A Changing of the Guard at Cheyney University in Pennsylvania

Michelle R. Howard-Vital, the 11th president of Cheyney University in Pennsylvania, has announced she will retire on July 31, seven years after taking the leadership reins of the historically Black university. Before coming to Cheyney in 2007, Dr. Howard-Vital was interim chancellor at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. Earlier in her career, she held administrative posts at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Chicago State University, and Harold Washington College in Chicago.

President Howard-Vital holds bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in public policy analysis from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Phyllis Worthy Dawkins has been named acting president of Cheyney University, effective on July 7. She is provost and vice president for academic affairs at the university. Before joining the staff at Cheyney in 2013, she was provost, senior vice president for academic affairs, and professor of education at Dillard University in New Orleans. Earlier in her career, she served in many positions at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Dr. Dawkins is a graduate of Johnson C. Smith University. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Michigan and a doctorate from Ohio State University.