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After holding several leadership and historic positions throughout her career, in 2024 Dr. Bronaugh returned to HBCU service. This time as the president and CEO of the 1890 Universities Foundation, the chief advocate for the 19 colleges and universities that are a part of the 1890s university system. Dr Bronaugh says that her career path prepared her for and led her to the 1890 University Foundation “The work that I did at Virginia State University, gave me the university side, the research, the extension and the teaching side of the work in agriculture. And then I got the state regulatory side, being an Ag commissioner, and the USDA gave me the federal oversight and the federal partnership and the international engagement experience. All of that provided a full circle moment to come back and really support the 1890 institutions. I have a passion for the 1890 HBCUs. Now I have a huge portfolio of work, a cadre of resources and a cadre of connections that I can bring to help further advance the work that the 1890s do in research, extension and teaching.” The 1890 Land Grant HBCUs were born out of the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 which provided land grants for the establishment of colleges of agriculture and mechanical arts. The 1862 act was signed by President Abraham Lincoln, and it established the first set of public colleges in the United States enabling rural citizens to have the opportunity to attend college in their states of residence. The Morrill Act was passed prior to the emancipation of Black Americans. Dr. Bronaugh explained the origin of the second Morrill Act, “In 1890, 20
some years later, after we had been free from slavery in this country, there was a proposal to the 1862 institutions to either allow Blacks to be enrolled or to establish a second set of institutions that were still land-grant institutions but were created to educate African Americans in this country.” As a result, the second Morrill Act was passed in 1890, establishing 19 institutions, across 18 states for where Blacks could study agriculture, mechanical arts, and engineering.”
platform to speak about the unique resources and talents of our member institutions,” said Dr. Bronaugh.
professionals through research opportunities and internships at the federal agency. The foundation’s flagship initiative is the Centers of Excellence, “The overall goal of these centers of excellence is to focus on rural prosperity and increase profitability amongst Ag producers. To focus on international food security and international training and development, and more diversity in the STEM pipeline. We have six centers, that focus on workforce development, farming systems, nutrition, health and wealth, emerging technology and natural resources, energy and the environment.” Microsoft and Walmart are two of the foundation’s private industry partners. Members of 1890s university network are providing the foundation with impressive statistics, research and programs to tout in its advocacy of the institutions. Tuskegee University produces 75% of the Black veterinarians in the United States. The University of Maryland Eastern Shore is slated to start the second veterinary school in the 1890 system. Dr. Bronaugh shared additional highlights of the universities including, “The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, they do top notch research in aquaculture. Tennessee State and South Carolina State have tons of expertise in forestry work, especially in urban forestry work. We’re becoming national leaders in forestry. Kentucky State University, for example, they do a lot of great work in STEM scholarship and youth development. At West Virginia State University, they’re trying to create youth programs that really focus on science,
The foundation seeks partnerships with state and
federal governments in addition to private industries on behalf of the universities in its network to provide internships and post graduate career opportunities for students. It raises awareness of, highlights the research and accomplishments taking place on all of the land grant university
The 1890
Universities Foundation is a nonprofit charitable and educational organization that was established in 2016 to support the core missions of education, outreach and academics across the nineteen 1890 land grant universities. “The 1890s University Foundation started as an opportunity to provide a platform to speak in one voice about our 19 member institutions. It was very challenging to have to go to individual institutions when you wanted to know, what are you doing in terms of research in the nutrition, health and wellness space, in terms of global food security? The vision of the foundation was to create this
campuses, “We’re, in essence, the booster of their work. We boost the work, and we make sure that we advocate for future investment so that they can continue to advance that work,” said Dr. Bronaugh. She connects the foundation’s work to the three-part mission of teaching, research and extension that all of the 1890 institutions share, “in terms of our teaching, we are able to engage our students in some very unique opportunities to do research in food, agriculture and environmental sciences and human sciences space.” The foundation has attracted investments from the USDA, in the next generation of diverse food and agriculture
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