 Previously, she was the Vice President and Campus Executive Officer and a Professor of Practice for the Human Capital Development Program at the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast in Long Beach, Mississippi.Lucas is the daughter of Dr. Aubrey K. Lucas, who himself is the former president of Delta State University and later The University of Southern Mississippi and is now president emeritus of The University of Southern Mississippi.Lucas grew up in Mississippi where she received her Bachelor's from Mississippi State University in 1978, her Master's and her PhD in higher education from the University of Alabama.