MUW President Dr. Jim Borsig Makes A Big Announcement

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – A new president will be taking over Mississippi University for Women, later this year.

Dr. Jim Borsig announced this morning, January 8, that he is stepping down.

Borsig was first hired in November 2011 and will step down at the end of June.

Opportunity brought him and new opportunities are taking him from here.

Becoming a college president was never the plan for Dr. Jim Borsig, but the Mississippi University for Women took him down a different route.

That route, filled with many accomplishments and memories, has been the highlight of his career.

One of the most notable jobs was to change how students are taught.

“That was necessary for what I think is the next most important thing, is to update our curriculum and to put our curriculum in a position to teach the needs of students in the 21st century, but it was as I hoped it would be, that when we went through the visioning process, everyone had the same opinion, they just hadn’t been in a room together to talk about it,” says Borsig.

After a brief stint as the IHL Commissioner in early 2015, Borsig returned to “The W.”

He believes that change continues to spark momentum 6 1/2 years later on the historic campus, with faculty and staff leading the way.

“It’s that personal attention to our students, and students, you know, our students, this is my third decade in this business, students are different today than they were ten years ago and they’re very focused. What can I do with this degree? Where can I go get a job? How long will it take me? So, you put all of that together, with that kind of commitment, good things happen,” says Borsig.

The return of athletics, improving relations with alumni and the community, along with strong enrollment and retention rates, are some of the visions that became a reality during Borsig’s tenure.

For years, changing the name has been a strong topic of conversation.

As Borsig prepares to leave MUW, he is saying the same thing he did before being hired.

“I said beginning of 2011, in these interviews, that we will know when the time to change the name is from our students, because if it becomes a barrier to enrolling students, then it becomes a barrier to serving those students, then, that’s really the point and time that we will know about the name,” says Borsig.

The Jackson native says he’s not retiring, but refocusing and ready to do some other things in life.

“There’s a non-profit here in Columbus, that my wife and I, my wife has been involved with them for over a decade, and I have over the last few years and I look forward to doing more work with Global Connections, and it does work in Africa and in other parts of the world, and so I’m looking forward to being able to do that,” says Borsig.

Borsig and his wife will move to Maine, but maintain their connection to Columbus through their work with Global Connections.