Robert L. Satcher, Sr., Ph. D.

9th President

Robert L. Satcher, Sr. was named the ninth president of Saint Paul’s College on March 18, 2007. Previously he served as Interim President, Professor of Chemistry, and also taught Physics and Physical Science courses at Saint Paul’s. He formerly served in the positions of Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, and Acting President at Saint Paul’s College.

Dr. Satcher is a native of Anniston, Alabama and an honor graduate of Alabama State University; he received the Master’s degree from Arizona State University and the Ph.D. degree from Oregon State University. The results of his dissertation research on the Radiation and Photochemistry of Thymine (a DNA molecule) was presented at the International Conference on Photobiology, Bochum, Germany. He completed further study and research projects at the Universities of Missouri; Oklahoma; Tufts and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to his teaching assignment at Saint Paul’s, he is the Director of the Frances Emily Hunt Trust Summer Science and Mathematics Institute, and the Johnson-Johnson Foundation Saturday Science Academy.

He came to Saint Paul’s from Fisk University, Nashville, TN, where he served six years as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, and one year as Interim President. He previously held teaching and administrative positions at Hampton University, where he successfully directed the Institutional Nontraditional Self-Study for Reaffirmation of Accreditation. He also served as Executive Vice President and Academic Dean at Voorhees College. He completed a “tour of duty” for the U.S. Agency for International Development in the Country of Uganda, East Africa, where he received outstanding ratings as a Science Adviser for the development of Experimental Science in Uganda, and as a Chemistry Professor in one of the colleges. He has served as a consultant on long-range planning, management and evaluation for the U. S. Department of Education, and for the Commission on Colleges, SACS.

Dr. Satcher has been the recipient of numerous honors; among them, graduate fellowships and stipends from the Ford Foundation, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and the National Science Foundation; and he was a Rockefeller Foundation sponsored Fellow of the American Council on Education. He received the “Silver Beaver” award for Outstanding Leadership from Boy Scouts of America.

Among his organizational affiliations are the following: National Institute of Science; Beta Kappa Chi National Honor Scientific Society; Alpha Kappa Mu Honor Society; and the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He serves as Advisor to the Student Chapter of the NAACP; and to the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He is also Advisor and Superintendent of the Saint Paul’s Memorial Chapel Sunday School Program. He serves as a member of the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia. He completed a 4-year Governor’s appointment on the State of Virginia

Department of Agriculture’s Pesticide Control Board. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Community Memorial Health Center, South Hill, VA, a member of the Industrial Development Authority for Brunswick County, VA and a member of the Board of Directors of the Brunswick County Federal Teachers Credit Union.

Dr. Satcher was an active participant in the Civil Rights Movement, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Selma Voters March; he was a freshman at Alabama State University when the Bus Boycott began. His essay entitled, “Reflections on the Montgomery Bus Boycott” is one of the recommended essays on the Civil Rights Movement.

He is married to the former Miss Marian Hanna, a former high school teacher of Business Education and English. She also taught in the International School of Tororo, Uganda. They first met when he was a senior and she was a freshman at Alabama State University. They have four children; two of them Physicians; one an Entertainment Manager, and one is a Chemist and currently a graduate student at Howard University. Their oldest son, a physician is also one of NASA’s current Astronauts. Further, Dr. Satcher is a brother of Dr. David Satcher, Former Surgeon General of the United States, and currently an Adviser to the United Nations World Health Organization.