LORMAN — Youth, energy and vision were celebrated Saturday at Alcorn State University as Dr. M. Christopher Brown II was inaugurated as the 18th president of the nation’s oldest historically black land grant college.

Brown brings stellar academic accomplishments to the position and great hope for the future, said Dr. Hank Bounds, state commissioner of higher education.

“This is a special moment in the history of this wonderful institution,” said Bounds. “There is no question that he is the right man to lead Alcorn State University…forging new paths and facing the challenges ahead.”

Moments later, Brown, 38, the youngest president of a historically black university in the nation, was invested with the official regalia, mace and other symbols of his office.

“You have the privilege and opportunity to provide strong leadership and wise counsel to this great institution,” said Dr. Bettye H. Neely, president of the board of trustees for the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, presenting Brown with the chain of office and making official his appointment.

Brown called Alcorn “the greatest university on earth” and pledged to lead by serving.

“We are engaging our possibilities and pursuing excellence,” he said, repeating the phrase several times during his remarks. When it was created, Alcorn was intended to be “a first-class institution,” he said. “Alcorn has been, Alcorn is and Alcorn will remain a first-class institution.”

Brown said he is not naive about the economic forecasts, both in the state and the nation, that threaten budgets and cloud the future.

He countered it with the biblical example of Nehemiah, the Old Testament leader who set out to get the walls rebuilt around Jerusalem when the Jewish people returned from 70 years in captivity.

Clear leadership and determined vision will enable the university to accomplish bold ideals, he said, including rebuilding high academic accomplishments among students and facing down critics who have called for closing HBCUs in Mississippi.

“I will not give up; I will not shut up; I will not let up until Alcorn State University is celebrated for its achievements,” Brown said.

About 500 people attended the inauguration in the Davey L. Whitney Complex on the Lorman campus. They included Brown’s family and friends, Alcorn professors and staff, students and alumni, as well as Dr. George E. Ross, Alcorn’s 17th president, two interim presidents, Drs. Malvin Williams and Norris Edney, and more than two dozen speakers who addressed Brown with congratulations, advice, exhortations and humor.

“If you ever see a turtle on a fence post, you know it didn’t get there by itself,” said Dr. Wayne Riley, representing teachers, professors, advisers and others who have helped Brown reach the Alcorn presidency. “We all have nurtured you for this assignment. Never forget the power of mentorship.”

Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, an Alcorn State alumnus, said Brown was the perfect pick to lead the university.

“You are young, gifted and black,” Thompson said.

Brown, who was the board’s unanimous choice for the job, was appointed in December and took office Jan. 10.

He was formerly dean of the College of Education at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas and has held a number of other faculty and research appointments at universities and institutes since 1995.

He has a doctorate in higher education from Penn State University and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at South Carolina State University and the University of Kentucky, respectively, and has written or edited 15 books and monographs and authored or co-authored more than 100 journal articles.

Founded in 1871, Alcorn was the nation’s first state-supported institution for the higher education of African-Americans, and the second state university in Mississippi. It is one of three historically black colleges and universities in the state, along with Jackson State University and Mississippi Valley State University.

Brown’s inauguration falls about one month before Alcorn’s 140th anniversary, and Brown tied the two celebrations together. More than $200,000 was raised for the inauguration, far more than its $40,000 cost, he said.

“The remaining $160,000 is going to go toward scholarships,” he said.

Inaugural events, which included a luncheon and symposium in Vicksburg Friday, conclude today in Natchez with a worship service at Zion Chapel A.M.E. Church and an afternoon reception at the Smith-Bontura House.