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Feature:
Mike Sorrell
As new president Michael Sorrell takes control the HBCU undergoes radical changes.
Clarence Sheppard
 Over the past five years, Paul Quinn College has faced the unsettling challenge of asking four people to step up to the task of leading the embattled institution as its president. A fifth leader is currently emerging on campus, but this time it's the college itself that is having to step up to the Mike. Michael J. Sorrell is the new big man on the small campus with enormous deficits, and he's making colossal changes. Now, the oldest Historically Black College west of the Mississippi has its youngest, and its most potentially effective president in Mr. Sorrell who at 40 is interim leader of the school.
Sorrell, an accomplished visionary, attorney and powerbroker is demonstratively stomping the yard, showing how to step in modern times, to the helm of a troubled college. Not quite as brash as Joe Clark, Paul Quinn's new educator-in-chief has instantaneously exacted radical revisions ranging from staffing infrastructure to a new dress code for everyone on campus. The exigency with which he operates matches the oppressive needs of the 135-year-old institution that is saddled with debt and pessimistic speculation.
His syllabus covers expansive subject matter, yet it passionately begins and ends with the students. “Our community bestows upon us a tremendous amount of trust. They give us their most precious commodity; their children... We will equip them to do battle," says Sorrell. He often jokes about the cold and harsh ills of greater society, yet solemn about travails facing Paul Quinn College, he says, “the first step to addressing these ills is through education."
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