She couldn’t say no. “Higher education,” Mishoe says, “is my natural habitat,” and Delaware State has always been her home. Mishoe returned to historic landmarks still standing tall and took comfort in seeing some of the same trees that stood on campus 50 years ago, throwing off shade like old friends.
On the campus of the historically Black institution in Dover is where Mishoe grew up. And on Dec. 31, 2019, it’s also where she retired as president.
The career educator was 12 when her father, Dr. Luna I. Mishoe, became president of what was then Delaware State College in 1960.
In those early years, her family lived alongside the institution’s faculty and administrators on the small, tightknit campus. That sense of community is what made her time there special, says Mishoe. At 14, Delaware State gave Mishoe her first job, working in the dining hall. And in 1967 she left Dover for D.C. to attend the historically Black Howard University.
With advanced degrees from both Howard and Temple University, Mishoe worked at a variety of postsecondary institutions, including Delaware Technical Community College, for 30 years, before retiring in 2010. However, in 2014, Mishoe came out of retirement to be the acting president of Wilberforce University, another HBCU, in Ohio. The next year, she joined the Board of Trustees at Delaware State.
Students and university first
