Dr. Pamela M. Wilson, graduate of the WRL Program of the English Department at OSU, was recently appointed as the President of Allen University, of Columbia, South Carolina.  Her full appointment as the 24th President of Allen University makes Wilson the first woman to serve in that post in the 141-year history of the school.

Dr. Wilson received her Ph.D. in English, with an emphasis in Rhetoric and Composition and a concentration in Business and Administrative Communication. A native of South Carolina, she holds a BA in English Communications from Voorhees College in Denmark, SC, and an MA in English and American Literature from Indiana State University. While at OSU, she worked on The Journal of Business Communication, and after receiving her degree, held faculty positions at Georgia Southern University and Virginia State University before her arrival at Allen University. Wilson served as the Interim President before her election by the Board of Trustees.

In an announcement at the time of her appointment, Bishop Preston Warren Williams II, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, stated that “[t]his is a historic action at a historic institution. ... Dr. Wilson brings substantial experience and a serious commitment to higher education and expanding opportunities for Allen University and our students…Dr. Wilson’s background as a strategic thinker and visionary, an engaging public speaker, a strong administrator and accomplished leader in fiscal management were very important to the Board of Trustees.”

Allen University marked the inauguration of Dr. Wilson with a series of events, and South Carolina newspaper, The State, featured a slide show of the festivities. Right: Dr. Wilson, and her husband Gregory, acknowledge well-wishers during the Presidential Inaugural Ball at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, March 2012.

Read an interview with Dr. Wilson, conducted by website Intern Laurel Carothers, via Email.