Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick announces retirement

Howard University has announced that the school’s president, Wayne A. I. Frederick, will retire by June 2024. Frederick was appointed as interim president in 2013 and has been in the permanent role since 2014. Prior to taking on the presidency, Frederick served as a faculty member, an administrator, and also attended the HBCU as an undergraduate and graduate student.

A replacement for Frederick has not yet been chosen. In a letter to the Howard community, Chair of the Howard University Board of Trustees Laurence C. Morse wrote that the board is developing and finalizing the selection process for the next president.

“I join my fellow trustees in expressing my profound gratitude to Dr. Frederick for his tireless, unwavering efforts to lead our University to greater academic excellence, fiscal strength, and service to our community and country,” Morse wrote. “Needless to say, given his outstanding performance, the board desired that he would have chosen to remain in office longer.”

In the letter, Morse pointed to Howard’s improvements under Frederick’s presidency, including increasing the four-year graduation rate by 20 percentage points, boosting financial aid to first-time in college students, and jumping 60 spots in the U.S. News & World Report ranking, placing Howard in the top 100.