Felecia M. Nave will be the new leader of Mississippi’s Alcorn State University, with trustees voting to affirm the alumna’s nomination.

The state College Board voted to make Nave the 20th president of the 3,750-student university. She got a warm welcome Wednesday on her home campus two days after being named the sole finalist for the job.

Nave succeeds Alfred Rankins, who left the Lorman campus to become Mississippi’s higher education commissioner.

In sessions with faculty, students and university supporters, Nave is laying out a vision of a university that will provide a comprehensive 21st century education, while remaining true to its agricultural roots and uplifting the rural areas of southwest Mississippi.

Nave has been provost and vice chancellor at North Carolina Central University since June.