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Dolores Margaret Richard Spikes

  • Ethnicity: African American
  • Gender: F
Office of the President
University of Maryland - Eastern Shore
Princess Anne, MD 21853-1299
Voice (410) 651-6349
Fax (410) 651-6300

Education

  • PhD Institution: Louisiana State University, 1971
  • Dissertation Title: Semi-Valuations and Groups of Divisibility.
  • MS Institution: University of IL - Urbana Champaign, 1958
  • BS Institution: Southern University - Baton Rouge

Biography

The eleventh Chief Executive Officer of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Dr. Dolores Margaret Richard Spikes, was appointed to assume the position of President effective January 13, 1997. She served as President of the Southern University and A&M College System from October 29, 1988 to December 31, 1996. She was the first female head of a Louisiana public college or university.

Dr. Spikes received her primary and secondary Education in the parochial and public school systems of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She earned a bachelor of science degree in liberal arts with a major in mathematics (minor in the sciences) from Southern University at Baton Rouge and later a master of science degree in mathematics from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. In December 1971, Dr. Spikes was awarded a Ph.D. in mathematics from Louisiana State University.

She came to Southern University as an assistant professor of mathematics and moved quickly through the ranks to associate professor and then full professor, teaching courses which ranged from the developmental Educational level to the graduate level. From August 1981 to December 1981, she served as full-time professor of mathematics, Coordinator of the Mathematics Developmental Educational Program and part-time assistant to the Chancellor.

From January 1982 to August 1985, Dr. Spikes served as Assistant to the Chancellor on the Southern University at Baton Rouge campus before being named Executive Vice Chancellor and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Southern University at Baton Rouge. In July 1987, she was chosen to serve as Chancellor of Southern University at New Orleans, and from October 1988 to June 30, 1991 served as Chancellor of Southern University at Baton Rouge.

Dr. Spikes is a summa cum laude graduate who won numerous university awards, honors and memberships while studying or working at Southern University. These included: Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities, Alpha Kappa Mu Honor Society, Pi Mu Epsilon Honorary Fraternity in Mathematics, Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society, University of Illinois Fellowship (to study for M.S. degree), Ford Foundation Fellow (1968-71), National Science Foundation Fellow (1966-67), and selection as "Woman of the Year" by the Southern University at Baton Rouge's Association of Women Students (1986) and as "Outstanding Alumnus of the Century" (Southern University, 1990).

In 1989, she received the Thurgood Marshall Educational Achievement Award and was featured in the January 1990 edition of Ebony Magazine. Ebony Man Magazine also recognized her as one of 20 "Most Influential Black Women in America." In 1996, she received the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund Education Leadership Award. The numerous bodies on which Dr. Spikes currently participates or has served include the following: Vice Chair and Program Chair of the Commission on International Affairs of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, 1990-91; Chair of the Commission on International Affairs of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, 1991-November 1992; Vice Chair and Chair-Elect of the Commission on Criteria and Reports, Levels II-VI, Commission on Colleges, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) [regional accrediting agency], 1991-92; Executive Committee of the Commission on Colleges, 1992-93; Vice Chair and Chair, Council of 1890 (Land-Grant Institutions, Second Morrill Act) Presidents, 1990-92; Member, Commission on Women in Higher Education, American Council on Education, February 1, 1990-December 31, 1992; Board of Directors, National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), elected 1988-92; Elected Class Representative of Harvard University Institute of Educational Management, 1987-92; Member of the Commission on Colleges, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), 1988-December 31, 1993; Chair, Council of 1890 Presidents/Chancellors and 1890 Institutions, 1993-94; Member of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, National Conference, NAFEO, 1994; Board of Directors, NAFEO, 1993-94; Member and Vice Chair of the Kellogg Commission, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges; Senior Associate to the University of the North-West Mmabatho (South Africa); Member, President Clinton's Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Member of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education and Economics Advisory Board (U.S. Department of Agriculture); Louisiana Representative on the Board of Directors of the Public Broadcasting Corporation, 1995-97. She was appointed by President Clinton to the Board of Visitors of the United States Naval Academy.

Dr. Spikes is married to Hermon Spikes, and they have one daughter and two grandchildren.

[Source: Official University biography]