Two long-time members of the Pearl River Community College faculty completed the Mississippi Community College Leadership Academy during the 2015-16 academic year.
Dr. Kyle Hill and Greg Underwood graduated from the program on May 5 at Mississippi State University.
The Mississippi Community College Foundation developed the Leadership Academy in the spring of 2009 to address the projected need for upper-level leaders in the state’s community college system. The MCCLA is organized around the practical needs for future community college leaders, specific to the Mississippi community college system.
Hill is chair of the PRCC Department of Fine Arts and Communication, director of bands and director of the Brownstone Center for the Arts.
Underwood is the Forrest County Center department chair for English, criminal justice, art, music, oral communication, foreign languages and leadership classes.
Hill holds degrees from Jones County Junior College and the University of Southern Mississippi and membership in the American Federation of Musicians, Percussive Arts Society, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and National Band Association. He has served as president of the Mississippi Junior/Community College Band Director’s Association and the MAJCC Faculty Association.
Chief of the Northeast Lamar Fire Department in Oak Grove, Hill is also a member of the Lamar County Board of Education. He has performed with the Mobile Opera, Meridian Symphony, Hattiesburg City Band, Hattiesburg Swing Band and Hattiesburg Civic Light Opera and plays drumset at Temple Baptist Church.
He and his wife, the former Debby Harris, have two children.
Underwood holds degrees from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala., and the University of Memphis and is pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Southern Mississippi, focusing on early modern English literary depictions of ale and beer.
He was the first president of the PRCC Forrest County Center Faculty Association and has served as the Mississippi representative to the Southeast Region of the Two-Year College English Association. He has been a member of the PRCC Leadership Coaching Class and the Area Development Partnership’s 2014 Leadership Pine Belt class.
Underwood is a champion homebrewer of craft beer through 3 Odd Oaks Brewing. He has been a coach in the Hattiesburg Youth Soccer Association and an usher at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. He and his wife, the former Leigh Ann Lane, are the parents of two children.
Dr. Kyle Hill receives his Mississippi Community College Leadership Academy diploma from Dr. William Lewis, president of Pearl River Community College.
Greg Underwood receives his Mississippi Community College Leadership Academy diploma from Dr. William Lewis, president of Pearl River Community College.
Photos courtesy of Holmes Community College