The board of trustees of the City University of New York appointed Patricia Ramsey as the sixth president of Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn. The CUNY senior college was established in 1970 and named for the iconic civil rights leader who was slain seven years earlier in the driveway of his home in Jackson, Mississippi.
Medgar Evers College enrolls nearly 5,800 students, according to the most recent data supplied to the U.S. Department of Education. Women make up 71 percent of the student body.
Dr. Ramsey, whose appointment is effective May 1, will be the first woman to serve as the president of Medgar Evers College. A biologist by training, she comes to CUNY from the Thurgood Marshall College Fund in Washington, D.C., where she spent the past year as a senior executive fellow. She previously served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.
In accepting the appointment, Dr. Ramsey stated that “during these times of heightened awareness of social justice issues, I have the unique opportunity to lead Medgar Evers College, an institution with social justice in its DNA. It is my firm belief that if we work together, we can move Medgar Evers College to a new level of excellence.”
Dr. Ramsey earned a bachelor’s degree in biology education from Norfolk State University in Virginia. She holds a master’s degree in botany from Howard University, a master’s degree in biology from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in biology from Georgetown University.