Every Tuesday the D.J's Music Site HBCU Campaign Fund organization will highlight a HBCU Chancellor or President. This is in promotion of our social media campaign to bring awareness and support the excellence of historically black colleges and universities.

This Tuesday (9/29/15), we highlighted Dr. Willie D. Larkin, (pictured on the right), President of Grambling State University.

Dr. Willie D. Larkin began serving as the 9th President of Grambling State University on July 1, 2015.

Dr. Larkin is a former Kellogg Fellow who earned his doctorate in Agricultural Education from The Ohio State University, where he specialized in 4-H and Youth Development. He earned both his bachelor's degree in Agricultural Education and a master's degree in Extension Education from Tuskegee University.

As the son of sharecropper parents who never had the chance to go to college, Dr. Willie D. Larkin recognized the value of higher education from an early age and has always strived to help others achieve their dream of a college education. As the ninth president of Grambling State University, he vows to continue the university's historic commitment to put students first and prepare them to become leaders, pioneers and innovators.

Dr. Larkin has served as Chief of Staff to leaders of Morgan State University (a historically black college and university located in Baltimore, Maryland), and the University of Wisconsin colleges, where he worked directly with the Chancellor and the President of Morgan State University, to provide oversight of nearly 300,000 employees and an operating budget of more than $300 million. At Auburn University, he was faculty advisor to the University's Board of Trustees and the first African American to chair the University's 90-Member University Senate.

With his extensive experience in education, Dr. Larkin began his career by working more than 20 years as a leadership and organizational development specialist at the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, where he created leadership and economic development initiatives for the state of Alabama. Dr. Larkin is also a nationally recognized motivational speaker, trainer, consultant, and writer who delivers high-impact speeches and seminars on personal and professional empowerment, leadership, conflict resolution and diversity in the workplace.

#ChooseGramblingState

For more information about Grambling State University, visit www.gram.edu.