Resolution in Honor of Leo W. Jenkins

This resolution in honor of Leo W. Jenkins was drafted by the Board of Trustees upon his death. This and other resolutions of honor may be found in the Board of Trustees records, Record Group CH1000, Series 8, Resolutions in the University Archives.

Citation for this article is: Resolution of Respect, Board of Trustees Minutes, May 5, 1989

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A RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Leo Warren Jenkins uniquely and vigorously served this institution in various positions of leadership for thirty-one years; and

WHEREAS, Leo Warren Jenkins fulfilled the responsibilities of each position with uncommon energy, diligence, wisdom, and vision; and

WHEREAS, Leo Warren Jenkins, as Dean and Vice President of East Carolina College (1947-1960), functioning as a capable, informed, and innovative administrator, also become an effective advocate of community involvement and regional development; and

WHEREAS, Leo Warren Jenkins, as President of East Carolina College (1960-1967), assumed office with profound confidence and an ambitious agenda to prepare the institution for university status by expanding its curriculum, establishing professional schools, gaining accreditation of its programs, enlarging it faculty, student body, campus, and facilities, and extending its services throughout the region; and

WHEREAS, Leo Warren Jenkins, as President of East Carolina University (1962-1972), with irrepressible enthusiasm and tenacious determination continued to direct the energies of the institution to further expand and enhance its academic programs, to prepare for the establishment of Ph.D. programs, and to address urgent regional needs for improved health care, and to coordinate the campaign for the School of Medicine; and

WHEREAS, Leo Warren Jenkins, Chancellor of East Carolina University (1972-1977), deftly guided the institution in its transition from an independent regional university to a constitute campus of the University of North Carolina, even as he successfully concluded a decade's struggle for the establishment of the School of Medicine; and

WHEREAS, Leo Warren Jenkins, as the chief administrative officer of this institution (1960-1977), profoundly influenced the state's program of higher education by challenging its commitment to provide equal educational opportunity for all of its students, by facilitating the elevation of the state's senior colleges to university status, by inducing the expansion of medical education throughout the state, and by stimulating the restructuring of the state's system of higher education; and

WHEREAS, Leo Warren Jenkins, throughout his long association with this institution, invigorated and expanded its traditional commitment to serve the state, and particularly to improve the quality of life for the people of the eastern region, by providing education, health care, economic planning and developmental assistance, social, cultural, and recreational programs, and finally, by restoring to the people of the region pride in their heritage and confidence in their future; and

WHEREAS, Leo Warren Jenkins, as Chancellor Emeritus of East Carolina University (1977-1989), with special grace and dignity, retired from active participation in the affairs of this institution even as he continued to direct his considerable influence toward the well being of his beloved university; and

WHEREAS, Leo Warren Jenkins, in death as in life, has enriched the legacy and compounded the commitment of this university to leadership and service; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED,

That the Board of Trustees of East Carolina University in regular session on this fifth day of May, nineteen hundred and eighty-nine, do memorialize Leo Warren Jenkins and hereby recognize him as an imaginative leader, innovative educator, persistent reformer, and resourceful humanitarian; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED,

That copies of this resolution be provided for his wife and family.

Adopted by the Board of Trustees
East Carolina University
May 5, 1989