TITLE: Dr. Robert Albright

COVERAGE: 1983 to 1994

DESCRIPTION: Dr. Robert Albright’s materials are included in the collection of the Office of the President, which is housed in the Inez Moore Parker Archives and Research Center at Johnson C. Smith University. The Office of the President Collection contains speeches, manuscripts, photographs, and other documents of individuals who have served as President of Johnson C. Smith University.

TYPE: Photograph

PHOTOGRAPH DATE: 1990's

CREATOR: Inez Moore Parker Archives and Research Center

ACQUISITION DATE: August 2000

PROCESSED BY: Monika R. Rhue

HISTORICAL NOTE: Prior to becoming president of Johnson C. Smith University, Dr. Albright held a wide variety of positions in the field of higher education. He was the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He also served as the Special Assistant to the Assistant of Postsecondary Education in the United States Department of Education, the Vice President for Student Affairs at Lincoln University, the Director of Upward Bound at Virginia Union University, and as an Instructor and Director of Admissions at Lincoln University. Dr. Robert Albright was appointed as the eleventh president of Johnson C. Smith University in July 1983. He was born on December 2, 1944, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received an A. B. degree from Lincoln University, a Master’s Degree from Tufts University, and an honorary doctorate from Lenoir-Rhyne College.

Dr. Albright was the first African American to serve as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Council of Education. He also served as a Trustee for Warren Wilson College, the Southern Education Foundation, the Education Development Center, and the Cities-in-Schools Project of Charlotte, North Carolina. Additionally, he was as a member of the Board of Directors of the United Negro College Fund, the National Consortium for Educational Access, a member of the Board of Visitors of Lenior-Rhyne College, a Trustee of the Educational Testing Service, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Consortium for International and Intercultural Education (NCCIIE).

In 1984, Dr. Albright received a Fulbright Scholarship to study education in China. In 1986, he served on a State Department Task Force to explore higher education opportunities for Blacks in South Africa.  He also spent three months in Japan as a United States – Japan Leadership Fellow under the sponsorship of the Japan Society of New York. Dr. Albright has written numerous articles on issues relating to higher education such as teacher education reform, the future challenges of Historically Black Colleges, and higher education in Japan.

During his tenure at JCSU, he raised endowed funds from $2 million to $16 million, and increased the percentage of faculty with doctoral degrees from 33% to 75%.  In addition, six new building were constructed, including a facility to house the school’s Honors College.

COPYRIGHT: Any display, publication, or public use, must credit the Inez Moore Parker Archives and Research Center at Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Materials on this web site have been made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. For these purposes, you may reproduce (print, make photocopies, or download) materials from this web site without prior permission, with the condition that you provide proper attribution of the source in all copies.

You must contact the Archives and Research Center at archives@jcsu.edu for permission to use materials from this web site for commercial products, publications, broadcasts, mirroring, or any other purpose that is not considered “fair use”.

SITE CREATION DATE: April 11, 2003