Lamore Carter Reflects on Half a Century in Higher Education

 

Lamore Carter Reflects on Half a Century in Higher Education
Lamore Carter

Grambling, LA – Lamore Carter has long believed that education can empower a person’s life for the better. He has held this belief close to his heart as he dedicated half a century to service in higher education. He spent four decades of that time at Grambling State University, serving many roles from psychologist to professor to provost and vice president of academic affairs.

For a man who is so dedicated to higher education, Carter’s initial journey into the heyday of college life was interrupted by a call to serve his country. Carter completed his elementary and secondary education in Beaumont and Galveston, Texas, but was drafted to serve in World War II immediately upon his high school graduation as valedictorian at Central High School in Galveston in 1943. He was awarded the Legion of Honor medal along with 16 other World War II veterans by the French consul general in 2014 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

Carter’s three years in the U.S. Army did spark a love of travel to foreign countries, which he described as the “single most educational activity that one can engage in.” He later traveled extensively throughout his academic career to recruit international faculty and negotiate exchange agreements with universities abroad.

Upon his return from the war, Carter diligently returned to his studies, earning a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Fisk University in Nashville, a master’s degree in educational psychology and science methods from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and a doctorate in psychology from the State University of Iowa in Iowa City. He also completed post-doctoral research in higher education management at Harvard University.

Lamore Carter receives the Legion of Honor Medal from French Consul General Jean-Claude Brunet.
Lamore Carter receives the Legion of Honor Medal from French Consul General Jean-Claude Brunet.

Grambling College was the first college to answer his letters inquiring about college teaching positions. When Carter arrived in Grambling by train on a lonely Sunday in 1952, he was greeted enthusiastically by President R.W.E. Jones.

Grambling was a far different place more than 60 years ago. Carter made $2,800 a year teaching psychology courses as an assistant professor of biological sciences and coordinator of human growth courses through the College of Education, because a psychology department had yet to be established.

After four years at Grambling, he spent two years as a research assistant at the State University of Iowa, including a summer research assistantship at Gallaudet College for the Deaf in Washington, D.C. He returned to Grambling in 1958 as an associate professor.

In 1961, Carter was named the director and psychologist for Grambling’s Special Education Diagnostic Center, an experience which he recalls as one of the highlights of his career, since he developed the first center for special education at Grambling. “We were getting contracts from superintendents of five surrounding parishes. We had a speech therapist, a reading specialist, a social worker and a psychologist. We would visit schools and evaluate students who were recommended for special education,” he said.

Carter took on an even greater challenge in 1965, when he became the director of Grambling’s Center for Institutional Research and was tasked with building and maintaining the new center. “It was so critically important to institutional accreditation. You had to have it, because when SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) had scheduled a visit to the institution, Grambling had to be ready. One of the reasons black universities had difficulty gaining and retaining accreditation is that we did not have this. An institution that is not doing research is losing ground,” he said.

Midway through his academic career in 1969, Carter began traveling to gain experience at additional colleges. He served as the first postdoctoral fellow in educational research for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, a distinguished visiting professor of psychology and education at Morehouse College in Atlanta, dean of faculties at Texas Southern University and a postdoctoral fellow at Louisiana State University.

He returned to Grambling for the second time in 1971 as the associate dean for administration and research and was promoted to vice president for academic affairs and research in 1977, a position that he held until 1991.

It was during this time that Carter faced what he considers his greatest challenge and success at Grambling, his five-year work as part of a three-man committee (Carter, President Joseph Johnson and “world-class lawyer” Thomas “TNT” Todd) that coordinated and prepared materials concerning the 1982 consent decree between the Department of Justice and the State of Louisiana.

The consent decree brought millions of dollars to Grambling State University, resulting in many new academic programs, raises for employees, buildings and improvements to Grambling’s campus. The consent decree resulted in Grambling’s first doctoral program of developmental education in 1984.

Among the most prominent changes as a result of the consent decree was the establishment of the School of Nursing in 1983. Carter recruited Betty Smith from the University of Louisiana at Monroe, then Northeast Louisiana University, to run the program and recommended naming the program after her. Carter remembers her as a “lady who had a lot of spirit who was skilled and innovative.”

Carter finished his time at Grambling as provost and vice president for academic affairs and special advisor to the president/executive director of Total Quality Management. Carter left Grambling in 1993 for a four-year tenure as president of Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. He finished his academic career as the provost and vice president for academic affairs of Texas College from 1997 to 2001.

Carter, a firm believer in community service, is especially proud of founding the Grambling Lion’s Club. He is also a fellow of the American Association on Mental Deficiency, a diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology, and a member of the American Association for Higher Education, Louisiana Board of Examiners of Practicing Psychologists, Phi Delta Kappa Professional Fraternity and the American Psychological Association.

Carter has been married to Lena Jones Carter, who is a retired English instructor from Grambling, for nearly 60 years. They have two daughters, Greta and Kris-Lana, and three grandchildren, Lauryn, Morgan and Reginald.

“I don’t think anyone living has done more on behalf of Grambling State University than my dad.  What huge shoes to fill!” said Greta Carter, director of the Center of Student Professional Development.

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