Richard Allyn English is the Provost and Chief Academic Officer of Howard University. Dr. English's appointment became effective on July 1, 2003. He was dean and professor of social work at the Howard University School of Social Work from 1985 to 2003. Under his leadership at Howard, three Major Centers were established: The E. Franklin Frazier Center for Social Work Research; the Baker's Dozen Center for Family and Community Resource and Research Center; and the Multidisciplinary Gerontology Center. He greatly enhanced the School's research program and its extramural funding. The Howard University School of Social Work was nationally ranked during his deanship.

Prior to coming to Howard, Dr. English was on the faculty of The University of Michigan School of Social Work. For 20 years while at Michigan he served in various faculty and administrative positions, including assistant dean of the School of Social Work, chairman of the Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Social Science and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs. As Associate Vice President, Dr. English was responsible for the University's central academic services, which included the $10 million financial aid budget, undergraduate admissions, specialized libraries, including The Bentley Historical Library and the Museum of Art. He shared the oversight of the University's 17 schools and colleges with the Vice President for Academic Affairs..

In 1983 and 1984, before becoming the Dean and Professor at Howard University School of Social Work, Dr. English was a visiting Distinguished Professor and The Robert Lee Sutherland Chair in Mental Health and Social Policy at The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work. He was a visiting scholar at Hebrew University Paul Baerwald School of Social Work in Jerusalem, Israel. Dr. English has been a visiting professor at other Universities, which includes; Howard University Center for Urban Affairs and Research, and lecturer at Wayne State University School of Social Work.

Dr. English's academic publications and research cover a wide range of subjects, including human service organizations, African American families, refugees and immigrants, the homeless, education, child welfare, social welfare policy, social policy and mental health and welfare reform. He co-edited the first book on human service organizations published by The University of Michigan Press in 1972. His writings and research have made him a well sought after lecturer in leading universities and colleges in the United States and abroad. He recently completed a study on homeless families and children seeking shelter in the District of Columbia.

Dr. English has received numerous awards for his professional leadership, service and scholarship, including the l997 Presidential Award for Excellence in Social Work Education from the National Association of Social Workers, The Whitney Young, Jr. Scholar at Western Michigan University School of Social Work in l987 and Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Black Social Workers. He has been cited for his service and contributions on numerous social service, educational and editorial boards, local, national and international. He is a past President of the Council on Social Work Education, the national accreditation organization for all social work education programs in the United States. Dr. English currently serves as editor-in-Chief of the 19th Supplement Edition of the Encyclopedia of Social Work of the National Association of Social Workers, and President of the Board of Trustees of The Booker T. Washington Public Charter School for the Technical Arts, Washington, DC.

Dr. English has served for many years as a member of the Howard University Episcopal/Anglican Council. He is a member of the St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Foggy Bottom, City of Washington, where he served as Junior Warden. He was Chairman of St. Mary's Capital Campaign for the Restoration and Preservation of Church Buildings, and serves as a Liturgical Lay Eucharistic Minister. Dr. English served as a member of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington Bishop's Mission Strategy Advisory Group and on the Search Committee for the Eighth Episcopal Bishop of Washington.

Dr. English earned his A.B. degree in history, political science and art with honors from Talladega College, Alabama in 1958. He earned his master's degree in history and political science from The University of Michigan in 1959, his Master of Social Work degree with specialization in social group work and community organization from The University of Michigan in 1964 and his Ph.D. degree in social work and sociology from the University of Michigan in 1970. He received a Certificate in Refugee Studies from the International Summer School on Forced Migration at The University of Oxford (2001). He is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who Among Black Americans, Who's Who in the Midwest; Men of Achievement, and Men and Women of Distinction.

For 22 years, Dr. English was married to the late Ireita Geraldine Williams English.