The board of trustees of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania has extended the contract of President Brenda Allen for seven years. President Allen will now lead the university until 2030.
Board chair Gerald W. Bruce stated: “I have seen President Allen lead with grace and confidence in the face of a global health crisis, racial uprising, and political dissonance. The Lincoln University board of trustees is elated that President Allen has accepted this contract extension and the duty to lead us into the next era of success as a leading HBCU.”
“This contract extension through 2030 is very significant as there will not have been a president with this length of tenure since President Herman R. Branson (1970-1985) who was the university’s president when I was a student,” Dr. Allen said. “Together, over the next seven years, our Lincoln University community will leave a legacy that will change the university for the betterment of our students for decades to come.”
Dr. Allen was named president of the university in 2017. In July 2020, the board of trustees opted not to renew her contract. President Allen filed a lawsuit and a second lawsuit was filed by the attorney general of Pennsylvania. The suits claimed that decision to oust President Allen violated the state’s Sunshine Act and the university’s own bylaws when they voted in secret on the contract issue. The court ordered the university to reinstate President Allen and she later received a new contract.
Before being named the fourteenth president of Lincoln University in 2017, Dr. Allen was provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. She is the former associate provost for institutional diversity at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Earlier, she taught at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.
A graduate of Lincoln University, Dr. Allen holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Howard University in Washington, D.C.
