Dr. Michael L. Tatum has been appointed to serve on the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College board of trustees as a Harrison County representative. Board members are selected by the Board of Supervisors in each county of the college’s district. Tatum began will serve until December 2016.

Tatum is the assistant superintendent in the Gulfport School District. He received his bachelor of science degree from Alcorn State University in 1973, his master of education degree from William Carey College in 1977 and his doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1998. Beginning his career in the education field in 1974 as a science and biology teacher in Richton, Tatum has also worked as a coach and principal in various districts in South Mississippi. In 1992, he moved to the Gulfport School District as the assistant principal at Gulfport High School. In 1997, he was named principal of the ninth-grade section of the high school and in July 2006 was named assistant superintendent.

Tatum is also an adjunct professor at William Carey University, teaching classroom management and tests, measurements and evaluation.