Mississippi State Alumnus Summer 2004 by MSSTATE

Mississippi State Summer 2004 | Volume 80 | Number 2 USPS 354-520

President J. Charles Lee

Vice President for External Affairs Dennis A. Prescott

Alumni Association Executive Director John V. Correro (’62)

Mississippi State Alumnus is published three times a year by the Office of University Relations and the Mississippi State University Alumni Association at Mississippi State, Miss. Send address changes to Alumni Director, P.O. Box AA, Mississippi State, MS 39762-5526; telephone 662-325-7000; or access by Web browser at http://msuinfo.ur.msstate.edu/ alumni/alumni.htm. Editorial offices: 102 George Hall, P.O. Box 5325, Mississippi State, MS 39762-5325. Telephone 662-325-3442; fax, 662-325-7455; e-mail, snowa@ur.msstate.edu www.msstate.edu

Editor Allen Snow (’76)

Associate Editor Kay Fike Jones

Designers Becky Smith Erin Norwood (’98)

features

2 | The skys’ the limit for Seagraves Blue Angel events coordinator Chandler P. Seagraves is definitely flying high these days. And from where he sits, there's nothing but blue skies ahead.

6 | Speaking with passion Music industry sound equipment pioneer Hartley Peavey delivered the May commencement address and received an honorary doctoral degree at Mississippi State.

10 | Faces from the past A collection of images from the university's photographic archives comes to life once again on the hallway walls of Allen Hall's sixth floor.

12 | Radio with a vision Nearly 90,000 hours. That's the time campus radio station WMSV has logged since it first went on the air March 21, 1994.

16 | MSU collection preserves state’s rural heritage The Consortium for the History of Agricultural and Rural Mississippi, or CHARM, is ensuring the preservation and access to materials related to the state's rural heritage.

Photographers

18 | Through one man’s eyes

Russ Houston (’85) Megan Bean

At the end of June, Roy H. Ruby retired from Mississippi State University after an administrative career that spanned the last four decades of the 20th century.

Mississippi State University Alumni Association National Officers

23 | The four great spaces

Keith Winfield (’70), national president; Joe L. Bryan (’63), national first vice president; Betty L. Black (’74), national second vice president; David W. Jones (’81), national treasurer; Gary A. Blair (’81), immediate former national president.

Professor of architecture Michael Fazio reveals his selection of the four great spaces on the MSU campus and details the reasons behind his choices.

Cover photos provided by the Blue Angels. Above photo, Perry Cafeteria flags by Russ Houston

eagraves Maj._Chandler_S time is_having_the_ _member A of_his_Life_as_e_angELs. lu of_the_Elite_B

Chandler P. Seagraves is definitely flying high these days. And from where he sits, there’s nothing but blue skies ahead. “You might say I was born to do this, but I certainly fought it for a long time,” he admits. “I think you have it in your blood, and once the flying bug bit me, I felt like I could be unstoppable.” Ultimately, Seagraves followed his calling. Today he has the distinction of being Mississippi State University’s first alumnus to become part of the elite Blue Angels Naval Flight Demonstration Squadron. Catching up with Seagraves, the team’s events coordinator, is no easy feat. Fortunately, he was recently in Mississippi gearing up for the 2004 Wings Over Meridian air show at the Meridian Naval Air Station. Amidst the crowd of enthralled air show enthusiasts, Naval and Marine personnel and a group of Seagraves’ junior high school pals, it was clear that this “hometown” boy, known as “C.P.,” was genuinely pleased to combine a lot of

“For the 45 minutes those pilots are actually up in the air–that’s the hardest job–but the rest of the time, I think my job is the most complex because of all the preparation that goes into pulling off a successful air show. We’re just regular aviators who have volunteered to do this, and we’re having the time of our lives.”

hard work with a little pleasure on a sunny Saturday afternoon. It marked his first trip to Meridian following a 12-year absence. Seagraves is one of a group of 16 officers and 110 maintenance personnel who travel with the air shows that feature

Mississippi, and Japan. The younger Seagraves never thought that was the life

six blue-and-gold Navy F/A-18 Hornets performing maneuvers

for him. In fact, he wanted to be a veterinarian. It was the

at 500 miles per hour that often put them as close as 18

promise of adventure and an overwhelming sense of patriot-

inches apart. The Blue Angels were formed in 1946, just

ism that eventually sent him to become an officer in the

after World War II, to showcase the United States’ aviation

Marines.

superiority. Their mission is to enhance Navy and Marine Corps recruiting and serve as goodwill ambassadors.

When Seagraves was growing up, his dad was assigned to the Meridian base as a flight instructor. It was this partic-

Last season, more than 17 million persons attended the

ular tour of duty that gave his son Chandler a place to finally

air shows, with Seagraves at the helm. For the Blue Angels

put down some roots. Since the younger Seagraves was able

team, it’s a grueling slate of shows and endless practice

to spend the fifth through ninth grade at Southeast

sessions. That’s why a tour of duty for the coordinator only

Lauderdale School, he formed several lifelong friendships.

lasts two years. “For the 45 minutes those pilots are actually up in the air–that’s the hardest job–but the rest of the time, I think my

“For a while at least, I wasn’t referred to as the new kid in school,” he said. Seagraves credits his father and his mother, a homemaker,

job is the most complex because of all the preparation that

for providing him with strong values. Another guiding hand

goes into pulling off a successful air show,” he said. “We’re

was lent by family friend, Meridian native and MSU alumnus

just regular aviators who have volunteered to do this, and

Richard Armstrong, a retired Marine colonel who now serves

we’re having the time of our lives.”

as executive director of the MSU Foundation. Armstrong

Seagraves, a Quantico, Va., native, grew up around flying wherever his father was stationed during the 20 years he

served in the Marines with Chandler’s father. “Colonel Armstrong made a lot of time for me growing

spent as a Marine pilot. The family shuttled between North

up,” he said. “And every time I’ve needed his advice, he’s

Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Virginia, California,

always been there.”

story by amy cagle | photos provided by the blue angels and paula merritt of the meridian star

A Summer 2004

programs Seagraves autogra phs sts. for air-show enthusia

Armstrong’s strong MSU

candidates have to be among the best all-around aviators with

off on Seagraves. Following

charismatic personalities to match. Each member of the team

graduation from a North Carolina high school, he enrolled at MSU. And as luck would have it, so did quite a few of his junior high school pals from Meridian. “I was lucky in the fact that a lot of the guys I knew from Meridian came to Mississippi State, and that’s how I

Three things help Seagraves as he prepares for performances: a strong faith in God coupled with a belief in family and country. The Blue Angels practice over Naval Air Station Pensacola (Fla.) during the show season. It was in Pensacola

my time at MSU, and I would like nothing better than to

that Seagraves met his wife Teri through mutual friends and

come back to campus and acquaint my family with the

it was she who encouraged him to follow his dream of flying

Bulldog experience,” he added.

with the Blue Angels. “When Teri learned of my dream to be a Blue Angels

tary career. At that time, he hopes to return to Mississippi

pilot, she did everything she could to help me in the process,”

State to continue his studies to finally obtain a degree in

Seagraves said.

veterinary medicine. “I graduated with a poultry science degree and I’m proud of that. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay to complete my

It is somewhat surprising that Teri is such a pillar of support for her husband considering the fact that she is the widow of another Blue Angels pilot.

veterinary degree because I would have been too old to enter

“She is an amazing lady,” he readily admits.

flight school,” he acknowledges with a little regret.

Although Seagraves never met Teri’s first husband, he

The armed forces have very stringent rules in that the

has the utmost respect for him and considers the children he

cut-off age for entering flight school is 27. So Seagraves left

left behind as his own. Becoming an instant father by adopt-

Mississippi State with his degree and an adventurous spirit

ing Teri’s three children (now ages 15, 12 and 9) wasn’t a

that served him well in flight training.

walk in the park. He has been able to balance his priorities,

“What a lot of people don’t understand is, sometimes majors other than engineering students make better jet pilots,” Seagraves said. “They’ve studied this very hard in

even adding 7-month-old daughter Georgie to complete the blended family. When Seagraves wraps up his two-year stint with the

the military because you don’t want to spend a lot of money

Blue Angels in mid-November, it will be in front of his

on a guy and then have him ‘wash out’ in flight school.”

beloved family, friends and other adoring fans at Naval Air

The competition to become a Blue Angel is probably the

is trusted to perform his job flawlessly.

ended up pledging Kappa Alpha,” he said. “I greatly enjoyed

In less than a decade, Seagraves will wrap up his mili-

toughest in the Navy, since Marines can also apply. The

connection definitely rubbed

S Summer 2004

Station Pensacola–home base for the squadron. It will be the

culmination of nearly 150 air shows he has coordinated at 80

who want their replica planes autographed and others who

locations in the United States and Canada during the 2003

value them so much that they don’t want anyone writing on

and 2004 seasons. And it will mark his return to routine

them,” he explained.

missions as a Marine aviator. The 34-year-old Seagraves has flown combat missions

While the Blue Angels were in Meridian, Seagraves was able to visit Southeast Lauderdale School.

over Bosnia and Kosovo as a navigation and weapons sys-

“I always enjoy having fun with the students–telling

tems specialist. He was commissioned a second lieutenant

them that if they work hard enough and set some goals, then

in the Marine Corps in May 1992, and received his wings of

who knows, one day they may be flying a $45 million air-

gold in September 1995.

plane.”

Seagraves transferred to Pensacola in late 1999 for duty

For now, Seagraves is content with the instrumental role

as a flight instructor to train naval flight officers in advanced

he plays as a Blue Angel with a group of guys that he feels

tactical jet navigation. During his tour, he was selected as

are part of his extended family.

the 2001 Marine Naval Flight Officer Instructor of the Year.

“When you spend that many hours a day with a bunch

He joined the Blue Angels in 2002 and has accumulated

of folks, you don’t separate them from your family,” he said.

more than 1,900 flight hours. His decorations during his 11-

“We practice six days a week, and we go out to the desert for

year military career include the Air Medal/First Strike Flight

three months and fly three times a day–that’s teamwork and

Award, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals

that’s trust that each man will be exactly where he’s supposed

and various unit and service awards.

to be every minute we’re in the sky.”

Although in some ways Seagraves isn’t looking forward to having his special time as a Blue Angel come to an end, he does think it signals another new beginning for him. “When it’s over, I’ll go put on a green (flight) suit and start flying combat missions again,” he said. “But the memories I have will be priceless.” One of the highlights for Seagraves, whose call sign is

To Seagraves, it is work–but there’s nothing else like it in the world. “Flying at speeds of 500 miles an hour, often only six inches apart near the speed of sound, is a natural adrenaline rush,” he professes. “What a life to do something I hold near and dear to my heart–it’s all about patriotism, and I would be honored if my

“Sweetpea,” has been working with the children in conjunc-

sons followed in my footsteps,” he said. “It doesn’t take

tion with the air shows.

rocket science to figure it all out. It’s simple–I love being a

“I love it when they touch the planes. You have some

Blue Angel.”

A Summer 2004

SPEAKING

WITH

PASSION

Peavey Electronics founder urges grads to maintain “stickability’”

S Summer 2004

Speaking with passion and few prepared remarks, music industry sound equipment pioneer Hartley Peavey delivered the May 8 commencement address and received an honorary doctoral degree at Mississippi State. Peavey Electronics, the company he founded in 1965,

Peavey Electronics leads the industry in patents, with more than 130, and in trademarks and registered products. Peavey was the first musical instrument maker to utilize online product conceptualization and design. Hartley Peavey is a member of the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame, a 1992 recipient of the National Literacy Honors Award presented by President and Mrs. George Bush, and a 1994 winner of the Republican Senatorial Medal of Freedom. He was honored last year by the Mississippi World Trade Center with its Guy Tozzoli “Peace Through Trade”

has developed into one of the world’s largest manufacturers

Distinguished Leadership Award. He has been listed as one

of musical instruments and professional sound equipment.

of the 100 most influential people in the worldwide music

Peavey, whose many other honors include a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame, started his business in the basement

industry by BAM magazine. Peavey is married to another Mississippi State graduate,

of his parents’ Meridian home the same year he graduated

the former Mary Winfred Love, a past homecoming queen

from MSU. He remains its chief executive officer and sole

and Miss MSU, and the president of Peavey Electronics.

owner. Besides serving as commencement speaker, the 1965 MSU business graduate received the honorary doctor of creative and performing arts degree from his alma mater. MSU awarded some 2,300 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees during the Humphrey Coliseum ceremony. Peavey Electronics, headquartered in Meridian, has

Following are his remarks to the spring 2004 graduates: To all you graduates, to you alumni, ladies and gentlemen: It is indeed an honor for me to be here today, because 39 years ago at this fine institution I was sitting where many of you are. I left here with a diploma and a dream. And in those 39

grown from its beginnings as a one-room operation to an

years, much of that dream has been realized in ways that I

international corporation with 33 manufacturing and distribu-

never knew. I never knew it was even possible.

tion facilities in Mississippi, Alabama and England. Through

I want to spend a few moments talking about possibilities;

its four divisions, the company manufactures every link in

talking about you and the way that you might achieve your

the audio chain—from guitars, bass and drums to mixers,

dreams and your goals.

amplifiers, and speakers—and distributes more than 2,000 products to 136 countries. The company’s sound systems are used in entertainment venues from the Sydney Opera House to the Opryland

First of all, let’s understand that all of us come into this world the same way. We’re kicking, screaming little savages, right? Everything is ‘me, me, me.’ ‘I, I, I.’ But you got here along with a little bag of tricks. Some

Convention Center to the Las Vegas Strip, in government

people call it talents, some people call it abilities, proclivities—

buildings from the U.S. Senate Chamber to the parliament

it really doesn’t matter what you call it. Everyone of us has

houses of China and Russia, in more than a quarter of NFL

our own little bag of tricks. Folks, life is a test to see what

football stadiums, and in theme parks, supermarkets and air-

you do with that little bag of tricks.

ports around the world. “Hartley Peavey is recognized throughout the world as

You know, the wonderful thing about humanity is that we’re all different. We’re all very much the same, but we’re

an authority on the music and audio industry, and he has built

all different. Wouldn’t it be a boring place if we were all just

a company known for creativity and innovation,” said MSU

alike? Some people can write a poem; some people can play

President Charles Lee. “His success in a globally competitive

music. Some people can add a column of figures that it

industry has brought recognition and hundreds of jobs to his

would take the rest of us a calculator to do. Some of us can

home state and region, and he is a role model for our students

create things; some of us can draw a picture.

as a technological innovator and entrepreneur.”

photo provided by peavey electronics

All of us have these things that we can do. But you

A Summer 2004

know, in my many years of doing business, I’ve had the

But, you see, when I left here, I did leave here with a

opportunity to work with literally thousands of people, and

diploma and a dream. I had some ability—maybe not as

one of the things I want to impress on you graduates today is,

much as I needed. But one thing that I did have—and I want

I want you to consider doing a little inventory. A little inven-

to emphasize that to you now—there’s an aspect of ability

tory about what your talents really are. Some of you may be

that you don’t come into this world with. You have to learn.

thinking, ‘Well, I’ve got my diploma now.’ Let me tell you—that diploma is just a license to learn. Your real education has just begun. When I graduated in ’65,

You graduates have already exhibited some of that ability. Most people call it “stickability.” Persistence. I don’t care how smart you are. I don’t care how talented

I actually had the audacity to think that I knew something.

you are. If you don’t have that quality of stickability, you

How wrong I was.

will never be as successful as you could be and should be.

But I did have one thing that I want to share with you. I

A lot of you have seen the television commercials by this guy, Body by Jake—he sells the exercise machines—and at

had faith. I had faith that if I tried hard enough, and I worked hard enough, that somehow—just maybe—I might succeed. But what is success? A lot of people say, ‘Well, it’s money.’ I

the end of the commercial he always points his finger at the camera and says in his Brooklyn accent, “Don’t quit!” People, it’s trite but true: quitters never win and winners

can tell you that money helps, but that’s not success. Success

never quit. I’ll be quite honest with you—in my career, there

is making a difference. Success is feeling good about what

have been many, many days that I wanted to surrender. The

you’re doing.

truth is, you graduates, there have been many days in your scholastic careers that you wanted to surrender. “Aw, to hell with it.”

