Dr. Gina Spivey-Brown Begins New Role as President of Oakwood University
by Greg Dunn | 5 June 2025 |
The Oakwood University Board of Trustees two months ago selected the highly accomplished Dr. Gina Spivey-Brown, Ph.D., RN, MSA, FAAN, FNAP, FADLN, as its 12th president – and the first woman to lead the storied institution.
In the weeks since, Dr. Brown has been engaged both in completing her responsibilities as Dean for the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences at Howard University in Washington, D.C., as well as laying the groundwork for officially becoming president of Oakwood University on July 1. During these weeks of “wearing two hats”, Dr. Brown already has begun analyzing current strengths and areas to be strengthened at Oakwood in the months and years ahead. As both an Oakwood alumnus herself and a long-time university administrator, she brings an impressive resume to this assignment, comprising experience both inside and outside:
- Seventh-day Adventist higher education;
- HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) such as Oakwood;
- North America.
While at Howard University — considered the nation’s pre-eminent HBCU — Dr. Brown’s many high-level responsibilities have included overseeing the entire College of Nursing and Allied Health Services, a role in which she demonstrated critically important skills she will now bring to Oakwood, including enrollment growth, financial stability, program evaluation and management, innovation in cultivating a thriving higher education “ecosystem”, and more.
Dr. Brown will soon be able to devote her entire professional focus to helping Oakwood University move forward. In this capacity, she already is working with key team members to develop a strategic road map for the balance of 2025 and beyond.
In these early days, Dr. Brown already is identifying key priorities, some of which include:
- Administrative operations and efficiencies
- Continued and enhanced academic achievement
- Stakeholder cultivation (deep and wide)
- Enrichment of culture
- Long-term financial strategies for elevated strength
“The entire Oakwood community – current and prospective students and families, faculty, administrators, alumni, our generous donors, pastors, fellow Adventist church members across North America and beyond, residents of greater Huntsville, AL, and more – shares a passion to help effect an extremely bright future for Oakwood University,” said Dr. Brown. “I am so grateful to God for leading me through this process and bringing me to this special place at this vital time. I am now completely committed to helping to further strengthen ties among all our constituents and fostering an environment in which all felt heard and in which all pull together – as part of the Oakwood family – toward this institution’s collective success”.
Dr. G. Alexander Bryant, president of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists and chair of the Oakwood University Board of Trustees added, “We are grateful that a professional with these impressive credentials, a leader grounded in her relationship with God, and who possesses the ability to connect deeply with young people and older alike, answered God’s call to take on this important new role. It was for these and so many other reasons that the Oakwood University Board of Trustees invited Dr. Gina Spivey-Brown to serve as our new president, and we are fully confident that God has great things in store for her and our entire Oakwood family!”
