Dr. Audrey Manley, acting U.S. surgeon general, will succeed Johnnetta Cole as president of Spelman College in Atlanta on July 1.
Manley, the first African-American woman to achieve the rank of Assistant Surgeon General Rear Admiral and also serve as the deputy assistant secretary for health, is the first Spelman alumna to be named president in the college’s 116-year-history.
“With her commitment to Spelman and a significant amount of administrative experience, she has the ability to be an articulate spokeswoman for the college,” says Glenda Price, provost at Spelman.
“There was a fairly strong alumnae sentiment that the next president should be an alumna,” says Price.
Manley graduated cum laude from Spelman in 1955 and received her medical degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville. Her 30-year medical career also includes jobs at the U.S. Public Health Service and faculty positions at the University of Illinois, University of Chicago and Emory University medical schools.
