Morehouse College, the storied Atlanta school, named F. DuBois Bowman as its next president on Tuesday, as historically Black colleges grapple with the Trump administration’s intentions for campuses nationwide.
Dr. Bowman, who will start on July 15, has been dean of the University of Michigan’s public health school since 2018. He is poised to assume Morehouse’s helm at a fraught moment in higher education, as President Trump seeks to upend academic life and stamp out diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that had become common on campuses.
Leaders of historically Black colleges and universities, such as Morehouse, have been left to weigh Mr. Trump’s stated devotion to their schools with the actions of his administration, including a proposal to cut $64 million in funding for Howard University, the lone federally chartered H.B.C.U.
“The outlook for the future is uncertain for all of us,” Dr. Bowman said of the higher education sector in an interview, when he acknowledged that “the uncertainty, in many ways, is so wide-ranging that it’s difficult to plan for.”
“I think it’s important, really, for the college to try to position itself and control what it can control,” he said. “That is, grounded and rooted in its basic mission, its basic business model, if you will, and really trying to ensure a wonderful academic experience for its students.”
Morehouse, an Atlanta sanctum for Black men whose alumni include the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is among the most hallowed of the country’s H.B.C.U.s. and is widely regarded as an incubator of activism and social change. But Dr. Bowman suggested that he expected that the college itself would carefully choose its moments to speak out — a posture of many presidents but one that could frustrate people who have called on campus leaders to be more forceful defenders of higher education and liberal democracy.
“The primary mission of the college, of course, is education, so I think that’s where things should be anchored,” he said, adding, “There may be times where it’s important to really think about and articulate those principles and values.”
Morehouse expects to have more than 2,700 students next academic year. Dr. Bowman, a biostatistician, said he wanted the campus to be one “where students can come from many backgrounds and perspectives, a space for open inquiry to wrestle and challenge and debate ideas, with an openness to grow and evolve.”
Dr. Bowman received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Morehouse in 1992 and wondered around then whether he might someday return as a professor. After completing a doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he was a faculty member at Emory University in Atlanta. He was the chairman of the biostatistics department in Columbia University’s public health school before returning to his hometown, Ann Arbor, Mich., for the deanship.
Dr. Bowman, 54, said Michigan’s recent decision to abandon its signature D.E.I. program had been a “nonfactor” in his choice to leave the university for Morehouse.
He will succeed David A. Thomas, who took over at Morehouse in 2018 and announced his retirement plans last summer.
A survey published by the American Council on Education in 2023 showed that college presidents had been in their posts for an average of 5.9 years, down from 8.5 in 2006. Many college leaders say their roles have grown more challenging lately. But Dr. Bowman, who has one son with a Morehouse degree and another enrolled there now, appeared undaunted by his debut presidency.
He said he felt “a sense of calling,” even with the obstacles that shadow many college presidencies.
“The role has always been difficult — certainly the case now, even to an increasing degree,” Dr. Bowman said, “but I would also say that’s likely when leadership matters most.”
