BMCC Welcomes Dr. S. Raschaad Hoggard as Executive Chief of Staff, Office of the President

Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) is pleased to welcome Dr. S. Raschaad Hoggard as Executive Chief of Staff, Office of the President, effective April 19. Dr. Hoggard reports directly to President Dr. Anthony E. Munroe and will support President Munroe on several vital initiatives as well as help move the vision and mission of BMCC forward.

“As Executive Chief of Staff, S. Raschaad Hoggard brings a vital new perspective to the BMCC Cabinet,” said President Munroe. “Dr. Hoggard’s impressive background will enable him to play a key role as we engage community partners to help us achieve the College’s collective goals.”

The new Chief of Staff will work closely with the President to develop healthy relationships and partnerships with community stakeholders, alumni, members of the faith-based community as well as corporate and nonprofit organizations that will help drive BMCC’s social and economic equity mission forward.

Dr. Hoggard brings many years of experience to BMCC, both as a higher education administrator at Medgar Evers College, CUNY, and as an innovative leader in the New York City area nonprofit sector. Dr. Hoggard has also been serving, and will continue to serve, as interim minister at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem while the congregation seeks a successor to long-time pastor Dr. Calvin O. Butts who passed away in 2022.

“My work lies at the intersection of higher education, faith and social justice,” said Dr. Hoggard. “One informs the other. As Dr. Butts would say, one needs a trained mind, a centered heart and a solid education to go into the world, turn it upside down and right side up. I have employed this mantra as a tool to empower young people to use education as a mechanism to dismantle racism and other systems of inequality.”

While at Medgar Evers College, Dr. Hoggard worked closely with a team assembled by former College President Dr. Edison O. Jackson in the creation of the Male Development and Empowerment Center. This initiative led to the system-wide Black Male Initiative (BMI) which supports the inclusion and educational success of male students from groups that are severely under-represented in higher education.

After Medgar Evers, Dr. Hoggard joined the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies where he worked with over 200 nonprofits and educational institutions across New York City to determine how they could work more collaboratively to support the needs of their constituents. Dr. Hoggard later served as Assistant Executive Director at Westchester County based St. Christopher’s Inc., where he led a Diversity Equity and Inclusion task force that led to a more diverse and representative board at the organization.

Dr. Hoggard sees higher education in and of itself as a form of social justice that has the power to transform communities. Education, he says, is the last great equalizer in our society.

“Education is not just about an individual, it is more so about the communities which have produced them and having the courage to apply what they’ve learned in a thoughtful and compassionate way to create what Dr. Martin Luther King called the beloved community, which is so necessary for today,” he said.