive Education, African American Males and After School.” In addition to historical works, Savage has researched and published two book chapters on the development and implementation of national youth development programs.

As an administrator, Savage has led or held senior level positions in non-profit organizations for more than 20 years. After a brief stint with Procter & Gamble, Savage joined the Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee in 1989 as their Education Director. Very soon thereafter, Savage was promoted to director and charged with establishing a new Club in Franklin, Tennessee. Beginning with an abandoned school building, Savage built a thriving Boys & Girls Club serving African American youth in the growing, suburban, Nashville community. Within three years, this Club served approximately more than 300 youth with an annual budget of approximately $250,000. Savage built dynamic partnerships with the local Housing Authority, Police Department and Public Schools resulting in federal and state grants to underwrite GED preparatory services, Literacy & ESL programs, Community Policing and a Family Resource Center. In 1997, Savage was promoted to Associate Executive Director of the Middle Tennessee organization. In his two years in this role, Savage developed strategic partnerships with the Nashville Public Schools to fund public teachers as tutors in local clubs; successfully wrote grants to underwrite approximately $300,000 of a $1.3 building project, developed initiatives to expand services to Latino and Kurdish youth as well as create system-wide data collection processes on members and visitors to local Clubs.

During his time in Middle Tennessee, Savage gained national attention for his development of effective, after school education programs. Thus, in 1999, he was recruited and hired by Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) to become the first Senior Director of Education Programs. In this role, Savage led a small team in a new, national initiative to implement effective, after school education programs in the over 4,000 local Clubs serving more than four million youth in the United States and military bases in Europe and Asia. Over the next two years, Savage managed multi-million dollar budgets and worked directly with Fortune 500 corporations, foundations as well as federal agencies. He led the development of national programs to partner local Clubs and school districts to improve academic outcomes, renovate learning centers in local clubs, and create a national conference on after school education. In 2001, Savage was promoted to Vice President of Program & Youth Development Services for Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

As the Vice President, Savage was responsible for leading the work of approximately 18 staff members, working with corporate and foundation partners and overseeing the conceptualization, development, and implementation of select BGCA national programs and initiatives. In this role, he managed 25 national programs and initiatives within four of the five core program areas (Education, Health & Life Skills, The Arts, and Sports, Fitness & Recreation) as well as two specialized areas (Technology Programs and Program Planning & Evaluation). In this role, Savage wrote successful proposals and made successful fundraising pitches to national foundations as well as Fortune 500 companies such as Cola-Cola, Kraft, Nike, MetLife, New York Life, JCPenney, Gap, Microsoft, Best Buy, Procter & Gamble, Circuit City, American Idol, TNT, Major League Baseball, and the National Football League. Through these initiatives, Savage had fiscal responsibility of projects totaling more than $20 million. In 2008, Savage resigned from BGCA to pursue his interest in historical research and African American education.

Dr. Carter Julian Savage holds a Doctorate degree in Educational Leadership and a Master’s in Public Policy (Program Development and Program Evaluation) from Peabody College of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee; he is also a three-year graduate from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics. Savage has been happily married to Angela Williams Savage for 21 years; and, he is the proud father of three children and a nephew. As a person, Savage seeks to embody these modes of engagement:

Act justly
Love mercy
Walk humbly
Live faithfully
Run with perseverance
Give generously
Be the example