After a little more than a year as its executive director, Dr. Leonard L. Haynes III has been credited with substantially improving the performance of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Haynes, a veteran education department official and a former acting president of Grambling State University, took over the office in October 2007 after its previous executive director resigned under fire from the initiative’s board of advisors over performance.

          Established in 1980 by former President Jimmy Carter, the White House Initiative was authorized by Executive Order and each president since has reauthorized it. Diverse caught up with Haynes and spoke to him about new programs and prospects for the White House Initiative, which coordinates federal involvement with the nation’s 105 HBCUs.

 Here is some of what Haynes had to say:

How do you assess your tenure at the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities?

I think we’ve made tremendous progress since I’ve been the executive director. There’s no question about it. The excitement that’s been generated about what’s possible in this office has become more of a reality than just a dream.

And I’ll just go back to a moment that took place in February earlier this year when we had an event at the White House and the President of the United States celebrated Black History Month. I was there and much to my pleasant surprise (President Bush) recognized me out of all these people. And he pointed out the important work that was going on at the White House Initiative on HBCUs.

What steps were taken to get the initiative seen positively by Black college leaders?

I think one of the things we had to do was restore some credibility to this office because prior to my coming, there were some issues that were quite public. And I said to myself we can settle things down. Number one, we got to have a good relationship with the board of advisors, and that board is chaired by Dr. (Louis) Sullivan, a former secretary of Health and Human Services. So we repaired that relationship right away. I’ve known Lou for a long time, and he’s known me, so I told him that one of the things that we will do is make results happen. And I think that’s what the Secretary was after when she made this change.