After you live your life and do what you do, have you

But you didn’t, and look where you are. Think about all

made a difference? The faculty here know exactly what I’m

the people you started out with who—along the way—

talking about, because, folks, you’re making a difference—

surrendered. They’re not with us today, are they?

and I want you all to know how much we appreciate that. But for you graduates, you have to be honest with yourself.

And when your story is told and when you hang up your rock ‘n roll shoes, so to speak, you’re going to find that a lot

I wanted to be a guitar player, to tell you the truth. I wasn’t

of the people you met along the way—they fell away, not

that interested in getting an education, because I wanted to be

because they were stupid, not because they didn’t have talents,

a rock star. But I had this bad thing happen to me: every

but the simple fact is, they just quit.

time I got into a little group—and I was in three groups here at Mississippi State—every musical group always needs

It’s almost a corollary—and the weightlifters say it, and I remind my people of it every day: No pain, no gain.

equipment, and I always used to build it for them. An interesting thing happened—one time, two times, three times. About the time I’d built all the equipment for them, they would kick me out of the band. The third time that happened, I thought maybe my career

you do have a goal. Because so many of us today suffer from what most people know as the Christopher Columbus

difficult thing I have ever done, and that was to look in the

effect. Are you familiar with that term?

boy, you’re not gonna be a rock star. What are you gonna do?’ Well, the answer is, I love music, I love musicians, and I’m really good at building things with my hands. So, I’m gonna build music equipment. I told my friends, I told my family, I told my parents, and they all told me that I was crazy. In retrospect, maybe they were right.

that you have a goal, and I hope that each and every one of

as a rock star was limited. And, folks, I had to do the most mirror and be totally honest with myself. I said, ‘Okay, big

Folks, I didn’t make the rules. But it’s really important

S Summer 2004

You remember Christopher Columbus, right? He was the guy who, when he set out, he didn’t know where he was going. And when he got there, he didn’t know where he was. And when he returned, he didn’t know where he had been. So if you don’t have a goal, how do you know when you get there? You gotta have a goal. The next thing you have to have is focus. In this country,

we spend a lot of time talking about what’s wrong with this country—and there’s no doubt, there’s a lot of things wrong

because you have the opportunity. Graduates, you’ve done a good job. Your job is just started.

with this country. But, you’re looking at living proof of what

Your life is full of promise, but it’s also full of peril. So you

you can do if you try hard enough.

know what you have to do, because you’ve already shown

There was a singer back in the ’50s—and most of you

that stickability. You have to have those goals and you have

are too young to remember—the guy’s name was Johnny

to stick with it. And don’t ever let anybody tell you that you

Ace. He sang a song, ‘You Can Make It If You Try.’ Truer

can’t do it because you’re from Mississippi or you went to

words were never spoken.

Mississippi State, because we compete with companies from

Henry Ford had a very interesting saying that I printed

all over the world, very successfully—not because we’re

out and I’ve handed out to a lot of our employees at Peavey.

smarter, but because we try harder, and we have some good

It goes like this: “If you think you can or if you think you

talent.

can’t, you’re absolutely right.” You see, when I graduated those many years ago, I was just stupid enough to think I could. I had a goal. I had stick-

There’s another thing I want to share with you, and it’s

ability. And I focused my energy because, God knows, I didn’t

called the bumblebee effect. Some of you are familiar with

have the talent, the money or the experience that some of my

that term. Did you know that the bumblebee can’t fly, because

competitors had. But I did have stickability.

his body is too heavy for his wings to support? Did you

And, graduates, you’ve demonstrated a great degree of stickability, and I want to ask you to keep it up. Don’t quit!

know that? Guess who didn’t know that? The bumblebee. I want you to enjoy the bumblebee effect. When people tell you that you can’t do it, remember that bee. And remember this old boy who graduated 39 years ago,

Us guys, sometimes we don’t want to ask for help. I’ve never been ashamed to ask for help, because help is all around you. Your classmates, your teachers, your friends, your parents—use the resources. If this country that we live in—if it were so terrible—why

because they told me that I couldn’t do it, and 39 years later, we’re still going. So, your diploma is a license to learn. That’s all. It’s a license to learn. Success—well, success is making a difference. I have

do you think all these people are floating in here on rafts and

people tell me all the time that they went on a cruise to

doing all those things? I’ve been all over the world, which,

Antarctica, or went to Russia, or wherever, and I saw a Peavey

by the way—when I graduated in ’65—was never on my list

speaker. I like to think that we’ve given a lot of people a lot

of possibilities.

of opportunities, because I was given opportunities. You

You will face a totally different world than I faced.

were given opportunities.

When I graduated and I started my company, I was competing

So, the test of you, the test of me, the test of all of us is—

with other companies. Today, Americans, Mississippians and

do we make a difference? Some of us are making a difference

you are competing with other countries. The simple fact is, a

and some of us have the potential to make a difference.

lot of times they work harder than us. We have to work hard and we have to work smart.

I want to close by asking you to remember the sacrifices you’ve made. Remember that life is a test to see how much

A lot of people say, ‘but the USA has a technical advan-

b.s. you can take. And I’m serious as a heart attack. I’m not

tage.’ Well, that’s dwindling rapidly. I was reading the New

kidding you. It’s a test because you will find out that, whoever

York Times last week, and 42 percent of the patents issued

you’re competing with, if you keep up, nine times out of ten,

by the U.S. Patent Office last year were to foreign entities.

they will quit. The people that I started competing with 39

We have to innovate. If we’re going to stay on top, we have

years ago—most of them are not around. Not because I put

to innovate.

them out of business. They simply surrendered. So, don’t.

At my company, we always try to build a better mouse trap. We try to do it a different way. You have to keep at it,

Go out there and get ’em! Congratulations, folks. Thank you.

A Summer 2004

Facespast from the

The faces stare at you from out of the past, expressions etched in time. Mostly forgotten now in the hustle and

pride in our university and document its physical beginnings as well,” said Greer. “I think most of all, we were looking for those photographs that portrayed this great institution’s spirit.” Lee also thanked Russ Houston, coordinator of photo-

bustle of Mississippi State’s modern-day

graphic services for MSU’s University Relations office; and

campus, the old images from the university’s

works as a part-time photographer in the office. Lancaster,

photographic archives come to life once again on the hallway walls of Allen Hall’s sixth floor, home to President Charles Lee.

Lana Lancaster, a 22-year-old MSU senior from Pheba who who is studying fine arts with an emphasis in photography, spent months preparing 54 photos for possible use. “They were all different sizes, everything from wallet size up to 11 by 14 (inches),” she said. “Some were attached to big pieces of poster board and some (of the photo subjects) had numbers written on their chests, with names on the back

Confederate General Stephen D. Lee, Mississippi A&M’s first president from 1880-99, shares wall space with a picture of George Hightower, who served as A&M president from 1912-16, with then-registrar Hugh Critz, who subsequently served as the institution’s president from 1930-34. Members of A&M’s 1895 baseball team, cadet class of 1902, football team of 1904, 1914 dramatic club, 1916 faculty, 1919 “war students,” Professor A.W. Garner’s 1920 history class, an early 1900s “pillow fight” at Old Main Dormitory, and a steam-driven M&Q passenger train rolling through the heart of the campus in the early 1920s also are among the 45 photographs now on permanent display. “The photos provide a revealing glimpse into the unique history of ‘The People’s University,’ and have attracted a great deal of attention and favorable comment,” said MSU’s current president. “They will be enjoyed by thousands of visitors as well as members of the university community for years to come.” The exhibit was Lee’s idea, but he gives special thanks

to match the numbers.” Using Adobe Photoshop software, Lancaster scanned the photos into a computer and meticulously enhanced each shot to create a high-quality file of pictures that were free of scratches, marks and some other blemishes of time. Then, they were enlarged to one of two sizes, either 16 by 20 inches or 20 by 24 inches. “They were all black and white, and some were real gray, but we just tried to make them look fresh and crisp,” she said. “It was a good experience. I learned a lot.” Lancaster, with help from Houston and another part-timer, Clint Parish, finished the project in March. The pictures then were sent to a Starkville photo-finishing shop, The Chalet, where they were custom-framed. “Kudos to Lana for doing such a great job of touching up some badly damaged photos and making them look—well not new, but old—but good old and not bad old,” Houston chuckled. “Seriously, she grew very weary of this project but stuck with it.”

to Betty Self, Mitchell Memorial Library associate who helped ferret out pictures from the archives; and to presidential administrative assistant Pat Bane and physical plant interior designer Beverly Greer, both of whom pored over hundreds of aging photographs mirroring the university’s history from the late 1800s to the 1950s to cull the best for display.

“I think most of all, we were looking for those photographs that portrayed this great institution’s spirit.”

“We hoped to find photos that would evoke an emotional

story by phil hearn | photos provided by msu archives

A Summer 2004

Campus radio station WMSV celebrates a decade of music, public service

TEN YEARS AGO, STEVE ELLIS HAD A VISION. WHAT’S MORE, HE’S HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE HIS DREAM BECOME AN OVERWHELMING SUCCESS.

“Is anybody out there? ” Nearly 90,000 hours. That’s the time WMSV general manager Steve Ellis estimates the campus radio station has logged since it first went on the air March 21,1994. From the station’s then-new home—several rooms, really —in the Student Media Center, the sounds of Pink Floyd hit the airwaves that morning at 6 a.m. “Is Anybody Out There?” the British-based group demanded, issuing a less-than-gentle wakeup call to WMSV’s potential listening audience within the 60-mile radius of Starkville. “From there we cut immediately to “Right Here, Right Now,’ by Jesus Jones,” Ellis recalls. And the 14,000-watt WMSV has been going strong ever since, evolving both its sound and its audience. Throughout, the philosophy has been constant, Ellis said. “Our continuing mission as a non-commercial station is to provide a sound and services distinct from other broadcasters in the region and to represent Mississippi State to a wide audience.” Ellis—the single paid staff member initially—was supported by 84 student volunteers whose mission was to keep the music rolling 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Like the U.S. Postal Service, they promised to be undeterred by rain or snow, sleet, or the occasional toppled communication tower. Not only has the station succeeded in doing that, but in the decade since Pink Floyd blasted into the ears of a potential 265,000 households, WMSV has built a loyal audience, trained hundreds of students, and earned enough awards to cover the walls of its Student Media offices. It also has tapped into a huge out-of-state market by providing a live Internet broadcast at www.wmsv.msstate.edu.

lapsed 10-watt station housed in Lee Hall as part of the communication department. Because of his commercial radio background, Ellis was asked to spearhead the new effort. After the process of applying for appropriate licenses from the Federal Communications Commission, he surveyed the local market to determine potential listening niche, talking to student groups about what they wanted, and arranging equipment purchases. There were a variety of station formats in the Golden Triangle area, ranging from oldies to gospel to rock to country. The standout missing sound was alternative/modern rock—a format concentrating on music released generally within the previous six to 12 months. “Early on, our audience was primarily 12-25-year-olds,”

Sound foundations

Ellis said. WMSV decided to air artists then receiving little play elsewhere in the state: Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Ani Di Franco, Tori Amos. Volunteer disc jockeys played the tunes

None of that happened without planning, Ellis said. The foundation was laid nearly three years before WMSV officially signed on. “A group of students approached the MSU administration in 1992 interested in reviving a campus radio station,” Ellis said, recalling that years earlier there had been a long-since-

according to a strictly formatted lineup, with several specialty weekend shows hosted by faculty and community volunteers. “Three of the specialty shows are still with us and are among our most popular,” Ellis said. Home Grown, airing Saturdays at 9 p.m., features local and regional artists; Jazz Sunday, airing noon-6 p.m., features classical and modern

story by maridith walker geuder | photos by megan bean

A Summer 2004

Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Ani Di Franco, Tori Amos, Eric Clapton, Dave Mathews Band, Tracy Chapman, Counting Crows, Bob Dylan, and Coldplay jazz; and The Juke, airing Sundays, 6 p.m. to midnight, fea-

and Max Howell. Former WMSV staffer Aaron Sones serves

tures the best of the blues.

as director of public relations and Internet services.

Ellis also established a strong news presence in the sta-

Ellis elected to carry the five-night-a-week program, pre-

tion from the outset. “Morning, noon and evening newscasts

empting the music that normally would have aired during the

were supplemented by public affairs specialty programming

time slot. “It was the most difficult decision I’ve made here,”

that has become a hallmark of the station,” he noted. “We’re

he said, remembering it generated some listener complaints.

an Associated Press affiliate, and we’re the only station in our

But, as it turns out, the decision was a good one. The

area with locally produced newscasts. Over our 10 years of

show has attracted a host of listeners and underwriters, pro-

operation, we’ve also given approximately 400 meteorology

viding self-generated revenue that helps fund the station’s

students at Mississippi State on-air experience in providing

operations. Ellis said it also has broadened WMSV’s listening

local weather forecasts.”

audience. “Now, if we pre-empt Southern Sports Tonight, we get calls about that,” he laughs.

Responding to changes

MSU’s vice president for external affairs, who oversees the

station as part of his responsibilities, believes the maturation of WMSV has assured its place in the community and in

As the station has matured, it has undergone a few strategic

campus life. “I’m particularly proud that WMSV produces

changes to broaden its audience and to increase its profes-

the only news in the area,” said Dennis A. Prescott. “Its tran-

sionalism, Ellis said.

sition to a more adult-oriented programming also provides a

Instead of an unmanageable—and sometimes undepend-

unique entertainment option for listeners.”

able—84 student volunteers, the station now relies on a cadre of six paid students and two professional staff members in addition to Ellis. Krista Vowell, an MSU communication

WMSV alums

graduate who began her WMSV tenure as a student volunteer, serves as news director, and Daniel Melder, a 2004 political science graduate, is the student program director.

WMSV’s format also has evolved to reflect its listening

audience. “Within a year of our launch, a number of area stations adopted the alternative format,” Ellis explained.

broadcasting and related fields.

Southern Sports Tonight’s Aaron Sones remembers hav-

ing to be in the campus studio by 7:15 each morning to do

that has allowed us to build consistency in our sound and

the sports report for the morning news. Even holding the

expand our audience to include students as a base, with the

position of sports director, it wasn’t always his idea of a great

addition of many adults in the listening area.”

way to start the day, he said.

Those tuning in to WMSV these days are likely to hear

“It’s not easy getting out of bed before 7 a.m. just to cut

the likes of Eric Clapton, Dave Mathews Band, Bob Dylan,

a five-minute session. In radio, it’s live. Things don’t always

Tracy Chapman, Counting Crows, and Coldplay, among

go right, but you have to learn to roll with the punches. That’s

many others. “We feel that we’ve found the best mix that

a big thing that I’ve carried on to my job today,” he said.

Another major programming change occurred three years

Recalling that as a student he approached Ellis with the idea of a tailgate radio program prior to football games, Sones

ago when WMSV was approached about airing a nightly

said the station’s general manager let him run with it. Its

three-hour live program focusing on Southeastern Conference

successor, MSU Gameday, is still aired in the region, he said.

sports. Then called Conference Call, now known as Southern

assume leadership roles. Several have gone on to careers in

“We’ve gradually moved toward an adult alternative format

allows us to stay true to our alternative format,” Ellis said.

One of the most satisfying outcomes of WMSV’s 10-year

history is the success of students who pass through and

“My WMSV experience—and Steve Ellis—have been

Sports Tonight, the syndicated call-in talk radio program

instrumental in helping me advance my career,” Sones

originates in Olive Branch and is hosted by Scott McKinney

believes.

