Walter Massey

Dr. Walter E. Massey has enjoyed a uniquely varied career at the highest levels of science, education, business and public administration. A precocious student from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, he graduated from Atlanta's Morehouse College in 1958, and earned his doctorate in physics from Washington, University in St. Louis. He became a Professor of Physics at Brown University where he also served as Dean of the College. He later moved to the University of Chicago where he was Vice President for Research, and Director of the Argonne National Laboratory. While his academic research focused on the "many body" theories of quantum liquids and solids, he has also written extensively on the teaching of science and mathematics, and on the role of science and technology in a democratic society. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush named him Director of the National Science Foundation, the government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all fields of non-medical science, mathematics and engineering. After his service in Washington, Dr. Massey returned to his alma mater, Morehouse, serving as the school's president from 1995 to 2007. A longtime board member of Bank of America, he became Chairman of the Board in 2009. The following year, he took up the presidency of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This podcast was recorded at the Academy of Achievement's 1992 Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada, while Dr. Massey headed the National Science Foundation. In his address to the Academy, he recalls his early years, and the great role that Morehouse College played in his life. He also discusses the influence of the Civil Rights Movement on his social thinking, and on his choices as an academic administrator. He urges the Academy's student delegates to discover their own talents and pursue them with conviction and persistence.