Mississippi Today
IHL: Alcorn State interim president leaving after two months to focus on family
The governing board of Mississippi's public university system announced that Alcorn State University's interim president is leaving next month to focus on his family.
The change, which the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees approved in a special called executive session on Thursday, comes a little over two months after Ontario Wooden was appointed in the wake of the board's firing of Felecia Nave, the university's first female president.
Wooden had served as the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs since 2020. When Wooden was appointed in April, some faculty were optimistic he could repair the strained relationship they had with Nave due in part to some changes she'd made early in her tenure that increased the minimum number of classes faculty had to teach.
“We appreciate Dr. Wooden's leadership and his three years of service to Alcorn State University,” said Dr. Alfred McNair, the new IHL board president, in a press release. “We wish Dr. Wooden and his family well in their future endeavors.”
Wooden will be replaced by Tracy Cook, the vice president for student affairs and enrollment management. Cook is an alumnus of Alcorn State, the oldest public historically Black university in Missisippi. He will begin serving on July 8.
“Dr. Cook will keep the university moving forward and building on its rich heritage,” McNair said.
The nature of Wooden's departure was not immediately clear from IHL's press release, and a spokesperson for the university did not respond to an inquiry from Mississippi Today by press time.
This is not unusual: The board did not provide a reason for Nave's firing, which came two days after she interviewed as a semi-finalist for the chancellor position at Louisiana State University, Shreveport.
READ MORE: ‘7 university presidents have left in the last year. Why is turnover so high?‘
An alumni group called Alcornites for Change has called on IHL to provide more information on the reason for Nave's firing. The group had closely followed Nave's presidency and prepared a report on declining enrollment, resignations and the abysmal state of the univesity's athletic facilities.
“It was a shocker to us because my thing was, we've been presenting the information, we have been rallying the stakeholders, and all of a sudden, boom, they make a decision,” Jared Gilmore, a member of Alcornites for Change, told Mississippi Today last month. “We need to know where we go from here because we have some issues.”
IHL has yet to announce a timeline for a presidential search, and the board said at its meeting yesterday it does not plan to meet until August.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1896
MAY 18, 1896
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-1 in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial segregation on railroads or similar public places was constitutional, forging the “separate but equal” doctrine that remained in place until 1954.
In his dissent that would foreshadow the ruling six decades later in Brown v. Board of Education, Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote that “separate but equal” rail cars were aimed at discriminating against Black Americans.
“In the view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens,” he wrote. “Our Constitution in color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law … takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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Mississippi Today
Renada Stovall, chemist and entrepreneur
Renada Stovall sat on the back deck of her rural Arkansas home one evening, contemplating life when she had a life-altering epiphany…
“I gotta get out of these woods.”
She heard it as clear as lips to her ear and as deep as the trees surrounding her property. Stovall's job as a chemist had taken her all over the country. In addition to Arkansas, there were stints in Atlanta, Dallas and Reno. But she was missing home, her parents and friends. She also knew, she needed something else to do.
“I thought, what kind of business can I start for myself,” said Stovall, as she watered herbs growing in a garden behind her south Jackson home. Some of those herbs are used in her all-natural products. “I know when I lived in Reno, Nevada, where it's very hot and very dry, there really weren't products available that worked for me, my hair, and my skin suffered. I've got a chemistry degree from Spelman College. I took the plunge and decided to create products for myself.”
In 2018, Stovall's venture led to the creation of shea butter moisturizers and natural soaps. But she didn't stop there, and in December 2022, she moved home to Mississippi and got to work, expanding her product line to include body balms and butters, and shampoos infused with avocado and palm, mango butter, coconut and olive oils.
Nadabutter, which incorporates Renada's name, came to fruition.
Stovall sells her balms and moisturizers at what she calls, “pop-up markets,” across the state during the summer. She's available via social media and also creates products depending on what of her ingredients a customer chooses. “My turmeric and honey is really popular,” Stovall added.
“The all-natural ingredients I use are great for conditioning the skin and hair. All of my products make you feel soft and luscious. The shea butter I use comes from West Africa. It's my way of networking and supporting other women. And it's my wish that other women can be inspired to be self-sufficient in starting their own businesses.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1954
MAY 17, 1954
In Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the “separate but equal” doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed equal treatment under the law.
The historic decision brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, ruling in the case of student Linda Brown, who was denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin.
In Mississippi, segregationist leaders called the day “Black Monday” and took up the charge of the just-created white Citizens' Council to preserve racial segregation at all costs.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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