June

Percy Morehouse retiring as emeritus scholar

Executive director of equal opportunity and assistant to the president will be bidding farewell after 31 years of service to the University.

By Doug McPherson

June 8, 2017

Percy A. Morehouse Jr., Ph.D., executive director of equal opportunity and assistant to the president at MSU Denver, has announced he’s retiring effective Sept. 30, 2017.

Morehouse will retire as an emeritus scholar after 31 years with the University.

“It’s time for me to move on,” Morehouse said. “I’ve been working for 50 years in my career and I’m looking forward to spending time with my wife, my dogs and traveling.”

Morehouse has become a nationally recognized consultant, speaker and author in the areas of affirmative action and diversity for secondary and higher education.

Before his work at MSU Denver, Morehouse held educational administrative posts at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, taught high school biology and chemistry in Oak Grove, Louisiana, and served as a junior high principal in Henderson, Louisiana.

Morehouse said he’s proud of helping faculty, staff and students “to better understand their rights and responsibilities” related to making the University a wholesome and equitable place to work.

“I’m also proud of helping students with disabilities,” he said. “They’ve proven to me that they’re very determined (‘scrappy road runner’), so I wanted to make sure we had an environment where, if they worked hard, they could succeed. I suppose I’m most proud of that work – that we have policies and procedures in place to help those students.”

Morehouse attributed much of his success to the University’s leadership over the years. “I’ve worked for four different presidents and three interim presidents, and they’ve all been supportive of what I was doing, and they gave me the resources I needed,” he said.

Morehouse added that he’ll miss the diversity. “When you walk around the campus, you immediately notice we have a very diverse group of people here – faculty, staff and students,” he said. “I’m going to miss interacting with them. This is a very progressive school, and since I’ve been here, I’ve seen a lot of changes for the good. I’ll miss being a part of that, but I know the school will move forward; it has always been on the cutting edge.”

His parting advice to current and future students: “I think students need to be aware of what their rights and responsibilities are as they try to meet their educational goals. They need to keep their tenacity and not be afraid to ask questions (no question is a dumb question). If they do that, and apply themselves, then they can accomplish what they set out to on an academic, professional and personal level.

“I’m going to miss Metro; it’s been a privilege and a pleasure.”