Former IPS chief White takes reins at Martin University

Eugene White, who stepped down in April as superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools, has been appointed interim president of Martin University, a predominantly black college on the east side of Indianapolis.

White succeeds George Miller, who announced his resignation as Martin’s president on Aug. 16. Miller, who was only on the job for 18 months, will leave Indianapolis soon to assume another education position in the south, according to Martin University officials.
 
“We are very fortunate that a person with Dr. White’s credentials can be available on short notice to assume the key leadership role at Martin,” the Martin board of trustees said in a prepared statement. “He brings many years of excellent educational experience to the post, including responsibility for the state’s largest K-12 system for seven years.”
 
White agreed to relinquish the reins of IPS after three of his staunchest supporters were voted off the IPS board in November elections. 

Before becoming IPS superintendent in 2005, White served as superintendent of Washington Township Schools for 11 years. From July 1992 to January 1994, he was deputy superintendent of IPS.
 
In 1990, he became the first African-American principal of North Central High School in Indianapolis. During the 19 years prior, Dr. White was a teacher, coach and school administrator in Fort Wayne Community Schools and was the first African-American high school principal ever to serve in that system.
                       
White, 65, holds a bachelor’s degree from Alabama A&M University, a master’s degree in school health from the University of Tennessee, and a doctorate in education from Ball State University. He is married with two adult children who work for IPS.

Martin was founded in 1977 by Rev. Father Boniface Hardin and Sister Jane Schilling. Since Hardin retired as president in 2008, Martin has had two presidents who served relatively short terms.