The search for a new president at Jackson State University can commence now that a leadership profile has been completed.
The Institutions of Higher Learning’s board of trustees voted on Thursday to approve the leadership profile. According to officials, the profile highlights the university and is the lead promotional piece used in the recruitment of candidates by consultants at AGB Search, an outside firm hired by the state to help with the search.
Joining the state and AGB in the hunt for a new head honcho at Jackson State is a coalition of individuals with deep ties to the university. Officials are working to fill the vacancy left by former Jackson State president Dr. Marcus Thompson, who 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.
RELATED: Mississippi native and former U.S. education secretary Rod Paige dies at 92
As for Gregory, the interim could have her current title lifted, courtesy of the board of trustees waiving a policy restricting an interim president from submitting their name as a candidate for the permanent position at the university they currently lead.
“This action was taken to ensure transparency and provide the interim president of Jackson State University with the opportunity to apply for the presidency of JSU and be considered among all other candidates,” a statement from the board reads.
Now that a leadership profile has been completed, officials can begin the vetting process. No timeline has been presented for a new Jackson State president to be announced.