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“The biggest benefits professionally I gained from WMSV were confidence, survival instinct, and experimentation. When I worked at the station, there were a great group of people. We inspired each other to be creative and set standards and surpass them.” Steve Ellis general manager

Suehyla El-Attar, who like Sones went on to work in radio, left her job in the Atlanta market to pursue a dream of becoming an actress, writer and director. She credits WMSV with giving her the confidence to test her abilities. “The biggest benefits professionally I gained from WMSV were confidence, survival instinct and experimentation,” she laughs. “When I worked at the station, there was a great group of people. We inspired each other to be creative and set standards and surpass them.” She remembers asking to learn digital editing, even though that wasn’t in her job description. “The program director patiently taught me . . . and let me fly,” she remembers. “That was just one of the reasons the first radio station I worked with in Atlanta hired me.” Veronica Waters, another former WMSV volunteer, today is an anchor and reporter at Atlanta’s WSB news/talk radio, the market’s top-ranked station. There, she’s a general assignments reporter who

krista vowell news director

specializes in trials. Among the most notorious Atlanta stories she’s covered is the Gold Club racketeering trial centering around a local adult night spot and some high-profile athletes. “I even made an appearance on BBC Radio,” she recalls. An award-winning reporter during her tenure at WMSV, she has continued to earn honors as a professional. She’s received a national Associated Press award and in 2003 was named the Radio Journalist of the Year by the Atlanta Press Club. Waters credits the WMSV experience with giving her a career. “I learned what it felt like to be live in front of a microphone. After being there just a little while, I knew what I wanted to do with my life,” she said. For Ellis, those words are some of the sweetest sounds WMSV has ever generated. “I’m really proud of what this station has accomplished,” he said. The father of three, he said “it’s almost like my fourth child.”

daniel melder student program director

Summer 2004

STORY BY BO B RATLIFF | P HOTO S BY RUSS HO USTO N

In 1848, a clerk in Monroe County, Miss., carefully folded the deed to a tract of land in North Mississippi before placing it in an envelope with the inscription: “Please keep in this envelope and pass it on to your successors.” For more than 150 years the deed, as well as the land that

is part of the Lenoir Plantation in Monroe County, was handed down from generation to generation of the Lenoir family. Today, the deed is one of thousands of documents and other items in the Lenoir Collection at MSU’s Mitchell Memorial Library. The items related to the Lenoir Plantation are part of the materials being preserved by the Consortium for the History of Agricultural and Rural Mississippi, or CHARM. The goal of the CHARM project is to ensure the preservation and access to materials related to Mississippi’s rural heritage, said Mattie L. Sink, manuscripts librarian for MSU Libraries. “The materials in the CHARM collection document everything from small farms to large-scale corporate agriculture,” she said. “They also range from items related to the beginnings of Mississippi’s agricultural heritage, such as those in the Lenoir collection, to material from recently retired individuals.” Most of the individuals who donate materials to the collection do so out of a desire to preserve knowledge of Mississippi’s past and to ensure that future generations will have access to items that give firsthand accounts of rural life in the state. That was the motivation behind Betty and Whitman Lenoir’s donation of the items from their family’s ancestral home. “We could not properly preserve the documents and other items,” Betty Lenoir said. “By donating them to the library at MSU, we knew they would be preserved and made available for others to use and enjoy.” Established in 2002, the CHARM project has already brought together an impressive array of documents and artifacts. Among the more unique material is the “Farm Family of the Week” collection.

Farm Family of the Week was a program developed for WLBT-TV in Jackson by Howard Langfitt. It aired from 1955 until 1961 and each week featured a family within the WLBT viewing area that met standards for farming excellence set by Langfitt and county Extension agents in the area. The collection consists of scripts and photos used on the program and is a rich source of information for individuals doing genealogical research on the families featured on the program. Sam Wilkes of Starkville used the Farm Family of the Week Collection while doing research on members of the Laird family of Jefferson Davis County, who were featured on a 1955 program. “The pictures in the collection are excellent and the scripts are very informative about how they were operating their dairy and other farm activities,” he said. “In addition, the library staff is very accommodating to individuals doing this type of research.” Another important part of the CHARM collection is oral histories from individuals who have firsthand knowledge of the state’s rural past. “These individuals are a valuable resource and having their stories in their own words provides insights that are not available from other sources,” Sink said. “Mississippi has a rich and diverse rural past, and we’re using CHARM to collect material on all aspects of that past.” To make the CHARM materials more accessible, the library staff is digitizing materials in the collection and making them available on the World Wide Web at http://library.msstate.edu/charm. Partners in the CHARM project include the MSU Libraries, the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, the MSU Extension Service, the College of Veterinary Medicine, the College of Forest Resources, and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Families and individuals who wish to preserve material related to Mississippi’s rural heritage can contact the MSU Libraries about a possible donation. Materials accepted for the CHARM collection will be preserved, cataloged and made available for research use. For additional information on CHARM, contact Sink at (662) 325-3848, or by e-mail at msink@library.msstate.edu.

Opposite page: Whitman Lenoir, top, and wife Betty, middle, look through some of the thousands of documents their family has donated to the CHARM collection for preservation. Student Leanne Sloan, bottom, catalogs materials for the project.

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through one manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eyes

At the end of June, Roy H. Ruby retired from Mississippi State University after an administrative career that spanned the last four decades of the 20th century. 18

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While Ruby spent the majority of this time in the Division of Student Affairs and eventually came to lead the diverse support unit, the 1961 alumnus departed from his alma mater as dean of the College of Education. In an interview with Alumnus magazine shortly before his last official work day, the Delta native looked back on where he and his beloved land-grant institution had been over the last 40 years.

When did your long association with Mississippi State begin? I was born loving Mississippi State University. My father was a 1929 graduate of Mississippi A&M College who had been coach Dudy Noble’s shortstop on the 1928-29 baseball teams. After graduating, he became a teacher and coach at Yazoo County Agricultural High School, where he met the woman who would become my mother. After four or so years teaching, he had the opportunity to join the Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service as an associate county agent in Holmes County. Approximately a year and a half later, he was hired as the county agent for Yazoo County, a position he held for nearly 15 years. He was county agent there when I was born. Our family later moved to Belzoni, where I finished high school in 1957. Love is contagious and because my father loved Mississippi State, I came to love it as he had. Of course there are many, many people who also love Mississippi State and who, at some point in their lives, have a desire to work here. Most don’t have the opportunity to realize that desire, but some do and I’m one of the fortunate among that number. I came to Mississippi State right out of high school and graduated in the spring of 1961 after eight semesters. Because of my participation in advanced Army ROTC, I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the armor branch upon graduation. At the time, reserve officers in the combat arms usually went on active duty for six months but, because of the Berlin Crisis of 1961, I and others had our duty time extended for a year. I had become engaged to Patricia Randle, a graduate of Mississippi State College for Women who was teaching in Natchez. We had planned to wed when I completed military service, but the duty extension caused us to go on and get married. I spent my entire time on active duty at Ft. Knox., Ky. Prior to leaving full-time military service [Ruby would go on to complete a 21-year career as an officer in the Mississippi

Army National Guard and Army Reserve.], Patricia and I had been discussing my interest in attending law school and pursuing a legal career. As my last days at Ft. Knox approached, however, I decided to follow up on an invitation from a friend to join him at Prentice-Hall Publishing Co. On the first commercial airplane ride of my life, I flew from Ft. Knox to Atlanta to interview for a textbook sales job. Prentice-Hall made an offer and I accepted. My assignment was to call on faculty members at the colleges of Mississippi. One day sometime later while calling on the Mississippi State campus, I ran into Bill Foster of Student Affairs whom I had known as a student. Bill was being named director of the about-to-open student union building and he asked if I would be interested in working for him as Union program director. I considered this a most fortunate conversation, since I had grown somewhat weary of the constant travel required of a publishing company representative. We decided I’d tell Bill I was interested in his offer. Bill then met with Dean of Students D.W. Aiken and I began working at Mississippi State on Aug. 17, 1964.

Did you consider this new job to be the start of a campus career? Strange as it is to say, I really did begin with the thought of making a career here, though I thought I would eventually become a teacher. As I began work in the union, I also began pursuing a master’s degree in political science and history at MSU. In the summer of 1967, things changed when Dr. Robert Jones was hired to replace Dean Aiken, whose title was changed shortly before retirement to vice president for student affairs. At an early meeting with members of his staff, Dr. Jones minced no words when he said, “If you want to work for Mississippi State, you must hold a degree from another institution.” By that time, I had completed the master’s and was working toward a doctorate in Civil War history. Dr. Tom Connelly, who was a prolific Civil War author and researcher, was my adviser. In response to the new student affairs policy, I soon shared with Dr. Jones my plan to leave MSU after I had completed the doctorate. Shortly after that, however, he called me to his office and said, “President (William) Giles and I want you to stay at Mississippi State. If you think you might want to be an administrator instead of a teacher, go elsewhere,

story by sammy mcdavid | photo by russ houston

A Summer 2004

learn about administration and get a doctorate.” Flattered by the offer, I gave it serious consideration and decided to accept. Not wishing to uproot my family, which now included a daughter and a son, I decided the best option for me was to enroll in the University of Mississippi. Its proximity to Mississippi State enabled me to go up to Oxford on Monday morning, complete classes during the week and return home on Friday. Though Ole Miss is our traditional in-state rival, everyone there was most cordial and helpful. I already had some friends on the Oxford campus, among them Dr. Bela Chain, whose brother-in-law had been my roommate at Mississippi State.

Once on a career track at Mississippi State, how did you advance? For the first two years on campus, I was union program director. Then, in 1966, I began working for Dr. Harold Hall as coordinator of student activities. It was at this point that I was completing my master’s degree. While I assumed new duties, my office, like Harold’s, didn’t necessarily reflect a promotion. Harold and I actually shared a single Lee Hall room with a partial partition in between. This arrangement occasionally made for some interesting situations. I’ll never forget one particular occasion when I was discussing with a colleague the disciplinary status of a particular student who happened, at that moment, to be meeting with Harold on his side of the partition. Even today, I can remember that student’s voice floating over from Harold’s side, saying in a somewhat shocked voice, “They’re talking about me!!” In 1974, a year after completing the doctorate in higher education and student personnel at Ole Miss, I learned that MSU’s Division of Continuing Education was planning a branch campus in Jackson to follow one that already was up and going in Meridian. It seemed like a good career opportunity. After thinking about it, I applied to head the branch. As it turned out, Dr. Homer Coskrey, dean of the division and someone I had known for a number of years, chose to hire me for the new position. In 1974, Patricia and I moved with our children to Jackson. As I said, this seemed like a very good opportunity to help advance my career. At the time, the College Board had allowed Mississippi State and Ole Miss to offer non-competing academic courses in the capital city. The University of Southern Mississippi wasn’t given a large role in Jackson because it

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recently had opened its Gulf Park campus at Long Beach. It was common knowledge that the College Board had big plans for those branch campuses, with each scheduled to evolve into good-sized operations. Three months after I had moved to Jackson, however, the situation changed with the filing in federal court of what came to be known as the Ayers Case. Among many issues that the African-American plaintiffs objected to in the lawsuit was the board’s decision to create the Jackson campuses. In their filing, the plaintiffs expressed strong disapproval of the move by the historically white universities to offer courses in the hometown of historically black Jackson State University. Even though a lawsuit had been filed, the MSU and Ole Miss branches continued to operate. During my fourth year in Jackson, I received a call from (vice president) Bob Jones saying he and Dr. Bob Wolverton, the vice president for academic affairs, would like me to come to the Starkville campus for a discussion. When we sat down together, they asked if I would consider returning to Student Affairs and help the university address an enrollment situation that had developed. At the time, the University of Mississippi and other institutions were making significant gains in enrollment while MSU was not. As a result, Dr. James McComas, our new president, was receiving a stream of calls and correspondence from concerned alumni and supporters. Basically, the problem boiled down to the fact that Mississippi State was not being as proactive in its student recruitment as was Ole Miss and other schools. Where, for instance, Ole Miss had employed the services of a national public relations firm to assist in its efforts, Mississippi State continued to rely on limited, standard information mail-outs to make contact with prospective students. Dr. McComas had charged Dr. Jones and Dr. Wolverton with reorganizing things to help reverse the situation. The student recruiting and admission programs, which had been under the Office of the Registrar, were joined with financial aid, orientation and international student services affairs to form the unit that would enhance student recruitment. When they asked me if I would be interested in leading this newly combined office, I replied, “Of course I would.” In accepting this new challenge, I also realized that the Jackson campus undoubtedly faced a limited future because of the Ayers Case. I wasn’t worried about employment at the university because Dr. Giles had approved tenure for me in the College of Education before I went to Jackson. Employment aside, this new job really was another excellent opportunity to serve the institution in a different role. In 1978, I returned as assistant to the vice president for

student affairs, a title that was changed in 1981 to dean of student administrative services, though the duties remained essentially the same. One of my first acts was to hire Jimmy Abraham, who was a recent Mississippi State graduate and a real go-getter. Working with Tom Scarbrough, who already had been serving in this area, Jimmy helped put together first-class recruiting and orientation programs. Through the combined efforts of our newly assembled group and some good fortune, we were able to reverse the enrollment situation. Students began coming in significant numbers due, in part, to our newly focused recruiting program. In time, our headcount would surpass Ole Miss by several thousand and continue to climb with each new school year. Mississippi State already was a very salable commodity; we just packaged it a little better and marketed it more aggressively.

How and when did you move up to division vice president? In 1985, Dr. Jones left Mississippi State to accept a senior leadership position in the University of Texas system. Following his departure, I was one of three internal candidates to apply for the student affairs vice presidency. Because there were internal candidates, Dr. McComas decided to bring in Dr. Howard Gundy, the retired academic affairs vice president at the University of Alabama, to serve as an interim leader. Dr. McComas told us this arrangement would give him time to consider which person would be best for the position without giving any candidate an advantage. Ultimately, I was selected. To this very day, I have no doubt that his decision was based on the job we had done in reversing the enrollment situation. Dr. McComas’ faith in me was, of course, a great honor. It was only equaled by President Malcolm Portera’s request that, upon the retirement of Dean Bill Graves, I assume temporarily the additional duty as dean of the College of Education. When, after a time, I was asked to consider continuing in the dual roles of vice president and dean, I declined. Instead, I proposed to then-Interim President Charles Lee that I assume the education college’s deanship full time and step down as student affairs vice president. I made the request after giving the situation much thought and remembering something a good friend once shared with me and other student affairs colleagues: “It will hit you one day and you will know that it’s time to step down.” His name was Art Sandine, the longtime vice presi-

dent for student affairs at the University of Florida and one of the most respected administrators in our field. As Art had said, it hit me that, after 17-and-a-half years, this was the time to move on. I also knew I was approaching the time of retirement. By serving full time as dean for the last three years of my career, I felt the university would have ample time to hire a new president and provost who could conduct a well-considered search for the next dean.

Looking back, how do you assess the progress of your alma mater during the time you worked here? As viewed with the jaundiced eye of someone who admittedly can’t be totally objective about Mississippi State, I feel, nevertheless, that we’ve experienced a very positive period of growth and development over the past 40 years. This, in turn, caused our place in the state’s higher education pecking order to become very solid. I have no hesitation in expressing the belief that we long have had great quality in the academic instructional programs that has allowed us to be very competitive in recruiting students. Add to this the fact that the academic mission was broadened as the years went by, driven, in part, by the steady growth in numbers. This helped make Mississippi State a stronger institution. As we grew in size, we also grew in quality, enabling us to hire not just additional faculty, but additional quality faculty members. Addition of these quality academics from nationally prominent institutions helped improve the quality of our research programs, which enabled us to achieve our current high rankings among the country’s leading research universities. Because we’ve been successful in combining the growth and improvement of academic and research programs with efforts to attract good students, including more women and minorities, I don’t see how anyone can regard the last 40 years at Mississippi State in any way but a positive light. Possibly the best single thing about this period of growth and development has been the way in which Mississippi State has remained student-centered. As proof, we have the word of professionals from other institutions and states who acknowledge that Mississippi State is about as student-centered as an institution of higher learning its size can be. As it has been for many decades, there is a personal relationship, a fondness, if you will, by Mississippi State

A Summer 2004

University for its students. Correspondingly, there is a fondness that the Mississippi State student has for the institution that hasn’t altered since this was a much smaller school.

