I am reminded daily of the incredible history and legacy of Wilberforce University. As we begin another academic year and welcome new students to our community, I am also reminded that Wilberforce University is a place of possibility. The eager, smiling, tenuous faces of these new students must awaken, renew and refocus, in us, a commitment to giving our best so that they can and will become their best. They have come to Wilberforce believing in their possibility and our promise to help them achieve their academic goals. We cannot and must not betray their trust.
Wilberforce University rests on 163 years of making the possible real in the lives of the students that have come hereto live and learn. That is, at once, our legacy and our future. Despite persistent challenges, we have developed a collective spirit and mighty will which has educated generations of students. It is that powerful spirit of purpose and mission that requires that we give to our students the fullness of our knowledge, experience, talents, abilities, insights and wisdom to prepare them as Wilberforce University students for the opportunities that await them.
We are blessed with the gift of our vocation; to be invited into the lives of these young people and be given the opportunity to pour into their growth and development. They have given us this awesome trust to do good by them. The soul of Wilberforce is found in the people who are committed to it’s mission and who have willingly accepted the responsibility of working for its complete transformation as a premier liberal arts institution with an entrepreneurial intention.
We are strongest as a Wilberforce University family when we remember that our student are the reason for our being and that our beloved Wilberforce is worth cherishing, defending and protecting with our hearts and our hard work.
Let us never forget Wilberforce’s place as this nation’s first HBCU founded, owned and operated by people of African descent and the rich history that has situated her as first in the HBCU space.
We look backward to demonstrated greatness to look forward to a sustainable future.
Welcome to the 2019-2020 Academic Year.
We are Wilberforce University. Period.
Elfred Anthony Pinkard
22nd President
Wilberforce University
