Mississippi State Alumnus Fall 2003

soaring

RASPET FLIGHT RESEARCH

MSU’S

LABORATORY BOASTS A STELLAR HISTORY

contents

Mississippi State Fall 2003 | Volume 79 | Number 3 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 Editor Allen Snow (‘76)

University archivist pens new history

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MSU aims for enrollment growth More scholarships for academically typical students and a renewed emphasis on recruiting all qualified students is expected to help Mississippi State reverse a two-year enrollment decline of a little under 4 percent. At the same time, the university will continue efforts to increase freshman retention and graduation rates, which have improved significantly.

Photographers Fred Faulk Russ Houston (‘85) Clint Parish (‘02) Mississippi State University Alumni Association National Officers Gary Blair (‘81), national president; Keith Winfield (‘70), national first vice president; Joe L. Bryan (‘63), national second vice president; David W. Jones (‘81), national treasurer; Allen Maxwell (‘78), immediate former national president. www.msstate.edu Mississippi State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation or group affiliation, age, disability, or veteran status.

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Adkerson keeps investing in Mississippi State’s future

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Businessman Richard Adkerson continues to passionately support his alma mater with his time and financial resources. In fact, Adkerson is considered by some to be an unofficial ambassador of the university, particularly of the accounting school he credits with much of his success.

IS there an Rx for Mississippi’s health care crisis?

The health climate in Mississippi is a cause for alarm. Among educators, health care providers, policy makers, and the public at large, there’s a sense that Mississippians are at a higher-thanever risk for disease and are at an alarming low point in access to many components of good health—from primary-care physicians to healthy foods to preventive medicine programs.

Associate Editor Kay Fike Jones Designers Becky Smith Erin Norwood (‘98)

Michael B. Ballard is helping to mark the 2003 celebration of MSU’s 125th anniversary by writing a new history of The People’s University. In a recent interview, the historian and university archivist discussed his plans for the new look at the institution.

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Soaring

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They say if you give a man enough rope, he may hang himself—but in the case of George Bennett, he’d probably just go soaring. The retired former director of Mississippi State’s Raspet Flight Research Laboratory started flying gliders as a young high school student in the early 1950s, and he’s still winging it after all these years.

Dornan tackled tough issues as state bar president When Mississippi State alumnus Donald C. Dornan Jr. assumed the yearlong position of Mississippi Bar Association president in 2002, he set out to improve the public’s perception of the legal profession.

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Investiture remarks of Dr. J. Charles Lee

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Dr. J. Charles Lee officially became Mississippi State’s 17th president in a September public program that celebrated both his investiture and the university’s 125th anniversary.

In his address, Lee said his experiences “have confirmed that the expectations of our university are enormous...”

On the cover: MSU’s Raspet Flight Research Laboratory has a world-class reputation as an innovative flight research and development facility. Story on page 22. (Photo by Russ Houston)

Campus News 33 | Athletics 38 | Alumni News 42 | Philanthropy 46 | Class News 55 | In Memoriam 60

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archivist history

University pens new

BY SAMMY MCDAVID PHOTOS BY RUSS HOUSTON

Among other duties at Mitchell Memorial Library, Dr. Michael B. Ballard is the archivist of Mississippi State University. Earlier this year, the Choctaw County native and Ackerman resident was asked by Dennis Prescott, vice president for external affairs, and Joe Farris, director of university relations and assistant to the president, to help mark the 2003 celebration of MSU’s 125th anniversary by writing a new history of the institution.

Ballard, a much-published Civil War author who holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from MSU, agreed to produce a new book to follow the two earlier volumes—The People’s College (1950) and The People’s University (1978)—penned by the late John K. Bettersworth, another Mississippi State historian.

In a recent interview with Alumnus magazine, Ballard discussed his plans for the new look at the institution with which he has been associated as a student and employee for more than three decades.

After agreeing to write the book, what were your to ?

prepare

first steps

I thought about what I wanted to do for a long time before sharing my ideas with Dennis and Joe. When we met again, I told them I felt there basically were two ways to go: update the last 25 years or go back to the beginning and write a new book from scratch that covers the entire 125-year period.

To do it the first way would mean little more than tacking 25 years onto People’s University, which wouldn’t be a very cohesive way to complete the project. I thought the second way was the better choice and they agreed.

Basically, I’m going to write a narrative history from the beginning in 1878 to 2003, the 125th anniversary year. I will not attempt to chronicle everything that has happened; that would cause the book to get out of hand in a hurry. Instead, I will look at each of the 17 presidential administrations and the important events and turning points that took place within each one. In other words, what happened, why it happened and what it meant over the long term.

betty self | mike ballard If I didn’t do it that way, I could end up with nothing more than a chronicle of events. Some young historians forget this when they begin writing, but it’s the historian’s job to pick out the important things and explain why they were.

service the project.

Undoubtedly, your as university archivist will serve well in

I’ve been working in university archives for 20 years and my assistant Betty Self has been here for 19 of those years. As a result, we have a great deal of experience answering questions that various people have posed about Mississippi State over those years. Our searches have resulted in an archival file of some size, as you can imagine.

In the course of responding to questions, we have done considerable research on the institution. The previous Bettersworth books had some of the information we were seeking, but there also was much that wasn’t in either edition.

With these questions in mind, this new book will feature an extensive addendum that includes some of the most frequently asked questions and their answers. It will cover both academics and athletics. Once a draft of the book is complete, I plan to visit with a variety of people who have been on campus for awhile and seek their input.

I’ve already begun work and have an initial target of 200 pages to be finished by the end of the year. I’m currently finishing up four other book projects. When they are complete, I will turn my full-time attention to the new history.

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mental papers. Additionally, there are the biennial reports from the early years that cover academic and agricultural extension programs, as well as the agricultural experiment station system that came along around 1915 or so.

You said earlier that completing 200 pages would be your by year’s end. Do you have an estimate of how many the will be?

final edition

mike ballard

Though the then Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College was by the Legislature , it wasn’t until 1880 that the institution opened its doors to the first class. From the standpoint of of operation, how are the ?

established in 1878

123 years complete archival records

From talking with other archivists around the Southeast, I would say our archival files are in pretty good shape in terms of the documentation we can produce. The archival department in Mitchell Memorial Library was not founded until 1966, so that means we have an 86-year period when there was no official repository for university records.

Fortunately, many of the early records were stored in the registrar’s vault in the basement of Lee Hall. The situation could have been disastrous if the vault had had moisture problems, but it didn’t.

One of the most valuable assets is a complete indexed set of academic catalogs going back to 1880. Each edition includes a listing of faculty members and, for many years, also the names of all enrolled students. With the catalogs, it is possible to trace the development of a specific academic program from its 19th century beginning to its 21st century structure.

We also have all the presidents’ papers and many depart4

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goal pages

I’m going to try to hold the manuscript to 500 pages. That may sound like a lot, but it’s not when we’re talking about a 125-year period. What I hope will come through in the book is how the university has survived the evolutionary process.

Consider that we have survived two world wars, the Great Depression, Gov. Theodore Bilbo [whose antics caused an accreditation loss by the state’s colleges], and many, many funding difficulties.

Looking back, one can see how the has to meet these challenges. First, there was West Point graduate and former general Stephen D. Lee (188090), who, obviously, was an organization man. We then evolved into with education backgrounds who led in the academic .

school’s leadership evolved

presidents developing programs

With Dean W. Colvard (1960-66), we had a leader who not only had an education background, but was someone who could handle public relations. During our integration period, Colvard handled that latter job quite well. Though he took a great deal of criticism, he survived it and the university survived it and we avoided a debacle.

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education

Given background, and experience, it would seem Mississippi State has in Mike Ballard an excellent to tell the university’s long and proud history to audiences.

choice 21st century

Since I didn’t live far from campus, I regularly followed campus events via newspapers and other media even before I arrived here to study more than 40 years ago. In addition to my memory and my personal experiences here, I’ve discussed the university with many people over the years.

For these reasons, I am hopeful that my narrative history will assist alumni and others affiliated with Mississippi State, as well as anyone interested in the history of Mississippi higher education. I hope they will be able to use this book to gain a better appreciation of how an institution began in a very small town in 1880 and reached 2003 as the state’s largest institution of higher learning and one of the top research universities in the United States.

How did we reach those milestones? What made it possible? Who played the key roles? How were we impacted by the state and the outside world? How did we impact the state and the outside world?

If I can answer these questions, I will have accomplished what I set out to do.

Most frequently asked questions of the MSU Archives Department.

Drum roll, please...

What is the oldest building on campus?

The Industrial Technology Building, which was built in 1900 to serve as home of the short-lived textile school. Of Italianate design and featuring the distinctive “twin towers” and a bas-relief seal of the State of Mississippi atop the center of its triple front arches, the two-story red brick structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

Where was Old Main dormitory?

Purported to be the largest single campus residence hall on any American college campus at the time of its burning in 1959, the four-story quadrangle structure was longer on its east and west sides than its equally impressive neighbor, the Cafeteria (now the Perry Cafeteria). Basically, Old Main covered the area now housing the Colvard Union, McCool Hall and the McCool parking lot.

According to Ballard, the third most frequently asked question is something of a four-way tie.

The quartet includes: Where is the “Montgomery Hall ghost?”

Though some have claimed that the attic of the just renovated 1902 Beaux Art structure (originally known as Scientific Hall and once home to the library) is “haunted,” Ballard says he and colleague Betty Self “never have found any written university record to document that.” He adds, with a smile: “I’m not saying there is nothing to the story, but I am saying that we can find nothing about it in the archives. Clearly, this story has been handed down over the years because we have freshmen come by every year asking about it.

Personally, I consider it something of an ‘urban myth’ perpetuated by fraternities.”

Where are the campus steam tunnels?

Underground steam tunnels were built in the early days around the central campus area. “We don’t know where they are or were,” Ballard says. “And, even if we did, we wouldn’t tell.”

Why was Eckie’s Pond built?

For agriculture-related purposes in the 1920s. (For a detailed explanation, see Ballard’s story on MSU’s little-pond-thatcould in the 1993 fall edition of Alumnus.)

Who was the first female student?

Ballard says there really is no way to identify the “first,” since several were enrolled in the first class admitting women in 1884. As listed in the catalog (and with only first-name initials given), they included S. Bardwell, M.A. DuQuercron, M.C. McKay, E.J. McKell, K.M. McKell, and M.E. Nason.

Each is listed with the courtesy title “Miss.”

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aiming for growth

BY JOE FARRIS

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MSU aims for enrollment growth based on ACCESS and EXCELLENCE More scholarships for academically typical students and a renewed emphasis on recruiting all qualified students is expected to help Mississippi State reverse a two-year enrollment decline of a little under 4 percent. At the same time, the university will continue efforts to increase freshman retention rates and graduation rates, which have improved significantly.

This fall’s statewide headcount enrollment stands at 16,236, down from 16,610 a year ago, which was a decline from the fall 2001 record of 16,878. Main campus enrollment in Starkville is down by 426 from last year to 15,426, while MSU’s Meridian Campus grew by 9 percent, to 723. Another 87 students are enrolled at MSU graduate centers in Vicksburg and at Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis.

The MSU main campus remains the state’s largest university campus, although the highest statewide headcount is attributed to another institution for the first time since 1984, when the University of Southern Mississippi held the lead for one year.

Mississippi State officials say a combination of factors is behind the smaller numbers of MSU students during the past two years.

Two unusually large graduating classes coincided with smaller incoming freshman classes. The university averaged awarding more than 3,700 degrees in 2001-02 and 2002-03. New freshman enrollments during the same years declined to 1,759 in fall 2002 and 1,698 in fall 2003, after topping 2,000 students in fall 2000. New transfer students, most of them community college graduates, total 1,480 this fall, about the same as last year but down from the record 1,590 in 2001. Graduate enrollment at both the master’s and doctoral levels is up slightly this year.

Also contributing to the overall decrease, international student enrollment has declined by more than 80 students since 2001, in part because of tighter restrictions and increased paperwork involved in obtaining student visas since the tragedies of 9/11. And most of the 85 MSU students called to active military duty last year because of the war in Iraq are still serving and haven’t been able to return to school.

While the smaller numbers of freshmen and community college transfers over the past two years are apparent, the reasons behind them are harder to nail down. One factor appears to be increased scholarship incentives from competing universities. There is also speculation that the efforts of recent years to attract the state’s top academic performers

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and raise the academic profile of entering freshmen may unintentionally have discouraged some students with average credentials who were concerned about the academic challenges they would encounter at Mississippi State.

The university is aggressively confronting both of those issues and has set a goal of enrolling an additional 400 undergraduates and 100 more graduate students in fall 2004.

A master plan adopted earlier this year to guide orderly growth and development of the physical campus is based on a projected future enrollment of 20,000 students. With anticipated growth in graduate and professional programs paralleling expanding research efforts and with continued growth at the Meridian Campus, the statewide headcount may reach that level within five to seven years, university officials believe.

REMAINING THE PEOPLE’S UNIVERSITY When he took office in January 2003, President Lee stressed that a top priority would be to re-emphasize the principles that have made Mississippi State “The People’s University” for the past 125 years. Since then, he has hammered home the theme of access, as well as excellence, at every opportunity.

“Mississippi State is committed to both access and academic excellence. We seek the best and brightest students, and all others who have shown the desire, determination and ability to take advantage of our university’s offerings,” Lee said this fall during his formal investiture, as he has on many other occasions throughout the state.

Interim Vice President for Student Affairs Jimmy Abraham reiterated the message that the university is actively recruiting all qualified students in an e-mail letter to thousands of alumni and friends this fall.

“As you may know, our freshman classes have been smaller than usual for the past three years, partly as a result of previous university goals of smaller, more academically talented freshman classes,” Abraham wrote. “But now it is with renewed purpose as the People’s University that we share with you our commitment to recruit all qualified students. We need your help in communicating our desire to provide the best possible education, inside and outside of the classroom, to all students.”

Abraham also called on alumni and friends to help with the recruiting effort by providing the names of prospective MSU students of any age to the university’s Enrollment Services office. “Alumni have an impact on where students go to college,” he said. “When our former students display an MSU car tag or bumper sticker, wear their MSU clothing, or talk to co-workers and friends about the university, that 10

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not only helps in recruiting, but it also sends a positive message about the pride that our graduates have in their alma mater.”

This fall, the university’s divisions of Student Affairs and Academic Affairs formed a joint Recruiting and Retention Task Force, headed by Abraham and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Peter Rabideau, to map plans for the future. The university also has retained a recruiting consultant from the nationally prominent NoelLevitz firm.

Helping make Mississippi State more affordable for more students, new and expanded scholarships already have been put into place for freshmen who will enter MSU in fall 2004. Starting next year, in-state freshmen who score from 22 to 25 on the ACT exam (or the equivalent 1020 to 1160 on the SAT) and have a high school grade-point average of 3.5 or higher will qualify for a one-time $1,000 scholarship, if they are not receiving other merit-based aid. Non-resident freshmen who score 25 on the ACT (or 1130 on the SAT) and have a 3.0 high school GPA will receive a new $1,000-a-year scholarship to help offset out-of-state tuition. Non-residents who score 26 or higher on the ACT (or 1170 on the SAT) already receive a full out-of-state tuition waiver.

All incoming freshmen who score 26 or higher on the ACT (1170 SAT) already qualify for academic scholarships, but the size of those awards will increase next year from $2,000 to $3,000 over four years for those scoring 26 or 27 (1170 to 1230 SAT) and from $4,000 to $5,000 for scores of 28 or 29 (1240 to 1310 SAT). The higher amounts offered to students scoring 30 or above (1320 SAT) will be unchanged for next year.

“Assuring that Mississippi State remains affordable for the sons and daughters of this state is one of our top priorities, and we are emphasizing the importance of scholarships and financial aid in our current discussions with foundations and other prospective donors,” Lee said.

Mississippi State now is in the silent phase of a new capital campaign expected to have its formal kickoff in 2004. Priority fund-raising goals will include new scholarships for more academically typical students as well as increased support for the university’s most competitive scholarships for exceptional students.

“Scholarships are already the most popular endowed gift opportunity,” said Dennis Prescott, vice president for external affairs. “Since we completed a successful $20 million scholarship campaign in 2000, there is every reason to believe we will be far more successful in attracting additional scholarship support during this campaign.”

Another change already implemented has been to move the freshman fall admission application deadline back to

B e s i d e s r e g u l a r cl a s s r o o m l e c t u r e s , s o m e p r o f e s s o r s ta k e y o u o u t s i d e t h e cl a s s r o o m .

O n e o f m y e d u ca t i o n cl a s s e s vi s i te d t h e T . K . M a r t i n C e nte r t o g e t a b e tte r u nd e r s tand i ng o f te c h n o l o gy b e i ng d e ve l o p e d fo r c h i l d r e n w i t h d i s a b i l i t i e s .

IAN | junior

Fall 2003 Enrollment Profile Total statewide headcount: 16,236 Main campus headcount: 15,426 Meridian Campus headcount: 723 Full-time equivalent: 13,677 Undergraduates: 79% Mississippi residents: 75% Female: 48% African-American: 18% Average freshman ACT: 23.5 Average high school core GPA: 3.16 Freshman National Merit Scholars: 25

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achieving

success Increase/Decrease by College from Fall 2002

Agriculture and Life Sciences: 1,477 (-4) Architecture: 256 (+5) Arts and Sciences: 3,992 (+130) Business and Industry: 2,473(-342) Education: 2,559 (-2) Engineering: 2,455 (-143) Forest Resources: 386 (-14) Veterinary Medicine: 254 (+15) Undeclared major/non-degree: 1,574 (-71)

I found the professors and classmates were willing to help me when I needed it in class.

The professors were so ready to listen to their students, and they were nice and kind to me.

I won , t forget that.

SOONHEE | senior

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August 1, the same as for transfer students. For the past two years, the freshman application deadline has been May 1.

(Prospective students and their parents should remember, however, that important financial aid and scholarship application deadlines fall during most students’ final semester of high school, from February 1 to April 1.)

HELPING STUDENTS SUCCEED The average ACT score for new freshmen entering MSU this fall was 23.5, and the average high school GPA on the core courses required for university admission was 3.16.

“Our research shows that students who have good high school grades tend to do extremely well at the university, regardless of ACT scores, and we are placing great emphasis on mentoring, academic advising and support programs to help students succeed,” Abraham said.

Those efforts appear to be paying off. MSU’s freshman-to-sophomore retention rate increased again this fall and now stands above 81 percent, up from 76 percent five years ago. During the same period, the sophomore-to-junior retention rate increased from 68 percent to more than 71 percent. And the six-year graduation rate is up to 58 percent.

Earlier this year, MSU was one of nine universities in the nation to receive a prestigious Retention Excellence Award, which recognized the success of the five-year-old Pathfinder Program. Pathfinder emphasizes class attendance during the freshman year, particularly during the first semester, and involves faculty, residence hall staff, academic advisors, freshman mentors, and others in intervening to help freshmen stay on track. A letter from the president to the parents of incoming freshmen also emphasizes the importance of class attendance and seeks parental support. The results have been impressive.

In the year before Pathfinder started, 25 percent of freshmen missed two or more classes during their first six weeks of college. Now that figure is down to 10 percent.

The difference shows up in students’ grades, according to research by program director David McMillen, a psychologist and research professor at MSU’s Social Science Research Center.

MSU students who have attendance problems—defined as two or more missed classes—consistently have average freshman-year GPAs below 2.0, which is an academic warning sign. Those with fewer absences average a much better 2.8.

The university has other programs in place to help students succeed academically. The Freshman Mentoring Program administered by the Dean of Students’ office seeks to ensure that every freshman is assigned a faculty or professional staff mentor whose job is to be available to help solve

a problem or otherwise ease the transition to college. More than 300 faculty and staff members have volunteered to help out during each of the past two years, working with up to four or five freshmen.

Policies also are in place to help keep students who may not be adequately prepared for the rigors of college from taking on more than they can handle during the freshman year and creating an academic deficit that can be hard to overcome.

Students who enter MSU with less than a 2.5 high school GPA on core courses and who also have less than a 21 ACT score take a restricted course load during the first year, including mandatory study skills courses, and receive guidance from the University Academic Advising Center until they have successfully completed 30 credit hours. At that point, the students are free to declare a major.