How have Mississippi State students and the Division of Student Affairs changed over the decades? In terminology of student affairs administration, the student affairs division here has evolved from a student control model to a student services model to the student development model of today. This means that, early on, we operated on a control model fueled by the in loco parentis [“in the role of parents”] philosophy. Later, under the student services model, we simply worked to provide as complete an array of student services as funding would allow. Now, under the student development model, the Division of Student Affairs collaborates closely with other university units to create an environment in which individual personal growth can take place while the student is matriculating toward graduation. It’s been said that the more students seem to change, the more they seem to stay the same. If that’s correct, it’s because they have certain needs that don’t change. For instance, there always is a need for peer interaction and support, always a need for support systems that allow them to be successful, and always a need for certain information, certain parameters and certain expectations. Those kinds of the needs are timeless. As times change, however, student behavior does change. In a lot of ways, today’s students are much better behaved than they were years ago. For the most part, they now are not as involved in panty raids, flushing cherry bombs down commodes or other such juvenile acts. Yet, there are student behaviors like alcohol abuse and cheating that remain worrisome. These two seem, in particular, to be greater problems than they were many years ago. As a result, student affairs administrators here and elsewhere are spending much more time addressing responses to these situations.

Any final thoughts as you enter the next phase of your life? As I’ve said many times, Mississippi State has been

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unbelievably good to me. I have had the opportunity to work for some truly remarkable individuals who gave me great opportunities. I also have had outstanding colleagues reporting to me who made possible any small amount of success I may have had. I thought at the time I began working here that my employment might last a long time, but I never thought I would have the kinds of opportunities I have experienced. I made that point again last year as a commencement speaker here. I said then as I say now to any student who reads this: I hope you have the opportunity to work for an organization, institution or company that you will come to love as much as I love Mississippi State University.

As part of remarks made to various audiences as his Mississippi State career came to a close, Roy Ruby repeatedly cited what he considers the 10 most significant occurrences at the university during his four decades as an administrator. Because each is significant is its own way, he declines to designate any particular rankings. The list includes: • Growth of female student enrollment. • Integration and the growth and acceptance of minority students. • Significant increase in organized fund-raising activities and private giving. • Growth in student financial aid and scholarships. • Growth in sponsored research programs. • Increase in the overall enrollment from 5,000 to 16,000. • Expansion of the arts and sciences curricula. • Additions of the architecture and veterinary colleges. • Evolution in the relationship between the institution and its students. • Increased role of technology.

4 GREAT

From top left: Montgomery Hall, detail of the press-metal ceiling. Right and middle left: Montgomery Hall, showing the apse today. Bottom left: Montgomery Hall, showing the apse in use as the library. Below: Campus plan (Courtesy Eley and Associates, Architects)

YMCA & POST OFFICE

spaces

Let’s use our imaginations. Let’s say that we are standing on

the MSU campus in the early 1920s, only 50 years or so after Stephen D. Lee threw open the doors. Let’s say we have a friend visiting from some metropolis, someone open-minded but not so easily impressed, and that we set out to give them an architectural

tour, a tour revealing something about the design arts in the South in

LEE HALL

the early 20th century and, more than that, something about the values and the meaning of this academic institution so recently

sprung up on the East Central Mississippi prairie. Looking at a plan of the campus, we can see the sites for our

P E R RY CAFETERIA

pilgrimage: Montgomery Hall, completed in 1903; Lee Hall, constructed in 1909-10; the YMCA Building, built in 1914-15; and

Perry Cafeteria, which first welcomed students in 1922. Each building,

M O N T G O M E RY HALL

we tell our visitor, contains a “great” space, a wonderful room intended for a single purpose, great by the standards of the past or

DRILL FIELD

the present, and each space says something important about the early vision for what has become “The People’s University.”

story by michael w. fazio | photos by megan bean and russ houston, archive photos provided by msu archives

A Summer 2004

Montgomery Hall originally housed the university’s agricul-

tural sciences. The design of its front or east façade, rising up in brick as dramatically as any cliff face, was based on the work of the greatest 16th century Italian Renaissance architect, Andrea Palladio. But the part we are most interested in stands at the rear, the apse, an extended semicircle of masonry and doublehung sash that now appears at night like an enormous lantern orienting those arriving onto the campus from the west. On the inside of this extraordinary architectural form, noted Chattanooga architect Reuben H. Hunt placed the university’s first library in a space that has now become offices for Enrollment Services and Career Services. Long subdivided into individual floor levels, this lofty volume once again rises up four full stories, bathed in light and capped by a highly textured press-metal ceiling that appears to be suspended like a net. The interior architecture is neo-classical, speaking in a language of paneled pilasters and sweeping horizontal entablatures and toothlike dentils. Architect James H. Eley takes a deep breath of respect when he speaks of his part in returning Montgomery Hall to “its original quality, both spatially and structurally.” Anyone visiting the campus needs to make a pilgrimage here and witness to what he and R.H. Hunt have wrought.

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Above: Lee Hall, view of the proscenium in the auditorium Opposite page: YMCA Building, ballroom

Hunt also designed Lee Hall and, as at Montgomery Hall,

gave it a T-shaped plan with the stem of the T being an auditorium. On the outside, the building exhibits Hunt’s exuberant interpretation of neo-classicism, with fine brickwork secondary to carefully carved limestone. On the inside, a spacious vestibule with more neo-classical trappings leads into the auditorium, a huge room with seating for a multitude on a sloping main floor and in rear, bi-level balconies. On each sidewall (as seen in the section drawing), double doors with semi-circular transoms open to the outside and above them great gridded windows that rise almost to the ceiling. The proscenium, which takes up the whole front wall, is surrounded by plaster ornament that looks like a little corner of the Garden of Eden, with its enthusiastic composition of fruits and vegetables perhaps suggesting the feasts of the senses that take place inside its limits. This great space is now being restored and embellished by Johnson, Bailey (’79), Henderson (’82), McNeel (’79), PA, Architects. The YMCA Building, what people know today as the post office, was designed by the firm of Paine, Overstreet, and Spencer. Then a young man, N.W. Overstreet went on to become an architect of sufficient stature in the state to warrant a retrospective of his work at The Mississippi Museum of Art in 1993. Like both Montgomery and Lee halls, the post office has a raised first floor, what architects call a piano nobile, and on this level at the rear or north end of the building is a best-kept secret: a ballroom. While in need of a facelift, this great space’s original ebullient character is still evident. It is a place filled with light from six large windows, each divided horizontally into four parts and vertically into three, with the upper reaches shaped by muntin bars into spirited starburst patterns. The lower sashes are operable, meaning that they can be thrown open to the lush surroundings, including the Chapel of Memories that appears from within as though in a picture frame. While we have little evidence of the room’s original colors, a remaining photograph of an adjacent space shows relaxing young men surrounded by the kind of darkly finished wood so favored for early 20th century interiors. You enter the long east side of Perry Cafeteria beneath a gable and through a pointed-arch opening of stone, all properly Collegiate Gothic in style. Its architect, Theodore Link of St. Louis, is most celebrated in Mississippi for his design of the New Capitol in Jackson. No one could walk into the cafeteria for the first time without being more than a little impressed by

Top left: Perry Cafeteria, interior in the eary 20th century. Below: Perry Cafeteria, interior view looking south.

the sheer expanse of the place. As big as an aircraft hanger, it is modeled on an English Medieval hall, like Westminster Hall that remains today as part of the Houses of Parliament in London. From cream-colored brick piers along both flanks, a noble roof of wooden scissor trusses repeats the pointed-arch profile seen on the outside. Legions of students have sat here, eaten here, made and met friends here, in a place that marks the emotional center of the campus. And while it has necessarily been adapted over time to meet modern needs, its integrity has been maintained, including the patina of its surfaces, which celebrate the passage of time and the accumulated history of the place. With all four in mind, let’s take one more look at each building, thinking this time not about appearances but about meaning. The great space in Montgomery Hall took the form of a library, what people still like to call the heart of a university, the place where students can attend to their intellectual needs. Lee Hall contains a large auditorium, a place for artistic performances—drama, music, dance— and a place where cultural life can become a natural part of daily life. Just a stone’s throw away, inside the YMCA Building, the space atop a broad flight of steps and beyond an impressive vestibule, is occupied by the university’s first ballroom, a setting for social events, a place for making society. And next door, inside the cafeteria, stretches out a dining hall dedicated to fellowship, the kind of fellowship experienced through the sharing of a common meal. What impressions would our worldly visitor take away from our architectural tour? That these first four great spaces on the campus of a university aspiring to be great in the early 20th century must have appeared not by chance but by forethought and design. That their architecture represented then and still does today a shared vision for the development of the human mind and body and spirit. That we in the Mississippi State University community have much in our built environment to be proud of.

Dr. Michael W. Fazio, professor of architecture at Mississippi State, holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Auburn, Ohio State and Cornell universities, respectively. His research interests include the history of architecture in federal period America and the architecture and industrial architecture of Birmingham, Ala., among others.

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CAMPUS News Iowa State scientist named vice president for research

Computer codes helping NASA design future space shuttles

A scientist with a national and international reputation in biotechnology is now vice president for research and graduate studies. Colin Guy Scanes, whose research has been published in more than 500 scholarly papers and other publications, joined the university in June. Scanes has been a professor of animal science since Scanes 1995 at Iowa State University, where he also has served as interim director of the Center for Designing Food for Human Nutrition, interim director of the Plant Sciences Institute, and executive associate director of the Iowa Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Station. He previously was distinguished professor and chair of the animal sciences department and director of the Center for Animal Damage Control at Rutgers University. Scanes, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, holds advanced degrees from the University of Wales and Hull University in the United Kingdom, where he began his academic career. In addition to researchrelated duties, Scanes will assume responsibility for graduate studies.

Mississippi State research engineers are providing unique, highperformance computer codes to help U.S. space officials design safer and more efficient rocketLuke propelled vehicles of the future. A team from the Computational Simulation and Design Center is working closely with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to accurately and effectively simulate combustion problems and high-speed atmospheric flight. The team is led by Ed Luke, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering. Coordinating primarily with the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, the MSU researchers are developing state-of-the-art computer codes, known as LOCI and CHEM. The software allows NASA to quickly evaluate and synthesize complex numerical modeling configurations, which are needed to simulate and automate rigorous testing procedures for spacecraft design.

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Furniture institute recognized for industry contributions A program that applies research and technical assistance to improve the international competitiveness of the state’s $4 billion furniture industry is receiving an award from the Southern Growth Policies Board. The university’s Institute of Furniture Manufacturing and Management is being honored with the 2004 Southern Growth Innovator Award for its role in boosting the Mississippi industry in the face of increasing global competition. “While furniture manufacturing is important to the state, many companies and suppliers have been impacted in recent years by imports, primarily from countries where wages are much lower and costs of production are less because of fewer environmental regulations,” said institute director Steven Bullard. Bullard said furniture manufacturing has an economic impact of $4.1 billion in Mississippi each year, and is the state’s No. 1 employer among the durable manufactured goods industry. The MSU institute provides research, service and education to help increase the international competitiveness of manufacturers, he added.

Biochemistry major named national Goldwater Scholar A biochemistry major whose undergraduate research involves the potentially toxic effects of pesticides on humans is a 2004-05 Barry M. Goldwater National Scholar. Eric B. Shows of Ellisville is one of 310 university students being recognized nationwide this year for outstanding achievements in

mathematics, engineering or the natural sciences. He currently is ranked first in his MSU junior class of nearly 2,500 students. More than 1,100 students were candidates for the honor that provides up Shows to $7,500 annually for continued academic study. The scholarship program was established by Congress as the official U.S. tribute to the longtime Arizona senator and former Republican Party presidential candidate. Shows is the son of state Rep. and Mrs. Bobby Shows and a 2001 South Jones High School graduate. A University Honors Program participant with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average, he chairs the Honors Council and recently was named the outstanding honors student.

Research toxicologist receives national ‘early career’ honor With a $100,000 Early Career Award from the American Chemical Council, toxicologist Nikolay M. Filipov will continue his research on the ways certain environmental chemicals affect nervous systems of the elderly. An assistant professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Filipov is the first Mississippi researcher to receive the annual honor. “The award is provided through the council to study Filipov the potentially adverse effects of chemicals of interest to the public,” Filipov

said. Selections follow a rigorous peer-review process and are given only to faculty members at research universities who have held doctorates for less than five years, he added. A graduate of the Higher Institute of Zootechnics and Veterinary Medicine in his native Bulgaria, Filipov joined the faculty of MSU’s Center for Environmental Health Sciences in 2001.

Web resource explores history of American civil rights Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the historic Supreme Court decision ending school segregation, Mississippi State is providing an online resource for tracing the history of American civil rights. An interactive presentation created by the university’s John C. Stennis Institute of Government, “Civil Rights and African-Americans in the United States” provides a detailed chronology from the 1860s through the 1990s. Links are provided to numerous court decisions, legislation, personal correspondence, and other original sources. (To begin, visit www.sig.msstate.edu/ mainpage.fwx and follow the links under “educational” icon).

Scientist helping develop artificial heart for babies Mechanical engineer Greg Burgreen is playing a key role in a national research effort to develop an artificial heart small enough for use in children and infants. Burgreen, an authority in computational fluid dynamics, is concentrating on the “complexities of blood flow” as part of a Jarvik Heart/

University of Maryland project to design implantable ventricular assist devices for children. He said the latest Jarvik heart pumps used in adults are only the size of D-cell batteries, but still create blood-flow problems in children because of their smaller body size and limited blood volume. “Our aim is to miniaturize an adult-size pump for use in a child or infant,” he said. “However, at that size, the rotor or turbine inside the pump would have to turn at 24,000 RPM, just like a (food) blender. You want to make sure the blood is not being damaged.” Despite the Burgreen enormity of the challenge, he said researchers hope to design a pump no larger than the size of an AA battery for children-and about half that size for infants.

First director named for Riley Center in Meridian The longtime head of a historic Ohio theater is the first executive director of Mississippi State’s Riley Education and Performing Arts Center in Meridian. Dennis S. Sankovich, Sankovich executive director since 1988 of the Ritz Theatre in Tiffin, began his new duties in March, said Harold J. “Nick” Nichols, dean of the university’s Meridian campus. For several years, MSU has collaborated with the City of Meridian and Lauderdale County to renovate the historic

Campus News ROOSEVELT AWARD— Recently retired engineering dean A. Wayne Bennett, left, accepts the 2004 Teddy Roosevelt Award from Charles Williford, president of the American Council of Engineering Companies/ Mississippi during a recent banquet in Jackson. The award recognizes individuals for outstanding contributions to the engineering profession. Bennett relinquished his administrative duties in June.

19th century Grand Opera House and adjacent MarksRothenberg Building for use as a regional center for education, conferences and performing arts activities. When completed in December of next year, the downtown facility is expected to draw approximately 15,000 visitors annually, according to a recent economic impact analysis conducted by MSU’s College of Business and Industry.

New course is ‘forensics files’ of wildlife investigation Students in a class taught for the first time last semester are learning to investigate crimes against wildlife and the great outdoors in the only course of its kind offered at a university in North America. Under the tutelage of the husband-wife team of Richard Minnis and Clare Chesnavage, the future forensic scientists got hands-on training in tracking crimes ranging from hunting out of season to importing restricted animals.

At the end of the course, students will be required to work a crime scene without contaminating it, identify evidence, mark it, collect it, and take proper notes.

MSU-led supercomputing team supports defense ‘PET’ When Department of Defense officials seek the nation’s best minds to solve computer problems related to weapons design—or retrofitting the Pentagon after 9/11—their phone calls often are made to Mississippi State. In an effort described by veteran researcher Joe Thompson as “high-end outreach,” MSU leads a consortium of 10 universities and two private companies in matching high-performance computing expertise with specific defense research needs. Known as the Center for DoD Program Environment Training, the project began in 2001 with a record $108 million awarded to Mississippi State through a nationally competitive process. The only university-led group receiving such funding, PET, as it’s often called, is the largest A Summer 2004

CAMPUS News competitive research grant ever made to a Mississippi institution of higher learning.

Reese selected for national academic advising award Computer science and engineering professor Donna S. Reese is receiving a national award for university faculty academic advising. Reese will formally accept the Outstanding Advising Award of the National Academic Reese Advising Association in October during the organization’s 2004 meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition to teaching and research responsibilities, Reese serves as MSU’s undergraduate coordinator for the software engineering and computer science degree programs. A doctoral graduate of Texas A&M University, she joined the MSU faculty in 1988. Reese is the latest from Mississippi State to be honored by the organization. Over the past decade, the university has consistently placed its academic advisers among the nation’s elite.

