Kentucky Educator A. D. Albright




A. D. Albright
1913-2009

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine recently opened its second four year regional campus.  In partnership with Northern Kentucky University and St. Elizabeth Healthcare, the new center is located in the Albright Health Center on the NKU Campus named for Kentucky education leader Dr. Arnold Dewald "AD" Albright.

Dr. Albright would be pleased.

A. D. Albright Health Center

Born in Washington D.C. in 1913, Albright's mother died before he turned three.  Raised by his Aunt and Uncle, he lived for nearly three years in a sod hut on a remote Saskatchewan homestead. Subsequently he attended Depauw University and graduated from Milligan College in Tennessee in 1937. Albright received an M.S. degree from the University of Tennessee the following year and earned a Ph.D. from New York University in 1950.

Following a series of positions in public education in Tennessee, Albright became a professor of education at George Peabody College in Nashville. In 1954 he became director of the Bureau of School Services and professor of education at the University of Kentucky. In 1957 he became executive dean of extended programs, beginning an administrative career at the University of Kentucky that also included terms as provost (1960-62) and executive vice-president of institutional planning (1970-73).

Albright became executive director of the Kentucky Council on Higher Education in 1973 where he introduced long-range planning. In 1976 he was named the second president of Northern Kentucky University, a post he held until 1983. In 1986 Albright was asked to become president of Morehead State University during a period of declining enrollments and institutional upheaval.

A. D. Albright dedicated his life and career to education and did so with hard work, grace, and humility.