Corey Wiggins, Tougaloo College’s new president, is committed to securing the school’s future.
He points to Tougaloo’s history as evidence that the school already embodies its mission of preparing students to become leaders and changemakers who are committed to serving a global community.
The college was a hub for activism during the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi, and its alumni include Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson and civil rights activists Joyce Ladner and Anne Moody.
Wiggins’ vision is to turn this mission into action. To do so, his main priorities are strengthening the school’s “internal core,” or how it operates and to focus on fundraising, building and strengthening academic programs, and supporting students, alumni, faculty and staff. Learning from the school’s history is key to that.
“We do have a history. That history does not guarantee us a future,” he said.
Wiggins is coming in after years of controversy over the school’s leadership.
In 2022, former president Carmen Walters received a vote of no confidence from Tougaloo students, and a petition calling for her removal received over 1,500 signatures. She stepped down in 2023.
In 2025, then-president Dr. Donzell Lee, along with the provost and the registrar at the time, all received votes of no-confidence from the faculty senate.
When asked how he would work to build relationships with faculty, staff, students and alumni, Wiggins he is committed to presence and transparency. He said he expects to be held accountable and to hold stakeholders accountable in turn.
“The perception of history and past, I think, is what that is, but what I can speak to is, what does it look like, how we move forward collectively as a community?” he said.
In his first days as president, he’s held events and meetings with faculty, staff and alumni, as well as a three-day enrollment event for current, prospective and undecided students.
He sees the issues facing higher education — enrollment, artificial intelligence and more — as opportunities rather than challenges.
“It’s about us as a college evolving and adapting to meet students where they are,” he said.
“And we can do that in a way that still involves and engages our history in the way of the college.”
The Tougaloo & You Enrollment Experience is one example of meeting learners where they are. Tables were set up in the Bennie G. Thompson Academic Center, with places for students to complete financial aid forms, submit applications and enroll in classes. Wiggins spent time talking to students and families, even posing for pictures.
Wiggins said he is heavily shaped by his upbringing in rural Hazlehurst. His first experience at Tougaloo was when he took part in the school’s summer science program, the Richard McGinnis Summer Science and Engineering Program, as a teenager.
He earned his bachelor’s in biology from Alcorn State University, a master’s in public health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and a doctorate of philosophy in health promotion jointly from University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Alabama.
Wiggins served in a variety of roles before Tougaloo. He explained that he views all of his work through the same lens.
“How do we take systems, how do we work within the frameworks of institutions and make sure that they are working for people?” he said.
He was the federal co-chairman of the Delta Regional Authority and executive director of the Mississippi State Conference NAACP and the HOPE Enterprise Cooperation.
He also had academic and professional appointments at Jackson State University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
For him, everything goes back to fulfilling Tougaloo’s mission.
“The mission isn’t just something that we talk about,” he said.
“It is something we’re working each and every day to deliver on.”
Hence then, the article about new tougaloo president wiggins embraces school s history while looking to future was published today ( ) and is available on Mississippi Today ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( New Tougaloo president Wiggins embraces school’s history while looking to future )
Also on site :