Researchers: For issues of health, mind where you live In a current essay published for the Association of American Geographers, several Mississippi State research scientists issue a wake-up call about American health. Their observation: 30

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Where you live can be a life and death matter. In an ongoing project by the university’s Social Science Research Center, team members are using the tools of spatial analysis—that is, an examination of “place”—to provide a map that traces the nation’s health over time. Using county-level Centers for Disease Control data on death rates and mapping it with geographic information systems technology, the team has determined that healthy and unhealthy places “persist over decades,” said geographer and lead author Ronald E. Cossman. The research report appears in “WorldMinds: Geographical Perspectives on 100 Problems,” which was issued by Kluwer Academic Publishers (New York and other worldwide locations) as the commemorative publication of the AAG’s centennial anniversary. The MSU report identifies six clusters of persistently high-mortality counties, including: the Piedmont belt along the Southeast coastline, Mississippi Delta, and portions of Appalachia, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, South Dakota, and Northern Nevada.

Business education honor society again among best Continuing its eighth consecutive year in the top 10, Mississippi State’s business education honor society is ranked second in national competition—its highest-ever placement. The university chapter of Pi Omega Pi national honor society competed against more

than 40 chapters in projects that promote scholarship and service in business education.

Greek organizations fund new campus flagpole landmark Flying above the historic Drill Field is a 25-by-15-foot American flag unfurled in midApril as part of a new permanent monument. Funded entirely by fraternity and sorority members, the $30,000 redesigned and re-landscaped seating and gathering area replaces an older and smaller flagpole mount. The Drill Field Flagpole Project provides “a more prominent focal point for the central campus,” said Robert E. Rice, interim director of campus landscape.

New lighting now enables a 24-hour display of the Stars and Stripes. Previously, the flag was raised and lowered at dawn and dusk. Centered amid a brick seating area are sections of flowers in rotating annual

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colors, Rice said. “As an example, we’ll feature red, white and blue petunias this summer,” he added.

Toghiani selected for outstanding teaching award An associate professor was recognized for outstanding teaching in early April by the American Society for Engineering Education. Rebecca K. Toghiani of chemical engineering received the ASEE Southeast Section’s Outstanding Teaching Award during the organization’s conference at Auburn Toghiani University. Presented annually in each of ASEE’s 12 geographic sections, the honor focuses on the classroom performance by teachers of engineering and engineering technology students. It also is meant to serve as an incentive for further teaching contributions. Toghiani’s current research activities focus on thermodynamic measurements and modeling in support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford and Savannah River facilities. Funding for them is provided through a cooperative agreement with MSU’s Diagnostic Instrumentation and Analysis Laboratory.

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Campus News

After a lengthy roof-to-ground renovation, venerable Montgomery Hall rejoined the list of operating campus buildings by late May. A number of the Division of Student Affairs units now call the 1903 Beaux Arts structure home. Since 1975, Montgomery has been included on the National Register of Historic Places.

Student selected for National Science Foundation fellowship

MSU honors rural sociologist with Ralph Powe award

An electrical engineering student is the winner of a 2004 National Science Foundation graduate fellowship and will begin developing a research project this summer. Doctoral student John E. Ball is among approximately 900 selected for the highly competitive three-year awards, which fund research and education in most fields of science and engineering. NSF Fellows receive a monthly stipend, tuition and travel expenses. Ball said he may focus on scientific investigations related to Ball remote sensing and image processing this summer while working with Lori Bruce, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.

A nationally recognized authority in rural sociology is the 2004 winner of the Ralph E. Powe Research Excellence Award. Domenico Parisi was among 24 faculty and staff members and graduate students honored in early May during the university’s annual research awards banquet at the Hunter Henry Center. He is an assistant professor in the department of sociology, anthropology and social work. A memorial to MSU’s vice president for research who died in 1996, the Powe Award is given to a faculty member whose investigations have made significant contributions to the economic welfare or cultural growth of the university, state and nation.

Student honored as national Ronald Reagan Scholar A sophomore from Washington County is among nearly 50 university students selected for 2004-05 Ronald Reagan Future Leaders Scholarships.

Edward A. Sanders of Leland is receiving a renewable $5,000 award from the Phillips Foundation that honors the 40th president of the United States. A 2002 Leland High School graduate and the son of Jeanette Sanders, he is the only Mississippi student and just one of three at Southeastern Conference schools named as Sanders new Reagan Scholars. Sanders is a political science/pre-law and history double major who served as a member of the MSU Student Association Senate during the 2003-04 school year. He continues as coordinator of the SA’s effort to raise $66,000 for a life-size bronze campus statue of MSU alumnus and former congressman G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery of Meridian.

Cooke studying environmental causes of West Nile virus A Mississippi State researcher is taking a close look at environmental factors that might promote the spread of West Nile virus, a potentially lifethreatening disease transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. Cooke Bill Cooke, an assistant professor of geosciences, is utilizing a $15,000 grant from the

National Institutes of Health to assess the dangers West Nile poses for individuals— particularly sportsmen, natural resources managers, recreation employees and others whose outdoor activities make them more vulnerable to mosquito attacks. “West Nile virus can be fatal (to humans), depending on the seriousness of the infection,” said Cooke, also an extension specialist with MSU’s GeoResources Institute. “The elderly and people with immune system deficiencies are more at risk.” With expertise in remote sensing and GIS-Geographic Information Systems-Cooke is using automated computer software to model geographic and climatic conditions associated with the spread of vectored diseases, those passed from one host to another. Mosquitoes get West Nile from birds and pass it on to humans.

DeSoto student picked for NASA research program Engineering student William Aaron Barr will spend this summer at Stennis Space Center participating in a NASA program that provides unique research experiences for undergraduates across the nation. The Horn Lake resident is among a group of select U.S. university students recently chosen for the June 1-Aug. 6 Undergraduate Student Research Program. He and the others will learn about the various aspects of liquid rocket testing at the Hancock County facility, while receiving a $5,000 stipend and travel expenses.

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CAMPUS News Five faculty members were recognized recently for their contributions to the College of Business and Industry. Receiving honors were, from left, Tim Barnett, Outstanding Faculty Member; James Chrisman, Outstanding Research; Noel Addy, Outstanding Service; Melissa Moore, Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher; and Joe Sullivan, Outstanding Graduate Teacher.

Wing of McCain Hall named for retiring engineering dean Mississippi State is naming a wing of the Bagley College of Engineering’s oldest building, McCain Hall, in honor of retiring dean A. Wayne Bennett and his wife. The second-floor, north section of the recently refurbished building was named the Wayne and Shirley Bennett Enhancements Wing of McCain Hall following a unanimous vote of the university’s Naming of Facilities Committee. Such designations traditionally honor people who have performed extraordinary service for the university. Bennett retired June 30 after eight years as dean.

Enrollment management veteran named associate v.p. A veteran administrator with enrollment services experience at four major state universities in the Southeast is being named associate vice president for student affairs at Mississippi State.

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Lisa Harris, currently at the University of Alabama, will have responsibility for the related areas of enrollment services, admissions, and financial aid and scholarships, along with Harris other duties. She will join the MSU administration around Aug. 1. “We want to see our enrollment grow, and recruitment, admissions and financial aid are all critical parts of the process of attracting students to Mississippi State and assisting them in becoming part of the university family,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Bill Kibler. Harris was responsible for undergraduate admissions and financial aid at the University of Alabama 1998-2003. She currently is U.A.’s assistant vice president for academic affairs.

Scientists invent breathalyzer to detect diabetes Two Mississippi State scientists have invented a hightech sensory device that can detect the early symptoms of diabetes in a person’s breath. John Plodinec and Chuji Wang already have developed a prototype and applied for a patent. They now are seeking a commercial partner to help them move their unique diabetes breath analyzer from the university laboratory into the marketplace. “You blow your breath into the instrument one time and you receive a number indicating your status, whether you are diabetes-free or in the early or severe stages of the disease,” said Wang, a physicist and native of China. “Potentially, in the future, you could install one of these devices in a mall.” Plodinec pointed out that in addition to detecting new cases of diabetes, the breathalyzer might be used to flag the ineffective treatment of known patients or serve as a breath marker for other diseases.

“There is no reason we can’t develop similar monitors for many other conditions ranging from cancer to the flu and the common cold,” said Plodinec, director of the university’s Diagnostic Instrumentation and Analysis Laboratory.

MSU-developed humidity sensors successfully tested at Smithsonian A Mississippi State research unit is using some tools of the future—fiber optic humidity sensors—to help preserve the nation’s past. The university’s Diagnostic Instrumentation and Analysis Laboratory—known as DIAL—recently completed a detailed evaluation of the performance of four moisture sensors that underwent longterm testing at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History. Developed by DIAL research scientists Shiquan Tao and Joe Fanguy, the costefficient fiber optic-based optical sensors were installed at the popular Washington, D.C., repository last November in four systems, each with a data logger and commercial moisture sensing system. DIAL team members conducted moisture tests with one sensor placed in a whale storage annex and another deployed in a photograph storage case, both at the NMNH Support Center, and two sensors placed in a paleo storage facility on the National Mall. Their performance was compared to that of the commercial systems. DIAL Director John Plodinec said the successful test results, coupled with a marketing study conducted by MSU’s College of Business and Industry, will be used to

assist in commercializing the DIAL sensor system. The most likely applications of the technology will be to carbon dioxide and natural gas pipelines, he said.

Researcher offers ‘duck food for thought’ Where are the ducks? That’s the question Rick Kaminski hears constantly from duck hunting enthusiasts throughout the Golden Triangle area and beyond. The waterfowl ecologist, a university faculty member since 1983, also listens as many speculate how folks up North intentionally are feeding the game birds to keep them from the South. As for the latter conjecture, his response is: “That’s absurd.” He adds, however, that “recent mild winters, which keep open water and food available, may be allowing waterfowl to winter farther north.” Kaminski said “it is a fact that continental, regional and local weather have significant effects on waterfowl migration, abundance, and distribution. But, weather alone doesn’t attract and meet annual needs of waterfowl, only habitat does.” Waterfowl enthusiasts can play a key role in increasing and improving wetland habitat locally and beyond, the professor of wildlife and fisheries added. Without habitat, waterfowl don’t have places to live as they move up and down the flyways.

Hinds attorney joining MSU Foundation staff The Mississippi State Foundation is expanding its fund-raising efforts in two major academic units with the addition of alumnus Jeffrey J. Little. Little, a Bolton resident, is the new assistant development director for the colleges of Forest Resources and Veterinary Medicine. He joins Keith Gaskin, Little who has led the colleges’ development programs since 1997. “Jeff brings valuable experience to the veterinary medicine and forest resources divisions,” said foundation executive director Richard Armstrong. “He will be a great asset to our team as he works with alumni and friends.” A McComb native, Little is a 1995 MSU English graduate who went on to earn a law degree in 1999 from the Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson. He previously was a senior attorney with the State Tax Commission.

Campus News MSU communicators win 34 awards in competition Mississippi State communication staffs captured half of the awards handed out in the senior division of the College Public Relations Association of Mississippi for creative work performed during 2003. University employees collected 34 of 68 awards presented recently to public and private colleges and universities during the statewide organization’s annual meeting in Natchez. The state’s community and junior colleges compete in a separate division. The Mississippi State honors include a dozen to the Office of Agricultural Communications, 10 each to the Office of University Relations and the MSUMeridian campus, and two to the University Television Center. The university also received both of the two grand prizes in the senior competition. One went to University Relations

publications staff members for “MSU Calendar 2004”; the other, to Agricultural Communications staffer David Lack for a television program, “Mississippi: We’re Growing Places.” MSU swept the newswriting category, with University Relations staffers winning first- and second-place awards, and an Agricultural Communications writer taking third place. In addition to the one grand prize, University Relations publications, Web page and photography staff counted four first-place finishes among six other awards. University Relations also won first place in the Radio Programs category. In addition to Lack’s grand prize, members of the Agricultural Communications staff earned three first-place awards across a variety of categories; Linda Butler of the Meridian campus had two top finishes among her 10 awards; and the TV Center won firstplace awards for television programs and TV spots.

Assistant professors Adrienne Minerick of chemical engineering and Torsten Clay, second from right, of physics and astronomy are receiving 2004 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Awards from the Oak Ridge Associated Universities, a regional research consortium. Congratulating them are MSU Vice President for Research Colin Scanes, left, and President Charles Lee. The award is named for a former MSU research vice president.

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The Mississippi State University MAFES Sales Store is pleased to offer a selection of fine cheese.

The 3 lb. Edam Cheese Ball is a recognizable symbol of Mississippi State’s heritage. This pale yellow cheese is both savory and mellow and is sure to be a delight to everyone!

The 2 lb. Jalapeño Pepper Cheese Block is made by mixing and heating several types of natural cheeses with emulsifying agents and mild jalapeño peppers.

The 2 lb. Cheddar Cheese Block, named for the village of Cheddar, England, is produced through a process that captures the traditional flavor of Cheddar cheese.

The Reduced-Fat Edam Cheese Ball is very much like our regular Edam, except that it has one-third less fat.

Cheddar Spread (20 oz.) is a processed cheese made from natural Cheddar. The cheese is packaged in a stone crock that is resealable and makes a great decoration to show your Mississippi State pride!

The 2 lb. Vallagret Wheel is a Norwegian style of Swiss cheese and has a slightly sweet, nutty taste. Shipped only Nov.-Jan.

Jalapeño Pepper Cheese Spread (20 oz.), is a processed cheese made from either Edam or Cheddar cheese with jalapeño peppers added. The spread is packaged in a stone crock.

CHEESE ORDER FORM MAIL ORDER TO: MAFES SALES STORE Mississippi State University P.O. Box 6109 Mississippi State, MS 39762-6109 Phone: 662-325-2338 Fax: 662-325-9687

Order online at www.msucheese.com after August 1, 2004.

2004 Christmas orders must be received by December 3. Number to be picked up (Add 7% sales tax to order.) Number to be mailed to address below: Number of gifts to be mailed: (Attach list of gift addresses and gift messages.) Please reserve: Jalapeño Pepper Cheese Blocks @ $10 each (Approx. 2 lbs.) Edams @ $15 each (Approx. 3 lbs.) Crocks of Jalapeño Pepper Cheese Spread @ $10 each Reduced-Fat Edams @ $16 each (Approx. 3 lbs.) Vallagrets @ $12 each (Approx. 2 lbs. Shipped only Nov.-Jan.) Cheddars @ $10 each (Approx. 2 lbs.) Crocks of Cheddar Spread @ $10 each Name Address City Telephone Credit Card Number

State E-mail

ZIP Expiration Date

Payment by check, money order, or credit card is expected with order. The charge for shipping/handling is $6 per address plus $1.50 for each cheese. For orders shipped to a Mississippi address, add 7% sales tax to the total order cost—cost of cheese plus shipping/handling. Customers sending orders to Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico must telephone for shipping rates.

Please indicate the date you want your order shipped! (We ship on Mon., Tues., and Wed. from November through April.)

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Athletic News

Lawrence Roberts named to two national All-America teams Adding to his ever-growing list of postseason accolades, Mississippi State’s Lawrence Roberts was named a top five finalist for the 28th annual John R. Wooden Award All-America Team, as well as a member of the Associated Press men’s college basketball All-America team. The Southeastern Conference Player of the Year made school history by becoming the first Bulldog basketball player to be named to the Wooden team. In being named to the AP team, Roberts became Mississippi State’s first AP AllAmerican since Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member Bailey Howell garnered the prestigious national recognition as an MSU senior during the 1958-59 campaign. Selected the SEC’s top player for the year by both AP and a vote of the league’s head coaches, Roberts also earned firstteam all-America status by both the National Association of Basketball Coaches and United States Basketball Writers Association organizations, as well as by the Sports Illustrated.com Web site and the Adolph F. Rupp Award Committee. He also was a national finalist for the Naismith All-America Teams. In becoming the first MSU player since Rickey Brown (1979-80) to average a double-double for an entire season, Roberts currently ranks as the SEC’s No. 6 scorer with 16.9 points per game, and its secondleading rebounder, with 10.1 rebounds a game. He also stands fifth in the league in field-goal percentage, 51.9 percent. The 6foot-9, 235-pound Roberts led the SEC and is ranked fourth nationally with 16 doubledoubles on the season. The former Baylor transfer and Houston native also ranks fourth nationally among active NCAA Division I players with 38 career doubledoubles.

