Organizing Black America: An Encyclopedia of African American Associations
National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education
Founded in 1969, the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) is the premier membership organization of the 117 historically and predominantly black colleges and universities in the United States. These institutions have produced approximately 70 percent of the nation’s African American college and university graduates, more than 50 percent of the country’s black business executives and elected officials, 75 percent of African American Ph.D.s, 80 percent of America’s black judges, and 85 percent of all African American physicians. NAFEO’s member colleges, consisting of public, private, two- and four-year, and professional institutions, enroll over 350,000 students. Annually, these institutions graduate close to forty thousand students—one-third of all black students enrolled in the United States—in a wide range of professional fields of study.
NAFEO’s objectives are to serve as a strong, unified voice of its members in addressing the needs of the institutions and constituencies it represents; to act as a clearinghouse for the collection, analysis, and interpretation of information relative to issues and concerns of historically and predominantly black colleges and universities; to coordinate efforts and activities among organizations, agencies, and other entities interested in advancing higher education for African Americans; and to provide resources to presidents and chancellors of member institutions and assist them in communicating their concerns to policymakers and a wider community. NAFEO prides itself in being the “voice” of historically black colleges.
Leadership of NAFEO has been relatively stable since its founding in 1969. The organizations first executive director was Myles Fisher. Prior to his tenure at NAFEO, Fisher had served with the Institute of Services to Education.
In 1977, Fisher was succeeded by Samuel Meyers from Bowie State College (now University), who remained NAFEO’s executive director until 1995. Wilma Roscoe of Fayetteville State College (now University), who had for twenty-two years served NAFEO in various posts, served in an interim capacity until 1996. That year Henry Ponder, former president of Fisk University, assumed NAFEO’s leadership.
NAFEO’S annual conference, held in Washington, D.C., each spring, is widely recognized as the single most important national forum in America for the discussion of issues relating to African Americans in higher education. NAFEO publishes a bimonthly magazine, Black Excellence, maintains biographical data of member colleges and universities and their presidents or chancellors, compiles statistics on black graduates, and presents annually a Distinguished Alumni Award of the Year. Formerly based in Washington, D.C., NAFEO is now located in Silver Spring, Maryland. Ponder continues to lead NAFEO as president and chief executive officer.
FURTHER READINGS
Black Excellence 9, 31 (January/February): 1997.
Jaszczak, Sandra, ed. Encyclopedia of Associations: An Associations Unlimited Reference. Detroit: Gale, 1996, 991.
National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education. E Plus O Equals NAFEO. Washington, D.C.: National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, 1995.
Betty Nyangoni
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