MORRIS COLLEGE: INNOVATION. ESPORTS. CYBERSECURITY.

BY PRINCESS GADSON

Morris College is preparing to roll out three new academic majors in esports.

The majors include esports with an emphasis in either cybersecurity, video game design or business management.

Morris College, a small HBCU located in Sumter, South Carolina and operated by the Baptist Educational and Missionary Convention of South Carolina, is ranked #21 in Social Mobility by US News & World Report’s Best Colleges.

“In the next five years, we will be the leading HBCU in esports and cybersecurity. To have these majors on our campus, and in addition, what it does for students in terms of marketability and employability is absolutely tremendous,” Dr. Leroy Staggers, President of Morris College said.

Dr. Staggers, a native of Salters, SC, earned an undergraduate degree in English from Voorhees College (now Voorhees University), and earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in English from Clark Atlanta University.

He credits his experience as an HBCU student for impacting him personally and professionally.

“In retrospect, I don’t think I would have thrived and developed as I did – not only with the academic part, but with the socialization and the feeling of fitting in,” Dr. Staggers explained.

Almost 30 years ago, Dr. Staggers began working at Morris College as an associate professor of English. He served as the academic dean and professor of English for 16 years. Before his presidency, Dr. Staggers served in several administrative positions at Morris College.

“Initially, when I came to Morris, I was just absolutely undoubtedly impressed – blown away with what I saw, because I came expecting to see one thing, and there was something completely different,” he said. “There was an image of the college that was unsavory, but by the time I arrived in 1993, that was no longer the case. I saw an institution that was really thriving.”

Dr. Staggers was also attracted to the strong leadership of the late Morris College President Luns C. Richardson. When Dr. Staggers became president of Morris College six years ago, his goals were to add to the stability of the college, expand the range and number of academic programs, upgrade the institution’s technology, increase the fundraising apparatus to improve the institution of development and advancement, increase enrollment, and solidify the Morris College brand.

This year, the college unveiled its new state-of-the-art esports lab.

An alum of Morris College also committed to covering the cost of the full four-year education for 30 students, totaling an investment of $2.8 million. dollars.

Morris College instituted a servicelearning program to instill in students the importance of service and giving back to others.

Dr. Staggers leads by example, serving his community in several ways such as, being a lifelong member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., an active member of his local rotary club, and a chairman of the Board of School at his church.

“An integral part of a person’s education is to understand the dimension of service above self. We should always be concerned about helping and assisting other people. Without service, a life is not well lived and is incomplete,” Dr. Staggers said.

Dr. Staggers advises any student that is considering attending an HBCU that ‘an HBCU is probably the best bet.’

“The HBCUs do something that none of the other, many thousands of colleges and universities in the country do, and that’s engender that self-confidence, which is key to be successful and especially to be leaders in the communities and the states and in the country,” he said.

One of the major challenges HBCUs face is fundraising. Dr. Staggers encourages those who support HBCUs to give as generously as they possibly can.

Dr. Staggers’ most rewarding part of being president of Morris College is interacting with students and listening to their questions or concerns.

“Students are constantly shifting and changing and bringing new dynamics with them. I make time to talk – if I’m going to the dining hall, invariably, I sit with them. I stop when they need to ask me something, giving them my attention for those few moments. That type of interaction with the students is beyond the doubt, the most rewarding part of my entire career,” he said.

When DeWayne Wickham, the founding dean of the School of Global Journalism and Communication (SGJC), arrived at Morgan State University in Baltimore in 2012, the SGJC wasjust an idea. Its predecessor, the Department of Communication Studies, was housed in the College of Liberal Arts. Now, the SGJC is on the verge of looking back at its first decade of existence—and ahead to its next 10 years.

“We needed to distinguish ourselves,” said SGJC Dean Jackie Jones, who succeeded Wickham in 2021. “At the time Dean Wickham arrived, the University of Maryland College Park had a big [journalism] program, Towson University had a program. You start thinking what could we offer that other folks aren’t offering, and how can we do it in a way that’s distinctive from what everybody else is doing?"