Joyce Payne

N. Joyce Payne currently serves as interim president, Thurgood Marshall College Fund, a higher education association designed to support the advancement of the nation’s 47 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). Prior to her current appointment, she served as executive director of the National Alliance for Public Trust, a new organization committed to advancing principled leadership, inspired scholarship, and trusted stewardship. She accepted this position following her recent retirement as vice president, Office for the Advancement of Public Black Colleges and Council of Student Affairs of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC) in cooperation with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). OAPBC is an information and advocacy office that represents 40 of the largest and most prestigious historically black public colleges and universities in the nation, and the Council on Student Affairs serves as the national voice for 213 public and land-grant universities.

Before joining OAPBC, Joyce was the president of Global Systems, Inc. and was a senior staff member under the Carter administration with the President’s Advisory Committee for Women; President’s National Advisory Council on Women’s Education Programs; and the White House Conference on Families. She taught at the former Federal City College and at George Washington University and currently serves as a senior social scientist (consultant) with the Gallup Organization.

An authority on women’s issues in relation to higher education and labor force participation, Joyce has published and presented a number of papers, including on “Women in Administration in Higher Education,” Women in Urban School Systems,” “Women and the Consequences of Power,” and “Maintaining the Competitive Tradition” in Minorities in Higher Education; “Hidden Messages in the Pursuit of Equality” in Academe; and “Black Colleges in an Expanding Economy” in the American Council on Education’s Educational Record.

Joyce received a bachelor’s degree in speech pathology from the District of Columbia Teachers College and earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in higher education from Atlanta University. She received a Presidential Medal from Delaware State University in 2003 and has received honorary doctorates from Lincoln University of Missouri, Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, Kentucky State University, and the University of the District of Columbia. She was inducted into the District of Columbia’s Hall of Fame in 2001.

She served on the board of trustees of the University of the District of Columbia for nine years and served for two years as chair of the board. In 1987, she created the nationally recognized Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), designed exclusively for exceptional students at public black colleges and universities. She serves on the board of directors of TMCF and the national board of AARP, chairs the AARP Foundation board, and has served on the distinguished Foreign Service Performance Evaluation Board of the U.S. Department of State.