We have just celebrated Black History Month, and I would like to call this annual February celebration African Awareness Month. We are now celebrating Women’s History Month, and in the spirit of this celebration, I would like to acknowledge four history-making female leaders of color in Higher Education.
Dr. Claudine Gay is the President-Elect of Harvard University. Dr. Gay will become the first Black president of the oldest Institution in America. Harvard was established in 1636 and will celebrate its 387th year when Dr. Gay becomes the 30th president and the second female to lead this prestigious Ivy League university. Dr. Gay is the daughter of Haitian immigrants. She received her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and her Ph.D. from Harvard.
Dr. Joyce Brown is the first Black and woman to be appointed president of New York’s Fashion Institution of Technology {FIT}. Dr. Brown was appointed president of the 79-year-old institution in 1998 and has provided leadership for the Institute for close to a quarter of a century.
Before taking over the helm at FIT, Dr. Brown served as vice chancellor for Student and Urban Affairs at CUNY. She was the acting president of Bernard Baruch College and Deputy Mayor for Public and Community Affairs in the Dinkins administration.
Rev. Dr. Lakeesha Warlord is the first Black woman to be appointed president of the New York Theological Seminary {NYTS}. Rev. Dr. Warlord came to NYTS from the First Corinthian Baptist Church, one of Harlem’s historic religious institutions serving that community for over 90 years. Dr. Warlord is a graduate of Spelman College. She received a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary. Dr. Warlord earned a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dr. Nemat Minouche Shafik is the incoming President of Columbia University; she will become the university’s first woman and African-born president. The Egyptian-born economist will take over the leadership responsibility of the 268-year-old Harlem Institution for higher learning on July 1st. Dr. Shafik is a brilliant economist. She was the youngest person to serve as vice president of The World Bank. She also served as the deputy managing director for the International Monetary Fund.
Dr. Shafik graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from The University of Massachusetts-Amherst and earned a Master of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics and a Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford University.
This coming Fall, six of the eight private Ivy League research universities will have female presidents: Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth.
There was a time in American history when women could not vote or attend Ivy League universities. Now, we have a Female Vice President of the United States and six female Ivy League university presidents. Hats off to the current and future women leaders in higher education and the world.

Content retrieved from: https://www.harlemcommunitynews.com/urbanology-women-leaders-in-higher-education-by-w-a-rogers/.