Barbara Rose Hatton, former president of South Carolina State University and Knoxville College, passed away on November 3. She was 84 years old.
Born in LaGrange, Georgia, and raised in Atlanta, Dr. Hatton earned her bachelor’s degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and her master’s degree from Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University). She later earned a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Stanford University, where she became the first African American woman assistant professor of administration and policy analysis in the School of Education.
Dr. Hatton went on to serve as dean of the School of Education at Atlanta University and served in the same capacity at Tuskegee University in Alabama. She also had a stint as director of the education and culture program for the Ford Foundation. In 1992, was named the first woman president of South Carolina State University. Five years later, she became president of Knoxville College in Tennessee. She led the college until her retirement in 2005.