Remembering Ronald Wright

Ronald Wright, then chancellor of Delgado Community College in Louisiana, poses in 2009 in front of a closed college building once used to provide childcare services for students. It was damaged during Hurricane Katrina. (Photo: DCC)

Ronald D. Wright, who as chancellor oversaw much of the recovery of Delgado Community College in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina decimated the main campus in 2005, passed away on December 28 after a long battle with health problems. He was 72.

Wright came to Delgado in 2007 after serving as president of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College (Ohio) for 10 years. A major part of his job at Delgado was to continue to rebuild the college after the hurricane, especially the City Park campus. He battled with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over its red tape to assess damaged property so the college could receive reimbursement.

“We lost about 40 percent of our classroom space, and today we are still down 40 percent of our classroom space,” Wright said in an interview with Community College Daily in 2009, four years after the hurricane hit.

Despite such challenges, Wright helped to restore the college and its enrollment. After an initial loss of 7,000 students as a result of the storm, the college saw enrollment increase from 10,000 in 2006 to 15,000 in 2009.

Wright, a minister and church elder in Cincinnati, was also known for an incident that occurred at his alma mater, Oklahoma Christian University, 50 years ago. He was among 18 students arrested and dismissed by the university in 1969 during protests of the dismissal of 14 other students, most of them black, for allegedly violating curfew rules. Just last year, the university apologized to Wright and the other students.

During Wright’s tenure at Cincinnati State, the college purchased a workforce development center, opened a technology and learning center, and built a second parking garage to serve an increasing student population. Prior to Cincinnati State, Wright was executive vice president at Delaware County Community College (Pennsylvania) and vice president for academic and student affairs at the Baltimore City Community College.

Upon leaving Delgado in 2011, Wright served as special assistant to the president for Centers of Excellence for the Louisiana Community and Technical College System.

About the Author

Matthew Dembicki
Matthew Dembicki edits Community College Daily and serves as associate vice president of communications for the American Association of Community Colleges.
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