Rita Dove Wins the $100,000 Wallace Stevens Award From the Academy of American Poets

Rita Dove, Commonwealth Professor of English at the University of Virginia, served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1993 to 1995 and won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1987. She is the only poet to receive the National Humanities Medal and the National Medal of Arts.

Michael Drake to Step Down as President of Ohio State University in 2020

Michael V. Drake, who has served as president of Ohio State University since June 2014, has announced that he will retire from that position next year. Dr. Drake is the fifteenth president of Ohio State and the first African American to serve in the post.

University of Maryland System Chooses the Next President of Coppin State University

Since July 2016, Dr. Anthony Jenkins has served as president of West Virginia State University, a historically black land-grant research university near Charleston, where today African Americans are only 8 percent of the undergraduate student body.

The New Dean of Students at Historically Black Hampton University

Aleczander M. Whitfield has had a 17-year career in higher education. For the past three years, he has served as assistant dean of judicial affairs and housing at Hampton University.

Professor Mildred Robinson Is Retiring After 47 Years of Teaching in Higher Education

Mildred Robinson is the Henry L. and Grace Doherty Charitable Foundation Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. Professor Robinson, who specializes in tax law, was the law school's first African American female tenured professor.

Rutgers University-Camden Chancellor to Lead the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Phoebe A. Haddon became chancellor of Rutgers University-Camden in July 2014. From 2009 to 2014, she was dean of the Carey School of Law at the University of Maryland. Chancellor Haddon will continue to fulfill all her duties at Rutgers University-Camden while serving as board chair.

Conway Jeffress to Step Down as President of Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan

The timing of his departure has not yet been determined. Dr. Jeffress has led the community college since 2001. He first joined the staff at the college in 1982.

SherRhonda Gibbs to Lead the Monfort College of Business at the University of Northern...

Currently, Dr. Gibbs holds the Alvin Williams Endowed Chair of Minority Entrepreneurship in the School of Management at the University of Southern Mississippi. She also serves as the interim director of the School of Management.

The First African American President of Rutgers University in New Jersey

Jonathan Holloway has served as provost at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois since 2017. Earlier, he was was dean of Yale College and the Edmund S. Morgan Professor of African American Studies, History and American Studies.

Condoleezza Rice Appointed Director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University

Professor Rice joined Stanford University in 1981, where she served as provost from 1993 to 1999. She was national security advisor to President George W. Bush before serving as U.S. Secretary of State from 2005 to 2009.

Shake-Up in the Leadership at Jackson State University in Mississippi

After being arrested on prostitution charges, William Bynum Jr. resigned as president of historically Black Jackson State University in Mississippi. Thomas Hudson, the university's chief diversity officer, was appointed acting president.

Chancellor of Rutgers University-Camden Announces She Is Stepping Down on July 1

Phoebe A. Haddon became the chancellor of Rutgers University-Camden in July 2014. From 2009 to 2014, Haddon was dean of the Carey School of Law at the University of Maryland. Chancellor Haddon will remain at the university as a professor of law.

Denise Murchinson Payton Elected President of the Intercollegiate Music Association

Dr. Payton joined the faculty at Fayetteville State University in 2008. She also has served as minister of music at the Bethel A.M.E. Zion Church for the past 36 years. Dr. Payton has been nominated for a Grammy Award.

Historically Black Central State University in Ohio Selects its Ninth President

Jack Thomas was named the eleventh president of Western Illinois University in 2011. He served in that role until 2019. Dr. Thomas will succeed Cynthia Jackson-Hammond, who will step down as president of Central State University in July.

Erika James to Lead the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania

When she takes office on July 1, Erika James will be the first woman and the first African American to lead the prestigious business school since its founding in 1881. Since 2014, Dr. James has been serving as dean of the Goizueta Business School at Emory University in Atlanta.

Bobbie Knight Is the New President of Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama

She has been serving as interim president since August 2019. President Knight is the former vice president of the Birmingham division of Alabama Power and the former chair of the Birmingham Airport Authority.

Lance Collins Will Be the Inaugural Director of Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus

Since 2010, Dr. Collins has served as the Joseph Silbert Dean of Engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He was a key member of the leadership team that successfully bid to partner with New York City to build Cornell Tech, which opened its Roosevelt Island campus in 2017.

Eddith Dashiell to Lead the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University

Dashiell joined the Ohio University faculty in 1992 and currently serves as an associate professor and associate director of undergraduate programs for the journalism school. Earlier, she taught at Middle Tennessee State University and Indiana University while pursuing her graduate degrees.

