Jim Barksdale has applied to be the next chancellor of the University of Mississippi.
According to the Daily Mississippian and three other sources, Barksdale quietly applied for the position in which hearings will begin on October 2. The second round will commence in mid-October in which the Institutes for Higher Learning plans to have someone in place by the end of October. Several other candidates have been under consideration.
Barksdale currently serves as the chairman of the board and president of Barksdale Management Corporation and he served as the president and CEO of Netscape Communications Corporation from 1994 through 1999. before that, he served as the executive Vice President and COO at Federal Express Corporation. According to the article, that corporation donated $250,000 to the Science Building Funding in Barksdale’s honor in August.
Noted philanthropists, the Barksdales established the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College at the university in 1997. Then in 2000, the Barksdale foundation granted $100 million to the state for the Barksdale Reading Institute located in Oxford.
A new chancellor is expected to be named by the end of 2019.
