18/10/2024
I am excited for Paine College and the city of Augusta. I wish Dr. Jones well in her retirement and I am sure I speak on behalf of the entire community in welcoming Dr. McCorn as the new President-select of Paine College. From everything I have heard and I already know about him, he will be an exceptional leader and visionary for the school. Let's continue to keep Paine College in our prayers and in our hearts.
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, currently the President of Clinton College and now named the President of Augusta's Own - Paine College.
During his tenure there he turned Clinton College from a two-year school to a 4 year college - Clinton College 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 Success Center and a Digital Library and Learning Commons. Clinton recently 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. During President McCorn’s tenure the College has hosted on campus events with several distinguished dignitaries and special guests, including U.S. President Joe Biden, Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Raphael Warnock, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Congressional Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Congressman James Clyburn, and awarded an honorary doctorate to Rev. Dr. Bernice A. King, daughter of Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King. Dr. McCorn recently received a Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award from President Joe Biden for over 35 years of community service and leadership.
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. Prior to his appointment to Clinton, he was the Senior Pastor of the historic, 1500-member Pennsylvania Avenue AME Zion Church of Baltimore. He is the author of “Standing on Holy Common Ground: An Africentric Ministry Approach to Prophetic Community Engagement” (MMGI Press: Chicago).
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). He was featured in the iconic 1988 Spike Lee movie “School Daze” as a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha step team (Alpha Rho Chapter). He is the subject of a documentary of his journey from homelessness to college and beyond, entitled “No House to Morehouse.” (Self Made TV, 2024) He also began his pastoral career in college, ordained and assigned by the AME Zion Bishop Arthur Marshall to his first churches in Summerville and Menlo, Georgia at the age of 20. During his pastorate in Winder, Georgia he led a protest against racially motivated police brutality and was elected president of the newly formed C.U.R.B. (Citizens United to Rescue Barrow County) organization. He later served a church in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston and became the Director/Lead Organizer of Mattapan-Churches in Action, a faith-based community organization.
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. His dissertation is entitled, “Good News for the Poor and More: Towards Reclaiming Martin Luther King Jr.’s Radical Gospel of Economic Justice in Pursuit of the Beloved Community.” He also studied at Boston University School of Theology, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Southern Connecticut State University, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, University of Chicago Divinity School, McCormick Theological Seminary, Catholic Theological Union, Columbia Theological Seminary, University of Baltimore, and Union Institute and University.
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 a proud Life Member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He 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.
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