Walter Broadnax, a long-time educator and the former president of historically Black Clark Atlanta University, died on December 2. He was a resident of the Nottingham Residential Health Care Facility in Jamesville, New York. Dr. Broadnax was 78 years old.
Dr. Broadnax was a native of Star City, Arkansas, but grew up in Hoisington, Kansas. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. He went on to earn a master’s degree from the University of Kansas and a Ph.D. from Syracuse University in New York. At the time of his death, Dr. Broadnax was a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Public Administration and International Affairs in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
Dr. Broadnax taught at several other universities including Howard, Harvard, the University of Virginia, the University of Rochester, and the University of Maryland. He was deputy assistant secretary for what was then the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare during the Carter administration. During the Clinton administration, Dr. Broadnax was deputy secretary in the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
After serving as dean of the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C., in 2002 Dr. Broadnax became president of Clark Atlanta University. He served in that role for six years.
Condolences to the Broadnax family.