The board of trustees at Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, North Carolina, has appointed Irving Pressley McPhail as the university’s twelfth president. He took office on July 15.
St. Augustine’s University is a historically Black educational institution that enrolls slightly more than 750 students, according to the latest numbers reported to the US. Department of Education. African Americans make up 91 percent of the student body.
Dr. McPhail is founder and chief strategy officer at the McPhail Group. A senior executive in higher education, urban public-school administration, and the nonprofit sector, Dr. McPhail was previously the sixth president and CEO at the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, founding chancellor at the Community College of Baltimore County, president of St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, and president of Lemoyne-Owen College in Memphis. He also served as university provost at Pace University in New York, vice president and dean of academic affairs at Delaware State University, and chief operating officer at the Baltimore City Public Schools.
Raised in Harlem, Dr. McPhail was educated in New York City public schools and is a graduate of the renowned Stuyvesant High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in rural sociology at Cornell University and a master’s degree in reading at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He earned a doctorate in reading/language arts at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Irving P. McPhail will bring bold vision and decisive action as a fundraiser for SAU as the 12th President of the college. I have known Irv for over 40 years and his DNA is designed to succeed and bring, both new students and more donors to the institution.
The Board of Trustees have made the right decision in hiring a gentleman and a scholar to lead SAU.
Congratulations Dr. McPhail and welcome to Raleigh and the Saint Augustine Family. I’m a 1979 graduate, and continued to live in Raleigh after graduating.