Erin Pickens Wansley celebrated as Humanities Teacher of the Year

JANS – On March 25, 2026, the Mississippi Humanities Council celebrated Tougaloo College’s Mass Communications Professor Erin Pickens Wansley as its Humanities Teacher of the Year. The program included a lecture by the Tougaloo College School of Humanities entitled “For Such a Time as This: How Media is Being Challenged and Changed in the 21st Century.” It was held in the Bennie G. Thompson Auditorium on the Tougaloo campus. 

Wansley is an award-winning journalist with nearly 20 years in television news. For almost 13 years, she was the morning and noon news anchor for WJTV in Jackson, Mississippi. She is now a member of the WAPT News family. She has worked in television news in her hometown of Memphis, TN; in Greenville, MS; and in Jackson, TN.

Wansley received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Memphis and a Master of Science in Communication from Mississippi College. 

Besides her busy schedule at Tougaloo College, she is heavily involved with member organizations Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Junior League of Jackson, and the LeFleur’s Bluff Chapter of The Links, Incorporated.