Dr. Clifton R. Wharton Jr., reflects on his career and shares his insight on the current status of African Americans in higher education

When Dr. Clifton R. Wharton Jr., was appointed president of Michigan State University in 1969, he became the first African American to head a major Research I institution. The graduate of Harvard University (B.A., 1947 cum laude), Johns Hopkins University (M.A., 1948), and the University of Chicago (M.A., 1956; Ph.D., 1958) went on to become chancellor of the State University of New York system, was the first African American to head a Fortune 500 company, TIAA-CREF, and led an esteemed career in higher education, business, and foreign policy before retiring in 1993. He is currently working on an autobiography and spoke to Black Issues In Higher Education from the TIAA-CREF executive offices in New York.

In your estimation, why haven't more african Americans been appointed to presidencies of Research I Institutions since your initial appointment back in 1969?

I don't know. I honestly don't know. There have been a significant number of Blacks who have become presidents of colleges and universities over the intervening years, but it is, to a certain extent, surprising that there haven't been more at the mega-universities, the large graduate research universities.

How do you think your appointment to Michigan State would be perceived today?

Today? It would probably get as much attention as it did then, but I don't think it would last as long. When I was appointed at Michigan State, it was front-page news for the New York Times. Over the next two or three months, I think they must have done almost a dozen in-depth profiles on me for major newspapers and magazines. My wife and I were under the media microscope for easily a year because it was so unusual.... During that first year, many of the stories would say, "The Black president of Michigan State University." By the second year, it was "The president of Michigan State University, who is Black." By the third year it was just "The president of Michigan State University."