Dr. Andrew Hugine, Alabama A&M University’s president, says he has always wanted to work in education. His mother was a teacher, and, as an undergraduate at South Carolina State University, he majored in math education. He taught high school math for one year in Beaufort, South Carolina, after graduation before his alma mater came calling.
A student support position had opened and Dr. Oscar Butler, who had served as SCSU’s student government association (SGA) advisor while Hugine was SGA president, “went to bat” for Hugine, who had “basically no (professional) background whatsoever,” Hugine remembers.
“They took a chance on me, and that’s always been the part that impressed me — that they would take a chance on someone who, obviously if you look at the credentials of that person, was not qualified for the job,” Hugine says. “[But] I was eager, I wanted to do well, to learn higher education. … There’s a greater desire to prove yourself and not disappoint that person when you’re appointed to positions [because someone believed in you].”
Nearly half a century later, Hugine says his entire leadership philosophy is based on paying it forward.
“That has always impressed upon me the need to give others the opportunity, because someone took a chance on me,” he says. “They could very well have looked at the experience and my educational background, but they were looking and seeing something in a person that doesn’t always show up on paper. Throughout my career, I have tried to do the same.”
Not only do you “give people a chance,” he says, “but in a leadership position — yes, you lead from the head, but sometimes, you lead from the gut.”
Since that first position as a student support director at South Carolina State University, Hugine served as a college math professor, assistant vice president for academic affairs, executive vice president, chief operating officer and, finally, president of his alma mater before assuming the presidency at Alabama A&M in 2009.
