Dr. Massie's Retirement Announcement
by Debbie Carroll, USNA Public Affairs
The Naval Academy's first African American professor, Dr. Samuel P. Massie, retired Dec. 15 after 28 years of service at the academy. Massie was honored at a dinner on Wednesday evening at the Bay Ridge Inn in Annapolis.
A native of Little Rock, Ark., Massie graduated from high school at age 13. By the age of 18, he had earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry, summa cum laude, from A.M.N. College of Arkansas (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff). Later, he was awarded a Master of Arts degree in chemistry from Fisk University and a Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry from Iowa State University.
During his career, Massie served as chairman of the department of chemistry at Langston University in Oklahoma, Fisk University in Tennessee and at Howard University in Washington, DC From 1960-63, he was an associate program director at the National Science Foundation, and from 1963-66, he was president of the North Carolina College at Durham. Since 1966, Massie has been teaching chemistry to midshipmen, and from 1977-81, he served as chairman of the academy's chemistry department.
For his many contributions to science, technology, education and community service, Massie was awarded honorary degrees from the University of Arkansas, Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, the University of Maryland, Bowie State University in Maryland and Wooster College in Ohio.
"Dr. Massie is definitely the most well-known person in my department," said Professor Mark Elert, chairman of the academy's chemistry department. "He has been a unique asset to this department in so many ways, and he will be sorely missed by us all."