Dr. Warrick was named interim president of Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in January 2017 and was elevated to president later that year. She is the first woman to serve as president of the college.
Professor Giovanni has been teaching at Virginia Tech since 1987. She is the author of many collections of poetry, children’s books, and works of nonfiction. She has published 11 illustrated children’s books, received 30 honorary degrees and seven NAACP Image Awards, and has been a finalist for a Grammy and for the National Book Award.
In January 2021, W. Franklin Evans took over as the 37th president of West Liberty University in West Virginia. Dr. Evans was the first African-American president in the university’s then 183-year history. Just 20 months later, the university’s board of trustees voted not to renew his contract.
Dr. Gunter-Smith became the fourth president of York College in 2013 after serving as provost and academic vice president at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Previously, she was the Porter Professor of Physiology at Spelman College in Atlanta.
Shortly after being granted tenure last year, Brian K. Mitchell, an associate professor of history at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, filed an employment discrimination lawsuit in federal court against the university. Now Dr. Mitchell has resigned from his faculty position.
Dr. Frederick, who had been serving as provost, was named interim president of Howard University in 2013 and assumed the permanent position in 2014. He has spent 34 years at Howard as a student, faculty member, administrator, and president.
Dr. Jenkins has served as president of the historically Black college for the past 16 years. He is credited with saving the college from closure from its accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
Rodney Bennett, who has served as president of the University of Southern Mississippi since 2013, announced that he will step down from his post at the end of his contract in 2023. He is the first African American to serve as president of one of the state’s five predominantly White public universities.
Dr. Pierce Burnette was named president in 2015. She is the first woman to hold the position since the 1952 merger of Tillotson College and Samuel Huston College. She will pass the baton of leadership on June 30.
Ray L. Belton president of the Southern University System and chancellor of Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana announced that he intends to retire in the fall of 2022. He has held these posts since 2015. Earlier, he was chancellor of Southern University Shreveport.
The four African Americans who have retired from their positions in the academic world are Forrester Lee at Yale University, Micheline Rice-Maximin at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, William Welburn at Marquette University in Milwaukee, and Lynn Thompson at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach Florida.
Dr. Jackson was chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1995 to 1999. She then left government service to take over as the 18th president of RPI in 1999. She was the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in any discipline from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
When Dr. Hawkins took the helm at Talladega in 2008, the institution was struggling to survive and had under 300 students. The latest enrollments numbers available from the U.S. Department of Education show more than 1,200 students.
Willie Fleming, chief diversity officer at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, is retiring. Cecil Hicks, Jr., of the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and Edward J. Lewis III, of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts are taking positions outside of higher education.
Those who have announced they are stepping down are Melvin K. Smith at Auburn University in Alabama, Cassandra Vaughn and Janice Gibson at Alcorn State University in Mississippi, Renée A. Middleton at Ohio University, and Glenda Jones at Prairie View A&M University in Texas.
Alabama A&M University President Andrew Hugine, Jr., announced his retirement, effective December 31, 2021, and Emerson College in Boston announced that President Lee Pelton would step down in June to lead the Boston Foundation.
Stepping down are Karla Broadus, director of the African American studies program at the University of Texas at San Antonio, David W. Robinson-Morris, an assistant professor of education at Xavier University in New Orleans, and Ishmell Edwards, director of athletics at Rust College in Mississippi.
During President Harvey’s 43-year tenure, he has presided over immense change on campus including the initiation of 92 new academic degrees, erecting 29 new buildings, and increasing the endowment from $29 million to over $300 million.
Ruth Spencer, associate vice president for human resources at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, A.J. Range, assistant vice president of student development and enrollment services at the University of Central Florida, and Adrienne D. Davis, vice provost for faculty affairs and diversity at Washington University, are stepping down.
Ronald A. Crutcher became the tenth president of the University of Richmond in 2015. He also serves as a professor of music at the university. When a successor takes the helm, Dr. Crutcher will take a sabbatical and then return to the faculty as a university professor.
Joanne Bankston, was coordinator of family and consumer sciences, and state specialist for family economics management at Kentucky State University and Valerie Gregory, associate dean of undergraduate admissions at the University of Virginia.
Stepping down from their posts are Dana Canedy, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes at the Columbia University School of Journalism, Donzell Lee, dean of graduate studies at Alcorn State University in Mississippi, and Alfonza Carter director of athletics at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The three retirees are Dowell Taylor, director of bands at Jackson State University in Mississippi. Geraldine M. Jones, president of California University of Pennsylvania, and Alfreda Brown, vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion at Kent State University in Ohio.
Alfreda Brown, vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and Barbara Broome, dean of the College of Nursing, at Kent State University in Ohio are retiring at the end of the academic year.
Evelynn Ellis, vice president of institutional diversity and equity at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and Teshia Levy-Grant, dean of equity and inclusion at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, are stepping down from their positions.
Dr. Rose has been president of Sant Ana College since 2016. Previously, she had been the president of Los Angeles Southwest College.
Olivia G. White, vice president for student life and dean of students at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, and Constance M. Carroll, who has served as chancellor of the San Diego Community College District since 2004, announced they will be retiring in the near future.
Stepping down from their university positions are Endia Beal at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina, Jabbar R. Bennett at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and Theodore H. Curry II at Michigan State University.
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.
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.
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.
Teresa Phillips, director of athletics at Tennessee State University, and E. Royster Harper, vice president for student life at the University of Michigan, are retiring. Harry Elam will step down from his post as vice provost for undergraduate education at Stanford University.
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.
Kofi Agawu, the Hughes-Professor of Music at Princeton University and Robert Stepto, the John M. Schiff Professor of English and Professor of African American Studies at Yale University have retired. Jamie Riley, dean of students at the University of Alabama, has resigned.
Until recently, Maugé was serving as interim president of the historically Black university. Before being named interim president, Maugé had been serving as executive vice president and chief financial officer at the university. Earlier in her career, she was a banking executive.
The three retirees are Hazel Carby at Yale University, Patricia White at Alcorn State University in Mississippi, and Ismail Abdullahi at North Carolina Central University.
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