ALUMNUS Summer 2024 - Mississippi State University

ECLIPSING BOUNDARIES Astrophysicist Angelle Tanner and Historian Alexandra Hui explore the connection between space and society, using the eclipse as a moment of shared discovery. p. 12

I N S I D E 2024 Vol. 101 No. 2

Pushing the Limits p. 15 | Moving On Up p. 28 | Living Beyond Labels p. 36 | Legacy of Passion p. 60

STOP AND SMELL THE FLOWERS

Dak, MSU’s live mascot formally known as Bully XXII, takes a moment out of his busy schedule to stop and smell the flowers outside the university’s Chapel of Memories. By Grace Cockrell

Table of CONTENTS

24 Olivia Aylsworth, a talented video producer at MSU’s Television Center, collaborates with a dedicated team to craft compelling stories that highlight Mississippi's unique culture and people. The team's award-winning work includes documenting impactful narratives that span the state, with a recent Emmy-winning project featuring women excelling in male-dominated fields. Photo by Grace Cockrell

FEATURES

26 In the Spotlight

Award-winning MSU Films tells Mississippi’s stories on the national stage

33 Moving On Up

Mississippi State invests in meeting the needs of tomorrow

Mississippi State University is an equal opportunity institution. Discrimination in university employment, programs or activities based on race, color, ethnicity, sex, pregnancy, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, status as a U.S. veteran, or any other status protected by applicable law is prohibited. Questions about equal opportunity programs or compliance should be directed to the Office of Civil Rights Compliance, 231 Famous Maroon Band Street, P.O. 6044, Mississippi State, MS 39762, (662) 325-5839.

2024 | VOL. 101 | NO. 2 PRESIDENT Mark E. Keenum, ’83, ’84, ’88 VICE PRESIDENT FOR DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI John P. Rush, ’94, ’02

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ALUMNI ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jeff Davis VICE PRESIDENT FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS AND DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS Sid Salter, ’88 EDITORS Susan Lassetter, ’07 Harriet Laird

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WRITERS Portia Agyapong, ’24 Camille Carskadon, ’12 Susan Lassetter, ’07 Allison Mathews, ’00 Addie Mayfield David Murray Shun Pounds, ’14, ’18 Callie Simonton, ’24 Carl Smith, ’10 Nicole Thomas DESIGNER Heather Rowe

40 DEPARTMENTS 04 Campus News 17 Discoveries 22 State Snapshot 36 Our People 46 Alumni News 60 Giving Back 66 Class Notes 68 Forever Maroon 70 Back Story

COVER

Astrophysicist Angelle Tanner, left, and historian Alexandra Hui bridge science and humanities to create a unique view of the solar eclipse, underscoring the value of interdisciplinary learning at MSU. Photo by Grace Cockrell

CONNECT

TWITTER.COM/MSSTATE FACEBOOK.COM/MSSTATE INSTAGRAM.COM/MSSTATE

PHOTOGRAPHERS Grace Cockrell Jonah Holland Beth Wynn EDITORIAL OFFICE P.O. Box 5325 Mississippi State, MS 39762 662.325.0630 slassetter@opa.msstate.edu ADVERTISING Leanna Smith 662.325.3360 lsmith@alumni.msstate.edu Mississippi State University’s Alumnus magazine is published three times a year by the Office of Public Affairs and the Mississippi State University Alumni Association. Send address changes to Alumni Director, P.O. Box AA, Mississippi State, MS 39762-5526. Call 662.325.7000, or email cturner@advservices.msstate.edu.

Campus NEWS

NOT UP FOR DEBATE Mississippi State named national champions for intercollegiate speech and debate By Susan Lassetter, Submitted Photos

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hen Devin Hutchins makes a point, it’s not achieved on the court. It might, however, one day happen in a court.

The philosophy and economics double major plans to one day attend law school. Until then, he’s matching wits with college students from across the country as a member of Mississippi State’s Speech and Debate Council.

It was in those competitions that his clearly articulated, well-reasoned arguments helped the university score enough points to be named national champions.

The Bulldog team claimed the honor in April at the 2024 International Public Debate Association National Tournament, marking the university’s first overall team championship.

The event was hosted at Mississippi State with 50 colleges and universities from across the country coming to Starkville to compete.

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Cheryl Chambers, who serves as one of the team’s coaches, said MSU’s dominance at the event is a testament to not only the students’ skill in forming and presenting logical arguments but also their ability to function as a team.

“Winning a national championship is not just one person getting all the way to the end,” said Chambers, an instructor in the department of communication. “It’s a culmination of the team performing really well overall and having multiple team members who kept progressing through the competition in their respective divisions.”

The national tournament followed International Public Debate Association rules and format. Brett Harvey, the team’s co-coach and debate specialist, said this style is meant to be accessible and public facing, which means debaters must balance evidence and logical

“We focus on balanced debating that mixes evidence, skillful delivery, likability and logic. We are a really, wellrounded team." ~ Brett Harvey

arguments presented in a thoughtful and approachable way.

He said this style of debate has become the most common across the country and is a style that highlights Mississippi State’s strengths.

“We focus on balanced debating that mixes evidence, skillful delivery, likability and logic,” said Harvey, who is director of federal regulatory compliance at MSU. “We are a really, well-rounded team. The students put a lot of effort into pretournament preparation to make sure they understood the topics that were likely to come up. And, most importantly, during the tournament, they were incredibly supportive of one another.”

Harvey explained that in IPDA competition, debaters are given their topics roughly 30 minutes before the debate. That means they have less than half an hour to educate themselves on a subject and form a cohesive argument. While everyone has access to the internet, including news and academic databases, Harvey said MSU’s secret research weapon was the students.

“Rather than prepare alone, they worked together to make sure everyone on the team was prepared,” Harvey said. “That included preparation before the tournament so when they were given topics, the whole team already had a good foundation. That meant the actual tournament prep time could be used to really hone in on the important points and prepare what they would say during their debate.”

All told, the Bulldogs brought home multiple season and tournament honors, including first place sweepstakes in Overall, Founders and Scholastic divisions at the National Championship Tournament; and the 2023-24 season-long Professional Program, Varsity Program and Team Debate awards.

More than a dozen Bulldogs won individual accolades at the National Tournament, including Hutchins who was named Top Speaker in the Professional Division.

“Debate requires a lot of attention,” the senior from Hernando said. “I’m constantly reading the news, culturally impactful academic papers, books, and more. That’s what has kept me interested in debate—the opportunity to engage with contemporary

issues through a, mostly, stimulating intellectual medium.”

A member of MSU’s speech and debate team since his freshman year, Hutchins said his interest in debate has grown throughout the years. He said he believes his experience with the team will help him in his future career as a lawyer but that it has also affected how he interacts with the world.

“Debate requires a lot of attention. I’m constantly reading the news, culturally impactful academic papers, books, and more. That’s what has kept me interested in debate." ~ Devin Hutchins “I think that, generally, debating, paired with the sage coaching our team receives, has imparted really rare and crucial life skills to me,” Hutchins said. “Being on a team as competitive as ours has pushed me to become a better debater but also a better overall person.”

Debate is often thought of as an extracurricular activity for those interested in political science or law; however, Chambers is quick to point out that the 40-member MSU team is comprised of majors from across campus.

“Yes, we have a large number of team members who have aspirations to go to law school but we also have students who are in engineering or education or pursuing medical school,” Chambers said. “Our team members have very different life goals, and the skills that they are learning will translate into a lot of different areas.”

Chambers said that, most notably, participating in debate improves critical thinking and public speaking skills—things that can serve any one, in any field, for a lifetime.

‘In a debate competition, you’re not going to get away with shallow thinking. You have to put thought into what you’re speaking on, do the research and be able to pick apart someone else’s argument,” Chambers said.

“Distinguishing clean fact from opinion is integral to what debaters do.

“Debating almost always requires that you build confidence, too,” she continued. “With that, our students feel more confident in job interviews, speaking with people in positions of power and presenting their thoughts to an audience. Many of our students go to graduate school and higher level positions because they have the skills to compete for those spots.”

That benefit isn’t lost on students. Since its inception in 2015—when around 10 students approached Chambers about starting an intercollegiate speech and debate team at MSU—the team has grown to include approximately 40 students and built a national reputation. Over the years, MSU debaters have won multiple individual national championships and awards, with this year’s team win cementing MSU’s status as a top program.

Harvey said that growing interest in the team and its national presence is especially impressive given that Mississippi State does not currently have scholarships available to participants.

“Mississippi State is one of very few elite-level programs that does not offer debate scholarships,” Harvey noted. “That means we recruit mainly from the regular student body, so our team’s success is that much more impressive. It’s something I’m very proud of.

“We have some students who never participated in debate until MSU,” he continued. “Their ability to come in and be successful—to refine the necessary skills, think on their feet and take on these more experienced challengers—speaks highly of the quality of students at MSU.” Now in his last year as an undergraduate, Hutchins said he is proud of what the team has achieved and looks forward to a senior year that will bring even more success on the debate stage.

“The hope this year is the same as it is every year: be better than we were the year before,” Hutchins explained. “We’ve got the momentum and are excited to keep going.” n ALUMNUS.MSSTATE.EDU

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Campus NEWS

TIPS FOR PUBLIC SPEAKING For some people, speaking in public is no big deal—you stand up, say your piece and sit back down. For others, the mere thought of all those eyes and ears induces a panic akin to being chased by a large predator.

For these individuals, there is no limit of homespun wisdom meant to calm their nerves and make public speaking a more tolerable task. But while “picturing the audience in their underwear” might work for some people, it’s not exactly evidenced-based or a best practice.

Instead, Cheryl Chambers, speech coach for MSU’s Speech and Debate Council, offers the following as tried-and-true tips for being a successful public speaker.

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BE PREPARED – Be well informed about your topic and have an outline of the points you want to make.

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PRACTICE ALOUD – Stand up, in as realistic an environment as possible, and deliver your speech as if you’re talking to an audience.

