ORANGEBURG, SC (WOLO) — Dr. Barbara R. Hatton, considered a pioneering educator and former HBCU President, has died at 84 in Boston, Massachusetts.

According to her obituary, Dr. Hatton became the first woman President of South Carolina State University in 1992. Her leadership roles included Dean, School of Education, at Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta), at Tuskegee University, and Deputy Director of the Education and Culture Program at the Ford Foundation, where she advanced national initiatives addressing teacher shortages and strengthening community-based schooling.

From 1997 to 2005, as President of Knoxville College, she designed the pioneering debt-free “work college” model, enabling students to earn their education through structured internships.

Her honors included the ROS

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