Career-defining moment leads to $1M gift creating the Dr. William Pitt Morgan Medical Scholarship

Dr. Robert E. Dicks ‘65 (Biology) came to the University of Indianapolis, or Indiana Central College as it was then known, with dreams of becoming a lawyer. But a question from a faculty member changed that trajectory and changed his life—and now he’s hoping to make a similar impact with a medical scholarship named for the man who made it all possible: Dr. William Pitt Morgan.

Dicks came to ICC with plans of majoring in history and going to law school, thanks to his ability for memorization. It was Dicks’ family physician Dr. Max Hoffman ‘50 (Biology), a personal friend of Angus Nicoson, who influenced him to attend Indiana Central. He still remembers meeting Nicoson on a Saturday morning in the fall on the steps of the gymnasium that bears his name.

But it was his freshman Biology 101 course with Morgan that changed everything. On the last day of the semester, Morgan said he wanted to see Dicks in his office after class. When he heard the freshman’s plans, Morgan asked, “have you ever considered medicine as a profession?” When Dicks said no, Morgan replied, “I think you should.”

Something sparked in Dicks. He changed his career focus and worked as Morgan’s laboratory assistant at both Indiana Central College and Indiana University’s Indianapolis campus for the next three years. The impact of the conversation and the relationship has not dimmed with time for both Dicks and his wife Marcey ‘65 (Elementary education) who have now been married 61 years.

“That conversation was a career-defining moment in my life,” remembers Bob Dicks. “Dr. Morgan saw something in me that I didn’t even see in myself, something I didn’t know I could accomplish. And I’m thankful for that belief with every patient I’m able to see and to help as a physician.”

Dicks went on to attend medical school at Indiana University, but has remained close to the UIndy community through the years. Dr. Dicks even served as the team physician for Indiana Central College for 10 years. He retired from active practice in 2020.

Bob and Marcey Dicks recently pledged a $1 million gift to the University of Indianapolis to begin a scholarship fund to help defray the cost of attending medical school after graduation.

“I am thankful to Bob and Marcey for their incredible generosity to future generations of Greyhounds,” said Dr. Travis Miller, interim dean for the Shaheen College of Arts and Sciences. “Their gift reflects the well-placed value they see in the work of our faculty, preparing our students for graduate school and their future careers.”

The scholarship will be awarded to a senior in the biology or chemistry department.

“The sciences at UIndy have a long tradition of sending well-prepared students to medical school,” said Dr. David Styers-Barnett, professor and chair of the chemistry department. “Gifts like this only strengthen our ability to help students achieve their potential and life goals of serving others in healthcare careers.”

“As the person currently holding the office in which Dr. Morgan previously held, it heartens me to see his legacy recognized in this way, by giving back to our students,” said Dr. Sandra Davis, professor and chair of the biology department. “This is such a profound example of how the impact of just one educator can truly make a lifetime of difference. We strive to give each one of our students the same type of connection.”

Dr. William Pitt Morgan made 40+ years of those types of connections during his tenure at UIndy. He was an excellent artist and a star athlete before an accident caused the amputation of one of his legs. He began teaching art at Indiana Central University while still an undergraduate student, just 14 years after it was founded. He graduated with his bachelor’s degree from Indiana Central in 1919, the same year he started teaching biology for the university. He went on to teach zoology, physiology, biology and served as the head of the biology department, having received his PhD from Indiana University in 1926. 

Morgan was widely perceived to be the most rigorous professor on the faculty, renowned for his scientific focus and academic integrity. He was a leader in premedical education across the state, and the award for the Outstanding Student in the Biology Department is still named in his honor. 

But his reputation extended beyond campus as well. When the Beatles came to Indianapolis for a pair of shows in 1964, Morgan served as the judge for a radio show’s contest awarding a pair of tickets to whoever could collect the largest beetle.

In addition to his academic responsibilities, Morgan served as the art editor and faculty chair for the yearbook, sponsor of the Press Club, chair of the Student Faculty Council, member of the Science Club, and faculty advisor for the Booster Club, where he also served as chair of the Athletic Committee. He was a member of Sigma Xi, a nonprofit honor society of scientists and engineers, a founding faculty sponsor of the Rho Chapter of Sigma Zeta, a national science and math honor society, and an advisor for Alpha Phi Omega. He also belonged to the campus literary society Philomusea and the Varsity “C” Association.

After the retirement of ICC President Irby J. Good in 1944, Morgan was appointed to the administrative committee tasked with carrying on the administrative duties of the college until a new president was selected. In 1949, the annual W. P. Morgan Award was created to honor the most valuable player on the Indiana Central football team.

While the accomplishments of Morgan are impressive, that’s not what motivated the gift from Bob and Marcey Dicks. It’s all about a conversation which provided a spark more than 60 years ago which has not dimmed with the passing of time.

“Dr. Morgan changed my life, but I’m far from the only life he greatly influenced,” said Dicks. “He embodies the UIndy motto of ‘Education for Service.’ That’s why Marcey and I feel so strongly that our gift should be named in his honor—we want others to always remember how one class, even one conversation, can change the course of your life.”

After graduating from the IU School of Medicine in 1969, Dicks did a residency in family medicine at Methodist Hospital. He served two years in the US Army Medical Corp at Fort Bragg establishing a family medicine residency at Womack Army Hospital in Fort Liberty, North Carolina.

When he left the service in 1975, Dicks returned home to Indiana and joined Southside Family Physicians in Indianapolis as well as the staff at St. Francis Hospital. Dicks is one of two founding inpatient medicine staff members of the St. Francis Family Practice Residency Program, where he taught inpatient medicine for the residency for 36 years, as well as maintaining a busy private practice. The Family Practice Residency at St. Francis is celebrating its 50th year this year and has trained more than 130 physicians.

Dicks mentored many medical students and residents who now practice medicine around Indianapolis, particularly on the south side. In addition to his decade of service as ICC team physician, he held a similar position for 16 years for Center Grove High School.

The enduring legacy of Dicks—as well as that fateful conversation as a freshman with Morgan—lives on in other ways as well. Bob and Marcey’s son attended UIndy where he received his MBA. A grandson is a University of Indianapolis student studying anthropology.