Barbara Krauthamer Named Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of Massachusetts

Barbara Krauthamer, professor of history, dean of the graduate school and senior vice provost for interdisciplinary programs and innovation at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has been appointed as dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts.

Corey S. Bradford, Sr. Appointed President of Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis

Most recently, Dr. Bradford has been serving as senior vice president for business affairs at Prairie View A&M University in Texas. Earlier, he served for 16 years within the Southern Illinois University System in various leadership positions.

Benjamin Ola. Akande Will Be the Ninth President of Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont

Dr. Akande currently serves as the assistant vice chancellor for international affairs–Africa, and as associate director of the Global Health Center at Washington University in St. Louis. From 2015 to 2017, he was president of Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.

The New Dean of the School of Continuing and Professional Studies at DePaul University...

Tatum Thomas currently serves as senior associate dean of student affairs at Columbia University's School of Professional Studies. Prior to her current role, she served as the director of academic services at New York University's School of Professional Studies.

Kevin James Named the Nineteenth President of Morris Brown College in Atlanta

Dr. James has been serving in this role on an interim basis since March 2019. The college has not been accredited since 2002 and enrolls only a few dozen students. But it is seeking to regain accreditation through the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools.

Cynthia Jackson-Hammond to Lead the Council for Higher Education Accreditation

Dr. Jackson-Hammond is retiring as president of Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, on June 30. She became the historically Black university’s first woman president on July 1, 2012. Earlier in her career, she was provost and vice president of academic affairs at Coppin State University in Baltimore.

R. Charles Byers is the New Leader of West Virginia State University

Dr. Byers has served as interim provost and vice president for academic affairs at the university since July 2019. He had retired as provost in 2014 after 41 years of service at West Virginia State University.

Michael Wesley Williams Named President of the Interdenominational Theological Center

Matthew Wesley Williams has been named the eleventh president of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia. He has served as interim president since July 2019. He is the youngest person to ever lead the educational institution.

Four African Americans Appointed to University Dean Positions

The new deans are Anthony R. Bowrin at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey, Ophelie Rowe-Allen at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, Ulysses Taylor at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina, and Michele Cruse at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.

Nicole Pride Appointed President of Historically Black West Virginia State University

Dr. Pride had been serving as the vice provost for academic strategy and operations at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Earlier she served as associate vice chancellor for university relations and chief of staff for the chancellor of the university.

The First Black President in the 152-Year History of the University of California System

Dr. Drake, who had served as the first Black president of Ohio State University since June 2014, announced last fall that he would step down as president at the end of the 2019-20 academic year. Before being named president at Ohio State, Dr. Drake was chancellor of the University of California, Irvine.

Lincoln University Board of Trustees Does Not Renew the Contract of President Brenda Allen

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.

African Americans Appointed to Dean Positions at Three Universities

Earnstein Dukes was announced as the new dean of the University Library at Texas Tech University. Oscar Barton was appointed dean of the School of Engineering at Morgan State University and Jacqueline Hill was appointed dean of the School of Education at Florida Memorial University.

General Ronnie D. Hawkins Chosen to Lead Angelo State University in Texas

When General Hawkins takes office on August 14, Hawkins will be the first African American to serve as president of Angelo State University in its 92-year history. A retired three-star Air Force general, he is the former director of the Defense Information Systems Agency at Fort Meade, Maryland.

Howard Spearman Named the First African American President of Rock Valley College

Most recently, Dr. Spearman served as the vice president of student affairs and chief student services officer for Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin. From 2011-2019, Dr. Spearman served in several administrative roles at Rock Valley College.

Brenda Allen Is Back at the Helm of Lincoln University of Pennsylvania

On July 10, the board of trustees of historically Black Lincoln University in Pennsylvania voted not to renew the contract of the university’s president Brenda Allen. President Allen sued and the courts agreed that the vote not to renew her contract was illegal. Now the board has agreed to keep her as president.

A Vote of Confidence for the President of Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, Florida

The board of trustees of Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, Florida, has voted to extend the contract of the college's president A. Zachary Faison Jr. until 2025. Faison became the college's 30th president in 2018 after serving as general counsel at Tuskegee University in Alabama.

Terrell Strayhorn Appointed Provost at Virginia Union University in Richmond

Dr. Strayhorn joined the faculty at Virginia Union earlier this year as a tenured professor in the Evelyn Reid Syphax School of Education and director of the Center for the Study of HBCUs. He has taught at the University of Tennessee, Ohio State University, and Le Moyne-Owen College in Memphis.

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