Dillard University

History

Both of Dillard's predecessor institutions were founded in 1869, in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, to provide education to New Orleans's large free Black population and to newly freed enslaved people. New Orleans had one of the largest concentrations of free Black residents in the antebellum South — a community that had developed its own churches, schools, and civic institutions — and the city's Black educational infrastructure was more developed than in most of the South.

The Rosenwald Fund, a philanthropic organization funded by Sears president Julius Rosenwald and focused on Black education, played a central role in facilitating the 1930 merger of Straight and New Orleans University and in funding the construction of Dillard's current campus. The Rosenwald Fund is best known for funding the construction of nearly 5,000 schools for Black children across the rural South — a program that transformed Black educational access in the first half of the twentieth century.

Dillard is notable for the architectural distinction of its campus, designed in the 1930s by the architect Moise Goldstein in the Southern Colonial style and recognized today as architecturally significant. The campus sits in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans.

Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on August 29, 2005. Dillard's campus was flooded to the rooflines of some buildings. The university relocated temporarily to a Dallas hotel and reopened in New Orleans in January 2007. The rebuilding process took years and required enormous fundraising efforts. President Walter Kimbrough, who led the university from 2012 to 2021, was widely credited with strengthening the institution's finances and profile in the post-Katrina era.

Leadership has turned over more rapidly in the years since. Dr. Rochelle L. Ford served as the university's eighth president from 2022 until stepping down in 2024, after which Dr. Monique Guillory — a New Orleans native and former Dillard provost — was named interim and then, in late 2024, the university's ninth permanent president, the first New Orleans native to lead the institution. In 2025 the philanthropist MacKenzie Scott gave Dillard $19 million, the largest single gift in the university's history. Guillory has framed her presidency around “reimagining” the university amid enrollment that has settled near 1,000 students — down from roughly 2,200 before Hurricane Katrina — pairing new academic partnerships, including a 2025 agreement with Kaplan for free graduate-exam preparation and certificate programs in entertainment and film, with the first new residence hall constructed on campus in years, which welcomed its first students in fall 2026.

Katrina and the Rebuilding

Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 flooded Dillard's campus, destroyed records, and scattered students and faculty across the country. The university's response — relocating the entire institution to a Dallas hotel, maintaining academic continuity, and eventually returning to New Orleans — has been studied as a case of institutional resilience under catastrophic conditions. The rebuilding required over $300 million in investments over fifteen years. Dillard graduated its classes every year through the recovery period. The experience deepened the institution's commitment to its community in ways that have shaped its programs in public health, urban education, and community engagement.

Notable Alumni

A representative selection. Alumni records are verified against institutional and published sources. Unverified entries are flagged explicitly — we do not fabricate records.

Source notes: Dillard University institutional archives; Julius Rosenwald Fund records at Fisk University; Lolis Eric Elie's coverage of post-Katrina New Orleans HBCUs; UNCF member institution records.