|
Joseph Neely Powers is perhaps best-known as an educator for his role in
establishing the agricultural high schools that would become the basis
for the community college system Mississippi. A native of Havana,
Alabama, Powers was born in 1869 and taught in several rural schools and
later served as a principal and superintendent. Governor James K. Vardaman
appointed Powers as state superintendent of education, a post to which he
was subsequently elected. Powers enjoyed enormous popularity as
Chancellor of The University of Mississippi, although he was subjected to
scandal and political favoritism during the political administrations of
Governor Bilbo and Governor Russell. He was voted out of
office by the University's trustees in 1924 but was reappointed for a
brief, turbulent period in the early 1930s. Powers is credited with the
establishment of the School of Commerce. In another notable action, he
permitted William Faulkner, the future Nobel Prize winner, to enroll
at Ole Miss without a high school diploma--as a special student.
