Dillard University has received a gift of $2.5 million from an anonymous donor. The donation will support the University’s SAFE (Student Aid for Financial Emergencies) Fund.  This is the second gift from the donor this year.  The first one provided $250,000 for the same purpose and has already assisted several students.

After a final count of more than $800,000 in gifts in 2020, Dillard University is raising the bar for the 2021 GivingTuesday. The annual 24-hour day of online giving will be November 30, 2021. GivingTuesday, which falls on the Tuesday after “Black Friday,” encourages people from around the world to support causes and nonprofit entities through monetary donations. 

Attorney Dante Butler has joined Dillard University as the director of the University’s pre-law Program. Having practiced criminal law, Butler brings approximately 10 years of legal experience to this new role. A native of Chicago, Butler received his bachelor’s degree in business marketing from Clark Atlanta University and his Juris Doctor degree from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law.

Kirkland & Ellis has announced that Dillard University’s Center for Racial Justice will receive a $5 million gift to create an endowment to fund paid internships at various civil rights and public interest organizations. Dillard alumnus, Michael D. Jones, Esq., is Kirkland’s first Black partner.

Dillard University’s homecoming parade will return to the Gentilly neighborhood for the first time since 2019 at 9 a.m. on November 13. The route will take students, alumni, faculty, staff and guests from the intersection of Gentilly Boulevard and St. Anthony Avenue to Elysian Fields Avenue to Filmore Avenue to St. Anthony Avenue to Norman Mayer Avenue and back to Gentilly Boulevard where the parade will disband on Dillard’s campus.

Dillard University has dedicated one of its campus buildings to alumnus Michael D. Jones, Esq. and his wife Shaun Shelby Jones. The Dillard University International Center for Economic Freedom (DUICEF) building has been renamed Michael & Shaun Jones Hall (Jones Hall). 

Dillard University’s Office of Community and Church Relations along with New Orleans Saints Hall of Famer Deuce McAllister, Omni Group and DePaul Community Health Center will be distributing personal protective equipment (PPE) to non-profits doing community outreach in areas affected by Hurricane Ida. This non-profit distribution drive will take place on Dillard University’s Gentilly campus on October 5, 2021, at 1 p.m.

The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) is continuing to call on students, alumni, employees and supporters of all HBCUs to contact their respective congressional representatives to support the increase in funding called the IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act. As Congress continues to consider a $3.5 tillion legislative bill, advocates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are calling on Congress to pay attention to the improvements needed among all HBCUs.

Two Dillard alumni have been tapped to be inducted into the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame. They are among the 2021 inductees and will be honored at the virtual induction ceremony, 5:30 p.m. CDT, September 24 during the 36th Annual NBCA Hall of Fame Weekend. Gerald K. Harris Sr. ‘77 will be inducted for his work in community service and Alden McDonald Jr., L.H.D. ‘15 will receive the Chairman’s Award.

Women Leaders in College Sports has named Dr. Kiki Baker Barnes, athletics director of Dillard University, the 2021 Nell Jackson Nike Executive of the Year. Formerly known as the Administrator of the Year award, the Nell Jackson Nike Executive of the Year awardee is determined by peer nominations and selected by the Women Leaders Awards Committee for their service during the 2020-2021 academic year. 

Dr. Mona Lisa Saloy had been hanging on to the news for months. In August, Saloy finally publicly announced that she has been named the Louisiana State Poet Laureate, a role she took on August 14. The Conrad N. Hilton endowed professor of English at Dillard has begun serving a two-year term that will end in 2023 and her inaugural reading will be held virtually, 7 p.m. on September 29. The event is free and open to the public.

The Center for Racial Justice joined the celebration of Black Philanthropy Month by participating in a virtual panel discussion about Black professionals working in the field of philanthropy. Dr. Marc Barnes, one of the center’s ex officio board members and Dillard’s vice president of institutional advancement, was a panelist for “Funding Equity: Black Professionals in Philanthropy” (video below). 

As part of his visit to New Orleans to highlight the Biden-Harris administration’s plans to combat COVID-19 and “Build Back Better,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra will visit Dillard University Friday, August 27. The secretary is scheduled to arrive on campus at 12:45 p.m. during the University’s “Pathway to Normalcy” free vaccination drive in the Student Union and Health and Wellness Center.

Dillard University’s presidential professor Dr. Abdalla Darwish has been awarded a third patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for his invention of the multiple beam pulsed laser deposition of composite films. Darwish’s invention relates to a system and method for multiple beam laser deposition of thin films wherein separate laser beams are used to ablate material from separate targets for concurrent deposition on a common substrate. This enables homogenous-in-situ  mixing of three different materials at the state of plasma to form a new nanocomposite thin film. 

Dillard University’s Center for Racial Justice (CRJ) has received a $1 million grant over two years from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to support the center’s mission of bringing “systemic change to the way policing is done in communities of color and to promote partnerships with law enforcement, including police departments and sheriff’s offices, graduate, and professional schools.” 

Dillard University President Walter Kimbrough has informed the Board of Trustees that the 2021-2022 school year will be his last as leader of the 152-year-old historically Black institution of higher learning. Entering his 10th year at the helm of Dillard, President Kimbrough has led the University to unprecedented growth.

Dillard University students, Jerika Edwards ‘23 and Spencer Jones ‘23 were selected to be a part of the 2021 White House Initiative’s HBCU Scholars cohort. Students were selected by University presidential recommendations and endorsed by faculty. Edwards and Jones have a unique combination of academic achievements, campus leadership, civic engagement and entrepreneurial spirit that distinguished their candidacy. Edwards and Jones will serve as student ambassadors for the Initiative and will ensure information, resources and opportunities are distributed at Dillard University. They will be invited to attend 2021 Annual National HBCU Week Conference workshops designed to help  them learn and adopt promising practices in areas such as leadership, professional development, HBCU excellence and workforce development. 

fter suffering bouts of homelessness, Arlan Hamilton decided to buy a one-way ticket to San Francisco. Her plan? Enter the venture capital industry to secure funds for Black and LGBTQIA businesses. And while she was able to collect millions of dollars to give to underserved institutions, Hamilton became the founder and managing partner of Backstage Capital and a best-selling author in the process. In an interview with Forbes, Hamilton shared how traditional capitalists miss the mark by not tapping into businesses that would yield a high return on investment because they are startups, people of color, or LGBTQIA-owned.

Dillard University will cover eligible students’ pandemic debt incurred from March 2020. The University was afforded this opportunity through the Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEERF) supplemental grant. The grant’s total amount exceeds $485,000. Students who have outstanding balances and charges from March 2020 will be cleared, enabling them to register for Fall 2021 classes or graduate within a certain time-period. Students who are awarded this grant but no longer attend Dillard University will have the opportunity to re-enroll at the University to finish their education. 

The “Revisionist History” podcast takes a look at the “overlooked and misunderstood.” Entering its sixth season and sticking with its theme, the wildly popular podcast has turned its attention to the often-debated U.S. News & World Report college rankings. A long time critic of the magazine’s ranking system and the podcast’s host, Malcolm Gladwell spends two episodes exploring the validity of the ranking’s methodology.

Dillard University will introduce a slate of new academic offerings for the fall of 2021. The University will introduce health science as a new major along with a new healthcare science minor, a concentration in supply chain management, a certification in geoscience, and the criminal justice program will offer an online option.