Spelman College’s Board of Trustees has agreed to honor Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum with the title of president emerita once she steps down.
“I have been president for 12 years. That’s a long time in the world of college presidents,” Tatum said in an interview with Diverse on Wednesday. “In the meantime, we have another year to keep Spelman moving forward and more work to be done.”
The end of an ambitious 10-year fundraising campaign that yielded $157.8 million for the school and the celebration of her 60th birthday in September were the two factors that Tatum said led her to decide that it was time for her to move on next year.
In recognition of her years of service, the Board of Trustees has agreed to honor her with the title of president emerita once she steps down.
“I have a desire to really work on a book,” she said, adding that her retirement will include updating her 1997 book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria, a popular text still widely read and used in college courses across the country.
“I have been surprised that 17 years after publication, the book is still as relevant for people as it has been and I want to update it and think about race relations in the Obama era,” said Tatum.
The former psychology professor, who has held administrative positions as department chair, dean and acting president of Mount Holyoke College before she arrived at Spelman in 2002, has been lauded as a stabilizing force for the Atlanta-based institution.
