The Rev. Harold Conner Sr., the first African-American administrator at the University of Tennessee at Martin, was honored Aug. 17 in a tribute held at Watkins Auditorium in the Boling University Center. Weakley County Mayor Dale Hutcherson is shown presenting a biography and photo of Conner at the event. Before coming to UT Martin, Conner was a minister at Fuller Street Baptist Church and became the principal of the Weakley County Training School and encouraged one of his students, Jessie Lou Arnold Pryor, to attend the university as its first African-American student in June 1961. After coming to UTM to become the assistant dean of students in 1969, he became known as “Dean Conner.” He would later become the assistant vice chancellor for student affairs. Conner retired from UT Martin in 1981 and passed on Oct. 15, 2017.
