Bethune-Cookman College names Dr. Trudie Kibbe Reed as new president

Jet, Jan 31, 2005

Dr. Trudie Kibbe Reed recently was named the fifth president of Bethune-Cookman College (B-CC) in Daytona Beach, FL. In the school's 100-year history she is the first woman to serve in the post since the college's founder Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.

Dr. Reed is currently the sitting president and CEO of Philander Smith College in Little Rock, AR. She will begin her new duties on July 1.

Before accepting her new position Dr. Reed served as the first woman president of Philander Smith College. She has developed the nation's first academic minor in Black Families Studies and has broken fund-raising records over the past few years with $30.5 million raised, the most in the history of that college.

Voted one of the 100 most successful Arkansas Women, Dr. Reed has consulted with the U.S. Secretary of Education and attended two United Nations Decade Conferences for Women in Copenhagen, Denmark and Nairobi, Kenya.

Dr. Reed received B.A. and M.S. degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, and M.A. and doctorate degrees from Columbia University.

Upon accepting her new post, Dr. Reed said: "As I become the fifth president of this great institution, I will always remember the vision and the philosophy of Di: Bethune."

She continued, "There are unlimited resources for taking this institution to the next level and I am committed with energy and vitality and faith in God to take this leadership responsibility very seriously and continue the rich legacy of this institution."