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VISUALIZE SUCCESS – Push out the negative thoughts by picturing things going well. Remember times you’ve been successful. Be confident in your knowledge of the subject and picture the audience–fully clothed–being receptive.

Finally, she says to not expect perfection, which can set you up for a stumble if something doesn’t go quite right.

“Nobody is perfect. You won’t give a ‘perfect’ speech,” she explains. “In public speaking, there are so many variables and so many factors outside of your control that there will always be mistakes. Most of the time, the audience won’t even notice. But if you accept that some things might happen that are not ideal, it will be easier for you to brush it off and keep going.” n

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‘LET’S WIN SOMETHING TODAY’ HOW THE 1974 BULLDOGS SET A BENCHMARK FOR MSU ATHLETICS

By David Murray

he long-ago conversation from a campus cruise in Rockey Felker’s Pontiac is still vivid.

“We were riding in his car, just talking stuff,” Jimmy Webb says. “I remember him saying ‘Webb, we’re gonna run this thing, me and you.’”

What the quarterback told the defensive tackle that 1974 summer evening proved prophetic. By winter, Mississippi State had run Ole Miss off the field, Bob Tyler’s team was bowling and Bulldog football had come of modern age.

As Felker says now, “It was one time in your life in ’74 that there was a lot of excitement, cowbells were ringing and you were proud to be a Bulldog.”

Fifty falls later, all involved should stay proud. Not only football, Mississippi State athletics and the university can count 1974 as a “Before and After” benchmark. It is the season everything changed, and every student and athlete since has benefited.

“We had a good year our senior year and it was quite memorable in all we did,” Webb said.

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Mississippi State memorialized the team Sept. 21 on the field those Dogs called home.

Time has taken the usual toll, and the man who put it all together was remembered posthumously.

Coach Bob Tyler died last April in Water Valley, where his own story began 91 years before.

His forever-highlight is what he achieved with a program mired for decades in mediocrity—or worse. Tyler did not claim any credit.

As he stated in his last interview, in September 2022, “I have heard it said that while we were here some things turned around.”

Not things. Everything.

“Mississippi State hadn’t won to speak of since the ’40s,” Felker said. “We were able to get a streak going and win some big games and some close games and have a very special year.”

“Coach Tyler brought a belief that we could win,” Webb added. “He didn’t do a lot of the coaching; he believed in letting assistants do that. But he was a great motivator.”

Mississippi State desperately needed

motivation to get out of its darkest ages. It’s worth noting that coach Charley Shira, who had one winning season out of seven and one victory over Ole Miss, did do much of the groundwork.

Despite the struggles, Shira began bringing in players with potential.

“He was kind of an old-school guy but just the kind of guy you’d play for,” Webb, a Florence native, said. “And we were able to get some pretty good talent in here.”

That lone win in the Battle for the Golden Egg? It had long-term results, too. Felker was the son of a State fan and grew up listening to Jack Cristil.

“I actually was on the sideline when State beat Ole Miss in 1970 in Oxford,” he said. “I knew I was going to be a Bulldog.”

So, Shira set a foundation with Felker, Webb, Steve Freeman, Bobby Wallace, Gerald Vaught, Calvin Hymel, and many, many more.

The veterans who’d been through bad years like Wayne Jones, Frank Dowsing, Ken Phares, Bill Buckley and others pointed newcomers in the right direction. Webb particularly credits ground-breaker Robert Bell.

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Campus NEWS

“He led me through a lot and took care of me, just a gentle giant,” Webb recalled.

Shira’s best single signing though was Tyler. After assisting at Ole Miss—including that 1970 team which State beat—and Alabama, he was ready to make the step up.

In that 2022 talk, Tyler remembered his mentors saying the Mississippi State job would be open soon. “’If you can get it, it will be a plum, you need to get that Mississippi State job,’” he recalled. “And of course I knew something about this place.”

Tyler also knew Shira was ready to focus on athletic director duties. One other thing he knew: the core club just needed complementary talent. Tyler got it with forward thinking.

“He just brought in good people, period, good students, friends,” Webb said. “And he did not hesitate to recruit the good African American players. It benefited us because he brought in great players like Harvey Hull, Ray Costict and Larry Gillard, ready to play as freshmen.”

It also helped having a real Dog house in still-new McArthur Hall featuring air conditioning—no minor matter to all those Southern boys.

“And I got to sleep in that for five years,” Webb recalled, noting that they also dined together downstairs, which reinforced the team mentality. “I was just blessed to be with those guys and we did life together.”

With his “Let’s Win Something Today” theme, Tyler’s first season in charge was nearly a breakout before injuries, particularly to

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Felker, meant a 4-5-2 finish. Those Bulldogs knew how close they were, though, as the pair discussed on that summer evening drive.

Webb even recalls what was on the State playlist. “We had adopted a popular song that year that fit our purpose, ‘Saturday Night is Alright for Fighting.’ I’m not sure if our parents or pastors embraced it, but they got over it!”

Winning does absolve most sins, and the Bulldogs were winners. A thrashing of William and Mary and an open date tuned up the new “veer” option offense to take on the SEC’s other Bulldogs. Georgia came to Jackson, where State played more “home” games for the box office profits, and left 3814 losers.

“Beating Georgia was a great start, and we not only beat them but dominated them,” Felker said.

Wins over Kansas State and Lamar sent State 5-1 to Memphis.

“The game might have been the turning point of the year,” Webb said Of an era, in fact. With the clock winding down, the Dogs trailed 28-21 and were dug back, deep.

“You’ve got 3:07 left and have got to go 98 yards, and you’ve never done it before,” Felker said.

They did, with Dennis Johnson bulling over the line at 0:49. Of course Tyler said go for the win and, of course, Felker was in charge.

“He says you guys block like crazy but I’m going to go in there, and if they tackle me before the goal line I’m gonna fumble the ball

into the end zone,” Webb said.

As the replay shown every Scott Field game day proves, Felker made it in cleanly.

“So it worked out good that night,” Webb said.

Alabama, as usual, was too much to handle, and Auburn won a nail-biter. But the Bulldogs stuck to plan.

“Coach Tyler had a lot to do with the offense and Rockey was the guy that made it work,” said Webb. “And we had some skill players, myself and others on defense, that we could match up with those guys and stop them.”

State stopped LSU 7-6 before heading back to Jackson for the ultimate nemesis.

Nerves showed early but the Bulldogs owned both lines of scrimmage in the 31-13 triumph. Thus, the image of the day, and perhaps the whole series’ history, was a giddy Webb holding the Golden Egg on high.

A copy of the photo still hangs in his garage.

“And I think Rockey has his hand on it if you look closely,” he noted.

There is a duplicate film reel of the whole game, too, which Webb’s father favored.

“We can pull that down and watch ourselves beat Ole Miss one more time,” he said.

Christmas found the Bulldogs at the Sun Bowl with thousands of their closest friends.

“The whole state of Mississippi was in El Paso,” Felker said.

The 26-24 comeback finished a 9-3 season which marked Mississippi State’s emergence.

The 1974 roster produced, over time,

four All-Americans, a dozen All-SEC selections, professionals in football and professionals in life, too. Felker, of course, would stay in the game as a coach, eventually taking over his alma mater from 1986-90.

Felker surely set the table for Jackie Sherrill’s successes. After a return tenure with the athletic department and Bulldog Club, he has retired.

Webb was able to mix nine seasons in the NFL with off-seasons in the new College of Veterinary Medicine. He took his doctorate to Turlock, California, to specialize in cattle embryo transplants. Also just retired, he keeps a few cows on the home acres.

“We get the SEC channel, so we get to keep up with things,” Webb said.

Webb was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame this summer, joining Felker, 2019, and Tyler, 2022, representing the 1974 team. More off that roster should be added over time, and eventually see their names on MSU’s Davis Wade Stadium Ring of Honor. Or if the committee just chooses to hang a “1974” on the stadium, it will serve.

As Felker says, “It was a great time to be a Bulldog and a dream come true for me. I think back on it as one the best teams we’ve had at Mississippi State.”

It was certainly the transitional team for Mississippi State. Whatever the scores and records, since 1974 the Bulldogs don’t only wish to win.

Bulldogs intend to win.

“It kind of started back with Rockey and that car ride,” Webb said. “As Rockey would say, ‘it’s all good.’”

Or as Tyler himself said in his final public appearance, “I thank God, bless this university … and let’s win something today!” n

WINNING THE GAMES ON AND OFF THE FIELD

By David Murray Did winning a football game also secure Mississippi State a Vet School? Well, this is Mississippi, and it was the Battle for the Golden Egg. Let a firsthand witness tell how a wise old academic played his own game.

Jimmy Webb had been accepted as an alternate at Auburn’s vet school. But Mississippi State Dean Dr. James Miller saw a different future.

“Dr. Miller had gotten me to help them a couple of years before because it was a big item in the state legislature for the funding,” Webb said. “They knew I had signed up and I was going to play pro ball.”

Miller told Webb to apply for the first CVM class, plan on attending in the second, “and we’ll see you after your offseason.”

Simple? Not really. While the legislature approved founding Mississippi State’s vet school in 1974, the devilish details were still to be worked out. So, Miller played an ace.

“They had to lobby the legislature for funding. I had to go eat lunch with all the state senators,” Webb recalls. “And it was a good year for State to have beaten Ole Miss because the legislature was pretty heavy Ole Miss people!

“But they all figured it was good and got the thing passed,” he added.

Webb himself passed the necessary exams, enrolled and graduated in 1978—all while taking care of NFL business.

He says his class included four “whiz kids” who knew the exotic stuff.

“And I was just a country guy with a degree in dairy science,” he explained. “They said you go catch the cows and we’ll draw the blood.”

That fine formula worked as five years later Webb had his doctorate.

“I don’t think there’s two or three of us who played pro football who are licensed vets!

But it means a lot to me,” Webb said. n ALUMNUS.MSSTATE.EDU

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Campus NEWS HANNAH GRACE CHILDRESS, a May graduate in agricultural education, leadership and communications major from Thorsby, Alabama, joined 12 other students in agricultural education from across the nation as a National #TeachAg Ambassador. An initiative of the National Association of Agricultural Educators, or NAAE, the National #TeachAg Ambassador Program participants share their individual narratives with prospective students considering agricultural teaching careers.

