Former President of Morgan State University to be the Featured Speaker at Benedict College’s Winter Commencement Convocation
December 8, 2014
COLUMBIA, SC – Dr. Earl Stanford Richardson, Former President of Morgan State University, will deliver the winter commencement address during the Benedict College 144th Commencement Exercises. The commencement convocation is set for 9 a.m., Saturday, December 13, 2014, in the Benjamin E. Mays Human Resources Center Arena on the main campus.
A native of Maryland, Dr. Richardson earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in social science from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (formerly Maryland State College), the Masters of Science and the Doctor of Education degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. He has been a Fellow of the Ford Foundation and the Kellogg Foundation, and has conducted extensive research on critical problems in higher education relevant to racial autonomy, desegregation and integration. He has written several articles on the implications of proposals to merge historically Black institutions with white institutions and on inter-institutional cooperation in higher education.
After 26 years, Dr. Richardson stepped away from the presidency of Morgan State University on June 30, 2010, and now is a senior researcher in the Robert M. Bell Center for Civil Rights in Education crusading for the comparability and competitiveness of HBCUs with traditionally white institutions.
As president of Morgan State University, Dr. Richardson fashioned an all-encompassing strategy for strengthening academic programs, improving fiscal management, stabilizing student enrollment, accelerating fund-raising efforts, and renovating the University’s physical plant. As a result of his leadership, the College experienced growth and improvement over the last decade securing over a half billion in funding for the renovation, construction, planning and/or design of new classrooms, housing, student development, and other campus facilities. Moreover, the size of the student body increased by over 40% in the last five years of his presidency.
Before becoming President of Morgan State University on November 1, 1984, Dr. Richardson served in a number of administrative positions including: Assistant to the President of the University of Maryland System; and Executive Assistant to the Chancellor, Director of Career Planning; and Placement and Acting Director of Admissions and Registration at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
Dr. Richardson is very active in civic and community organizations. He serves as a member of the LifeBridge; the National Institute of Health/The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Working Group; the Baltimore Vision 2030 Committee; the Baltimore/Washington 2012 Coalition; the American Council on Education’s (ACE) Commission on International Education; the Goldseker Foundation; Maryland Education Coalition Advisory Board; an Honorary Board member of Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. (BNI); Partnership for Learning (PFL); the Board of Educational Testing Service (ETS); the Board for Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network; the Board of Trustees Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA); Board of Directors of the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame Foundation (1994); former Chairman and present Secretary of the Board of Directors for the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO); and former Chair, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) (1998). He has also served as a member of the Boards of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Greater Baltimore Committee, the Committee of 100 for the Science Center, the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater Foundation of Maryland, the National Board of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (1992), and the Board of the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education.
He is married to the former Sheila Bunting and they have one son, Eric.
