Dr. Ivory Toldson has been officially named acting executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges.
In an email to stakeholders August 10, Undersecretary of Education Ted Mitchell announced that Toldson would be taking over the leadership of the office following the death of Dr. George Cooper last month.
The undersecretary said that, since Toldson arrived in the office as deputy director in September 2013, “he has brought to bear his deep experience as a professor, researcher, and dedicated champion for strengthening HBCUs.”
Toldson, who was a finalist for the presidency at Southern University earlier this summer, reaffirmed his commitment to the office and the mission of strengthening the institutions at the federal level in recent conversations.
Looking ahead, Toldson said he is focused on continuing in the tradition set by Cooper to visit as many schools as possible and create a “very welcoming, very available” environment in which people could voice their concerns about the HBCU community.
“I think that he was very effective in that, and that’s something that I want to continue,” Toldson said.
Toldson, who also serves as a senior research analyst for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, said he intends to “continue to work with … members of the Congressional Black Caucus and [others] in Congress on the things that they want to do to continue to help HBCUs” and make sure the office continues to do “everything possible to continue to support legislation” that will be beneficial to HBCUs. Also imperative, he said, is continuing to strengthen the collaborative relationship between the office and the other federal agencies to the benefit of HBCUs.