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumnus and current graduate student PAUL O’NEAL, a Shelby native, recently was named the first recipient of the Dr. Larry G. Heatherly Graduate Fellow in Agronomy Excellence. The fellowship honors Heatherly’s long and impactful U.S. Department of Agriculture career in soybean research.

JOHN WALTERS, a two-time MSU alumnus and seasoned software executive and entrepreneur, is now leading Mississippi State University’s Office of Technology Management. He comes to MSU from Austin, Texas, where he was the community engagement manager for Procurated, Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based start-up that helps government procurement officials find and evaluate suppliers.

Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine has appointed DR. NATALIE MANGINSAY as director of the Poultry Research and Diagnostic Laboratory. For almost nine years, she served as an associate clinical professor of avian medicine for the PRDL, which is located in Pearl and one of four laboratories in the Mississippi Veterinary Research and Diagnostic Laboratory System.

Mississippi State’s College of Education dean is a new member of the state’s Commission on Teacher and Administrator Education, Certification and Licensure and Development.

TERESA JAYROE was appointed to her first four-year term by the Mississippi State Board of Education to represent Mississippi Congressional District Three through December 2028. The commission falls under the umbrella of the Mississippi Department of Education.

William L. Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus BRENT FUNDERBURK, who retired in 2018 after teaching art at MSU for 36 years, is the recipient of a 2024 Governor’s Arts Award for Excellence in Visual Arts and Education award.

CHRISTOPHER A. SNYDER, professor of history and the inaugural dean of Mississippi State’s Bobby and Judy Shackouls Honors College, is the university’s 2024 Mississippi Humanities Council Teacher of the Year.

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ANDREW S. RENDON, a longtime Mississippi State student affairs administrator and Mississippi Army National Guard colonel is the university’s new executive director of Veterans and Military Affairs.

He is responsible for the overall development and enhancement of university services for U.S. service members, veterans, disabled veterans, dependents, survivors and ROTC programs.

SURABHI GUPTA, a wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture major from Jaipur, India, is the university’s latest winner of the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst-Research Internships in Science and Engineering, or DAADRISE. DAAD, the German academic exchange service, and the RISE program provide research opportunities that match student research interests with local laboratories for biology, chemistry, physics, earth sciences and engineering.

Mississippi State University and the Mississippi Small Business Development Center are pleased to announce the appointment of MARY GRAHAM as the new center director at MSU. With an extensive background in business development and a passion for fostering small business growth, Graham brings a wealth of experience to this crucial role.

Professor DANIEL GADKE, head of Mississippi State’s Department of Counseling, Higher Education Leadership, Educational Psychology, and Foundations, is the recipient of the national Presidential Appreciation Award from the Trainers of School Psychologists.

SHERI WORTHY is the new director of the Mississippi State School of Human Sciences.

Worthy served nearly 12 years at the University of Georgia, most recently as associate dean for academic programs. Prior to that, she was a professor in the MSU School of Human Sciences for 15 years.

TERRY LIKES, head of Mississippi State’s Department of Communication, is the winner of the national 2024 Broadcast Historian Award from the Library of American Broadcasting’s Foundation, in conjunction with the Broadcast Education Association.

RYAN HARPER, a senior electrical engineering major from Philadelphia, and JOSHUA PHILLIPS, a junior political science and economics double major from Birmingham, Alabama, are recipients of the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarships to study foreign languages abroad and virtually.

MSU recently was redesignated for another five-year term as an “Innovation and Economic Prosperity University” by the APLU, a credential MSU has maintained since 2015. The APLU program recognizes institutions that “have demonstrated a substantive, sustainable, and institutionwide commitment and strategy for regional economic engagement, growth, and economic opportunity. MSU Vice President for Research and Economic Development Julie Jordan said the designation re-affirms the university’s wide-ranging vision for using academic expertise to create economic opportunity and growth.

Representatives from educational institutions across the state gathered at Mississippi State University to launch the Mississippi Artificial Intelligence Network, or MAIN. Funded by AccelerateMS and led by Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, MAIN brings together a network of education partners, non-profits, and industries to address multiple educational and economic development opportunities related to artificial intelligence.

For the 12th consecutive year, MSU has received a “green light” rating in the national College Free Speech Rankings from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, an organization that defends and sustains rights to free speech and free thought for all Americans, especially in education.

MSU is one of 63 public and private higher education institutions awarded the green light rating, which signifies the strongest free speech protections in campus policies and procedures. Over 500 higher education institutions were rated in the comprehensive survey.

An annual First Destination Survey report continues to show strong career success rates for Mississippi State graduates gaining employment soon after earning their degrees, with more than half remaining in the Magnolia State. The successful career outcomes rate for 2022-2023 MSU graduates within six months is 93%, which represents respondents who reported being employed full- or parttime, enrolled in a continuing education program such as graduate school, participating in a service program such as the Peace Corps, or serving in the U.S. military. The survey is conducted

by MSU’s Career Center.

“Glorious and gilded” is the Mississippi State University Riley Center, said the editors of Southern Living magazine, who have listed the late 19th century Meridian performance venue among “The Most Beloved Historic Theaters in the South.” In the list of 11 venues, the MSU Riley Center topped New Orleans’ popular Canal Street Saenger Theater, which gained fame during the rise of the silent movie era just as Meridian’s Grand Opera House—as it was known then—came to a close in 1927.

The opera house would later be restored and reopened as the MSU Riley Center nearly 80 years later in 2006.

Mississippi State University is taking care of what matters—and that includes its people. MSU is the only Southeastern Conference school to make the 2024 Top 50 list of “America’s Best Large Employers” recently published by Forbes. At No. 41, Mississippi State is one of only three universities in the U.S. ranked in the Top 50—joining the University of Notre Dame (20) and Purdue University (47). In the expanded Top 100 list, the SEC’s University of Tennessee, Knoxville and University of Kentucky are No. 79 and 97, respectively.

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Discoveries

A SHARED SOLAR EXPERIENCE MSU Professors Use Eclipse to Link Science, Humanities

By Carl Smith, Photo by Grace Cockrell

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hat happens in the heavens matters on Earth. That’s the message of two MSU faculty—historian Alexandra Hui and astrophysicist Angelle Tanner.

From humans observing the movements of celestial bodies to hurling manmade objects into and beyond the exosphere, space events—and the science behind them—have been tied to the culture of the people experiencing them throughout history.

Using the backdrop of April’s North American solar eclipse, the two associate professors illustrate the intersection of science and the humanities— and the importance of a well-rounded education, like that available at MSU. “Events like a solar eclipse are intense moments of collective experience that are special and precious,” Hui said. “As historians, we’re always thinking about where we can find entry points into the past. These events—these very tight, specific moments in history—are that. Everyone gets excited, there’s lot of documentation and everyone’s experiencing them collectively.”

On April 8, almost 45 million people in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. were plunged into near darkness as the moon’s alignment with the sun briefly caused a total eclipse. Totality like this was observed in 15 American states, six Mexican states and six Canadian provinces. An estimated 650 million people—almost 8% of the world’s population—observed a partial eclipse despite not being in the path of totality.

Because the event, also known as the Great North American Eclipse, was observed by so many, it became a shared phenomenon, finding its way into the media, culture, dialogue and experiences of the day.

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“Events like a solar eclipse are intense moments of collective experience that are special and precious.” ~ Alexandra Hui

“Events like this show it’s very natural for astronomy and history— the humanities—to be interconnected.” ~ Angelle Tanner

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Discoveries Since astronomers began successfully predicting when eclipses would occur more than 2,000 years ago, humans have been hooked on experiencing the phenomena. Now with the ease and eagerness of travel and the buzz generated on social media, more and more people want to see totality firsthand. This excitement has its positives. For example, economic forecasters at the Perryman Group predicted eclipse-chasing travelers would help generate approximately $4.6 billion of total expenditures in the U.S. states falling within the path of totality, which spanned from Texas to New England.

“Everyone was discussing why this eclipse was so different—why people were losing their minds over it—and I think it’s the fear of missing out, and the fact that FOMO can easily go viral.

Things trend so quickly these days,” Tanner said. “Events like this show it’s very natural for astronomy and history—the humanities—to be interconnected.”

At MSU, the College of Arts and Sciences serves as the confluence of social sciences and the humanities—the academic disciplines focused on what forms and guides society and culture—and traditional sciences. Within the college are 14 departments and a variety of programs, centers and institutes available to students interested in the sciences that make up the world and how culture defines it.

Linking the two sides—how both science and the humanities inform and impact each other—is an important part of Hui’s and Tanner’s teaching at MSU. Hui is a historian of science who previously served as co-editor of Isis, a University of Chicago Press academic journal that explores the histories of science, medicine and technology, and how they’re influenced by and impact culture and society.

An accomplished astrophysicist who in 2020 helped announce the discovery of a new planet orbiting a star almost 32 light years away, Tanner is part of a roughly $20 million NASA space mission team that will put an artificial star in orbit around Earth for scientists to calibrate telescopes with to better measure the brightness of stars.

“What historians and astronomers do is not so different, especially in terms of thinking about how we frame the questions we ask and how we accumulate evidence that lives up to rigorous testing, debate and replicability. Science is often challenging to the status quo and has to

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defend itself against critiques that are political, social or cultural,” Hui said. “The humanities are everywhere, and science doesn’t work without people; it can’t be completely separated off from the humanities.”

As scientists continue tackling the hot-button issues of the day, historians document how we handle these challenges, Tanner said, explaining that both camps are similarly charged with “fighting to keep misinformation from affecting progress.”

“You have to pay attention to your sources. The key part of it all is scientific literacy. You have to broaden your horizons in terms of what you take in,” Tanner said. “Some things get sensationalized,

“What we think we know is always changing. It’s our job to present the way knowledge about the world is created, practiced, shaped and maintained, and to show the roles of technology and culture, and how everything is connected.” ~ Alexandra Hui and some people tend to stick to their selfconfirming circles of information. They don’t take the time to seek out other sources of information, and we don’t make it easy for them at times.”

