Dr. Tracy M. Cook, president of Alcorn State University, has been selected as a top minority business leader by the Delta Business Journal.
The Delta Business Journal honors the region’s outstanding minority business leaders. Its feature profiles individuals whose qualities of leadership, experience and community involvement truly define the spirit of excellence that embodies the Mississippi Delta region.
“The greatest privilege of serving in education is witnessing our students’ transformation,” Cook said. “When I see our freshmen arrive and watch them throughout their journey here and then have the honor of shaking their hands at graduation after achieving their goals, I’m reminded why I do this work.”
He assumed the presidency April 1, 2024, after serving as interim president since July 2023. His appointment by the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees came after nearly a decade in various leadership roles at the university including vice president of student affairs.
Cook has nearly 30 years of experience in education administration. Before returning to Alcorn in 2015 as chief of staff, he worked in Jefferson and Claiborne County school districts as superintendent, assistant superintendent, principal, assistant principal, athletic director and teacher.
He has served on the Mississippi Association of School Superintendents Board of Directors, Mississippi Alliance of Black School Educators Board of Directors and as a trustee for Copiah-Lincoln Community College. Cook co-founded the Southwest Mississippi Educator Conference and has served on the Mississippi High School Activities Association’s Legislative and Executive Board of Directors.
Cook received the Southwestern Athletic Conference Alumni Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023 and the Doctoral Leadership Initiative Honoring Excellence Award in 2024. He was named one of Our Mississippi Magazine’s Most Influential African Americans for 2025.
“Equally rewarding are the relationships that I am able to build with our students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of Alcorn State University,” Cook said. “These connections remind me that education is truly about a commitment to investing in others.”
A Fayette native, Cook graduated from Jefferson County High School before earning three degrees from Alcorn. He received a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics in 1994, a master’s degree in agronomy in 1996, and another master’s degree in educational administration and supervision in 1998. He later completed specialist and doctoral degrees from William Carey University.
He was inducted into the Alcorn Sports Hall of Fame in 2015 and ranks among the university’s top 50 greatest football athletes.
Cook and his wife, Dr. Crystal N. Cook, have two children, Kennedi and Casey.
