Marilyn Sutton-Haywood, Ph.D.

Vice President for Academic Affairs 

Marilyn Sutton-Haywood, Ph.D. is Vice President for Academic Affairs at Bethune-Cookman University. She has twenty-seven years of experience in higher education with seven of those years in executive management positions at Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte, North Carolina. Prior to that, Dr. Sutton-Haywood served as faculty in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Biology Departments at Kennesaw State University and Johnson C. Smith University, respectively.   She earned her B.S. degree in biology, graduating magna cum laude, from North Carolina Central University, Durham, North Carolina in 1975.  In 1977, she earned a M.S. in biology from Clark Atlanta University (formerly Atlanta University).  Her Ph.D. was conferred in 1980 from the same institution.

Dr. Sutton-Haywood has led a Southern Association of College and Schools (SACS) reaffirmation effort, managed the implementation of an academic software system, monitored grant writing efforts of the academic division, and served as academic liaison with funding, professional, and accrediting agencies. 

She has served as principal investigator and/or author of grants from private foundations and the federal government as well as review panelist for the National Institutes of Health.  Her memberships include the Council on Undergraduate Research, National Association of Biology Teachers, and American Association for the Advancement of Science. She holds a certificate from the Institute for Educational Management (IEM), Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Hiram Powell, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs/Professor, School of Arts and Humanities

Dr. Powell is an alumnus of Bethune-Cookman University with the Bachelor of Science, the Master of Fine Arts from the University of Florida, and the Ph.D. from Florida State University.  Dr. Powell is certified in both Computers/Electronic Music and Music Management.  Throughout his career and training, he has been consistently appointed or elected to top leadership positions, including, but not limited to, Board and Executive Committee Chair of the International Artist Community, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Vice President for Arts for a Complete Education/Florida Alliance for Arts Education (ACE/FAAE), President and Vice President of the Florida State Music Theory Society, and State Advisor for Florida Collegiate Music Educators National Conference, where he served an unprecedented three terms.  Dr. Powell’s innovation and determination have resulted in founding Bethune-Cookman University’s much celebrated Jazz Combo and its cutting edge music technology program that includes a state of the arts professional recording studio. Dr. Powell joined the Bethune-Cookman University faculty in 1980; he served twelve years as Head of the Music Department.