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Morehouse to inaugurate 10th president | ajc.com
Morehouse to inaugurate 10th president
By MICHELLE E. SHAW
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/15/08
Morehouse College inaugurates it's 10th president, Robert Michael Franklin Jr., Friday.
The ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. in the Martin Luther King Jr. Interdenominational Chapel.
A Chicago native, Franklin graduated from Morehouse with a degree in political science and religion. He also has a master's from Harvard Divinity School and a doctorate from the University of Chicago.
Before his current post, Franklin was an Emory University presidential distinguished professor of social ethics. In 1997, he served as president of the Interdenominational Theological Center, the graduate theological seminary of the Atlanta University Center. Then he was Chautauqua Institution's 2005 theologian-in-residence in Chautauqua, N.Y.
Franklin, a 1975 Phi Beta Kappa graduate, is the fourth alumnus to be Morehouse president. The first was the college's seventh president, Hugh Morris Gloster, who graduated in 1931. Gloster served from 1967-87 and was followed by Leroy Keith, who held the office from 1987 to 1994, and Walter E. Massey, who led the school from 1995 to 2007.
Morehouse, founded in 1867 as the Augusta Institute in Augusta, is the nation's largest liberal arts college for men. About 2,800 students are enrolled, from more than 40 states and 12 foreign countries.
Franklin is the author of three books, "Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope in African American Communities;" "Another Day's Journey: Black Churches Confronting the American Crisis;" and "Liberating Visions: Human Fulfillment and Social Justice in African American Thought." He co-authored "From Culture Wars to Common Ground: Religion and the American Family Debate" and is the co-editor of "The Cambridge Companion to Martin Luther King Jr."
He serves on numerous boards, including the board of Public Broadcasting of Atlanta, and has provided commentaries for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," and televised commentary for Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasting.
Franklin is married to Dr. Cheryl G. Franklin, a gynecologist, and is the father of three children.
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