Morehouse College names new president after upheaval

ATLANTA – Morehouse College has named a Harvard University professor and former dean of Georgetown University’s business school as its new president after a tumultuous year.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the board of the Atlanta-based, all-male, historically black college voted Sunday to select David A. Thomas as the college’s 12th president.

Thomas will assume the presidency Jan. 1, nearly nine months after former president John S. Wilson and board leadership were fired following public tensions and accusations of a lack of transparency. Interim president William Taggart died in June.

The 61-year-old Thomas says he wants to focus on scholarships. He cited his own inability to afford Morehouse’s tuition, forcing him to attend his aid-offering second choice, Yale.

Thomas is the first non-alumnus to become president in 50 years.

___

Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com