St. Augustine’s Names Dr. Christine Johnson McPhail As University’s 13th President

RALEIGH, NC – The Board of Trustees at Saint Augustine’s University (SAU) today (Feb. 23) announced the appointment of Dr. Christine Johnson McPhail as the University’s 13th President effective February 24th. The announcement comes after an extensive national search to fill the vacancy left after the untimely passing of her husband, Dr. Irving Pressley McPhail, in October 2020.  

“We are excited and fortunate to have an innovative, proven credential leader of Dr. Christine McPhail’s stature to lead St. Augustine’s University to the next level of excellence as we reimagine a new model of the HBCU of the future,” said Retired Honorable Justice James E. Perry, Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Currently serving as the President and CEO of the McPhail Group, LLC, Dr. Christine Johnson McPhail is a nationally recognized, well-respected thought leader in higher education in her own right. Dr. McPhail also currently serves as Professor of Practice at the John E. Roueche Center for Community College Leadership at Kansas State University. She is the Founding Professor and Director of the Community College Leadership Doctoral Program at Morgan State University. Under McPhail’s leadership, Morgan State University received R1 Carnegie classification, indicating that the program awarded at least 20 research/scholarship doctoral degrees during the update year.  

“I am both humbled and honored to have been selected by the Saint Augustine’s University Board of Trustees to serve as its next president,” said Dr. McPhail. “I am committed to the success of this University and each of its students. I also feel a responsibility to carry on my late husband’s work to establish the University as a 21st Century, learning-centered institution while at the same time leaning on several decades of experience in higher education leadership and strong partnerships with the SAU community to move us forward.”  

Prior to her role at Morgan State University, she served as President of Cypress College in California. She is a Certified Associate for Emergenetics International, an organizational development company that uses psychometric research and behavioral studies to advise and consult with businesses and individuals on how to assess human capital.  

After several decades in higher education, Dr. McPhail served as a leadership coach with Achieving the Dream from 2004 to 2018. The organization’s mission was to help leaders shape the teaching and learning environment by engaging, aligning, and inspiring people to act. She has developed proven coaching and consulting methodologies and leadership programs that are now used by numerous institutions to help their leaders drive results.  

The SAU Presidential Search Committee, under the direction of Trustees Rodrick Miller and Marley Bollinger, was comprised of individuals from local government, the Raleigh business community, higher education experts including SAU deans and faculty, SAU alumni, and members of the Board of Trustees.

“After interviewing several potential candidates to carry on the work unfortunately cut short by the loss of her husband, Dr. McPhail quickly rose to the top of our list,” said Miller, a Saint Augustine’s alumnus. “She has distinguished herself as one of the foremost authorities in higher education leadership and strategic organizational advancement. We are certain she is the best choice to lead SAU into the future.”  

Dr. James West, Wake County Commissioner, added, “I had the pleasure of serving on the Saint Augustine’s University Presidential Search Committee, and I celebrate the appointment of Dr. Christine McPhail as President. This is a great moment for SAU and this decision opens a vista for greater things to come in building this university’s partnership with Wake County.”  

Dr. McPhail is the recipient of the 2018 Diverse Champions Award from Diverse Issues in Higher Education, the 2010 American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) National Leadership Award, and the 2008 League of Innovation’s Terry O’Banion Leadership Award. She served on the Advisory Council for the Community College Survey of Student Engagement and the National Center for Postsecondary Research at the Community College Research Center. Dr. McPhail also served as the affirmative action officer for Division J of the American Education Research Association and on the editorial board for the Community College Journal of Research and Practice.  

A prolific scholar and practitioner, she is the editor for one of AACC’s best-selling publications, Establishing and Sustaining Learning-Centered Community Colleges (2005), coauthor of the best-selling book, Practical Leadership in Community Colleges, with Dr. George R. Boggs (2016), author of Leadership Tune-Up: Twelve Steps to Becoming a More Successful and Innovative Leader (2020), and co-editor of Team Leadership in Community Colleges, with Dr. George R. Boggs (2019). Her latest book, Transformational Change: Becoming an Equity-Centered Higher Education Institution, co-authored with Dr. Kimberly Beatty, is slated for publication in Spring 2021 (Stylus Publishing).  

In addition to her books, Dr. McPhail is the author of numerous academic journal articles, book chapters, monographs, and technical reports. McPhail’s articles, “From Tall to Matrix: Redefining Organizational Structures” (2016) and “Strategic Planning as a Leadership Development Tool for Midlevel Leaders” (2020), co-authored with her late husband, are highly sought after by higher education leaders to improve organizational effectiveness.