Kim Hunter Reed has been selected to serve as Commissioner of Higher Education for the State of Louisiana. When she takes office this summer, she will be the first African American to hold the position.
Dr. Reed currently serves as executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education. She has served in that position for the past 14 months.
Dr. Reed served as under secretary of education for postsecondary diversity and inclusion in the Obama administration. She also served as head of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Earlier, she was chief of staff for the Louisiana Board of Regents and executive vice president of the University of Louisiana System.
Dr. Reed, a native of Houston, Texas, is a two-time graduate of Louisiana State University with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and a master of public administration degree. She earned a doctorate in public policy from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.