Dr. Fred A. Bonner II
We are witnessing a renaissance at HBCUs that is not merely about expanding degree offerings; it is about reimagining what graduate education can and must be. These institutions, long the incubators of Black excellence and engines of community transformation, are reclaiming graduate education as a tool for justice. And they are doing so on their own terms.
Across the nation, HBCUs are rapidly launching and expanding Master’s, EdD, and PhD programs in higher education administration. These are not your standard graduate programs. They are deliberate, mission-aligned interventions designed to cultivate scholar-practitioners who not only know how to navigate academia—but know how to transform it.
To be clear: This is not about keeping pace with predominantly White institutions. This is about setting the pace. From Delaware State to Prairie View A&M, from the Deep South to the urban Northeast, these programs are infused with cultural reflexivity, community-rooted pedagogy, and a commitment to disrupting the very systems that once excluded us.
Why now? Because the academy is in crisis. The leadership pipeline in higher education has long suffered from a lack of diversity, cultural competency, and justice-minded vision. HBCUs see these maladies not as challenges—but as a calling.
The programs we represent are built to produce leaders who are prepared to confront structural inequities, who understand the unique experiences of marginalized students, and who are trained not only in policy and administration, but also in advocacy, activism, and care. These leaders are scholar-warriors—rooted in their communities and relentless in their pursuit of systemic change. They are diversifying professional pathways and are prepared to lead across a range of Minority-Serving Institutions and campus contexts as a result of their professional preparation at HBCUs.
