As the longest-serving president of Alcorn State University, Dr. Walter Washington oversaw the school’s long road from an agricultural college to a university so diverse that it once hosted a U.S. president.

Now, the road to Alcorn State has been named for him.

“In life, there is always someone who takes time to care about the growth and success of others, and that describes the legacy of Dr. Walter Washington,” incoming ASU President M. Christopher Brown II said in a prepared statement. “As Alcorn State University celebrates 140 years this academic year, we welcome this appropriate and long-overdue tribute to our longest-tenured president, great educator, loyal servant and esteemed Alcornite.”

With Gov. Haley Barbour’s recent signature on HB222, Mississippi 552 will, on July 1, be known as Dr. Walter Washington Parkway from its junction with U.S. 61 to the Alcorn State University campus.

The seven-mile stretch runs through Claiborne and Jefferson counties and will be marked with signs placed by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. An official ceremony will be held this summer.

Washington was Alcorn’s 15th president and served from 1969 to 1994. Before taking the ASU helm, he was president of then-Utica Junior College for 12 years.

During his early years in Lorman, Washington presided over ASU’s centennial celebration and its shift from Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College to full university status.

He also secured funding for a new football stadium and campus buildings, successfully lobbied for bigger budgets and brought then-President George H.W. Bush to the school as commencement speaker in 1989.

Dr. John Walls, former deputy superintendent of the Vicksburg Warren School District and a 1968 graduate of ASU, worked as admissions counselor under Washington for four years in the 1970s.

“Dr. Washington believed that every student should be successful at Alcorn,” Walls said. “He coined the phrase, ‘fair-firm-friendly,’ in dealings with the students. He believed you could be all three with students and they would be successful.”

Walls said Washington also eliminated outdated restrictions on women students, allowing them to have cars, move freely about the campus and go home without notes from their parents.

“He got rid of all that nonsense,” Walls said.

Washington’s nephew, Mississippi Rep. Gregory Holloway, D-Hazlehurst, is an ASU graduate whose district includes Claiborne County. He said as a family member he is especially grateful to be part of honoring Washington.

“Dr. Washington’s work went above and beyond the borders of Mississippi,” Holloway said. “He spent 37 years of his distinct service as a champion for education.”

Washington was born in Hazlehurst and earned degrees from Tougaloo College, Indiana University and Peabody College before becoming the first black to earn a doctoral degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. He also completed programs at Yale and Harvard universities, and toured educational facilities in Taiwan and seven African countries.

In 1975, Ebony magazine listed Washington among “The 100 Most Influential Black Americans.” He was the recipient of many award awards, as well.

After Washington’s death in 1999, former ASU president Clinton Bristow Jr., who had succeeded him, called Washington “an icon” and “a pioneer in Mississippi and nationally in black higher education.” The campus’ administration building was named for him, the library has a Walter Washington room and a scholarship was established in his honor.

Alcorn, the nation’s first historically black land-grant institution, was established in 1871 on 225 acres of land with eight faculty members and 179 students, all men. It now encompasses 1,700 acres, with about 500 faculty and staff serving 3,000 men and women students from the U.S. and around the world.

Alcorn State is fully accredited with seven schools and degree programs in more than 50 areas including a nursing program. The facilities have increased from three historic buildings to approximately 80 buildings collectively valued at $71 million.