Cheyney University News November 3, 2014 Interim President Dr. Frank G. Pogue Takes Over at Cheyney University Dr. Frank G. Pogue, a proven leader with over 50 years of experience in higher education, is Cheyney University of Pennsylvania's new Interim President. He takes over today, allowing Dr. Phyllis Worthy Dawkins, who served as Acting President following the retirement in July of Dr. Michelle R. Howard-Vital, to concentrate on her Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs duties. No stranger to Pennsylvania or Cheyney, having earned a Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh, having taught at Chatham and Duquesne Universities in Pittsburgh, and having served as president of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in northwestern PA, Dr. Pogue is excited to be at the helm of America's first institution of higher learning for African Americans. "I am delighted to be back in Pennsylvania. I am delighted to be back in the State System of Higher Education. I enjoyed my years in Pennsylvania, but I'm also especially thrilled to have been asked to serve at the oldest historically black institution of higher learning in America, called Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. I'm familiar with the excellence and the reputation of the institution in a number of academic fields. Cheyney has a history of reaching out to men and women and bringing them into the educational process and developing men and women of distinction." Pogue's list of accomplishments is extensive. While President of Edinboro, the university experienced unprecedented growth and advancement in academic programs, graduate enrollment, campus facilities and fundraising. When he retired in 2007, the university paid tribute to Dr. Pogue by naming its newly constructed student center in his honor and bestowed the title of President Emeritus and an Honorary Doctorate of Public Service on him. This isn't his first stint as Interim President of a college. Before being hired as Edinboro's first African American president, Dr. Pogue was Interim President at the State University of New York at Cobleskill. After retiring from Edinboro, he served as Interim President of Chicago State University. He retired in June 2014 as president of Grambling State University, a historically black university in Louisiana, where he was initially Interim President. And now, he's come out of retirement, yet again, to empower Cheyney to be sustained for many years to come. "I have been so thoroughly blessed to have been successful in several leadership roles, and I believe that those of us, especially my age, who are retired and don't have to work, can feel comfortable as we take an opportunity to pay it forward." Dr. Pogue has done some of that already. As Chairman of the Millennium Leadership Initiative (MLI), a unique professional development program which prepares qualified women and minorities for presidential and other senior level executive positions, Dr. Pogue is currently working with 30 individuals who have aspirations of becoming presidents of public or private colleges or universities. He has spent the last 14 years working with MLI and its highly qualified candidates, and, it's in that same spirit, that he gladly took the offer from the PA State System of Higher Education Board of Governors. "I believe I have the experience and the know how to be helpful to Cheyney, and so I'm willing to do what I call paying it forward." At this point, Pogue is in what he calls "learning mode", as he meets with all of the constituencies associated with the university. He is asking a slew of questions and will spend the next weeks sifting through his findings and working out a plan to build on the successes of Cheyney University by using his experience and vision to move the University forward and prepare it for eventual new presidential leadership. While a search is underway for a new president, Dr. Pogue will address some of Cheyney's significant challenges, which include increasing enrollment, adding new academic programs, improving financial aid services, reducing the deficit, and improving campus facilities. Over the course of his career, Dr. Pogue has held many other prominent academic positions, including Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Special Programs at the State University of New York, the largest and most complex system of 64 campuses in the United States. Dr. Pogue is a member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, which oversees the MLI. In addition to his doctorate, Dr. Pogue earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Alabama State University and a Master of Arts degree in sociology from Clark Atlanta University. He and his wife, Dorothy, reside in New Castle, Delaware. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-702-5854 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.