By Vera Ann Fedell | The Vicksburg Post

Did you know Vicksburg is the birthplace of collegiate president, Dr. James E. Cofer?

Cofer was born in Vicksburg in 1949. Cofer graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and received an M.B.A. from Mississippi State University. He furthered his education and earned an Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1998 according to the University of Louisiana at Monroe website. 

Cofer served as the president of finance and administration at the University of Arkansas, according to the Missouri State website. He also was the treasurer of the Board of Regents at the University of Georgia along with being the chief fiscal officer of the system and the vice chancellor for fiscal affairs. Cofer also served as chief fiscal officer under two Mississippi governors, according to the Mississippi State Alumni website. 

According to the University of Louisiana at Monroe website, Cofer was part of the Eisenhower Exchange Fellow in 1995. He also worked with the Ministry of Education and Culture in Budapest, Hungary.

Cofer first served as president at the University of Louisiana at Monroe starting in 2002 until 2010. During his time at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, Cofer and his wife, Deborah, worked on revamping the campus and titled it the “Reclaiming Our Campus” campaign. The campaign had an $80 million budget which involved new construction at the University of Louisiana at Monroe along with improvements within various educational programs such as expanding the College of Pharmacy and living environments for the students according to the Missouri State University website.

Cofer, during his time at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, was able to increase private contributions and elevate the outreach program within the state and community. He left the University of Louisiana at Monroe with 56 academic accreditations, additional online courses and degree programs according to the University of Louisiana at Monroe website. 

In 2010, he was named the 10th president of Missouri State University. Cofer’s time at Missouri State happened during a time of economic hardship; however, he was able to guide the school by opening the budget and balancing the budget.

Due to Cofer reviewing the budget, the university didn’t have to cut academic departments. He also managed to give equity raises to 40 percent to his faculty and was in the process of increasing pay grades and salaries according to the Missouri State University website. Cofer pushed to review the General Education Curriculum and encouraged the school to start thinking about emphasizing the student learning outcome.