Dr. Michael Sorrell: The One with the Football Field Turned Farm

Dr. Michael Sorrell has been hailed by Forbes Magazine as one of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders, and when you meet him, you instantly understand why. With a commanding yet approachable presence, it seems as if nuggets of wisdom just live in every sentence he speaks. Dr. Sorrell began his tenure as the President of Paul Quinn College, a historically black university in Dallas, 13 years ago when it was in dire straits.  Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and with 3 months until they had to close their doors for good, Paul Quinn's Tigers needed a new vision for and of themselves, and Dr. Sorrell brought exactly that. Within 90 days of taking office, he made sweeping changes that many questioned- from eliminating majors, to ending a decades-long football program and replacing it with, of all things, a farm where the football field had once been. His biggest change, however, was to get the Paul Quinn community to see itself as what it could be and to believe in a future where it stood as an example for colleges around the world.

Now with international acclaim, the Paul Quinn Quinnites do stand as shining examples of what a committed community of administrators and educators can do when faced with seemingly impossible odds. We sat down with Dr. Sorrell to discuss how his experience in sports, law, and entertainment (including a bid to buy the Memphis Grizzlies) prepared him for a career in higher education, and how creativity is found oftentimes when all other opportunities are exhausted.

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