Clark Atlanta University’s HBCU Executive Leadership Institute Prepares the Next Generation of HBCU Leaders

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have been the backbone for many African Americans to create opportunity and legacy. My grandmother Ella Olivia Taylor Buggs was the first person to graduate from college in my family. She graduated from Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina in 1912. I proudly have her picture and her degree posted in my office as a reminder that this accomplishment was no small feat for a family rooted in Abbeville, South Carolina.

Allen University students with university leader William David Chapelle sitting in the middle. My grandmother, Ella Olivia Taylor Buggs, is the 6th person from the left wearing an Allen flag.

In this picture is William David Chapelle, who served the university as president and a chair of the board of trustees. He, along with other brave men and women, had the courage and fortitude to ensure that African Americans would have the opportunity to become educated leaders impacting society at local, national, and global levels.

This legacy of leadership lives on through the HBCU Executive Leadership Institute (ELI) at Clark Atlanta University. The program, now in its fifth year, is led by Dr. Phyllis A. Dawkins, former president of Bennett College, and Dr. Cheryl Davenport Dozier, president emerita of Savannah State University.

A selective cohort of leaders come from both academic and non-academic careers to persevere through a rigorous yearlong program, which dives deep into core leadership and executive competencies customized for the unique challenges facing HBCUs now and in the future.

With the average tenure of HBCU presidents at just over three years, setting up the leadership bench is critical. Furthermore, while higher education is filled with continuous landmines, making the road difficult for all institutions, the stakes are higher for HBCUs, whose mission is to educate the communities that need and deserve access to higher education.

Andriel M. Dees, JD, vice president of Executive Search, Greenwood Asher & Associates

The ELI cohort receives mentorship from current and past presidents as well as executives that are leaders in their fields. More importantly, they come away with a family of peers and colleagues that are rooting them on to fulfill their dreams, as well as those of their ancestors. Having the privilege to meet this year’s cohort as a panelist for executive search firms was a warm and inviting experience. Collectively, my fellow colleagues in executive search the profession emphasized the importance of networking and staying connected to us as well as each other.

The result of this program speaks for itself. In its first five years, six fellows have entered executive ranks as college presidents, and more than half have been promoted to new roles.

Creating leaders in higher education is essential but taking the mantle to lead HBCUs into the next generation is crucial. On behalf of my grandmother, my grandfather (Allen University class of 1921), and my family’s four generations of college graduates, thank you to HBCU ELI for developing our future HBCU leaders.