Millsaps College names Keith Dunn interim president
Dr. Keith Dunn, provost and dean of Millsaps College, has been selected as the interim president effective June 1, 2023
Dunn will replace Dr. Robert Pearigen, who last week was named vice chancellor at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. The vice chancellor position at Sewanee is the equivalent of university president.
Pearigen announced his resignation as president of Millsaps also last week. He will officially step down as president, effective May 31, 2023.
“I am grateful to our board of trustees for their faith and confidence in me, and I look forward to working with the entire community to move Millsaps forward during this time of transition,” Dunn said.
“Keith and I have worked closely together for twelve academic years, and throughout that time he has been a wise, caring and dependable influence in the administration and among the faculty,” Pearigen said in a release. “I value Keith’s trust, forward-thinking mindset and friendship, and I’m confident he will guide the college with strength and steadiness.”
Jay Lindsey, chair of the Millsaps College Board of Trustees, echoed Pearigen’s sentiment.
“Keith’s deep understanding of Millsaps’ culture and values, and his important contributions to the mission of the college over the past twelve years, have prepared him well to accelerate the work on our immediate challenges as well as our longer-term strategic questions,” Lindsay said.
Dunn earned his B.S. from Erskine College (cum laude), where he majored in chemistry and minored in music and mathematics. He earned his Ph.D. in chemical physics at Indiana University. After 19 years at Centre College, where he served as a professor of chemistry and associate dean of the college, Dunn accepted the position of senior vice president and dean of Millsaps College in 2011. He was named provost in 2017.
In addition to his work as chief academic officer, Dunn has played key roles in strategic planning and accreditation efforts for the college. He is also an enthusiastic trumpeter in the Millsaps pep band, Major Pep, and in 2020 earned the title of intramural ping pong champion.
Pearigen succeeds Reuben E. Brigety II, who stepped down as vice-chancellor and president in December 2021 after being nominated by President Joe Biden as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of South Africa, a role to which he was subsequently confirmed.
A committee will continue to search for a permanent replacement at Millsaps.
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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Millsaps College names Keith Dunn interim president
