“For the first time in my life, what I see playing out doesn’t look like progress.” These words encapsulate the conditions of the nation as F. DuBois Bowman marks just over 100 days in as the 13th president of Morehouse College.
A 1992 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the storied men’s HBCU, Bowman’s experience with the college transcends his four years as a student. He’s been an engaged alum for over three decades, serving on advisory boards and leading mentorship programs at Morehouse and Spelman College. In 2019, Bowman won the college’s Bennie Trailblazer, named after one of his predecessors, Benjamin E. Mays. Along with his wife and Spelman alum Cynthia Bowman, he’s also the parent of a 2024 Morehouse graduate and a current sophomore.
Prior to accepting the new role, Bowman served as dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health and held leadership roles at Columbia University and Emory University.
Bowman has entered the president’s office on Gloster Hall’s third floor during challenging times. But he asserts confidently that Morehouse College is and will continue to be a space where “students will leave … ready to compete, ready to go into spaces and demonstrate their value.”
Bowman leads a college steeped in a long history of social justice. That legacy was called upon this summer when 2018 alum Alex Maganda was detained by Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents in Texas, despite having lived and worked in the U.S. for over 25 years. Under Bowman’s leadership, a representative tells Capital B Atlanta: “The College has been in regular communication with his loved ones. Upon initial notice of his detainment, we engaged an alum who is also a highly regarded immigration attorney and he has taken on his case.”
During an interview discussing his first 100 days in office, Capital B Atlanta asked Bowman about pressing student concerns, the current political climate’s impact on recruiting, mental health support, and plans for campus improvements. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Capital B Atlanta: As an alum and parent, what parts of your mindset about the Morehouse did you have to restructure when entering the role of president?
F. DuBois Bowman: Returning as president, I have really valued maintaining all of those perspectives. It’s less of a shift in terms of changing from one thing to the other, and more just adding an additional perspective as president. You mentioned my attendance here as a student. That shapes and really, I would say, anchors my experience about what Morehouse is and what it does through my lived experience.
I’m here cherishing something that I loved, and then being able to support my sons through their journeys. So that, to me, establishes a deep affection for the college. Now coming back as president, that affection is still there. In many ways, that’s what drew me back. What I have to layer on top of that is now more of a strategic approach to strengthening the institution. So that evolution is a layering of the deep love and affection and value for the institution with a strategic leadership lens to try to best direct the institution for strength in the future.
What are some of the things from your previous experience that you were able to implement early in your tenure? What qualities or values have you emphasized?
Much of what I bring back is from my professional experience, but much of what I bring back is just my experience as a person, and things that I value personally in terms of leadership. One quality for me that is really important is engagement and connected with that is listening. I think there are great ideas that can come from many places.
I would use my grandmother, for example, who had an eighth grade education, but is one of the smartest people I know in terms of wisdom. She had an eighth grade education because that is all that she could do at the time in the system that she was living in. But in terms of wisdom and intelligence, it was still there. As I’m in different spaces and different rooms, I want to make sure that I’m tapping into that knowledge. Coming back to the college, I have been thoughtful and intentional about trying to draw that wisdom from the lived experiences of our students, our staff, our faculty, and have really appreciated having any opportunity to do so.
With the Trump administration pushing companies and colleges to end diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, do you see that impacting the number of entities coming to recruit students at Morehouse?
For the first time in my life, what I see playing out doesn’t look like progress for those who are underrepresented and have had various opportunities in the past. But it’s not new. So afraid? No. Is there a need to understand the moment, to respond to the moment, to ensure that we are still a vital pipeline to cultivating talent that is sorely needed for the betterment of society? Morehouse will continue to do that without question.
We just have to ensure that we are adapting as needed to identify the most promising students. Some of that may be reflected by GPA and test scores in high schools. Some of it may not. But yet, the promise and talent is there. Morehouse is a place where they can come. They can learn. They can transform into young men and talented individuals to go out and make a positive impact in the world. So I’m not afraid. I think about what Morehouse has done — what Morehouse will do in this moment in time is really prepare students to compete in an inclusive meritocracy. Morehouse really has always done that. We need agents of change on the outside to ensure that the meritocracy is actually inclusive. But our students will leave here ready to compete, ready to go into spaces and demonstrate their value in the workforce and then society more broadly.
Can you provide any updates on the ongoing construction on campus? What are the parts of these projects that you believe will best serve Morehouse students of the future?
Morehouse, the physical footprint, is in need of modernizing and really transforming. There’s great work going on currently. There is a new residence hall that is under construction, a new living and learning center for our students that should be completed in July of 2026, ready for occupancy to support the arrival of students next academic year. We’re really excited about that. It’ll provide a great resource to our campus.
We are also planning to add to the modernization of the campus with the new campus center. It’s a slightly longer term project. We are actively fundraising to support that. It would go right on Brown Street, in the heart of campus. That will be a convening space for students that will support co-curricular activities. There will be spaces for students to rent out and support aspects of student life, whether it’s student organizations or other things. There will be dining in that space. I envision some merchandising in that space as well. So, what I picture is really a vibrant space for students to mingle, interact and connect.
Thirdly, I’ll mention a project that we’re working toward that would be a joint residence hall with Spelman College. That is moving along as well in the planning phases. These things take many, many years, in fact, to plan and to come up with the funding structure, but we are indeed proceeding with that.
The new residence hall that’s being constructed and the new public-private partnership jointly with Spelman will add immense capacity to the college. We anticipate an increase in at least 400 beds available to support our students who desire to live on campus.
We’re also thinking about the surrounding community. There are a number of projects that are happening in the surrounding communities here on the southwest side of Atlanta. We’re in conversations with the city and with developers of One West End (an effort to increase mixed-income housing and small businesses within the area) that’s seeking to transform the current footprint of the West End.
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