Mississippi woman named president of university in Pittsburgh. How did she get there?

Rhonda Phillips' career path took a last-minute detour this week, when she was named president of Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

She had planned to take early retirement sometime in the next year or so to return to the Santee community near Bassfield, where she grew up, and where she and her brother Greg Phillips opened the Beaver Creek Distillery in February.

Instead, she was asked by a search firm to consider applying for the Chatham presidency and ended up landing the job.

"It's just like a perfect fit for me," Phillips said. "They have a big 388-acre farm that they do like a lot of training for students and sustainable farming. They have a beautiful historic campus in Pittsburgh."

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It is a good fit for the university as well, according to the Board of Trustees.

“Dr. Phillips was the unanimous choice of the Board of Trustees based in large part on her commitment to fostering inclusive and transformative learning environments and opportunities, which is a hallmark of the Chatham undergraduate experience,” Board Chair David Hall said in a news release.

Chatham University is known for its longtime mission of maintaining an environmentally sustainable campus and education program — a tribute in part to one of its former students, Rachel Carson, author of "Silent Spring."

Phillips said she hopes in her new role she will be able to develop new partnerships between Chatham University and Mississippi, with its farming history and educational programs, including the University of Southern Mississippi's Marine Research Center.

"I'm excited about it," she said. "We'll see where it takes us. It's a nice detour from what I thought I'd be focusing on."

Phillips said her brother and his family will take on more of her responsibilities at the distillery for the time being, but she still plans to be back in Mississippi as often as she can.

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The search committee was interested in learning about the Phillpses' distillery and seeing how something like that might fit in with the university's farm and economic development and sustainable living models.

"There will certainly be field trips to Mississippi — from my colleagues and students and others," Phillips said. "They're very excited about it."

She hopes her new role will help benefit her home state as well.

"It's really a way to help bring some positive attention to South Mississippi and do something to add value to our (agricultural) products," Phillips said of both the university and her home state.

Phillips is the current dean of the John Martinson Honors College at Purdue University, which was named by College Transitions as one of the nation's Top 20 Honors Colleges.

She earned a master's degree in economic development at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she also earned a bachelor's degree.

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She earned a second master's degree in economics as well as a Ph.D. in city and regional planning at Georgia Tech.

Phillips has more than 30 years of experience as a progressive academic administrator, scholar and author.

Before joining Purdue, she was associate dean for the Honors College at Arizona State University, where she also served as professor and director of the School of Community Resources and Development and Senior Sustainability Scientist at the Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability.

She has held faculty and administrator roles at the University of Florida and the University of Southern Mississippi. She also worked as an economic developer with the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and other nonprofit, private and public organizations.

“Rhonda’s impressive experience and scholarship — coupled with her work in sustainable development, well-being and agriculture— is a perfect complement to the work of Chatham’s Falk School of Sustainability and Environment,” Hall said.

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This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: MS native Rhonda Phillips named president of Chatham University