“What we think we know is always changing,” Hui added. “It’s our job to present the way knowledge about the world is created, practiced, shaped and maintained, and to show the roles of technology and culture, and how everything is connected.”

Both professors said MSU and its leadership create an environment that encourages instructors in different fields to collaborate and share ideas.

This connectivity allows for better instruction throughout the university.

“From the president and provost to the deans and department heads, I think the general culture of Mississippi State is one that’s open and curious about interdisciplinary studies,” Hui said. “I have conversations with faculty from across campus about what I do and what they do, and I think there’s a friendliness and curiosity here that is unique.” n

PUSHING THE LIMITS

OF HUMAN PERFORMANCE AT MSU’S ATHLETE ENGINEERING INSTITUTE

By Camille Carskadon, Photos by Megan Bean and Grace Cockrell

J

ust off the main campus of Mississippi State, the Athlete Engineering Institute is revolutionizing health and performance across the state through cutting-edge research and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Reuben Burch, who directs the institute, and a team of engineers, kinesiologists and fashion designers are making significant strides in addressing the health challenges faced by Mississippians both on and off the sports field.

The institute primarily focuses on wearable devices that enable the collection of performance data, something it explored in early projects with Bulldog football and men’s and women’s basketball. Through sensors embedded in uniforms, shoes and other gear, the researchers could precisely track biomechanics.

This gives coaches real-time data on players’ activities during practice and games to encourage healthy, low-risk movement patterns and avoidance of dangerous positions or exertion levels.

“At the time, the goal was to support all the sports teams as much as possible by analyzing their data. Analyzing elite athletes generates goldmine datasets,” said Burch, who is also an associate professor of industrial and systems engineering.

"Insights into things like throwing mechanics, lateral quickness and more can help optimize training programs.”

Burch said the goal, along with optimizing performance, was also to protect the players’ long-term health through an integrated, data-driven and personalized approach. Along the way, researchers within Athlete Engineering became technology

integrators and early adopters. They realized that if these wearable technologies could be applied to sports athletes, then perhaps they could be applied to other types of “athletes,” including industrial workers and military personnel.

Burch said the team identified four distinct types of “athletes” who could benefit from its work. The goal, he explained, is to help the workforce, in Mississippi and beyond, remain healthy.

With this, the team—which includes Lesley Strawderman, a professor in industrial and systems engineering; electrical and computer engineering’s Brian Smith, an associate professor, and John Ball, a professor; and Charles Freeman, a former MSU fashion design and merchandising associate professor—expanded Athlete Engineering from a small program within ALUMNUS.MSSTATE.EDU

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Discoveries

the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems and Bagley College of Engineering into a university institute that addresses a diverse range of human performance and human factors challenges.

Burch said they’re taking the lessons learned previously and applying them to the optimization of other types of athletes including: • Tactical Athletes: Those in military or emergency responder roles • Industrial Athletes: Those performing repetitive-motion tasks in manufacturing, warehousing, logistics and other industries • At-Risk Athletes: Chiropractic and medical patients in rehabilitation and recovery • Sport Athletes: Professional and student-athletes Working with the engineers, kinesiology faculty Professor Adam Knight, Associate Professor Harish Chander and Assistant Professor Zack Gillen—who were among the initial team members—are leveraging their knowledge of human physiology, biomechanics, and strength and conditioning to understand and apply the

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data gathered from the wearable technology.

Burch said this data-driven approach to injury mitigation and job design can help maintain happy, healthy and productive lives across the four areas.

“What makes this institute unique is the way it brings together so many different areas of expertise," said Zack Gillen. "We’re able to combine our knowledge and skills to tackle complex problems in a more holistic way."

The collaboration of Bagley College of Engineering faculty, as well as those from fashion design and merchandising and kinesiology, highlights the Athlete Engineering Institute’s commitment to crossdisciplinary understanding and applying scientific research to real-world problems.

Today, the Athlete Engineering Institute collaborates with teams from other leading athletic conferences, as well as several NBA

and NFL teams and numerous companies and organizations like Toyota and Ingalls, focusing on optimizing worker safety through technological solutions and creating training programs. Their research also spans several other industries, including defense, manufacturing and healthcare.

“I’ve had a great opportunity to take my knowledge and apply it to some of the different research initiatives going on at the Athlete Engineering Institute,” Gillen said.

"Whether it’s working with data from the football team or partnering with industry groups like Toyota and the Mississippi Highway Patrol, I’ve been able to contribute in ways I hope will have a real impact on the health and well-being of people across Mississippi.

“What makes this institute unique is the way it brings together so many different areas of expertise,” Gillen continued.

“Instead of researchers working in silos, we’re able to combine our knowledge and skills to tackle complex problems in a more holistic way. That’s really the strength of this institute and Mississippi State University as a whole—the ability to leverage diverse perspectives for the greater good.”

Gillen has played a central role in the institute’s work, using his background

GET MOVING TO KEEP MOVING Newton’s first law of motion forms the basis of much of what we know of physics. The general idea, however, also sums up tendencies of human beings—an object at rest will stay at rest, while an object in motion will stay in motion.

In short, the more sedentary a person is, the harder it will be for them to get moving. But the person who gets moving will likely keep their body moving, and moving well, for longer.

Zachary Gillen, an assistant professor of exercise physiology in MSU’s Department of Kinesiology, explained that as we age and take on more stationary tasks, it’s easy for our muscles to become weaker, disused and out of synch with each other. This can not only make it harder to find the desire to exercise but put us at a higher risk for injury.

To combat the body fatigue and muscle atrophy that often accompany sedentary jobs, Gillen recommends incorporating office-friendly exercises into the workday to break up time spent sitting at a desk.

He suggests taking five minutes every hour to complete two to three sets of 10 repetitions of the following. For each exercise, keep your navel pulled to the spine to engage your core muscles and provide the proper support.

in biomechanics and strength training to identify movement patterns and muscular imbalances that could lead to overuse injuries.

“Whether it’s a factory worker or a student-athlete, the underlying principles of injury prevention are often the same,” Gillen said. “By analyzing movement data and providing tailored training recommendations, we can help people avoid painful and costly injuries that can have a major impact on their lives and livelihoods.”

Beyond injury mitigation, the Athlete Engineering Institute is also dedicated to promoting physical activity and overall health in Mississippi, a state that has faced significant challenges in this area. Gillen has been passionate about communicating the institute’s research findings to the public, emphasizing the importance of accessible exercise options like body-weight training.

“Exercise is one of the most powerful tools we have for improving health, and it’s something that everyone can benefit from, regardless of their occupation or activity level,” Gillen said. "By sharing our research and providing practical recommendations, we hope to empower Mississippians to take charge of their own well-being and make positive changes in their lives.” n

•

BODY-WEIGHT SQUAT – while keeping the back straight, bend at the knees into a squatting position. Hold the squat at the bottom for five to 10 seconds for an added stretch.

•

STANDING CALF RAISES – While standing up straight, slowly rise onto your toes, then lower back down. Grasp your hands together in front of your chest for an added balance challenge or lightly rest your hands on the edge of the desk if additional stability is needed.

•

LUNGES – Step forward with one leg, then lower your body toward the ground with bended knees and then rise back to the starting position.

Alternate legs. While lunging, be sure to keep your spine straight and your weight spread evenly between your front foot and back toes.

•

DESK PUSH-UPS – Standing two to three steps from your desk, lean forward slightly and place your hands on the edge of your desk. Bend and extend your arms at the elbows to raise and lower your body in a push-up motion. Holding the push-up position for five to 10 seconds provides an added stretch.

•

DOUBLE OR SINGLE-LEG HOPS – Standing upright, slowly hop—either with both feet or alternating one foot at a time—with your core engaged for stability. Clasping your hands at your chest adds an additional balance challenge, while lightly resting hands on the desk helps provide stability.

He adds that taking a 10 to 20 minute walk or going up and down a flight of stairs two to three times every couple of hours can stimulate brain activity and have a big impact on muscle and joint health.

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Discoveries

READY FOR TAKEOFF MSU program aims to help state’s emerging adults avoid ‘failure to launch’

O

n a cruise ship in the middle of the Caribbean, at a table in the ship’s piano bar, Michael Nadorff found himself furiously writing an emergency grant proposal for the Mississippi Department of Health.

Not everyone would take a break from their vacation to seek funding to increase mental health services in the state, but for the Mississippi State psychology professor, the opportunity to positively impact Mississippi’s youth was too good to pass up.

The proposal: a multiyear project aimed at helping emerging adults take their next steps into independence.

“Our team has gotten the reputation of being able to pull things together quickly and being interested in projects like this, so I of course said yes,” Nadorff said. “It is a valuable program, and it was worth giving

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By Callie Simonton

up some of my vacation to ensure that it was something that we could bring to the state.”

In the end, Nadorff’s vacation sacrifice earned a $3.75 million federal grant to support the Mississippi State-led project “Healthy Transitions Mississippi.” Funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Center of the Department of Health and Human Services, the project seeks to reengage 16-25 year olds who are not pursuing education or active in the workforce.

“Between 16 and 25 years of age we have some major life transitions, including graduating from high school and becoming an adult in the eyes of society,” Nadorff said.

“While most will transition successfully into work or school, many do not. We want to find ways to help those individuals in that transition.

“Our project is designed to focus on mental health challenges that interfere with that transition, and getting care to those who need it so they can successfully complete the move into the workforce or college,” he added.

Through partnerships with the T.K. Martin Center and the MSU Behavioral Health Clinic, Nadorff said the team hopes to target the underlying mental health issues that prevent some high school and college students from successfully taking their next steps. The team has identified depression, suicidality and anxiety, among others, as some of the most prominent mental health needs.

The program also looks to connect families with Mary Nelson Robertson, an MSU assistant professor in human development and family science. Her

work in psychoeducation helps people understand issues from a clinical point of view to more easily grapple with their conditions and address the family dynamics that might contribute to failure to launch—an informal term for emerging adults who have not successfully become independent adults.

