ABSTRACT
Norman Francis has been the president of Xavier University in New Orleans since 1968, the longest serving university president in the nation. A native son of Louisiana, Francis is an alumnus of Xavier, where he earned his bachelor’s degree, and of Loyola University New Orleans School of Law, where he was the first African American to be admitted and earn a degree. Xavier, which was founded by Mother Katharine Drexel and her Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, is the only historically black Catholic university in the United States. Francis was the first male and the first lay president of the university. Under his leadership, the university has more than doubled its enrollment, expanded its campus, acquired new property adjacent to the university, built attractive, functional facilities, and multiplied its endowment several times over.
