Meet MCCer Annette Cook
Annette Cook, right, helps to prepare diploma cases before a graduation ceremony.
With Cook is Joseph Knight.
With roots that run deep and wide in education, Interim Vice President for Student
Success Annette Cook shares her passion for creating opportunities for students to
reach their full potential.
Those roots stem from local soil. “I graduated from Clarkdale High School and knew that I wanted to become a teacher,” Cook said. When she took a summer class at Meridian Junior College after graduating high school, she was hooked. “I absolutely loved the community college setting. Being a student here is what led to my career goal of teaching at a community college one day,” Cook said.
At MJC, she got involved in campus life, playing basketball and softball, singing in the vocal ensemble The Variations and the MCC Chorus, plus holding down a work-study job. Garnering her associate degree, Cook transferred to Mississippi State University, earned her bachelor of science degree, and continued to dive into education. Cook’s first job was as a math teacher and assistant basketball coach at Quitman High School. She later settled in Tuscaloosa, Ala., the home of her husband, and completed her master’s degree at the University of Alabama.
Cook and MCC President Dr. Thomas Huebner previously worked together at Shelton State Community College, where Cook was a math instructor and administrator. She explained Dr. Huebner asked Cook to help her MJC alma mater in a consulting role last summer, and then asked her to fill the role on an interim basis. She added, “he knew I was originally from Meridian and that I had family who still lived here.”
In her position, Cook supervises Student Services and Campus Police Department. In that role, she’s also a member of the President’s Cabinet. “We are looking very closely at the processes and procedures being used and implementing changes in many areas,” she said, noting that she’s also helping with changes to Todd Library. “This renovation will create the SOAR Center which will include the Student Center, math lab, writing lab and the advising department along with the library.”
When asked what she likes about her job, Cook said it’s the work being done now that will help students be successful for years to come. “I also thoroughly enjoy working with the Cabinet and the leaders in my area. Everyone has been very willing to listen to ideas I’ve shared which have been proven to work elsewhere,” she said.
“Everyone I’ve been working with has been willing to consider a new approach,” Cook said, adding, “they seem to appreciate that I am looking at things with ‘fresh eyes,’ as Dr. Huebner calls it.”