Norfolk State University President Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston, along with the President of Texas Southern University Dr. Lesia L. Crumpton-Young, participated in a special panel discussion about HBCU Leadership for the 37th Legislative Conference for the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women (NOBEL) on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at the MGM National Harbor, Maryland.
The conference, titled “Women in Leadership: Celebrating Our Strength and Building on Our Legacy,” featured thought-provoking and educational policy forums, community education workshops, and policy briefs with national, state, and local leaders and their constituents.
During the HBCU-themed session, Presidents Adams-Gaston and Crumpton-Young discussed their personal journeys in higher education, the black women that influenced their lives, and how their experiences have helped guide them in making difficult decisions as University Presidents. Additionally, the panelists discussed the importance of HBCUs now and in the future, what investments in Black educators and Black institutions mean, and how HBCUs, and more specifically, Norfolk State and Texas Southern Universities, are fully equipping students to lead and succeed as citizens of the global workforce.
The HBCU Leadership session was moderated by Maryland Delegate Edith J. Patterson and attended by numerous black-elected legislative women from around the country representing their HBCUs. Additionally, the Bowie State University drumline, led by Billy Bennett, director of university bands and NSU alum, provided entertainment during the session.
After participating in her session, President Adams-Gaston attended the "White House Panel" session with Keisha Lance Bottoms, Senior Advisor to the President for Public Engagement in the White House Office of Community Engagement. Bottoms was also the former mayor of Atlanta, where “she led the city of Atlanta with strength through the pandemic, through a summer of protests and pain, and through the mass shooting that left Atlanta’s Asian American community in fear,” said President Joe Biden. “Keisha is bright, honorable, tough, and has the integrity required to represent our Administration to the American public.”
The NOBEL-Women Annual Legislative Conference (ALC) is the organization’s annual meeting where more than 200 Black women legislators join industry leaders and stakeholders from around the country in dialogue on legislative and policy issues impacting the Black community.