Dr. Earl S. Richardson
Dr. Clara I. Adams
Dr. Ruthe T. Sheffey
Dr. David K. Wilson
There was Dr. Clara I. Adams, who was central to Morgan’ s transition from a college to a university. In 1985, she was promoted from Dean of the School of Graduate Studies to Vice President for Academic Affairs. In this role, she led the development of five new bachelor’ s degrees, six new master’ s degrees and eleven new doctoral programs.
Adams is Morgan’ s longestserving Vice President for Academic Affairs and its second-longest continuously serving faculty member and administrator.
There was Dr. Burney J. Hollis, who served as my Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. Hollis had been co-founder of the Middle-Atlantic Writers Association, Inc., and would serve as founding editor of the Middle-Atlantic Writers Association Review for more than thirty years.
There was Dr. Rosalyn Terborg- Penn, who would later draft the proposal for Morgan’ s very first PhD program, a doctorate in History. She achieved global acclaim for establishing African American Women’ s History as a legitimate academic discipline.
These pivotal figures followed the paths that Thomas Cripps, Beulah Davis, Ellen Irene Diggs, Nick Aaron Ford, Iva Jones, Robert Lewis Gill, Roland McConnell,
Richard I. McKinney, Benjamin Arthur Quarles, Ruthe T. Sheffey and countless others took in establishing Morgan’ s reputation as an education oasis for students like me.
Holmes Hall
Morgan also grew in leaps and bounds. Since my arrival in 1988, its physical campus expanded beyond the main academic quad, centered by Holmes Hall, all the way to Argonne Drive to encompass a massive growth of buildings to include dorms and new academic buildings.
Much of this expansion occurred during the quarter century of Richardson’ s presidency and has come to be known as“ The Morgan Renaissance.”
In 2010, the Morgan leadership mantle was passed to Dr. David K. Wilson who is moving the University forward with very deliberate speed.
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