Black Academics | Excelling While Black

Academics

Honoring the educators and scholars who illuminated minds

President Emerita at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

First woman and first African American president of Cal Poly Pomona, appointed in 2015
Led Cal Poly Pomona for a decade, retiring in July 2025 after emphasizing student success and social mobility

Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University

Named Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard in 2020, the university's highest faculty honor
Won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in History for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, the first Black American historian to win the prize

Director and Professor at Boston University Center for Antiracist Research

Youngest winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction for 'Stamped from the Beginning'
MacArthur 'Genius' Fellowship recipient

Merton P. Stoltz Professor Emeritus of the Social Sciences and Professor Emeritus of Economics at Brown University

First Black professor of economics to receive tenure at Harvard University, at age 33
Fellow of the Econometric Society (1994)

President and Glenn L. Martin Professor of Aerospace Engineering at University of Maryland, College Park

First Black president of the University of Maryland, College Park, appointed after 164 years of the institution's history
Elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2019 for leadership and contributions to engineering education

President Emerita, Brown University; Former President, Prairie View A&M University at Brown University

First Black president of an Ivy League institution, appointed 18th president of Brown University in 2001
First African American president of a Seven Sisters college, at Smith College in 1995

President at Morgan State University