By Tanu T. Henry, AOL BlackVoices

Marvalene Hughes has led an accomplished professional career in many arenas of American higher education.

A psychologist and former president of the largely Hispanic campus of the University of California at Stanislaus, Hughes oversaw more than $70 million in infrastructural improvements on the school's campus.

A graduate of Tuskegee University, Hughes says her undergraduate years at the historically black school especially prepared her to lead at Dillard.

A graduate of Florida State University (with postgraduate work completed at Columbia and Harvard), Hughes has also worked at the University of Minnesota, the University of Toledo, Arizona State University and San Diego State University.