Mississippi Valley State University could be one step closer to having a new president come next week.
A presidential search committee for the state’s College Board will hold a campus listening session at Valley on Oct. 12 to hear from various constituency groups as it decides how to move forward toward permanently filling the top position at the 2,458-student university.
The scheduled three hours of discussions will center on the qualities and qualifications stakeholders believe the next president should possess, according to a press release from the state Institutions of Higher Learning.
The sessions with students, administration, faculty, staff, alumni and community members will be open to the public. All sessions will take place in the auditorium of the Business Education Building.
{{tncms-inline alignment="left" content="<p>A presidential search committee for the state College Board will hold a listening session Oct. 12 in the Business Education Building at Mississippi Valley State University. The schedule:</p> <p>•3-3:40 p.m.: Students</p> <p>•3:45-4:25 p.m.: Administration</p> <p>•4:30-5:10 p.m.: Faculty and staff</p> <p>•5:15-5:55 p.m.: Alumni and community</p>" id="52dbd2b0-f21b-4677-a026-0dc6789afd8a" style-type="bio" title="Listening session" type="relcontent" width="half"}}
Acting President Jerryl Briggs is the only known candidate for the permanent position.
Briggs came to Valley in 2013 to work alongside his longtime professional colleague, Dr. William Bynum Jr., who left MVSU in July to take the lead position at Jackson State University. Until he took over for Bynum, Briggs served as executive vice president and chief operating officer at the university.
IHL spokeswoman Caron Blanton said the College Board has not made a decision on whether to use an expedited search process or the traditional 20-step process. That decision will be made following the listening session. In June, the College Board said it would name an interim president at Valley in August.
Instead, Briggs continued on as acting president, making him an eligible candidate for the permanent job.
Blanton has said that acting presidents can only be considered for the permanent job in an expedited search process, not in a 20-step one.
The expedited process is estimated to take three to four months. Should the board opt for the traditional 20-step process, Briggs would be eliminated from the running for the permanent position, and the process would take at least six to seven months.
Mississippi’s higher education chief, Dr. Glenn Boyce, told the Greenwood Voters League in June that the board would be “looking for stability” in the choice of the next president at Valley, the smallest of the state’s eight public universities.
“We don’t want Valley to be a testing ground. There’s momentum and trajectory in place at Valley, and we don’t want to bring somebody in to shake it up,” Boyce said.
Briggs indicated in a speech to the Greenwood NAACP chapter last week that enrollment, retention and financial stability are all areas of strength at Valley that he intends to continue improving.
Trustee Shane Hooper, chair of the MVSU search committee, said he and his group are committed to finding the right person to lead the school.
“I hope that all students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the surrounding community will join us and let us know what type of leader they want to see in the next president.”
•Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
A presidential search committee for the state College Board will hold a listening session Oct. 12 in the Business Education Building at Mississippi Valley State University. The schedule:
•3-3:40 p.m.: Students
•3:45-4:25 p.m.: Administration
•4:30-5:10 p.m.: Faculty and staff
•5:15-5:55 p.m.: Alumni and community
