Sydney Freeman Jr.

Freeman grew up in Camden, New Jersey, the third generation in his family to reside there, to Christian singers and musicians Sydney and Cassandra Freeman. His grandmother was Mary Lewis, a community service advocate in the Adventist church. He attended Seventh-day Adventist Church schools from preschool to college, including Pine Forge Academy in Pennsylvania, an Adventist high school that is one of four historically black boarding college-preparatory academies, where he was a leader in singing and drama ministries, and Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama. While at Oakwood, Freeman founded the Progressive Black Caucus. Freeman's early influences were gospel singer Tye Tribbett and actress Tasha Smith; he said that they helped him "see excellence in other ways".[1]

After shadowing the president of Oakwood, Delbert Baker, Freeman decided to go into field of higher education, with the goal of becoming a university president.[1] He earned a master's degree in 2008 and a PhD in higher education administration in 2011 from Auburn University.[2][3]

Freeman's areas of research include higher education, the challenges in higher education administration programs, the university presidency, the faculty career cycle, and the leadership of historically black colleges and universities.[4][5]

In 2014, Freeman served as director of the Teaching and Learning Center at Tuskegee University.[3] In 2016, he was named a certified online instructor by the Learning Resource Network.[2] As of 2019, Freeman was a professor and instructor in the Department of Leadership and Counseling at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.[6] Also in 2019, he served on the University of Idaho's presidential selection committee.[7] In April 2019, Freeman was named to a three-year term on Auburn University's College of Educational National Alumni Council. He was the youngest member of the council.[6] As an African American instructor at the University of Idaho, where 13 percent of its faculty are people of color, Freeman recognized that he was "often the first black professor that many of his students have had".[8] Freeman has published numerous journal articles and was the lead editor of Advancing Higher Education as a Field of Study: In Quest of Doctoral Degree Guidelines (2014), which received the Auburn University Graduate School "Book of the Year" award in 2015. He founded and served as editor-in-chief of The Journal for the Study of Postsecondary and Tertiary Education. He served on several academic journal editorial and review boards.[9]

Freeman's theology and Christian beliefs were influenced by Maury Jackson, an Adventist theologian at La Sierra University. He stated that although "the cross unites all Adventist and Christian theology...it begins and ends at the cross".[1] He also stated that one's culture and experience informs theology and beliefs. He called for more African American theologians trained at the doctoral level, as well as the development of a black Adventist theology.[1][10] In 2019, he was researching the life and works of Owen Troy, the first Adventist of color to earn a doctorate in theology.[10]

Freeman is married to Lynda Murphy Freeman, an assistant professor at the University of Idaho medical school program. In 2019, they were working together on a book chapter about their experiences retaining their cultural heritage as black professors in a majority white university and rural community.[1][10]

• American Association of University Administrators’ Robert MacVitte Emerging Leader of the Year (2015)[11]
• Auburn University Graduate School 2015 Auburn Authors Award (2015)
• National Pine Forge Academy Alumni Association Meritorious Award (2018)
• Auburn University's College of Education Outstanding Young Alumni Award (2020)