Mary S. Grace, manager of the MSU Behavioral Health Clinic, who serves as director of the project, said it’s gratifying to work with this age group and watch them take steps toward personal growth.

“It is so rewarding to work with young adults as they are going through the huge task of not only identifying who they currently are but also doing the difficult work of figuring out who they want to be and how to work toward that,” she explained.

She said troubles with this arise when an individual becomes disconnected. With no sense of purpose or desire to take the next step, these lost youths can become nearly impossible to reach. Grace said the problems become compounded by the fact that, even if an individual can be reached, mental health can be a hard subject to tackle. However, situations like this are what the MSU team embraces.

“When a disconnection initially occurs, it can bring depression, anxiety and loneliness on top of the stressors that might have initially triggered it. Often, they feel like they don’t belong anywhere,”

Grace said. “You lose a lot of connection to community and potentially a sense of purpose. It can be a cruel cycle of adding on more stressors when it feels like you’re already fighting Goliath. It’s crucial to offer assistance as soon as we can.”

Nadorff said that he sees this work providing a win-win outcome for not only MSU, but the entire state of Mississippi.

"Our project is designed to focus on mental health challenges that interfere with that transition, and getting care to those who need it so they can successfully complete the move into the workforce or college." ~ Michael Nadorff

“We can help youth through a challenging transition to help them figure out their next step and hopefully plug into a situation where they can truly make a difference,” Nadorff said. “In addition, we help employers in the state recruit youth who have so much to give, which not only builds the workforce but keeps those young people in the state.”

However, Nadorff said it’s more than just a program to strengthen Mississippi.

He said he hopes this project allows emerging adults to reengage with their passions and work toward things they find important.

“I selfishly hope that we can recruit many of those we work with to MSU. I know that won’t be the path for everyone, but I am excited to help each youth find their path and start them on a track they are excited about and that will get them where they are hoping to be,” he said.

Nadorff said Mississippi State’s connections across the state will help facilitate paths other than higher education, like workforce placement or community engagement work. He said he believes part of what made this proposal so enticing to the funding agency was the myriad of relationships MSU has fostered with community colleges and employers across the state, which may make helping young adults finding their way, easier.

Nadorff explained that this project hits the heart of what Mississippi State is and its role in supporting the state and its people.

“I think service to the people of Mississippi is an under-appreciated part of MSU’s mission," he said. "Of course, education is our first priority, but we have some of the brightest people in the world on this campus, and with us being a landgrant university, if we are not also serving our community and state we are missing the boat.” n

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Discoveries Mississippi State’s Department of Sustainable Bioproducts is committed to discovering solutions that will power tomorrow’s fuels.

Professor EL BARBARY HASSAN has received a National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant totaling over $610,000 to take foundational steps toward producing viable fuels from agricultural waste.

The National Science Foundation has awarded nearly $6 million to Purdue, Indiana, and Mississippi State Universities to fund a collaborative program aimed at fortifying the cyberinfrastructure (CI) workforce within research communities. The new project, known as CyberInfrastructure Professionals InnoVating and brOadening the adoption of advanced Technologies (CI PIVOT), is funded under the NSF’s Strengthening the Cyberinfrastructure Professionals Ecosystem (SCIPE) program. SCIPE’s goal is to advance the Cyberinfrastructure Professional (CIP) workforce throughout the nation. CI Pivot will help to accomplish this by recruiting individuals with domain-specific expertise and training them to be CI facilitators, making advanced CI accessible and effective for all.

Mississippi State’s PETE SMITH, an associate professor in communication, showcases the experiences of women journalists throughout the course of a century in his new book “Birddogs and Tough Old Broads: Women Journalists of Mississippi and a Century of State Politics, 1880s-1980s.”The book documents the professional experiences and observations of more than a dozen women journalists covering Mississippi state politics from the 1880s, after the end of Reconstruction when newspapers were the primary source of information, to the 1980s, a time marked by steady declines in both news revenue and circulation, and the emergence of corporate journalism. Lexington Books, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield, published the work.

Mississippi State University’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering has launched a new openaccess academic journal focused on advancements in artificial intelligence. The journal AI Letters aims to fill a gap in peer-reviewed publications covering AI research. Department Head Shahram Rahimi and Assistant Research Professor Noorbakhsh Amiri Golilarz, editorsin-chief of the journal, saw the need for a publication that could quickly share new ideas and insights in AI, a hot topic not just in computer science but the entire scientific community.

For his outstanding commitment to research and teaching in the humanities, Mississippi State’s SHAWN P. LAMBERT, an assistant professor of archaeology, represented the university as the 2024 William Winter Scholar at the 35th Annual Natchez Trace Literary and Cinema Conference.

HOSSEIN KARIMI, an assistant professor in Mississippi State’s Department of Psychology, is receiving more than half a million dollars from the National Science Foundation’s prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program—the first award of its kind for the department. A cognitive science researcher, Karimi’s $571,932 award to advance scientific knowledge of language production and comprehension is for the five-year project “The Effect of Trial-Level Lexical Entropy on Language Processing.” He hopes to understand how language processing interacts with other critical brain functions such as working memory and attention.

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Ryan A. Folk, assistant professor in Mississippi State’s Department of Biological Sciences, is the recipient of a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award from the National Science Foundation.

Folk, receiving $500,000 for research into hybridization, joins four biological sciences faculty who together have secured almost $4 million in the past few years through the program. Including this funding, the department currently is managing the most competitive federal funding in its history.

The CAREER program—one of the most sought-after opportunities offered by the NSF—provides five-year awards to tenure-track faculty in the initial stages of teaching and research.

Ray Iglay, an assistant professor in Mississippi State’s Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, is among a handful of wildlife professionals throughout the U.S. and Canada newly recognized as a fellow of The Wildlife Society.

A Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station scientist and associate research professor in Mississippi State’s Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture is being honored as a new Fellow of the American Ornithological Society. Mark Woodrey, who has devoted his career to researching avian ecology and conservation across the Gulf of Mexico region, joined the society over 40 years ago. Known as AOS, the organization is the world’s largest network of professionals dedicated to advancing the scientific study and conservation of birds.

A Mississippi State University research institute is helping to develop geographic information systems, or GIS, skills in tribal communities across the country. An online training program established by MSU’s Geosystems Research Institute in partnership with the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs has provided GIS training for more than 500 individuals in tribal communities, boosting skills in land management, environmental conservation, community development and more. The program was launched in 2023 to help the Bureau of Indian Affairs meet GIS training needs, building on previous outreach carried out by the university’s research institute.

A Mississippi State University research team is using more than half a million dollars from the U.S. Department of Energy nuclear physics program to study the emerging field of quantum computing. The research is part of a 2020 goal set by MSU’s Quantum Task Force to explore interdisciplinary programs for training MSU students in the evolving technology of quantum computing and quantum information science. The three-year, $550,000 grant— Three-body Interactions on a Quantum Computer—is led by principal investigator Gautam Rupak, a professor in MSU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, and includes co-PIs Mark A. Novotny, professor and department head, and Yaroslav Koshka, a professor in MSU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Scientists from institutions in the U.S. and the U.K.—including Mississippi State—are collaborating to better understand how livestock management practices may contribute to transmission of bovine coronavirus after social reorganization or “commingling.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture funded a University of Minnesotaled $3.5 million study to answer questions such as why some animals become infected, and others do not, when they are commingled.

Federico Hoffmann and Florencia Meyer, associate professors in MSU’s Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Amelia Woolums, professor in the Department of Pathobiology and Population Medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine, make up the MSU team, which also has worked on previous projects.

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State SNAPSHOT

SALSA IN THE STREETS

Heather Mar, a freshman chemistry major from Memphis, Tennessee, shares a dance with Bully in front of Lee Hall during Salsa in the Streets. The annual MSU Holmes Cultural Diversity Center event celebrates Latinx Heritage Month and encourages participants to experience the art of Latin dance.

Photo by Grace Cockrell

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In the Spotlight

Award-winning MSU Films tells Mississippi’s stories on the national stage

By Carl Smith, Photos by Grace Cockrell & Submitted

L

arger-than-life characters, majestic scenery and gripping tales fill Mississippi’s nuanced history. Who better to tell the Magnolia State’s story—and how Mississippi State is helping take care of what matters in its own backyard—than the documentarians of MSU Films?

Since its creation in 2020, the MSU Television Center’s documentary division has grown from an experimental, creative outlet to an award-winning production unit reaching millions of homes across the nation. By following a people-first storytelling philosophy, its staff and their work have earned more than 100 regional and national honors, including 24 Southeast Emmys, one national and two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, and a James Beard Foundation Award nomination.

“Stories are best told through the firsthand, lived experiences of characters. In every film we make, we tell the story through a primary character. As an audience, we experience their struggle and internalize it as our own,” said David Garraway, director of the television center and an associate director of MSU’s Office of Public Affairs.

“The primary character is someone who possesses a quality that reminds us of us,” he continued. “It can be their professional background or their personal story, but it can also be the way they react to their surroundings or circumstances.”

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“Stories are best told through the firsthand, lived experiences of characters. In every film we make, we tell the story through a primary character.

As an audience, we experience their struggle and internalize it as our own."

~ David Garraway

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L-R: James Parker, Brett Thornburg, Olivia Aylsworth, Hannah Baker, Don Warren and David Garraway

Scan to Watch The Hungriest State

L-R: David Garraway, James Parker, Hal Teasler and Olivia Aylsworth

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9-20

The Humble Oyster

Bolstered by national distribution, MSU Films is quickly becoming a household name. Two of its documentaries—“The Hungriest State,” a fourepisode series focusing on food insecurity, and “The Humble Oyster,” a 30-minute piece about threats to the mollusk’s Gulf of Mexico home—have reached more than 80 million viewers alone through PBS. In September, “9/20” made its network TV debut on SEC Network. That film tells the story of the first Division I college football game held after the terrorist attacks of 9/11—an MSU home game against the University of South Carolina.

