LORMAN — An Alcorn State University alumnus was named the preferred candidate Thursday to take over the nation’s oldest historically black land-grant university.

The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning announced Alfred Rankins Jr., its deputy commissioner of academic affairs and student affairs, is its preferred candidate to become the next leader of ASU.

“I’m deeply honored for the chance to return home to my alma mater,” the 42-year-old said. “I am a proud Alcornite. I have a great appreciation for both its history and the wonderful things that are happening at Alcorn today.”

Rankins served for a year as interim president of Mississippi Valley State University. He’ll meet Tuesday with faculty, students and other groups at the Natchez and Lorman campuses.

Rankins is scheduled to be at the graduate school of business auditorium in Natchez from 9 to 9:45 a.m. Tuesday before heading to Lorman for the remainder of the day.

The College Board will meet at 3 p.m. Tuesday in Lorman to vote on his appointment or decide to continue the search process.

The announcement wraps up an unusually rapid presidential search after former president M. Christopher Brown II resigned in December. Brown stepped down as the board moved to suspend him during an investigation into purchasing violations.

Records show Alcorn spent almost $89,000 on furniture and renovations at the president’s house without seeking bids as required under state law. Documents also show Alcorn paid $85,000 in fees to a concert production company associated with a Brown aide, possibly violating state ethics laws. And an auditor says the school spent more than $67,000 in bond money on projects not allowed in the lending agreement.

Norris Edney, a former interim president of Alcorn and Natchez-Adams School District Board of Trustee chairman, has been serving as acting president since Brown resigned.

Usually, the board appoints a search committee, hires a search firm to look for a new president and interviews multiple candidates, a process that takes months. However, last year, the board changed the rules governing presidential choices to allow it to speed up the process. No search firm was hired in the Alcorn search, and the board search committee named Jan. 24 interviewed only Rankins on Wednesday before choosing him.

Higher Education Commissioner Hank Bounds said the board has done a number of searches for presidents and decided to interview Rankins before opening the field to others. He said the board believes Rankins is qualified and proved he could lead during his interim period at Valley.

“We know Dr. Rankins. We know what his abilities are,” Bounds said. “We had the opportunity to see him perform there, and he provided spectacular leadership.”

Search committee chairman and trustee C.D. Smith said the input gathered at various listening sessions across the area were valuable to pairing the traits Alcorn constituents wanted from their next president with Rankins.

“I believe Dr. Rankins is the perfect fit for Alcorn State University,” Smith said. “He loves the university, certainly. But more importantly, he has proven leadership ability and experience gained at universities, both land-grant and historically black universities, as well as the system office.”

Rankins said his top priority would be cleaning up the problems that led to Brown’s resignation.

“Alcorn will move forward, and we’ll learn from this and be a better university because of it,” he said.

Rankins said he wanted to wait for the state auditor and the Ethics Commission to complete their inquiries before proposing changes.

Board leaders said they hoped the quick transition would allow Alcorn State to preserve the progress it made under Brown in recruiting students and improving its image.

“Searches can be costly in terms of resources and lost momentum,” Bounds said. “One of the reasons we’re moving so quickly is because the university does have good momentum now.”

Rankins, a Greenville native, earned a bachelor’s degree from Alcorn. He earned a master’s and a doctorate in weed science from Mississippi State University. That links him to the agricultural mission of Alcorn, the nation’s oldest historically black land-grant university.

Brown was noted for his close connection to students, and Rankins said he would work to continue those outreach efforts.

“Alcorn, bar none, will be the most student-friendly university in the United States,” Rankins said.

Rankins and his wife, Juandalyn, have two children, Aftyn and Alfred.

The school has a main campus in Lorman and branch campuses in Natchez and Vicksburg. Rankins said he hoped those branch campuses, in particular, could help reach white as well as black students.

“The core mission of an HBCU is to serve underrepresented groups,” he said. “But we’re not limited to that core mission. We believe in diversity at Alcorn. We’re going to recruit all students.”

 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.