Berea Graduates Make Remarkable Impacts

Everyone who graduates from Berea College leaves with something unique to offer. Throughout the history of Berea, graduates have made some stunning contributions to the world. Have you ever celebrated Black History Month? Have you ever used a touch screen device? Have you read the National Book Foundation’s selections for 2009? If so, you have experienced the work of a Berea graduate.

Carter G. Woodson, known as the “Father of Black History”, graduated from Berea College in 1903. He helped found the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History which publishes the Journal of African American History, taught at Howard University, and founded the oldest African American owned publishing company. His most famous contribution to the world was establishing the first Negro History Week in 1926, which later became Black History Month. Woodson devoted his life to studying African American contributions to the world and believed that understanding Black history would help to conquer racism.

Dr. Samuel Hurst (1927–2010), who graduated from Berea in 1947, is the inventor of touch screen technology. While working at the University of Kentucky in 1971, he pioneered the touch screen and started Elographics, Inc.  His invention has since revolutionized how humans and computers interact and is used in phones, at supermarkets, and in scientific fields. Dr. Hurst also pioneered one-atom physics and RIS laser tuning, which allow atoms to be individually seen. RIS technology is now used in fields as diverse as ecology, neonatal care, and physics research.

C.E. Morgan graduated from Berea in 2002 after majoring in English and Voice.  She went on to attend Harvard Divinity School. Her writing has been published in the New York Times, and she was selected as one of five honorees for 2009 by the National Book Foundation.  She received the honor as one of five exceptional young fiction writers for her debut novel, All the Living.  All the Living has been widely acclaimed, described by reviewers as “nuanced, innovative, and compelling,” and Morgan has been hailed as an exciting new voice in the literary world.

For the past 150 years, in fields ranging from History, to Physics, to Literature, Berea graduates have made an impact on the world around them. Berea students have the unique opportunity of receiving a high quality education that prepares them for making remarkable contributions without the crippling debt students incur at most colleges. They are able to leave Berea ready to take on the world and make a lasting impact. What will Berea graduates do next? Only time will tell.