Dr. Ivory V. Nelson, who has achieved a
national reputation for his distinguished leadership in higher
education, became the twelfth president of Lincoln University on August
15, 1999. Before coming to Lincoln, Dr. Nelson had served as the
president of Central Washington University (CWU) for more than seven
years. He was formally inaugurated as Lincoln's president on April 14,
2000. A trained chemist, Dr. Nelson is listed among the world's top
scientists.
In addition, he has a record of active community involvement
throughout his 30-plus years in higher education. He served on the
board of directors of Key Bank of Washington and was a member of the
Washington State Commission on Student Learning, by gubernatorial
appointment. He also was a member of the Governor's Blue Ribbon Task
Force on the Arts, State of Washington. Dr. Nelson's career in higher
education includes receiving the Fulbright Lectureship, teaching
graduate and undergraduate chemistry, and serving as department head,
assistant dean of academic affairs, and vice president for research.
During the early 1980s, Dr. Nelson also served one year as
acting president of Prairie View A&M University and three years as
executive assistant to the chancellor of the Texas A&M University
System. From 1986 to March 1992, he served as chancellor of the Alamo
Community College District, San Antonio, Texas.
While at the University of Kansas, Dr. Nelson's academic
honors included induction into Phi Beta Kappa honorary society, Phi
Lambda Upsilon honorary chemical society and the society of Sigma Xi
for scientists. He has subsequently been inducted into Kappa Delta Phi
education honor society, Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Phi Sigma physics
honor society.
Dr. Nelson has authored eleven technical publications in the
field of analytical chemistry, a chapter in one book and a chapter in a
monograph. He has secured extensive outside funding through grants and
proposal writing. In addition, he has acquired significant funding from
state legislatures to construct major academic facilities.
His career in the corporate sector includes assignments as a
research chemist for both Union Carbide and American Oil Company. Dr.
Nelson is profiled in a book entitled, Distinguished African
American Scientists of the 20th Century.
The Central Washington University Foundation honored Dr.
Nelson by establishing a $50,000 Ivory V. Nelson Endowed Graduate
Fellowship in Chemistry, and the Board of Trustees of CWU passed a
Resolution in August 1999 conferring on him the title of President
Emeritus.
He graduated magna cum laude from Grambling State
University, in Louisiana, in 1959, with a bachelor's degree in
secondary education, chemistry. He immediately entered the University
of Kansas, Lawrence, where he graduated with the Doctor of Philosophy
degree in analytical chemistry with high departmental honors.
Lincoln
University of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
1570 Baltimore Pike, P.O. Box 179, Lincoln University, PA 19352 \ (484) 365-8000
