Trustees

Dr. William L. Pollard is the current president of Medgar Evers College of The City University of New York (CUNY). Appointed by the CUNY Board of Trustees on June 22, 2009, he began serving as president on August 1, 2009. During that time, he has consistently engaged students through town hall meetings and special drop-in hours, met with community leaders, and worked with faculty, staff, and alumni in his efforts to transform the College into the most student-centered campus within CUNY and beyond. Among other long-term goals, Dr. Pollard has endeavored to increase the amount of student space on campus, develop co-curricular vehicles that foster academic excellence, and increase the College's retention rate. For his efforts, Dr. Pollard has already been honored by The Black Star News.

Formerly, Dr. Pollard served as vice president for the Office of Access and the Advancement of Public Black Colleges and Universities for the National Association for State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. In that post from 2007 to 2008, Dr. Pollard worked to promote public universities, especially the 1890s land grant institutions which provided for the education and training of African-Americans in the South.

From 2002 to 2007, Dr. Pollard was president of the University of the District of Columbia, the only public university in Washington, D.C. and the nation's only urban land grant university. As president of the University of the District of Columbia, Dr. Pollard established a student counseling center to provide academic and mental health counseling that is credited with significantly increasing student success and retention. Dr. Pollard was also instrumental in obtaining a $3 million allocation from former District of Columbia Mayor Anthony Williams that permitted the recruitment and hiring of new faculty in areas of greatest need. He also developed strong alumni and community involvement with the university.

Prior to this, he was the dean and founder of the Syracuse University College of Human Services and Health Professions, where he was responsible for creating a new entity uniting the College of Nursing, College of Human Development, and the School of Social Work. Dr. Pollard began his tenure at Syracuse University in 1989, serving as dean of the Syracuse University School of Social Work for 10 years, where he led the School in its development of a student-centered program. He then became the founding dean of the School of Human Services and Health Professions until he left for the University of the District of Columbia in 2002. Prior to that, he served as dean and founder of the Grambling State University School of Social Work from 1984 to 1989.

Dr. Pollard's many awards and honors include the Social Worker of the Year Award from the National Association of Social Workers, Central New York Chapter, recognition as co-founder of the Syracuse Onondaga Dialog on Race and the Citizen of the Year Award from Temple Adath Yeshurun. He has published numerous articles and papers in professional journals and lectured extensively on cultural and racial diversity in venues across the country.

Dr. Pollard received his doctorate in policy and planning from the University of Chicago School of Social Administration in 1976, where the members of his dissertation committee included the late John Hope Franklin, the brilliant historian and educator who, in 1956, became the first African-American department chair at a major college when he was named chairman of Brooklyn College's history department. Dr. Pollard earned his M.S.W. from the University of North Carolina School of Social Work, and a B.A. from Shaw University. He is married to Merriette Chance Pollard and they have two sons, William L. Pollard II and Frederick Touissaint Pollard.

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