News Releases
Morehouse College Names Robert Michael Franklin As College's 10th President


Atlanta, GA., April 30, 2007 -- The Morehouse College Board of Trustees has named Dr. Robert Michael Franklin Jr. the 10th President of Morehouse College. Franklin will officially take office on Monday, July 2, succeeding Dr. Walter E. Massey (Morehouse class of 1958), who will retire June 30, 2007.

Franklin currently serves as presidential distinguished professor of social ethics at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He is leader, in the Office of the Provost, for the university's strategic theme focused on "Confronting the Human Condition." He also is a senior fellow in the Center for Interdisciplinary Study of Religion in the School of Law. From 1997 to 2002, Franklin served as president of the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC), which is part of the Atlanta University Center consortium. He also has served as theologian in residence at The Chautaugua Institution in New York.

"We are fortunate to have someone of Dr. Franklin’s national stature -- a man who exemplifies the best qualities of a Morehouse man, the one who rose to the top among a distinguished pool of candidates," said Willie J. Davis, chairman of the Board of Trustees. "In selecting Dr. Franklin, great consideration was given to the strength of his moral and spiritual character, his experience as an educational and administrative leader, and his ability to attract funds and friends to the College."

"At a time of social crisis in African American communities and throughout the nation, the educational mission of Morehouse is more urgent than ever before," said Franklin. “I am both humbled and energized by the Boards' invitation to serve the College that has produced extraordinary change agents and thought leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Maynard Jackson, Julian Bond and Spike Lee."

A 1975 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and religion, Dr. Franklin earned the Masters of Divinity in Christian Social Ethics, Pastoral Care from Harvard Divinity School, and the Ph.D. in Ethics and Society, Religion and the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago Divinity School.

A frequent commentator for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, which airs daily on the national radio network, Franklin has built a national platform on social ethics and community values. In his latest book titled, Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope to African American Communities, Dr. Franklin identifies the crises in the three anchor institutions that have played key roles in the black struggle for freedom -- Black families, the Black church and historically black colleges and universities -- and how they must address the rising rates of father absence, births to unmarried parents, divorce, and domestic abuse or relationship violence.

Franklin currently serves on several prestigious boards including the Jessie Ball DuPont Fund (Jacksonville, FL); Character Education Partnership (Washington, DC); Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference (Chicago, IL); Joseph Lowery Institute for Justice and Human Rights at Clark Atlanta University (Atlanta, GA); Public Broadcasting of Atlanta – WABE (Atlanta, GA); and Visiting Committee, National Centers for Disease Control (Atlanta, GA).


Dr. Robert Michael Franklin's resume and downloadable photo are available at www.morehouse.edu/presidentialsearch.
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