Mississippi State will do its part to make college accessible and affordable for all of the state’s citizens and to help close the gap in education levels between Mississippi and most other states, says President Lee. “All of our missions, including research and outreach, are important, but the most sacred is learning—learning to earn in a rapidly changing workplace; learning to live as a mate, a parent, and as a responsible member of one’s community; and learning as a lifelong commitment,” he said.

“The university must strive to become an even more student-friendly provider of education, including increased offerings of distance learning opportunities, if we are to move closer to the national average in the percentage of our state’s population with at least a bachelor’s degree,” Lee said.

Less than 17 percent of Mississippi adults hold a bachelor’s degree or higher degree, compared with a national average of more than 24 percent, according to 2000 Census Bureau figures.

“This gap between our level of educational attainment and that of most other states contributes to a negative image of our Mississippi,” Lee said. “It makes it harder for us to attract tomorrow’s jobs, deprives our communities of more informed citizens, and robs our economy of the additional earnings that come with greater educational attainment. We have to close this gap, and do it with precision and quality.

With adequate resources and continued support, we can.”

For more information on MSU scholarships and financial aid, see www.sfa.msstate.edu/. For more information on admissions requirements, see www.msstate.edu/dept/admissions/. To recommend a prospective student to the Office of Enrollment Services, write to P.O. Box 6334, Mississippi State, MS 39762, send e-mail to lead@msstate.edu, or visit the Web site at www.enroll.msstate.edu and select the information request form.

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RA I ADKERSON keeps

investing in MSU’s

If Richard Adkerson could actually buy stock in Mississippi State University, he undoubtedly would. Since that’s not possible, he continues to support his alma mater passionately with his time and financial resources. In fact, Adkerson is considered by many to be an unofficial ambassador of the university, particularly of its accounting school, which he credits with much of his success.

Adkerson’s degree from Mississippi State opened a lot of doors for him and he proudly admits it. “I have always been a bulldog about my career,” he says. “When things haven’t run smoothly, I’ve worked hard, stayed focused and pressed onward. Eventually good things happen.”

He graduated from the university with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in business administration in 1969 and 1970, respectively. Later, he completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

Today, Adkerson is president and chief financial officer of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc., one of the world’s largest and lowest-cost producers of copper and gold. He also serves as co-chairman, president and chief executive officer of McMoRan Exploration Co., which explores for oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico and is developing an offshore liquefied natural gas facility. Overlooking the Superdome in New Orleans, his office has an amazing view, one he says reminds him that there is more to life than just the bottom line.

Adkerson returns to campus frequently. When possible, he attends board meetings, sporting events and other university-sponsored activities. He serves as treasurer and vice president-elect for the MSU Foundation board of directors

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FUTURE

BY AMY CAGLE

and serves on advisory boards for the College of Business and Industry and the Agribusiness Institute. He is a generous supporter of MSU academics and athletics.

An education from Mississippi State allowed Adkerson to gain recognition early in his career. After graduation, he received the Elijah Watts Sells Silver Medal for scoring the second-highest grades nationally on the CPA examination.

From 1976 to 1978, he was a Professional Accounting Fellow with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C., and a Presidential Exchange Fellow. He went on to become one of the youngest partners ever admitted in Arthur Andersen & Co., where he was managing director of the firm’s Worldwide Oil and Gas Industry Practice. In 1989, he joined Freeport-McMoRan, which had been one of his first clients after graduation in 1970. He established a partnership that now has spanned more than 30 years with J.R. “Jim Bob” Moffett, the legendary explorationist from the University of Texas and founder of McMoRan. Through the years, Adkerson’s influence continued to be felt at Mississippi State. In addition to personal contributions, he became involved in several fund-raising efforts to increase the university’s permanent endowment.

In 1987, Adkerson—along with H.D. “Von” Graham, a colleague and fellow alumnus—led a fund-raising effort honoring longtime accounting professor and accountant William A. Simmons. As a result, the Simmons Fund for Excellence endowment provides support for graduate student scholarships, salary enhancements for outstanding accounting faculty and faculty summer research grants and awards.

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Adkerson then helped pay tribute to Graham, who was retiring from Arthur Andersen, and through donations from colleagues and friends, established the H. Devon “Von” Graham Jr. Accounting Excellence Endowment Fund, which is used for faculty development activities, student enrichment programs and equipment purchases.

More recently, Adkerson established the Accounting Professor’s Endowed Fund and made possible a technologyenhanced classroom in McCool Hall dedicated in honor of his former professors, William A. Simmons, Dora R. Herring, Joseph F. Curry, R. Scott Wofford, William L. Cross, and the late William W. Littlejohn. He also participated in a fund in honor of the late Roland Jones, one of his former professors in the College of Business and Industry, who established the Professional Golf Management Program at Mississippi State.

“I had as good an education as possible in preparation for a career in accounting and I wanted to honor the individuals who were directly responsible,” he said.

Looking back, Adkerson remembers that he almost didn’t attend Mississippi State. He had won a National Merit Scholarship in engineering to North Carolina State. Eventually, MSU won out and Adkerson enrolled as an engineering major.

It was not until he spent a summer working in a school bus construction factory in his hometown of Kosciusko that he decided he definitely wanted to crunch numbers instead.

So he switched majors after Professor Littlejohn advised him to work toward an accounting degree if he wanted to pursue a career in business, explaining that “accounting is the language of business.” As an accounting student, Professor Simmons helped Adkerson get jobs at the Starkville livestock sales barn and at his public accounting firm. Adkerson credits the practical experience he gained while working as a student with the fast start he achieved in his career following graduation.

“The professors I had during my time at Mississippi State are some of the university’s finest. It was their quality of teaching and their enthusiasm that established perspective for me and motivated me to work hard,” he acknowledged.

Dr. Dora Herring returns the compliment. “Richard was one of the best accounting students our program has ever had—he was inquisitive and always possessed an entrepreneurial spirit,” she said. “His name is synonymous with the MSU accounting school. When the program has needed Richard Adkerson, he has been there.”

Adkerson’s most recent commitment to his alma mater is not in the form of a financial obligation—but rather a true gift of himself. He sits at the helm of a steering committee composed of other loyal alumni and friends who are assisting the MSU Foundation with securing leadership gifts for its major gifts campaign, now in the silent phase.

“Richard Adkerson was the logical choice to head the

steering committee for The Mississippi State Campaign based on his background, his dedicated support of many areas of the university and his genuine love for Mississippi State,” said Richard Armstrong, executive director of the MSU Foundation.

Through the “State of the Future” campaign, Adkerson hopes Mississippi State will reconnect with lost alumni and achieve objectives beyond the campaign’s goals. “The campaign will serve as a way of bringing the MSU family together and galvanizing support for the university,” he said.

The older of two boys, Adkerson was born in West Tennessee. While he was growing up, his family migrated to Mississippi and lived in Corinth, Kosciusko, Brookhaven, and Tupelo, where his father managed department stores.

During his senior year in high school, his father bought a retail business and the family settled in Kosciusko.

Adkerson enjoys athletics—in New Orleans, where he is active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and especially at Mississippi State. He is passionate about Bulldog athletics and shares a skybox at Davis Wade Stadium with MSU basketball coach Rick Stansbury.

“I’m happy to say that many of my family members are MSU fans—even my three boys, Clark, Tyler and Ryan— who did not attend Mississippi State,” Adkerson confessed.

“Until my mother died in 2002, we would gather for a huge Thanksgiving and play a highly competitive touch football game at Kosciusko’s high school Whippet stadium, then we’d all go to the Egg Bowl,” Adkerson said. “Even though my brother regrettably went to the University of Mississippi, my two nephews attended MSU. One nephew, Jeff, recently joined the staff of Mississippi State as program coordinator of the Professional Golf Management Program. Although my cousins in Tennessee are split between Bulldogs and Rebels, the Adkerson family is predominately wrapped in maroon and white.”

Adkerson also enjoys hunting and fishing and spends as much time as possible at wife Nancy’s rice farm in Southwest Louisiana and his company’s hunting camp on the King Ranch in South Texas. Although Nancy is a graduate of the University of Southwestern Louisiana, she now shares his love of the university and has developed a great appreciation for “all things Mississippi State.”

Although Adkerson is a busy man, he devotes time to causes he believes in. One cause Adkerson definitely holds dear to his heart is ensuring the future of Mississippi State.

“There’s just something about the Mississippi State University spirit that keeps me under its spell, and I hope through this campaign alumni and friends will step forward to support our university so that it can continue to provide quality education for its students.”

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health care crisis?

IS THERE AN

FOR MISSISSIPPI’S

By Maridith Walker Geuder | Photos by Clint Parish

future

Outreach, research efforts at Mississippi State help prescribe a new, healthier future Enjoying a recent weekend break at his parents’ home, Water Valley native and first-year medical student Ashley Harris said he always knew he wanted to become a doctor.

“My uncle is a family physician here,” said Harris, a biochemistry major who was admitted to the University of Mississippi medical school after three years at Mississippi State. “I always knew that I wanted to become a family practitioner and to return to Water Valley,” he said, acknowledging that even on a beautiful fall Saturday he was preparing to hit the books once more.

Harris got a leg up on his career when he was accepted following his junior year of high school into an intensive six-week summer program designed to cultivate future doctors.

Established in 1998, the Rural Medical Scholars program is sponsored by the Mississippi Rural

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Health Corps and directed by MSU Extension Service in collaboration with the state’s 15 community colleges.

“It’s not easy to get doctors to practice in rural areas,” said program coordinator Bonnie L. Carew. “This program identifies talented high school students who take two premed courses at Mississippi State and shadow area physicians.

They get a good look at the life of a doctor and begin to learn if they’re cut out for medicine.”

Up to 30 students may participate each year, and the initial 1998 class is just now eligible to attend medical school. “Rural Medical Scholars have at least a 25 ACT score and an initial interest in medicine,” Carew explained.

“This program helps them recognize the level of work they can do and teaches them what they should do to be competitive for medical school.”

Three students from the program’s first class were accepted into medical school in 2003. Ashley Harris was one of them.

Harris is a fairly rare commodity in Mississippi. In a survey recently conducted by MSU’s Social Science Research Center, sociologist Lynne Cossman assessed the physician labor force in Mississippi. Based on the results, Cossman concludes that “what we’re seeing is the beginning of a health care crisis.”

In her survey of 600 Mississippi physicians (there are approximately 4,400 statewide), she learned that half have considered leaving the state and half have considered retiring.

“This data is particularly disturbing since Mississippi, compared to the national Centers for Disease Control recommendations, is starting with a disadvantage in number of physicians serving the state’s population,” Cossman noted.

“We found that 50 of Mississippi’s 82 counties have too few physicians,” she said. “For primary care physicians, we’re looking at two counties with no physicians and 69 counties with too few.”

Add to this mix a state in which “there’s a Medicaid crisis and a malpractice crisis in conjunction with a fairly sick population,” and Lynne Cossman says that she’s alarmed. “I’m scared for myself—and for others.”

concern

A climate of concern

The health climate in Mississippi is, indeed, a cause for alarm. Among educators, health care providers, policy-makers, and the public at large, there’s a sense that Mississippians are at a higher-than-ever risk for disease and are at an alarming low point in access to many components of good health—from primary-care physicians to healthy foods to preventive medicine programs.

As reported in 2001 by the state Department of Health, Mississippi has: One of the highest rates of diabetes in the nation.

One of the highest rates of death from heart disease.

A lower-than-national average of breast cancer screenings in women over 50.

Lynne Cossman would add that in Mississippi the African-American infant mortality rate is 50 percent higher than that of whites. Nationally, infant mortality rates are often used as a measure of adequate health care.

That’s the significantly half-empty glass.

Arthur G. Cosby, a sociologist and director of the SSRC, agrees that Mississippi, like the nation as a whole, “faces major health care challenges.” He notes that the U.S. spends about 14 percent of its Gross National Product on healthcare.

“The nation simply can’t sustain this amount,” he said.

As a social scientist, he believes that “many of the very big challenges in health care deal with the consequences of our own behavior and the choices we make about issues such as diet and smoking. Our individual choices become profoundly important to health.”

If there’s a silver lining in the current health care climate, it’s that recognizing a problem provides a starting point to its solution. At Mississippi State, the faculty members who direct research and outreach programs are putting tremendous energy into helping reverse trends and improve the potential for health in the state and beyond.

behavior

Can you have good health with that behavior?

Three years ago, Art Cosby came to believe that social scientists had a real opportunity to make an impact on health.

“If the mix of behaviors and lifestyles influences health, then we see the chance to make interventions that help people become healthier. We believe that we can make a difference.”

To consolidate that effort, the SSRC formed the Rural Health Safety and Security Institute, with major funding from the federal Office of Rural Health Policy. Co-directed by Cosby with psychology professor Elisabeth Wells-Parker and sociology professor Martin Levin, the institute is providing research-based data for decision-making, creating innovative partnerships to improve the opportunities for better health, and seeking to identify the effects of particular social and psychological behaviors on health outcomes.

More recently, the SSRC has established the Mississippi Health Policy Research Center, a partnership with the Jackson-based Bower Foundation. Co-directed by Cosby and

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research studies Ellen Jones, a former state Department of Health division director, the new center has a mission of conducting research on the most critical health policy issues affecting the state.

“We’re not making policy,” Jones emphasized, “but providing reliable information to help make people aware of the policy options that are available.”

She noted that “there’s been great progress made in improving life spans and in clinical care. What’s been missing is the link between research and practice—the ability to translate improved technologies into programs. We’re trying to bridge that gap.”

A policy decision laboratory recently conducted by the center allowed 25 leaders in the Mississippi health care industry to identify their biggest concerns. Their list: access to health services, financing Medicaid, insurance/un-insurance, and health issues that include obesity, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

“We’re letting policy-makers tell us what’s most relevant,” Jones said. “We’ll be providing what we think is a missing link: evidence-based research that becomes a scaffolding for good decisions about allocations of resources and programs.”

desert

It’s a desert out there

Specific projects under way at the SSRC illustrate the variety and complexity of the behavioral and social variables that lead to good or bad health. Many are inter-related.

Sociologist Troy C. Blanchard recently became interested in how readily available “healthy” foods are to most Mississippians. Using U.S. Census data and geographic information systems software, he and a colleague at Cornell University developed maps that illustrate the location of large 18

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retail grocery outlets nationwide.

He discovered that for many in the United States—and especially for many Mississippians seeking healthy foods—there’s a phenomenon he describes as a “food desert.”

It means that for many consumers, varied, affordable selections of healthy foods literally are out of reach.

With the proliferation of retail supercenters designed to draw consumers from several surrounding counties, residents of extremely rural areas often find themselves high and dry when it comes to grocery shopping, he explains.

“Supercenter locations actually become a disadvantage to rural, poor, and disabled folks because shopping at a large center with ‘healthy’ food choices may involve a long commute.” He believes that supercenter locations have significant policy implications for health and social services.

His study revealed, for instance, that: Residents of the American West have the least access to supermarkets and supercenters, followed by those in the South and Midwest; In Mississippi alone, more than 440,000 people—15.5 percent of the state’s population—live in areas considered “low access”; Persons living in counties with 10,000-plus cities are more likely to have shopping access than those living in counties with smaller cities; and Access drops dramatically for counties without 2,500resident cities and not adjacent to a major metropolitan area.

“In at least half of all non-metropolitan counties not located adjacent to a large city, no resident has ready access to a supermarket or supercenter,” Blanchard said.

More recently, he’s begun to focus more narrowly on the relationship between the food desert and fruit and vegetable intake, especially as they relate to obesity.

cognition

Cognition and chemotherapy

With a $70,000 National Institutes of Health grant, psychologists at the SSRC are taking one step toward understanding chemotherapy’s long-term effects, especially on women.

Their study, involving a group of approximately 100 women, seeks to determine if chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer have lasting effects on cognitive abilities. Half of the women enrolled in the study have had the treatments; half haven’t.

The MSU team is comparing performances as measured by a series of standardized instruments including a test of driving-related abilities developed by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

“We chose breast cancer patients because of the consistency in regimens for chemotherapy,” said Carolyn Adams-Price, principal investigator and associate professor of psychology. Study participants—recruited with assistance from North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo and a Starkville-area clinic—are being tested at MSU and at NMCC. “Research has shown that chemotherapy can cause lasting cognitive deficits, but we don’t know if those deficits are associated with problems in everyday functioning,” explained project collaborator Elisabeth Wells-Parker of the SSRC. Some deficits found in chemotherapy patients may also be associated with age, a factor the researchers also will consider. To find out, they are employing the UAB-developed measure of visual information processing known as the Useful Field of View, or UFOV. “Using an interactive computer format, UFOV measures the ability to pay attention to things around you and is an excellent predictor of driving capabilities in older adults,” explained Adams-Price.

Because driving is a common task, the MSU team is adapting the approach to learn if cognitive skills required to drive are affected by chemotherapy. With that information, they hope to significantly expand the scope of the study.

Their work will provide additional information to help women make informed decisions about chemotherapy.

not strike some as a reason for alarm, the problem if left untreated can set the stage for a lifetime of poor health and its related social and financial burdens.

Research scientists Linda H. Southward and Elisabeth Wells-Parker believe something can be done about it.

Coordinator of the SSRC’s Family and Children’s Research Unit, Southward is helping lead a five-year project in 15 Delta daycare centers under the auspices of the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

“Based on emerging research from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, we saw early intervention as an important effort,” she said.

Southward has established a continuing collaboration with the University of Rochester’s Center for Child Health Research, an arm of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Other major pediatric dentists in Mississippi and around the nation also are consulting to help answer a basic question about children and oral health: at what age can childhood interventions for dental caries be most effective?

“A child’s first tooth erupts at about six months, according to the academy. Children have most of their teeth by the age of three. Their question is how risk assessment works for different age groups,” Southward explained.

In collaboration with the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s School of Dentistry, the MSU team has helped arrange site visits by UMC dentists, who are conducting assessments of approximately 400 children ranging from 6 months to 5 years old.

Assessments are designed to learn more about the child’s oral history, as well as to gather information about patterns of eating and drinking that may contribute to tooth decay. In the process, caregivers also are being exposed to the importance of good dental health.

“We’re conducting this research with a population that we believe to be at high risk,” said Southward, whose MSU work is supported by the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. “If we can demonstrate effective interventions here, we believe the program can be transferred and can have major implications for Mississippi and the nation.”

Addressing the ‘silent’ epidemic

Smoking it out

It’s the No. 1 reason for missed school days and five times more common than asthma in children. The phenomenon that has been described by the U.S. Surgeon General as a “silent” national epidemic presents a major health concern, particularly in the Mississippi Delta.

While tooth decay—also known as dental caries—may

For the past four years, social psychologist Robert McMillen has quietly been building a reputation as the “go-to” person for data about smoking behaviors and public opinion. His research into the “social climate” for tobacco use provides objective data that can help inform policy and resource decisions.

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That’s especially significant in Mississippi, which in 1997 led the nation in a pioneering lawsuit against cigarette makers that resulted in a settlement of more than $3 billion for the state over the next two decades. A portion of the settlement has been earmarked for education and awareness efforts through organizations such as the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi.

McMillen now is in his fifth year of collecting data in Mississippi about behaviors such as teen smoking, allowing smoking in the home, support for restricting smoking at public venues such as restaurants, and the public’s attitude about tax increases on tobacco products. He’s in the fourth year of collecting the same data nationally.

He’s seen some major changes since he first began the social climate surveys. “In 1998, the prevalence of smoking was 30.3 percent among high school students,” he noted. “By 2002, that number in Mississippi was 23.1 percent, lower than that in the nation as a whole.” Overall, he said, his surveys have shown a 24 percent drop in high school students smoking.

And, overall, there are significant changes in general attitudes and behaviors, his surveys show. “As a state, we’ve seen an increase in more public, smoke-free spaces. That’s not prescribed at the policy level, but is a grass-roots response,” he said. “We’ve seen Mississippians becoming more aware of the dangers of secondhand smoke, and we’ve seen more people banning smoking in their homes.”

His surveys are important because they provide unbiased data to allow the tobacco control effort in Mississippi to improve and to reach at-risk populations, McMillen believes.

“We’ve been able to identify issues that have broad public support, where success might be likely. We believe our data is helping show where resources are most effectively spent.”

“We found that the healthy places are persistently healthy over time, and the unhealthy places likewise are persistently unhealthy,” Ron Cossman said. In other words, the health of regions do not appear affected by ethnic makeup, outmigration or other demographic factors even over decades.

