"Your future is bright. Do not let the moment convince you otherwise.”
I remember exactly where I was when I learned that Dr. Marvalene Hughes had passed. I was not scrolling social media or reading headlines. I received a phone call. It was from my mentor, Dr. Melvin C. Terrell, Vice President Emeritus of Student Affairs and Professor of Counselor Education at Northeastern Illinois University, and former president of the National Association of Student Affairs Professionals. When Melvin calls, you answer. And when he speaks with that steady, measured tone, you listen.
Dr. Adriel A. Hilton
I first met Dr. Hughes in 2009. I had just earned my doctorate and flew to New Orleans to interview for a role at Dillard University. I did not receive the position. But I left with something far more enduring. After the interview, she offered words that have stayed with me for more than a decade. I do not recall them as formal quotations, but I remember their meaning with clarity. She affirmed that my future was bright. She said it plainly, without embellishment or condition. Coming from her, it mattered.
From that moment forward, Dr. Hughes became one of those mentors whose presence followed me even when we were not in constant conversation. At national conferences, professional convenings, and chance encounters in hotel ballrooms and quiet corridors, she always made time. She asked substantive questions. She listened with intention. She corrected when necessary and affirmed when earned.
And she did it with unmistakable presence.
Dr. Hughes was always impeccably dressed. I often picture her in St. John Knits, tailored, elegant, and regal. It was never about fashion for fashion’s sake. It was about dignity and command. She understood how you show up matters, especially when you carry the weight of history, responsibility, and representation. She taught by example that leadership is not simply what you say or do, but how you inhabit space. How you carry yourself. How you honor the rooms you enter and the people watching, particularly those who need to see excellence reflected in them.
Her career was defined by historic leadership. She was the first African American and the first woman to serve as president of California State University, Stanislaus, a role she held from 1994 to 2005. Later, she led Dillard University through the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, guiding the institution through crisis, recovery, and renewal. That kind of leadership cannot be learned from theory alone. It requires courage, steadiness, and an unyielding commitment to mission when circumstances are unrelenting.
Dr. Hughes also shaped the profession nationally. She served as President of the American College Personnel Association, one of the most influential organizations in student affairs. Through that role, she helped frame national conversations around student learning, equity, and professional responsibility. In 2006, she received ACPA’s Contribution to Higher Education Award, one of the field’s highest honors, recognizing leaders whose work fundamentally transformed practice and expanded opportunity across higher education. Last spring, I was humbled to receive that same award. To now sit in that lineage is both an honor and a responsibility I do not take lightly.
What Dr. Hughes modeled for me was the long view. She did not chase trends or validation. She invested in people. She understood institutions deeply, particularly those serving Black students and historically marginalized communities. She knew when to speak, when to listen, and when to stand firm without explanation.
As I reflect on my own professional journey, including moments of transition, uncertainty, and movement shaped by forces often beyond one’s control, I recognize how essential her mentorship has been. Leadership paths are rarely linear, especially for those working in public institutions, Minority Serving Institutions, and systems shaped by political change. Dr. Hughes understood that reality well. She never questioned my commitment or capacity. Through her counsel and presence, she reminded me to keep walking.
She was that kind of mentor.
She dressed us for the journey, literally and figuratively. She showed us how to walk into rooms with confidence and grace. She reminded us that rejection does not define destiny and that preparation, excellence, and integrity endure.
Her passing is a profound loss to higher education. But her legacy lives on in the leaders she shaped, the institutions she strengthened, and the countless moments where her words and example continue to guide us.
I will keep pushing. Not because it is easy, but because mentors like Dr. Marvalene Hughes taught me that the work is larger than any one role, title, or moment. And because some lessons, once given, demand to be lived forward.
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Dr. Adriel A. Hilton is Vice President of Institutional Strategy and Chief of Staff at Columbia College Chicago.
