Dr. Doris Taylor helped pioneer a process for decellularizing hearts and rebuilding them into scaffolds to be used in an organ replacement.
When thinking about what Mississippi University for Women needs in its next president, Taylor reached for the same language.
“Building heart has become integrated into who I am, and I think building the heart of The W again is not that different,” Taylor told The Dispatch on Wednesday. “It’s there. It just needs a few stem cells to ramp it up.”
Taylor – whose career spans decades of research in the medical field with focuses on stem cell research and its interplay in organ transplants and repairs – is one of two names floated to fill the university’s open president seat, having been endorsed for the role last week by the Citizens Coalition for The W and Mississippi School for Mathematics and Sciences.
Taylor earned her undergraduate degree from MUW in 1977, but as a Southside resident and a student at The Demonstration School and The Barrow School on campus, she was spending time at The W campus from 6 years old.
When Jim Borsig resigned from the president role in 2018, Taylor said she wanted the job, but by the time she had her “ducks in a row to apply,” the State Institutions of Higher Learning board had given the job to Nora Miller.
Miller retired from The W in June after seven years at the helm, during which she led the university through multiple legislative challenges threatening The W’s existence as well as a failed name change effort. Provost Scott Tollison was named interim president in April.
The only other name floated publicly for the position has been Sally Burchfield-Doty, another alumna and a former state senator.
“It’s a shame the position isn’t made for two people because Sally and I together would rock The W,” Taylor said. “… Sally has the Mississippi expertise, the political savvy. She knows the legislature and the legislators, etc. I bring a very different perspective, which is much more of an academic perspective and much more of a national, international research perspective.”
In fact, Taylor initially backed Burchfield-Doty for the role after the former senator confirmed her interest in the job, specifically noting “political acumen and expertise.” But once she started receiving calls from stakeholders asking her to throw her name into the mix, Taylor reconsidered.
“They asked me if I would consider it,” Taylor said. “I said, ‘No. No. No. No. No. … OK, maybe.’”
Along with passion for the work and connections on a “regional, national and international level,” Taylor said she also brings decades of academic leadership – having risen through the ranks to lead departments and institutes at different universities – as well as her own brand of political acumen highlighted by her service on scientific panels for the White House, Federal Drug Administration, and the National Institute of Health.
And if she feels her own expertise doesn’t cover the necessary bases, Taylor said she has no problem asking for help.
“If I have learned nothing else in the last 20 years, I’ve learned that it’s not about me. It’s about the people I surround myself with,” Taylor said. “I may not know how to do A, B, C and D – although I would argue I can do probably A, B and C and have an idea at least of what D is – but I can sure surround myself with people who are smarter than I am and better than I am at the things I do not know how to do.”
The W Taylor attended as a student, she said, was a different university than the one operating today.
“That means two things,” Taylor said. “One, I can appreciate the differences, and two, I can look at the past and recognize the best pieces of that to bring forward.”
Part of that, Taylor said, requires engaging all stakeholders to garner diverse input when making hard decisions. That would include alumni, whom Taylor said can be “the lifeblood of an institution,” but span to students, staff and community members as well.
“It is critical to bring diverse opinions to the table and make the hard decisions that are … best for whoever the stakeholders are. All the stakeholders need to be in the room,” said Taylor, who founded Miromatrix Medical Inc. and Organamet Bio Inc. “Then if they can’t reach a consensus and you have to make a decision, then you have to make a hard decision sometimes.”
Those hard decisions, Taylor said, are made in the interest of the university’s longevity.
“I haven’t had the opportunity to listen to faculty staff and students, but in my opinion, what the W needs is to make sure we’re paying our faculty and staff well, make sure we’re taking care of our infrastructure, building our presence not just in on campus, but in the community, making The W better, making Columbus better, and making the region and state better,” she said.
Taylor likened the president’s position to that of a CEO. Leading an entity is about moving it forward in a way that protects stakeholders and sells the product at the same time, doing so “safely, effectively and in integrity.”
“I think a name change, at this point, for the institutions would be a huge distraction,” she said. “I think what we need to do is tell our story and brand ourselves and make it clear that everybody is welcome at The W and they have been for 40 years.”
Taylor has yet to apply for the position as the IHL board has not yet opened the application process. No announcement has been made about the timeline for selecting a president, but Taylor encouraged everyone interested to apply for the job.
Whoever is selected to lead the university next, she said, must be prepared with the “level of sophistication and political acumen” needed to protect the university from future threats.
“The most important thing to me is that The W not just persevere but do better and become better and be able to reach its potential without having to look over its shoulder,” she said.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.