Tougaloo College maintains its distinguished reputation for academic excellence and social responsibility under the leadership of the 13th and first woman president, Dr. Beverly Wade Hogan. Appointed as President in May 2002, Hogan brings to the office more than 25 years in executive leadership and management.
Prior to becoming President, Hogan served as the College’s interim president, vice president for Institutional Advancement, founding director of the Owens Health and Wellness Center, and executive assistant to the president. She served for ten years as the commissioner for the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, four years as the executive director of the Governor’s Office of Federal State Programs, nine years as the executive director of the Mental Health Association in Hinds County and the state of Mississippi, respectively. She has been an adjunct instructor in Public Policy at Jackson State University and a frequent guest lecturer at the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University. Additionally she has been involved with employment and educational training programs in Denmark, Sweden and West Germany in affiliation with the German Marshall Fund. She has been a scholar with the Kettering Foundation where her research focus was Higher Education and Civic Responsibility. Hogan has been a participant and presenter in the Oxford Roundtable at Oxford University in Oxford, England.
Visionary, an “outside the box” thinker, disciplined, compassionate, firm, fair, analytical and spiritual leader—all of these aptly describe Hogan as she moves Tougaloo College to the next level in its evolution. Since 2002, new degree programs in mass communications, hotel and hospitality management, and religious studies have been approved and are operational. There is a new Honors Program and among other scholars, five Gates Millennium Scholars are also enrolled. Three new centers have been established—the Center for Undergraduate Research, the Center for Continuing Education and Professional Studies, and the Center for Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility. An Office of International Affairs has been launched and significant technological improvements have been made, including Internet2 connectivity. Student enrollment has increased by 12%, and student retention is at 68%. Alumni giving has increased from 13% to 39%.
Hogan holds the Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Tougaloo College and the Masters in public policy and administration from Jackson State University. She has done additional studies at the University of Southern Mississippi and University of Georgia. She is engaged in further doctoral studies in human development and organizational leadership at Fielding Graduate University. She holds the Honorary Doctor in Humanities from Wiley College and Rust College. Hogan has also earned numerous certificates in leadership development, organizational management, policy development, health and human resources management, alcohol and drug studies, urban development and administrative law.
Throughout Hogan’s distinguished career, she is credited with pioneering programs that improved the quality of life for many citizens, including but not limited to the founding of the first psychiatric halfway house in Mississippi, establishing the first rape crisis center and shelter for battered women, and initiating the state’s Self Employment Demonstration Project to reduce welfare dependency and the Rental Rehabilitation and Low Income Tax Credit Programs to increase the availability of housing for low income families.
Hogan has received extensive recognition for her trailblazing contributions, and remains active on various boards and commissions in her continuing commitment to give of her talents and resources for the betterment of society and a generation yet unborn. To cite a selected few, she was named the State Administrator of the Year in 1986 by the American Society of Public Administration, a Toll Fellow by the Council of State Governments in 1987, and Woman of the Year by the Business and Professional Women Clubs in 1989. She received the Goodwill Volunteer Award in 1996. She was the Honoree for the Tougaloo College Scholarship Roast and an Olympic Torchbearer in 1996. She is also the recipient of the 1997 Jackson 2000 Friendship Award and the Power of One Award, a distinction made by former Governor Kirk Fordice. In 2002, she received the Majesty Award for distinguished leadership service. In 2004, she was named among the top twelve business women in Mississippi and the top fifty African American Leaders in Mississippi. In 2005, she was the recipient of the Image Award for distinguished leadership and service.
She has authored and published works on topics such as “The Dissonance Analysis of the Viet Nam War,” “Comparable Worth—The Challenging Issue of Pay Equity,” Jobs and Economic Growth,” “Public Policy Implications of AIDS in the Workplace,” and “Higher Education and Civic Responsibility.”
Hogan is active in the community. She volunteers and serves on various boards, including the community advisory board for Bancorp South, the Metro Chamber of Commerce, the University Club, and the Board of Visitors for the School of Dentistry at the University of Mississippi. She also serves on the local board for Entergy Mississippi, Sanderson Farm, the Regional Commission on Building Philanthropy, the national board of directors for the United Negro College Fund, the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education and the Brown University Leadership Alliance. She also presently serves as the Chairperson for Board of Directors of the Foundation for the Mid-South. Hogan is a founding member and former president of the Central Mississippi Chapter, National Coalition of 100 Black Women. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the Links.
Hogan is a member of the Mt. Wade Missionary Baptist Church in Terry, Mississippi and is a regular worshipper at the Union Church of Christ/Woodworth Chapel at Tougaloo College.
She is married to Marvin Hogan and they have two sons, Maurice and Marcellus, two grandsons, Marsei and Tai`Micah, and two granddaughters, Emani and Liyah.
