Maria Lumpkin Is the New Leader of Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, North Carolina

For the second time this year, Maria A. Lumpkin was named interim president of Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, North Carolina. She served as interim president for several months earlier this year before Irving Pressley McPhail took office as the university’s twelfth president on July 15. Dr. McPhail died on October 14, from complications relating to the COVID-19 virus.

In October 2019, Dr. Lumpkin was named chief operating officer at Saint Augustine’s University. Previously, she served as the special assistant to the president, and as the inaugural executive director of student retention and the center for scholar communities at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. Earlier, Dr. Lumpkin served in leadership roles in two of the largest university systems in the nation — the University System of Georgia and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

A native of Columbia, South Carolina, Dr. Lumpkin holds a bachelor’s degree from Saint Augustine’s Univerity. She earned a master’s degree in urban studies from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and a doctorate in educational leadership and policy from Clark Atlanta University.