Dr. Paul Gray
Former MIT President Paul Gray passes
away at 85 after lifelong career of service and leadership at the
Institute
Guided by a passion for teaching,
MIT’s
14th president helped steer the Institute through decades of social
change.
Kathy Wren | MIT News Office
September 18, 2017
Extract
Paul Gray ’54, SM ’55, ScD ’60, a
devoted leader at MIT whose lifetime career at the Institute included
turns as a student, professor, dean of engineering, associate
provost, chancellor, president, and MIT Corporation chair, died today
at his home in Concord, Massachusetts, after a lengthy battle with
Alzheimer’s disease. He was 85.
As MIT’s 14th president, from 1980 to
1990, and in his other roles, Gray transformed the Institute through
his commitment to enhancing undergraduate education and increasing
the presence of women and underrepresented minorities on campus. With
his wife, Priscilla King Gray, at his side, he helped guide MIT
through the social change and technological transformation that
marked the second half of the 20th century.
His commitment to MIT, particularly to
its students, was absolute. Even after retiring as MIT Corporation
chair in 1997, he returned to teaching and advising. His work at the
Institute was carried out in partnership with Priscilla, a champion
of public service who led efforts to create a sense of community at
MIT and co-founded what is now called the Priscilla King Gray Public
Service Center. “Paul Gray led MIT with the
clear-eyed pragmatism and uncommon steadiness of a born engineer, and
the humility, warmth, and wisdom of an exceptional human being,”
says MIT President L. Rafael Reif.
“He was an indispensable advisor
to two MIT presidents who preceded him and all three who have
followed him. His affection for and trust in our students allowed him
to serve as an anchor at MIT during the turbulence of the Vietnam
War; inspired him to greatly increase the presence and profile of
underrepresented minority and women students in our community; and
led him to pioneer the creation of the then-revolutionary
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, now an inseparable part
of the MIT experience. Paul loved the MIT community like family —
and we feel his loss like family, too.”
“Paul became my first and most
essential guide to MIT. With the wisdom gained from a lifetime
devoted to the Institute, he showed me MIT’s ethos and history,”
says MIT President Emerita Susan Hockfield, who served as president
of the Institute from 2004 to 2012. “Whether at dinner with his
newly red-coated Class of ’54 classmates, or walking the Infinite
Corridor with wonderful Priscilla — love of his life and partner in
a presidency of warmth and purpose — his love of the place, of the
people, and of our mission shone brightly in all he said and did. A
part of me has always and will always see MIT through his eyes.”
A Vigorous Embrace of Diversity
When Gray arrived at MIT as an
undergraduate, women made up less than 2 percent of each MIT class,
and the percentage of underrepresented minorities was similarly low.
After joining the administration, he took up the charge to make the
MIT community more representative of society at large.
In 1968, in response to recommendations
from the newly created Black Students Union, Gray, who was then
associate provost, and others created the Task Force on Educational
Opportunity. Among other efforts, they hired an assistant director of
admissions and worked with him to actively recruit minority students.
MIT also began the landmark summer program Project Interphase,
staffed largely by students of color.
As chancellor, Gray wrote and began
implementing the Institute’s first formal plan to increase the
presence of women and minorities among MIT’s faculty as well as its
student body. In a 2008 MIT Infinite History interview, Gray recalled
that these efforts represented a sea change for the Institute. Until
that time, “MIT had never recruited [any students]. We waited for
applications to come,” he said.
By the time he stepped down from the presidency in 1990, women made up more than 30 percent of incoming undergraduate classes, and underrepresented minorities constituted 14 percent. Gray’s efforts had laid the foundation for MIT’s subsequent leaders to further increase diversity and inclusion at the Institute. His work on diversity among students and the faculty “may be the most important thing I did around here,” Gray said in the Infinite History interview.
By the time he stepped down from the presidency in 1990, women made up more than 30 percent of incoming undergraduate classes, and underrepresented minorities constituted 14 percent. Gray’s efforts had laid the foundation for MIT’s subsequent leaders to further increase diversity and inclusion at the Institute. His work on diversity among students and the faculty “may be the most important thing I did around here,” Gray said in the Infinite History interview.
More about Dr. Gray can be found here at MIT News
