Wilma Mishoe announced her intention to retire as president of Delaware State University, effective December 31, 2019. Dr. Mishoe made the announcement on her 70th birthday. Her 40-year career in higher education will end where it started. Dr. Mishoe’s father, Luna Mishoe, was the president of what is now Delaware State University from 1960 to 1987.
In a letter to the University community, Dr. Mishoe wrote, “I am far from done. When I retire from the presidency of this great university, I know I will go to new adventures, confident that I have left our great, shared enterprise in good hands. My heart will always reside on this campus, and my hands will be here whenever needed.”
Dr. Mishoe was serving as the first female chair of the board of trustees at the university in October 2017 when then-president Harry Williams announced his departure to become CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. The board announced Dr. Mishoe as interim president in January 2018, a position made permanent that June, installing her as the first woman chief executive in the university’s history. Prior to her tenure at Delaware State University, Mishoe was a long-serving academic administrator at Delaware Technical Community College.
Dr. Mishoe holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in student personnel administration, guidance, and counseling both from Howard University. She earned a doctorate in adult/vocational education from Temple University in Philadelphia.
Below is a video of President Mishoe addressing the campus community on her retirement.
