Vann Newkirk
Fisk University is looking for a new president again.
The Nashville-based institute of higher learning announced Saturday the “departure” of Vann Newkirk as president. Board chair Frank Sims is serving as acting president.
The school, one of the most storied historically Black colleges in the country, did not disclose a reason for Newkirk’s departure.
Newkirk, a historian, was provost at Fisk starting in 2018. He took over as interim president in 2020 after then-President Kevin Rome was accused of abuse. In 2021, the school named Newkirk to the role permanently. Sims was interim president prior to Rome’s appointment in 2017.
“The Board of Trustees is charged with ensuring that Fisk University continue to excel as a leading academic institution and that our future is defined by a shared vision and set of values,” Sims says in a release. “The Board unanimously agreed that the next chapter in the Fisk future calls for new leadership. We thank Dr. Newkirk for his service and wish him well in his future endeavors. We look forward to conducting a thorough and extensive search process for our next president.“
Fisk board member and alum Juliette Pryor is the new chair of the board of trustees, while fellow board member and alum JoLinda Herring will lead the search committee for a new president.
Fisk recently announced that it has secured financing for new residential and science buildings and that its enrollment has topped 1,000 for the first time since the 1970s.
This article first ran via our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