VICTORY CELEBRATION—Following MSU’s 105-91 victory over Auburn March 2 at Humphrey Coliseum, Lawrence Roberts—surrounded by Bulldog fans—cut the net in celebration. With the win, Mississippi State earned the Southeastern Conference regular season title.

Roberts helped lead coach Rick Stansbury’s eighth-ranked Bulldogs to a 26-4 overall record and league-best 14-2 SEC mark en route to claiming the school’s first outright SEC regular-season

championship since 1962-63. MSU also made school history this season by appearing in a fourth consecutive postseason tournament and earning a third straight NCAA Tournament berth.

Corley, Tatum tabbed for All-SEC honors Mississippi State has placed two players on the 2004 All-Southeastern Conference baseball team. Sophomore outfielder Brad Corley earned first-team all-conference honors while sophomore catcher Craig Tatum was named to the All-SEC second team. Corley, from Louisville, Ky., leads MSU and ranks fourth in the SEC with a .378 batting average. Corley, a two-time SEC Player of the Week honoree, led the SEC in total bases with 158. Thirty-two of his team-leading 88 hits went for extra bases including 18 home runs, second-most in the SEC and the most by a Mississippi State player since Brian Wiese hit 19 round-trippers in 1999. Tatum, one of 12 semifinalists for the 2004 Johnny Bench Award, compiled a .333 batting average, leading the team with 57 RBI, 16 doubles and ranking second on the club with 12 home runs. The Hattiesburg native is the first Bulldog catcher to have started every game behind the dish since Jim Robinson in 1990. Tatum has thrown out 19 runners attempting stolen bases, second-most in the SEC, and picked off an additional eight runners on base, tops in the conference. He committed just three errors and sported a .993 fielding percentage as a sophomore.

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Athletic News Ambert named All-SEC

Cristil presented prestigious Lindsey Nelson Award

Men’s tennis standout Romain Ambert was named to the 2004 all-Southeastern Conference Men’s Tennis Team. Ambert, a native of Toulouse, France, becomes only the third Bulldog ever to earn all-SEC honors four times during a career. He was named first-team, allconference in each of his first three seasons, and second-team this year after missing much of the spring due to an ankle injury and seeing his national ranking drop from No. 4 to No. 35. A senior and two-time, all-American during his Bulldog career, Ambert is 18-15 overall this year in singles and 15-9 in doubles. His career marks are 97-45 in singles and 68-44 in doubles. Those 165 total wins rank him sixth all-time at MSU for overall victories.

Longtime Mississippi State football and basketball play-by-play announcer Jack Cristil was honored this spring by the Knoxville Quarterback Club with the Lindsey Nelson Award, given annually to one of the nation’s premier sports broadcasters. He joins a glittering list of previous award winners of the Lindsey Nelson Award, including ABC play-by-play great Keith Jackson, CBS play-by-play announcer Verne Lundquist, and former college radio play-by-play colleagues Cawood Ledford and John Ward. Cristil recently completed his 51st season behind the microphone calling Mississippi State football games on the radio. A native of Memphis, Tenn., Cristil has also described MSU basketball games since the 1957-58 campaign. A winner of numerous broadcasting awards during his career, he received the Chris Schenkel Award, the Ronald Reagan Lifetime Achievement Award, and was the first non-coach/non-athlete ever to be inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. He has won the Mississippi Sportscaster of the Year 21 times and was named the Southeastern Conference Broadcaster of the Year in 1988. Nelson is a University of Tennessee graduate who achieved national recognition during the early years of televised college football. He became the voice of Notre Dame football, was the announcer for New York Mets baseball, and did the Cotton Bowl for at least 25 years. Nelson is in a number of hall of fames as a sportscaster.

McWilliams wins third national championship; two SEC titles Tiffany McWilliams won her third national championship with a win in the 1500-meter run at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Austin, Texas, in June. She defended her 2003 title with a 4:11.59 performance, breaking the Mike A. Myers Stadium record she set two days before. Earlier this year, McWilliams added two more Southeastern Conference championship titles to her list of achievements, increasing her number to five, by defending her 2003 titles in the 1500 meters and 800 meters. The junior from Red Bay, Ala., took top honors in the 1500-meter run in an SEC meet record and Ole Miss Track and Field Complex record time of 4:09.19, more than four seconds faster than her preliminary time. Less than an hour and a half later, she won the 800 meters in 2:01.96. She was less than a second away from breaking the SEC meet record she set earlier in the 800meter preliminaries.

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NEW DUDY NOBLE SCOREBOARD—A new 47-foot tall scoreboard and video screen display was installed this spring at Dudy Noble Field. A 23-foot tall, four-sided board also will be added to basketball facilities in Humphrey Coliseum. Both are gifts from the Tupelo-based Henry Mize Foundation.

ALUMNI News

MSU Alumni Association names new officers A 1970 business graduate and partner of Watkins, Ward and Stafford accounting firm is the newly elected national president of the MSU Alumni Association. Keith Winfield of Starkville will serve for the next year in a leadership role for the university’s more than 94,000 alumni. He most recently served as national first vice president and has served on board of directors since 1993. Winfield succeeds Gary A. Blair of Brookhaven, a 1981 agribusiness administration graduate and senior vice president of the Federal Land Bank Association of South Mississippi. Blair assumes the title of immediate past president. Other newly elected 2004-05 association officers include: Joe L. Bryan of Yazoo City, national first vice president. A 1963 agricultural economics graduate and senior vice president of the Bank of Yazoo City, he has served on the board of directors since 1998, most recently as national second vice president. Betty L. Black of Starkville, national second vice president. A 1974 music education graduate, she has served as Lee County Chapter director since 1998. David W. Jones of Jackson, national treasurer. A 1981 accounting graduate and vice president and IS auditor manager for Trustmark National Bank, he served as director of the Central Mississippi Chapter 1995-2001.

Recently elected national officers of the MSU Alumni Association for 2004-05 are, from left, Gary A. Blair of Brookhaven, immediate past president; Joe L. Bryan of Yazoo City, national first vice president; Keith Winfield of Starkville, president; Betty L. Black of Starkville, second vice president; and David W. Jones of Jackson, treasurer. The new officers assumed their duties July 1.

Nominations sought for officers, board of directors Nominations for national officers and directors of the Alumni Association are being sought prior to elections scheduled for January 2005. The Nominating Committee will present a slate of names for election at the association’s annual business meeting during Leadership Conference weekend. The new officers’ terms will begin July 1, 2005. No person is eligible to serve as director for more than two consecutive terms. The officer positions open for consideration include national president, national first vice president, national second vice president, and national treasurer. Positions on the national board open for consideration include North 1 Region Director: Calhoun, Chickasaw, Coahoma, Desoto, Lafayette, Marshall-Benton, Panola, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tunica, and Yalobusha Chapters; Central 3 Region Director: Central Mississippi (Hinds, Madison, Rankin), Leake, Scott, Smith, and Warren Chapters; South 2 Region Director: Adams-Franklin-Wilkinson, Amite, Claiborne-Jefferson, Copiah, Covington, Lawrence-Jefferson Davis, Lincoln, Simpson, and Southwest Mississippi (Amite, Pike, Walthall) Chapters; Out-of-State Director; and Young DirectorCentral Region. A young director must be 32 years old or younger at the end of the term to which he or she is elected. No state shall have more than one out-of-state director. Current directors are from the states of Alabama (term expires 6/07), Louisiana (term expires 6/05), and Tennessee (term expires 6/06). All alumni are eligible to recommend names for consideration. Send the names to: Nominating Committee, MSU Alumni Association, P.O. Box AA, Mississippi State, MS 39762-5526. Recommendations must be received no later than Oct. 1, 2004.

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ALUMNI News

Show your pride in MSU! Alumni and friends of Mississippi State can support the university and show their Bulldog pride at the same time by ordering an MSU license plate through their county license office. Proceeds from the sale of the MSU collegiate tags fund priority programs at the university. Promoted by the Mississippi State University Alumni Association P.O. Box AA Mississippi State, MS 39762-5526 662-325-7000 www.msubulldogs.msstate.edu

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ALUMNI News FACULTY AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED The MSU Alumni Association honored faculty members in April for teaching, research and service. Receiving plaques and monetary awards at the 2004 Faculty Recognition Program were, from left, David McMillen of the Social Science Research Center, service; Atly Jefcoat, chemical engineering, freshman and sophomore teaching; Kristine Jacquin, psychology, junior and senior teaching; Wenchao Ma, physics and astronomy, research; and Joe Sullivan of marketing, quantitative analysis and business law, graduate teaching. Begun 39 years ago, the honors program recognizes significant contributions to the welfare of humankind and the stature of Mississippi State.

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION CALENDAR OF EVENTS AUGUST 5

*Nashville, Tenn., Chapter; dinner with Coach Ron Polk.

*Oktibbeha County Chapter; 11th Annual Bulldog Blast Golf Tournament and Shrimp Boil; noon-6 p.m.

*Atlanta, Ga., Chapter; dinner with Coach Rick Stansbury.

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Alumni Association Former National Presidentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Weekend. For details, contact Dianne Jackson at 662-325-3444.

MSU vs. Tulane; Alumni Association pre-game open house, Hunter Henry Center; begins two and one-half hours prior to game. Refreshments served.

MSU vs. Auburn; Alumni Association pre-game open house, Hunter Henry Center; begins two and one-half hours prior to game. Refreshments served.

17-18

Famous Maroon Alumni Band Reunion, Hunter Henry Center.

MSU vs. Maine; Alumni Association pre-game open house, Hunter Henry Center; begins two and one-half hours prior to game. Refreshments served.

College of Forest Resources 50th Anniversary Celebration, Franklin Center.

Deadline for nominations for Alumni Association officers and board of directors for terms beginning July 1, 2005. Send names to: Nominating Committee, MSU Alumni Association, P. O. Box AA, Mississippi State, MS 39762-5526.

Homecoming â&#x20AC;&#x201C; MSU vs. UAB; Alumni Association pre-game open house, Hunter Henry Center; begins two and one-half hours prior to game. Refreshments served.

MSU vs. Florida; Alumni Association pre-game open house, Hunter Henry Center; begins two and one-half hours prior to game. Refreshments served.

MSU vs. Kentucky; Alumni Association pre-game open house, Hunter Henry Center; begins two and one-half hours prior to game. Refreshments served.

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

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ALUMNI News

Class of 1939

Class of 1954

Classes honored Members of the Mississippi State graduating classes of 1939, 1944, 1949, and 1954 returned to campus in April to hold reunions in conjunction with Super Bulldog Weekend activities. The MSU Alumni Association honored the returning alumni with an open house at the Hunter Henry Center prior to the MSU-Florida baseball game. Class of 1944

Class of 1949 40

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PHILANthropy

Ferrettis’ careful gift planning proves beneficial John and Jutta Ferretti have no children, but they have been able to “adopt” quite a few students through the years. Approximately 40 students have benefited from the scholarships the Ferrettis have provided at Mississippi State and other institutions in the last 15 years. And now, many of these MSU scholarships will be endowed through a series of planned “The friendships you gifts established make at school, by the couple. especially at Proceeds Mississippi State, received seem to be lifelong from a recent gift friendships. I think annuity will endow a that’s true of just new Ferretti scholarship, about any MSU as well as graduate.” support three other —Jutta Ferretti previously established scholarships. As a result of careful gift planning with the MSU Foundation, the Ferrettis will receive a guaranteed income for the rest of their lives, as well as ensure their legacy at Mississippi State. The couple gave their first scholarship gift on an annual basis to the MSU art department in 1989 and others followed. “It started with one annual scholarship, and it just grew with the others,” said Jutta. They have since endowed their annual art scholarship. It was established in 1989 as a memorial for their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Joseph Ferretti and Mr. and Mrs. William Theodore Karnstedt. The Ferrettis’ philanthropy has grown over the years, springing up from the modest seeds of athletic scholarships John received during the late 1930s. These scholarships, said Jutta, are the primary reason they have consistently supported MSU students when they had the opportunity. 42

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Having grown up in rural Mississippi, John Ferretti relied on athletic scholarships in baseball and football to fund his college education. He graduated from thenMississippi State College in 1940 with a bachelor’s degree, majoring in agronomy and minoring in engineering. Like many Mississippi State graduates, his fondest memories of his time on campus are of the friends he made along the way. “Johnny always loved the friends he had while he was at State,” said Jutta. “The friendships you make at school, especially at Mississippi State, seem to be lifelong friendships. I think that’s true of just about any MSU graduate.” Ferretti played minor league baseball and was interviewed by the Cardinals organization, but World War II interrupted what could have been a professional athletic career. Instead, he served with the 13th U.S. Air Force division in the South Pacific in the early 1940s. His first job after the war was with Bolivar Hardware and Lumber Co. After 13 years, Ferretti struck out on his own. In 1959, he opened Shelby-based John S. Ferretti Building Materials, now known as Ferretti Building Materials. Following retirement, Ferretti volunteered his services as superintendent of the Shelby Country Club golf course. Having participated in the turf management program at Mississippi State, he was welltrained for the task and held the position for more than 14 years. It was during his tenure as golf course superintendent that Jutta became interested in establishing a scholarship in the MSU College of Forest Resources. “I was always so impressed with the forestry department when Johnny was in turf school,” she said. “They always went out of their way to help us and make us feel at home.” Ferretti scholarships benefit five academic areas of Mississippi State. Proceeds from the recent gift annuity, along with proceeds from a life insurance policy donated in 1999, will endow the John S.

John and Jutta Ferretti

Ferretti Memorial Endowed Scholarship in the College of Architecture, and the Hugo A. Wahlstab Memorial Endowed Scholarship in the College of Forest Resources, established in memory of Jutta’s grandfather, a German forester. These gifts also will endow the Alfred J. Ferretti Memorial Scholarship in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, given in memory of Ferretti’s father; and the William Theodore Karnstedt Memorial Scholarship in the Bagley College of Engineering, in memory of Jutta’s father who studied engineering in Germany. “The Ferrettis’ use of planned gifts to complement their annual giving will allow them to greatly increase their level of commitment to Mississippi State,” said Vance Bristow, director of planned giving for the MSU Foundation. “In exchange, they will receive a guaranteed income for life, as well as substantial tax benefits.” For more information on gift annuities or other avenues of planned giving, contact Bristow at 662-325-5127.

PHILANthropy

Association president encourages heartfelt participation Alumnus Gary Blair knows the importance of supporting his alma mater with his time and his resources. Blair is immediate past president of the national alumni association for Mississippi State University. By virtue of his post, he has played a vital role in the silent phase of State of the Future: The Mississippi State Campaign, as a member of its volunteer steering committee. But his active participation in the university began long ago—almost immediately following commencement. “I still have my very first alumni association membership card,” he recalls. After graduating in 1981 with bachelor’s degrees in business administration and agribusiness, he followed his heart and began giving back to the university—a little more each year— both financially and in other ways. “I began giving back out of a sense of dedication,” said Blair. “Yes, I paid for my education, but I just felt a desire to truly give something back to the university.” While living in Jackson in 1988, Blair was tapped as a board member for the Hinds County alumni chapter. This marked the beginning of his training on how to build a better alumni chapter. After moving back to Brookhaven, he reorganized the Lincoln County alumni chapter and helped it grow its membership from 62 members in 1992 to more than 120 a year later. He received the J.E. “Red” Ruffin Award for his effort, and became a member of the national alumni board of directors in 1995. Blair says the real world education he received as a student at Mississippi State made the time he spent here worthwhile and gave him a sense of direction and belonging. This serves as the fuel for his dedication. “I came here as a young, naive person without a lot of direction in my life,” he said. “More than anything else, I received an education in leadership and how to deal with people, how to live and work.”

