JACKSON, Miss. — After failing to attract a temporary leader for Mississippi Valley State University, the College Board has decided to look for a permanent president for the Itta Bena school.
College Board President Bob Owens named five board members Thursday, led by Shane Hooper of Saltillo, to seek a new leader for Mississippi’s smallest public university.
Valley has been without a president since October, when the College Board declined to renew Donna Oliver’s contract after four years.
Alfred Rankins Jr., the College Board’s associate commissioner for academic and student affairs, has been acting president since October. The board tried to hire an interim president in January, but the candidate backed out. After that, board members said they were in no hurry to name a permanent president at Valley, saying the school needed administrative reforms.
Higher Education Commissioner Hank Bounds said Saturday that improvements have been made to the school’s athletics program, student recruitment and data and financial processes. He said that a new president is unlikely to arrive until January at the earliest and that there would be more time to bolster Valley.
“We’ve done a number of things to put the university on the right course,” Bounds said.
Still, he acknowledged that the search was unlikely to attract a large number of qualified candidates, unlike posts at Mississippi’s largest universities.
