Brown Center for Students of Color

Andrew Vincent is a higher education professional who traces his roots to Black southern (Georgia and Louisiana) and Cape Verdean heritages. He has been working with students in various professional capacities since 2016. 

After graduating from Harvard College with a degree in Classics and a secondary in East Asian Studies, Andrew went on to work as a staff assistant at the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA), where he worked with alumni class committees on annual reunion programming. While there, Andrew worked with multiple classes each year to plan the program for each reunion year, including alumni and faculty speaker programs, class discussions and tours, evening galas and entertainment, and the beloved Children’s Program, which gave children of alumni an opportunity to experience Harvard campus.

During that time, he learned the history of struggle, determination, and overcoming adversity from alumni of color, female-identifying alumnae, LGBTQ+ alumni, and many others as they advocated to carve out their own spaces at Harvard and beyond. Through this learning, Andrew helped advocate on their behalf to ensure that the programming reflected and celebrated their struggles and successes. In particular, the classes of the mid-1960’s through 1970’s recounted the most turbulent and painful experiences as Harvard suddenly adopted widespread affirmative action, expanding the black student population from 18 black males (and one black woman who studied at Radcliffe) in the class of 1963, to over 150 black students 10 years later, thus leaving the strongest impression on Andrew. In 2018, during their 45th Reunion, Andrew was invited to participate as a recent graduate panelist for the Class of 1973, sharing experiences as a black student in contrast to the black student experiences from 1970-73. While holding that role, Andrew was instrumental to the College Alumni Programs success and helped navigate welcoming over 10,000 alumni back every year, while also helping class leaders be thoughtful about how to be intentional about inviting classmates to attend their reunion from diverse demographics of the class. It was this formative professional experience that led Andrew to consider looking forward and begin working with current students to continue that trajectory of ensuring the success of all in academia.

In 2019, Andrew joined the Institute of Politics (IOP) at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he had the opportunity to work with student leaders working in politics and public service. This office is uniquely positioned to primarily serve undergraduate students, but physically housed in the graduate school for public policy and administration, which brought the two communities together for events and conferences with politicians, journalists, human rights advocates and activists from around the world.  

After completing his Master’s Degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Andrew felt it was time to move on and search for a more appropriate leadership role within the higher education space. He returned to the Harvard Alumni Association as an Assistant Director of Reunions, with similar work to his staff assistant role, but in an elevated position as a direct liaison between the University and his alumni constituents. 

At the BCSC, Andrew oversees the Student Initiatives Team and the annual La Comunidad Celebration, ONYX Rites of Passage, and the BCSC Senior Stole Celebration. Andrew also supports the Graduate Students of Color (GSOC) initiative as well as post-graduation pathways for students of color.