Serving about 1,000 students, Huston-Tillotson University has been “making do” to provide suitable on-campus housing and academic buildings for its students and faculty, to hear University President and CEO Dr. Melva K. Wallace tell it.
While HT receives support from alumni, local businesses and generations of neighbors who have been proud of the private Christian university’s legacy, the institution has had to turn away student applicants and stall plans to increase technology and expand on its 24-acre campus. However, when the University hosted its annual President’s Fall Convocation last September, the Moody Foundation, a billion-dollar local philanthropic organization, presented the university with a financial blessing. “On this milestone, your 150th year, I am honored to announce that over the next decade the Moody Foundation will donate $150 million to Huston-Tillotson University,” announced Ross Moody, Moody Foundation Trustee, during a university-planned announcement that turned into a surprise for the board of trustees and president. When Elle Moody, the foundation’s Senior Vice President of Grants approached Wallace in 2025, Wallace said she thought Elle Moody meant to say $130,000 – not $130 million. The clarification was made which was followed by a long stare of disbelief, she recalled. Then came the tears. The donation would be the largest-ever single donation to any HBCU. To date, the second largest is a $100 million gift to Spelman from Spelman College Trustee Ronda Stryker and her husband, William Johnston. “I’m staring at her, she’s staring at me and she’s like, ‘we’re so excited and impressed and we just believe in HT,’” said Wallace who received the Innovative President Award for 2025 by the National College Resources Foundation. “I’m not the cool president; I’m snotting and crying. I’m a COGIC girl so I got the Holy Ghost.”
The Board of Trustees and a few VIPs like the Mayor of Austin were privy to the big news, but all were sworn to secrecy until the announcement could be made before the entire university community in the fall. Wallace couldn’t wait to tell the entire school community that its days of “making do” were done. In the meantime and behind the scenes, the Moody Foundation decided that in honor of the institution’s monumental 150th year, it would increase its $130 million donation by an additional $20 million. That was kept secret from the entire university until the day of the announcement. Again, Wallace and, this time, the Chair of the Board of Trustees Rev. Vanessa Monroe thought it was an accident. “When Ross Moody made the announcement, we thought he made a mistake, wondering if someone wrote down his notes wrong,” said Monroe. “He looked at President Wallace and said, ‘gotcha!’ It was real.” Wallace burst into tears on the chancel in the King-Seabrook chapel as the organist played jubilant preaching chords to celebrate the news. “I told Ross and Elle that people would have thrown a ticker tape parade over $20 million, ” said Wallace. “We have always not had enough. You’re talking about 150 years of inequality, starting from the bottom, now we’re here. There’s trauma in being the caretaker of a community. Now we have this great blessing. It takes a long way to right a ship.”
HBCU TIMES SUMMER ISSUE 2026 | 3 5
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