Kentucky by Heart: A.D. Albright led NKU’s emergence from fledging college to innovative university

By Steve Flairty
NKyTribune columnist

If only NKU president A.D. Albright had been in the picture then and I had been five years younger, it might have changed the course of my life. I thought about that recently while thumbing through a book about noted individuals of Greater Cincinnati.

Preparing to graduate from Campbell County High School in 1971, my choice of college placement loomed. With cost a definite factor, I looked at several state-supported institutions and, in time, chose EKU. I acquired three degrees from the school, loved it, and have never regretted the decision.

Unsurprisingly, one of the schools I mildly considered was the local Northern Kentucky State College (NKSC), or, as I knew it earlier as, the “UK Extension.” In 1971, its main campus had not yet moved from Covington to Highland Heights, and the school would not even award bachelor’s degrees until 1973. Partly because I really wanted to get away from home, but also because NKSC was fledgling and didn’t seem like a full college experience for me at the time, I chose the school at Richmond, some two hours away.

But perhaps if I had graduated from high school in 1976, I might have stayed home to go to college. Today’s Northern Kentucky University is, according to what I hear, a wonderful school and a real credit to the state. And Albright, who died in 2009, is likely deserving of much credit for its emergence.

Taking over the school’s presidency in 1976 (after turning it down in 1969), Albright had lots of work to do. There had been some turmoil regarding administration/faculty relations, and he sought to stabilize the situation and appears to have succeeded.

That corrected, he set four goals for his administration, according to Barry Horstman, writing in his book, 100 Who Made a Difference: Greater Cincinnatians Who Made a Mark on the 20th Century:

1. developing a high-quality undergraduate program, enhancing studies in professional studies such as law, education, and nursing

2. enhancing professional studies in fields such as law, education and nursing

3. promoting research and other services for the community

4. experimenting with innovative programs

“By the time Albright decided to relinquish the presidency in late 1982,” said Horstman, “all four had been accomplished.” During his tenure, the school enrollment doubled to more than 10,000 and $40,000,000 worth of construction happened, giving “an identity to the sprawling Highland Heights campus,” explained Horstman.

Horstman also noted Albright’s influence in “saving the Salmon Chase College of Law from extinction in the early 1980s amid a push by some legislators to reduce the number of law schools in Kentucky.”

Arnold Dewald Albright was born in 1913 in the Washington, D.C. area and, at two and a half, became a foster child to a laborer and housewife. As he aged, the couple emphasized the need for a good education. He entered DePauw University (where he played baseball) but had to drop out to earn more money. Despite continued financial struggles, he later completed his bachelor’s degree at Milligan College, in Tennessee, and he followed by attaining a master’s from the University of Tennessee and a Ph.D in higher education from New York University.

Now with a strong educational background, Albright was ready to launch a stellar career in academia:

• From 1938 to 1954, he held an assortment of educational leadership positions, including education professor at George Peabody College for Teachers

• At the University of Kentucky, he worked 20 years in positions of provost, vice-president, and interim president

• Served as president of Northern Kentucky University from 1976 to 1983

• Did educational consulting work and took interim president position at Morehead State University in 1986 to 1987

• Later appointed to fill vacant at-large position on Lexington’s Urban County Council

Doug Whitlock, Eastern Kentucky University’s president from 2007 to 2013 and who spent 40 years at the school, was lavish in his praise of Albright. “I was blessed over the years to know A.D. Albright and observe him at NKU, the then Council on Higher Education and at Morehead,” Whitlock said. “He was a class act and a person who earned your respect. It’s fair to say that he was one of my role models.”

Ron Ellis worked early in his career with Albright while serving in NKU’s advancement division from 1975 to 2001. The two became personal friends.

“He (Albright) was a grand teacher and a source of wise counsel throughout my years (there),’ said Ellis. Often, he would invite me to join him on a walk across campus—he loved meeting the students and talking with faculty and staff, most of whom he knew by name.”

After retirement, Ellis became a nature author and editor, and that interest was a feature of the two’s relationship. “We shared a love of words, which, upon his retirement, led him to inscribe and gift to me his treasured copy of the Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins,” Ellis continued. “We also shared a love of fishing, especially fly fishing for bluegills. My wife and I were truly blessed to have a long friendship with Dr. and Mrs. Albright.”

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