In a surprise announcement this week, the Martin University board of trustees stated that Dr. Eugene White, former superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS), has been appointed interim president effective immediately.
White, who retired from IPS in April after seven years as superintendent, has succeeded Dr. George Miller, who announced his resignation in August to take another education position in the south, according to the board.
White pledged to continue initiatives that have been set in place by the board and Miller.
“We will have to increase enrollment, along with ways to enhance the attractiveness of the university both to students coming out of high school as well as to the older students we have been serving,” White told the Recorder.
He added that other measures are being considered include reestablishing Martin’s school of education, creating extracurricular opportunities such as sports teams and making the quality of campus life a higher priority.
White, who said he has worked as a consultant since leaving IPS, was among three finalists recommend to a committee organized to find an interim president to replace Miller. Martin’s board chose White unanimously.
“He’s very well connected to the community, he had a relationship with (Martin founder) Father Boniface Hardin and he understands that Martin is the only predominantly Black institution in the state,” said John Bartlett, chairman of the board of trustees at Martin.
Bartlett added that Martin is fortunate that someone with White’s credentials was available on short notice, and appreciate that he brings many years of educational experience to Martin’s presidency, including responsibility for the state’s largest K-12 school system for seven years.
When asked if he will be a candidate to serve as president on a permanent basis, White said, “It just depends on how things go, how the board of trustees feel about it and how I feel about it. I have never halfway done things, so I’m going to do the best job I can and we can make those decisions later.”
Established in 1977 by the late Father Boniface Hardin and Sister Jane Schilling, Martin University is a private, non-profit non-denominational liberal arts institution with an average enrollment of about 1,500 full and part time students.
Currently, the university offers 19 different undergraduate and master degree programs. Its stated mission has been to serve low income, minority, disenfranchised and non-traditional learners in a “healing environment that incorporates both academics and personal experiences into education.”
Miller, Martin University’s third president, had replaced Algeania Freeman, who retired in 2010, three years after she succeeded Hardin, who died in 2012.
Bartlett said the fact that the university has had several leaders in a relatively short period of time is no cause for concern.
“Things happen,” he said. “We were not expecting Dr. Miller’s resignation but he and his wife got an opportunity that they couldn’t pass up, so we understood that. This late in their career they had to take it. It happened, but the transition has been great.”
White, a native of Phenix City, Alabama, was named Indiana School Superintendent of the Year in both 2002 and 2009.
Before becoming IPS superintendent in 2005, White served as superintendent of Washington Township Schools for 11 years. From July 1992 to January 1994, he was deputy superintendent of IPS.
In 1990, he became first African American principal of North Central High School in Indianapolis, serving until 1992. During the 19 years prior, White was a teacher, coach and school administrator in Fort Wayne Community Schools and was the first African American high school principal ever to serve in that system.
White and his wife Jetties have two children, including Reginald W. White, vice-principal of Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet High School, and Kimberly R. White, a teacher and special education specialist at IPS School #14.
