Leonard Haynes, a long-serving US Department of Education official with stops as acting president of Grambling State University and a former turn heading the White House Initiative on HBCUs, returns to public service less than 20 months after retiring to serve in an advisory capacity to US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Even on Final Day on Job, Haynes Still Fighting for HBCUs
by B. Denise Hawkins WASHINGTON ― In a packed auditorium at the U.S. Department of Education, surrounded by many of those who say they know him as an adviser, fixer, friend, mentor, advocate, colleague, and surrogate, Leonard L. Haynes III, Ph.D., wrapped up nearly three decades of public service in higher education.
The Southern University alumnus was the first African American appointed as assistant secondary of postsecondary education in 1989 under George H. W. Bush. He will return to the Department of Education Oct. 2.
