Atlanta Daily World

Dr. Gray Resigns As Talladega President

TALLADEGA, Ala. - Dr. Arthur D. Gray has accepted a call from Park Manor Congregational Church of Chicago, Illinois to be its pastor.

President Gray will return to the parish ministry after ten years as head of his alma mater, Talladega College.

During the decade of his administration, which began in September 1952, the college has reached its highest student enrollment in the history of 95-year-old Talladega, and with increased alumni sharing has raised its scholarship offerings from $12,000 to $50,000.

In 1957 the college was in the first group of predominantly Negro colleges to be accepted into membership in the accrediting Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. A revised curriculum has been inaugurated, and an annual Fine Arts Festival introduced in 1960 now attracts busloads of high school students from southern states.

United States Public Health Monograph No. 66 lists Talladega College 18th among the 100 undergraduate colleges in the nation with the highest proportion of male graduates receiving M. D. degrees during 1950-59, and first among the 9 predominantly Negro colleges with 25 or more male graduates receiving the M. D. degree in that time.

Physical plant expansion and modernization, including a College Union Building, has exceeded $1,000,000; plans and finances for a new dormitory have been approved by the Board of Trustees. Endowment funds have increased over a quarter of a million dollars; foundation grants in excess of $160,000 have been received; the current budget has been doubled and faculty salaries have increased over 50 per cent.

The college has gained added stature from the stand President Gray, former member of the Illinois Commission of Human Rights, maintained during recent student protest action. He won public approbation in a Faculty-Staff letter, "Man of the Year" award from the Talladega Civic League, votes of approval by representatives of the National Alumni Association and church groups.