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Page 4 Spelman Spotlight
During Five Years As President...
September 1981
STEWART ADDS DIME<
In 1980, Dr. Donald Stewart
celebrated his fifth anniversary
as Spelman College's president.
As the new academic year begins
and Dr. Stewart enters his sixth
year of presidency, the Spotlight
asked that he pause momentarily
from his hectic schedule and
reflect back upon his ac
complishments, concerns, and
anticipations for Spelman. Dr.
Stewart moved to Atlanta from
Philadelphia, where he served
on the faculty for six years at the
University of Pennsylvania. His
positions there were as executive
assistant to the president,
Professor of the City Planning
Department and Associate
Dean of the Faculty of Arts and
Sciences. Before going to the
University of Pennsylvania, he
worked for the Ford Foundation
for seven years in the Inter
national Division, serving in
various capacities including
Program Director in the Middle
East Africa Foundation in Egypt
and Tunisia, and before that.
Assistant to the Director of the
Ford Foundation in Nigeria. He
attended Crinnell College in
I see Spelman
emerging as one
of the strongest
colleges in
America.
Spotlight: Referring back to your
projected plans for Spelman five
years ago, you expressed an
interest in advancing Spelman in
“international education.”
Could you elaborate on that
interest?
Dr. Stewart: Well, I hope many
students will take advantage of
the new curricular offers we
have ... we have a new inter
national affairs minor . . .
international speakers' program,
increased opportunities for in
ternational travels for students..
. We’ve expanded the Merrill
Scholarship, for example, to
include faculty as well as
students. We are trying to find
additional monies for inter
national travel opportunities, we
are hoping to establish
relationships with schools
overseas, and we’re pushing
more and more of our students
to take advantage of oppor
tunities already existing. I would
hope that we would soon have a
Crinnell, Iowa where he ma
jored in political science and
took a bachelor's degree. He
went for a master’s at Yale
University and did some further
doctorate work from the
Kennedy School of Government
at Harvard.
Spotlight: Dr. Stewart, back in
1976 when you were selected as
Spelman's President there was of
course a lot of turmoil concer
ning the issue of whether or not
Spelman needed a Black female
president.
At that time, you explained in
an interview with the Spotlight
that although Spelman was
selecting someone as president
who was neither female nor a
graduate of a predominantly
black institution,that you did not
feel a lack of fortification or a
lack of experience. You believed
you could, “bring to Spelman a
set of experiences Spelman
could utilize to its own interest as
a Black institution . . . and
because my past history is so
different from at least the
current perception of Spelman, I
add a dimension”.
As you sit here today, Dr.
Stewart, five years and many
Spelman experiences later,
could you expound upon that
"dimension" that you spoke of at
the onset of your presidency?
Dr. Stewart: Let me begin by
saying I welcome the opportuni
ty to reflect upon the past five
years and look backwards and
forwards as we think about what
has passed and what I hope
might be the future as long as I’m
at Spelman.
I felt in 1976 that I came with
the experience of working in a
foundation world and felt that
would be helpful in trying to
raise money for Spelman.
Secondly, I came with ex
perience in philanthropy and
higher education from the Un
iversity of Penn, and that ex
perience would help the sur
rounding students and faculty
because my orientation was very
much toward scholarship.
Hopefully, I could be helpful
particularly for Spelman
graduates as they thought about
what they wanted after
graduating from school. Much of
my experience has been inter
national, and I continue to
believe that . . . the future of
Spelman students will be caught
up with the interdependent
parts of this world, that my own
sense of a world culture and
universal value would be helpful
to students as they prepare
themselves for their future.
Through curricular changes,
speakers who you bring to
Spelman, etc., you would
broaden opportunities for
Spelman graduates. That was my
orientation and it’s still my
orientation. And I find happily
that it is shared by many faculty
and students and helpful in
igniting and kindling an interest.
.. I found at Spelman very fertile
ground. So, I brought to
Spelman, though not a Black
woman, but hopefully a strong
Black male - a Black male com
mitted to the kind of education
that Spelman seems to offer and
certainly dedicated to serving
the Black women of Spelman
College. And, I brought fund
raising experience, experience
in universal research and a set of
values. . .
Spotlight: That brings me to my
next question. Do you foresee a
time in the near future when it
would be necessary, or shall we
say, more feasible for Spelman to
have that Black female presi
dent?
Dr. Stewart: It's coming . . .
Spotlight: Do you feel there's a
need for that?
Dr. Stewart: I think it'll be very
good. It’s just a question of time.
... I have an agenda I would like
finish at Spelman that’s now in its
second phase ... I hope that by
attracting strong Black women to
Spelman I'll be giving to the
college the kind of role model it
needs.
Rhodes scholar... So what we’re
trying to do is just open up a
variety of opportunities and just
expose the many opportunities
for travel where the college
doesn't provide them, but which
the students can find out about
through the college.
Spotlight: The new minor
sounds excellent. It’s unfor
tunate that many of us will not be
able to participate before leaving
Spelman.
Dr. Stewart: It should be a very
good one ... In addition, we
have now a very special program
with the Fletcher School of Law
and Diplomacy. Dr. Yanuck is
heading that program. Again, it
adds a dimension.
Something else that’s a major
breakthrough for Spelman as a
Black women's college is our
new Women's Resource Center.
We’ve been able to establish a
Women's Resource Center
headed by Mrs. Beverly Sheftall.
Here’s another dimension of the
college that hopefully will be
reinforcing psychologically for
Black women . . . which should
really make a difference in terms
of Spelman’s research agenda
and its relationship with other
women’scolleges;and help make
Spelman a part of the recent
networking in American
women’s colleges... and I think
it will make an impact on
curriculum as well.
Spotlight: Will the resources be
right on Spelman's campus?
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