Dr. Tracy M. Cook, president of Alcorn State University, has been selected for the 2026 class of the Mississippi Top 100 by the Magnolia Tribune. Cook was recognized in the Culture and Community category.

He was recognized at the Mississippi Top 100 dinner and program May 13 at the Country Club of Jackson. The event ran from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Mississippi Top 100 annually recognizes leaders in business, government, education, culture and community who have made a positive impact across the state in the past year. The Magnolia Tribune selects honorees from each category.

He was appointed president by the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees, effective April 1, 2024, after serving as interim president since July 8, 2023.

Cook brings more than 25 years of administrative experience in education. He served as a superintendent, principal and athletic director in the Jefferson and Claiborne County school districts before returning to Alcorn in 2015 as chief of staff. He later served as vice president for student affairs and enrollment management before assuming the presidency.

He has received several honors during his career. In addition, he was recognized among Alcorn’s 40 Under 40 in 2012 and inducted into the Alcorn Sports Hall of Fame in 2015. He received the SWAC Alumni Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023, the Doctoral Leadership Initiative Honoring Excellence Award in 2024, William Carey Alumni Hall of Fame in 2025, and was named among Our Mississippi Magazine’s Most Influential African Americans in 2025.

A native of Fayette, Mississippi, he holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Alcorn State University and specialist and doctoral degrees from William Carey University.

Other honorees include Dr. Blake Thompson, president, Mississippi College; Willie Simmons, MDOT transportation commissioner and Alcorn alumnus; Camille Scales Young, managing principal, Cornerstone; and Wyatt Waters, water colorist and gallery owner, among others.

He is married to Dr. Crystal N. Smith. They have two children, Kennedi and Casey.