Several clusters emerged as persistently unhealthy: the Southeast, including the Piedmont areas of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama; the Mississippi River Delta Region, centered on both sides of the Mississippi River; the shared border area of West Virginia and Kentucky; the extreme northern Midwest (the Upper Peninsula of Michigan); and four large-area counties in the mountain western state of Nevada.

At the other end of the scale, two major areas remained persistently healthy over 30 years (as reflected in mortality rates): a massive cluster of counties in the Northern Great Plains (southern Minnesota, northern Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, South Dakota, and North Dakota); and a second cluster in southern Utah and northern Arizona.

“We’ve answered one question,” Ron Cossman said, “but now we have a host of others. Now we’ll start to pull back layers to see potential causes. Our next step will be to look at underlying diseases causing death by looking at particular drugs prescribed for chronic illnesses.”

The Cossmans will secure prescription data at the county level for cardiovascular disease; respiratory diseases such as bronchitis, asthma, and pneumonia; and diabetes, among others. “We want to map chronic illnesses and compare to maps of death rates to see if there’s a connection,” they explain. “Ultimately, we’d like to do field work in healthy and unhealthy areas to talk about environment and other factors that may contribute to health.”

Can where you live be hazardous to your health?

Delving deeper into Delta health

In a word, the answer seems to be “yes.” The unanswered question is “why?” Medical sociologist Lynne Cossman and medical geographer Ron Cossman pooled their research skills and, using sophisticated geographic information systems technology, mapped the best and the worst places in the nation for health.

To do that, they started with the worst-possible health outcome: death. “We chose mortality rates because this information is publicly available at the county level for the nation as a whole,” Ron Cossman explained. With mortality rates age-adjusted at the county level, the study compared county-level data over six five-year time periods between 1968-97.

With some of the state’s worst health outcomes, the Mississippi Delta is the focus of a three-year-old coalition generated by initial support from Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.).

“Senator Cochran had an interest in developing an infrastructure to coordinate efforts at improving health in the Mississippi Delta,” explained Vance H. Watson, interim vice president for agriculture, forestry and veterinary medicine and MAFES director.

The focus was not to be on health care services, but on issues of research, education and access, Watson emphasized.

The resulting coalition targets 21 Mississippi Delta counties and involves MSU, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Delta State University, Mississippi Valley State

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outreach programs University, and the Delta Council. Known as the Delta Health Initiative, the effort—now funded by the federal Department of Health and Human Services—is directed by board members from each of the participating institutions.

Additional collaborators are the Mississippi Medical Association, the Mississippi Hospital Association, the Aaron E. Henry Community Health Center, and the Mississippi Delta Area Health Education Center.

Among participants contributing a specific expertise: UMC is leading an effort to work with practitioners to identify chronic disease patients who should get specialized attention, such as diabetics who may need dietary counseling.

Delta State is focusing on an effort to expand the number of nurses in the region.

Valley State will coordinate a health and wellness program for the region.

MSU is bringing its expertise to bear on medical issues related to agriculture.

“The Agromedicine Program is a cooperative agreement between the MSU Extension Service and the University of Mississippi Medical Center,” explained principal investigator Beverly R. Howell.

Nearly one-third of all jobs in Mississippi involve agriculture, which is recognized as one of the most dangerous occupations in the nation—second only to ground mining in accidents and injury, Howell explained. The potential effects of agricultural pesticides also are a concern, especially accidental poisonings.

The agromedicine program complements ongoing education and outreach programs through Extension in areas that include pesticide application training, food safety and childhood environmental health, Howell explained.

Under the new effort, UMC will conduct epidemiological

studies that track the occurrence, outcomes and trends of agricultural illness and injury in Mississippi. “This will be the first time such a database has been created,” Howell noted.

Additionally, MSU will provide an agromedicine specialist to develop and deliver targeted educational programs, establish a help-line, develop a Web site for interactive information about agricultural illness and injury, and develop special programming such as a planned environmental safety and health summit.

“Through this program, we want to increase awareness and education in the Delta about agricultural-related illnesses and strategies to prevent them,” Howell said.

doctor

And now, is there a doctor in the house?

Research and outreach programs to help prevent illnesses and encourage healthy behaviors are an important part of Mississippi State’s contribution to the future of health in the state. Education of the next generation of medical doctors, nurses and biomedical researchers is another.

In 2002, of the 109 students accepted for admission to the University of Mississippi Medical School, 22 were from Mississippi State.

Ashley Harris, the Rural Medical Scholar and biochemistry major, feels fortunate to be pursuing his lifelong dream.

Through an agreement with Water Valley’s hospital, his education is paid for and he’s committed to returning home to Yalobusha County, where three longtime physicians are about to retire. There’s a need in his community, and he’s preparing himself to fill it.

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” he said.

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soaring soaring

CLINT PARISH

BY PHIL HEARN

THEY SAY IF YOU GIVE A MAN ENOUGH ROPE, HE MAY HANG HIMSELF—BUT IN THE CASE OF GEORGE BENNETT, HE’D PROBABLY

JUST GO SOARING.

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THEY

THE RETIRED former director of Mississippi State’s Raspet Flight Research Laboratory started flying gliders as a young high school student in the early 1950s, and he’s still winging it after all these years.

A Booneville native whose family moved to Starkville in 1951, Bennett’s youthful interest in model aircraft led to a passion for sailplanes. So, he joined the fledgling Mississippi State College Gliding Club as a teenager in 1953 and has been gliding through life ever since.

“We had one little glider (a Schweitzer 119 model), very primitive, almost like a Wright Brothers flyer,” Bennett recalled, noting this year marks the 100th anniversary of the historic, first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C. “The gliders in the 1950s were heavy, wooden with a steel-tube fuselage, open-cockpit, single-place, and auto-towed.”

Auto-towed? Somebody get a rope!

“They pulled them with a car (notably, a 1946 Ford taxi) and a 400-foot piece of rope, and away you went,” he explained. “The club charged 25 cents a tow and would run ’em down the runway” at Starkville’s Bryan Field airport.

“But it was done progressively,” Bennett continued.

“First, they just dragged you along the ground. You kept the wings level, but you didn’t get off the ground. You’d just keep going higher and higher, and pretty soon you were flying a pattern at about 400 feet.

“Then, you’d get a rope that was about 1,000 feet long,” he said, remembering the late Guy Storer was an early instructor. “If you picked up an updraft, you could go right on up to a cloud base at 3,000 to 4,000 feet and stay up there for awhile. There were no radios, so Guy used hand signals—but we managed to keep from killing ourselves.”

Bennett’s survival was a good thing—not only for Bennett, but for the Raspet flight laboratory, now directed by former test pilot and retired flight operations company president David Lawrence, and for Mississippi State University’s rich history in aeronautics and aerospace engineering.

The Raspet lab’s world-class reputation as an innovative flight research and development facility over the past halfcentury earned the program recognition this fall as a National Landmark of Soaring, one of only 13 such sites established nationwide since 1980 by the National Soaring Museum. Soaring luminaries from MSU and elsewhere gathered for the dedication ceremony at Bryan Field Nov. 1.

The university flight lab is named for pioneer aerophysicist August Raspet, who was recruited to the campus in 1947 by then-School of Engineering Dean Harold von Neufville Flinsch because of Raspet’s emerging national reputation as a top research scientist and sailplane enthusiast. Flinsch

created the department of aerophysics for Raspet, a “coal miner’s son from Pennsylvania,” and his independent soaring research.

The department of aeronautical engineering had existed since it was separated from mechanical engineering in 1934.

The department name was changed to aerospace engineering in 1962, and the engineering school gained college status in 1964. In 1967, aerophysics was merged with aerospace engineering to create the department of aerophysics and aerospace engineering. In 1978, aerophysics was dropped from the name of the department, administrative home of the Raspet lab.

UPDRAFT

“IF YOU PICKED UP AN , YOU COULD GO RIGHT ON UP TO A CLOUD BASE AT 3,000 TO AND STAY UP THERE FOR AWHILE. THERE WERE , SO GUY USED HAND SIGNALS—BUT WE MANAGED TO KEEP FROM .”

4,000 FEET

NO RADIOS KILLING OURSELVES

According to a department history, August Raspet studied the aeronautics of bird flight by trailing buzzards in a glider as they soared over the outskirts of Starkville. He believed an investigation of low-speed flight demonstrated by the birds would help him improve soaring performance.

Mel Swartzberg was Raspet’s assistant during this period.

Their research efforts already had begun to attract widespread attention in 1950 when Raspet shifted the focus of his investigations to boundary layer control, described by one historian as “promotion of natural laminar flow and the reduction of various surface roughness elements, such as gaps at panel edges or protruding fixtures, to decrease drag.”

Bennett simply called it: “The air flow over the wing near its surface.”

Raspet’s research work attracted national attention and later was extended to the development of powered aircraft, including short take-off and landing planes such as the MARVEL (Mississippi Aerophysics Research Vehicle with Extended Latitude) in 1957 and its sequel, the Marvellette, built for the Army in 1959. Raspet also helped the Army develop its first all-composite fiberglass plane, the Phoenix, in 1958.

Among sailplane enthusiasts attracted to Starkville by Raspet’s national reputation was Californian Dick Johnson, Internationally known as the “father of human-powered flight,” MacCready was named the Hall of Science and A Fall 2003

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MSU DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

LEFT David Lawrence, left, and George Bennett examine a modern, twoplace glider. TOP A 1946 Ford taxi, utilizing a 400-foot rope prepares to launch a Schweitzer 119 sailplane skyward during MSU Glider Club activities in the early 1950s. Guy Storer, one of the early instructors, keeps an eye on the glider from the back seat of the taxi.

RUSS HOUSTON

Exploration’s Engineer of the Century. He delivered the keynote address at an evening banquet that followed the Raspet soaring site dedication.

Tragically, a crash at Bryan Field in April 1960 claimed the lives of Raspet and passenger Lowell L. Meyer, an aircraft corporation representative, as Raspet demonstrated a Piper Super Cub. It was a powered airplane equipped with the boundary layer control equipment the pilot had worked so hard to perfect.

“He was demonstrating a high-lift airplane to a guy and they found them at the end of the runway,” Bennett recalled.

“Somehow, there was a landing accident.”

Mississippi legislators, stunned by Raspet’s death, soon appropriated $500,000 to create the Raspet Flight Research Laboratory, which officially opened its doors in 1964 at the same airport where Raspet had died.

Joe Cornish followed Raspet as flight lab director and was succeeded in order by Sean Roberts in 1964, Ernest J. Cross in1974, Bennett in 1979, and Lawrence in 2001.

“AUGUST RASPET WAS GOD among the technical soaring people,” said Bennett, who earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering at MSU in 1959 and returned to Starkville in 1969 after completing a master’s degree at the University of Illinois. “He had an international reputation in drag reduction (research)…and essentially started engineering research at Mississippi State.”

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successfully employing modern composite materials was greatly enhanced in 1986. That was the year the research and development arm of Japan’s Honda Motor Co. signed a major, multi-year contract with the university to design and assemble large aircraft components from composites. In addition to millions of dollars in research, Honda built and equipped a modern 50,000-square-foot laboratory adjacent to the Raspet lab that later was donated to MSU. The lab currently has a fleet of 10 aircraft.

THE RESOURCES of MSU’s Bagley College of Engineering, particularly Raspet lab, were major factors in the recent decision of American Eurocopter Corp., the world’s largest helicopter manufacturer, to locate its new U.S. plant just 13 miles away at the Golden Triangle Regional Airport.

Wayne Bennett serves as dean of the college and Tony Vizzini heads up the department of aerospace engineering.

Lawrence, a former Air Force pilot and retired president of Tracor Flight Systems Inc., said the MSU flight lab currently is conducting research on a half-dozen projects ranging from development of composite materials for modular bridges to developing a prototype unmanned aerial vehicle that can carry remote infrared sensors on a variety of military or other missions. Thomas Edwards is the lab’s research director.

“For guys like George and me, it’s kind of blasphemy to talk about an airplane that doesn’t have a pilot in it, but that’s where the (research) money is and that’s where we

MSU DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

CLINT PARISH

gliding

gliding

have to go,” said Lawrence, a graduate of St. Louis University and Mississippi State. With an aerospace industry career spanning more than 35 years, he has logged some 2,000 soaring hours.

“SOARING IS A SPORT,” said Bennett, whose main career interest over the years has been in managing, designing and building airplanes. For him, “Flying is a hobby.”

“It’s a very expensive sport,” added Lawrence, noting that sailplanes cost a minimum of about $30,000 and can range up to $250,000, depending on design features. The MSU lab owns several towing aircraft and a two-place, jetpowered sailplane, the Caproni A-21J. Lawrence also owns his own glider and the club has three sailplanes.

The plaque officially marking the national soaring landmark site—the only such site in the Southeast—pays homage to August Raspet for his “pioneering drag reduction and suction boundary layer research.” It also honors Dick Johnson, who lives in Dallas, Texas, for soaring achievements in his RJ-5 glider. The sailplane achieved a remarkable glide ratio of 40 to1, meaning it could glide a distance of 40 miles from an altitude of one mile. Most sailplanes at the time were achieving a glide ratio of only 25 to 1.

Johnson and another research engineer who worked for Raspet in the early days, Bruce Carmichael, were instrumental in helping obtain the national soaring landmark designation.

“Carmichael was the guy who really figured out what the 40:1 gliding ratio meant,” said Bennett. “That’s almost

Gus Raspet in the Eppler Phoenix, a revolutionary sail plane

level. You don’t know you’re going down.”

In 2001, Johnson assisted in the purchase of two modern, fiberglass gliders for the MSU Soaring Club, which had been inactive for several years. Club members now fly weekly under the instruction and guidance of Bennett and MSU aerospace engineering instructor Tom Hannigan. Perhaps not surprisingly, Johnson remains an active glider and soars occasionally in Starkville.

“As a matter of fact, Dick Johnson came out here the other day and flew our single-place airplane for over five hours,” Lawrence said during an August interview. “He put a sandwich in the back of the airplane and up he went.”

Other glider club members from the early days who still fly, according to Bennett, are William Page, Tom Stennis, Tom Hardy, Charles Cliett, and August Raspet’s son David.

BENNETT AND LAWRENCE said the flight lab currently is trying to help Californian Danny Howell develop a “secondgeneration, ultra-light” glider that would be constructed from high-performance carbon fiber rather than fiberglass. The technology will reduce the weight of an empty glider from 400-500 pounds to about 150-170 pounds.

“When somebody comes along with a neat idea, you help them out because in the end, it will come back to you,” said Bennett. “Our point is to be the catalyst in this business. Our business is to help people get there first.”

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D state bar

Dornan tackled tough issues as

PRESIDENT

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BY KAY FIKE JONES

When Donald C. Dornan Jr. assumed the yearlong position of Mississippi Bar Association president in 2002, he set out to improve the public’s perception of the legal profession.

THE MISSISSIPPI STATE ALUMNUS (B.A. ’74) and Biloxi resident said he decided to meet the profession’s sometimes less-than-stellar image head on by providing accurate information about the good things done by attorneys. He decided to conduct the campaign by writing letters to state newspaper editors and volunteering for media interviews.

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“The image problem involves only a small number of lawyers,” he said. “Most in Mississippi are good professionals and good people, and they want to do the right thing.”

As bar president, Dornan also became involved in another of the profession’s smoldering issues—suicides. He learned that attorneys are more likely to experience depression than members of other professions, and that lawyers die by suicide at twice the rate of the general population.

Though a relatively small state in terms of population, Mississippi was not immune to the situation and Dornan said he determined that a concerted effort would be required to help call attention to the problem. One way was the regular column the MBA president writes for the organization’s bimonthly magazine, “The Mississippi Lawyer.”

To emphasize the problems with depression and accompanying behaviors such as stress and substance abuse, Dornan chose to devote an entire issue of the magazine to

PROFILE those concerns. “It was very unusual to devote an entire magazine to this subject and we received very positive feedback,” he said. “It allowed people to see the issues in print and brought a higher level of attention to them.”

The effort also helped bring additional attention to the state’s Lawyers and Judges Assistance Program, which provides help for its own through meetings and recovery groups. The program treats lawyers and judges experiencing difficulty with depression, stress, or alcohol and other drug addiction.

Following publication of the “Mississippi Lawyer” issue on suicide prevention, officials at LJAP reported an increase in telephone calls and referrals, Dornan said.

Donald C. Dornan Jr. is the first Mississippi State graduate to preside over the Mississippi Bar Association in at least 30 or so years.

Born and raised in Lowndes County, he graduated from Columbus’ Lee High School in 1970 and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from MSU in 1974. He fondly remembers political science faculty members Tip Allen, Thomas H. Handy and P.C. McLaurin, who he calls “positive influences.”

“I am most proud of the renewed emphasis on the impairment issue because it’s on a human level,” he added. “It’s a positive development and will continue to be.”

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AS IF THE TWO PREVIOUS CHALLENGES weren’t enough for a one-year term, Dornan also helped move the state bar to a more active role in the debate over specific legal issues.

“For instance, we stood up and defended judges who came under criticisms, since they are not allowed, by law, to defend themselves,” he explained. Among other topics were advertising and civil justice reform.

“In taking these and other positions, we always attempted to do so in a balanced and well-grounded fashion.”

While Dornan said he enjoyed his year as president and the previous year as president-elect, his MBA duties left little time for his specialties in civil litigation, arbitration and mediation. Now back full time at the Dornan Law Office, the Columbus native said he can begin to appreciate just how much his bar association service meant.

“It certainly was a great honor and a great experience,” he said. “I also enjoyed meeting people and colleagues I might not have known otherwise.”

He added that “giving the commencement address at the University of Mississippi Law School graduation was a real highlight. The depth of the experience exceeded expectations and seeing young lawyers taking the oath was very rewarding, very positive and uplifting.”

Dornan earned a law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1976 and has been practicing on the Mississippi Gulf Coast since 1977.

Prior to assuming the MBA leadership mantle, he was president of the Harrison County Bar Association and the Russell-Blass-Walker chapter of the American Inns of Court. He is a fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation and was inducted into the American Board of Trial Advocates in 1998.

He also is a member of the Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association, Gulf Coast Law Institute, American Arbitration Association, and the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution.

He is certified as a civil trial advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.

Dornan’s connections to his alma mater remain strong. He is a member of the Mississippi State Alumni Association, Bulldog Club and MSU Gulf Coast Booster Club.

He is the father of Diana, a University of Mississippi graduate, and Patrick, who recently completed a master of business administration degree at MSU.

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DR. J. CHARLES LEE officially became Mississippi State’s 17th president in a Sept. 5 public program that celebrated both his investiture and the university’s 125th anniversary.

In his address to an audience of nearly 2,000, Lee said continuing experiences over his time as chief executive “have confirmed that the expectations of our university are enormous, which is appropriate, given our talents, the needs of our state and the level of resources entrusted to us.

“The message is clear,” he added. “We need to raise our expectations of ourselves. Having confidence in ourselves is the key to winning the faith of others.”

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THE NORTH CAROLINA NATIVE and one-time MSU forest resources dean reaffirmed the land-grant institution’s commitment to recruiting both the best and brightest students and “all others who have the shown the desire, determination and ability to take advantage of the university’s offerings.” He said the state can’t afford to lose its youth to other states’ academic institutions.

From 1978 to 1983, Lee led the then-School of Forest Resources, while also serving as associate director of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.

Before returning to Mississippi State in 1999, Lee held a series of major administrative positions at Texas A&M University. His duties there included leadership of the forest sciences department, dean of agriculture and life sciences, director of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, and deputy chancellor of the multi-campus system. He also served for 18 months as interim executive vice president and

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DR. J. CHARLES LEE

provost of the land-grant institution in College Station.

From 1999 until his interim appointment as Mississippi State’s leader, he was the university’s vice president for agriculture, forestry and veterinary medicine.

FOLLOWING IS THE COMPLETE TEXT OF HIS REMARKS. I am both honored and humbled by this ceremony, the original music composition, the presence of relatives and many life-long friends, and the many other efforts to make this a very special day. Thank you. I am also appreciative of so many expressions of confidence in my ability, none more than that of Gov. Musgrove, Lt. Gov. Tuck, other local, state, and national elected officials, President Colbert and other members of the Board of Trustees, Commissioner Potter, and my special friends, Leo Seal, Josh Blades, Walter Diehl, Jerry Gaston and Will Carpenter. Thank you all for your very generous comments. And I also want to thank the dedi-

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cated men and women of Mississippi State, those located on this campus, in Meridian, and across the state, whose interdependent roles link with our students to make the Bulldog family. Almost 500 hundred of our faculty, staff and students recently volunteered a half day to prune, rake and spread mulch on our campus landscape. A special thanks to each of you for your dedication to our institution, and our prayers are with Physical Plant electrician Randy Bouchillon, who was severely burned in an electrical fire yesterday here on campus.

