Morehouse College Receives $4.6 Million to Create an Endowed Student Scholarship

UNCF-member institution Morehouse College has received a $4.6 million donation to establish the Eugene McGowan, Jr., endowed scholarship as the college strives to become one of the nation’s top liberal arts schools.

The donation, the largest of the year, was made by the estate of the late Dr. Eugene McGowan, Jr., an alumnus who graduated in 1937. McGowan, a prominent Delaware psychologist and former Atlanta Public Schools teacher, supports Morehouse’s mission to educate men who are committed to service, leadership, and academic excellence.

Morehouse’s Office of Institutional Advancement accepted the gift on behalf of the college. The donation is the second major gift issued by a philanthropist in recent months to support growth at Morehouse College, which has an enrollment of 2,175 students.

In January, Morehouse announced that Robert F. Smith, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Vista Equity Partners, made a $1.5 million gift to fund endowed scholarships and the design and creation of a park that will give students a new outdoor study area.

“As the nation’s only historically black college for men, Morehouse College has a legacy that is unparalleled,” said Monique Dozier, vice president of the Office of Institutional Advancement. “The college has produced leaders and game-changers in every discipline. Supporting educational opportunities at this fine institution provides first-generation college students and other scholars with financial needs a path to success that will impact future generations.”

The Office of Institutional Advancement is developing a giving strategy to attract additional major donations from Morehouse supporters, including individual, nonprofit, and corporate donors. The giving strategy will lay the framework for the launch of a successful capital campaign to address the priorities of the Office of the President, which include creating the campus of the future, funding student scholarships and faculty research, improving campus facilities and infrastructure and offering transformative educational opportunities for students.