Tucked away 20 miles south of Erie, PA, and the center of 100-mile radius that includes Cleveland, Buffalo and Pittsburgh, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania is marking its sesquicentennial.
    
As Edinboro’s 15th president, Dr. Frank G. Pogue, Ph.D., has spent the last 10 years building on the school’s traditions and expanding its legacy. His vision: “to create a student-centered learning environment by highlighting the mission of Edinboro University as that of access and excellence.”
    
Pogue’s tenure has taken on historic proportions—not only is he the first African-American president at Edinboro; he is also the first Black to head a non-historically Black college or university in Pennsylvania.
    
In that time, Edinboro has managed to buck the trend of many other institutions of higher learning by not only increasing enrollment, but also increasing the school’s diversity. The significance of that accomplishment is not lost on Pogue.
    
“Overall (the trend) of declining enrollment is due to the economy and loss of population,” said Pogue. Enrollment during Pogue’s tenure increased from 7,183 in 1996 to as high as 8,045 in 2005. Due to a very large graduating class in 2004 (a nice predicament to have) enrollment fell off.
   
Although a traditional-looking campus, Edinboro has attracted the state’s largest number of non-traditional students (some are commuting, some matriculate via Internet) along with flexible class scheduling to meet the needs of older students who are often raising family and have full-time employment.
   
Adding to the student population’s diversity is an increase of Blacks and Hispanics. Edinboro’s overall achievements have not gone unnoticed. According to the Colleges of Distinction website, an aide to prospect students and academicians, the school is listed among the country’s top schools with this notation: “For 150 years, Edinboro University has achieved excellence while providing a student-centered approach to college life among a diverse and vibrant community of people.”
   
To mark the auspicious anniversary, Edinboro is hosting a variety of events to celebrate the sesquicentennial. Highlights include a Conference on Poverty with award-winning author and activist Jonathan Kozol on Sept. 28, next month’s homecoming and a Black History Month observance that features the 11th annual Martin Luther King Awards Luncheon, a performance by the Harlem Gospel Choir, the Harry T. Burleigh Legacy Weekend (honoring the Erie native known as “the Father of the Spiritual,” as well as the Annual Frank G. Pogue Honors Scholarship Luncheon
   
The scholarship luncheon will take on special significance this year with the establishment of a journalism scholarship--the Willie Mae Goodwine and Inez J. Baskin Scholarship of Journalism. It’s been set up by Erie County residents Amos Goodwine Jr. and Leroy Goodwine to honor their mother and Baskin and to recognize Pogue (Baskin and Pogue are natives of Alabama and alumni of Alabama State University). Baskin was a reporter who covered the Civil Rights movement for the Montgomery Advertiser through her newsbeat, “Negro news.”
   
Pogue looks forward beyond the conclusion of his tenure at Edinboro. The Pitt grad will continue his involvement in education through his chairmanship of American Association of State Colleges and Universities Millennium Leadership Initiative as well as his affiliation with American Council on Education Commission on Women in Higher Education, among others.
   
(For more information on Edinboro University and its Sesquicentennial, call the main campus in Erie at 1_888_8GO_BORO or their website www.edinboro.edu.)