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2008 Honorary Degree Recepient Norman C. Francis
Francis was born into humble circumstances in 1931 in Lafayette, Louisiana. His father was a barber who rode to work on a bicycle; as a 6-year-old, Francis tended the family cow. Though neither of his parents had finished high school, they were determined that their children receive a superior education. So, along with his brother and three sisters, he attended Catholic schools. After graduating from St. Paul High School in 1948, Francis, who had dreamed of being a pilot as a boy, planned to go into military service. One of the sisters who had taught him, impressed by his potential, arranged a work scholarship for him at Xavier University, the only historically black and Catholic university in the Western Hemisphere. At Xavier, where he was a classmate of University of Miami trustee Robert Simms, Francis was an honor student and was elected president of his class all four years; in his senior year, he was chosen student body president. After earning a B.S. degree from Xavier in 1952, Francis became the first African-American student to be accepted by the Loyola University New Orleans School of Law; he graduated in 1955. Francis soon decided that the law was not for him: “The future belongs to those who are educated,” he recalled, “so I turned to education.” He served in the U.S. Army from 1955 to 1957, then returned to his alma mater as dean of men, rising through a series of positions of increasing responsibility and authority to become, in 1968, the university’s first lay, male, African-American president. During Francis’s four decades of leadership, Xavier University has more than tripled its enrollment, broadened its curriculum, expanded its campus facilities, and received national attention for its award-winning academic initiatives and programs. Francis was named among the 100 most effective college presidents in a 1995 poll. In 2006 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. In his acceptance, he humbly acknowledged “all the people who made this possible, whose shoulders I’m standing on.” Among his many activities to help improve the U.S. educational system, Francis was a member of the National Commission on Excellence in Education, which produced the historic A Nation at Risk report. He is a member of the National Advisory Research Council of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Assessment of Higher Education Program, and the National Science Foundation 2000 Advisory Committee. A former chairman of the board of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Francis has also chaired the boards of the Educational Testing Service, The College Board, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and the Southern Education Foundation. He has served as chair of the American Association of Higher Education and president of the members of the United Negro College Fund. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he holds honorary degrees from 38 institutions of higher education and was invested as a Knight of Malta in 1991. He has also been active in numerous organizations devoted to the advancement of Catholic education and is deeply involved in an array of efforts and initiatives devoted to enhancing the quality of life and opportunities available to residents of New Orleans. On behalf of all who have benefited from Norman Francis’s extraordinary leadership and his eloquent advocacy for education’s power to transform lives, we are deeply grateful and honor him today. |
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“Self-respect is the foundation upon which leadership is built, and leaders are created by the people they serve.” With these philosophical words, Norman C. Francis could be describing his own life and career. As president of Xavier University of Louisiana for 40 years—the longest-tenured current leader of an American university—he has dramatically raised that institution’s profile and expanded its programs and infrastructure. As an advisor on educational issues to five U.S. presidents, he has been an eloquent voice for preparing young people to be productive citizens by improving the quality and accessibility of education. As chair of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, he has helped the people of the Gulf Coast rebuild their lives in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In recognition of his outstanding achievements as an educator and his commitment to community service, Francis is being honored today with the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.