Diversity & Inclusion
A Secret No More Delaware State University’s Tony Allen is paving the way for HBCUs BY STEVE H. NEWTON
WHEN TONY ALLEN ARRIVED at Delaware State University (DSU) as provost in 2017, his stump presentation for legislators, donors, and community partners carried the title, “Delaware’s Best Kept Secret.” Those days are long gone. DSU became the first Historically Black University to acquire another institution of higher learning (Wesley College in downtown Dover); developed into the nation’s number one provider of professional pilots of color; negotiated the first-ever agreement between an HBCU and the U.S. Agency for International Development; and received a $30 MM State investment to create an Early Childhood Education Innovation Center. Everyone in Delaware knows that the University is on the move. “It’s not that the University wasn’t already doing great things,” Allen says, noting that prior to his arrival DSU had chartered the Early College High School; opened a facility on Kirkwood Highway; raised its research profile dramatically; and became Delaware’s top provider of teachers, social workers, nurses, and accountants of color. “We just 48
weren’t getting our story out there for everyone to see. Once that happened, potential partners couldn’t wait to become involved.” Campus COVID-19 safety protocols (“We have the best in the country”) and a wide-ranging debt forgiveness plan that has affected nearly 2,000 students (“We honestly didn’t know we were starting a major trend”) have also landed Delaware State University in the national spotlight. Allen has appeared on The Today Show, GMA 3, ABC World News Tonight, ABC News Niteline, CNN, and the Black News Channel, as well as in Newsweek, Forbes, and the Washington Post. And in September, President Joe Biden tapped Allen as chairman of the President’s Board of Advisors to the White House HBCU Initiative. This appointment instantly placed Allen among the top spokespeople for America’s 104 HBCUs, alongside seasoned advocates like Dr. Harry Williams of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund; Lodriguez Murray of the United Negro College Fund; U.S. Senators Chris Coons (DE) and Tim Scott (SC); and U.S. Representative Alma Adams (NC). Jan uar y / Fe b r uar y 2022 | DELAWARE BUSINESS
