Morgan State University’s vice president for research and economic development resigns from his position.
Within five years, Victor McCrary has done a lot to establish Morgan as a research facility and help bring in the big bucks but he has decided that his time at Morgan has come to an end.
“It has been a good five years. I think personally, first of all, I have met an incredible staff who works in the division of research and economic development,” said McCrary. “These people, I would go to war with any day. They have really embraced the mission and Dr. Wilson’s vision, which ultimately resulted last year in the state designating us Maryland’s public urban research university.”
McCrary has also helped Morgan become designated as a cyber-education Center for Academic Excellence by the National Security Agency (NSA) and partnership agreements signed with Morgan such as Drexel University, Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
In his position, McCrary worked closely with and reported to David Wilson, president of Morgan.
“Victor McCrary was our first vice president for research at Morgan. I personally involved myself in the search to convince him to come to Morgan. We recruited him from the John’s Hopkins University applied physics lab. I gave him the charge when he came on board to put in place the division of research and economic development,” said Wilson.
According to Wilson, McCrary was also responsible for increasing Morgan’s presence on Capitol Hill and positioning Morgan to win grants from federal agencies.
“In the area of increasing the visibility of Morgan, I give him high marks,” said Wilson.
McCrary will be leaving Morgan, March 1 to begin a new start at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
“I’ll be leaving March 1 and with mixed emotions because I’m going to leave an incredible team of people. Morgan has been very, very good for my career. I’ve learned a whole lot from everyone; from the Board of Regents, Dr. Wilson, my colleagues on the cabinet, the faculty and the students,” said McCrary.
The shift was brought on by a job offer he received over the winter break.
“I got this call, right around the Christmas holiday and it seemed like a great opportunity to be the vice chancellor for research at the university of Knoxville. I thought about it,” said McCrary. “A lot of the opportunities they have are some of the opportunities I saw when I first came to Morgan in terms of building a research culture and developing national visibility. So, I thought about it, I prayed on it and I said ‘you know what? You got to take this opportunity.”
He will hold a similar position in Knoxville to the one he is leaving at Morgan but with an added bonus.
“We wish him nothing but success at the place where he is going. Of course, we would love to have retained him here but I believe he’s getting a $130,000 raise, or something like that, so they want him pretty bad,” said Wilson.
Wilson has appointed a search committee to find McCrary’s replacement, which has identified four finalists. Wilson hopes to make an appointment to fill the position within a month.
