Kappa Alpha Psi’s Philip G. Hubbard Became the University of Iowa’s First Black Professor and Vice President

Did you know that the engineer and educator who broke the color barrier on the faculty and in the administration of the University of Iowa was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.? His name was Philip G. Hubbard, and he spent his life opening doors in higher education.

Philip Gamaliel Hubbard was born on March 4, 1921, in Macon, Missouri, and grew up in Des Moines, Iowa. He enrolled at the University of Iowa, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1946, a master’s degree in 1949, and a doctorate in 1954. As the Daily Iowan documents, it was there, during his sophomore year, that Hubbard was initiated into Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. through the fraternity’s Gamma Chapter, and in 1946 he served as the chapter’s polemarch.

Hubbard went on to make history at his alma mater. He became the first African American professor in the history of the University of Iowa, earning an international reputation as a scholar, inventor, and consultant in the fields of electronics and hydraulics. His brilliance in the classroom and the laboratory made him one of the university’s most respected minds.

His leadership soon carried him into the administration. As the University of Iowa notes, Hubbard was the first African American to hold several administrative posts at the university, including his 1971 appointment as vice president, a role that also made him the first African American vice president at any university in the Big Ten. He served in that capacity until his retirement in 1991.

Hubbard used his position to lift others as he climbed. In 1987 he founded the Opportunity at Iowa program to recruit and retain students and faculty of color, and in 1981 the university established the Philip G. Hubbard Human Rights Award in his honor, recognizing his lifelong commitment to the human rights of all people.

Philip G. Hubbard died on April 10, 2002. From the engineering labs of the University of Iowa to the highest levels of its administration, Kappa Alpha Psi’s Philip G. Hubbard opened doors that stayed open for the Black students and scholars who followed him.