Brig. Gen. Robert Crear of Vicksburg was formally appointed Friday by President Bush to serve as the president of the Mississippi River Commission.

The appointment requires U.S. Senate confirmation and will be formally announced at a Wednesday press conference.

It is another in a series of promotions for Crear, who grew up in Vicksburg and attended Rosa A. Temple High School here before graduating in engineering from Jackson State University and entering the Army.

Since June 2004, Crear has been serving as commander and division engineer of the Corps’ Mississippi Valley Division in Vicksburg and president-designee of the MRC, which has management jurisdiction for the nation’s largest waterway.

The MRC was created in 1879 to plan and provide for the general improvement of the entire length of the Mississippi River. Its work includes improving navigation, preventing destructive floods and facilitating commerce.

Presidential appointees consist of three officers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a representative from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and three civilians, two of whom must be civil engineers.

The commission is advisory. Its duties include recommending policy and work programs, studying and reporting on modifications or changes to the Mississippi River and Tributaries project, created by Congress in 1928, commenting on matters authorized by law, making inspection trips, and holding public hearings that facilitate exchanges of viewpoints and ideas.

The Mississippi River watershed is influenced by the drainage of over 41 percent of the United States and two provinces of Canada.

The programs and activities overseen by the MVD and MRC are conducted by district offices located in St. Paul, Minn., Rock Island, Ill., St. Louis, Mo., Memphis, Tenn., Vicksburg and New Orleans.

With the appointment, Crear becomes the first black president of the MRC and the first Vicksburg native to be selected for the post.

In addition to his duties with the MVD and MRC, Crear is also serving as the commander of Task Force Hope, the division’s effort in support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s national response plan to Hurricane Katrina. The task force had more than 3,800 personnel at its peak and is among the largest disaster recovery operations in the history of the Corps of Engineers.

Crear is also the commander who was on the ground in Iraq and led the effort to bring Iraq oil production back on line in 2003.

He has also been commander of the Vicksburg District, chief of staff at Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C., and commander for the Corps’ Southwestern Division in Dallas.

He is married to the former Reatha Hall, also of Vicksburg.