Cecil Howard is a Florida licensed attorney, and currently serves as the Principal of CEH Consulting, a consulting firm offering Leadership, Diversity & Inclusion, and Equal
Opportunity services to universities, non-profit, and corporate entities throughout the United States.
Mr. Howard has provided executive level leadership in a variety of professional
environments, both inside and outside higher education and within complex and non-
complex organizations that exemplified strategic engagement, organizational
effectiveness, and inclusive excellence.
Mr. Howard has served as Chief Legal Counsel for the Florida Commission on Human
Rights, Equal Opportunity Director for the City of Gainesville, Florida, Chief Diversity Officer at Shippensburg University, University of South Florida, and University of California Merced. He has also served as Director of Institutional Equity at California
State University San Bernardino, and Associate Dean of Diversity, Inclusion and Justice at Tufts University.
With emphasis on establishing welcoming environments and ensuring student and
employee success, Mr. Howard has assembled a strong cache of leadership tools that are designed to meet such objectives, such as inauguration of a DEI unit, creation of an academic division, initiation of climate and exit surveys, advancement of engaging
community dialogues series, creation of a Dismantling Racism/Bias Initiative,
implementation of a National Model for Excellence in Diversity & Inclusion,
development of an Annual Equal Opportunity/Diversity Summit; and oversight of a
university-wide Hiring Policy, just to name a few.
Mr. Howard serves on the Board of Directors for Collegiate Bridge, Inc., a non-profit organization that aims to increase retention and graduation rates and economic self-sufficiency of black students. He is also the Chair of the Alpha Phi Alpha Educational Foundation and is a member of the Board of the Directors of the Alpha South Educational Foundation, and the GZL Educational Foundation that supports a male mentoring group and awards college scholarships to its participants.
Mr. Howard, the author of the book Pains for a Purpose, is a graduate of Florida State University and Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University.