Changes at the top of Florida's historically black colleges

Mike Vogel | 6/4/2012

Bethune-Cookman, Daytona Beach

Trudie Kibbe Reed [Photo: Peter Bauer/Daytona Beach News-Journal]

Trudie Kibbe Reed is leaving after seven years as president at Bethune-Cookman University, the largest of the state’s three private historically black colleges. The first woman president since founder Mary McLeod Bethune, Reed has taken Bethune-Cookman from college to university by introducing graduate programs. A dustup among board members over disclosure of her departure led to university board chair Larry R. Handfield stepping down too. Reed fired four male professors in 2009 for alleged sexual harassment. The four and other employees dismissed for unrelated reasons sued over their getting fired; the institution drew censure from a university professor association for alleged failures in due process and academic freedom for professors.

?

Florida Memorial University, Miami Gardens

Henry Lewis III

Florida Memorial University in February marked President Henry Lewis III’s first year on the job with his formal inauguration. Lewis, the university’s 12th president since its founding in 1879, has a doctorate in pharmacy and was dean of Florida A&M University’s pharmacy college.

Tags: Education