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CONFERENCE SPEAKERS
Dr. Mitchell M. Shears has served as the Executive Direc- Mrs. Libby A. Thigpen has been employed at Jackson State
tor of Title III at Jackson State University since October University in the Title III Office for 14 years. She has served
2017. He brings to this position several years of experience JSU in the Title III Office as Administrative Technical As-
as a K-12 and Community College academician. Previous- sistant, Program Specialist, and Interim Assistant Director,
ly, he served as Academic Dean and Executive Director of and she currently serves as the Assistant Director. In addi-
Title III and Sponsored Grants at Hinds Community Col- tion to her many years of experience working with grants
lege – Utica Campus. In the K-12 setting, he served as a management and implementation, budget and proposal
classroom teacher, curriculum specialist, principal of two development in higher education, she has more than 15
high performing schools awarded by the National Title I years of management experience serving in various lead-
Association as Distinguished Schools and assistant super- ership roles in the hospitality industry. Mrs. Thigpen is a
intendent/executive director of academic support, super- graduate of Jackson State University where she has received
vising 19 schools all in the Jackson Public School District. a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Mas-
Additionally, he was named the 2010 JPS Administrator of ter’s degree in Technology Education.
the Year. One of his major grant writing accomplishments
while serving on the community college level was writing She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Educational Leader-
and being awarded eight (8) Upward Bound (5 Regular ship with a concentration in Higher Education at Jackson
and 3 Math and Science) Projects and a Minority Science State University. Mrs. Thigpen enjoys spending time with
and Engineering Improvement Program combining a to- her husband and two children.
tal of over $11M in the same awarding cycle by the U.S.
Department of Education as a way of garnering additional
funding that focuses on the Legislative Allowable Activity:
Establishing community outreach programs which will en-
courage elementary and secondary students to develop the
academic skills and the interest to pursue postsecondary
education. Dr. Shears is a graduate of Alcorn State Univer-
sity where he received both his Bachelor’s degree in Mass
Communications and Master’s degree in Elementary Edu-
cation and Mississippi College where he received his Ed-
ucational Specialist and Doctorate degrees in Educational
Leadership.
Mrs. Nicole Gholar-Harris is currently the Administrative
Budget Assistant for Title III Programs at Jackson State Uni-
versity. With seventeen years of experience in proposal de-
velopment and grant management, she had the opportunity
to collaborate and implement a plethora of federal, state,
and private grants, and managed divisional budgets. Mrs.
Gholar-Harris received a Bachelor’s degree from Alcorn
State University in Agri-Business and a MPH (Master’s in
Public Health) degree from Jackson State University. She
42 2019 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE WORKSHOP
