By ERRIN HAINES
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) _ Morehouse College President Robert Franklin plans to step down after a five-year term as head of the prestigious, historically black men's college.

Franklin, 57, took office in 2007 as the college's tenth president. He will become the college's President Emeritus and Distinguished Professor.

If a successor is not found by July 1, Franklin will remain until either a new president is chosen or the end of the year.

During his tenure, Franklin launched a new capital campaign and new public perception of Morehouse. He said he plans to take a sabbatical as a scholar in residence at Stanford University's Martin Luther King Jr. Institute and will return to Morehouse to teach.

Franklin is a 1975 alumnus. Other prominent graduates include King, former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, filmmaker Spike Lee and actor Samuel L. Jackson.

He previously was the Presidential Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University and president of the Interdenominational Theological Center.

The Chicago native is also an author and theologian with a master's degree in divinity from the Harvard Divinity School and a doctorate in divinity from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He has written extensively on the role of the black church in the African-American community.

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Online: http://www.morehouse.edu