Ivory V. Nelson
Ivory V. Nelson (born June 11, 1934) is an American chemist, educator, and academic administrator who served as president of Central Washington University from 1992 to 1999 and president of Lincoln University of Pennsylvania from 1999 to 2011. Life and career Nelson was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. After graduating from Booker T. Washington High School in Shreveport in 1951, he enlisted in the United States Air Force, in which he served three years. He graduated magna cum laude from Grambling State University in 1959, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and secondary education. He went on to receive a PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of Kansas in 1963. He was the first Grambling alumnus to go on to earn a PhD, and the first African American to earn a PhD in chemistry from the University of Kansas. He subsequently became a professor of chemistry at Prairie View A&M University, a historically black land-grant university located in Prairie View, Texas. Nelson received a Fulbright Lectureship and served as department chair, assistant dean of academic affairs, and vice president for research at Prairie View A&M University. In 1982, he served as the university's acting president for nine months.