Taiwo Gaynor, Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s chief content officer, said MSUproduced documentaries are finding large, receptive audiences across the U.S. not only because of their quality but also because of a growing national interest in Southernfocused stories.

“People are intrigued with the culture of the South. The timing is right—maybe even long overdue—for these stories,” Gaynor said. “Being able to tell them in a way that is authentic and real resonates with viewers.

When people see themselves and their communities, their neighbors and their families, it’s important to them.

“We’re focused on delivering content about Mississippi and the region; content that is expressive of where we are and the culture we’re part of,” he continued. “Mississippi State’s work is nothing short of world class. I’m beyond impressed at the level of attention they give their productions and the highquality standards they set forth when telling stories.”

Making these impactful documentaries requires Bulldog filmmakers to fully immerse themselves in their subjects. For two MSU Films storytellers on assignment, that included stomaching an unappetizing meal in less-than-ideal conditions.

Video producer Olivia Aylsworth and James Parker, UTC’s senior documentary and special projects producer, faced a tough choice as a shrimp boat they were aboard bobbed in the Gulf of Mexico this spring. Their hosts, a group of Vietnamese fishers they were covering for an upcoming feature, took a break from their nets well after midnight to cook a late-night snack of boiled squid. Aylsworth and Parker

either could ingratiate themselves with their subjects by eating the uncommon dish or possibly offend them by declining—after all, their constitutions were already weakened due to the choppy conditions.

They chose to enjoy their meal under the moonlight with the shrimpers to fully appreciate their subjects’ experience.

“It was really late, and we were already tired because we hadn’t gotten much sleep. It felt like we could have fallen off the ship at any moment—and then came the squid,” Aylsworth said. “I wasn’t ready for that.”

“It was a really genuine moment with everyone, but that squid was something else,” Parker added.

Both Parker and Aylsworth said this kind of immersion helps filmmakers connect with their subjects and allows them to fully tell their stories.

For the upcoming series on Vietnamese Mississippians, MSU’s storytellers spent time in numerous churches, restaurants and homes, and participated in Lunar New Year festivities in addition to their time on the water.

“I always ask myself if I’m telling the best story possible because you get to know these people and you want to make the best work possible for them,” Aylsworth said. “Curiosity and care are why I love telling these stories.”

“I really believe everybody has a story, and I think every story can be told and should be told in a really compelling way,” Parker continued. “It’s really exciting to be in a place with complicated stories and people like Mississippi, but I feel like we’re doing things that are bigger than us—bigger than Mississippi—that people across the nation can feel and relate to.”

Telling Mississippi’s stories is a key part of MSU’s dedication to service, Garraway said, because the university “can’t define solutions to complicated problems until we can define the problem itself.”

He continued, “MSU Films’ contribution is to start that discussion and to position MSU as thought leaders in a variety of issues, including food insecurity and rural and mental health. This is a chance for us to use our university experts to show how we’re working to better Mississippi. It is our job to tell stories and deliver solutions.” n

“I always ask myself if I’m telling the best story possible because you get to know these people and you want to make the best work possible for them.

Curiosity and care are why I love telling these stories.”

~ Olivia Aylsworth

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MOVING ON UP Mississippi State invests in meeting the needs of tomorrow

By Nicole Thomas, Photos by Grace Cockrell & Beth Wynn

O

n a late summer afternoon in July, Mississippi State University’s Saunders Ramsey leads a trolley tour to showcase the transformative construction taking place on campus. As executive director of campus services, he knows firsthand how these vital projects advance MSU’s mission of learning, research, and service. He’s eager to share with all on board the careful planning behind the university’s ongoing expansions and renovations, and highlight how they are transforming campus to not just meet the needs of today but prepare for the future as well.

“Everything we do is focused on building a vibrant, welcoming environment that creates a unique sense of place for our students, faculty, staff, alumni and extended Bulldog family to experience Mississippi State,” Ramsey said.

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The lengthy list of carefully planned projects totals more than $400 million in public and private funds and supports MSU’s continued growth as a leading research institution which saw enrollment of more than 23,000 in fall 2024.

“Our university is growing in many ways – including student enrollment, our research portfolio and the many ways we serve communities around the state,” MSU President Mark E. Keenum said. “Investments in our major capital projects and infrastructure upgrades are essential to our current and future success. I am grateful for the support of the Mississippi Legislature and our generous donors who make these projects possible. We are committed to being good stewards of the public and private dollars entrusted to us to maintain and grow our campus.”

"I am grateful for the support of the Mississippi Legislature and our generous donors who make these projects possible. We are committed to being good stewards of the public and private dollars entrusted to us to maintain and grow our campus."

~ President Mark E. Keenum

PERRY REVIVAL AND NEW DINING OPTIONS In the heart of MSU’s campus, Perry Cafeteria is undergoing a major renovation, thanks in part to a $26 million investment from MSU Dining’s partner Aramark, which has also put funding into other dining facilities across campus.

The Perry renovations will update and expand the beloved dining hall while preserving its historical charm to create a unique dining destination on campus.

Ramsey, who grew up in Starkville, said he holds fond memories of Perry Cafeteria, which has been a central part of the MSU experience for generations of Bulldogs and holds the Mississippi Landmark Building designation from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

“I remember visiting Perry Cafeteria with my family after church on Sundays, and I was awestruck with its interior,” Ramsey said. “At the time, I didn’t appreciate the beauty of its architectural style, but I did recognize that Perry was a place where people gathered, and it was a very relational experience.”

Three decades later, Ramsey is charged with overseeing the restoration and renovation of the 103-year-old historic building.

“I have a passion for places that bring people together to live, work, play and learn,” Ramsey said.

“And that’s the focus of our vision for Perry Cafeteria.”

When Perry Cafeteria reopens in fall 2025, it is expected to be a marketplace of activity where the community gathers to share a meal, enjoy a cup of coffee, hang out or even study. It will feature three food-hall concepts offering affordable dining choices that include a Southern-style kitchen, a BBQ and grill, and a salad station.

Starbucks is also relocating to Perry Cafeteria while Moe’s Southwest Grill is expanding its current location. State Fountain Bakery, a 100-year-old MSU tradition, is triumphantly returning to its original location on the north end of Perry.

A new pedestrian corridor and outdoor terrace with seating will help entice visitors to come to Perry, while its existing exterior doors, brick walls, pendant lights, gothic arches and wood beams will offer a warm welcome. And Bulldogs can rest easy, the flags representing countries around the world will remain an integral part of the interior design.

“We’re blending new and old elements that allow you to enjoy the nostalgia of time-honored MSU traditions with modern amenities and dining trends,” Ramsey said.

The renovation and expansion also include reclaiming and reimagining the outdoor area north of

Perry for student life activities and everyday use.

“The landscapes of the Junction and Drill Field, as well as the YMCA and Union plazas help define memorable open spaces across campus that connect us to MSU, and we want to extend that experience to Perry by creating a renewed outdoor gathering space for students, staff, and faculty to enjoy,” Ramsey said.

During the renovation, MSU is operating specialty food trucks to create a new dining experience on campus.

The food trucks are located at convenient spots across campus. These new mobile eateries are open on weekdays, giving alumni a good reason to explore campus on Fridays before game days.

An expanded Subway and new Bento Sushi located in the Student Media Center adjacent to Perry also opened for this semester.

While Perry Cafeteria is closed for the academic year, Starbucks, Chick-Fil-A, Panda Express and the Union Market located in the Colvard Student Union along with Subway, Bento Sushi and Fresh Food Company are open on game days with staggered hours.

“We’re still in the initial phase of demolition inside the cafeteria, but it is a construction zone at the center of campus that includes outdoor spaces on the north and east sides of Perry,” Ramsey explained. “It’s a high-traffic area for students, faculty, staff, alumni and other visitors, and we ask everyone to be mindful of signage alerting them to the ongoing construction.”

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"This project focuses on today’s college students’ needs and wants—to engage with one another, have more privacy and ignite their academic and social well-being.

The design provides optimal opportunities for student engagement and collaboration with one another, as well as the MSU community."

~ Dei Allard

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AZALEA HALL Not far from Perry Cafeteria, the exterior of Azalea Hall, MSU’s newest residence hall positioned between Ruby Hall and Old Main Academic Center, is taking shape as it nears the halfway point in construction.

“You can start to visualize the scale of the project which builds excitement for students living and learning on campus,” Ramsey said.

While site and utility work for the $100 million, 159,000-square-foot facility is impacting pedestrian and vehicle traffic with closures along Barr Avenue and George Perry Boulevard during construction, the new residence hall will be a central hub for students when it opens in August 2025. Private living quarters, social areas and even more dining options including Mediterranean fare and brick-oven style pizza, are the main features. The residence hall will also house a reinforced storm shelter built to FEMA standards.

“This project focuses on today’s college students’ needs and wants—to engage with one another, have more privacy and ignite their academic and social well-being,” explained Dei Allard, MSU Housing and Residence Life executive director.

“The design provides optimal opportunities for student engagement and collaboration with one another, as well as the MSU community.”

RANDY J. CLEVELAND ENGINEERING STUDENT CENTER Renovation of a second historic building is the focus of another student-centered project—the Randy J. Cleveland Engineering Student Center scheduled to open in spring 2025.

The project also represents Mississippi State’s commitment to preserving a Mississippi Landmark as designated by the MDAH. Located along Hardy Road, better known as Engineering Row, the former Materials Testing Laboratory was originally constructed in 1906.

“MSU has worked closely with MDAH on the restoration which includes tuckpointing of the brick

to repair mortar joints, restoring the original windows and replacing the terracotta roof coping with a historically appropriate match,” said Ches Fedric, director of MSU planning, design and construction administration.

Developed with an appreciation for the structure’s history, the plans for the Cleveland Center create a modernized space that will advance collaboration and enhance learning experiences for students in the James Worth Bagley College of Engineering.

“Renovations include constructing a new second floor within the existing building for a student makerspace and team rooms to facilitate projectbased learning for MSU’s engineering students,” Fedric said.

