Pearigen resigns as president at Millsaps College. Trustees focused on next steps

Millsaps College President Dr. Robert Pearigen has announced his resignation, school officials confirmed.

He will officially step down as president, effective May 31, 2023.

It is expected that Pearigen, Millsaps' 13th president, will assume a similar position at another university.

There is a formal announcement scheduled to take place Thursday at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. for its vice chancellor position, which is the equivalent of university president. Pearigen came to Millsaps from Sewanee, where he served as Dean of Students. Pearigen also attended Sewanee.

Several members of the Sewanee community have been told that Pearigen is returning to Sewanee

“It has been my privilege and my joy to serve Millsaps as its president, and I shall be forever grateful for the opportunity lead, learn from and help advance an institution that is loved deeply,” Pearigen said in a statement. “I am also thankful for the opportunity to teach at Millsaps and to engage with some of the finest students of this generation.”

Millsaps officials would not confirm Pearigen taking a similar position at another institution.

He has been the leader at the midtown Jackson liberal arts college since 2010.

A native of Memphis, Pearigen is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of the South, where he earned a bachelor of arts in political science.

Jay Lindsey, chairman of the Millsaps Board of Trustees, praised Pearigen’s tenure at Millsaps.

“Rob has been an outstanding leader, and I am immensely grateful for his dedication and goodwill in service to Millsaps,” Lindsey said. “His embrace of the college’s community, history and standards of excellence, his energetic fundraising and realization of many campus improvements, and his responses to unforeseen crises are among many achievements to be saluted. I look forward to working with him through the end of his tenure.”

According to the statement, The Millsaps' Board of Trustees is focused on next steps and additional information will be available as soon as possible.

As of 2020, Morning Star reports Pearigen's annual salary at Millsaps is $356,292.

Millsaps has an endowment of $117 million, according to Morning Star data. Sewanee has 1,735 full-time students with an endowment of more than $400 million as of 2020.

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Pearigan has overseen a renaissance of sorts at the Methodist-based Millsaps as enrollment had dropped from a high of 1,200 in the mid 1990s to a low of below 800. However, it has been built back to nearly 1,000.

At the low of below 800 students, Pearigen made the move to cut three majors and downsize others in 2019 at the liberal arts school that was founded in 1890.

In a 2019 interview with the Clarion Ledger, Pearigen said the cuts were about "right-sizing" programs and staffing levels to the national average for liberal arts schools. He said Millsaps is staffed for a population of 1,000 or more students.

Faced with Jackson's ongoing water crisis, Pearigen made the move to create the college's own water system. That project was originally scheduled to cost the school $4 million. But because of spikes in delivery and material costs since Covid, the cost of that project has increased to more than $6 million.

He received his master’s and doctoral degrees in political science from Duke University. His post-graduate study included constitutional law, judicial process and political theory, particularly the work of Plato and Aristotle. His academic fields of interest include public law, political theory, and American government.

At Millsaps, Pearigen launched a comprehensive college-wide strategic plan entitled “Across the Street and Around the Globe: Partnerships and Influence at Millsaps College.”

The plan was to make the most of Millsaps’ distinctive strengths, including its location in the capital city, its international programs and partnerships (including a 4,500-acre biocultural reserve in the Yucatán), and the combination of a liberal arts college with a business school accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

Unusual for college presidents, however, Pearigen has continued to teach throughout his administrative career.

As a faculty member at Millsaps, Pearigen has taught courses in constitutional law, civil rights and liberties, jurisprudence, and political theory.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Pearigen resigns as president at Millsaps College. Search underway