Dr. Frank W. Hale, Jr.

Dr. Frank W. Hale, Jr. – 1927 – 2011
Dr. Hale was Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion and Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University where he served from 1971 to 1988. A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Dr. Hale completed elementary and secondary schools in Topeka, Kansas and graduated from Topeka High School. Dr. Hale was awarded a B.A. and M.A. in Communication, Political Science, and English in 1950 from the University of Nebraska and his Ph.D. in Communication and Political Science from The Ohio State University in 1955.

He was a British Council postdoctoral fellow in English Literature at the University of London in 1960. Dr. Hale also held an Honorary Doctor of Humanities (D.Hum.) from Wilberforce (Ohio) University; a Doctor of Humane letters (L.H.D.) from Shaw University (North Carolina); a Doctor of Humanities degree (D.Hum.) from Capital university (Ohio); a Doctor of Humanities degree (D.Hum.) from the University of Nebraska; a Doctor of Laws (LLD) from La Sierra University (California); and a Doctor of Laws (LLD) from Andrews University (Michigan).

Serving in the field of higher education for fifty-four years (1951 –2005), Dr. Hale held full professorships at Central State University (Ohio), Oakwood College (Alabama) and The Ohio State University. In 1957, Dr. Hale was a Visiting Professor of Communication at Potomac University (Maryland), later renamed Andrews University. He served as Chairman and Professor of the Department of English (1959-1966) at Central State University (Ohio). Before coming to Ohio State, he was President of Oakwood College (1966-1971) in Huntsville, Alabama. From 1971 to 1978, he was Associate Dean and Chairman of the Fellowship Committee of the Graduate School at Ohio State. Dr. Hale was then appointed Vice Provost for Minority Affairs in 1978, a position which he held until his retirement from Ohio State in 1988. He also served as Special Assistant to the President of Kenyon College from 1989 to 1992. In the summer of 1995, Dr. Hale was Visiting Professor of Communication at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; from 1999 to 2005, he was appointed Distinguished University Representative and Consultant in the president’s office at The Ohio State University.

Dr. Hale has served on many regional and national boards, including the United Negro College Fund, Operation PUSH, PUSH EXCEL, Loma Linda University, Oakwood College, Union College (Nebraska), Columbia Union College, Seventh-day Adventist Commission on Higher Education, the Ohio Martin Luther King, Commission, Harding Hospital, and the Advisory Board of the College of William and Mary. His lectureships include presentations before the National Academy of Science, the Council of Graduate Schools, the National Association of Land Grant Colleges, the National Association of Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, the US Department of Education, the National Association of Black Administrators in Higher Education and the American College of Health Association.

Dr. Hale’s consultancies included the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Army, U.S. Military Academy (West Point), Market Facts Research, Virginia Council of Higher Education, Tennessee State Commission on Higher Education, Education Testing Service, Ohio State Department of Administrative Services, Institute for Services to Education, Council of Graduate Schools, Mott Foundation, Council of Independent Colleges, National Conference on Racial and Ethnic Relations in Americas Higher Education, Ohio Society of Profession Engineers, National Association of College Deans, Registrars, Admissions Offices, Association of Black Administrators, Multicultural leadership Development Program, National Conference on mobilizing for Excellence in Education, Operation PUSH, and Montgomery County, Maryland Public School.

Dr. Hale authored and edited eleven books and published more than 50 articles in professional journals. His publications include his biography Angels Watching Over Me (Winston/Derek Publishing Company, 1996); his bestseller, What Makes Diversity Work in Higher Education (Stylus Publishing Company, 2004); and Black Colleges Empower Black Students: Lessons for Higher Education (Stylus Publishing Company, 2006).

As a scholar, researcher, author, teacher, administrator, consultant, and civil rights crusader, Dr. Hale was the engineer of many new initiatives at Ohio State. He founded the Graduate and Professional Schools Visitation Days Program in 1971 and its undergraduate counterpart, the Minority Scholars Program in 1982. He also founded The Ohio State Mu Xi Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Mu Honorary Society. Through his efforts, nearly $15 million in graduate fellowship awards were granted to approximately 1,200 minority students. Eighty percent of these fellowship recipients earned master’s and/or doctoral degrees. With the awarding of full tuition scholarships through the Minority Scholars program to high school seniors, the university was able to attract a “Community of Minority Scholars” numbering more than 500 during Dr. Hale’s tenure. As a capstone to his illustrious career, the Ohio State Board of Trustees voted him Vice Provost and Professor Emeritus, naming in his honor the Frank W. Hale, Jr. Black Cultural Center and designating the building in which it is housed as Hale Hall. Dr. Hale delivered the 1988 Summer Commencement address to 1,700 graduates. He was honored by the City of Columbus as 1,200 guests participated in his retirement banquet on December 4, 1988 at the Aladdin Shrine Temple. An endowed scholarship has also been established in his name at Ohio State.

Dr. Hale was married to Mignon Scott-Hale, a retired elementary school teacher and was an active member of the Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church where he has served as a local elder, Sabbath School Superintendent, Chairman of the Education Committee, President of the Peterson society of Adventist Men, and Building Fund Chairman for the Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church in Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Hale was Chairman of the Layman’s Leadership Conference, a civil rights lay organization in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which was active in spearheading the crusade for the rights of blacks within the Church in the early 1960’s.