[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 41 (Wednesday, March 3, 2010)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 9749-9752]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-4593]



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Part V





The President





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Executive Order 13532--Promoting Excellence, Innovation, and 
Sustainability at Historically Black Colleges and Universities


                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 41 / Wednesday, March 3, 2010 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

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                Executive Order 13532 of February 26, 2010

                
Promoting Excellence, Innovation, and 
                Sustainability at Historically Black Colleges and 
                Universities

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, in order to advance the development of the 
                Nation's full human potential and to advance equal 
                opportunity in higher education, strengthen the 
                capacity of historically black colleges and 
                universities to provide the highest quality education, 
                increase opportunities for these institutions to 
                participate in and benefit from Federal programs, and 
                ensure that our Nation has the highest proportion of 
                college graduates in the world by the year 2020, it is 
                hereby ordered as follows:

                Section 1. Policy. Historically black colleges and 
                universities (HBCUs) have made historic and ongoing 
                contributions to the general welfare and prosperity of 
                our country. Established by visionary leaders, 
                America's HBCUs, for over 150 years, have produced many 
                of the Nation's leaders in business, government, 
                academia, and the military and have provided 
                generations of American men and women with hope and 
                educational opportunity. The Nation's 105 HBCUs are 
                located in 20 States, the District of Columbia, and the 
                U.S. Virgin Islands and serve more than 300,000 
                undergraduate and graduate students. These institutions 
                continue to be important engines of economic growth and 
                community service, and they are proven ladders of 
                intergenerational advancement for men and women of all 
                ethnic, racial, and economic backgrounds, especially 
                African Americans. These institutions also produce a 
                high number of baccalaureate recipients who go on to 
                assume leadership and service roles in their 
                communities and who successfully complete graduate and 
                professional degree programs.

                Sec. 2. White House Initiative on HBCUs.

                    (a) Establishment. There is established the White 
                House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and 
                Universities (Initiative), to be housed in the 
                Department of Education (Department).
                    (b) Mission and Functions. The Initiative shall 
                work with executive departments, agencies, and offices, 
                the private sector, educational associations, 
                philanthropic organizations, and other partners to 
                increase the capacity of HBCUs to provide the highest-
                quality education to a greater number of students, and 
                to take advantage of these institutions' capabilities 
                in serving the Nation's needs through five core tasks:

(i) strengthening the capacity of HBCUs to participate in Federal programs;

(ii) fostering enduring private-sector initiatives and public-private 
partnerships while promoting specific areas and centers of academic 
research and programmatic excellence throughout all HBCUs;

(iii) improving the availability, dissemination, and quality of information 
concerning HBCUs to inform public policy and practice;

(iv) sharing administrative and programmatic practices within the HBCU 
community for the benefit of all; and

(v) exploring new ways of improving the relationship between the Federal 
Government and HBCUs.

                    (c) Administration. There shall be an Executive 
                Director of the Initiative. The Department shall 
                provide the staff, resources, and assistance for the 
                Initiative, and shall assist the Initiative in 
                fulfilling its mission and responsibilities under this 
                order.

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                    (d) Federal Agency Plans. (1) Each executive 
                department and agency designated by the Secretary of 
                Education (Secretary) shall prepare an annual plan 
                (agency plan) of its efforts to strengthen the capacity 
                of HBCUs through increased participation in appropriate 
                Federal programs and initiatives. Where appropriate, 
                each agency plan shall address, among other things, the 
                agency's proposed efforts to:

  (i) establish how the department or agency intends to increase the 
capacity of HBCUs to compete effectively for grants, contracts, or 
cooperative agreements and to encourage HBCUs to participate in Federal 
programs;

  (ii) identify Federal programs and initiatives in which HBCUs may be 
either underserved or underused as national resources, and improve HBCUs' 
participation therein; and

  (iii) encourage public-sector, private-sector, and community involvement 
in improving the overall capacity of HBCUs.

(2) Each department and agency, in its agency plan, shall provide 
appropriate measurable objectives and, after the first year, shall annually 
assess that department's or agency's performance on the goals set in the 
previous year's agency plan.

(3) The Secretary shall establish a date by which agency plans shall be 
submitted to the Secretary. The Secretary and the Executive Director shall 
review the agency plans in consultation with the President's Board of 
Advisors on HBCUs, established in section 3 of this order, and shall submit 
to the President an annual plan to strengthen the overall capacity of 
HBCUs.