We are here today because of our shared interest in the FUTURE OF THIS UNIVERSITY and this state. Mississippi State University has been opening the DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY and improving the quality of life FOR THE PEOPLE of this state for 125 years.

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For me, this event is more momentous because of the tremendous opportunities that have come my way over the past 20 months and how these events have influenced my vision of this university’s future. These experiences have also confirmed that the expectations of our university are enormous, which is appropriate, given our talents, the needs of our state, and the level of resources entrusted to us. The message is clear—we need to raise our expectations of ourselves. Having confidence in ourselves is the key to winning the faith of others.

Now, I encourage you to think briefly with me about the people who have brought us to this 125th year and the potential of this university that is often, but not solely, known as the “People’s University.”

Mississippi A&M, like its sister land-grant institutions, was chartered to provide higher education for the masses.

The demonstration of useful agricultural and mechanical techniques to our citizens, including youth, came with the charter, and the popular “Corn Clubs” sponsored in the early 1900s by our fifth president, William Hall Smith, later evolved into the nation’s 4-H program.

Arts and humanities were not initially welcomed on land-grant campuses, as was reflected in the statewide controversy that followed 14th President Jim McComas’s announcement of plans to build a fine and performing arts center on this campus—this despite society’s continuing need for broadly-educated graduates who understand themselves, as well as their civic and professional duties.

Pat and Charles Lee For our institution, the assimilation of women as students was more traumatic than for most. Women were banished in 1912 for nearly two decades after a faculty-student confrontation that ultimately required intervention by our governor. Today 48 percent of our students are women.

If the issue of women’s role in the institution was volatile, the uneventful admission of the first AfricanAmerican student in 1965 continues to typify the harmony of our university. MSU today ranks 61st among all universities in awarding bachelor’s degrees to African-Americans, and enrolls the highest proportion of African-American students in any traditionally white land-grant university.

Though all of our missions are important, the most sacred is learning—learning to earn in a rapidly changing workplace; learning to live as a mate, a parent, and as a responsible member of one’s community; and learning as a lifelong commitment.

Our first challenge in learning is to meet a growing array of student needs. We are asked to accommodate much variation in the levels of knowledge and preparation for college among today’s students, whose ages range from 16 to 70-plus. Even so, we are encouraged by our rising retention and graduation rates. Some aspiring students are unable to enroll on a campus for reasons of work, location, or family.

We must continue to offer those students educational opportunities and strive to become an even more student-friendly provider of education if we are to move closer to the national average in the percentage of our state’s population with at least a bachelor’s degree.

This gap between our level of educational attainment and that of most other states contributes to a negative image of our Mississippi. It makes it harder for us to attract tomorrow’s jobs, deprives our communities of more informed citizens, and robs our economy of the additional earnings that come with greater educational attainment. We have to close this gap, and do it with precision and quality. With adequate resources and continued support, we can.

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MISSISSIPPI STATE is committed to both access and academic excellence. We seek the best and brightest students, and all others who have shown the DESIRE, DETERMINATION AND ABILITY to take advantage of our university’s offerings. This commitment to providing educational opportunity hopefully will be MATCHED BY COMMITTED students, lest our efforts to help the less motivated impede the progress of those who are more serious about their studies. Our STATE CANNOT AFFORD to drive its most talented and determined youth out of state to realize their expectations of a COLLEGE EDUCATION .

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We also want to ensure the relevance of our curriculum to how we live our lives. The cheating, deception and other unacceptable behaviors that have been revealed in public and corporate scandals in recent years have undermined our faith in fair play. All of these modern day scoundrels have one thing in common—they are graduates of American colleges and universities, though I hasten to add that they represent only a fraction of all our graduates. What is our culpability for those who have gone astray? Did we give them the skills they needed, while failing to convey a sense of the responsibility that goes with such gifts? One’s college experiences should play a role in cultivating character, self-discipline, and empathy for others. We need to do more to ensure that our students have ample opportunities to develop those traits.

On another front, our political discourse is becoming much less civil and the level of voter participation continues to decline. Here again, these apathetic citizens include university graduates. Clearly, we need to agree on a cohesive and relevant curriculum that reminds our graduates of their civic responsibilities as members of a participatory democracy. Freedom really isn’t free.

Our second major challenge in learning is to provide an education that helps our graduates succeed in an ever more competitive job market across the region and beyond, where our graduates have to compete.

While the costs to the student of attending MSU are among the lowest in the Southeastern Conference, our state’s cyclical financial support is making it difficult to recruit and

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retain exceptional faculty, to adequately support programs that increase retention and to provide the cutting-edge instructional technology and laboratory equipment to ensure that our graduates remain competitive. This concern is aggravated by the decisions of more and more major employers to become increasingly selective about institutions from which they will recruit new employees.

The future financing of higher education needs more attention from our policymakers and citizens who understand the impact of their decisions on the prosperity of the next generation. Given the educational status of our population and the number of first generation college students in our state, I hope that our leaders will continue to see adequate support of higher education as a major investment in the future of our state, as well as in the welfare of its sons and daughters. And those who benefit from higher education must become more passionate advocates of equal or better opportunities for the next generation.

Even with generous public support and with the tuition paid by students and parents, we in the university have to make major adjustments if we are to succeed. We are beginning to assess our learning outcomes to ensure the educational value for our students. We have to bring more focus to some of our research efforts, modernize our physical plant and become more efficient in other areas. We are now implementing a performance-based budgeting system to ensure that we make the best use of the resources available.

MSU has eliminated or removed from state funds more than 400 positions since 1999.

We are currently planning for our university’s next capital campaign. The theme will be “State of the Future.”

The theme recognizes that private support is a necessity for us, and we are fortunate to have generous donors among our alumni and friends, many of whom are here today. All of them, some of whom left Mississippi long ago to pursue career opportunities, are now giving back to the people of

this state through their support of Mississippi State University.

While learning is our most critical role, institutions such as this one have other major responsibilities. MSU has a great legacy in stimulating job creation, from the pioneering research in fertilizers that led to Mississippi Chemical Corp., to providing the research and extension base that spawned the farm raised catfish industry, to providing start-up assistance to Viking Range Corp., to helping attract manufacturers such as Nissan, American Eurocopter, and others. But today we are responding to new challenges brought on by changes in public education, changes in the structure and scope of agriculture and forest resources, global challenges to our manufacturing and technology dominance, and the continuing plagues of illiteracy, poor health and the despair of thousands who are unprepared for today’s workplace—much less tomorrow’s.

Several recent analyses of land-grant universities confirm our own assessments that we need to be more broadly engaged in extending the resources of the university to assist families, communities, public education, and particularly business and industry.

Consequently, we are aligning our Division of Continuing Education with the Mississippi State University Extension Service to make better use of our distance learning technologies and other shared services for off-campus students. This will also enable us to join with business and other partners to better support public education through our county extension network.

Within the next few weeks, we will create an industrial outreach division to support our state’s manufacturing sector.

And we must find better ways of recognizing and rewarding our faculty members who are truly effective in outreach. Our Meridian Campus is growing and will have an important role in our expanded outreach effort.

We are continuing to build on what is widely recognized as the best partnership in the nation between a traditionally white land-grant university and a historically black one.

Mississippi State and Alcorn State University are now sharing resources by jointly staffing Extension and 4-H offices in the southwestern region of the state, and we are bringing more joint degree programs online with community colleges and several other educational partners. We also share another major partnership that targets the special leadership needs of community colleges, which are a very important part of our higher education system.

RESEARCH is the other major component of our mission. We have DRAMATICALLY ENHANCED the stature of our university and this state in our rise to be 57th among public universities in research funding. NEW KNOWLEDGE is the foundation for most new industry. Universities and other locations that have the CAPACITY TO CONVERT ideas into knowledge that lead to commercially viable TECHNOLOGIES and processes are the ones who will succeed. We want the STATE OF MISSISSIPPI to be one of those locations.

Research universities are becoming the engines of innovation, and synergies between universities and industry are yielding new products and services. It is in this environment of high performance that the competition among universities for distinguished faculty is the most challenging. It is also this environment that awakens the curiosity of the most gifted students and sparks the realization that they can be whatever they are willing to be.

The Research and Technology Park adjacent to campus is nearly full, and we are planning for expansion. The new Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems provides the base upon which we will be able to build a regional or national capacity in automotive-related research. The center will be a key asset in attracting additional suppliers and manufacturers, while supporting Nissan. We are also excited about new opportunities to assist the Mississippi Development Authority and local communities in recruiting new jobs to our state.

As we look ahead, we want to focus more of our research on projects that have high potential for commercialization here within our state, but will continue to include other areas

in which we have exceptional faculty and well-defined needs or opportunities. For example, a proposed National Center for Early Childhood Development will provide an opportunity for MSU and Mississippi to gain national stature for addressing a problem that afflicts disadvantaged children in virtually every state. Our Life Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, founded with the support of the Hearin Foundation, represents the next generation of life transforming research that builds on our tradition and expertise in the agricultural, biological and computational sciences.

These and many other research efforts are contributing to our state’s aggressive and none-too-soon efforts to enhance its educational base and transform its economy. Also, we will continue to aggressively support our existing industries, such as agriculture and forest products and furniture, and others that are so vital to our economy.

One can tell a great deal about a state by its institutions of higher learning. Great universities bring recognition and stature to their states, and to their graduates. More importantly, they help us anticipate and prepare for the future.

Next week, for example, our campus will host Time magazine’s 2002 Scientist of the Year to discuss the awesome implications of genomic research on the future. We want our students to be able to interact with those who truly are shaping the future in science, education, the arts and humanities, and in national and international affairs. And yes, most great universities recognize intercollegiate athletics as an integral part of the university experience.

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I have been closely associated with twelve institutions in my professional career. None of them has contributed more to the people of its state—certainly not with such modest resources—as this university has provided for the people of Mississippi. And without doubt, no state in which I have worked has as much riding on the future success of a single institution. Our unique mix of programs, our ability to deliver beyond the campus, and our momentum parallel the direction of our nation’s economy.

While we work toward these short- and long-range goals, we will be constantly aware of the need to provide a safe and nurturing environment for our students and a working environment that lets men and women pursue their highest individual potential at every level in our institution. We will strive to balance authority with responsibility at all levels, to encourage risk-taking and to reward individual and team initiative.

Distinctive universities are built on exceptional faculty and staff who have a shared vision, high standards, courage, and a multitude of supporters who feel that they are a part of

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something special.

Pat and I came back to this university four years ago because we believe in its mission, and know that it can build on its strengths to serve the state and nation in a manner that earns special distinction. We want to join you in realizing your collective dreams by turning them into concrete plans and actions. Remind those of us within the university of our faults, but grant us our due. Encourage us to think bigger. Help us focus on what is best for the future of the people of our state. Push us to higher standards. Recognize the uniqueness of our role, and the hazards of comparisons that are limited by the boundaries of Mississippi. And remember that the rest of the country cannot be persuaded to wait for any of us.

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the deep debt of gratitude we owe to the thousands of people who have promoted and supported this university throughout its first 125 years. Thank you to all of the elected and appointed federal and state officials and members of the Board of Trustees for your commitment, trust, and support.

Thank you, as well, to the thousands of students, alumni, faculty members, staff, and administrators who have chosen this university.

Last, but not least, thank you to my predecessors. From the first Lee, Stephen, through the 15 men who followed him in this office prior to my appointment, presidents of this university have provided vision, hard work and courageous leadership that have facilitated the success we celebrate today.

This Lee thanks each of you for granting me this very special opportunity. To everyone who supports Mississippi State and to the people of our great state, I pledge my very best as we work together to build on our legacy in learning, research and service. Mississippi State’s first lady and my lifemate Pat, the consummate Bulldog fan, is equally committed as my full partner in this vow.

New structure aims to streamline outreach efforts Mississippi State has coaligned the statewide MSU Extension Service with the university’s Division of Continuing Education to help expand and better coordinate outreach efforts.

Both the MSU Extension Service and Continuing Education now report to the executive director of University Extension and Outreach.

Extension McGilberry director Joe McGilberry was appointed to the expanded position, effective Oct. 1.

A proposed industrial outreach program would also be part of the new administrative structure, serving Mississippi’s manufacturing and processing sector much as the Extension Service works with agricultural interests, business start-ups, and educational programs.

“Our goal is to make the university more responsive to communities, business and industry, and the citizens of the state,” said MSU President Charles Lee. “Mississippi State has a long tradition of bringing university resources and expertise to bear on local problems. We’re working to broaden our understanding of state and regional needs, focus outreach where it can make a difference, and take a more comprehensive and efficient approach to engagement with our constituents,” Lee said.

University Extension and Outreach will coordinate with the eight academic colleges and other units on campus to direct requests for assistance to

the area of greatest expertise and take a university-wide approach to using technology to connect with outreach clients, McGilberry said.

Jackson architecture facility is formally dedicated A September dedication and lecture officially opened a new Jackson home for Mississippi State’s fifth-year program in the College of Architecture.

The Stuart C. Irby Jr. Studio, named for the late Mississippi businessman and philanthropist who donated the building at 509 East Capitol St., was dedicated at a ceremony in the renovated university facility.

Irby, longtime head of the Jackson-based distributor of electrical goods that also bears his name, died earlier this year. He donated the $300,000 building and was instrumental in helping secure more than $2 million of combined state and private funds to undertake the nearly two-year renovation effort, said MSU architecture dean James L. West.

Student media center named for former Reflector guide The office complex housing student publications at Mississippi State now is a memorial to former university newspaper adviser Henry F. Meyer.

The Lee Boulevard facility now is known as the Meyer Student Media Center. For many years it has housed offices and operations of The Reflector, the campus newspaper, and The Reveille yearbook.

Meyer died in early 2000 at age 87. He was Reflector

Campus News adviser for nearly 30 years, a decade of which he also taught in MSU’s communication department. Before coming to campus, he co-owned the Starkville Publishing Co., which printed the then-weekly Starkville News and, for many years, the Reflector.

Pictorial history provides many different views of MSU Alumni, employees, students, and friends of Mississippi State seeking a lasting gift for the holidays or any other special occasions may be interested in a new keepsake book about the university.

Now on sale by the MSU Foundation, 125 Years at Mississippi State University: A Pictorial History of the People’s University is a commemoration and celebration of the land-grant institution’s service to the state since 1878.

The coffee-table edition is a production of Jackson-based Communication Arts. Within its 143 pages are a varied selection of color and blackand-white photographs—many never-before-seen by general audiences—compiled by the staffs of the MSU Libraries and Office of University Relations.

“The 125th anniversary year of Mississippi State soon will be gone, but this photographic collection will remain,” said Dennis Prescott, MSU vice president for external affairs.

“It is a piece of university

history to be treasured for years and decades to come.”

Copies of the book are $49.95 each plus shipping and handling and may be obtained by writing in care of the MSU Foundation, Box 6149, Mississippi State, MS 39762.

For more information, telephone 662-325-7000 or visit the MSU homepage at www.msstate.edu and point the cursor to “MSU 125 Years Book.”

Computer science major wins Hilton Hotels award Mississippi State senior Nakimuli O. “Kim” Davis of Canton is the university’s first recipient of the Hilton Hotels Corp. Information Technology Award.

The honor is presented by the department of computer science and engineering.

“It is an honor to be chosen as the recipient of the Davis Hilton Hotels award,” said Davis. “I am blessed to be recognized for the academic achievements that I have made, and to be a part of the partnership between the computer science and engineering department and Hilton Hotels.”

Davis, a Dean’s Scholar and the daughter of Nancy Davis, recently received the award from corporation officials in a campus ceremony. Her name and those of future winners will be placed on a plaque displayed in Butler Hall, which houses the CSE department.

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CAMPUS News Phil Hardwick joins staff of government institute A recently retired vice president at Mississippi Valley Gas Co. in Jackson is a new program coordinator at Mississippi State’s John C. Stennis Institute of Government.

Phillip D. “Phil” Hardwick will continue to work in Jackson at an office in the university’s recently opened College of Architecture building on Capitol Street. For the past nine years, he has led Valley Gas’s economic and community development efforts.

“We are most excited to have Phil join the Stennis Institute staff,” said institute executive director Marty Wiseman. “He brings a wealth of expertise in the field of economic development and years of experience working with elected officials. Without question, he will be a tremendous asset in assisting Mississippi’s cities, towns and counties as they strive to meet the basic needs of their citizens during these tough times.”

Wiseman said Hardwick officially began his new duties Aug. 1.

MDOT, MSU helping devise transportation plans

being sought to help Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana develop intermodal systems that can absorb and disperse an expected tripling of shipments from south of the border by the year 2020.

“The issue of freight movement has tremendous implications for transportation agencies and officials nationwide,” said Ray Balentine, director of intermodal planning for the Mississippi Department of Transportation. “As Latin American trade continues to grow, the transportation infrastructure needs must be addressed in order for this part of the country to take advantage of potential economic benefits.”

“MDOT is among the most progressive transportation departments in the nation,” said MSU civil engineering research professor Bill McAnally, who is heavily involved in the planning process. “They have been thinking intermodally for at least a decade and now everyone realizes that an efficient transportation system requires use of all five transportation modes—water, highway, rail, air, and pipeline.”

McAnally is one of three principal investigators on an interdisciplinary MSU research team currently developing

Mississippi State University researchers are helping transportation officials in three states plan inland road, rail and waterway improvements to accommodate an anticipated U.S. trade boom with Latin America.

Hindsight may be 20-20, but engineering foresight is

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MSU, community colleges offer distance learning degrees A partnership among Mississippi State and three community colleges is providing an opportunity for aspiring teachers to complete a university degree by combining weekend and online classes.

The program is open to all seeking either a bachelor’s or master’s degree in elementary education. Through the participating community colleges, students fulfill the requirements necessary to enroll in the College of Education at Mississippi State.

Now in its third year, the program is coordinated by the university’s Division of Continuing Education.

Initially a partnership between the university and Northeast Mississippi Community College in Booneville, the distance education effort expanded this year to include East Central and Mississippi Delta community colleges in Decatur and Moorhead, respectively.

Program coordinator Mindy Wolfe said the collaborative effort is geared towards working adults who cannot attend traditional campus classes.

Teachers, students dip their toes in MSU research During a two-week program at Mississippi State, approximately 15 middle school teachers and students were “up to their ankles” in water as they studied ecology and other geosciences topics.

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computer-simulation and analysis programs that will help transportation officials decide what, where and how improvements need to be made.

All were participants in the third annual Career and Research Exploration for Students and Teachers, a National Science Foundationfunded summer program at the university. CREST is designed to expose both education’s givers and receivers to the physical sciences while demonstrating the many benefits of research.

MSU biological scientist Chris Taylor discusses stream ecology with CREST students (second from left to right) Alex Rowe, Kate Henson, Reed Chandler, and David Hatcher.

“They’ve been on site at the Red Hills Mine near Ackerman to see firsthand how a realworld enterprise uses research in ecology, geology and other areas,” said physics professor and program founder Sandra H. Harpole. “Our purpose is to provide opportunities that will promote the study of environmental science.”

Harpole, who also directs MSU’s Center for Science, Mathematics and Technology, said exposing students to potential career opportunities in science and engineering is another goal of the NSFsponsored effort.

Targeted to students and teachers in grades 6-8, CREST is restricted to residents of six East Central Mississippi counties that surround the Red Hills mine. They include Choctaw—where the Mississippi Lignite Mining Co.-operated facility is located—Attala, Montgomery, Oktibbeha, Webster, and Winston.

MSU contract, grant support exceeds $140 million Major research and education projects at Mississippi State brought $143 million in externally funded contracts and grants to the university in FY 2002-03.

More than 25 projects in fields ranging from the sociology of rural health to automotive engineering were funded at more than $1 million each. The largest awards included $5.2 million from the Department of Defense for a high-performance computing center; $2 million from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for remote sensing research related to agriculture, forestry and transportation; and $2 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for aquaculture research.

Collaboration launches new quail conservation initiative An agreement signed in August is establishing a major regional bobwhite quail conservation initiative to be directed by Mississippi State with oversight by the USDA’s Wildlife Habitat Management Institute.

