BUSINESS PERSONNEL: MITCHELL-BRAXTON NEW DIRECTOR OF UPWARD BOUND

Debra Mitchell-Braxton has been named the director of Project Upward Bound at Southeast Missouri State University.

Mitchell-Braxton will be part of the university's new enrollment management team.

Project Upward Bound is one of Southeast's TRIO programs and is designed to identify low-income 10th, 11th and 12th graders who show interest in pursuing a postsecondary education.

She has been employed at the university 19 years. She has worked as assistant director of the Campus Assistance Center for the past five years. In that capacity, she has served as co-chair of the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. campus celebration.

Over the years, she has also helped in planning the Black History Month, Women's History Month and Disability Awareness Month.

In addition, Mitchell-Braxton has developed the university's supplemental instruction program from the ground floor. The program aids students earning below average or failing grades. These students attend out-of-classroom group learning sessions taught by students who formerly took the classes and earned A's or B's.

She came to the university in 1979 as a freshman adviser in the Academic Advising Center. In 1982, she became assistant dean of students, developing minority student services and disability services and programs, and working with commuter students.