Louisiana Leaders: Notable Women in History
DR. DOLORES MARGARET RICHARD SPIKES, 1936 -
FIRST WOMAN IN THE UNITED STATES TO HEAD A UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
Born in Baton Rouge, Dr. Dolores Spikes has many "firsts" to her credit. In 1971 she was the first African American graduate and the first graduate of Southern University to receive a doctorate of mathematics from Louisiana State University; she is the first woman in Louisiana to be named Chief Executive Officer of a public university; and she is the first woman in the United States to head a university system.
Dr. Spikes was chancellor of both Southern University-Baton Rouge and Southern University-New Orleans. She went on to become president of the Southern University System, the largest predominantly Black public university system in the United States. She presently holds the position of President at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shores. She holds degrees in mathematics from Southern University-Baton Rouge (B.S.), University of Illinois (M.S.) and a Ph.D. from LSU. She has been the recipient of the Thurgood Marshall Education Achievement Award and the 1890 Colleges and Universities Distinguished Alumnus Award(Southern University). She has been a National Science Foundation Fellow and a Ford Foundation Fellow.
She has served on many higher educational councils and commissions, and her community activities include service on the Boards of Directors of the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce and the Louisiana Red Cross. She was a founding member of the Louisiana Partnership for Technology and Innovation.
Dr. Spikes is known as a "visionary leader, a dynamic and motivating speaker, and a highly effective, compassionate but firm educational manager". In January 1990, Ebony Magazine named her one of the twenty "most influential Black women in America".
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