Officials with the Department of Natural Resources have confirmed that Joycelyn Wilson, a respected mathematics professor at Spelman College, was found deceased on Sunday morning following the discovery of an empty boat circling Lake Oconee. Lake Oconee stretches from Eatonton to Madison in Georgia.
Wilson’s body was located using sonar equipment around 10 a.m. on Sunday. Meanwhile, the search continues for Gary Jones, identified by Westminster Schools as a faculty member and the school’s varsity girls’ and boys’ track and field coach. A close friend of Jones disclosed to Atlanta News First that he and Wilson were engaged and had recently reconnected after attending Clark Atlanta University together.
“Our entire community is praying for his safe return and for his family during this difficult moment,” Westminster Schools stated. The DNR has not specified where the boat was located or the extent of their ongoing search efforts. Weather conditions prompted the suspension of the search on Wednesday.
Wilson was a senior instructor in the Department of Mathematics at Spelman since 2007. The tragic discovery has sent shockwaves through the Spelman and greater Atlanta communities.
“It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts that we announce the death of a highly respected member of the Spelman College community, Senior Instructor Joycelyn Wilson, who passed away on February 9,” the school said in a statement. “She made an indelible impact on both her students and colleagues.”
In addition to her teaching duties at Spelman, she directed several federally funded programs, including the Spelman/Salem STEM Mentoring Program and the Women in Science, Technology, Mathematics, and Engineering Program. She was also the co-principal investigator and program director for the NSF-funded Mathematics Research and Mentoring Program.
Wilson had previously taught at Howard University and American University.
