DON SCRUGGS (Jan ’51)

Dr. Donald Scruggs (Jan’51) was a man committed to his family, higher education, civil rights and the pursuit of justice.
After graduating from Roosevelt, he earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration from the University of Missouri at Columbia, a Master’s of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York, a certificate of ecumenical studies from the University of Geneva, Switzerland and a master’s degree and a doctorate in political science from the University of Oklahoma.
From 1960 to 1970 he was in the campus ministry at the University of Oklahoma.
He then accepted a position as a professor of social sciences and history at Stephens college in Columbia Mo., and at one time served as the chair of that program.
Dr. Scruggs co-directed the Stephens College China study-travel seminar and faculty exchange program with the Xi’an Foreign Language University from 1981 to 1990, serving as an exchange professor during the 1987-88 academic year.
He was awarded a Fulbright grant in 1991 to study social change in southern Africa.
Dr. Scruggs served as a faculty representative to the Stephens College model United Nations program and took groups of students to the United Nations each year so that they could personally experience the workings of that organization.
In 1998 he was awarded the prestigious Governor’s Award for excellence in teaching.
After his death in 2016, the Donald L. Scruggs Civic Engagement Fund was established at Stephens College to support student involvement as active citizens locally, regionally, nationally and globally.

DOB: Mar 20, 1933 St. Louis, MO DOD; Apr 30, 2016 Columbia, MO Age 83