David Wilson (university administrator)

David Wilson, Ed.D has been president of Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland since July 1, 2010. Dr. David Wilson is the 12th president of Morgan State University and has a long record of accomplishments and more than 30 years of experience in higher education administration. Dr. Wilson holds four academic degrees: a B.S. in political science and an M.S. in education from Tuskegee University; an Ed.M. in educational planning and administration from Harvard University and an Ed.D. in administration, planning and social policy, also from Harvard. He came to Morgan from the University of Wisconsin, where he was chancellor of both the University of Wisconsin Colleges and the University of Wisconsin–Extension. Before that, he held numerous other administrative posts in academia, including: vice president and associate provost at Auburn University, and associate provost of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Dr. Wilson's tenure as Morgan's president has been characterized by great gains for the university. Among the many highlights: historic enrollment increases; procurement of the university’s largest-ever research contract, a $28.5-million, five-year contract from NASA; procurement of a $23.3 million grant from NIH, inclusion of Morgan as one of the recipients of a $129-million energy innovation research grant to Penn State University; the launch of an aggressive initiative to maintain excellence in customer service and improve the information technology infrastructure on campus; new construction on campus valued at $234 million; signing of articulation agreements with several two-year colleges, bringing Morgan bachelor's degrees to their campuses; approval of Morgan's first off-campus baccalaureate program by the State of Maryland; establishment of Morgan's first online degree program; a significant expansion of study abroad opportunities for Morgan students and the continuation of Morgan's tradition of producing Fulbright Scholars. Under Dr. Wilson's tenure, retention rates at Morgan are at all-time highs, and the graduation rate has increased by more than 20%. Further, alumni giving to the University has increased by nearly 160%, and annual giving to the University has increased by over 40%.

Dr. Wilson wrote two books and more than 20 articles published in scholarly journals. Among the many honors and recognitions he has received for his work, he was named one of the nation’s top 100 leaders in higher education by the American Association of Higher Education in 1998, was selected as one of The Maryland Daily Record newspaper's Influential Marylanders for 2011, and was honored by the University of Alabama with an award for outstanding leadership in engaged scholarship in April 2011. Dr. Wilson serves on the Boards of the American Council on Education, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, as well as the Board of Directors of the Greater Baltimore Committee,and the United Way of Central Maryland, and on the Governing Board of the Maryland Longitudinal Data System Center. He is a member of the Maryland Humanities Council — appointed by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley — and the P-20 Leadership Council of Maryland. In February 2010, President Barack Obama appointed him to the White House Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Dr. Wilson’s achievements as leader of Maryland's Public Urban University have clearly been strong, but it is the character he brings to the presidency, a character shaped by the intangibles of his background, that is perhaps most impressive of all. Dr. Wilson grew up with ten siblings on a sharecropper farm outside the small town of McKinley, Ala. Through hard work, tenacity and the encouragement of his father and his teachers, he became the first person in his family to attend college.

Dr. Wilson's educational philosophy is to put the students' experience first. As a leader, he is a consensus builder and a strong believer in transparency of process. His goal is to make Morgan a leader in producing the next wave of innovators in the U.S.

"I've always tried to create an atmosphere where I work so people don’t see what they do as a job," he says. "It's a calling."

Early life and education

Wilson grew up with nine siblings on a sharecropper farm in or near Marengo County, Alabama. His father farmed cotton and okra. His early years were spent in a shanty with no electricity or plumbing. He recalls that he learned to read from pursuing the pages of Look and Life Magazines that his mom had plastered against the wall of the house to keep the cold wind out in the winter. As a sharecropper's child, Wilson rarely attended school full-time during the harvest season and was in the seventh grade before he went to school five days per week. He was the first person in his family to attend college.^[1]

Wilson earned his Bachelor of Science in Political Science in 1977 and a Master of Education degree in 1979 at the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Tuskegee, Alabama.

He earned another Master of Education degree in 1984 and a Doctor of Education in 1987, both from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Career

Wilson has had a stellar career in higher education. He currently serves as the 12th President of Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, having been appointed on July 1, 2010. Prior to becoming President at Morgan, he was the Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Extension and the University of Wisconsin Colleges from 2006-2010. He was the first person in the history of the University of Wisconsin System to serve as Chancellor of two statewide institutions simultaneously. From 1995-2006, Wilson served as Vice President for University Outreach and Associate Provost at Auburn University in Alabama. He was the first African-American to hold a Vice Presidency at Auburn, and the first African-American to hold any senior administrative appointment at a predominantly white university in the State of Alabama. Prior to that, Wilson was Assistant Provost, from 1988 to 1990, of Rutgers University in New Jersey and associate provost from 1990 to 1995 at Rutgers.^[2]

Wilson also served as Director of the Office of Minority Programs and Program Officer at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey, from 1984-1988.

Wilson was a Woodrow Wilson Foundation Administrative Fellow, serving as Executive Assistant to Vice-President for Business Affairs and Finance at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky from 1984 to 1985.^[2]

Wilson has won numerous awards and recognitions. He was a Fellow at the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, serves on President Barack Obama's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, named one of America's Best and Brightest by Dollars and Sense Magazine, named one of America's top 100 administrators by Change Magazine of the American Association of Higher Education, received the Distinguished Leadership for Engaged Scholarship Award from the University of Alabama, was part of the planning team that assisted in the formation of the University of Namibia in Africa, among countless other recognitions.

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