Joyce
Payne

Dr. N. Joyce Payne founded the nationally recognized Thurgood Marshall College Fund in 1987. The TMCF is designed exclusively for exceptional students at the nation’s publicly supported Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

In 2008-2009, she served as Executive Director of the National Alliance for Public Trust, a new organization committed to advancing principled leadership in American institutions. She accepted this position following her retirement as Vice President, Office for the Advancement of Public Black Colleges, and Council of Student Affairs of the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities (APLU) in cooperation with the American Association of State Colleges & Universities (AASCU).

An authority on women’s issues in relation to higher education and labor force participation, Payne has published and presented papers on the pursuit of equality for women and African Americans in higher education.

Payne received a bachelor’s degree in speech pathology from the former District of Columbia Teachers College and earned her master’s and doctorate degrees in education from the former Atlanta University.