(Los Angeles, CA) November 15, 2006 – Operation HOPE today announced that Chairman Founder and CEO John Hope Bryant will serve three years as a member of the Xavier University Board of Visitors, advancing the goals and interests of Xavier University and providing counsel to university president, Dr. Norman Francis.
The Xavier University Board of Visitors is comprised of some of the most prestigious and influential people nationwide, who share counsel to the President to promote the University and help chart the course of action for the school.
“I appreciate the opportunity to assist the university in addressing the expanding needs and challenges of the community. Additionally, through Operation HOPE’s emergency preparedness and recovery division (and FEMA partner) HOPE Coalition America, now on-the-ground and helping victims of Katrina daily in the Gulf Coast region, I feel a personal responsibility to engage with the leadership there; to add value, and to be of substantive service and assistance. In this regard I have particular respect for Dr. Norman Francis, who in addition to serving as the visionary president of the university, also serves as chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Agency, the agency charged with rebuilding the state following Hurricane Katrina. I figured if he could do more, then I could too.” said Bryant.
As a historically black college, Xavier University seeks to promote founder St. Katherine Drexel’s vision of promoting “a more and just and humane society.” Xavier University has placed more African American students into medical schools and awarded more pharmacy degrees than Harvard, Yale, Michigan and North Carolina, or such prominent historically Black colleges and universities’ as Spelman and Howard. Recent polls also show Xavier ranks first in the nation in the number of African American students earning baccalaureate degrees in biological and biomedical sciences, and physics.