December 5, 2018

Dr. Scott Alsobrooks has been named president of East Mississippi Community College.

Alsobrooks, the vice president of Economic and Community Development at Pearl River Community College, will assume the post early in the spring term that begins in January.

“I am super excited,” Alsobrooks said. “I am ready to roll up my sleeves and go to work with the team and staff at East Mississippi Community College, as well as the community stakeholders, which includes economic and community development entities and members of local governments. There are so many people I am looking forward to engaging with.”

Alsobrooks brings three decades of higher education and professional experience to the position, having worked as an engineer, grant coordinator, faculty member and college administrator.

He has served as vice president at Pearl River Community College since 2011. Prior to that, he was the college’s director of Workforce Education and the Woodall Advanced Technology Center. Alsobrooks is also a former engineering coordinator and instructor for the College of Science and Technology and the Lean Enterprise Center at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Prior that he worked as an operations engineer for Rockwell International at the Stennis Space Center where he later served as a supervisor for the Fluid Component Processing Facility, Johnson Controls World Services.

EMCC Board of Trustees Chairman Jimmie Moore said Alsobrooks’ hire is the end result of a deliberate search for a new president following the June resignation of former EMCC President Dr. Thomas Huebner.

“We interviewed five candidates and they were all fantastic,” Moore said. “I think Dr. Alsobrooks was an excellent choice. Every time I talk to him, he continues to impress me a little more. He is knowledgeable with all aspects of a Mississippi community college. He is an excellent communicator, an innovator, and he isn’t afraid of challenges.”     

Alsobrooks earned an Associate of Arts degree from Pearl River Community College, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering from Mississippi State University and a master’s degree in Engineering Technology from the University of Southern Mississippi. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Human Capital Development from the University of Southern Mississippi.

He is a present and past member of numerous professional associations. Among other things, he is the chair of the Pearl River County Economic Development District, a board member of the National Council for Workforce Education and a Peer Review Committee team member for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. He is a member and past president of the Mississippi Community College Career, Technical and Workforce Deans and Directors Association.

Alsobrooks has served since 2017 on the Governor’s Ocean Task Force. He is a former Fellow for the Institute for Educational Leadership at Mississippi State University, is a 2009 graduate of the American Association of Community College’s Future Leaders Institute — Advanced, and was appointed in 2012 to the Mississippi Works Task Force where he served as the chair for the Career-Technical Pathways/Articulation Committee.

He is married to Annabelle Alsobrooks, who is a Business Management Technology instructor at Pearl River Community College. The couple has a 15-year-old son, Ayden.

Alsobrooks, who has traveled the country in his various career roles, said Mississippi’s community colleges are second to none.

“Community colleges in Mississippi are asked to do a lot and our mission is huge,” Alsobrooks said. “But it is such an important mission. If we can help people advance their skills through education and provide them with opportunities to become better wage earners, it benefits them and all of the stakeholders in the community.”