Service Never Stops

 

Dear Howard University Community,

Service remains an indelible part of our University’s identity. Our very chartering was service-inspired, driven by a desire to educate populations whose newfound freedoms and privileges were being threatened at every turn. We have taken our commitments to both truth and service with the utmost sincerity, and I suspect that to be at least a small reason for our continued success.

Take, for example, our College of Medicine. Did you know that from our founding in 1867 until the 1960s, we (along with Meharry Medical College in Nashville) trained most of the country’s Black physicians? Even today, the emphasis remains on preparing our students to deliver patient care in communities with a shortage of physicians and public health professionals, and we continue to produce a significant number of the nation’s minority physicians. Our 4,000-plus alumni are changing the world for the better, and I know just how eager our future graduates are to join them.

This year’s Howard University Alternative Spring Break program was the largest in its 29-year history, with nearly 1,200 members of our community travelling to 15 sites across the world, giving of themselves for a week all in the name of social justice. HUASB is annually one of our most popular programs, and so we prioritized committing the kind of resources that would allow everyone interested to participate, from our students to our faculty, and even to our executive leadership. Dean Bernard Richardson and the program’s leadership have worked wonders through the initiative over the years, and even as it approaches its third decade, I know their work is just getting started.

I also think of the recently departed Harry Belafonte, an honorary alumnus of our beloved Alma Mater, who consistently used his platform to be of service to others. At the height of his celebrity, he became deeply involved in the civil rights movement, organizing the 1963 March on Washington and financing the Freedom Rides, traveling to Mississippi and marching in Selma. Mr. Belafonte never rested on his laurels, and in fact, demanded during his 2001 commencement remarks that we maintain that same focus and persistence.

Service never stops at Howard University. As another of our well-known alums has been quoted: It can’t, and it won’t.

 

Excellence in Truth and Service,
 

Wayne A. I. Frederick, M.D., MBA
Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery
President