This week marks the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of Dr. Norman C. Francis as president of Xavier University. Francis, the first layman to serve as president of the historically black Catholic university, was installed during a ceremony on Xavier's campus on Nov. 24, 1968.
Born March 20, 1931 in Lafayette, Francis attended Xavier on a work scholarship and would go on to spend most of his life there. He met his wife Blanche there while both were students. After earning his bachelor's degree, Francis became the first African-American graduate of Loyola University College of Law. As a young lawyer, he represented many local civil rights activists.
In 1957, he was appointed Xavier University's dean of men and rose through the ranks in administrative positions before becoming president. During his tenure, Xavier's enrollment, physical campus and national reputation grew. It is now first in the nation for awarding bachelor's degrees to black students in the biological, biomedical and physical sciences. Also renowned for its pharmacy school, it has more black graduates who go on to complete medical school than any other university.
In 2005, at Gov. Kathleen Blanco's request, Francis led the ถถา๕h Recovery Authority, which oversaw the federal disaster money allocated to the state following Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures. In 2006, President George W. Bush presented Francis with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. After 47 years at Xavier, he retired in 2015 as the longest-tenured university president in the country.