Maurice Edington, Ph.D., is the 10th President of the University of the District of Columbia. He began his tenure in August 2023. Edington brings over 20 years of higher education leadership experience to the University. Dr. Edington is an accomplished scientist, educator, and university administrator with a proven track record of improving student retention and graduation rates. Dr. Edington most recently served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Florida A&M University (FAMU), where he guided strategy for vice presidents and other senior administrators to improve institutional outcomes on key performance indicators and sustain operational excellence. Direct reports included the provost and vice president for academic affairs, vice president for student affairs, vice president for research, vice president for strategic planning, director of communications, and executive director of Title III programs.
Dr. Edington previously served as the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs (2018-2022). In that role, he was responsible for all matters pertaining to academic programs, activities, and services in the 14 colleges/schools, including overseeing all institutional and specialized accreditation activities. He managed an annual operating budget of $99 million for 9,200 students and over 500 full-time faculty.
As Provost, Dr. Edington served as the university’s chief strategist and worked closely with FAMU’s President and BOT to establish and advance the university’s strategic priorities. Under his leadership, FAMU made tremendous strides in increasing student success outcomes, launched several new degree programs, and experienced its highest performance (in 2021 and 2023) on Florida’s Performance-Based Funding Model. Under Dr. Edington’s guidance, the university also climbed into the top 100 public national universities in the U.S. News & World Report rankings and became the nation’s highest-ranked public HBCU, a designation it has held for the past five years.
Dr. Edington established the Office of Undergraduate Research, the Office of Freshman Studies, and the Office of STEM Outreach to support his vision for increasing student success. He also previously served as the Chair of the State University System of Florida Council of Academic Vice Presidents, and he chaired the university’s Strategic Planning Committee that developed the recently approved 2022-2027 strategic plan.
Dr. Edington previously served as the Vice President for Strategic Planning, Analysis, and Institutional Effectiveness at FAMU. In this role, he oversaw the university’s assessment, accreditation, academic program quality, institutional research, reporting, and strategic planning functions. Several notable achievements marked his tenure in this role. These include leading the development and implementation of the university’s 2017-2022 strategic plan, coordinating the successful decennial accreditation review by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), co-authoring the university’s annual Legislative Budget Requests and providing leadership on implementing strategies to improve the university’s outcomes on the Performance-based Funding Model.
Dr. Edington previously served as the founding Dean of the FAMU College of Science and Technology. Under his leadership, the college improved in several key areas, including increasing freshman retention rates, grant awards and graduate enrollment. He spearheaded the development of the college’s inaugural strategic plan, guided the revamping of the college’s tenure and promotion criteria, and implemented several academic support initiatives that helped to increase student success rates in several science and mathematics gateway courses. In addition, Dr. Edington facilitated the college’s efforts in establishing strategic partnerships with several corporations and government agencies to garner support for the college’s strategic priorities.
Dr. Edington’s previous administrative experiences include serving as the Director of the FAMU Quality Enhancement Program (QEP), Chair of the FAMU Department of Chemistry, and Director of the FAMU Office of Engineering and Science Support. Dr. Edington also has extensive experience with accreditation and strategic planning. Under his supervision as Dean, the FAMU computer science program completed a successful ABET accreditation review. Additionally, he has served as FAMU’s SACSCOC Accreditation Liaison since 2010.
Dr. Edington is a physical chemist by training with a research specialty in ultrafast laser spectroscopy. He also conducts research and provides training to faculty in the area of STEM education, with a focus on using active learning instructional strategies to enhance critical thinking skills.
Dr. Edington received his B.A. in chemistry from Fisk University a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Vanderbilt University, and he completed postdoctoral studies at Duke University, where he was a National Institutes of Health National Research Service Award Postdoctoral Fellow.
Dr. Edington is married to Tonya Edington and is the father of Gabriella Edington, M.D.