For almost two decades, Dr. Ivory V. Nelson, the former president of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, has mentored Dr. William B. Bynum Jr., the new president of Jackson State University in Mississippi.
Bynum, who had been the president of Mississippi Valley State University, was tapped to lead JSU in May, and it was no surprise when he turned to his longtime mentor to serve as his interim provost.
Nelson, 83, who has been in retirement since leaving Lincoln in 2011, has accepted the post.
“He worked for me for nine years,” says Nelson, adding that Bynum was vice president of student affairs and enrollment management at Lincoln, the historically Black university that counts Thurgood Marshall and Langston Hughes among its most prominent alumni. “When he came to Lincoln University, he asked me to mentor him. He’s been my friend and I think he’s come a long way to achieve his dream.”
When Nelson, a trained chemist, retired from Lincoln, Bynum wanted to succeed him. But when the board decided on another candidate Bynum took a job at Morehouse and eventually was named president of Mississippi Valley State University in 2013.
His appointment at JSU comes in a year when a number of HBCU presidents have swapped colleges and universities, resigned or were fired from their posts.
In his position as interim provost, Nelson will be demonstrating the leadership skills and knowledge that he has acquired during a total of 28 years in leadership roles at four different institutions. In addition to his years at Lincoln, he served as chancellor of Alamo Community College District, president of Central Washington University, and acting president of Prairie View A&M University.
