Julius Chapman, who served in dean positions at Towson University in Maryland and Coppin State University in Baltimore, died on October 24 at a nursing home in Columbia, Maryland. He was 86 years old.
Dr. Chapman was born and raised in Kellyton, Alabama. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in counseling psychology at Tuskegee University in Alabama. He went on to earn an educational specialist degree in education management from Loyola University in Baltimore and a doctorate in higher education administration from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. After completing his doctorate degree, he was awarded a Shell Foundation Fellowship to pursue postgraduate study at the Institute of Management at Harvard University.
Dr. Chapman served as a research associate at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, before being named associate dean of students at Tuskegee University and later associate director of admissions at Wilberforce University in Ohio.
In 1969, Dr. Chambers was named the inaugural dean of minority students at what is now Towson University. There, he helped establish the Black Student Union, the Black Faculty and Administrators Association, and the Black Cultural Center.
After 12 years, Dr. Chapman left Towson to become provost and vice president of academic affairs at what is now Voorhees University in Denmark, South Carolina. After a decade, he returned to Maryland to serve as dean and professor in the division of education at Coppin State University. He retired in 2005.
