Stewarding Howard’s Future

Howard University Interim President and President Emeritus Wayne A. I. Frederick (B.S. ’92, M.D. ’94, MBA ’11) began the proceedings by thanking the retirees for their years of service to the institution before discussing the University’s newest initiatives, including the optimization of its business processes.

Frederick then spoke from the perspective of a triple alumnus when discussing the University’s newly launched search for its next president, expressing his hope that it will result in Howard appointing a woman as its permanent president for the first time.

“The Board of Trustees makes the decision; they have their criteria, and they will pick the best person for the job,” Frederick said. “But I have to be honest with you: when that person is appointed, I sure hope it is a woman. It is time.”

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Frederick asked the University community to engage in the presidential search and warmly welcome the eventual appointee. He described the role as essential not only to American academia but also to education across the globe.

“This is the most consequential academic job in America: being the president of this University,” Frederick said. “The person who takes the helm of this University represents the entire African diaspora.”

While Frederick acknowledged the largest decisions tend to fall to the president, he was nonetheless adamant that ensuring Howard’s future success is a campus-wide endeavor.

“The responsibility to steward this University is one all of us must accept,” he said.

Similarly, University Board of Trustees chair Leslie D. Hale (BBA ’94) spoke directly to students on the “promise of Howard,” exhorting those new to Howard to embrace the totality of the University experience.

“Long before you arrived on this campus, generations of Bison believed in the promise of this institution,” Hale said. “They struggled here, discovered their purpose here, and created opportunities that you now inherit.”

“We are excited about Howard’s future because we know the strength of the foundation beneath us,” she added. “We know the power of the community around us. Most importantly, we know the promise of generations to come.”

The responsibility to steward this University is one all of us must accept.

Remarks from the Retirees

Callender, a pioneering transplant surgeon and professor, reflected on his “seven decades of service in the Howard University system” as he approaches his 90th birthday this fall.

Callender’s speech highlighted his myriad career achievements, most accomplished at Howard: developing the nation’s first minority-directed dialysis and transplant center; performing the first liver transplant in the District of Columbia; establishing a transplant center that operated from 1973 through 2010; and, in 1991, creating the National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP).

“These extraordinary accomplishments by a person of color could happen at only one place: Howard University,” Callender concluded.

Dark, one of the first Black students to integrate Rutgers University School of Law in the 1970s, emphasized community, authenticity, and testimony. For Dark, Howard provided the freedom to be her truest and best self, an opportunity she urged students, faculty, and staff never to take for granted.

“I could bring my whole self; I could shed the burdensome jacket of self-protections from isms on the floor, and be more open, more innovative, and experimental,” Dark said. “What a gift from Howard to be more of you in the learning process. That, I say to the students, is a gift not just for the faculty and staff — it’s yours, as well.”

These extraordinary accomplishments by a person of color could happen at only one place: Howard University.

English, the University’s 2023 LaRue V. Barkwell Capstone Distinguished Service Award recipient, reflected on the countless Bison she has mentored and encouraged across her three-plus decades at Howard. “I am deeply invested in the promise of Howard students,” she said, “and in the cultivation of Black excellence.”

English argued that though this generation of students is regularly tempted to seek external inspiration, much of what they are trying to find already exists here on Howard’s campus.

“Become familiar with the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center,” English implored. “Explore the stories of alumni who transformed communities, advanced science, created art, fought injustice, and made this world a better place. Believe in the power of history to inform your future.”

Rivers, who Frederick credited with coordinating campus events for three U.S. presidents, offered his perspective on the University’s purpose and practices.

“You will come to embrace Howard’s presence, purpose, traditions, and culture through these kinds of ceremonies,” Rivers said. “I want you to remember there are ‘three Cs’ that we always want to see you at: Opening Convocation, Charter Day Convocation, and then, of course, we’ll see you at Commencement Convocation.”

Rivers also discussed the “Long Walk,” a “two-part processional … symboliz[ing] the demanding journey of dedication, maturity, and tenacity which begins as a talented but untested first-year at Howard and ends as a degreed Howard graduate.”

“The end to your ‘Long Walk’ will be graduation,” Rivers said. “You will have completed the ultimate journey. It is then that we will see you adorned in regalia, walking the red carpet, and receiving those fruits of labor: your Howard degree.”