Hon. Bro. Dr. Archie Powell

Hon. Dr. Archie James Powell was born in Lakeland, Florida. He is the oldest of three children of Archie Lee and Audrey Daniels Powell, and the only male child.

Bro. Powell began studying the piano at age four. At the age of 14 he won First Prize at a National Guild of Piano Teachers Southern District Piano Competition. The First Prize Award was a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. At age 16 he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America. Upon graduating from Atlanta’s Charles Lincoln Harper High School he also received an academic scholarship to Morehouse College. He chose to attend Morehouse College, rather than Juilliard, to study music. He became the first sophomore in Morehouse history to be awarded the Merrill-Overseas-Travel StudyGrant. The grant paid for a full year of foreign study and travel. He spent his junior year at the University of Nantes, France. In addition to his studies, Powell also earned the Certificat Practique de Langue Francaise, licensing him to teach the French language anywhere in the world. Upon returning to Morehouse for his senior year Powell served as senior class president and graduated with honors in June 1972. He was awarded the Ford Foundation Doctoral Fellowship, paying all expenses to the Graduate School of his choice. Powell enrolled at Brown University (Providence, RI) and was accepted into their Doctoral Degree Program.

As the only black PhD student in the History Department, Powell became immediately aware of the problems many black students faced at historically white universities, and helped to organize the Graduate Minority Student Association. While at Brown he would join the Pi Beta Sigma Chapter (Providence, RI) of Phi Beta Sigma and serve as chapter secretary, vice-president and president. He later introduced the Brown University campus to Phi Beta Sigma when he founded the Iota Upsilon Chapter at Brown. Powell served as New England Area Director and founded the Providence Area Sigma Beta Club. He later served as Regional Secretary, ViceRegional Director, and eventually Eastern Regional Director.

In 1977 Powell accepted a position as Associate Dean of Students for Minority Affairs at Albany Medical College. While there he joined Bro. Rev. James E. F. Lawrence in identifying four additional brothers and chartered Mu Iota Sigma Chapter (Albany, NY). Dr. Powell became the first Area Director for Upstate New York, and helped to strengthen chapters in Syracuse (Zeta Psi Sigma), Rochester (Theta Upsilon Sigma), and Buffalo (Theta Sigma).

In 1983 Dr. Powell was recruited by Boston University to duplicate his efforts at both Brown University and the Albany Medical College in the area of increasing minority student enrollment.

Dr. Powell has maintained his strong commitment to Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. In 2005 he transferred to the Zeta Kappa Sigma Chapter (Boston, MA), where he previously served as secretary. Dr. Powell’s dream is to have the Zeta Kappa Sigma Chapter grow into one of the largest, most active chapters in the Eastern Region. Bro. Dr. Archie James Powell continues to commit his life to living the motto: “Culture for Service and Service for Humanity”.

During the 2013, Philadelphia Conclave, Bro. Powell received the highest award conferred onto a member of Phi Beta Sigma when he was inducted into the Distinguish Service Chapter and became DSC# 172.

For a detailed biography of Hon. Dr. Powell visit the Eastern Regional Website at: http://www.pbseast. org/172-honorable-bro-archiepowell/