President Tim Allen of Delaware State University plans to step down as chairman emeritus and board member of the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Allen was appointed to the position by President Joe Biden in 2021. He will officially resign from the position on January 20.

Allen has played a key role in helping create policies and initiatives that support HBCUs. The Carter Administration created the White House Initiative in 1980; the President’s Board of Advisors on HBCUs is under that initiative. With this initiative, HBCUs are able to offer underrepresented student groups high-quality and competitive educational opportunities. HBCUs have received $20 billion from the Biden Administration through this initiative.

Allen reflects on his time as chairman in a statement.

“It has been my high honor to serve in this role and to do so under the Biden Administration,” Allen said in a statement.

“I was humbled and grateful to be voted Chairman Emeritus by my colleagues, an acknowledgment of our collective work helping America’s HBCUs deliver us all closer to “a more perfect union,” he said.

As longtime beacons of opportunity, HBCUs have produced a significant amount of professionals in essential fields, including education, engineering, and medicine. These institutions foster major economic impacts and add to the professional workforce. HBCUs support more than 136,000 jobs nationwide and have a direct economic impact of almost $16.5 billion, according to a recent report from the United Negro College Fund.

Between 2020 and 2023, enrollment at HBCUs had risen by 7%. HBCUs are responsible for 40% of all Black engineers, 50% of all Black teachers, 70% of all Black doctors and dentists, and 80% of all Black judges.

Allen says that what the Biden Administration has done for HBCUs will have a long-lasting impact.

“Your decisions will have an impact on generations of students who attend HBCUs, the faculty and staff who pour their whole hearts into providing HBCU education, and their families who sacrifice so much in favor of boundless futures for their children,” Allen said in a statement.

“Your work has been singular in its commitment, and may it be forever barred by a grateful set of American citizens who will continue to achieve in every field of human endeavor because of you,” he said.