Dr. John Silvanus Wilson Jr., took office as the 11th president of Morehouse College in January 2013. Morehouse is the nation’s only private, liberal arts institution dedicated to the education of African American males. Prior to that position, Dr. Wilson was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. As a 1979 graduate of Morehouse College, he is also a “Morehouse Man.”
Dr. Wilson is following in the footsteps of Benjamin E. Mays, who became president of Morehouse College in 1940 and launched a 27-year tenure. Dr. Wilson quoted Mays during Morehouse’s 2013 commencement ceremony:
“Whatever you do, strive to do it so well that no man living and no man dead, and no man yet to be born can do it any better.” – Benjamin E. Mays