Pedestrian detours are in place around Walker and McCain halls where the new center is located.

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JIM AND THOMAS DUFF CENTER On the south side of campus, the final structural beam of the Jim and Thomas Duff Center was raised into place in midJune to complete the exterior frame of the 100,000-square-foot facility, marking a milestone in the project.

The $65 million Duff Center is scheduled to open in fall 2025 as the new home of the Department of Kinesiology— one of the largest academic units on campus—as well as the university’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Clinic and Disability Resource Center. It overlooks the future McCarthy Quadrangle that will extend campus green spaces beyond the Drill Field, shaping new student outdoor learning and social environments that promote campus connectivity and accessibility with expanded seating, enhanced walkways and gathering areas.

“The outdoor spaces at MSU are central to the experience of campus, and as campus grows, we need to be intentional about creating those spaces,” Ramsey said.

In addition to the Duff Center, the McCarthy Quadrangle will also anchor the Charles Lee Agricultural and Biological Engineering Building to frame an inviting new entrance to the academic centers near the core of campus.

SANDERSON CENTER A $2.5 million renovation to Joe Frank Sanderson Center was also completed this summer. The upgrades feature a new, expanded exercise area upstairs and a new, interactive bouldering cave on the lower level.

Structural changes necessary for the renovation included extending the second floor to maximize space and adding a center stairway for easy access.

MSU Vice President for Student Affairs Regina Hyatt said she is excited to see students exploring the new space.

“This project is a perfect example of students providing feedback and using that feedback to make changes to enrich the student experience,” Hyatt said.

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NEW GATEWAY TO CAMPUS After viewing the progress of the new and renovated buildings on campus, Ramsey ended the trolley tour with a stop at the intersection of Barr Avenue and B.S. Hood Road in front of Davis Wade Stadium. While it might not generate the same amount of hype as a new academic center, construction at this crossroad promises to make a lasting impression on those arriving on campus from the north off Highway 12.

North of the stadium, this new entrance to campus from College View Drive welcomes Bulldog fans on campus for Bulldog football.

“Football brings in thousands of fans to experience our university, and that experience begins the moment they arrive on Mississippi State’s campus,” Ramsey said.

The new entrance extends Bost Drive from Barr Avenue to College View at the intersection of Bailey Howell Drive. It also closes a section of College View just north of the stadium in front of Howell and Giles halls that will be reconfigured as a multiuse pedestrian plaza.

“This new gateway creates a stronger connection between the Athletic District and the core of campus, establishing a corridor from Davis Wade near the center of campus to the MSU soccer stadium to Humphrey Coliseum—all the way to Nusz Park,” Ramsey said.

The realignment of Bost Drive to College View is also an integral component of increasing efficiency and safety on the west side of our campus.

“With additional parking, a new shuttle stop, protected bike lanes and additional sidewalks, this project continues our effort of focusing on and improving all modes of transportation on our campus,” said Jeremiah Dumas, MSU’s executive director of transportation.

Dumas has been studying MSU traffic patterns for more than a decade. He introduced the Starkville-MSU Area Rapid Transit–or SMART– system in 2013, and he says it’s still one of the best ways to travel to, from and throughout campus to limit traffic congestion. He said the university was excited to add an electric-autonomous passenger shuttle–the first of its kind in the state and in the Southeastern Conference–deployed by Beep, Inc. as a pilot program to the SMART fleet this fall.

“Entering the busiest time of our year, we are testing another mobility option in some of our most highly trafficked areas,” Dumas said.

Dumas also encourages fans to prepare for additional road closures to increase pedestrian safety and manage traffic flow on game days.

“If you have to get in your car, the best way to travel around campus on game day is Bailey Howell, Wingo Way, Stone and Bully boulevards, Blackjack Road and now Bost Drive,” said Dumas.

“I’m always there early with my cowbell.” n

“This new gateway creates a stronger connection between the Athletic District and the core of campus, establishing a corridor from Davis Wade near the center of campus to the MSU soccer stadium to Humphrey Coliseum—all the way to Nusz Park."

~ Saunders Ramsey

Scan to Watch: Trolley Tour Video ALUMNUS.MSSTATE.EDU

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HERE COMES THE SUN A new, on-campus solar facility—the largest in the Southeastern conference—is converting sunlight into electricity to generate renewable, sustainable power at Mississippi State University.

“As campus grows, so does the demand for energy to power the university’s 9 million square feet of facilities and buildings,” said Saunders Ramsey, executive director of campus services at MSU. The 3,420 solar panel installation, visible from Blackjack Road along the southern perimeter of campus, is located on a four-acre field near MSU’s Power Generation Plant. It will produce about 2.4 million kilowatt hours of energy annually, reducing pressure on the university’s energy system.

The solar project is part of a much larger energy efficiency effort at MSU aimed at reducing carbon emissions on campus to reach clean energy goals.

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“Clean energy development and production ranks at the top of the university’s 30-year plan for carbon reduction on campus followed by lighting and equipment replacement,” Ramsey said. “Together, the two will have a huge impact on energy savings and emission reduction.”

That impact is estimated to reduce MSU’s carbon footprint by 7,548 metric tons annually and save a total of 10,784,865 kilowatt hours of energy per year.

“This new solar facility again places MSU at the forefront of research and embracing emerging technologies,” said Les Potts, MSU vice president for finance and administration.

“As a land-grant university, we’re invested in protecting our natural resources and sharing sustainable solutions. With careers in sustainability and energy growing rapidly, the new solar facility also creates expanded opportunities for students to experience firsthand how the work we do every day at MSU makes a difference in the world.” n

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Our PEOPLE

Living Beyond the Labels MSU ALUMNA DEFIES THE ODDS TO LIVE THE AMERICAN DREAM

By Portia Agyapong, Photos submitted

W

hen a young Shivangi Nakoom wanted to learn fluent English, she found help in an unusual place— with Dora, Boots and the gang from Nickelodeon’s “Dora the Explorer,” who she says not only helped her learn English but also perfect her American accent.

Though born in Port Gibson, Nakoom spent her first five years in India where she spoke Gujarati and Hindi. When she and her family returned to Mississippi, she said the language barrier made it difficult for her to fit in.

“My mom does not speak English.

My dad does, but not with an American accent, so I took it upon myself to learn,” Nakoom explained. “I actually watched ‘Dora the Explorer,’ to learn English and the American accent, too.”

Nakoom said the transition from her life in India into life in America was difficult. And while she took the initiative to try to overcome many of the obstacles she faced, like the language barrier, one thing she couldn’t change was the lack of South Asian representation in American culture.

“Of course, I had female figures like my mom and grandma that I could learn resilience from, but there weren’t people who looked like me in positions of power to look up to,” Nakoom recalled. “I was interested in law and politics, but there weren’t many women of color, especially South Asian women, in those positions in the Deep South.

“I really struggled because I wanted to have people to look up to that looked like me, so I could say, ‘if they can do it, I can, too,’” she continued. “A lot of my struggles came from not having that kind of role model like the people around me did.”

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Without someone to model her path after, Nakoom became her own role model.

Now, at 23, she holds two bachelor’s degrees from Mississippi State University and has completed a White House internship in the Office of the Vice President under Kamala Harris.

Nakoom said she owes the auspicious start to her professional career to Mississippi State.

“I’ve had wonderful supporters and friends at Mississippi State who have encouraged me, so I owe a lot of my success to MSU,” the 2023 political science and business administration double graduate said. “Today, I am who I am because of my university.”

Nakoom said choosing MSU became easier after attending the Donald Zacharias Leadership Conference, an event organized

by Freshman Reach for high school juniors and seniors.

Nakoom said everybody she interacted with during the conference was kind and ready to assist her which made her feel a sense of belonging.

“It didn’t feel like I was walking on this campus that was far away from home,” she

said. “I felt a connection and it was real.”

After finding her place at MSU, Nakoom knew she needed to put in extra effort to achieve academic excellence. Her determination left an indelible impression on her professors.

Whit Waide, an assistant clinical professor at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, said Nakoom’s dedication to her academics, as well as her knowledge of not only where she wants to go in life, but how to manage any obstacles along the way, makes her standout among her peers.

“Everything she handed in was top notch, and it wasn’t because I was giving her better instruction. It was because she is remarkably driven and can just figure stuff out,” Waide said. “She is a stellar human being.”

Nakoom’s ability to overcome hurdles and make her dreams a reality, helped her secure an internship at the White House. She said it is one of her proudest accomplishments because it gave her insight into American life and allowed her to become part of the South Asian representation she longed to see growing up.

“Representation matters a lot and knowing that I was not only able to represent the South Asian community and women but also represent Mississippi at the White House was a proud moment for me,” she said.

Nakoom’s outstanding performance at the White House continues to be remembered for its lasting impact on her team. Randi Shores, Nakoom’s supervisor, said she was a valuable addition to the team and she is remembered for her diligence and inventiveness.

“Shivangi’s enthusiasm and eagerness to learn injected fresh energy into our projects, and sparked new ideas and perspectives,” she said. “She displayed impressive initiative and a willingness to tackle challenges head-on.”

Determined to remove any hindrance to her success, Nakoom now is living the dream she envisioned. She currently works as a legal assistant at Proskauer Rose LLP in New York City and plans to start law school next fall.

“I want it to be known that no matter who you are or where you are from, you have the ability to succeed and achieve your dreams,” she said. “Your failures don’t define you, but your resilience in the face of any obstacles is what truly matters.” n

L-R: Vice President Kamala Harris and Shivangi Nakoom

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Our PEOPLE

TALK TO ME

MSU ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTITUTE BUILDS CONFIDENCE FOR ENGLISH LEARNERS As a world-renowned research university, Mississippi State University attracts students and faculty from across the globe. Already accomplished in their fields of study, often these individuals must also master English as a second language to succeed in the American academic world.

Beyond being able to read and write in English, those who relocate to Mississippi and take classes must be able to process the spoken language quickly, speak fluently, understand Southern accents and parse out the meanings of the various slang, idioms and shorthand used in daily life.

