Howard University names Ben Vinson III as the HBCU’s 18th president

Vinson, 52, said that Howard has “serious momentum” and that he expects it will continue rising to the upper echelon of research universities. “There are so many things about Howard right now that really distinguish it as what I would call a fast-moving locomotive train,” he said in a telephone interview.

In recruiting Vinson, Howard’s board of trustees reached into the leadership ranks of a prestigious club that encompasses the Ivy League and other research-intensive schools. Case Western Reserve is one of 65 members of the invitation-only Association of American Universities. Vinson has been its provost since 2018.

Laurence C. Morse, chair of the board, said the appointment of Vinson followed an “exhaustive and thorough” year-long search. He was one of two finalists, Morse said, declining to name the other. Morse called Vinson “a very collaborative and empowering leader, a bridge builder, a culture builder.”

At Case Western Reserve, which has about 12,000 students, Vinson was credited with leading a strategic planning initiative, dubbed “Think Big,” that led to new health sciences partnerships and the reestablishment of a college of lifelong learning. He also oversaw a significant expansion of recruiting Black and Latino students. The share of the freshman class from those and other underrepresented groups rose from 17 percent in 2018 to 25 percent in 2022.

With more than 12,800 students, Howard is about the same size and occupies a campus about two miles northwest of the U.S. Capitol. The university counts Vice President Harris and the late Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall among its alumni and is known within its community as “The Mecca.” It has long been a leading producer of advanced degrees for African Americans.

Howard has capitalized on surging demand in recent years, with enrollment growing more than 40 percent since 2018. It is among a group of historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, that have become magnets for students, faculty and philanthropic donations amid intensifying movements for racial and social justice following the 2020 murder of George Floyd.

That year, Howard landed a $40 million donation from MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos. It was a record gift for the university. In 2021, Howard lured acclaimed journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones to its faculty after the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill botched an effort to recruit her. In January, the Pentagon announced a $90 million contract for Howard to lead an HBCU-based consortium for defense research.

Stacey Abrams to join Howard University in role focused on race, politics

The Howard presidency poses many challenges, including working with Congress to maintain an annual appropriation of more than $250 million a year. For its size, that is a unique funding stream that sets the private university apart from other HBCUs.

University officials say Howard is now on sound footing, with an improved credit rating and secure standing in the higher education market. U.S. News & World Report ranks it 89th among national universities, tied with schools including the University of California at Riverside, the University of Delaware and Brigham Young University.

More than 70 percent of Howard’s 9,800 undergraduates last fall were women, university data show, echoing a gender imbalance found at many other HBCUs. Asked what should be done to draw more men to the university, Vinson said the issue is not unique to Howard. He called for stronger pipelines to college in underserved communities. “These are things that need to be worked on,” he said.

Some large HBCUs are getting larger. The biggest is North Carolina A&T.

Before his time in Cleveland, Vinson was dean of arts and sciences for five years at George Washington University in D.C. Previously, he held leadership positions at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he was founding director of the Center for Africana Studies, and he served on the faculties of Barnard College and Pennsylvania State University.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in history and classical studies from Dartmouth College in 1992 and a doctorate in history from Columbia University in 1998.

As a scholar, Vinson developed expertise in Latin America. One of his recent books explored race and caste systems in colonial Mexico. He is working on another about jazz and the African diaspora.

For Vinson, the move to Washington represents a homecoming. He was born in South Dakota to an Air Force family but grew up in the Washington area. He graduated from Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, Va., in 1988. “I consider D.C. a hometown,” he said.

Jordyn Allen, 22, a senior from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who is executive president of the university student association, served on the presidential search committee. She said a top priority was finding a president who is personable and eager to meet with students.

“I look forward to watching Dr. Vinson stroll the Yard, sit in the cafe and attend athletic/academic events to create an intimate and memorable relationship between students and the university president,” Allen said in a statement.

Dana A. Williams, dean of Howard’s graduate school and a professor of African American literature, who was also on the search committee, praised Vinson in a statement for “his tendency to listen deeply and carefully; his ability to enact and communicate his leadership skills; and his potential to quickly earn the respect and confidence of faculty, staff, students, and alumni, among others.”