This April, the Black Alumni Society will celebrate its 10th Reunion. As a part of this year’s reunion, the first African American professors at the University of Arkansas, Dr. Margaret Clark and Dr. Gordon Morgan, will be recognized at the Faculty/Staff Appreciation Dinner, for their more than 40 years of service to the university and its students.

Clark started her career at the University of Arkansas in 1969. Earning a master’s degree in 1968 and her doctorate in education in 1978, both from the University of Arkansas, Clark went on to teach French, foreign languages and teacher education. Receiving emerita status in 1998, Clark remains active within the university and the northwest Arkansas community. Not only does she serve on the Arkansas Alumni Association’s Board of Directors, but she is a member of the Arkansas Division of the American Association of University Women, the Washington County Historical Society, the regional vice president for Northwest Arkansas’ Arkansas-East Bolivia Partners of the Americas and she was the first president of the Phi Alpha Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She has been presented various awards, including the Silas Hunt Legacy Award in 2006, Outstanding Faculty and the Martin Luther King Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award.

Also starting at the University of Arkansas in 1969, Morgan earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a master’s degree in 1956 from the University of Arkansas and his doctorate from Washington State University-Pullman in 1961. Having received his master’s degree in 1956, Morgan is noted as the first African American graduate from the University of Arkansas. Since he started teaching at the university, Morgan has taught sociology and published several books and articles about Arkansas culture, the University of Arkansas and other educational topics. Currently, Morgan is a member of the Black Alumni Society and the Arkansas Alumni Association. He received the Silas Hunt Legacy Award and the J. William Fulbright Distinguished Alumni Award, both in 2006, as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities Teaching Fellowship and a Ford Foundation Fellowship.