Ken Wooten
OXFORD, Miss. – Kenneth L. Wooten, former registrar and dean of admissions at the University of Mississippi died Monday (July 16).
He was born Aug. 26, 1933. The Wooten family will host a celebration of life at the Powerhouse Community Arts Center on University Avenue in Oxford from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Wooten is survived by his wife of 40 years, Margaret Wylde; two daughters, Lisa Hankamer of Houston, Texas, and Laurie DuChaine (David) of Oxford; grandson Lucian, a U.S. Navy officer; and Cope, a student at the University of Alabama.
A graduate of Goodhope High School in Leake County and East Central Junior College, Wooten earned three degrees at Ole Miss – a Bachelor of Arts in special education in 1956, Bachelor of Laws in 1960 and Juris Doctor in 1968. He earned his first job at the university, that of night watchman in the school cafeteria, soon after enrolling in 1954.
He taught in the Oxford School District before returning to his alma mater in 1959 as an admissions counselor. For 31 years, he served Ole Miss diligently as counselor, director of placement and financial aid and finally admissions dean until his retirement in February 1991.
The annual Ken Wooten Scholars Bowl on the Oxford campus is named in his honor.
Robert Khayat, who served as UM chancellor from 1995 to 2009, first met Wooten in the summer of 1956.
“I was an entering freshman and he worked in the cafeteria supervising the flow of food for students, patrons and others and I remember him always being very nice to everyone,” Khayat said. “From June 1956 forward, I was a friend of Dr. Wooten’s throughout my life and his. He always made good suggestions on ways to approve the university, and I always listened to him.”
Khayat said Wooten’s contributions to the university, as well as many community organizations, are a true testament to the legacy he leaves behind.
“I really and truly believe that he was universally liked and respected by everyone,” Khayat said. “Ken was one of those people that was just always positive and uplifting and always focused on making whatever he was involved in better.”
A native of Lena (Leake County), Wooten is known for his outstanding leadership accomplishments having served as president of the Oxford Civil Council, Oxford Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, Common Cause Mississippi, Yoknapatawpha Arts Council and Theatre Oxford. He has served as a consultant for both the regional and U.S. Office of Education, the U.S. Justice Department and several Mississippi junior colleges.
Wooten gained national prominence among college admissions specialists in 1969 when he served as the first president and one of six founders of National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. He subsequently was a founder and president of both the regional and state associations of that organization.
He was one of few in his field to be invited to join the National Society for the Advancement of Financial Aid Management in Higher Education.
In 2006, the UM Black Student Union recognized him for his outstanding dedication during the 1962 integration of Ole Miss. As a panelist on the 2012 “Opening the Closed Society” program, he described the riot on campus. He began a program to recruit leading African-American high school students.
His philanthropic efforts are also well-known. In 1987, he served as chairman of the March of Dimes Oxford campaign and was congressional district chair of Common Cause, a committee dedicated to ensuring freedom and access of information for all Mississippians.
Wooten once wrote that his personal philosophy and the key to his success is to acknowledge that every individual is the sum total of the environment to which he or she has been exposed and to respect and appreciate the differences those environments creates in each of us.
An avid reader and member of the Dick Boyd Book Club, Ken authored two books, “Blackberries,” published in 2013, and “On Being Afraid of the Dark” in 2017.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the University Museums or the Gertrude Ford Center for Performing Arts through the University of Mississippi Foundation, 406 University Avenue, Oxford, MS, 38655; or to Yoknapatawpha Arts Council, 413 South 14th, Oxford, MS 38655.