Audrey Forbes Manley, M.D., is a former student, activist alumna,
trustee, and widow of a former Spelman College president. Now she’s in
charge, but after more than a year in office, some observers still
don’t know what she’s about.
They called it an inauguration, but it was ore like a coronation.
After a relationship with Spelman College that dates back to 1950,
Audrey Forbes Manley, M.D., was officially installed Oct. 31, as the
college’s eighth and first alumna president.
Rarely has a higher education president been as intricately linked
to a college as Manley. Her April 1997 appointment capped an
affiliation with Spelman that has seen her wear many hats — including
those of student, activist alumna, trustee, and first lady. When she
was married to long-time Spelman President Dr. Albert Manley, his
encouragement was instrumental in her participation on important
committees for the school.
And although she has held such key positions as Acting Surgeon
General in the Clinton administration, Manley say’s she feels like, “I
never really left Spelman and I think Dr. Albert Manley had a lot to do
with that.”
Albert Manley, Spelman’s president from 1953 until 1976, died in April 1997. The two were married in 1970.
This was the third time Manley was asked to consider the
presidency. On two previous occasions she demurred, saying she wanted
to devote more time to her medical career.
“Everything was right this time,” Manley says. “I talked to the
search committee and the more I heard, the more I realized that this is
something I should consider seriously and that was an opportunity to
make a contribution to my alma mater. It would come full circle, but I
was coming home with a lot.”
