John Silvanus Wilson Jr. Named White House Liaison to HBCUs

John Silvanus Wilson Jr. was named executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Dr. Wilson and the board of advisers will act as a liaison between the administration and the black colleges.

Since 2006 Dr. Wilson has served as associate professor of higher education at George Washington University. Previously he spent 16 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as assistant provost and director of foundation relations. For 10 years Wilson was on the faculty of the department of African and African-American studies at Harvard University and Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. He also has served on the board of trustees of Spelman College.

Dr. Wilson is a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta. He holds two master’s degrees and an educational doctorate from Harvard University.