List of presidents of Mississippi State University

The following persons are, or were, the president of Mississippi State University.

Presidents of Mississippi A&M (1880–1932)

#	Name	Term
1	General Stephen D. Lee	1880–1899
2	John M. Stone	1899–1900
3	John Crumpton Hardy	1900–1912
4	George Robert Hightower	1912–1916
5	William Hall Smith	1916–1920
6	David Carlisle Hull†	1920–1925
7	Buz M. Walker†	1925–1930
8	Hugh Critz^a	1930–1932

Presidents of Mississippi State College (1932–1958)

#	Name	Term
8 (cont.)	Hugh Critz^a	1932–1934
9	George Duke Humphrey	1934–1945
10	Fred Tom Mitchell†	1945–1953
11	Benjamin F. Hilbun†^b	1953–1958

Presidents of Mississippi State University (1958–present)

#	Name	Term
11 (cont.)	Benjamin F. Hilbun†^b	1958–1960
12	Dean W. Colvard	1960–1966
13	William L. Giles	1966–1976
14	James Douglas McComas	1976–1985
	Harvey S. Lewis† (interim President)	(Spring-Summer 1985)
15	Donald W. Zacharias	1985–1997
16	Malcolm Portera†	1998–2001
17	J. Charles Lee	2002–2006
18	General Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong^c	2006–2008
	Vance Watson†^d (Interim President)	2008[1]
	Roy H. Ruby†^e (Interim President)	2008–2009[2]
19	Mark E. Keenum†	2009–present[3]

Notes

(a) – Hugh Critz was president when the Mississippi Legislature changed the name from Mississippi A&M to Mississippi State College.

(b) – Benjamin F. Hilbun was president when the Mississippi Legislature again changed the name, this time from Mississippi State College to Mississippi State University in 1958.^[4]

(c) – On Friday, March 7, 2008 Robert "Doc" Foglesong officially resigned from his position as President of Mississippi State. He resigned for the "express purpose of helping the university move forward."^[5]

(d) – On Thursday, March 20, 2008, Dr. L. Stacy Davidson, Jr., President of the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL), announced that the Board unanimously named Dr. Vance H. Watson as the Interim President at Mississippi State University."^[6]

(e) - On October 20, 2008 “During its emergency teleconference, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning accepted the resignation of Mississippi State University Interim President Dr. Vance Watson, effective immediately...The Board also announced that long-time MSU Vice President Dr. Roy H. Ruby would serve as Interim President”^[7]

†Alumnus

References

1. IHL names Vance Watson Interim President
2. Watson retires; Ruby named interim president
3. Dr. Mark E. Keenum Biographical Sketch
4. Mississippi State University General Information
5. MSU Website: Foglesong resignation
6. MSU Website: IHL names Vance Watson Interim President
7. Watson retires; Ruby named interim president

External links

• Office of the President