Morgan State University Newsroom Morgan State University
By Morgan Eichensehr – Reporter, Baltimore Business Journal
Shelonda Stokes remembers when all the classes and activities at Morgan State University were concentrated in the main section of campus, and even telephones were scarce in the academic buildings.
Stokes graduated in 1995 with an electrical engineering degree, and recalls when the school’s engineering building was first being constructed. Looking at the Baltimore university now, she said “that building feels like old news.”
The campus landscape has changed significantly since Stokes’ time at Morgan State, as the historically black college or university has fought for a spot in conversations with other notable urban public colleges across the country.
Morgan State was founded with the HBCU designation in 1867, among 100 other schools established prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. The university is proud of its history in elevating and educating the African-American community, but now it wants to do more. It’s working to modernize all its academic spaces, to increase its non-African-American student population, to commercialize more research and partner with other institutions on major investigations.
In short, it wants to be more than just an HBCU.