The agreement enables wildlife researchers at the university to coordinate conservation efforts with more than 20 state, federal and other conservation partners.

WHMI is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

“Hunting northern bobwhite in Mississippi and other Southeastern states is both a socially and economically significant sport that is steeped in tradition,” said MSU avian ecologist Wes Burger. “The sport, however, is threatened

by declining populations of the game bird.”

A Forest and Wildlife Research Center professor and bobwhite quail specialist, Burger said the new initiative seeks to develop quantitative, habitat-oriented restoration of bobwhite quail populations.

The conservation project builds on a national bobwhite quail recovery plan developed by the Southeast Quail Study Group, a cooperative of more than 100 professionals at universities, private organizations, and state and federal agencies, he added.

MSU library among group honored for innovation An electronic service allowing library users to customize frequently used resources is earning national recognition for Mississippi State University.

Mitchell Memorial Library’s personalized library service now is listed as an “innovative Web-based reference service” by the American Library Association.

Specifically, it received the honor from the machineassisted reference section of the ALA, the world’s oldest library association.

Available at MyLibrary via http://library.msstate.edu, the customizable service “allows the user to create a portable Web page using resources of the MSU Libraries,” said system administrator Stephen H. Cunetto. The personalized page becomes a one-stop reference tool featuring the user’s preferences, he added.

MSU ranks high in AfricanAmerican graduate degrees Mississippi State ranks among the top 100 colleges and universities in the nation in awarding both master’s degrees

Campus News and doctoral degrees to African-Americans.

MSU ranks 58th in awarding doctoral degrees in all disciplines and 90th in awarding master’s degrees in all disciplines, according to Black Issues in Higher Education magazine.

The rankings reported in the national publication’s July 3 edition are based on degrees awarded in 2001-02 as calculated from U.S. Department of Education data and include both historically black and traditionally white institutions. Eleven doctorates and 100 master’s degrees were earned by African-Americans at MSU in 2001-02.

MSU ranked 11th in the nation in master’s degrees in biological and life sciences and 31st in master’s degrees in education awarded to AfricanAmericans. The university also was 35th in awarding doctoral degrees in education to African-Americans.

Black Issues in Higher Education, which maintains editorial offices in Fairfax, Va., reported in an earlier edition that MSU ranked 61st among all institutions in awarding bachelor’s degrees to AfricanAmericans.

Two doctoral students receive regional fellowships Two doctoral students at Mississippi State are receiving major university fellowships from the Atlanta-based Southern Regional Education Board.

April L. Butler of Wesson and Barbara A. Patrick of Kosciusko are recent selections for the three-year awards that cover tuition costs and provide

$12,000 annually to support their advanced academic work.

Butler, a 1999 graduate of Wesson High School and a 2003 Tougaloo College graduate, is seeking a doctorate in computer science. Patrick, a 1997 Ethel High School graduate and 2001 graduate of Rust College, is seeking a doctorate in public policy and administration.

The nonprofit SREB works with educational agencies and institutions in 16 states from Texas to Delaware. Its doctoral fellowship program seeks to increase the number of minority faculty in the region by encouraging ethnic minorities to pursue doctoral degrees and become collegelevel teachers.

Business college to benefit from major ‘private’ gift A $10 million gift from an anonymous donor will make possible a new 45,000-squarefoot building adjoining McCool Hall.

A portion of the funds will be used to renovate the 28year-old structure that houses the College of Business and Industry.

“We are very pleased to secure this gift for McCool Hall, a building constantly utilized by many university and external groups,” said Dennis Prescott, MSU vice president for external affairs. “A gift of this nature always is welcomed because state resources alone cannot keep pace with the university’s building needs.”

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CAMPUSNews Student forestry group again tops among peers Mississippi State’s student chapter of the Society of American Foresters continues among the top organizations of its kind in the nation.

The 50-member university chapter recently placed first in the 2003 SAF Student Chapter Web site competition and now is ranked third overall in the outstanding student chapter rankings.

The group has finished atop the overall chapter rankings for the past five years, capturing first place in 1996-97 and 2000-01, and second place in 1998-99 and 2001-02.

Because the chapter entered that category of the annual competition for the first time this year, this year’s Web site honor is additionally noteworthy. Designed and maintained by student members, www.cfr.msstate.edu/ studentorgs/saf/index.htm was judged on design and content, among other criteria.

MSU offers graduate degree by distance education Mississippi State is offering a program for students to complete an advanced academic degree in agricultural and extension education through distance learning.

The program results from a new partnership between the university’s agricultural science and education department and Division of Continuing Education. The master’s degree curriculum prepares students for careers in

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agricultural education, extension programs, agricultural communication, and related fields.

Courses are taught throughout the state at MSU Extension Service sites via the Mississippi Interactive Video Network.

“Satellite technology allows an instructor to teach a course at multiple sites simultaneously,” said Mindy Wolfe, MSU coordinator of distance education.

The program enables adult learners to continue their education while remaining close to home with a minimum of interference to their careers, she added.

Requiring 30 semester hours of coursework, the degree also offers the option of obtaining an emphasis in leadership, research or teaching. An educational specialist degree also may be completed.

Harden named head of electrical, computer engineering James C. Harden has assumed duties as head of Mississippi State’s department of electrical and computer engineering.

Harden, whose background includes commercial work in wireless cardiac monitoring and digitally tuned radios, was promoted in October. He had held the post on an interim basis since his predecessor, Marshall Molen, was appointed to an endowed professorship in 2002.

Harden, a professor, was the department’s computer engineering coordinator from 1996-2002 and served from

1990-96 as computer architecture thrust leader for the university’s National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Computational Field Simulation at MSU. Harden earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, respectively, from Mississippi State in 1965, Georgia Institute of Technology in 1966 and Texas A&M University in 1985. He was named an MSU Hearin-Hess Distinguished Professor in 1991.

MSU students again garner major dairy evaluation honors Mississippi State’s dairy products judging team continues its winning ways.

In recent competition at the International Collegiate Dairy Products Judging Contest in Chicago, the university student group finished second overall to a team from the California State Polytechnic Institute, San Luis Obispo.

MSU senior Carrie L. Swoope of Ocean Springs took the individual first place honor—Best Taster in the Land Award—among representatives from 17 U.S. and Canadian schools. She achieved the highest ranking by finishing first in the category of cottage cheese, second in yogurt, fourth in milk, and seventh in vanilla ice cream.

Charles White, the team’s senior coach and head of the food science and technology department, said participants are required to evaluate six different types of products. In addition to the four in which Swoope scored, judging categories included butter, Cheddar cheese and strawberry yogurt.

MSU, which has a lengthy history at the top of the annual competition, now has finished

in second place for three consecutive years. The team won the national championship in 1999.

“Winners are determined on the basis of written evaluations that most closely compare to those of official industry judges who earlier evaluated the samples,” said Julie Wilson, a departmental research associate. Wilson, along with professor Patti Coggins, assists White with coaching duties.

Other MSU winners included Cheryl A. Hickman of Gainesville, Fla., who was seventh in the all-products category, third in yogurt and fifth in both Cheddar cheese and butter; and Michael L. Tynes of Liberty, who was fourth in ice cream. Both are seniors.

In graduate-level judging, Lorena Albuja of Columbus was the second-place overall winner. She is a master’s degree student from Ecuador.

Chemical engineering student wins national scholarship A chemical engineering student from Clinton is among 15 winners of a national honor recognizing both academic achievement and involvement in profession-related student activities.

Senior John Curtis Reed, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Randolph Reed, will receive the $1,000 Donald F. and Mildred Topp Othmer National Scholarship Award in November during the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ annual conference in San Francisco.

Athletic News Former outfielder Enrico Jones named SEC Minority Intern A former Mississippi State baseball player has been appointed the first intern in the Southeastern Conference’s inaugural Minority Internship Program.

Enrico Jones, a four-year letter winner as an outfielder for MSU’s Baseball Bulldogs, 1999-2002, will work primarily in the compliance office, but also will gain experience working Jones with league championships, sports administration and public relations.

“We are pleased to have Enrico join our office staff as the first member of our minority internship program,” said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. “Through this internship program, we hope to give Enrico and others the benefit of working in a league office and being a part of intercollegiate athletics administration.”

Jones is a native of Moss Point. He joined the SEC staff in September after earning a bachelor’s degree in fitness management from Mississippi State in 2002. Currently, he is working on a master’s degree in physical education at MSU. In addition, he has worked as a graduate assistant in strength and conditioning and as an instructor at MSU’s baseball camps.

While an undergraduate, he was a member of the Student-Athlete Academic

Men’s cross country revived after 7 years After a seven-year absence, Mississippi State is again competing in men’s cross country, beginning with the fall 2003 campaign.

Coinciding with this decision, MSU will not field a men’s indoor track team in 2004, concentrating solely in cross country and outdoor track.

“With the lengthening of the outdoor track and field season to mid-June, the addition of men’s cross country and the elimination of indoor track will only strengthen our program,” head track coach Al Schmidt said. “With the addition of regional competition between the SEC and NCAA Championships, the indoor season created too much stress for our athletes.

“We have been competing in outdoor meets without distance athletes and basically had eliminated as many as four events at every meet. This move will do nothing but strengthen our program,” Schmidt added.

The Bulldogs have signed nine cross country athletes to begin their 44th season of competition. Associate head track coach Steve Dudley will assume the role of head coach of the men’s cross country squad. Dudley has been on the Bulldogs’ staff for the past three seasons. He formerly was the head track and cross country coach at Bevill State Community College, where he led the Bears to Region 22 cross country titles in 1998-99. His 1998 team finished third nationally in the NJCAA. Schmidt keeps his duties as head women’s cross country coach and head track coach.

State has won five SEC cross country titles in school history, taking three in a row from 1960-62.

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Committee and worked in the areas of event and facility management.

The SEC’s Minority Internship Program was developed in 2003 as part of a multifaceted initiative to raise the numbers of minorities interested in a career in intercollegiate athletics.

Browne named 60-meter indoor national champion On the heels of the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Mississippi State senior Pierre Browne won the 2003 NCAA Indoor Championships 60-meter dash in June. The Toronto native ran the race in 6.60, a school record time. His new ranking gave the Bulldogs 18 points in the championships, moving them into a tie for ninth overall. MSU ranked in the top 10 in the nation for the second straight year.

“Pierre is a six-time all-American that helped put our program on the map,” assistant coach Steve Dudley said. “We built our program around Pierre, and it became a national power because of him and the guys we put around him. We are appreciative of everything that he’s done for us.”

“Coach Dudley has worked wonders with the sprint group,” remarked head coach Al Schmidt. “Pierre and Steve have a special bond. The future of the Mississippi State sprint program is in great hands with Steve Dudley.”

Browne now owns the first indoor national title in 26 years. Evis Jennings took home the 1976 440-yard dash championship for MSU. He ended his career at the university as the NCAA runner-up in the 100-meter dash and the school recordholder in the 60-meter dash indoors and the 100-meter dash outdoors.

Athletic News Former Bulldog John Cohen named head baseball coach at Kentucky Former Mississippi State baseball standout John Cohen is the new head baseball coach at the University of Kentucky.

“John Cohen has a wonderful blend of competing and coaching in this conference, combined with a successful track record as a head coach at Cohen Northwestern State,” said Mitch Barnhart, athletics director. “He has a great passion for our job and a vision for Kentucky baseball. His desire to grow our program into an NCAA Tournament team, with an eye on Omaha (the College World Series), is exciting for our staff and our players.”

It’s the second collegiate head coaching position for Cohen, an All-Southeastern Conference outfielder during his baseball career at Mississippi State. The Tuscaloosa, Ala., native served as an assistant coach at the University of Missouri (1992-97) prior to beginning a four-year term as head coach at Northwestern (La.) State in 1998). The

past two seasons he served as an assistant coach under former MSU assistant and head coach Pat McMahon at the University of Florida. At Kentucky, Cohen follows another former Mississippi State staff member, Keith Madison, who retired this year after coaching UK for 25 seasons.

“This is a tremendous honor and opportunity,” Cohen said. “The University of Kentucky has one of the premier athletics departments in the nation.

Everything I hear about the U.K. administration is the big ‘C’ word— commitment. Under Mitch Barnhart’s leadership, we’ll work to make U.K. baseball a consistent winner.”

“John Cohen has paid his dues as a college player, a professional player, and as a coach,” said MSU head coach Ron Polk.

“The University of Kentucky has made a tremendous decision in naming him as its head baseball coach. He will approach the job with great enthusiasm, excitement, and class and I know he is looking forward to it.”

Cohen played at State from 1987-90 when current Florida head coach Pat McMahon was an assistant on Ron Polk’s Bulldog coaching staff. MSU advanced to NCAA Regional play four times while the 1990 team advanced to the College World Series. Both the 1987 and 1989 teams captured Southeastern Conference

Golfers named to NGCA All-American Scholar Team Four Lady Bulldogs were named to the National Golf Coaches Association’s 200203 All-American Scholar Team.

They include Beth Irwin and Catalina Olarte, and former Lady Linksters Anna Knutsson and Sofie Andersson.

The criteria for selection to the All-American Scholar Team are some of the most stringent of all college athletics. The minimum cumulative grade-point average is 3.50 (3.40 for seniors) and student-athletes must have competed in at least 66 percent of the college’s regularly scheduled competitive rounds during the year.

Irwin and Knutsson are two-time honorees, as Andersson and Olarte are first-time selections. Knutsson, a 2003 graduate, boasted a 4.0 GPA in international business.

Current teammates, Olarte and Irwin finished the 2002-03 academic year with a 4.0 in computer engineering and a 3.81 in marketing, respectively. Former Lady Bulldog Andersson completed the school year with a 3.71 in nutrition.

The Lady Bulldog honorees expand the number of Mississippi State women’s golfers named to the list to five.

championships. Cohen concluded his career ranked in MSU’s top 10 in several statistical categories.

He earned first-team All-SEC honors as a senior outfielder and was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 22nd round of the 1990 Major League Baseball Draft. He spent two years in the Twins’ minor league system before beginning his collegiate coaching career as an assistant at Missouri in 1992.

Two join soccer program Former Iowa Central Community College head coach Neil Macdonald and former Birmingham Southern assistant coach Ja’net Esparza joined the MSU soccer team this summer as an assistant coaches.

Macdonald starred alongside head coach Neil McGuire during their playing days at Augusta (Ga.) State, then obtained his first coaching stint as an assistant under McGuire at Iowa Central in 1998.

Macdonald took over the reigns of both the Tritons men’s and women’s program in 1999 when McGuire left to become an assistant coach at nearby Iowa State.

Noted by the University of Texas-El Paso as possibly the greatest women’s soccer player in school history, Esparza holds virtually every offensive record at her alma mater, including shots (169), goals (25), points (64) and game-winning goals (9). She was a four-time member of the Western Athletic Conference all-conference squad and was twice selected to the league’s academic honor roll. In 1996, she was named WAC Freshman of the Year and, following the 1999 season, received the Arthur Ashe Jr. Scholar Athlete award.

Following her playing career with the Miners, Esparza joined on to the UTEP coaching staff as a graduate assistant prior to the 2000 season, then became a full-time staff member for the 2001 campaign. In 2002, she joined the Birmingham Southern coaching staff.

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Athletic News Track lands record 11 men, 17 women on SEC Academic Honor Roll Mississippi State’s track teams landed 17 women and 11 men on the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll in 2003, a record number for both squads.

MSU’s women previously had 16 individuals named to the honor roll in both 2000 and 2001. The men’s former best was in 1988 and 2001, where seven athletes made the list. The university’s men ranked seventh on this year’s list, while the women tied for fifth with LSU. The SEC selected the 2003 Academic Honor Roll based on the 2001-02 academic calendar. Athletes must have a 3.0 gradepoint average for the previous year or during their career, be a sophomore or

higher in academic classification and have 24 semester hours countable towards a degree to be eligible for the annual honor.

Three former Lady Bulldogs made the list for the fourth time. CeCe Brown, the school’s 400-meter hurdles record-holder, earned a 3.78 GPA in biological sciences.

Christine Zawaski had a 3.70 in forestry, while Kristin Tallent had a 3.09 in broadcasting.

Two former women became three-time honorees. Martha Hudsonpillar, State’s nominee for the Boyd-McWhorter Scholar Athlete of the Year award, gained a 3.80 in business. Ronni Watjus-Rudolphi had a 3.85 in animal and dairy science.

Clark, Brantley and Cristil inducted into MSU Hall of Fame Participating in Hall of Fame ceremonies were, from left, President Charles Lee, Murphy Brantley (representing his father, Jeff Brantley), Jack Cristil, Will Clark, and M-Club Alumni Association president Jimmy Lee Dodd.

Mississippi State’s Department of Athletics inducted Will Clark, Jeff Brantley and Jack Cristil into Mississippi State Sports Hall of Fame for 2003.

The induction took place during halftime of the Oct. 4 MSU-Vanderbilt football game Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field.

Clark lettered for MSU in baseball for three seasons (1983-85) and helped lead the Diamond Dogs to its best showing ever (tied for third) at the College World Series in 1985. Clark was the second overall selection in the 1985 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.

Brantley lettered four years (1982-85) in baseball for head coach Ron Polk. A pitcher for the Diamond Dogs, he was named an All-American after his senior season and won the MVP award for the 1985 NCAA South 1 Regional. He went on to success at the major league level, playing with Clark on the 1989 Giants World Series squad.

Cristil has served as MSU’s football radio voice since the 1953 season. He also has worked as the Bulldogs’ main basketball announcer since the 1957-58 season.

A resident of Tupelo, Cristil was honored in 1992 with the Ronald Reagan Lifetime Achievement Award and inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, the first noncoach or non-athlete to receive that honor.

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Former all-American Camille Harper made the list for the second time with a 3.07 GPA in fitness management.

Eleven females made the list for the first time. Former Lady Dog Janice Zawaski had a 3.04 in biological engineering. Nicole Dunn gained a 3.40 in banking and finance, while Renata Hendrix had a 3.06 in the same major. Jourdan Steinberg scored a perfect 4.0 in psychology while Mary Francis Wright had a 3.90 in education.

Lacey Johnson scored a 3.78 in psychology, and Jennifer Johnstone earned a 3.43 in kinesiology. Jackie Rentschler had a 3.42 in psychology while first-team all-SEC cross country selection Meggan Hodge posted a 3.38 in human sciences.

Trina Hobyan had a 3.17 in business, and Crystal Averitt earned a 3.11 in biological sciences.

MSU placed two men on the honor roll for the third straight year. Chris Boldt, a Verizon Academic all-South second-team selection, scored a 3.75 in industrial engineering while Dan Hunter had a 3.20 in political science.

Nine men made the list for the first time. Former Bulldog and student assistant coach Kevin Pittman gained a 3.32 in teaching/coaching, while Jason Odom had a 3.42 GPA in agricultural sciences. Steven Cornelius earned a 3.12 in management with Zack Brumfield scoring a 3.68 in mechanical engineering. Clay Garner had a 3.90 in physical education while Brad Rowland scored a 3.52 in landscape contracting. Michael Landry had a 3.68 in secondary education, and Matthew Denton scored a 3.58 in business. All-American LaChristopher Lewis posted a 3.03 in civil engineering.

ALUMNI News

Alumni Fellows return to alma mater, share experiences

Bailey

Bradley

Conerly

Grillot

Henderson

Newsome

Sponsored and organized by the MSU Alumni Association, this year’s 14th annual Alumni Fellows Program featured eight graduates of distinction who returned to campus in November to share with students specific competencies, attitudes and efforts needed to succeed.

Chosen by each college, they carry the honorary title permanently. John V. Correro, alumni association executive director, said the fellows program recognizes the ultimate measure of a university—the quality of its alumni.

“Alumni Fellows enrich the university experience for students by exposing them to outstanding professionals,” Correro said.

This year’s MSU Alumni Fellows and the academic units that selected them are: Gary C. Bailey, College of Architecture, is a 1979 graduate and president and partner in the architecture firm of Johnson Bailey Henderson McNeel.

Raised in Memphis, Tenn., Bailey now lives in Tupelo. JBHM manages $150 million in design and construction projects each year and has handled some 3,000 projects in Mississippi. The firm has offices in Columbus, Jackson, Tupelo, and Southaven.

