Dr. Michelle R. Howard-Vital, a seasoned administrator who held leadership positions at institutions in four states — Illinois, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Florida — died on Tuesday evening after a long battle with cancer. She was 66.
A native of Chicago, Howard-Vital earned her undergraduate degree in English literature and language and her masters of arts in teaching English from the University of Chicago. Her Ph.D. in public policy analysis was from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
According to her husband Geri, Howard-Vital started teaching at the age of 22. She was an English instructor and director of College Without Walls at Central YMCA Community College. It was in those early years that she reportedly told others that she had fallen in love with teaching and once quipped: “I cannot believe they are paying me so much — $10,000 — to have so much fun.”
A prolific researcher and the author of dozens of articles and book chapters, Howard-Vital held visible academic positions at Harold Washington College, Chicago State University, Edinboro University and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where she earned the rank of full professor.
She also served as associate vice president for academic affairs at the University of North Carolina General Administration and from 2006 until 2007, was the interim chancellor at Winston Salem State University.
In 2007, the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education unanimously selected her to lead Cheyney University — the nation’s oldest historically Black university.
In 2014, Howard-Vital retired from Cheyney and relocated back to North Carolina. But in 2016, she came out of retirement to become the provost at Florida Memorial University, a historically Black college.
