Opinion: What Morris College means to me

In 1966, fresh from the Microbiology Graduate School of Miami University of Oxford, Ohio, I arrived at Sumter with the intention of escaping the cold weather of Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I was appointed to study and teach, and without prior knowledge of the college and its exact location in S.C.

Since I reported to the campus before the college had opened its doors for the fall semester of that year, I was temporarily placed in the Daniels Dormitory before I was able to acquire a residence in the city. This is how kind and generous the college was to me.

I was the only biologist at the college that year, and my laboratory, with 14 monocular microscopes and not much else, was located in the HH Butler Hall. Full-time teaching and cultural adjustment to my mid-Western college life and Egyptian culture caused difficult but surmountable challenges.

Morris College is a student-centered HBCU institution, and the college's educational decisions are always made with student interests in mind. Thus, students are represented on every academic and administrative college committee, and one student is elected yearly to represent the student body on the college's board of trustees.

Last year, the Student Government Association held monthly town hall meetings attended by students and all college administrators to help solve any incipient problems aired by the students.

As reported in The Item's weekend edition of May 20-22, the college has experienced a substantial drop in enrollment, but that has not deterred the college's attempts of advancing its curriculum with new majors that have become the envy of larger institutions with considerable financial resources.

To serve students better, Morris College inaugurated a cybersecurity major in the 2019-20 academic year in addition to the minor that has existed the year before. And the college has inaugurated its state-of-the-art Esports Center on Nov. 30, 2022. Majors in esports cybersecurity, esports video game design, esports management and supply chain management will become components of its curriculum once approved by SACS by the 2023 fall semester.

Our students have participated and continue to participate in fully funded summer research internships at the Livermore National Laboratory in California, Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, Sandia Laboratory in New Mexico, Savannah River National Laboratory near Aiken and at USC Columbia, Furman University and Savannah State University, Georgia.

Students receive mentoring, tutoring and personal attention from the Quality Enhancement Plan impact personnel and academic major faculty members.

In the last 10 years, Morris College has acquired federal grants that enabled it to add a new wing to the Science Building and to invest $1.2 million in state-of-the-art scientific equipment. We are second to none among institutions our size or even larger.

No doubt that COVID-19 has curtailed the college's activities and has necessitated a reduction in the number of faculty and staff members because of the transitioning of academic instruction from the intramural to a virtual format. This action has contributed to the drastic reduction in student enrollment. In an attempt to remedy this situation, the college has increased its recruitment personnel, maintained the Fast Track Program and initiated the STEM Summer Program that will enhance high school students' academic preparation and enable them to enroll at the college following their graduation from high school.

I mentioned at the outset about my arrival at Morris College in 1966; now 58 years later, I still feel the noble fervor of Morris College and its commitment to the intrinsic missionary zeal of educating students and preparing them for future careers that their foreparents have not even dreamed of.

Morris College has produced and will continue to produce teachers, preachers, medical doctors, nurses, cancer researchers, orthodontic surgeons, podiatricians, brain surgeons, health professionals, engineers, businessmen and women, musicians, radio and TV personalities and Ph.D.s.

So, you ask: What does Morris College still mean to you?

Morris is a small higher-education institution with a big heart and the desire to become a powerhouse for technological innovation in the state, the region and the nation.

We are moving simultaneously on many tracks, trying to become a beacon of liberal arts education and scientific advancement.

The potential of Morris College in the future of education and technology is unparalleled. We are currently approached by several federal and private agencies, who like to collaborate with us in many fields.

Dr. Gwynth Nelson, of South Carolina State University and executive director of SC III, describes Morris College as "small but mighty."

I invite our students, alumni, faculty and staff members and the Board of Trustees to join us in this noble and exciting endeavor that is Morris College.

The best is yet to come.

Dr. Radman M. Ali is professor and chairman in the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at Morris College in Sumter.