The Board of Trustees of Mississippi’s Institutions of Higher Learning named Mississippi State University vice president of agriculture, forestry and veterinary medicine Vance Watson as interim president of MSU after President Robert “Doc” Foglesong’s resignation on March 7. Watson will take over until the Board of Trustees hires a new president.
College Board President L. Stacy Davidson announced the decision following the Board’s regular monthly meeting Thursday. Board members voted unanimously to appoint Watson.
Watson, who plans on applying for the permanent position of president, is the director of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Last year, he was named director of MSU Extension and Outreach.
Bill Kibler, vice president for student affairs, said Watson will help move MSU forward.
“I think Dr. Vance Watson is a great selection as interim president of MSU,” Kibler said. “Dr. Watson has vast experience, has a unique understanding of MSU and is highly respected at MSU, in the state and around the country.”
Watson said the interim president is given the same responsibilities and duties as the permanent president and serves until a new president is hired.
“The president is the institutional executive officer responsible for all activities of the university,” he said. “The president is looked to as the key leader of the university.”
Watson has served MSU for 42 years as a faculty member, a researcher and an administrator.
“[Dr. Watson] has distinguished himself in every role he has played [at MSU],” Kibler said. “The agriculture, forestry and veterinary division is a vast division that impacts the entire state and the nation. Overseeing that division requires the same skill set that is required of a university president.”
According to Kibler, the search for a new president is expected to last about eight months.
“I expect that [the search] will fully get underway this summer or early fall,” he said. “That may mean that by about this time next year a new permanent president will be named.”
Freshman industrial engineering major Victoria Hutching said she liked Foglesong as university president, but she trusts the IHL’s decision to pick Vance Watson as interim president.
“I think the College Board wants what is best for MSU, so I am sure Watson will serve MSU well and make improvements until a permanent president is named,” Hutchings said.
Annie Mitchell, IHL director of media relations, said a timetable for Watson to take over has not yet been determined.