Texas Governor Appoints First African American Woman to the UT System Board of Regents
AUSTIN, Texas
The nomination of Dr. Judith Craven to the University of Texas System board of regents marks continuing efforts to diversify a board and university system that has historically been viewed as a White male bastion.
If confirmed, she would be the second African American to serve on the UT board, but the first African American woman. The Rev. Zan Holmes of Dallas served on the board for six years in the 1990s. UT regents oversee 15 campuses and a $5 billion budget.
Craven, 55, is former director of the city of Houston health department and former dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Houston Health Science Center.
Last year, Craven was on a 19-member task force of community leaders, college administrators and regents from around Texas that recommended ways to strengthen the historically Black Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern universities.
The federal Office of Civil Rights had determined that vestiges of segregation still existed in Texas higher education (see Black Issues, Nov. 23, 2000).
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