The board of trustees of Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina, recently decided not to renew the contract of President Ernest McNealey. His last day was December 15.
Dr. McNealey was appointed interim president of Allen University in 2016 and was named the HBCU’s permanent president the following year. Earlier in his career, he was president of Stillman College in Alabama. He has also held academic and administrative appointments at Stony Brook University in New York and Claflin College in South Carolina.
Dr. McNealey holds a bachelor’s degree in art education with a minor in chemistry from Alabama State University, a master’s degree in teaching with emphases in painting, drawing, and African American art history from Indiana University, and a Ph.D. in art education and social psychology from Ohio State University.
Succeeding Dr. McNealey is Stanley Pritchett, Sr., who will serve as Allen’s interim president as the HBCU searches for its next permanent leader.
Dr. Pritchett formerly served as president of historically Black Morris Brown College in Atlanta from 2010 to 2018. When he began his presidency, the HBCU was facing several lawsuits and was more than $30 million in debt. Under his leadership, the college emerged from bankruptcy in 2015 and stabilized its finances.
A graduate of what is now Albany State University, Dr. Pritchett earned his master’s degree from Georgia State University and his doctorate from Clark Atlanta University.
