Dive Brief:
- John Garland, Sidney Ribeau, and Dorothy Cowser Yancy, all former presidents of historically black colleges and universities, have joined together to launch TM2 Education Search and curate a pool of qualified future leaders for the nation’s black colleges.
- In announcing the firm’s launch, the principals touted their combined 100+ years of leadership experience that will position them to successfully recruit and support college presidents, chancellors, provosts, deans, and board members at HBCUs and predominantly black institutions.
- Beyond the search process, TM2 is committed to offering leadership support and coaching to help create a successful transition at colleges and universities bringing in new leadership.
Dive Insight:
Historically Black Colleges and Universities have suffered through the recession and been hindered by Obama administration policy over Parent Plus Loans that disproportionately affected their student bodies. While some are thriving, many are in dire financial straits. HBCUs were overrepresented on the U.S. Department of Education’s financial watch list, with 8% of them under cash monitoring.
In some ways, the struggle of HBCUs goes back to the integration of other college campuses. Upon his retirement from the Department of Education, however, Leonard L. Haynes III pointed to the portion of first-generation college freshmen at HBCUs — 60% — to illustrate the important role these universities still play. With the number of recent HBCU board-versus-president conflicts, such insight from seasoned veterans could be useful.
