01/28/2025
We are thrilled to introduce our guest for this week, The Reverend Dr. Lester A. McCorn, President of Paine College. This episode will be released tomorrow at 1:30pm on WKZK and the Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Soundcloud platforms.
Rev. Dr. Lester A. McCorn is described as a transformational leader, scholar, activist, and non-profit executive, with nearly 40 years of leadership experience. A native of Worcester, Massachusetts, he is the newly elected 18th President of Paine College in Augusta, Georgia. He is the former President of Clinton College, a private historically Black college (HBCU) founded in 1894 by the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Formerly a Junior College, the New Clinton is one of the best turnaround stories of any HBCU in the nation. He is leading Clinton in its second consecutive strategic planning process.
The College has experienced dramatic growth in enrollment and student success and is currently executing a transformative $25 million campus building program, which includes its first new medical clinic, a newly constructed Academic Center for Excellence, and a Digital Library and Learning Commons. Clinton successfully completed its 10-year accreditation reaffirmation evaluation with zero suggestions, findings, or recommendations.
President McCorn has led the collaboration of community leaders and neighborhood stakeholders in the establishment of the Clinton ConNEXTion, a master-planned initiative to advance economic and community development on the southside of Rock Hill. He has also established the Clinton Center for Social Innovation located in new offices in Fountain Park Place in downtown.
Rev. Dr. McCorn is an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and a former pastor of churches in Boston, New Haven, Connecticut, Chicago, Atlanta, and Baltimore.
In the last three years, Clinton College has received several major grants totaling more than $10 million for new programs, addressing technology, cybersecurity, and health literacy and disparities through the Clinton Health ConNEXTion initiative, and the new Wellness and Community Health (WACH) Institute. Under President McCorn’s leadership Clinton added a new online global learning program. The College received a USDA grant to establish twenty satellite learning centers in rural areas of South Carolina. Clinton has added new bachelor’s degree programs in nursing, healthcare management, cybersecurity, elementary education and music. Clinton’s new Work program provides skill building and paid internships for students which cover the cost of their tuition.
Dr. McCorn has been a dynamic leader since the days of his youth. Raised by a single mother and growing up in the inner-city housing projects of Worcester, his family experienced homelessness for significant periods during his teenage years. Despite his challenges, he entered the ministry at 16 years old. In high school he was a student athlete and was elected president of his senior class. When he entered Morehouse College, he was elected president of the freshman class. While a student he was a Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel Assistant, became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and was elected president of Alpha Rho Chapter, received the prestigious Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship, and won the Benjamin Elijah Mays Oratorical contest. Also, while a student at Morehouse, he was a congressional intern to the late Congressman John Lewis (D-GA).
An emerging voice in higher education, Dr. McCorn is a commissioner of national accreditation for the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS). He serves as the Secretary of the South Carolina Tuition Grants Commission. A committed community leader and social justice advocate, President McCorn has served as the Chair of the Board of Habitat for Humanity of York County, Vice Chair of the Board of the Urban League of Central Carolinas, and member of the boards of the Rock Hill Economic Development Corporation, the Arts Center at Fountain Park, and Victory Gardens, an urban farming and social entrepreneurship organization. He is the founding President/CEO of the Clinton College Community Development Corporation. He is the former Vice President of the New Haven School Board.
President McCorn is an alumnus of Morehouse College, Yale Divinity School, and Chicago Theological Seminary. He holds the Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) from United Theological Seminary, where he was a Gardner C. Taylor Fellow in social justice and prophetic leadership. He also served as an Adjunct Professor/Doctoral Mentor of the Taylor Fellows at United Seminary for several years. He is currently completing the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Leadership and Change from Antioch University in Yellow Springs, Ohio with an expected graduation in December 2024.
President McCorn has received many honors and awards. He was a part of the 2019 cohorts of the Harvard University Seminar for New Presidents and Presidential Leadership. He is an inductee of both the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers and the Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College. He is also a former leadership fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation, Leadership Greater Chicago, and the Higher Education Leadership Foundation. He received the Paul Robeson Leadership Award from the Ministers and Lay Association of the A.M.E. Zion Church. He currently serves as a coach/mentor for the HBCU Executive Leadership Institute of Clark Atlanta University.
Dr. McCorn is married to Mrs. Charlene M. McCorn, an elementary school teacher in Fort Mill, South Carolina. They are the proud parents of four adult children and five grandchildren.
