Trudie Kibbe Reed (1947–)

Trudie Kibbe Reed is a longtime higher education administrator who served as president of two historically Black colleges/universities (HBCUs): Philander Smith College (later Philander Smith University) in Arkansas and Bethune-Cookman University in Florida.

Trudie Kibbe was born on September 7, 1947, in Dallas, Texas. Her father, Hendrick Philip Kibbe Sr., served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and then enjoyed a long career with Union Carbide. Her mother, Rebecca Louise Foley Kibbe, was a lifelong resident of Dallas and a teacher in the Dallas public schools. Kibbe’s parents divorced when she was young, and she was raised by her mother in Dallas. Trudie attended James Madison High School in Dallas before becoming one of the first Black women to enroll at the formerly segregated University of Texas in Austin. There, she earned both her BA and MSSW degrees before later earning an MA and in 1989 an EdD from Teacher’s College at Columbia University in New York, where she wrote a dissertation titled “Understanding Adult Learning for Social Action in a Volunteer Setting.”

She married Jess Preciphs in the 1970s, and they had two sons. They divorced in the early 1990s, and she married Willie Reed in 1994. She and Reed later divorced.

Before moving into academic administration, she served for eighteen years as a senior-level administrator with the United Methodist Church, playing an instrumental role in the development and implementation of numerous programs designed for national agencies, seminaries, and higher-education institutions across the country. At twenty-eight, she became the organization’s youngest general secretary (CEO), and she later served as an associate general secretary for the General Council on Ministries of the United Methodist Church. In that role, she oversaw the church’s first national initiatives in prison ministry, deaf ministry, and ministries relating to older adults. She was also the driving force behind a church-wide study that developed into a major focus of the denomination: “Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century.”

In 1994, she became director of the Leadership Institute and professor of education at Columbia College in Columbia, South Carolina. Working at Columbia until 1998, she founded and edited a refereed journal, A Leadership Journal for Women: Women in Leadership—Sharing the Vision, while also developing the first minor in Black family studies in the country.

Reed left Columbia in 1998 to become the eleventh president of Philander Smith College in Little Rock (Pulaski County)—and the first woman to head the college. During her six-year tenure, she instituted an Honors Academy as well as a Black family studies program. She was an exceptional fundraiser, increasing the college endowment to over $9 million while also raising close to $40 million that allowed the school to build the Kendall Health Mission Center for Health Sciences Education, the Reynolds Library, and a new dormitory complex. She also increased student scholarships while offering new and greater opportunities for faculty professional development as well as developing a plan for a new campus daycare center. However, in 2004, the college was censured by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the organization having determined that Reed had weakened due process guarantee rules and unfairly fired some faculty, charges that Reed disputed.

In Little Rock, she became a member of the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, Pulaski United Way, the Arkansas Women’s Leadership Forum, and the American Council on Education’s Commission on Government and Public Affairs, among others. In the summer of 2000, President Bill Clinton appointed Reed to the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

In the summer of 2004, she left Philander Smith to assume the presidency of Bethune-Cookman University, becoming the first woman to lead the school since the school’s iconic leader, Mary McLeod Bethune, stepped down in 1942.

Reed’s tenure at Bethune-Cookman had ups and downs. She oversaw the school’s transformation from a college to a university, as it added graduate programs in integrated environmental sciences as well as transformative leadership. She also oversaw renovations providing new facilities for both the School of Nursing and the Center for Civic Engagement. The university also built a new residence hall and a new athletic training center. Meanwhile, the university’s endowment saw an increase from $28 million to $43 million on her watch. It also received numerous accreditations during her time as president, including a reaccreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission. At the same time, the school was the object of multiple lawsuits filed by faculty and staff members who alleged that they had been fired unfairly, with the AAUP issuing a report that censured the college for its failure to provide appropriate due process and academic freedom to professors. Following the report, Reed received a vote of confidence from the university’s board of trustees, although it did note that Reed, who was serving on ten national boards, should spend more time on campus. Despite the support, Reed resigned in April 2012.

In 2010, she published the book The Caring Community: A Journey into the Spiritual Domain of Transformative Leadership. Her board service and activities included serving on the board of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and on Florida’s Federal Judicial Nominating Commission, as well as the state’s Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service. She was also a member of the United Methodist General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

While at Columbia College, South Carolina governor David Beasley honored Reed with a South Carolina Women of Achievement Award for her for outstanding leadership, while the YMCA awarded her its Diamond Twin Award. In 2023, Philander Smith awarded her an honorary degree.

Reed continues to lecture and consult while serving on various educational and nonprofit boards. She is married to Melvin Saxon, and they live in Port Orange, Florida.

For additional information:
“B-CU President Walks Away.” Daytona Times, January 26, 2012. https://www.daytonatimes.com/community/education/b-cu-president-walks-away/article_0f48e078-42df-56bf-b2cb-4b068dfb25f3.html (accessed May 23, 2025).

“Biographical Sketch, Trudie Kibbe Reed, Ed.D.” Philander Smith College. https://pscdigitalarchive.omeka.net/exhibits/show/presidents-of-philander-smith-/item/305 (accessed May 23, 2025).

“President Clinton Names Trudie Kibbe Reed as a Member of the President Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.” White House Press Release, August 24, 2000. https://clintonwhitehouse5.archives.gov/textonly/library/hot_releases/August_242000.html (accessed May 23, 2025).

“Trudie Kibbe Reed, Ed.D., 2004–2012.” Past Presidents, Bethune-Cookman University. https://www.cookman.edu/admin/p/trudie-reed.html (accessed May 23, 2025).

William H. Pruden III
Ravenscroft School