Photo courtesy Alcorn State University

LORMAN, Miss. (AP) — Alcorn State University makes history next month when it welcomes Dr. Felecia M. Nave as the first woman and 20th president of her alma mater.

Nave has spent more than 18 years in higher education. She looks to use her ties to the school and her experience, to strengthen programs and establish new initiatives to drive the university forward, WLBT-TV reported.

“I am Alcorn, and I hope the students and the university community will see me as a daily reminder of what an Alcorn education can do,” Nave said.

Nave replaces Dr. Alfred Rankins Jr. who resigned in 2018 to become commissioner of Higher Education for the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning. Dr. Donzell Lee has been serving as Alcorn's president in the interim.

Nave's inauguration is set for April 16. It and other events will take place on all three Alcorn campus sites — in Lorman, Vicksburg and Natchez — and be live-streamed.