Officials overseeing public colleges and universities in Mississippi have begun the search for a new president at Jackson State.
The Institutions of Higher Learning’s Board of Trustees announced Thursday that board vice president Dr. Steven Cunningham, a graduate of Jackson State, will chair the search committee. All other trustees will also serve on the committee.
The announcement comes more than three months after former Jackson State president Dr. Marcus Thompson resigned from his post amid litigation pending against him. Dr. Denise Jones Gregory, the university’s provost and vice president of academic affairs, has taken Thompson’s former office in the interim.
“The work of selecting a university president is not easy,” IHL board president Gee Ogletree said. “The search committee must walk a very fine line, respecting the need for transparency and input from stakeholders, while also respecting the need for confidentiality related to those individuals who are being recruited and interviewed.
“The students, faculty, staff, alumni, and supporters of Jackson State University deserve our very best efforts in this process, and those efforts will ultimately result in a dynamic leader who will help Jackson State realize its greatest potential.”
Updates on the status of the search process will be available on the IHL website. Students, faculty, staff, alumni, and supporters of Jackson State are also encouraged to weigh in on the search through the webpage.
