Memphis college sharpens its vision
LeMoyne-Owen College has been a Memphis fixture since 1863, with decades-old mission to educate young African-Americans who were barred entry into white institutions.
While Jim Crow, thankfully, has given way to integration, the college has not strayed from its mission to provide a nurturing scholastic niche for AfricanAmerican students, some whose academic performance in high school disguises their potential to succeed in college.
The mission remains important, but the South Memphis landmark needs to sharpen that mission’s focus as it seeks to increase enrollment, double its endowment, increase retention and graduation rates, and provide students with more “career pathway” degree opportunities.
That is the message LeMoyne-Owen President Andrea Lewis Miller left with The Commercial Appeal’s editorial board Thursday.
We wish her much success because the college has been and must continue to be an important vehicle in developing community leaders and skilled professionals who can help Memphis grow economically and culturally.
The historically black college traces its origins to 1862 when the American Missionary Association sent Lucinda Humphrey to Camp Shiloh to open an elementary school for freedmen and runaway slaves soon after the occupation of Memphis by federal troops under General Ulysses S. Grant. The school was moved to Memphis in 1863.
LeMoyne Normal and Commercial School opened officially in 1871. The college merged with Owen College in 1968. Owen’s origins began in 1947, when the Tennessee Baptist Missionary and Educational Convention bought property on Vance Avenue to build a junior college. After several years of planning, the school opened in 1954 as S. A. Owen Junior College.
Miller, a native Memphian and a LeMoyne-Owen graduate, assumed the helm as the college’s 12th president on Sept. 1, 2015. She is the first woman and the second alumnus to serve as president. She took over an institution that has stabilized in recent years after overcoming a financial crisis that threatened the college’s accreditation.
Enrollment has stabilized at nearly 1,000 students and the school has $12.8 million in its endowment fund. Miller has set a goal of doubling enrollment and the endowment by 2021.
Those goals are ambitious, but Miller is confident they can be achieved by getting alumni locally and nationally to contribute financially, and with enhanced marketing and branding.
LeMoyne-Owen has a well-deserved legacy for graduating some of Memphis’ and Shelby County’s influential AfricanAmerican political, business, civic and religious leaders.
Integration has given African-American students more higher education options, but those who attend LeMoyneOwen and other historically black colleges and universities are there because they are seeking a special ambiance.
Still, a college’s and university’s main mission is to graduate students prepared to succeed in the workplace. That means that a liberal arts institution like LeMoyne-Owen must adjust to the career world of 2017, while maintaining its liberal arts foundation.
That transition should have buy-in from staff and the board of directors, which Miller said it has. There also needs to be buy-in from potential donors. Miller said those external sources want to be part of the college’s renaissance, “but we haven’t had a clear vision on how to get there.”
Miller wants the college to add specialized IT curricula, such as cyber security and defense, urban teacher education and social justice. The IT component may sound pretentious, but Miller said work is underway with community partners to make it happen.
Memphis is blessed with more than a dozen institutions of higher learning, each of which proffers a specific mission. LeMoyne-Owen under Miller is refining its mission, which bodes well for the college remaining an important force in Memphis’ future.