Norman Christopher Francis was born on March 20,1931 and is an American academic who served as president of Xavier University of Louisiana from 1968 to 2015.
28 Facts About Norman Francis
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Norman Francis was the first Black and first lay president of the school, and the second African American to ever serve as president of a Catholic university in the United States.
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Norman Francis has received 35 honorary degrees from colleges and universities around the country.
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Norman Francis was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, the son of poor parents, neither of whom had finished high school.
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Norman Francis's father was a barber who rode to work each day on a bicycle because the family did not own a car.
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Norman Francis earned pocket money by shining shoes on Lafayette's main street.
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Norman Francis's parents felt that Francis, his three sisters and his brother needed an education.
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Norman Francis's parents made certain that the children attended Mass on Sunday and were punctual in their religious duties.
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Norman Francis was an honor student and was president of his class all four years.
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Norman Francis has said that one reason that he was accepted was because he had been active in the National Federation of Catholic Colleges, where he became acquainted with several of the Jesuit fathers on the Loyola University faculty.
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Norman Francis graduated from Loyola with honors with a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree in 1955 and he began to practice law.
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Norman Francis soon decided that the law was not for him.
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Norman Francis served in the United States Army from 1956 to 1957 and became a specialist 4.
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Norman Francis then rejoined the US Attorney's Office to help integrate federal agencies.
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About that same time, Norman Francis acted as counsel for the Xavier student body president, Rudolph Lombard, who had been arrested for attempting to integrate the lunch counter at McCrory's on Canal Street in New Orleans.
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Norman Francis then began a rise to higher administrative positions at the university.
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At Xavier, Norman Francis presided over a major expansion of campus facilities and enrollment growth of 35 percent.
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On September 2,2014, Norman Francis announced his plan to retire from his post as Xavier's president in June 2015 after serving the university in this capacity for 47 years.
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Norman Francis has been chairman of the board of Educational Testing Service, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Southern Education Foundation, and president of the American Association of Higher Education and the United Negro College Fund.
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Norman Francis is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has received 35 honorary degrees, and was named among the 100 most effective college presidents in a poll published in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
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In December 2006, Norman Francis was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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On November 21,2008, in New Orleans at the Ernest N Morial Convention Center, Francis celebrated his 40th year as President of Xavier University at the 40th Anniversary Gala, themed "Legacy for a Legend".
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On May 19,2019, Norman Francis received the University of Notre Dame's 2019 Laetare Medal at Notre Dame's 174th University Commencement Ceremony.
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Norman Francis was married to his wife Blanche from 1955 until her death in 2015.
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Norman Francis was invested as a Knight of Malta in 1991, and is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
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Norman Francis has served as president of the United Negro College Fund and chairman of the board of directors of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and Educational Testing System and of the Southern Education Foundation.
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Norman Francis is a member of the National Commission on Excellence in Education, the National Advisory Research Council of the US Department of Health and Human Resources, and the National Assessment of Higher Education Program.
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Norman Francis has been a member of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the advisory board of the Josephites, the executive committee of the college and University Department of the National Catholic Educational Association, the Board of Trustees of the Catholic University of America, the Board of Regents of Loyola University, and the board of directors of the National Catholic Council for Interracial Justice.