Dr. Glen Bradley of Henderson, Nev., Bagley College of Engineering, is a 1964 graduate of Mississippi State. He holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Louisiana State University. Now serving as chief executive officer of CIBA Vision Group, he led the contact lens and pharmaceuticals company from an entrylevel position to its current dominance with $2 billion in worldwide sales. Bradley is a charter member of the MSU Chemical Engineering Hall of Fame and also has been active on the university’s Chemical Engineering Advisory Committee.

Lamar A. Conerly Jr. of Destin, Fla., College of Business and Industry, is a 1971 accounting/pre-law graduate and the owner continued next page

Sledge

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Stonecypher

ALUMNI News Alumni Fellows, continued of a legal firm which specializes in the areas of corporate, real estate, governmental, and civil litigation. He holds a law degree from the University of Mississippi College of Law and is licensed to practice in Florida and Mississippi and in the 5th and 11th circuit courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. He was national president of the MSU Alumni Association 1999-2000 and chairman of the association’s board of directors in 2001.

Dr. Larry R. Grillot of Diamondhead, College of Arts and Sciences, is a 1968 MSU physics graduate who spent 30 years working in petroleum exploration and production. He holds a doctorate in geological sciences from Brown University, and is recently retired from Phillips Petroleum Co. Grillot serves on the External Research Advisory Committee at MSU, as well as the Advisory and Development Council in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Todd R. Henderson of Jarrettsville, Md., College of Veterinary Medicine, is a 1992 graduate and executive vice president of Nutramax Laboratories. Nutramax—a nutritional supplements company, produces Cosamin and Cosequin, which are used to relieve osteoarthritis in humans and animals, respectively. Prior to joining Nutramax in 1994, he was a veterinarian at several clinics and was the owner of TLC House Call Practice in Bel Air, Md. He has lectured widely in the U.S. and South Africa and is a member of the advisory board for corporate and governmental affairs at the University of Maryland’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Dr. James E. Newsome of Washington, D.C., College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, received a Ph.D. in nutrition at MSU in 2001. A longtime agribusinessman, Newsome was appointed chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission by President George Bush in December 2001. He has served as a commissioner of the organization since 1998. In addition to his duties at the CFTC, Newsome is a member of the president’s Working Group on Financial Markets and the Corporate Fraud Task Force. Prior to joining CFTC, he served as executive vice president of the Mississippi Cattlemen’s Association and as chairman of the Mississippi Agribusiness Council.

James L. “Jim” Sledge Jr. of Crystal Springs, College of Forest Resources, is a 1961 forestry graduate who worked as woodlands manager for Mead Corp.’s Stevenson, Ala., paper mill and saw mill prior to being appointed State Forester of Mississippi in 1991. He is the first Mississippi State forestry graduate to serve in this position. A former president of the National Association of State Foresters, Sledge also is a member of its board of directors, as well as the NASF Foundation’s board. In addition, he is a member of the MSU College of Forest Resources Advisory Committee.

Dr. Wayne Stonecypher of Brandon, College of Education, received a doctorate of education from MSU in 1973. He is executive director of the State Board for Community and Junior Colleges. A former teacher, coach, guidance counselor, and corporate manager with Georgia Pacific Corp., he also served as academic dean for the Hinds Community College District before joining the community and junior college board in 1997. He also is an attorney and a member of the Mississippi Bar. His duties with the board include recommending and implementing policies for the conduct of the mission and purposes of the board and maintaining a close working relationship with the presidents of the community and junior colleges.

Alumni Association offers loan consolidation program The MSU Alumni Association has added a new service to benefit recent graduates and young alumni. The Alumni Loan Consolidation Program offers alumni the opportunity to consolidate their student loans, lock-in a fixed interest rate, and reduce monthly student loan payments.

A majority of graduating students, alumni, and parents with outstanding student loans may be able to save thousands of dollars through this program.

The Alumni Loan Consolidation Program is being offered to provide the “best-of-class” services for young alumni.

Visit www.alcp.org and select Mississippi State from the menu or call toll-free 1-800-930-7535 for additional information and an application for this new alumni benefit.

2004 Travel Program Realize a travel dream with one of the 2004 travel opportunities listed below.

Share with us the incomparable beauty from around the world, whether by air, motorcoach or a luxury cruise ship.

You’ll feel comfortable and confident traveling with experienced tour guides who will attend to all of your needs.

Alumni Campus Abroad Ennis, Ireland July 14-22, 2004 Cruise Classic Italy and the Dalmatian Coast September 22 – Oct. 2, 2004 Rome Escapade November 7-14, 2004 For more information, contact Dianne Jackson in the Alumni Association at djackson@alumni.msstate.edu, 662-3253444, or see our Web page at http:// www.msubulldogs.msstate.edu/travel/ travel.htm.

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ALUMNI News Chapter sponsors teens at asthma camp Six young teens, ages 12-13, got their first taste of camp and the best in asthma education because of camperships donated by the Birmingham Chapter of the MSU Alumni Association. Sixteen campers participated altogether, sponsored by medical and civic organizations.

“Campers must have sponsors to attend,” said camp director Ellen Buckner.

“Their daily expenses of medicine and treatments do not allow extra money for camp in most cases. Thus the sponsorship by the Mississippi State alums really made the camp possible.”

The camp is held the first week of June at Camp Winnataska, outside Birmingham.

Campers participate in one hour of asthma education daily, led by nurse practitioners.

The rest of the camp is pure fun.

Campers participate in crafts, canoeing, swimming, hiking, fishing, games, and horseback riding. The campers learn that being outdoors is possible for them.

Minimal modifications of the environment are made, and campers learn there is more they can do than they ever imagined.

Deep friendships are formed at camp, too. Campers learn that there are others with asthma, and the same concerns and anxieties exist in others. They learn ways to resist peer pressure such as smoking.

They leave with smiles, memories and enhanced resilience to bounce back from difficulties.

Mississippi State alumnae also paid a visit to the camp. Rona Johnson-Belser (’74), Tyra Johnson-Pirtle (’86) and Jennifer Settle (’98) met the campers, paused for a group photo and heard some “fish stories.” Campers wrote thank-you notes to sponsors and often related their favorite activities.

One boy wrote, “I liked the fishing and girls.” A young girl wrote, “the canoeing, swimming, and horses were fun…I learned a lot about asthma, too.”

Thanks to a group of dedicated MSU alumni, this year’s camp was again a success.

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IHL Inter-Alumni Council initiates networking Web site A Web site recently created by the Institutions of Higher Learning’s Inter-Alumni Council is providing information and networking benefits to alumni of the state’s universities.

Begun in July at the request of alumni directors from several institutions, the site provides information about IHL issues, the Inter-Alumni Council, each university’s alumni association, and how alumni can access career information. Visitors also may sign up for regular updates on student recruiting and advocacy.

The site may be accessed at www.ihl.state.ms.us/alumni or www.msuniversities.org/alumni.

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION CALENDAR OF EVENTS DECEMBER 3

Class Ring Presentation Ceremony, 5:30 p.m., Hunter Henry Center

JANUARY 23

Alumni Association Executive Committee Meeting 11 a.m.; National Board of Directors Meeting 3 p.m., Hunter Henry Center Alumni Awards Banquet, Hunter Henry Center, 7 p.m.

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Alumni Association Annual Business Meeting, Hunter Henry Center, 8 a.m.

Alumni Association Leadership Conference, Hunter Henry Center, immediately following the Annual Business Meeting

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

PHILANthropy

Colvard Union in need of more than just a facelift If you happen to be a Mississippi State alumnus from the mid-1960s, you would probably still feel right at home in the Colvard Union. That’s because the building really hasn’t changed all that much in the past 40 years.

Now, the university hopes to alter that by transforming its student union building into a state-of-the-art facility that will benefit a new generation of students and their needs.

The union is unique in that is was the first modern student center built in Mississippi. It was designed to educate and entertain—to create an environment that provides a diversified core of programs and events to fulfill the cultural, social, educational, and recreational needs of all students.

The $1.8 million, three-story, 100,000square-foot structure, designed by Thomas Johnston of Starkville, opened in 1964 in the heart of campus on the site of historic Old Main dormitory.

The union remains one of the most versatile and popular buildings on campus and stands as a lasting tribute to D.W. Colvard, a leader who helped Mississippi State develop into a modern comprehensive university.

In 1985, the facility was named in honor of Colvard, who served as university president 1960-66. It was he who saw the need for the building and coined the phrase “the campus living room” in reference to the facility.

“The union was built with the purpose of uniting the university’s student body, and it did that for many years,” said Dr. Bill Foster, former dean of Student Life and Services. Foster served as the first union program director and was responsible for developing its core programs and units.

Now “the living room” of the MSU campus is badly in need of renovation and expansion.

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has a snack bar, video games and The union building is one of the oldest billiards—as well as Union Station Hair on any SEC campus, and it is the only Designers, a Cellular South station, and student union facility that has not been automatic teller machines. completely refurbished.

Keith, who has directed Student Life “The Colvard Union is overdue for an since 1990 and added the union expansion,” according to Eddie Keith, director of Student Life.

“The building has simply reached the point where it is inadequate to meet the needs of the campus community, the university’s student organizations, and the growing MSU student body,” he added.

When the union was built, there were less Architect’s rendering of the union expansion. than 7,000 students enrolled at Mississippi State. Today, the university boasts an directorship to his responsibilities in 1996, enrollment of more than 16,000. Certain thinks an improved facility will benefit the union programs have been discontinued entire campus community. and space has been altered to The proposed renovation and expansion accommodate the pressing needs of is a $28 million project. Funds to date today’s university community. include $8 million from the State of During any given day, around 5,000 Mississippi, and the university is seeking students, faculty, staff, and visitors visit an additional $7 million in state support. the Colvard Union. There are several The remainder of the funds, Keith said, will draws for them—to eat at the food court, be solicited from private sources and must shop at the bookstore, or attend a meeting. be secured before the project can move Through the years, the Reflector, the forward.

Reveille, and student government offices “A single commitment of $10 million have moved to locations outside the union could result in a naming opportunity for the to gain additional space. It is only individual who makes the gift. However, because of these evacuations that the gifts of any size are vital to the success of MSU Bookstore has been able to access the project,” said Dennis Prescott, vice more area and remain in the building. president for external affairs.

Career Services is scheduled to move A proposed expansion would add an outside the union in 2004 to relieve some additional 60,000 square feet to the of the space problem during weekdays. existing space. Plans call for the union to When students are not in class, many expand in three directions—facing Lee are likely to be found in the union taking Boulevard, back toward McCool Hall, and advantage of Career Services, the continued next page bookstore, and the Dawg House—which

PHILANthropy Union facelift, continued west toward Perry Cafeteria. The expansion will not affect MSU’s historic Drill Field.

The expanded facility could provide a full-service bank, a convenience store, and a copy center. Also, the food court most likely would to include “The union was expand another vendor, the Dawg House would built with the become a cybercafe, purpose of and the bookstore will be enlarged. uniting the “Students today university’s prefer a mall-type environment where student body, they can have several and it did that needs met under one roof,” Keith said. for many “And this was taken years.” into consideration in the planning stages.”

—Bill Foster A needs former dean of Student assessment of MSU Life and Services students, visits by the union staff and architects to other unions around the country, and a report by a union renovation/construction consultant have all pointed to the demand for additional services in the Colvard Union.

“We need to give the union a more attractive, modern look since this continues to be a place for prospective students and their families to come,” Keith said. “It is and always has been a vital recruiting tool.”

Keith also thinks a renovation would make the union more aesthetically pleasing. “It has a distinct 1960s appearance,” Keith said. “And with the ongoing enhancements to the center of campus, such as the construction of the Swalm Building and expansion of Mitchell Memorial Library, the union’s appearance needs to be consistent with the architectural style of central campus,” he added.

An expansion also would create more meeting space in a central location for campus and community groups. Currently, the union has only eight meeting rooms for nearly 300 student organizations. Most of these meeting rooms accommodate only 20-25 people, and many are tied up daily with on-campus job interviews.

“Recent studies around the nation reflect that a university is five times more likely to retain students if they belong to student organizations,” Keith said.

MSU Student Association president Josh Blades agrees. “Expanding the number of services to students is important in terms of meeting their needs for educational and recreational programs,” he said. “Membership in student

organizations gives students a real sense of belonging.”

Once the union is renovated and expanded, the facility will “generate more lease fees that will go into important student programs at the university,” Keith said.

Another outcome of the project will be a larger ballroom. Keith said plans call for a more spacious ballroom that could accommodate 1,000 persons for a seated meal, as well as larger meeting areas.

“We would like to utilize a conference facility setting to attract more groups to the union,” Keith said.

“Our existing rooms have outdated audiovisual equipment and no teleconferencing or computer capabilities,” he added.

Keith wants the union to be as useful a tool for the MSU campus as it was during the Colvard administration and those that followed. He believes it is important to enhance the union’s identity as the “living room of campus.” And, many people would probably agree that a “living room” should be redecorated at least once every 40 years.

For more information on the fundraising drive for the Colvard Union, or to make a gift to the fund, contact the MSU Foundation at 662-325-7000.

Donors contribute $40m+ to university for fourth year During the 2002-03 fiscal year, Mississippi State University alumni and friends contributed $40.3 million in immediate and deferred gifts, as well as pledges payable over five years.

“This is the fourth consecutive year Mississippi State has surpassed the ‘40’ mark in fund raising,” said Dennis Prescott, vice president for external affairs. “This is a benchmark never previously achieved by the university.”

Two significant commitments made during the fiscal year—a $10 million anonymous gift for a business complex and

a $2.5 million gift to endow the College of Architecture’s Small Town Center—will greatly enhance the university.

The $10 million gift will make possible a new 45,000-square-foot building adjoining McCool Hall. Expansion of McCool will provide the university with additional centrally located classrooms. An atrium will connect the existing building with the new structure, which will house classrooms and a new auditorium A $2.5 million gift from Fred E. Carl Jr. of Greenwood will support increased small town design research and education at

Mississippi State’s College of Architecture.

This major commitment to the university by the president of Viking Range Corp. and Viking Capital Ventures will endow the college’s Small Town Center, now renamed the Carl Small Town Center, and provide resources to expand the scope and depth of the center’s involvement and increase the number of communities it serves.

The center has developed a national reputation for its assistance to rural Mississippi towns with various aesthetic continued next page A Fall 2003

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PHILANthropy and structural challenges. The non-profit unit also utilizes its community projects as real-world teaching tools for architecture majors.

MSU President Charles Lee said that, despite challenging economic times, “the continued investment by individuals and organizations in the future of the institution shows how much people recognize the vital role that Mississippi State plays in the state and region.

“We are deeply grateful for that support, which becomes increasingly important as state support continues to decline as a proportion of the overall funding for operation of the university,” Lee added.

Prescott said the proportion of alumni contributing during the year held at 16 percent—a constant that enabled MSU to maintain its ranking ahead of several major peer institutions in the measure of support among former students.

Of the total funds raised in 2002-03, new gifts accounted for $15 million and new pledges totaled $20 million. Deferred gifts made up the remaining $5 million.

For MSU, the largest giving year took place fiscal year 2001-02, when $74.3 million in gifts and pledges were received.

Among that year’s commitments was a single $25 million gift—the largest in university history—and a substantial accompanying in-kind gift.

Over the past four years, the MSU Foundation has averaged nearly $53 million a year for gifts received from individuals, corporations, foundations, trusts, and estates.

Prescott said giving totals during a fiscal year are determined by adding new gifts received to monies pledged and deferred gifts received during the fiscal year. In Mississippi, a fiscal year for state agencies begins July 1 and ends the following June 30.

The MSU Foundation was established in 1962 to help the university attract support from private sources. It now administers most of the institution’s fundraising activities.

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Education body honors private-fund successes At the mid-point of its 125th topped the $40 million mark in total gifts anniversary, Mississippi State was raised for the past four years, averaging recognized for achievements in fund raising $52.7 million per year, he said. by an international education support Also, he added, fiscal year 2001-02 organization. resulted in the largest giving year recorded Dennis A. Prescott, vice president for in university history. external affairs, accepted in August the Richard Armstrong, the foundation’s 2003 Circle of Excellence Award at the executive director, echoed Prescott’s annual philanthropy conference of the remarks.

Council for the Advancement and Support “Private support impacts every aspect of of Education. The gathering was held in Mississippi State University,” Armstrong Washington, D.C., where CASE said. “The success we have achieved is headquarters are located. attributable to our loyal alumni and friends Prescott, who also is chief operating who have generously supported the officer of the MSU Foundation, said “it is extremely gratifying for Mississippi State University to be nationally honored by peer institutions for our successes in fund raising.

“I was thrilled to accept this award on behalf of Mississippi State, our entire development team, and generous alumni and friends of the university,” he added. The MSU advancement program is one of only four at public research/doctoral-degree granting universities recognized this year for Dr. Vance T. Peterson, left, president of CASE, congratulates Dennis overall improvements in Prescott, vice president for external affairs. fund raising. The others include Michigan State and North Carolina State universities, as university’s academic and athletic well as the University of Missouri-Kansas endeavors.”

City.

Armstrong said overall fund-raising Rankings are based on analysis of an improvement awards were based on annual survey by the Council for Aid to “significant program growth across the past Education, which has conducted research three years.” on private support of education since the In compiling its research on fundmid-1950s. raising achievements by universities and Since MSU’s fund-raising efforts have colleges, the Council on Aid to Education broken records in recent years, Prescott also recognizes an institution’s overall said he was “not surprised by the performance in fund raising, based on announcement.” The MSU Foundation has growth and breadth of support, he said.

PHILANthropy

Endowment ensures no last dance for ‘Rockie’ Smith Energetic, vivacious and strong willed No one really knows how “Rockie” are some of the characteristics family and picked up her nickname. “People always friends remember about “Rockie” Smith. speculated a lot about that, but I always She was a unique individual whose spirit thought it was because she was like a will live on thanks to an endowment rock—determined and strong,” Smith said established at Mississippi State University of his late wife. through a bequest from her estate.

A native of Starkville, Rockie expressed Husband A.B. Smith Jr. and daughter an early interest in the arts, including Llana wanted her love of Starkville and dance, piano and violin. In high school, Mississippi State to be memorialized she was very involved in academic and through an endowment to support the extracurricular activities, and she performing arts at graduated valedictorian the university. She of her class at Starkville died of uterine High School. cancer in July 2002 She later enrolled in at the age of 75.

Mississippi State’s Annual earnings business college where from the Lorena J. she met her future “Rockie” Smith husband, a World War II Endowment for the Air Force veteran. The Performing Arts two met while Rockie will be used each was a cheerleader. Llana academic year to is a graduate of MSU, as enhance learning well. about the arts by The couple married in expanding 1948 and moved to opportunities for Blytheville, Ark., where the entire Rockie began sharing university her love of dance and A.B. Smith Jr., daughter Llana, and family community to gift of teaching with friend Bill Foster. become involved. others. She opened her “The performing arts programs at first dance studio in Blytheville in 1948, Mississippi State are under-funded at but closed it to move with her husband to present and the Smith endowment will West Memphis in the late 1970s. certainly give these areas a much needed Rockie taught dancing for more than 50 boost,” said Dennis Prescott, vice president years, helping many people find their for external affairs. calling in life and develop an appreciation Bill Foster, retired dean of students and of the arts. She was dedicated to teaching longtime family friend, said, “I believe the and community theatre. students and faculty will appreciate this “Although asked to be a Rockette in wonderful opportunity to explore the arts New York City, she was never a made available to them by the Smith professional dancer. She didn’t want to be. family,” he added.

She just wanted to teach,” said Llana of her Proposals seeking support from the late mother.

Smith Endowment will be submitted each “Better known to friends and year by MSU professors in the academic acquaintances as ‘Miz Rockie,’ her crisp areas of theater arts, performing arts but distinctly Southern tone and attention (music), dance, and fine and graphic arts. to dramatic—or comic—detail whipped The endowment will be administered by many an awkward actor into shape for a the Office of the Provost and Vice President production dance routine,” she added. for Academic Affairs and interdisciplinary Rockie’s contributions to local theater endeavors are encouraged. extended to financial support as well.

“Mother loved scholarships, and she loved young people. And she loved the arts to be presented to them,” Llana recalls.

Following retirement from teaching dance, she remained active through advising and teaching younger dance instructors.

She also assisted Llana with Rockie Smith her travel business, Broadway Travel in West Memphis, and with the Miss Delta Scholarship Pageant.

