Gina Spivey-Brown Named President of Oakwood University in Alabama

Gina Spivey-Brown has been appointed the twelfth president of Oakwood University, a historically Black institution in Huntsville, Alabama. She is slated to become the institution’s first woman president on July 1.

According to the most recent federal data, Oakwood University enrolls about 1,300 undergraduate and 40 graduate students. Black students represent 69 percent of the undergraduate population.

With an extensive background as a nurse, academic, and administrator, Dr. Spivey-Brown has developed undergraduate and graduate programs in nursing at institutions across the country. She has also established international programs in schools and hospitals in Ghana, the Philippines, and Tanzania. Currently, she serves as commissioner for the NLN Commission for Nursing Education Accreditation.

For the past 10 years, Dr. Spivey-Brown has served as dean of the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences at historically Black Howard University in Washington, D.C. Before Howard, she spent over a decade as dean of the School of Health Professions, Science, and Wellness at Washington Adventist University. Earlier, she was a professor in the School of Nursing at Loma Linda University in California.

Dr. Spivey-Brown is an alumna of Oakwood University, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in nursing and biology. She holds a master’s degree in health services administration from Central Michigan University and a Ph.D. in nursing administration with a focus on policy and ethics from George Mason University in Virginia.