IHL to Host Listening Sessions for Mississippi University for Women Presidential Search

The Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning will host two listening sessions in April as it searches for the next president of the Mississippi University for Women.

The sessions are scheduled for April 14 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the Cochran Limbert Assembly Room inside Thad and Rose Cochran Hall on the MUW campus in Columbus. They will be livestreamed, and additional comments can be submitted online through 5 p.m. on April 14, according to a statement from the board.

The listening sessions are part of the initial phase of the presidential search process. The board has not announced a timeline for the overall search. The position is vacant following the upcoming retirement of President Nora Miller, who will step down June 30.

Miller has served as MUW president since 2018. She previously held roles as vice president and senior vice president for finance and administration at the university. Miller announced her retirement in January after leading the school through the COVID-19 pandemic and overseeing a period of growth, including increased enrollment, stronger financial stability, expanded workforce programs, and national recognition for nursing and speech pathology programs.

MUW, founded in 1884 as the first state-supported college for women in the U.S., became coeducational in 1982. The university now offers more than 70 majors and concentrations, with about 22% of students identifying as male. The school has been unable to secure legislative approval to change its name to reflect its evolving student body, according to the university. Miller has been an advocate for the name change, which has yet to be approved by the state legislature.

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