Dr. Bilal Badruddin, Howard University’s director of alumni relations, was named the inaugural recipient of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference’s (MEAC) Nation Alumni Director of the Year Award. 

The award is presented to an MEAC member institution’s alumni director who demonstrates exceptional leadership, service, and impact in advancing alumni engagement and institutional advancement while amplifying the MEAC Nation brand.

“Being the first [recipient], it’s super exciting for Howard,” said Badruddin, sharing that receiving the award is reflective of the work he and his team are undertaking at the university. “It’s validating for the work that we've done. We’re a small team of five currently, so to do all the alumni engagement work for more than 110,000 living alums, it’s a lot. The recognition that we get is always important and it’s affirming.”

Badruddin was honored with the award during the inaugural MEAC Foundation Sneaker Ball, presented by Coca-Cola, on May 22. MEAC Commissioner Sonja Stills said in a press release that “being named the inaugural recipient of this distinguished honor is a testament to Dr. Badruddin’s commitment and dedication to the Howard University alumni community.

“Beyond his service to Howard, Dr. Badruddin has been instrumental in elevating the MEAC Nation brand, lending his time and talent to our signature events, strengthening our communication and outreach efforts, and offering steadfast support to our member institutions and student-athletes. His leadership, vision, and service have established the standard for this award for years to come.” 

Engaging Howard’s Alumni Community

Badruddin received his Ph.D. from Howard and was a part of the university’s inaugural cohort of the Higher Education Leadership and Policy Studies program. During his time as a Ph.D. student, he worked as the senior special assistant to Howard’s senior vice president for development and alumni relations. In this role, Badruddin worked closely with nearly every aspect of the division. In October 2022, he became the Interim Director of Alumni Relations where worked closely with Howard’s Alumni Association to engage alumni of all ages, domestically and internationally. Since April 2023, Badruddin has led the alumni relations team as director. 

Since assuming the director role, Badruddin has helped to strengthen the university’s alumni engagement by leading several initiatives and programs aimed at mobilizing Bison around the world to support the university and current students, such as pairing students with alumni for mentorship opportunities through the Bison Bridge program.

“When I think about alumni engagement, it’s in four buckets,” Badruddin explained. “It’s the experiential piece, the events that our alumni are attending; it’s how they communicate with the university; the volunteer work that they do with the university, and the philanthropic side. We know that there’s always a Bison in any room. It’s important for us to think about what their legacy is in the room that they are leaving and how are we impacting the spaces around us.”

One of the easiest ways that Badruddin and his team engages the university’s large alumni base is through athletics, which he says is “like the front porch of the university because of how much external trust it gets. It’s our job to make sure people are coming up to the porch.”

A Platform for Alumni Directors

During the 2025-2026 academic year, Howard captured an unprecedented 10 conference championships across six sports. In addition to supporting student-athletes during local games and events, Badruddin led efforts to mobilize local alumni clubs to support students-athletes at away games. He also works to encourage alums to support student-athletes in different ways such as volunteering their time, donating monetary contributions in support of individual teams, and purchasing tickets to games throughout the year. 

Celsey Tafoya, associate commissioner of the MEAC, shared that alumni directors play an instrumental role in amplifying MEAC’s mission and goals. 

“Working with the alumni directors, they’re an extension of us,” said Tafoya. “They’re an extension of our fan base and an extension of the student-athletes that graduate and still have relationships not only with their institutions but the conference itself. By making sure that we have a good, working relationship with the alumni directors ensures that … we’re doing our part to remain engaged with current and former student-athletes, coaches, and administrators.”

Establishing the MEAC Nation Alumni Director of the Year Award, Tafoya said, is MEAC’s ways of thanking their alumni relations partners.  

“It’s our way of providing a platform for the alumni directors,” she added. “One thing that Commissioner Stills has always been big on is making sure that those that are working behind the scenes have a have a moment to shine. Badruddin found a really unique lane and took advantage of the moment to host different alumni events at sporting events, whether that be specifically Howard events or whether that be MEAC events.”

Stills shared that Badruddin was selected as the inaugural recipient because of his commitment to Howard and the MEAC Nation, the conference’s flagship program that brings together the member institutions' alumni, fans, and stakeholders under a single umbrella. 

“Badruddin is awesome and he has led how we do things just with the way he moves and the pride that he has,” Stills told The Dig. “He’s going to go above and beyond when he's challenged. Not only does he uplift the institution that he works for, he also uplifts and challenges the other alumni directors to come and work alongside him because he sees the vision. He’s a big picture guy.”

In addition to Badruddin receiving the Alumni Director of the Year Award, Howard also took home two other awards during the 2026 MEAC Foundation Sneaker Ball ceremony. The university won the Mary McLeod Bethune Women’s All-Sports Award (in recognition of the athletic program with the most wins during the 2025-26 season), and the Graduation Success Rate Award (in recognition of the institution that has the highest graduation success rate for the academic year).

“Howard is one of our founding members of the conference and has been one of the flagship institutions within the conference,” said Stills. “The university has been very instrumental in the leadership of the conference. Howard having an R1 designation … changed how we brand ourselves now as an HBCU conference and an athletic and academic conference. Howard, like our other member institutions, is guiding the direction and the vision for the conference.”

Feature photo by Simone Boyd/Howard University