Approved this summer by Claflin’s board of trustees, Miller says the institute is part of university president Henry N. Tisdale’s long-term vision.

Claflin officials say they plan to draw between seven and 11 scholars to the think tank within five years. All will hold dual appointments in the institute and in an academic department, such as economics, public health and science. Johnson, who received his doctorate in English in 2003 from the University of South Carolina, joined Claflin in January. Adam Biggs, a doctoral candidate in the history of American civilization at Harvard University, is another recent hire. Although they will have dual appointments, Wright Institute fellows are expected to have reduced teaching loads, to allow them time to research and publish in their area of study.

Johnson says the institute can also serve as a useful tool to recruit faculty to the 1,900-student campus. “We have a strong suspicion that once people see this institute, they will want to come,� he says.

The effort to attract faculty, however, does not end with building a quality institute, Johnson says. Claflin must also disabuse prospective fellows of the higher incomes and potential academic celebrity that could await them at a major university.

At the core of the university’s recruitment effort is the message that good scholarship can exist at a mid-sized, historically Black campus. And if Claflin builds a quality institute staffed with talented junior scholars, he says, the money will come.