(4) To help fulfill the objectives of these plans, the head of each 
department and agency identified by the Secretary shall provide, as 
appropriate, technical assistance and information to the Executive Director 
for purposes of communicating with HBCUs concerning program activities of 
the department or agency and the preparation of applications or proposals 
for grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements.

(5) To help fulfill the goals of this order, each executive department and 
agency identified by the Secretary shall appoint a senior official to 
report directly to the department or agency head with respect to that 
department's or agency's activities under this order, and to serve as 
liaison to the President's Board of Advisors on HBCUs and to the 
Initiative.

                    (e) Interagency Working Group. There is established 
                the Interagency Working Group, which shall be convened 
                by the Executive Director and that shall consist of 
                representatives from agencies designated by the 
                Secretary, to help advance and coordinate the work of 
                Federal agencies pursuant to this order, where 
                appropriate.

                Sec. 3. President's Board of Advisors on HBCUs.

                    (a) Establishment. There is established in the 
                Department the President's Board of Advisors on 
                Historically Black Colleges and Universities (the 
                Board). The Board shall consist of not more than 25 
                members appointed by the President. The President shall 
                designate one member of the Board to serve as Chair, 
                who shall coordinate with the Executive Director to 
                convene meetings and help direct the work of the Board. 
                The Board shall include representatives of a variety of 
                sectors, including philanthropy, education, business, 
                finance, entrepreneurship, innovation, and private 
                foundations, as well as sitting HBCU presidents.
                    (b) Mission and Functions. Through the Initiative, 
                the Board shall advise the President and the Secretary 
                on all matters pertaining to strengthening the 
                educational capacity of HBCUs. In particular, the Board 
                shall advise the President and the Secretary in the 
                following areas:

(i) improving the identity, visibility, and distinctive capabilities and 
overall competitiveness of HBCUs;

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(ii) engaging the philanthropic, business, government, military, homeland-
security, and education communities in a national dialogue regarding new 
HBCU programs and initiatives;

(iii) improving the ability of HBCUs to remain fiscally secure institutions 
that can assist the Nation in reaching its goal of having the highest 
proportion of college graduates by 2020;

(iv) elevating the public awareness of HBCUs; and

(v) encouraging public-private investments in HBCUs.

                    (c) Administration. The Executive Director of the 
                Initiative shall also serve as the Executive Director 
                of the Board. The Department shall provide funding and 
                administrative support for the Board to the extent 
                permitted by law and within existing appropriations. 
                Members of the Board shall serve without compensation, 
                but shall be reimbursed for travel expenses, including 
                per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by law. 
                Insofar as the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as 
                amended (5 U.S.C. App.), may apply to the Board, any 
                functions of the President under that Act, except for 
                those of reporting to the Congress, shall be performed 
                by the Secretary, in accordance with guidelines issued 
                by the Administrator of General Services.
                    (d) Report. As part of the annual report of the 
                Initiative, the Board shall report to the President and 
                the Secretary on their progress in carrying out its 
                duties under this section.

                Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) For the purposes of 
                this order, ``historically black colleges and 
                universities'' shall mean those institutions listed in 
                34 C.F.R. 602.8.

                    (b) This order shall apply to executive departments 
                and agencies designated by the Secretary. Those 
                departments and agencies shall provide timely reports 
                and such information as is required to effectively 
                carry out the objectives of this order.
                    (c) The heads of executive departments and agencies 
                shall assist and provide information through the White 
                House Initiative to the Board, consistent with 
                applicable law, as may be necessary to carry out the 
                functions of the Board. Each executive department and 
                agency shall bear its own expenses of participating in 
                the Initiative.
                    (d) Nothing in this order shall be construed to 
                impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the 
head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

                    (e) This order shall be implemented consistent with 
                applicable law and subject to the availability of 
                appropriations.

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                    (f) This order is not intended to, and does not, 
                create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, 
                enforceable at law or in equity by any party against 
                the United States, its departments, agencies, or 
                entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any 
                other person.
                    (g) Executive Order 13256 of February 12, 2002, is 
                hereby revoked.
                <GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    February 26, 2010.

[FR Doc. 2010-4593
Filed 3-2-10; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-W0-P