Tashni-Ann Dubroy


Tashni-Ann Dubroy is a Jamaican academic and university administrator in the United States. She has been executive vice-president and chief operations officer of Howard University since 2017, having previously served as president of Shaw University from 2015 to 2017.

Early life

Dubroy was born in Mandeville, Jamaica, the daughter of Emerson and Greta Coote. She was one of six siblings. Dubroy grew up in May Pen, attending Glenmuir High School. She later moved to the capital Kingston to attend Holy Childhood High and Wolmer's Girls' School.
Dubroy was accepted into the University of West Indies, but for family reasons chose to move to the United States at the age of 18 to attend Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York. She was the class valedictorian in 2000, and subsequently pursued further studies at Shaw University, North Carolina State University, and Rutgers University. Dubroy's first career was as a research scientist at BASF. She was hired as a global technology analyst within the polyolefin catalysts market sector, and later became a chemical procurement manager.

Academia

Shaw University

After two years at BASF, Dubroy joined Shaw University – in Raleigh, North Carolina – as an associate professor in chemistry. She eventually became chair of the university's Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and also served as a special assistant to the university president with responsibility for process optimization. In June 2015, the board of trustees announced that Dubroy would be replacing Gaddis Faulcon as university president. Aged 34 at the time, she became the second-youngest president in the university's history and the third woman to hold the post. In her two-year tenure, Dubroy oversaw Shaw's first enrolment increase in six years and the closing of a $4-million revenue gap.

Howard University

In July 2017, it was announced that Dubroy was resigning from Shaw University to become executive vice-president and chief operations officer at Howard University in Washington, D.C.. She took up her new appointment in October 2017, working under university president Wayne Frederick.