Smith has been memorialized in several other ways. Among them are an annual scholarship at The Little Theatre of Crittenden County, Ark., and an endowment at Mid-South Community College in West Memphis, Ark., Arkansas State University, and Delta State University.

Mississippi State College alumni of the late 1940s may remember A.B. Smith Jr. through his association with the Mis-A-Sip magazine, which he owned.

The Mis-A-Sip, one of the most widely read college humor magazines, was always anxiously awaited by the students at Mississippi State, Foster said. The Mis-ASip, published nine times a year, was as good as sold as it came off the presses, Smith proudly remembers.

A 1948 agronomy graduate and native of Marks, Smith was a member of Alpha Zeta AG scholastic fraternity. He was president of ODK, vice president of Blue Key national honor fraternity, an officer of Kappa Sigma Fraternity and vice president of the student body. He also was chairman of the Dance Committee, which enabled him to spend many an evening dancing with Rockie. He is a retired investment officer for Connecticut General Life Insurance Co. and presently manages his own farm land in Arkansas and Mississippi.

He owns and operates A.B. Smith Real Estate in West Memphis, Ark.

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PHILANthropy

Oldest living alumnus still going strong

By Amy Cagle

Times certainly have changed at school was out in early June,” Fatherree Mississippi State University since Ambrose said.

Prentiss Fatherree was a student at Fatherree was one of 1,200 students at Mississippi A&M in the 1920s.

A&M. Today, Mississippi State has an He fondly remembers calling the city enrollment of more than 16,000. boys “jellybeans” and marching in a shirtDuring Fatherree’s days at Mississippi tail parade when the “Aggies” beat Ole A&M, the campus cafeteria was completed Miss. He is forever bonded to the and Alumnus magazine began. In 1936, university through special memories like the Graduate School was formally these. organized and Fatherree was able to return Born in October 1901, Fatherree is the to earn his master’s degree in 1945. oldest living alumnus of Fatherree’s life’s work has been in Mississippi State. He credits education, beginning as an agriculture the university and the teacher. After obtaining a degree from education he received for Mississippi A&M as one of only 212 providing a solid beginning to graduates in the class of 1926, he taught a life filled with educational school in Coahoma County, Sharkey prosperity.

County and Forest County. His Coahoma Fatherree grew up on a County tenure followed the flood of 1927, farm in the community of and continued through the Great Harmony in Clarke County, Depression. working hard and enjoying the It was through teaching that he met his Fatherree as a simple life. He was one of wife, Elizabeth Echols Carter. Their 64student eight children. Of the seven year union lasted until her death in 1993. that reached The couple has two sons, adulthood, five of the boys Ambrose P. Fatherree Jr. graduated from Mississippi A&M “In my long life, and Jefferson C. and two daughters from thenFatherree, both alumni of I have Mississippi State College for Mississippi State, two Women. grandchildren and five observed that “Very few of my generation great grandchildren. true happiness were privileged to go to college,” Fatherree has made a Fatherree said. “Mississippi lasting impact on is achieved by State inspired me to be what I am education in Mississippi what we do for and he regards the and made me what I am,” he acknowledges. children and youth of others and not Fatherree earned his education Mississippi as part of his the hard way. “After graduation family as well. for what is from a countywide agricultural After eight years as a done for us.” high school the spring of 1921, I teacher and 37 years with had to take a year off to work– the state Department of —Prentiss Fatherree that $100 I earned was the start of Education, the last eight a college education I have always as the state’s director of valued,” he said. vocational education, One of his earliest recollections of Fatherree reached the mandatory Mississippi A&M was his arrival on retirement age of 70. But, he didn’t stop campus. “I rode the train to A&M in working when he retired from the state, September of 1922 and lived in Old Main moving into the private sector where he Dormitory until Christmas before traveling spent nine years as state director of the home for the holidays. After Christmas, I National Alliance of Business, where he went back and stayed on campus until 50

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worked to bring educators and business people together.

He had a distinguished career as director of vocational Fatherree agriculture and as director of vocational and technical education for the Mississippi Department of Education. It was his vision and leadership that resulted in the establishment of 64 area vocationaltechnical programs in Mississippi, 24 of them in the community college system. For his efforts, he was honored with the naming of the A.P. Fatherree Vocational School in Laurel and the A.P. Fatherree Agriculture Technology Building at Northwest Community College.

Now, his connection with Mississippi State will continue as well, through a recently established scholarship that bears his name.

Thanks to family and friends, a scholarship will be awarded each year to a deserving student in MSU’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The Fatherree endowment is an open fund that may be increased through additional contributions from anyone wishing to honor him or his lifelong work with vocational education.

“He has dedicated a significant portion of his life to the young people of Mississippi and this scholarship is a fitting tribute to him as an agriculture alumnus,” said Jud Skelton, director of development for the college.

In October 2001, on his 100th birthday, Fatherree retired as vice president of the Mississippi Rural Rehabilitation Corp., a position he held since 1987. The MRRC loaned money to farmers in rural areas and used the interest to purchase bull calves for continued next page

PHILANthropy Daughter’s gift to memorialize Holland A recently established endowment at Mississippi State University will memorialize beloved faculty member Robert Belton Holland.

The endowment, established with a planned gift from Holland’s daughter, will create fellowships in English for full-time graduate students and support a creative writing and reading series in English for guest writers. The fund also will be used to establish a professorship in English, a position that will be closely tied to the editorship of the Mississippi Quarterly journal.

Holland, head of the university’s Department of English, was serving on the Mississippi Quarterly editorial board as assistant editor and book review editor at the time of his death in 1969. He was editor of the publication from 1958 until 1967.

“Private support, such as Barbara Holland Criswell’s, is essential to the continued quest for academic excellence.

Her gift will provide a significant base of support for the development of future generations of creative writers and literary scholars,” said Phil Oldham, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Oldest alum, continued members of Future Farmers of America.

During his tenure, Fatherree presented bulls for showing at the Dixie National Livestock Show to more than 600 FFA members.

“It makes my heart feel good to see the FFA members and others that I have touched and helped develop into productive adulthood,” he said.

Although his awards are too numerous to list, one he treasurers is being named “Man of the Year” by Progressive Farmer magazine for his dedicated service to Mississippi agriculture. He also holds dear the two citations he received–one from President Lyndon B. Johnson, the other from President Jimmy Carter–for his many accomplishments.

Today, Fatherree remains as active as ever, having recently authored his second book. “Good clean living morally and spiritually, as well as hard work” are the things he credits with his longevity.

In recent years, Fatherree has worked to restore an antebellum home in Clarke County, one of several houses in the area on the National Registry of Historic Places. He has returned it to its original state, except for some “better living” modifications in the kitchen and bathroom.

The historic Belhaven District of Jackson has been Fatherree’s home for the past 66 years. In addition to his vegetable garden, he cultivates camellias and has established a national reputation as a grower. During the Gerald Ford administration, Fatherree was contacted

by White House personnel who needed his prize camellias to decorate for an annual governor’s meeting. So, naturally, being president of the Jackson Camellia Society, he agreed, shipping about 150 blooms for the occasion.

Although Fatherree doesn’t admit to having a fountain of youth in his yard, perhaps there is some healing power in the camellias he grows there.

With son Jeff assuming leadership responsibility in the Jackson Camellia Society, Fatherree can finally sit back, and simply enjoy the beauty of his camellias.

“In my long life, I have observed that true happiness is achieved by what we do for others and not for what is done for us,” Fatherree said. “It hasn’t been the burdens of the day that have bothered me, but the regrets over yesterday—I have always tried to ‘relish the moment.’”

When the camellias begin blooming each September, Fatherree knows that another birthday is just around the corner.

And at the age of 102, he continues to approach each day as a new beginning.

Among his outstanding academic and civic efforts, Holland is credited with establishing Mississippi State’s faculty council, serving four years as its chairman. The group now is known as the Robert Holland Faculty Senate. He joined the MSU English faculty in 1949 Holland and became department head in 1961.

Holland, a native of Meridian, held bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Mississippi.

During World War II, he served with a supply unit in the Pacific. After the war, he went to the University of Wisconsin to earn his doctorate. It was there that he met and married Gertrude Pepper, the mother of his two daughters. For many years, Mrs. Holland taught communications in Mississippi State’s management department.

In addition to the endowment in English, a previously established endowment also honors Holland. The Holland Fund for Music supports projects in the department of music education. Criswell and her sister Melissa Holland established the fund in honor of their parents.

Criswell, a Columbus resident, recently edited a volume of her father’s poetry and prose for publication. Co-editing the book was Paul Ruffin, a former student of Holland’s, now a writer and English professor. Half of the proceeds from book sales will benefit the Holland Fund for English. Copies may be ordered by sending a $24 check or money order, which includes $4 for shipping, to Friends of the Texas Review, Texas Review Press, Box 2146, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX 77341-2146.

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University announces capital campaign leadership, theme Mississippi State University has selected a theme and volunteer leadership for its capital campaign expected to have a formal launch in 2004.

A capital—or major gifts—campaign is a multi-year fund-raising and marketing effort designed to dramatically increase the level of private gift support for the university.

Mississippi State now is in the “silent” phase, during which the MSU Foundation works with volunteers to secure large, leadership-level gifts that ensure campaign success.

“State of the Future” will appear with an accompanying logo on all materials related to The Mississippi State Campaign. The theme was submitted by Sacky H. Holdiness, a doctoral student from Meridian, who received a $500 award for her efforts as part of a campus-wide contest.

“The ‘State of the Future’ theme will help us move the campaign forward,” said Dennis Prescott, vice president for external affairs. “It was selected because we felt it conveyed to the campus community, as well as to alumni and friends of the institution, the progress we hope to afford the university through this major gifts effort. The theme will enable us to attract corporate and foundation focus on the university as well.”

Mississippi State’s first-ever major gifts campaign concluded in 1997 with more than $143 million in private gifts, pledges and deferred gifts for the university, most of which became part of the university’s permanent endowment. Although the new campaign goal has not been set, it will significantly exceed the amount raised in the university’s initial effort.

“Goals for the campaign center around four key areas: scholarships and fellowships, chairs and other endowed faculty positions, facilities, and other academic programs,” said Prescott. “Deans and other unit heads have played the key role in determining the priorities.”

Prescott emphasized that the structured fund-raising effort of a campaign seeks to raise funds beyond those required for the university’s general operating needs. The Foundation will be assisted in its campaign fund raising by a volunteer effort led by a steering committee.

“Strong volunteer leadership is vital to the success of a capital campaign and we are pleased that some of the most dedicated alumni and friends of the institution have stepped forward, committing their time and resources to assist the MSU Foundation with this campaign,” Prescott said. “The selected members bring with them an extremely high level of professional achievement and an undying love for Mississippi State University.”

Leading the State of the Future campaign steering committee is alumnus Richard C. Adkerson, president and chief financial officer of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in business administration. Currently, he serves as treasurer of the MSU Foundation Board and is a member of the College of Business and Industry Senior Executive Advisory Board.

Also serving on the campaign steering committee are: James K. Ashford of Highlands, N.C.; James W. Bagley of Trophy Club, Texas; Fred E. Carl Jr. of Greenwood; Albert C. Clark of Starkville; William N. Clark Jr. of Metairie, La.; Hassell H. Franklin of Houston; Hunter W. Henry Jr. of San Marcos, Texas; W.G. “Mickey” Holliman of Belden; Bobby P. Martin of Ripley; E.B. Martin Jr. of Jackson; C.W. “Tex” Ritter Jr. of Kosciusko; Leo W. Seal Jr. of Bay St. Louis; Bobby Shackouls of Houston, Texas; and James F. “Bud” Thompson of Meridian.

James K. Ashford, retired president and CEO of CASE International, will serve as chair emeritus of the steering committee. He previously led Mississippi State’s first capital campaign. A 1958 graduate of the university’s accounting program, he was named the university’s 1996 National Alumnus of the Year. He also is a former member of the MSU Foundation board.

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Bagley

Carl

Albert Clark

Will Clark

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Henry 52

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James W. Bagley, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Lam Research Corp. in Freemont, Calif., received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Mississippi State.

He was the 1994 Alumnus of the Year for the College of Engineering, which now bears his name.

Fred E. Carl, president and CEO of Viking Range Corp. and Viking Capital Ventures, is a member of the MSU Foundation board, the College of Architecture Advisory Board and the College of Business and Industry board. He attended MSU’s College of Architecture and its small town center is named for him.

Albert C. Clark, a 1965 business graduate of Mississippi State, is president of C.C. Clark Inc., a regional beverage distributor, and vice president of Clark Distributing Co. in Kentucky. He is a past president of the MSU Foundation board and currently serves on the board of the MSU Bulldog Club.

William N. Clark Jr., a veteran of 15 seasons of Major League baseball, attended Holliman Mississippi State before going on to play with the San Francisco Giants, the Texas Rangers, the Baltimore Orioles, and the St. Louis Cardinals. He was a six-time All-Star first baseman and a Gold Glove winner. He was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame Bobby Martin in 2001 and is a 2003 inductee of the MSU Sports Hall of Fame.

Hassell H. Franklin, a business management graduate, is founder of the Franklin Corp., a national leader in the furniture market. He was recognized as Mississippi State’s 1995 National Alumnus of the Year. He is a member of the MSU Foundation board and the College of Business and Industry Senior Executive Advisory Board.

Hunter W. Henry, a 1950 chemical engineering graduate of Mississippi State and the retired president of Dow Chemical USA, is serving as vice chairman of the committee. In 2001, the university awarded him an honorary doctor of science degree. He is a member of the board of directors for the MSU Foundation and has been recognized as MSU’s National Alumnus of the Year.

E.B. Martin W.G. “Mickey” Holliman, president, CEO and chairman of the board of Furniture Brands International, the world’s largest furniture manufacturer. Holliman is a 1960 business management graduate. A member of the MSU Foundation board, he was honored Ritter as MSU’s National Alumnus of the Year in 1998.

Bobby P. Martin, president and chairman of the board of the Peoples Bank in Ripley, is a 1956 agronomy graduate of Mississippi State and also holds an honorary doctorate in business. He is a past president of the MSU Foundation board and the Bulldog Club. He was MSU’s 1999 National Alumnus of the Year.

E.B. Martin Jr., vice chairman of the TeleCorp PCS Board of Directors, is a 1978 education graduate. He is also a graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School and the Harvard Business School. Martin is a member of the MSU Foundation board of directors, as well as a member of the Dean’s Development Council in the College of Education at Seal Mississippi State.

Charles W. “Tex” Ritter Jr. is a 1956 graduate of Mississippi State’s agriculture program. He is a former president of the MSU Foundation board and a past president of the Shackouls MSU Alumni Foundation. He was MSU’s National Alumnus of the Year for 2002.

Leo W. Seal Jr., chairman and CEO of Hancock Bank, is a 1949 graduate of Mississippi State. He is president of the MSU Foundation board and past president of the Bulldog Club.

He is a former Mississippi State National Alumnus of the Year.

Bobby Shackouls, a 1972 chemical engineering alumnus, is president, chief executive officer, and chairman of Burlington Resources Inc. He is a member of the MSU Foundation board of directors and a member of the Dean’s Development Council for the Bagley College of Engineering.

James F. “Bud” Thompson, president of Insurance Solutions, is a 1962 alumnus of the university. He is a past president of the Bulldog Club board of directors and a member of Thompson the MSU Foundation board.

Rounding out the steering committee are Richard Armstrong, executive director of the MSU Foundation; Gary Blair, national president of the MSU Alumni Association; J. Charles Lee, president of Mississippi State University; Roderick A. Moore, vice president of the MSU Foundation; Dennis A. Prescott, vice president for external affairs; and Peter W. Rabideau, provost and vice president for academic affairs.

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Class News Republicans top Democrats on baseball diamond Wearing a Mississippi State Bulldog uniform, Congressman Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) celebrated another Republican victory in the 42nd Annual Roll Call Congressional Baseball Game in July as the GOP defeated the Democrats 5-3. Pickering was hit once in the jaw and once in the left shoulder while batting.

“Hardball politics has always been a rough sport,” Pickering said. “But this is the first time I’ve left with a fat lip. If you think my last campaign was rough, try playing Congressional baseball.”

Pickering plays catcher for the Republican team.

Last year, the Republicans won 9-2, clinching another best-of-five series (3-1) and earning them their eighth coveted Roll Call trophy. Republicans now lead the overall series 28-14.

This year’s match-up was played at Prince George’s Stadium in Bowie, Md. Proceeds from the game go to the Washington Literacy Council and the Metropolitan Police Boys and Girls Club. Last year’s game raised about $90,000. Figures for this year’s game have not been announced.

This was the 42nd Annual Roll Call Congressional Baseball Game, though the match-up dates back in various forms to the first game in 1909. Members played sporadically until after World War II when the Washington Evening Star began sponsoring it as a charity event. The Washington newspaper Roll Call is now the sponsor.

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Robert Penn Taylor of Columbus, chairman of the board of directors of 4County Electric Power Association, this summer welcomed the 13th-generation descendent of a horse that his father gave him at the age of 12. He has continued breeding horses from the original gift horse for 72 years.

James B. Miskelley has been posthumously inducted into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Mississippi River Commission Gallery of Distinguished Civilian Employees. He retired in 1996, following 35 years of federal service.

49 Frank Oakes of McComb is a volunteer member of the Mississippi State Citizen Corps Advisory Council. The council was formed to seek ways to fund and efficiently run the Citizen Corps, a partnership of the Office of the Governor, state Commission for Volunteer Service, and state Emergency Management Agency.

50 Martha H. Swain of Starkville, Cornaro Professor of History Emerita at Texas Women’s University, is one of three editors of Mississippi Women: Their Histories, Their Lives. The collection contains biographies of 17 Mississippi women who helped shape the state’s course.

Pickering

honored as one of nine 2003 Legends by the American Recreation Coalition. The award recognizes his efforts to improve outdoor recreational opportunities for the public.

65 Miskelley

63 Thomas C. Hill has been inducted into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Mississippi River Commission Gallery of Distinguished Civilian Employees. He retired in 1998, following 35 years of federal employment.

Joe Woods of Vicksburg, chief of the Project Resources Hill Management Branch in the Operations Division of the Corps of Engineers’ Vicksburg District, has been

Richard R. Brann of Houston, Texas, an attorney and senior partner with Baker Botts law firm, has been selected as a leading lawyer in Texas to defend labor and employment cases, as published in Chambers USA, America’s Leading Business Lawyers.

66 William Ray Johnson has received the Distinguished Service Award from the Florida Seed Association. He also was the association’s 2003 president.

Paul W. Kincade (M.S. ’68) is head of the immunobiology and cancer program, William H. and Rita Bell Chair of Biomedical Research, and adjunct professor of microbiology and immunology at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and University of Oklahoma. He is 2003 president of the

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Class News American Immunology Association and is 2004 president-elect of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

69 Joe W. Ball of Atlanta, Ga., president and managing partner of Pritchett, Ball & Wise Inc., a commercial real estate and business consulting firm, has been elected president of the Atlanta Chapter of the Appraisal Institute.

Joel Clements of Waynesboro has been elected to the executive committee of the Mississippi Bankers Association. He is chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of First State Bank in Clements Waynesboro.

Malcolm Portera (M.A. ’71), chancellor of the University of Alabama System and president emeritus of Mississippi State University, has been named a member of the board of directors of Regions Financial Corp., one of the 25 largest financial services companies in the nation.

70 Michael Farrell of Jackson has joined the law firm of Mitchell, McNutt & Sams.

He will concentrate his practice in labor and employment law and commercial litigation.

Malcolm Wall has been named chief executive officer and executive director for the Kentucky Educational Television network. He previously was executive director for the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority.

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P. Bernard Jacob III (M.B.A. ’89) of Pensacola, Fla., has been named vice president of external affairs and corporate services for Gulf Power Co. of Pensacola.

71 Neal Berryhill of Franklin, Tenn., has been promoted to director of sales for food service-fresh chicken by Perdue Farms.

73 Ann C. Chadwick (M.S. ’76) of Alexandria, Va., retired executive director of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, has received that organization’s Distinguished Service Award, the highest national honor it bestows.

Barry Royals (M.S. ’79) of Jackson, an environmental engineer with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and chief of the Office of Pollution Control’s Surface Water Division, has received the Elizabeth Jester Fellows Award from the Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators.

Loucrecia Collins (Ed.D. ’95) has received the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is an assistant professor of educational leadership in the UAB School of Education.

