A new research initiative created to support HBCUs and research fragile communities that lack access to education and economic opportunities has named Gerard Robinson, an education scholar and former school official, as its new executive director.
The Center for Advancing Opportunity, or CAO—a partnership between the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the conservative Charles Koch Foundation and Koch Industries—has tapped Robinson, a former state secretary of education who is currently a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and an expert on educational policy and school choice, to execute the organization’s three-part mission.
“One of the great things about CAO is that we moved the conversation about HBCUs and problem solving from the object of the conversation to the subject of the conversation,” said Robinson in an exclusive interview with Diverse. “When we’re looking at education reform, criminal justice and entrepreneurship, HBCUs aren’t an afterthought.”
A graduate of Howard and Harvard Universities, Robinson has authored several articles and education policy briefs. As Virginia’s secretary of education from 2010 to 2011, he helped craft legislation called “Preparing for the Top Jobs of the 21st Century,” which included a plan to issue 100,000 more college degrees over 15 years, with an emphasis on STEM and other high-demand fields.
From 2011 to 2012, Robinson served as the education commissioner of Florida under Governor Rick Scott. He was also the president of Black Alliance for Educational Options, a school choice advocacy organization for Black students.
Robinson has also contributed opinion pieces for news outlets on topics ranging from this summer’s White supremacist rally in Charlottesville and the academic scandals at the University of North Carolina.
Under Robinson’s leadership, CAO will continue its project of funding research centers at HBCUs in hopes of expanding the work of faculty and researchers who are already studying the issues of education, criminal justice and entrepreneurship, he said, adding that these three areas emerged as significant concerns in surveys conducted by Gallup of 6,000 people in 49 states.
