The Fabric of a Black Woman President
Here at the Fashion
Institute of Technology, officials would like people to understand one thing: FIT is not just about fashion. With course offerings in museum studies, graphic design and even toy manufacturing, officials at the school feel they are truly on the cutting edge. They brought in a Black woman to preside over the institute — one who had already cut her teeth in New York’s City University system. More than a year into her tenure, Dr. Joyce F. Brown is the school’s first African American president — and its first female president.
Before coming to FIT, she held a number of senior administrative posts at City University, including vice chancellor for student affairs and urban programs, and vice chancellor for urban affairs and development. In 1990, she was acting president of Bernard Baruch College, also part of the CUNY system. She also served as deputy mayor for public and community affairs under Mayor David N. Dinkins.
Married to H. Carl McCall, the New York state comptroller and the highest Black elected official in the state, Brown is no stranger to maneuvering the treacherous political climate of New York City.
She recently sat down with BI editor Jamilah Evelyn to talk about the intricacies of being a Black woman president; working in the infamous New York higher education systems; and training students for an industry that has been especially lax in its employment of people of color.
BI: How did you come to FIT? Were you always interested in being a president?
JB: I was at City University of New York for a very long time. And I’m a psychologist by training but have always been in higher ed administration. That’s what I did for all those years at CUNY, so that I tend to have the mailroom story. I mean, I had done every job it seems that there is to do in a university. But the last 10 to 14 years of my time at CUNY, I was in central administration. I was a vice chancellor in a number of different areas and I was an acting president over at Baruch. So it was a logical sort of progression to take on a full-time position as a president. Although at the time that I was contacted for this position, I thought that it would be good to spend some time in the classroom, and I was teaching in the Ph.D. program in clinical psychology at CUNY. So that’s sort of what I prepared myself to do. As I went from one position to another in City University, it really did prepare me to take on such a position.
BI: You’ve had some time to settle in now. Are you enjoying your tenure here?
JB: Yes.
BI: What do you like about FIT?
JB: There’s a number of things to like. I think probably the thing that would draw anyone in a position is the ability to get things done, and we are really getting an awful lot of things done. We’ve been able to establish a vision for the college and work progressively towards achieving the elements and projects that would allow that vision to materialize. So that’s been really exciting and a lot of fun.
I like the fact that the faculty, for the most part, has been here a really long time and they’re very invested in the place. They are very committed to the college and so they care very deeply about the kinds of things that we are doing that will ultimately improve the institution both academically and from a projecting of our vision and mission element to the outside world.
And the students are very special. They really are. Aside from their distinctive look, they are really very focused and they care very deeply about their work and what they do and they really want you to appreciate their work. They’re not really very revolutionary — except in a creative sense. They’re really not trying to change the world except by making beautiful things. In many ways that’s true also of our business students, who are certainly committed to the business end of things. But it’s always in a creative industry so it’s a lot of fun. It’s a fun place.