78 Bob McGee of Athens, Ga., has received a Best Practices award from the Southern Association of College and University Business Officers for integrating a digital imaging process to improve the payment system at the University of Georgia. He is director of payroll, payables and expenditures at the university.

79 David L. Sandefur of Ridgeland, an attorney, has joined McGlinchey Stafford law firm in its general litigation section.

74 T.E. Walker of Forest has been elected vice president of the Mississippi Bankers Association for 2003-04.

He is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the Bank of Forest.

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75 Dennis C. Parmer of Sugar Land, Texas, president of Triplex Computer Corp., has been elected to the Sugar Land City Council.

Pat Sanders Robertson of Jackson, deputy director of the Public Employees’ Retirement System, has been elected to the executive board of the Government Finance Officers’ Association of the U.S. and Canada.

Tommy Tomlinson of Starkville, regional bank president for National Bank of Commerce, has been named to the board of directors of the CREATE Foundation, a community improvement foundation that serves 16 Northeast Mississippi counties.

Brit Katz (M.S. ’86) has been named vice president for student affairs and dean of students at Millsaps College in Jackson.

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Jay Brumfield has been named chief operating officer at Advanced Stent Technologies, a medical device company headquartered in Pleasanton, Calif. He previously was vice president of strategic initiatives at Mississippi Chemical Corp. in Yazoo City.

Ken Reich (M.A. ’93) of Arlington, Tenn., has joined the music staff of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis.

85 M. Leigh Lunsford is a visiting assistant professor for 2003-04 in the

Mathematical Sciences Department at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

86 Kevin Womack of Memphis, Tenn., has been named city Womack president of FirstBank.

He will oversee all Memphis operations for the fastest growing community bank in Tennessee.

88 Elizabeth A. Messer of Bay St. Louis has received NASA’s prestigious Exceptional Achievement Medal for implementing key initiatives that helped Messer increase efficiency and performance. She is assistant to the chief of test operations and project manager for design and data management in NASA’s Propulsion Test Directorate at Stennis Space Center.

89 Curtis Jordan, a major in the U.S. Air Force, recently assumed command of the 62nd Contracting Squadron at McChord AFB, Wash. He previously was assigned to Headquarters Air Force Personnel Center. In his new assignment, he is responsible for more than $67 million in supplies and services.

Betty Bush Roby of Atlanta, Ga., has been promoted to vice president-team manager for database administration and analysis at Bank of America in Atlanta.

Danny W. Sample Jr., a major in the U.S. Army, has been assigned to U.S. Army-Pacific at Fort Shafter, Hawaii. He will serve as National Guard Bureau LNO for the Army Pacific region.

Kevin Stevens has been named associate director of purchasing at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.

Class News 90 Jonathan K. Hasson (M.S. ’92) of Irvine, Calif., has joined ADS Environmental Services as region manager of the company’s InterHasson Mountain West and West Coast operations. He previously was a branch manager for ADS in Marietta, Ga. David A. Norris, an attorney, has joined McGlinchey Stafford law firm in its commercial litigation section in the Jackson office.

92 Shane Crowe (M.S. ’94) of Sachse, Texas, and his co-workers at Nortel Networks were granted a U.S. patent for their work on rural cellular base stations.

Their invention extends base station range by 400 percent.

Trussell Trent Trussell of Tupelo has joined Hawthorn Pharmaceuticals as a sales representative in the Tupelo area.

93 Brian Barrett of Birmingham, Ala., an architect, has been named a principal with the Garrison Barrett Group.

Denise McDonald Cosper of Starkville is an adjunct instructor in the College of Business and Industry at Mississippi State.

Anne Davis of Nashville, Tenn., a songwriter and folk/ alternative musician, has released her first CD featuring 15 of her original songs, most of which have Christian messages.

Pat Zollner of Rhinelander, Wis., a United States Zollner

Department of Agriculture Forest Service research ecologist, has received the agency’s highest national award for early career scientists for his research on the American marten, a threatened animal in Wisconsin.

94 Gray Bekurs (M.S. ’96) has been named director of residential services at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La. Chris Cosper (M.A. ’96) of Starkville has been named a partner with Pryor and Morrow Architects in Columbus.

Bekurs Tracy Whitehead has joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences as an assistant research professor in the Department of Pathology.

He is working in the Basic Breast Cancer Division of the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, developing magnetic resonance methods to detect breast cancer in its earliest stages.

Andrew Witt of Tupelo, an outside salesman for Building Specialties, has received the President’s Club Award from United States Gypsum Corp. for surpassing sales goals in 2002.

95 Trey Cathey has joined A.G. Edwards & Sons in Hammond, La., as a financial consultant. He previously was a sales associate for Hibernia Investments.

Malcolm Jeffrey Emfinger of Brookhaven is a maintenance/test engineer for Pearl River Valley Electric Power Association in Columbia.

Timothy Hodge of Tampa, Fla., a veterinarian, has opened Cross Creek Animal Medical Centre, a small animal and exotic pet practice.

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Class News 96 Brandon Owen Gibson (M.A.B.M. ’97) of Bells, Tenn., an attorney, has become an associate with the newly formed law firm of Pentecost, Glenn & Rudd in Jackson, Tenn.

Shaohua Li (M.S. ’97) of Santa Clara, Calif., is an electrical engineer working in the Micro Processor Division of PMCSierra Inc. Christopher Perry has been awarded the Beeson Pastor Fellowship from Asbury Theological Seminary, which will allow him to complete his doctoral class work over the course of the year.

97 Cynthia Baddour of Hernando has joined Hawthorn Pharmaceuticals as a sales representative in Northwest Mississippi.

Toni Rhodes Leeth has been elected president of the Public Health Student Caucus, the only national Baddour organization for students in public health.

Tracy Moore of Memphis, Tenn., has been named Exchange City manager for Junior Achievement of Memphis and the Mid-South.

Laine Peyton Myers has received a doctoral degree in immunology/toxicology from the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. He is doing post-doctoral work at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

98 William Chandler has been promoted to associate sports information director at Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Ala. Brad Garner, a landscape architect, has been promoted to associate with Alexandria, Va.-based Rhodeside & Harwell Inc. 58

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Jennifer Riddell Wilburn has been promoted to senior producer for NewsNight with Aaron Brown at CNN in Atlanta, Ga.

99 Kelly Johns Agent (M.B.A. ’02), corporate sponsorship director at Fort Richardson, Alaska, has received the Department of the Army Achievement Medal for Civilian Service. She also has received the Fort Richardson Commander’s Award for Excellence and the U.S. Army Alaska General’s Coin for job performance.

Charles Dunlap of Birmingham, Ala., has been promoted to assistant director of media relations at Southeastern Conference headquarters in Birmingham. He handles daily publicity for SEC baseball for the league.

Rich Simpson received a D.M.D. in dentistry from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in May. He is in residency training in orthodontics at the Louisiana State University School of Dentistry in New Orleans.

Eric Allen Wooten of Germantown, Tenn., has been selected to participate in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. He will spend one year in Japan teaching English in schools and engaging in international exchange activities.

Joel A. Tillery received a master’s degree in environmental engineering at Colorado State University and is a staff engineer with CH2M Hill in Gainesville, Fla.

02 E. Clint Bolton has joined Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association in Batesville as a management trainee. He previously was a sales representative for Panola County Cooperative.

Isaac Holman has joined the architectural and design firm of Earl Swensson Associates in Nashville, Tenn., as an interior designer.

Dontorya Ingram of Yazoo City has been employed this summer as a technical assistant at McLendon Library at Hinds Community College’s Raymond campus.

Ingram

03 Erin McMurchy has joined Tupelo Furniture Market’s sales team as a leasing agent.

McMurchy

00 Amanda L. Bryant (M.S. ’02) of Hernando has been named 4-H youth agent in Simpson County.

Courtney Honea has been promoted to national account analyst for Jefferson Pilot Financial’s Southeast Region.

Stacey Salmon-Rich works in sales and service for IBM Canada.

01 Jennifer Bagwell Carwile teaches science and social studies at Water Valley Middle School and is assistant volleyball and softball coach at Water Valley High School.

Spurlin intern architect.

Chad Spurlin has joined Johnson Bailey Henderson McNeel Architects as an

Class News MSU grads publish fitness book for body, mind, spirit Can chewing gum make you smarter? Is it possible to “rock” your way to physical health? Is it possible to pray away stress and anxiety?

Mississippi State alumnae Joyce M. Yates (M.Ed. ’77, Ed.D. ’99) and Amanda Gladney Conrad (B.S. ’98) believe so. The duo has collaborated on Simple Fitness for Your Body, Mind, and Spirit, a how-to book that weighs in on the total health and wellness movement with a kinder, simpler approach.

Yates Conrad The 110-page guide, published by Quail Ridge Press of Brandon, concentrates on six key areas of health: physical, nutritional, intellectual, social, emotional, and spiritual.

Yates, associate professor of health and kinesiology at Mississippi University for Women, and Conrad,a certified personal trainer and fitness instructor, believe nourishment and attention to these key areas are essential to achieving long-term success in healthy lifestyle management.

Simple Fitness for Your Body, Mind, and Spirit is available at local bookstores, online at www.quailridge.com, or by phone at 800-3431583.

BIRTH Announcements Sarah Elizabeth Abbay, Sept. 5, 2002, to Will Abbay (’98) and Lisa Selman Abbay (’98) of Germantown, Tenn.

Molly Lane Austin, Sept. 16, 2002, to Terri Livingston Austin (’00) and husband Sam of Fort Smith, Ark. Emma Taylor Bean, June 24, 2003, to Heather Harrison Bean (’96) and Charlie Bean (’92, M.B.A. ’95) of Madison.

Caleb Derek Berryhill, Nov. 11, 2002, to Derek Berryhill (’98) and wife Jacqueline of Hattiesburg.

Morgan Ann Bevon, June 5, 2003, to Charles C. Bevon (’96, M.P.A. ’97) and Ellen Elizabeth Allen Bevon (’96, M.P.A. ’97) of Madison.

Noah Alexander Brown, May 13, 2002, to Tracy Handley Brown (’92) and husband Jamie of Fayette, Ala. Brooks William Byers, April 11, 2003, to Lea Henderson Byers (’94) and husband Brad of Olive Branch.

Emma Christian Cayson, March 23, 2002, to Steve Cayson (’87) and Polly Ann Watt Cayson (’89) of Huntsville, Ala. Aidan Rush Connelly, July 3, 2002, to John D. Connelly (’94) and Tracy Busbee Connelly (’98) of Flowood.

Jason Lawrence Cosper, Dec. 31, 2002, to Denise McDonald Cosper (’93) and Chris Cosper (’94, M.A. ’96) of Starkville.

Maddox Jackson Davis, April 25, 2003, to Kim Walls Davis (’94, M.S. ’95) and husband Darrell of Germantown, Tenn.

William Lesley Shields Davis, Feb. 14, 2003, to Lesley Andress Davis (’89) and John D. Davis IV (’88) of Brandon.

Aidan McKinley Dobbs, Dec. 6, 2002, to Mark Dobbs (’93) and wife Melanie of Starkville.

Guy S. Gillespie, Aug. 26, 2003, to Gregory Gillespie (’96) and wife Mary Alice of Cary, N.C. Tyler Patrick Heard, Feb. 20, 2003, to Craig Heard (’94) and Lisa Vanderford Heard (’96) of Ridgeland.

Andrew Joseph Helms, June 19, 2003, to Jennifer Helms (’01) and husband Jon of Atlanta, Ga. Kathryn Morrow Ivy, July 30, 2003, to Rob Ivy (’94) and wife Kerry of Nashville, Tenn.

Hayden Eli Joiner, July 24, 2003, to Ramsey Cumbest Joiner (’96, M.S. ’97) and husband Jason of Cordova, Tenn.

Elizabeth Frances Keen, May 3, 2002, to Tiffany McDuff Keen (’93) and husband Mike of Redwood.

Robert Alexander Kihlken, June 9, 2003, to Jennifer Mayo Kihlken (’96) and Thomas Kihlken (’98) of Shreveport, La. Gabriel Reese Kirkpatrick, July 15, 2003, to William Paul Kirkpatrick (’93) and wife Sylvia of Hendersonville, Tenn.

Tyler Jordan Long, April 7, 2003, to Paige Moses Long (’86) and Robert W. Long (’82) of Ridgeland.

Micah Gideon Massey, June 2, 2003, to Thomas Massey (’88) and wife Susan of Madison, Ala. Allyn Grace McCary, May 21, 2003, to Kawana Easom McCary (’89, M.B.A. ’91) and husband David of Newton.

Andrew Parker McCleese, to Edward McCleese (’97) and wife Kimberly of Little Rock, Ark. Maggie Lauren McDonald, Nov. 4, 2002, to Jason C. McDonald (’93) and wife Annette of Greenwood.

Meredith Grace Muirhead, Dec. 8, 2002, to Joel T. Muirhead (’89) and wife Jennifer of Dothan, Ala. Carson Wesley Nash, April 19, 2002, to Ray Nash (’91, M.S. ’99) and Lori Green Nash (’97) of Booneville.

Banks Livingston Perry, Jan. 22, 2002, to John Fletcher Perry III (’94) and Jamie Livingston Perry (’90) of Tupelo.

Stone Harlow Pittman, May 16, 2003, to Hope Sheffield Pittman (’96) and Jeremy Harlow Pittman (’97) of Germantown, Tenn.

Kyler Danielle Reeves, March 9, 2003, to Kari Babski-Reeves (’95, M.S. ’98, Ph.D. ’00) and Tory Reeves (’94) of Blacksburg, Va. Lacee Elizabeth Riddell, Sept. 3, 2003, to Randy Riddell (’91) and wife Amy of Killen, Ala. Ellington Elizabeth Sartor, June 3, 2003, to Scott Sartor (’95) and wife Catherine of Germantown, Tenn.

Caroline Elizabeth Skellett, June 11, 2003, to Jake Skellett (’98) and wife Jessica of Baton Rouge, La. John Kirby Stringfellow, March 28, 2003, to Kirby Dean Stringfellow (’95) and Jennifer Johnson Stringfellow (’94) of Picayune.

Emily Elizabeth Thompson and Natalie Bond Thompson, Nov. 27, 2002, to Crystal Kowalski Thompson (’97) and Zachary Welty Thompson (’97) of Ridgeland.

Carson Davis Wade, Feb. 4, 2003, to Lisa Rushing Wade (’94) and husband Bryan of Springfield, Mo. Regan Nicolle Warren, June 12, 2003, to Nicolle Carter Warren (’96) and Clint Warren (’95) of Tulsa, Okla.

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BIRTH Announcements Walker Van Watson, June 17, 2002, to Will Watson (’90) and wife Angie of Greenville.

Logan Alyse Whitehead, July 2, 2003, to Tracy Whitehead (’94) and wife Michele of Little Rock, Ark.

John Andrew Wilder, March 27, 2003, to Saskia Grassel Wilder (’95) and husband Penn of Bentonville, Ark. John Tyler Wolfe, May 4, 2003, to Alyson Wolfe (’99) and Corey Wolfe (’98) of Jackson.

Mary Palmer Wooten, Dec. 29, 2002, to Theresa Otto Wooten (’94) and husband Ronald of Jackson.

Erik Thomas Zeppelin, March 11, 2003, to Kristin Flautt Zeppelin (’94) and husband Deron of Knoxville, Tenn.

Jessica Dean Zwies, May 23, 2003, to Julie Ferrill Zwies (’91) and husband Walter of Dover, Del.

IN Memoriam John Andrew McReynolds Jr. (’30)— 96, Starkville; retired dean of student affairs at Mississippi State and real estate agent, June 27, 2003.

James W. Hammond (’35)—90, Winona; retired hygienist and professor of industrial hygiene at the University of Texas School of Public Health, June 9, 2003.

Ernest Minor (’39)—85, Macon; retired farmer and cattleman and World War II veteran, June 22, 2003.

Marlin M. Stewart Sr. (’39)— Fayetteville, N.C.; retired agent for Equitable Life Assurance Society, Aug. 20, 2003.

William C. Whittington (’41)—86, Collins; retired Farmers Home Administration employee, March 26, 2003.

M.W. Triplett (’43)—81, Louisville; electrical contractor, June 27, 2003.

Elsie Wallace Chamberlin (’45, M.S. ’71)—79, Aberdeen; June 5, 2003.

Howard M. Evans Jr. (’49)—75, Greenwood; retired electrical engineer and administrator for Delta Electric Power Association, July 5, 2003.

Jessie Belle Wyatt (’50)—Kansas City, Kan.; retired teacher for Calhoun County schools, June 2, 2003.

Yancey Adams Bittle (’51)—73, Columbia, S.C.; retired executive secretary, July 10, 2003.

Donald C. Ezelle (’51)—74, Tupelo; retired mechanical estimator in plumbing and heating business, July 27, 2003.

Raymon C. Kelly (’51)—Brandon; retired letter carrier and supervisor for the U.S. Postal Service, Dec. 21, 2002.

Glen E. Watson (’51, M.S. ’57)—75, Morton; former teacher, retired employee of Lady Forest Farms poultry producers, and World War II veteran, June 15, 2003.

Chester G. McWhorter (’51, M.S. ’52)—76, Decatur; agricultural researcher for USDA, renowned weed scientist, and adjunct professor of plant pathology and weed science at Mississippi State, June 17, 2003.

John Luther Bowling (’53)—77, Franklin, Tenn.; retired education specialist and technical writer at Redstone Arsenal in

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Huntsville, Ala., and World War II and Vietnam War veteran, Aug. 25, 2003.

G.A. Mills Jr. (’53, M.Ed. ’57)—70, Red Bay, Ala.; retired teacher and coach at Red Bay High School and Korean War veteran, Dec. 5, 2002.

Ben F. Hilbun Jr. (’55)—68, Starkville; attorney, interim Starkville city attorney, and former state senator, July 14, 2003.

Harold Leslie Hutchinson (’57)—71, Jackson; civil engineer and Korean War veteran, June 15, 2003.

Thad Ira Pigott (’57)—67, Gulfport; retired regional director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Sept. 7, 2003.

William P. Furr Jr. (’59)—65, Jackson; former co-owner of Hardin-Furr Furniture Co. and past president of the MSU Alumni Association, July 5, 2003.

Mirt S. Lunsford Jr. (’61)—63, Durham, N.C.; retired colonel in the U.S. Army and Vietnam veteran, Feb. 27, 2003.

Nolan Sidney Harper (’62)—63, Jackson; businessman and attorney, June 26, 2003.

Dennis Holloway Jr. (’75)—71, Jackson; retired educator, administrator and executive assistant to the president at Jackson State University, June 14, 2003.

Carolyn Bennett Patterson (attended)— 82, Washington, D.C.; retired senior editor for National Geographic magazine and the first woman ever to serve as a senior editor at that publication, July 7, 2003.

Ryan Lyle Sperandeo (student)—21, Clinton; business marketing student at Mississippi State, July 2, 2003.

Homer S. Coskrey (former employee)— 88, Starkville; dean emeritus of continuing education and professor emeritus of education at Mississippi State, July 9, 2003.

Alcus Smith (friend)—82, Brookhaven; retired automobile dealer, June 20, 2003.

FRED Y. FAULK

coordinator of photographic services Fred Y. Faulk of Starkville, longtime coordinator of photographic services in the Office of University Relations at Mississippi State, died Nov. 8, 2003, at his home. He was 54.

A Vicksburg native, he was a 1968 graduate of H.V. Cooper High School and a 1972 graduate of Belhaven College.

Faulk began a three-decade career as a photographer in 1972 at Mississippi State.

During his service at University Relations, his photos regularly appeared in student recruitment publications, the university’s Alumnus magazine, the student yearbook and, from 1997 until 2004, a universitydesigned calendar showcasing campus scenes. His news and feature photos have appeared in newspapers around the state, nation and world.

Many of his scenes have been featured in two books about the university, a pictorial survey, published in 1993, and “Inside Dudy Noble—A Celebration of MSU Baseball,” published in 1992. His last major project was a book of photos to commemorate the university’s 125th anniversary, “125 Years at Mississippi State University: A Pictorial History of the People’s University,” released in October.

Faulk received many awards for photographic excellence from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

He was among the first recipients of a university-wide Distinguished Staff Award, recognizing exceptional contributions to Mississippi State. He also owned and operated Fred Faulk Photography in Starkville.