Trudie Kibbe Reed Retiring as President of Bethune-Cookman University

Trudie Kibbe Reed, president of Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida, has announced that she is stepping down. The university’s board has formed a search committee to find a replacement for Dr. Reed. No timetable has been given for when her resignation will take effect.

Dr. Reed became president in 2004. She is only the second woman, after founder Mary McLeod Bethune, to head the institution. During Reed’s tenure, the institution made the transition from a college to a university. Prior to coming to Bethune-Cookman, Dr. Reed was a professor of education at Columbia College in South Carolina.

President Reed was one of the first Black women students at the University of Texas, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She holds a doctorate from Columbia University in New York City.