President Obama Announces Intent to Appoint New Members of his Advisory Board on HBCUs

WASHINGTON, DC – On May 25, 2016, President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities :

  • Phyliss Craig-Taylor – Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
  • Marian Wright Edelman – Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
  • Lillian Lowery – Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Phyliss Craig-Taylor, Appointee for Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Phyliss Craig-Taylor is Dean of North Carolina Central  School of Law.  Prior to this, she served as an associate dean of academics at North Carolina Central School of Law. Ms. Craig-Taylor served as a faculty member at the University of Tennessee, the University of Florida, North Carolina Central University, as well as a visiting scholar at the University of Warsaw Center for American Law.  She became a member of the Coalition for Racial and Ethnic Justice for the American Bar Association in 2015 and she was appointed by the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court to serve on the North Carolina Commission for the Administration of Law and Justice. Ms. Craig-Taylor is a past Vice President of the North Carolina Bar Association and a past member of  both the Council for the American Bar Association Section of Litigation and the Ethics Advisory Committee of the North Carolina State Bar.  Before entering academia, she spent several years in private practice and served as a law clerk to the Alabama Supreme Court.  Ms. Craig- Taylor received a B.A. and J.D. from the University of Alabama and an L.L.M. from Columbia University.

Marian Wright Edelman, Appointee for Member, President’s Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Marian Wright Edelman is President of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), a position she has held since co-founding CDF in 1973.  From 1971 to 1973, she served as Director of the Center for Law and Education at Harvard University.  From 1968 to 1973, Ms. Edelman worked as a Field Foundation Fellow and Founder of the Washington Research Project of the Southern Center for Public Policy.  In 1968, Ms. Edelman was a Congressional and Federal Agency Liaison for the Poor People’s Campaign.  From 1964 to 1968, Ms. Edelman served as the Director of the Jackson, Mississippi chapter of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.  Earlier in her career, she served as a Staff Attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in New York.  Ms. Edelman received a B.A. from Spelman College and an LL.B. from Yale Law School.

Dr. Lillian Lowery, Appointee for Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Dr. Lillian Lowery is President and CEO of FutureReady Columbus, a position she has held since September 2015.  Dr. Lowery served as a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans from 2014 to 2015.  From 2012 to 2015, she served as Superintendent of the Maryland State Department of Education.  From 2009 to 2012, Dr. Lowery was Secretary of Education for the State of Delaware and from 2006 and 2009, she was Superintendent of the Christina School District in New Castle County, Delaware.  Dr. Lowery was the Assistant Superintendent of Cluster VII for Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia from 2004 to 2006.  She also served for two years as an Area Administrator for Fort Wayne Community Schools in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Dr. Lowery began her career as a middle school teacher in the North Carolina Public Schools, where she worked from 1978 to 1984.  Dr. Lowery has held leadership positions on the Board of Directors of Boys and Girls Club of America and Stop Child Abuse and Neglect. Dr. Lowery received a B.A. from North Carolina Central University, an M.A. from The University of North Carolina, and an Ed.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.