Gilbert L. Rochon, president of Tuskegee University in Alabama, announced that he was resigning from his post immediately. Dr. Rochon was only the sixth president of the university that was founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881. He became Tuskegee president in 2010. No reason was given for the resignation.
Before coming to Tuskegee, Dr. Rochon was a senior research scientist at the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing and director of the Terrestrial Observatory at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He also served as associate vice president for collaborative research and engagement at Purdue. He is the founding editor of the Journal of Terrestrial Observation.
Earlier in his career Dr. Rochon was director of the Dorchester Mental Health Center at Boston State Hospital and the Conrad Hilton Endowed Professor and director of the Urban Studies and Public Policy Institute at Dillard University.
Dr. Rochon is a native of New Orleans and graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana. He holds a master of public health degree from the Yale School of Medicine and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Tuskegee University board of trustees named Matthew Jenkins as acting president. Dr. Jenkins earned a doctorate in veterinary medicine at Tuskegee University in 1959. He operated a highly successful veterinary practice in California for many years. In 1979, he retired from the practice and has devoted his attention to his real estate and property management firm.