“Mississippi State does an excellent job of developing leaders,” Blair continued. “By attending school here, I learned how to communicate with people, and that helps me every day in my work and personal life.” Today, Blair’s alumni participation earned him the post of presiding over a nationwide network of 85 chapters, 64 in Mississippi and 21 out of state. Mississippi State’s alumni base now boasts more than 100,000 graduates. Although he does consider himself to be a representative of the university, he says it shouldn’t be left up to him alone. “We should all consider ourselves ambassadors for Mississippi State,” Blair said. “Every graduate should proudly say that they are graduates of Mississippi State University and serve as an ambassador, not just the alumni officers. I think we all have something that we can be proud of on this campus.” As the public phase of the State of the Future campaign gets under way, opportunities for even more growth and advancement will be available for Mississippi State. Blair and other leaders across the campus are working for the betterment of the university. “I’m excited about the possibilities that can be afforded to Mississippi State through the State of the Future campaign,” he said. “If people will agree to step forward and make generous contributions, it will be amazing to see how we can further the mission of the university and make Mississippi State a more attractive university for our students.” Blair’s 14-year-old son Jonathan may be attending MSU in a few short years, and he hopes that by that time there will be even greater opportunities and

possibilities for earning an education here. “I know that the money I have earned and what I have for my family today would not be possible if I didn’t have the education I gained at Mississippi State,” he said. “The time and money I give back is nothing compared to what my education has provided for me.” Blair tries to instill this same feeling of pride and devotion in MSU alumni everywhere he goes, whether on the job, on campus, at home, or at alumni meetings across the nation. “Gary attends as many local chapter events as possible,” said Alumni Association Executive Director John Correro. “It is encouraging to see that the national officer is so actively involved in his role.” “He works diligently to generate alumni involvement and participation for Mississippi State in a variety of ways,” Correro continued. “Developing and implementing a mixture of programs, Continued next page

Gary Blair, wife Johanna and son Jonathan

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PHILANthropy events and other activities for our graduates and friends is the key mission of the Alumni Association.” Working with fellow Mississippi State alumni at the Federal Land Bank Association of South Mississippi gives Blair an advantage in fulfilling his duties. Many of his coworkers and fellow executives are proud of their university and of Blair’s efforts as national alumni president. Blair’s wife, Johanna, and son also are avid supporters of his obligations to the university.

“My family fully supports my work with the university. They understand why I’m doing it, and they enjoy the fruits of coming along with me for the ride,” Blair said. Blair resides with his family in Brookhaven, where he serves as a deacon and Sunday school director at First Baptist Church. Since joining Federal Land Bank Association of South Mississippi immediately after college, Blair now serves as its senior vice president and must work

hard to balance his duties at work, at home and for Mississippi State. “I think anytime alumni give back to their university, whether toward a scholarship program or the college of their choice, they become part owners in that program,” says Blair. “And anytime you give money for something, you have a little more pride in it. “That’s the main reason I give back. When I see the young people on campus, and those who have come here because of the scholarships they have received, my pride for Mississippi State grows, and it makes me want to give even more.”

A Lasting Gift: Endowed Scholarship Support Often the legacy runs deep at Mississippi State–a prospective student’s mom, dad or grandparent attended the university. Perhaps a brother or a sister is enrolled now. However, in many instances, what eventually lures a student to the university is often the promise of scholarship dollars. A drawing card for the university continues to be the number of scholarships it has to offer its students. Endowed scholarships and fellowships enable Mississippi State to attract and retain the best and brightest students from throughout Mississippi, the region and the nation. In the past 30 years, Mississippi State’s enrollment has doubled. The university retains its position as the largest institution in the state with a current enrollment of about 16,200 students, many of whom are fortunate to receive some type of financial assistance. Approximately 23 percent of undergraduate students will receive a scholarship for the 2004-05 academic year, while 19 percent of MSU’s total student enrollment will receive some type of scholarship assistance, according to Teresa Bost, assistant director of student financial aid and scholarships. Even more private support, in the form of endowed scholarships and fellowships,

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would allow Mississippi State to offer assistance to exceptional applicants and help them to complete their studies. If the university falls short of its benchmarks in scholarships currently available, many deserving students would have to pursue scholarships at other institutions. “Everybody is fighting for the same group of outstanding students and Mississippi State University is fighting for them as well,” said Jimmy Abraham, associate vice president for student affairs. “We have so much to offer at this great institution, and to be able to reward these students financially with a full, or almost full, scholarship sends a great message that we sincerely care about them, recognize their achievements, and want to help them achieve at Mississippi State,” he added. Among the most prestigious scholarships at Mississippi State are the Presidential Endowed and the Schillig Leadership scholarships. The university often makes use of these scholarships as it competes for exceptionally talented students. The earnings from the endowments that support these particular scholarships provide the recipient with four years of study. The process to recruit these top scholars begins with hundreds of applications that are narrowed to around 100, then further

whittled down to 20 for consideration by the PES and Schillig scholarship committees. From there, students are invited to interviews on campus. “Those who are awarded a Presidential or Schillig scholarship are really the best-of-the-best that we could find,” Abraham said. “We recently awarded five PES and one Schillig scholarship to six enthusiastic, gung-ho students…what if we had 12? Or 24, or more. It would make this university even stronger,” he emphasized. Abraham cited an instance with a prospective MSU student who was in the running for a Schillig Scholarship where that particular scholarship weighed heavily in her decision to attend Mississippi State. “She had never been to campus before, but she came for an interview and fell in love with this place. There is no doubt that, had it not been for that scholarship, she would not have chosen Mississippi State,” Abraham said. “Now she’s out in the work world and in her community giving back through what she learned at Mississippi State University. Continued next page

PHILANthropy And it all started because of that endowed scholarship,” he added. The university is working with a national student recruiting consultant to enhance its efforts to attract exceptional students from Mississippi as well as the nation. “We firmly believe that if we can get the students and their parents to campus, they’ll like what they see and want to be a part of it,” Abraham said. “Once they get here, we like to give them what I like to call the ‘maroon carpet treatment.’” “For instance, take Josie Smith, the newest Schillig Scholar, I’ve known her family for years,” Abraham said. “She’s one of the brightest students in the South and she’s not located in Mississippi, but MSU was her choice and this scholarship just enhanced that choice even more,” he added. More importantly, endowed scholarships with the fewest restrictions, either by major or geographically, help the university the most. “It means a lot for Mississippi State when a donor gives unrestricted scholarship dollars–it allows the university the freedom to award these scholarships where they make the most impact,” said Trish Hughes, director of special giving programs for the MSU Foundation. The efforts made by the Office of Enrollment Services, coupled with scholarships established by our most generous donors, are allowing the university to attract the most worthy students to MSU. “Scholarships primarily offer educational assistance for talented undergraduate students, but more scholarships are needed at the graduate level, as well,” she added. More than 550 separate endowments exist at Mississippi State for scholarships. And thanks to the generosity of alumni and friends, that number continues to grow. “It is truly wonderful that we have a great number of donors who give to support annual scholarships, but those who go the extra mile and establish an endowment to support their scholarships are creating a legacy here at Mississippi

State,” said Richard Armstrong, executive director of the MSU Foundation. By establishing an endowed scholarship through the MSU Foundation, thoughtful contributors can make a world of difference for Mississippi’s next generation of leaders and innovators. Without such private resources, Mississippi State simply cannot compete.

Minimum endowment levels for scholarships have been established. A gift of at least $25,000 is needed to endow a scholarship. For more information on establishing scholarships, please contact the MSU Foundation at 877-677-8283, toll-free.

2004-05 Presidential, Schillig Scholars Six incoming freshmen are the newest selections for the university’s 2004-05 Presidential Endowed Scholars and the Schillig Leadership Scholarship. “These awards are high honors, and each scholar and parent should be proud of both their academic achievements and outstanding performances in the scholarship interview process,” said President Charles Lee. “We are confident that the academic programs and variety of opportunities for leadership and service that Mississippi State offers will provide them with a superb undergraduate experience.” The group includes: Theodore R. Copeland of Olive Branch, a prospective engineering student; Shea E. Rogers of Gulfport, who plans to major in English; Ernest Sanders of Ridgeland, who will pursue a degree in mechanical engineering; Adam Wilkerson of Tupelo, who plans to study electrical engineering; Lindsey Young of Harvest, Ala., who will major in animal and dairy science/pre-veterinary medicine; and Josie Smith of Clifton, Va., the Schillig recipient who will study industrial engineering. All were ranked at the top of their respective high school graduating classes. Each student will receive a total of $34,000, which is approximately the cost of tuition and fees, room and board, and books for four years of study at Mississippi State. The five new Presidential Scholars will join 13 others in the special academic recognition program that is supported by separate endowments from several private donors.

Copeland

Rogers

Sanders

Smith

Wilkerson

Young

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Class News

A.J. Huff of Leakesville has retired from the Board of Trustees of Jones County Junior College, following a 47-year tenure.

43 Dave “Boo” Ferriss of Cleveland, retired head baseball coach at Delta State University and former Boston Red Sox pitching great, is being honored by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame with the establishment of the Ferriss Award. The award will be given annually to the top college baseball player in the state. The first presentation is scheduled for this summer. Ferriss was an all-star pitcher for the Red Sox in the late 1940s, following that with a 26-year career coaching career in which he built Delta State into an NCAA Division II powerhouse.

Robert S. Moss of Stringer is retired from the Mississippi Forestry Commission. He was the first Mississippi State forestry graduate to serve as State Forester. Aubert Pitts of Lucedale, as representative of the Pat Harrison Waterway District, presented a $25,000 check to the city of Lucedale to apply toward construction of a drainage ditch near the city park. Pitts is a retired engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Connie Wilkerson of Benndale has been re-elected justice court judge for District 1 of George County.

John W. McPherson of Indianola, cochairman of Double Quick convenience stores, has been named the 2004 Citizen of the Year by the Indianola Chamber of Commerce. McPherson is a past president of the Delta Council and chairman of AHEAD, the Mississippi highway program. The Legislature has honored him by naming a section of Hwy. 82 from Greenwood to Madison County for him.

Wayne Brown of Lucedale was reelected Southern District commissioner of the Mississippi Transportation Commission. David Work of Cleveland, port director of the Port of Rosedale for the RosedaleBolivar County Port Commission, has been honored by Jantran Inc. with the naming of a tow boat for him. Jantran, a towing operation, is headed by 1973 MSU graduate Joe Janoush and his brother John.

64 Michael H. Forster has been appointed chief executive officer of software developer CommerceQuest. He also is the company’s chairman of the board.

65 George A. Newbill has been promoted to senior vice president of manufacturing operations for Albemarle Corp., a producer of specialty chemicals.

66 Charles Chisolm (M.S. ’69) of Brandon, director of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, has been named conservationist of the year by the Mississippi Wildlife Federation. Judith Reaves Davenport of Columbia, Mo., has been named director of graduate studies for the University of Missouri School of Social Work. She recently presented a paper in Davenport

‘We’re going to Starkville to see the DAWGS play!’ Starkville writer, artist and 1985 Mississippi State graduate Laurie Parker has written and illustrated a new book for MSU fans of all ages. Celebrating the rituals and traditions that Bulldog fans cherish, Mad for Maroon is Parker’s eighth illustrated creation. In rhyming verse and whimsical paper collage artwork, it chronicles a day of fun and festivities revolving around MSU football. “I have lived in Starkville—or God’s country as it is known by quite a few folks— my entire life,” Parker says. “So from an early age, I was exposed to the sound of cowbells—and the traffic—of game days.” Parker also is the author of Everywhere in Mississippi, Mississippi Alphabet and The Turtle Saver, among others. Scheduled for release in August, Mad for Maroon will be available in gift shops and bookstores throughout the state. A short and lyrical book that begs to be read aloud, it will entertain young children and bring smiles to the faces of adults, especially the last two lines:

If you didn’t smile big while reading all this Then you must be someone who roots for _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

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Class News Bombay, India, on rural social problems in Taiwan and also recently led an educational group to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.

involvement. Melton also is a member of the MSU School of Accountancy Advisory Board.

Butch Gilbert, professor and chair of endodontics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s School of Dentistry, has been named the school’s first senior associate dean.

Patrice O’Brien of Brandon, co-owner and manager of Twin Oaks Farm in Oakland, has been appointed to the Executive Committee of the national Forest Landowners Association. Ronald A. Rutland, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, has been named commander of the 512th Airlift Wing at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.

69 Larry W. Jones (M.B.A. ’71) of Ashland, Ky., is northeast region president of Community Trust Bank. Doug T. Luce Jr. of Lucedale is chairman, president and CEO of Century Bank, which has nine locations in Jones Mississippi and Alabama and is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

70 Joe H. Bouton of Athens, Ga., professor of crop and soil sciences at the University of Georgia, has received the Carl Sprengel Agronomic Research Award from the American Society of Agronomy. C. Phillip Gunter (M.P.A. ’75) of Brandon, registered principal and branch manager with Raymond James Financial Services, has completed a course on priority senior issues to earn the Certified Senior Advisor designation. Gunter

71 Jobie Melton of Jackson, a certified public accountant and shareholder in Horne CPA Group, was named the 2003 winner of the Mississippi Society of Certified Public Accountants Public Service Award for his longtime community and public service 48

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74 Donald C. Dornan Jr. of Biloxi, a partner in the law firm of Spyridon, Koch, Palermo & Dornan, has become a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, one of the premier legal Dornan associations in America. Jim Koerber of Hattiesburg, an accountant and member of Koerber Turner, PLLC, has been named to the Fraud/Litigation Steering Committee of the American Institute of Certified Public Koerber Accountants. Laurence D. Richards has been named vice chancellor for academic affairs at Indiana University East. He previously was acting vice president for academic affairs at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts. Sledge Taylor III of Como is one of two 2004 Farmers of the Year in the annual recognition program sponsored by TeleSouth Communications and the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation. Taylor, who farms 6,500 acres in Panola County and is noted for his outstanding cattle operation, won in the livestock division.

75 Russell A. Purvis of Jackson, Mich., has been promoted to managing partner at Drake, Watters & Associates accounting firm. Mike Smith of Lucedale, president of the George County Economic Development Foundation, has been elected president of the board of directors for the United Way for Jackson and George counties.

77 Sam D. Hamilton, Southeast regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has received the prestigious Presidential Rank Award at recent White House ceremonies. The award was given for his long-term commitment to leadership and his dedication to building coalitions through effective communication. As Fish and Wildlife Service regional director, he oversees management of 120 national wildlife refuges in 10 Southeastern states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Richard A. Hartley (M.S. ’81) of Batesville has been named director of the Senatobia-Tate County Vocational Center.

78 Mike Armour of Tupelo has been appointed by Gov. Haley Barbour to serve as Mississippi director of the Appalachian Regional Commission, a federal-state program directed to enhance quality of life for a 13-state region. He most recently was senior relations officer and vice president for Peoples Bank and Trust Co. William Griffing of Dallas, Texas, a registered architect, has joined FKP Architects as Griffing contract administrator.

79 John W. Hatmaker Jr. (M.B.A. ’85) of Edmond, Okla., has been named directorenvironment, health and safety for KerrMcGee Chemical in Oklahoma City. Gary Randall, an architect with the Department of Defense, has been selected as the GS 9-14 Civilian Employee of the Year for 2003 at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi.

81 Tim Chamblee (M.S. ’83, Ph.D. ’88) of Starkville, associate professor of poultry science at Mississippi State, has been recognized by the Future Farmers of America for advancing agricultural education and for his personal commitment to FFA. Chamblee Robert J. Kremer of Columbia, Mo., a USDA-ARS microbiologist and adjunct professor of soil science at the University of Missouri, has been named a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy. V.R. Reddy of Silver Spring, Md., research leader and plant physiologist at the USDA-ARS Alternate Crops and Systems Laboratory, has been named a Fellow of the Crop Science Society of America.

83 Larry Clarke has been promoted to senior vice president and general manager of the oilseed processing division of Bunge North America, a global agribusiness and food company headquartered in St. Louis, Mo. Clarke has been with the company for more than 20 years.

