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Hilpert draws on ministerial experience to lead Delta State.

Article Excerpt
CLEVELAND -- In late June, the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) Board of Trustees named Dr. John M. Hilpert as the seventh president of Delta State University (DSU), to replace Dr. David L. Potter, who resigned earlier this year to lead IHL.

Hilpert, 55, a native of Cape Girardeau, Mo., earned an associate's degree from St. Paul's College in Missouri, a bachelor's degree from Concordia Senior College in Indiana, a master of divinity degree from Concordia Seminary in Missouri and a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

From 1978 to 1983, Hilpert served as an executive assistant to the president at Finlandia University in Hancock, Mich. From 1983 to 1990, he was vice president for college advancement at Thiel College in Greenville, Pa. From 1990 to 1997, he held several appointments at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, including vice president for university relations, executive director of the school's foundation and acting president/executive vice president. Since 1997, he has served as president of Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D.

DSU is a four-year college located in Cleveland. Nearly 4,000 students--80% from the Mississippi Delta--were enrolled at DSU last fall. Hilpert and his wife, Pat, a registered nurse and a published, award-winning photographer, have three...