Jackson State University has had 7 presidents since 2010. Here is a look at them

Since 2010, Jackson State University has had seven presidents, counting those who served in an interim role. That's one president every two years.

The national average for a college president's tenure is six and half years, according to a recent study in the American Council on Education. Here is a look at the five men and two women who have held the title of Jackson State president since 2010:

Ronald Mason Jr. (2000-2010)

Dr. Ronald Mason Jr. served as Jackson State president from 2010-2020 after coming from New Orleans, where he served as General Counsel at Tulane. He received his B.A. and J.D. from Columbia University.

He helped found the National Center for the Urban Community, a partnership between Tulane and Xavier universities.

During his 18-year tenure at Tulane, Mason held appointments as senior vice president, general counsel and vice president for finance and operations.

Mason began his career as a lawyer with the Southern Cooperative Development Fund Inc. Mason has served on the President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, and the American Council on Education Board of Directors.

He left Jackson State to serve at Southern University's president. He currently serves as the president at the University of the District of Columbia, where he will step down in June.

Leslie Burl McLemore (Interim in 2010)

Mississippian Dr. Leslie Burl McLemore, civil rights activist, educator and politician, once served as a field secretary for the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee and vice-chairman for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

From the small town of Walls in DeSoto County, McLemore earned a bachelor's degree in social science and economics at Rust College, a master's degree in political science at Atlanta University, and a Ph.D. in government from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

In 2010, he became interim president of JSU where he introduced a new motto, "Bridge to a Brighter Tomorrow." McLemore has served on the Mississippi Municipal League, as chair of the Leadership Training Council of the National League of Cities and as interim mayor of Jackson.

At JSU, McLemore became the founding chair/professor of political science and Dean of the graduate school. McLemore helped found the Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy in 1997.

Two years later, he became a member of the Jackson City Council and held the position for a decade.

Carolyn W. Meyers (2011-2016)

Dr. Carolyn Meyers took the position of president at JSU in January of 2011, serving until 2016.

Under her leadership, JSU earned a reaffirmation of their accreditation for another 10 years from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and accreditation in engineering and business.

Meyers, who earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Howard, a master's in mechanical engineering and a doctorate in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech, had a long career in higher education. That included a stop before JSU as president at Norfolk State, where she had been professor of mechanical engineering and Dean of the College of Engineering.

She resigned from JSU amid a financial scandal of dwindling cash reserves.

Rod Paige (Interim in 2016-2017)

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. Rod Paige was named as temporary president of JSU shortly after the resignation of Meyers, due to concerns that the school's reserve fund was depleted by $33 million during Meyers' five-year tenure.

Paige was born in 1933 in Mississippi and received a B.A. in Physical Education at JSU in 1955 and a master's and doctorate in education in Physical Education from Indiana University in 1962.

From 1964 to 1968, Paige served as head football coach at Jackson State and from 1971 to 1975, he served as head football coach at Texas Southern University. He served as Texas Southern University's athletic director from 1971 to 1980.

He was the first Black man to become education secretary, serving in the George W. Bush administration. He had also been superintendent of the Houston ISD.

He was 83 when appointed at JSU and served a few months before his replacement arrived.

William B. Bynum (2017-2020)

Dr. William Bynum was a controversial choice for the next Jackson State president, after his appointment in May of 2017. From Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Bynum was named the seventh president of Mississippi Valley State University in 2013.

He had earned a teaching degree from Davidson College, and masters and doctorate degrees from Duke University and had served at Morehouse College before going to Mississippi Valley State.

But enrollment began to plummet in his JSU tenure, with the declines significantly steeper than the declines at other Mississippi public universities.

The drop was attributed to the school's decision to cut back on student financial aid as it wrangled with its financial situation.

By February of 2020, things got worse. He resigned amid a solicitation of prostitution charge in a sting in Clinton. He was later found guilty in a Clinton court.

Thomas Hudson (2020-2023)

A Jackson native and an alumnus of Jackson State, Thomas K. Hudson replaced Bynum. He graduated from JSU in 1999 and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law.

Hudson served as an EEO specialist for the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA in 2012 after which he became part of Jackson State's staff, serving in various capacities including Chief Operating Officer/Chief Diversity Officer, Chief Diversity and EEO Officer/Title IX Coordinator.

In January, Hudson received a vote of no confidence from the JSU faculty senate, claiming issues around transparency and communication. He was put on paid administrative leave on Thursday and an interim president was named. No cause for his removal was named by the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning.

Elayne Hayes-Anthony (Present)

Dr. Elayne Hayes-Anthony assumed the role of acting president on Thursday after being appointed by the IHL to replace Hudson. She became the seventh to serve in that capacity since 2010.

Before being appointed president, Anthony served as chair and professor at the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at JSU since 2015.

Anthony also served as professor of communications and chair of the Department of Communications at Belhaven University from 1998 until 2015.

Anthony earned her bachelor of science and master's degrees at JSU and her Ph.D. in Organizational Communication Broadcast Law at Southern Illinois, Carbondale.

She was appointed assistant superintendent of public information for Jackson Public Schools and spokesperson for the Jackson School Board before accepting the position at Belhaven.

A native of Jackson, she made a name for herself as the first Black female news anchor on WJTV Channel 12.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson State University past presidents and how they left JSU