84 Marla Daniels of Lucedale has received a master’s degree in mild/moderate disabilities from William Carey College.

86 John Sabine DeGroote of Great Falls, Va., has been named vice president, deputy general counsel and chief litigation counsel at BearingPoint Inc., a consulting firm formerly known as KPMG Consulting. Carl Mack, DeGroote president of the Seattle, Wash., chapter of the NAACP, was featured speaker for the Black History Month celebration at Clark College in Vancouver, Wash. Mack is an engineer with King County (Wash.) Metro Transit.

Class News 87 Chris Bryan (M.B.A. ’99) has joined BancorpSouth as a mortgage loan officer in its Madison office. Barbara Henning Masters Bryan has been selected to serve as acting administrator of the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service, overseeing 10,000 inspectors and veterinarians whose job is to protect public health. Beth Paschall, manager of the integrated services network at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., is a 2004 participant in the NASA Fellowship Program.

89 Robert Pilgrim Jr. (B.A. ’95) of Austin, Texas, a landscape architect, has been promoted to associate at the Austin office of TBG Partners, a landscape architecture and land planning firm. Todd Temple of Tuscaloosa, Ala., has been promoted to golf course superintendent at Gulf States Paper Corp.’s NorthRiver Yacht Club.

named Employee of the Month for February at MSH. Cindy Warner is public relations and community education supervisor for the Shelby County School District in Birmingham, Ala. She recently was named Alabama School Communicator of the Year by the Alabama School Communicators Association. She also has received the Community Education Impact Award from the Alabama Community Education Association.

92 Bob Thurman of Jackson, Tenn., has been named director of research for the research and development department at Wilson Golf. He joined the company in 1992.

Pilgrim

Temple

90 Kim Davis of Lucedale is assistant principal and gifted program coordinator at George County Middle School.

91 Dana Stanard (M.S. ’93) of Brandon, a quality management coordinator for Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield was

J. Todd Arnold has been named project manager at Cooper Carry Architects in Atlanta, Ga. Christopher Burrus of Peachtree City, Ga., is a project leader in fleet planning with Delta Airlines in Atlanta. Marsha Cummings (M.S. ’95) of Ocean Springs has been selected 2004 Instructor of the Year for the Jackson County Campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community Cummings College. She is chair of the Business and Office Administration Department.

94 Todd A. Baughman of Vernon, Texas, agronomist and associate professor of soil and crop sciences at Texas A&M University, has received the Syngenta Crop Protection Award from the Syngenta Corp. in cooperation with the American Society of Agronomy.

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Charles Brunetti is assistant groundskeeper with the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Jones P. Warren, a Marine Corps first lieutenant, has been designated a naval aviator, following flight training at Naval Air Training Command at Pensacola, Fla.

Class News 95 Ben Crenshaw has joined Nashvillebased Southern Land Co. as design director of landscape architecture.

96 Wade Overstreet of Evanston, Ill., has been promoted to chief operations officer for the Sigma Chi Foundation. Cindy Simpson of Dallas, Texas, an interior designer, has been named an associate at the Dallas office of Gensler Architecture, Design & Planning Worldwide.

98 Ashley Valentine McArthur, a dentist, has opened a dental practice in Lucedale. Darren Seybold is head groundskeeper with the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Field. Chris West of Lucedale, defensive line coach at George County High School, and his fellow football coaches have been named Coaching Staff of the Year for District 7-4A. Clint Williams has been promoted to section supervisor of BD/IBN operations and laboratory at ExxonMobil Chemical Co.’s Baytown Olefins Plant in Baytown, Texas.

99 Brett A. Howell of Lucedale has received a master’s degree in agriculture and life sciences from Mississippi State. Andrea Paseur of Huntsville, Ala., has joined JH Partners architecture and interior design firm as an intern architect.

Paseur

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00 Angela Entrekin Maxwell is business manager at the Cherokee County Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Canton, Ga. Alison O’Neal of Lucedale has received a juris doctor degree from the University of Mississippi. Lorraine Walters of Laurel, an attorney, has been named law clerk for the Honorable Charles W. Pickering Sr., United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

01 Jonathan C. Bennett (M.S. ’03) is a research structural engineer in the geotechnical and structures laboratory at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg.

02 Clayton Graff has been promoted to chief technology officer at FaceCake Technologies in Hollywood, Calif., a software/web services company. Shelly Laaser of Bryan, Texas, nutrition services coordinator and clinical dietitian for the Physician’s Centre in Bryan, has been named Registered Young Dietitian of the Year by the Texas Dietetic Association.

03 Bradley H. Ray, a U.S. Coast Guard seaman, has graduated from the Coast Guard Recruit Training Center in Cape May, N.J.

Bennett

Hilton publishes childhood memoirs Ella E. Schneider Hilton never attended Mississippi State, but her connections to the university are strong. Her late husband Lt. Col. Thomas G. Hilton was a 1958 graduate and Vietnam veteran who is buried at Arlington National Cemetery and her daughters Sharon and Angela graduated from MSU in 1981 and 1985, respectively. In her recently published memoir, Displaced Person—A Girl’s Life in Russia, Germany and America, Ella Hilton chronicles her childhood in Stalinist Russia, the refugee camps of Nazi and post-World War II Germany, and later the cotton fields of Mississippi. Displaced Person is published by the Louisiana State University Press. Hilton lives in Virginia. Now retired, she was a teacher and worked for the U.S. Department of the Army for 18 years.

Laura Leigh Brantley, April 4, 2003, to Ronald A. Brantley II (’97, M.B.A. ’98) and Erin Grantham Brantley (’97, M.S. ’98) of Birmingham, Ala. Margaret Elizabeth Buck, Nov. 14, 2003, to Keith A. Buck (’90, M.B.A. ’93) and wife Pamela of Horn Lake. John Atwell Dillard, Jan. 28, 2004, to Mark L. Dillard (’91, ’92) and Emily Susan Gregory Dillard (’87, M.Ed. ’92, Ed.S. ’96) of Louisville. Saige Ann Drake and Seth Paul Drake, Dec. 18, 2003, to Jennifer Muha Drake (’91) and husband Spencer of Brandon. Abigail Elizabeth Henderson, July 20, 2003, to Julie Ormon Henderson (’92) and husband Augie of Tupelo. Bradley Keffer Jones, Oct 2, 2003, to Ed Jones (’98) and Paige Craig Jones (’96) of Jackson.

BIRTH Announcements Sydney Gail Lasker, Oct. 10, 2003, to Lori McGriff Lasker (’95) and Brian Derek Lasker (’94, ’95) of Birmingham, Ala. Michael Jonathan Moore, April 30, 2003, to Roger Moore (’84) and wife Charlotte of Rogers, Ark. Jewell Jordan Norris, Nov. 19, 2003, to Susan Crowley Norris (’93) and Matthew J. Norris (’93) of Cypress, Texas.

Mattie Frances Powell, June 18, 2003, to Brent Powell (’94) and Natasha Goff Powell (’94) of Brandon. Owen Thomas Smith, Jan. 6, 2004, to Robert Hart Smith (’91) and Kimberly Doggett Smith (’91) of Meridian. Kaley Alyssa Stovall, Dec. 23, 2003, to Mark E. Stovall (’97) and wife Jennifer of Starkville. William Walker White, Jan. 12, 2004, to William White (’99) and wife Leigh Ann of Philadelphia.

IN Memoriam Francis Eugene Gartrell (’33)—90, Jackson; retired engineer in the Public Health Division of Tennessee Valley Authority, Feb. 18, 2004. Wiles Kline Bedwell (’34)—91, Cleveland; retired from U.S. Postal Service and World War II veteran, Feb. 24, 2004. Wade J. Finger Sr. (’35)—91, Tupelo; retired sales representative for Endicott Johnson and World War II veteran, Jan. 8, 2004. James West Thompson (’36)—88, Jackson; retired director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s Memphis Region and World War II veteran, March 21, 2004. Richard Lee Bradley (’38)—88, Houston, Texas; retired stockbroker for PaineWebber and World War II veteran, March 15, 2004. Alfred Marvin Jacob (’38)—87, Jackson; retired professional photographer and World War II veteran, Feb. 8, 2004. Roger Barton Johnson (’38, M.S. ’49)— 86, Hattiesburg; retired executive administrative assistant to the president at the University of Southern Mississippi and World War II veteran, Jan. 21, 2004. Samson Mabry Jr. (’40)—86, Liberty; retired lumber mill owner and World War II veteran, March 14, 2004.

Ophia Fox Blanton Fulton (’41, M.A. ’69)—retired vocational rehabilitation counselor, June 13, 2003. James Melvin Wilson (’41)—86, Tunica; former Tunica mayor and manager of Cal-Gas and World War II veteran, Feb. 3, 2004. J.R. Wright (’41)—85, Jackson; retired revenue officer for the Internal Revenue Service and World War II veteran, Apriol 16, 2004. Tom C. Brown Sr. (’42)—85, Jackson; engineer, a founder and owner of Madison Materials Co. and World War II veteran, March 20, 2004. William Wailes Magruder III (’42)— 82, Baltimore, Md.; retired psychiatrist, Jan. 13, 2004. Doris McCreight Duckworth (’45)— retired administrative secretary for the Office of University Relations at Mississippi State, May 16, 2004. Leonard M. Duckworth (’45)—83, Fresno, Calif.; owner of J & L Irrigation Co. in Fresno, April 6, 2004. Lynwood T. Bufkin (’47)—80, Baton Rouge, La.; retired plant manager for American Hoechst and World War II veteran, April 11, 2004. John P. Sinclair (’48)—84, Green Valley, Ariz.; retired teacher, principal and superintendent of schools in Arkansas and

Arizona and World War II veteran, Jan. 29, 2004. Fred Davis (’49, M.S. ’50)—82, Starkville; professor emeritus of computer science at Mississippi State, former director of the university’s Division of Computing Affairs, and World War II veteran, Jan. 18, 2004. Donald D. Speed (’49)—79, Marianna, Fla.; retired chief pilot for McKenzie Tank Line and World War II veteran, March 8, 2004. Walter Aden White (’49)—83, Yazoo City; retired county agent for Yazoo County and World War II veteran, Feb. 2, 2004. V. Frank Hinson (’50)—76, Lafayette; retired geophysicist for Union Oil of California and World War II veteran, Feb. 29, 2004. Charles Edward Boyer Jr. (’51)— 74, Indianola; retired farmer and Korean War veteran, Feb. 7, 2004. John E. Lipsey (’51)—Gulfport; retired electrical engineer for Mississippi Power Co. and World War II veteran, Feb. 12, 2004. William McKinney Sr. (’51)—74, Corinth; retired vice president of operations for Gates Inc., March 13, 2004.

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IN Memoriam W.H. Arant (’52)—75, Jasper, Texas; petroleum geologist with Lockheed Engineering Services and Korean War veteran, April 18, 2004. C. Martin James (’53)—74, Longmont, Colo.; retired chemical engineer for Esso, Aero Jet General and TRW, Nov. 13, 2003. Jack McDonald Jr. (’53)—72, Decatur, Ill.; retired corporate vice president for Archer Daniels Midland and former president of the National Cotton Council, Jan. 17, 2004. Edward Dillard (’56)—70, Austin, Texas; retired colonel in the U.S. Air Force, Jan. 20, 2004. Harry L. Stewart (’56)—St. Louis, Mo.; retired civilian engineer for the U.S. Air Force, March 19, 2004. Earl Benson Jones (’57)—71, Madison; retired division manager of data processing for South Central Bell and Korean War veteran, Feb. 8, 2004. Fred W. Long (’58)—76, Amory; retired Soil Conservation Service and Farmers Home Administration engineer and retired environmental engineer for state Department of Health, March 25, 2004. Johnnie Edward White (’58)—97, Kosciusko; former teacher, coach, and superintendent of education for Attala County and World War II veteran, Jan. 30, 2004. Mary Hogan Davis (’59)—81, Auburn, Ala.; retired high school English teacher and counselor, March 18, 2004. Walter Glenn Ward (’60)—70, Eudora, Ark.; retired superintendent for U.S. Gypsum Co. and Korean War veteran, Jan. 26, 2004. Mary Upton Poole (’61)—67, Tuscaloosa, Ala.; retired teacher at Alberta Elementary School (Tuscaloosa) and travel agent for Duckworth Travel Agency, March 14, 2004. Balsorah Lamar Savely Miller (’61)—Seaford, Va.; historical interpreter at Yorktown Victory Center, Sept. 22, 2003.

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Lynne Bolton McGuire (’62)—62, Dallas, Texas; legal-financial secretary, Dec. 30, 2003. O. Harold Shows (’62)—76, Laurel; retired USDA Farmers Home Administration employee and World War II veteran, Feb. 2, 2004. John Anderson Stott (’62)—78, Kennedale, Texas; retired engineer for Southern Bell, retired safety coordinator at Mississippi State and World War II veteran, Feb. 21, 2004. B.L. Ferguson (’63)—76, Brandon; retired systems engineer for IBM, Jan. 25, 2004. Betty June Worrell Lee (’63)— Ackerman; retired teacher for Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College-Jefferson Davis Campus, March 11, 2004. Jim Yancey (’63)—68, Ponce Inlet, Fla.; owner and operator of Yancey Agricultural Network in Starkville, Feb. 19, 2004. Dan M. Eagar Jr. (’65)—60, McCalla, Ala.; president and CEO of University of Alabama Medical Center West of Bessemer, April 8, 2004. Joseph Anthony Portera (’65, M.A. ’66, Ph.D. ’80)—61, Columbus; former director of Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science and longtime Mississippi University for Women administrator, Jan. 7, 2004. Emmett W. Farrar Jr. (’66)—61, Macon; retired petroleum engineer and automation and control technology teacher at East Mississippi Community CollegeMayhew Campus, April 2, 2004. Charles Reid Barnett (’68)—Corinth; retired general manager of Alcorn County Electric Power Association, Feb. 28, 2004. Jimmy Dale Culpepper (’69)—60, Magnolia; retired rural development specialist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Feb. 7, 2004. Hiram E. Davis Jr. (’69)—56, Grenada; farmer and first vice president of Mississippi Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co., March 10, 2004. Richard Lynn Parsons (’70)—56, Vance; farmer and president of Tutwiler Ginning Co., Feb. 16, 2004.

Jan McIlwain Robinson (’72)—53, Starkville; kindergarten teacher at Starkville Academy, Feb. 8, 2004. Douglas R. Mansell Sr. (’73)—57, Booneville; executive director of the Prentiss County Development Association, April 22, 2004. Irene Benton Eaves (’75)—74, Vicksburg; retired library supervisor for Vicksburg Schools, Feb. 28, 2004. Jon Edward Crouch (’76)—50, Jackson; systems analyst with Michael Barker Corp., April 17, 2004. Myra Faye Macon (’77)—66, Calhoun City; retired library director at Delta State University, Jan. 22, 2004. Louis H. Crawford (’79)—47, Flowood; environmental engineer, Feb. 25, 2004. Janet Alexander Tinnin (’81)—53, Ridgeland; mathematics teacher at Jackson Academy where she was named Teacher of the Year in 2000, Feb. 23, 2004. Dennis Shanholtzer (’89)—56, Hudson, Wis.; associate professor in the Metropolitan State University College of Management, Dec. 24, 2004. Susan Browning Lowes (’92)—33, Tupelo; homemaker and former employee of Peoples Bank and Trust Co., March 1, 2004. Todd M. Funchess (’99)—33, Jackson; building contractor with Jeb Stewart Builders, Jan. 14, 2004.

Kendall Parker Dexter (attended)— 74, Mobile, Ala.; former International Paper Co. official and Korean War veteran, Feb. 8, 2004. Allen Curtis Owen (employee)—52, Meridian; campus police officer at MSU Meridian Campus, March 10, 2004. Caroline Moore Simmons (former employee)—79, Starkville; retired executive secretary to the director of MAFES, Jan. 27, 2004. Warren A. Hood (friend)—87, Jackson; founder of Hood Industries, civic leader and philanthropist, March 2, 2004. Seta Butler York (friend)—101, Memphis, Tenn.; homemaker, Jan. 23, 2004.