David Beckley has dedicated more than 50 years of service to education. He received a master’s degree and a doctorate in higher education from UM and then served as the president of Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, until 1993. He returned to Mississippi and was appointed president of Rust College, where he has remained in that leadership role for 27 years, becoming the longest, tenured, senior college president in the state. Beckley is also a U.S. Army veteran with service in Vietnam.
“I have observed Dr. Beckley’s leadership at several statewide educational meetings. He is a stellar example of the level of accomplishment that is commensurate with recognition for this honor.” – Mitzi Norris
At a Glance:
● More than 50 years of service to education
● The longest tenured senior college president in Mississippi
● President of Wiley College from 1987-1993
● President of Rust College from 1993-2020, retiring this year
When did you decide you wanted to go into higher education?
That’s an interesting question. My dream in high school was to go to law school one day, but I knew I had to get a bachelor’s degree first so I enrolled at Rust College in political science. While I was studying there, I worked in the president’s office and while I was working there I told the president I wanted to go to law school and he said you may want to look into going into higher education. When I graduated, he offered me a job working at the college. I went off for one semester then came back and stayed for two years working out of the president’s office. Then I received a Ford Foundation internship in higher education and I moved to Hampton, Virginia, and Hampton University. While I was there, I was drafted to the military. I worked at a training camp in Kentucky for 13 months and my last 10 months I spent in Vietnam. I returned from Vietnam and my wife finished up her work in Kentucky and we moved back to Holly Springs. I began to look into going to graduate school. So I went and got my master’s degree in 1975 at the University of Mississippi. When I came back, the president of Rust College told me I had to go back and get Ph.D. But then he took a sabbatical, and I was the Chief Executive Officer at Rust College while he was gone. I went on to finish my doctorate in 1986. I continued
to work at Rust College and, one day, I was out of the office traveling and I came back to a missed phone call from someone I had never heard of before. I didn’t recognize the name. He told me he was doing a search for someone to enter the role of president at Wiley College and he had called the College Public Relations Association and asked if they could recommend an African American that could be vetted for a college presidency, and I was recommended. I sent them a resume and went to Wiley for an interview and was selected. I started in May of 1987 and since then I’ve spent more than 30 years being a college president, six years at Wiley College and 27 years here at Rust College. You know I don’t regret stepping down now, but I had some concerns. After [COVID-19] happened, I decided it might be a good time to step aside and let someone with a lot more energy step into this role. I don’t regret anything that I did, and I enjoyed the work.
How did your education at UM help you in your career?
Most of the courses I took at Ole Miss, I took in the evening and I also took classes in Tupelo, Jackson, and Olive Branch locations. I had a strong, supportive faculty. It’s interesting because when I started my master’s degree at the School of Education as a new student, I discovered that there were three new professors in my area, Drs. Partridge, Blackston, and Beebe. We bonded as friends, students, and faculty. A bond that continues today even though all of them have passed on. Their advice and friendship continue to guide my work. I had a great experience at UM, and I made a lot of friends. It’s interesting to know that out of my class, three of us became college presidents. We all started getting our master’s degrees together. All of that came about because of our education at the University of Mississippi. We had an academy of people working together saying “you can do this and you will do this.” So I enjoyed my time there. I didn’t enjoy some of the assignments I had to do, but I don’t regret any of my time at Ole Miss.
What have you found most meaningful in your career?
Sixty-five percent of the students at Rust College are first-generation college students. Seeing them come into college with special dreams but also different needs and problems, and then seeing them go through the program and blossom gives my work meaning. They come back and tell us what they’re doing currently and that they’re doing it because of the experiences that Wiley and Rust provided them. They get out of college and they are competitive and can stand their ground. I tell people all the time if you’re going into education to get rich, you’re in the wrong place. You get rich by seeing the products that you helped develop and what they have been able to do. I tell students you’re here to learn, to take care of yourself and to make your community around you a better place for all of God’s children. When you see the students doing that then that’s the payment you get and that’s what we enjoy seeing, when kids come back and tell us what they’re doing now. That’s the rewarding experience to see. And that’s what kept me in higher education because I had opportunities to leave to work at other places and made more money but all the pay I wanted was to keep doing what I was doing. Somebody helped me get where I am and I wanted to be able to do the same thing for others.
What advice do you have for graduating students? I’m reminded of a young lady that went to Stanford and joined one of the programs, I want to say it was figure skating, at the university. A professor told her that Black girls didn’t skate, they played basketball. She said that is a perception of Black girls, why don’t you just give me a chance to try? If I fail, I fail, but if you don’t give me a chance I’ll never know if I can do it. She went on and won a national championship next year in the program. So don’t let anyone tell you what you can’t do. All you can do is ask for an opportunity to prove what you can do. With hard work and dedication, if you can apply yourself you can follow through. So I would say to students don’t let anyone tell you what you can’t do in terms of developing your career and what you want to do with your life. You know Ronald McNair, the second Black astronaut in space, said the same thing. In his high school in South Carolina he didn’t even have a science lab. He wanted to go to a university in North Carolina to get a degree in physics and people told him he couldn’t do it. He said give me the opportunity to prove that I can do it. He went on to get a Ph.D. in physics and was one of the first African-American astronauts. I tell students “I don’t know what you can do but I will give you the opportunity to prove what you can do.” Keep focused and don’t let anyone tell you what you can’t do.