Dr. Frank G. Pogue, former Grambling State University president, is now the interim president of Cheyney University.
On Oct. 9 the Board of Governors of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education selected Pogue as the interim president for the university.
Founded in 1837, Cheyney University was started as the Institute of Colored Youth, and of the 100-plus Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Cheyney is recorded as the oldest.
With the new decision of Pogue as president of the university, time did not permit for Pogue to answer questions in an interview, but there will be a follow-up.
Although Pogue led GSU for five years before retiring, many students don’t know the legacy he brought with him to Grambling. Pogue’s legacy consists of:
According to academic-search.com, in 2011, Dr. Pogue was named one of the top African American presidents at a college or university in the United States. In addition, he was ranked ninth in the Atlanta Post’s list of Top 10 African American university and college presidents.
In 1996, Pogue was the selected as the president of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. It was then that he became the first African American serving as the president of a historically white university in Pennsylvania. As a result of his leadership, in 2007 the university honored him by naming its then new student center as the Frank G. Pogue Student Center at the Edinboro University.
Pogue’s humility is another factor that adds to his legacy.
“I admired the fact that Dr. Frank G. Pogue was a president that you could approach and speak to,” said Monyetta Ravenel, a senior mass communication major from Charleston, S.C. “He wasn’t an intimidating figure, he was very down-to-earth.”
In the wake of Pogue’s new transition to Cheyney, it safe to say that the university has a successful leader with a solid resume that will help lead Cheyney University even further.