Rev. Robert Michael Franklin, PhD, president emeritus of Morehouse College in Atlanta and senior advisor to the president of Emory University. Franklin holds the James T. and Berta R. Laney Chair in Moral Leadership at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. In this role, Franklin challenges students to explore the concept of moral leadership in the 21st century in different cultures and contexts in the United States and around the world.

Franklin serves as a senior advisor to the Emory University president, as well as for Community and Diversity at Emory. He is a former presidential distinguished professor of Social Ethics and a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, both at Emory. In addition, he was the founding director of Candler School of Theology’s Black Church Studies program, which prepares men and women to provide learned, prophetic and compassionate leadership in Black and multiracial churches.