John U. Monro—Uncommon Educator

In 1967, John U. Monro, Dean of the College at Harvard, left his twenty-year administrative career at the prestigious university for a teaching position at Miles College an unaccredited historically black college on the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama. This unconventional move was a natural continuation of Monro s life-long commitment to equal opportunity in education. A champion of the underprivileged, Monro embodied both the virtues of the Greatest Generation and the idealism of the civil rights era. His teaching career spanned more than four decades, and, as biographer Toni-Lee Capossela demonstrates, his influence reached well beyond his lifetime. In addition to being a talented administrator, Monro was a World War II veteran, a crusading journalist, a civil rights proponent, and a spokesman for the fledgling Peace Corps. His dedication to social justice outlasted the fervor of the 1960s and fueled bold initiatives in higher education. While at Harvard he developed a financial aid formula that became the national template for needs-based scholarships and earned him the title, The Father of Modern Financial Aid. From Tougaloo College, where he moved after a decade at Miles, he spearheaded a satellite freshman program in economically depressed Greene County and helped design a literacy program, a senior research requirement, and a writing-across-the-curriculum program. When hearing and memory loss drove him from the classroom, he moved his base of operations to the Writing Center, working with students in a collaborative relationship that suited his personality and teaching style. He struggled to overcome the symptoms of Alzheimer s until 1996, and even then retired with great reluctance. John U. Monro: Uncommon Educator is a tribute to this passionate teacher and an affirmation of how one person can inspire many to initiate positive and lasting change.

Toni-Lee Capossela is professor emerita at Stonehill College, where she directed the Writing Program and the Writing Center. She holds an undergraduate degree from Boston University and graduate degrees from Brandeis University.