The Author

An educational administrator, educator, author and philanthropist, Dr. Cornelia Wills is the nationally and internationally recognized author of the book, Mama Said: A Word to the Wise is Sufficient. She currently serves as Director of Student Success at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). She has also worked at other higher education institutions including Tennessee State University, Fisk University, and Meharry Medical College. She worked in the area of research at the Tennessee Board of Regents prior to accepting the Director of Institutional Research position at MTSU. Wills is known for many “firsts,” including being the first Black and first female...

The Book

The Book

Homespun wisdom is a vanishing art in Southern storytelling. But, author, Cornelia Wills, has found a way to keep it alive with her popular book, Mama Said: A Word to the Wise is Sufficient. As a university Common Read, it provides a different, fun, whimsical, out-of-the-box approach to teach life lessons that are not taught in the classroom. Through a fun approach of quotes, sayings, and idioms, it teaches valuable life lessons on “takers”, and other issues facing millennials including time management, relationships, choice of friends, financial management, procrastination, independence, character, just to name a few. For other readers, the... [Read More]