Through the English Language Institute, Mississippi State is helping these international students and faculty, as well as their families and the community at large to overcome these communication barriers.

“We are here to help those who don’t speak English as their first language to learn the language,” explained Amy Harrison, director of the institute. “We have classes in reading, writing, listening and speaking at different levels and evaluate our students to place them in the classes they need.”

The institute offers classes that give college credit for those enrolled at MSU but there are also non-credit classes that bring in people from Starkville and the surrounding area, as well as the spouses and dependents of MSU students, faculty and staff.

In addition to classes, ELI organizes activities that encourage interaction between developing English speakers and those who have always spoken the language. Among the most popular is the Conversation Partner program, which pairs MSU volunteers with

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English students for weekly interactions to allow for language practice, promote connections within the broader community and encourage better understanding of different cultures.

Harrison said the Conversation Partner program often benefits the volunteer as much as those practicing English.

“For many of our student volunteers,

this is the first opportunity they have to interact on a personal level with someone from a different culture,” Harrison explained. “For those planning to study abroad, it can give them a better idea of the challenges they may face. Our language students looking for someone to practice the language they are learning with can benefit as well.”

Harrison explained that the empathy that comes from aiding a language learner can make one a better communicator in all aspects of their life— especially as we become more globally-minded and likely to encounter those who speak other languages.

Harrison offers the following tips for communicating with budding English speakers or those for whom English is not their first language.

•

Speak clearly and slowly—but not overly loud. Most often language barriers come from muddled pronunciation or rapid speech, rather than a lack of volume.

•

Avoid uncommon or overly complicated words or phrases.

In particular, slang, idioms and regional quirks of language can be confusing to someone learning a language.

•

Ask for clarification. Don’t pretend to understand something if you don’t.

•

Be patient. Learning a new language can be a daunting task.

Remember that what they’re doing is hard and extend courtesy and grace as they try to communicate.

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Our PEOPLE

The life and times of Dr. J. William Rush A MAN OF FACT AND FICTION

By Allison Matthews, Photos by Jonah Holland

R

eflecting on life’s struggles and triumphs may be normal for most retirees, but few are writing novels well into their 90s to share these lived experiences.

At 95, J. William Rush’s mind remains vibrant and filled with stories of his life and stories shared by friends, many of which he relives through his novels and fictional characters who mirror reality.

A Navy veteran injured in the Korean War, Rush went from humble beginnings in Meridian to traveling the world as a serviceman who gained high-level intelligence clearances at a young age. He then earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Oklahoma and a doctoral degree from the University of Arkansas, which developed his expertise in transportation

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economics. His scholarship yielded a distinguished, lengthy tenure in what was then Mississippi State’s College of Business and Industry. He retired nearly 30 years ago as associate dean for external affairs, respected by his employers and beloved by his students.

Still, instead of relishing his achievements, it’s the relationships with mentors, friends, students, fellow veterans and family that he speaks of with fondness. Rush said he regrets his reward for success—escalating administrative duties and frequent requests for expert consults—limited his classroom time with students.

Now a great-grandfather, Rush enjoys spending time with family. However, he fills most days by writing. He has published two books and completed five additional manuscripts, with even more stories brewing.

He’s also been a painter for most of his adult life.

“This one is painted on black velvet,” Rush said. “Why did I do it? To see if I could.

Why am I writing? To see if I can.”

He was drawn to writing initially through his longtime love of reading. Rush said writing offers an outlet to reflect and recall his own experiences and stories of friends, comrades and loved ones he feels “need to be shared.” One storyline he’s penned is so delicate that, out of respect, he waited to outlive a close friend before recounting a version of what he went through.

Although he chooses to produce fiction, his stories reflect circumstances and lessons he’s encountered or learned from a lifetime filled with interesting connections and extensive travel to more than 40 countries.

Rush said his books are about “everyday life.”

“I write about the misfortunes that young people have and how they overcome them or fail to overcome them,” he said.

Talking with Rush or reading his stories reveals certain themes—mystery, deep connection, sorrowful loss and resilience.

For those who knew him best during the pinnacle of his career, the fortitude and grit he still demonstrates nearly 30 years into his retirement is only surprising because of its rarity.

Steve Golding, a 1972 MSU business graduate and chairman of Golding Barge Line, said Rush made such an impact on him during his student days that he took every class Rush taught.

Rush’s courses in the marketing department were forerunners of the university’s current supply chain logistics major.

“He was one of the most unique professors, and even though I’ve been out of school 50 years, I remember his courses vividly,” said Golding. “He had an influence on me, and we developed a mentorship while I was a student and a friendship after I graduated.”

Golding said it meant a great deal when he was honored as the college’s Alumni Fellow in 2001 for Rush to come back to campus for the occasion. Rush keeps a framed picture from the day on his office wall.

Golding came to MSU as a young man from a family already in the barge business, operating along the Mississippi River from his hometown of Vicksburg. He recalled there wasn’t a specific major to prepare him for the niche enterprise he planned to join— until he read about barging in his textbook.

“I found the right path when I saw they had transportation classes here, and they even had a section on barging within this textbook,” Golding said. “I was really interested as to how the different modes of transportation fit into the supply chain from production to consumption.

“J. William had a way of connecting the course with everyday life that made it real, and he had a way of boiling it down to a common-sense approach of transportation ALUMNUS.MSSTATE.EDU

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Our PEOPLE

and how this fit into various types of marketing,” he continued. “He made it so much fun, and he was such a unique professor that I enjoyed every course I took from him.”

Golding said one thing that made Rush an effective teacher was his ability to balance humor with teaching to motivate students and keep them interested.

“He would always interject something to make it fun and keep it interesting, but he had a way of getting the most out of his students,” Golding recalled. “He motivated you to get things done, and you didn’t mind because he was going to let you enjoy class.

You were going to laugh at some point in every class.”

Rush said he enjoyed his students immensely.

“I could pass on some of the things I had seen and done in the world,” he said.

Rush maintained a special interest in many students like Golding for decades after their college days, following their careers and keeping in contact. He was an early member when his student George Bryan established Old Waverly Golf Club. He

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also kept in touch with Peavey Electronics founder and owner Hartley Peavey, who showcased his Meridian-based business to numerous groups of international visitors hosted by MSU’s College of Business during Rush’s administrative days. Other memorable students became lawyers or went into various businesses or transportation fields.

Rush’s daughter Susan Harris said her father truly loved his interactions with students.

“I think he tried to get to know them— not just as a number on a test, but what their interests were, what bothered them and what their struggles were. And if he could give them any assistance, he would,” Harris said.

“He helped them make good choices and good investments that would benefit them later in life,” she continued. “They knew they always had someone at Mississippi State,” she said.

While Harris didn’t have the privilege of formally sitting under her father’s teaching at MSU, she said many of his students have said her father “made learning contagious.”

“He motivated his students to get out there, move and shake, and invest in other

people—but to not forget MSU and where they came from,” she said.

Harris remembers her father giving her and her brother Philip “the best of both worlds.”

“He always wanted us to learn and use our minds. We could do everything and anything. If we wanted to learn about something, get a book. If we needed help, ask,” she said of her father’s parenting style.

“We could be in the woods, target practicing or hunting, and the next minute we could get dressed up and go to a cultural event at Mississippi State,” she said.

Rush said his wife, the late Joann McRae Rush of DeKalb, also was entwined with students, faculty, administrators and university life. She was a nurse at MSU’s John C. Longest Student Health Center, and Rush said she was dedicated to meeting needs round-the-clock.

Rush has a tendency to look down when speaking of the love of his life, missing her.

But his voice picks up when he speaks of their vibrant great grandsons.

“My life has some bad pages in it, but the book’s not bad,” he said. n

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The venue offers stunning settings for celebration and pictures commemorating your day. The Grand Ballroom accommodates up to 1,000 guests. For a more intimate gathering, choose the Cleveland Gallery, suitable for up to 100 people. The choice is yours at The Mill—contact The Mill event management staff at (662) 325-0355 for more information. You may also wish to visit our site at www.themillatmsu.com.

6 0 0 R U S S E L L S T R E E T, S TA R KV I L L E , M I S S I S S I P P I 3 9 7 5 9 • W W W.T H E M I L L AT M S U . C O M ALUMNUS.MSSTATE.EDU

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EMBARK ON AN ADVENTURE Traveling Bulldog 2025 Trips 44 2 0 2 4 Vol. 101, No. 2

The MSU Alumni Association sponsors trips across the globe through the Traveling Bulldogs program. Itineraries are booked through 2025. Explore our website for more details at alumni.msstate.edu/travel or contact the Alumni Association at 662.325.7000.

Invite your friends and family, and start crossing destinations off your travel bucket list!

Booking Trips for 2025* Scan Me

JANUARY 2025 Journey to Southern Africa

JULY 2025 Radiant Alaska

Patagonian Frontiers

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Wolves and Wildlife of Yellowstone FEBRUARY 2025 Kiwi & Kangaroo Coasts of Australia & New Zealand MARCH 2025 Panama Potpourri Portrait of Italy Hawaii Three Island Adventure APRIL 2025 Dutch Waterways Village Life France Mysteries of Peru and Machu Picchu Washington DC Cherry Blossoms The Inland Sea of Japan and South Korea Kentucky Derby Easy Company Masters of the Air MAY 2025 Enchanting Gems of Austria Great European Journey

AUGUST 2025 Island Life | Greek Isles and Ephesus Canadian Rockies Explorer Cape Cod & the Islands SEPTEMBER 2025 Switzerland's Alpine Majesty National Parks of the Southwest Flavors of Tuscany The Battle of Normandy OCTOBER 2025 Mediterranean Mélange Egypt & the Eternal Nile Mackinac Island, The Grand Hotel & Niagara Falls Victory in the Pacific: Japan and Okinawa NOVEMBER 2025 Iceland and the Northern Lights Douro River Voyage Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Flavors of the Spanish Coast

DECEMBER 2025 Holiday Markets Along the Rhine

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Christkindlmärkte Along the Danube River

Enchanting Ireland

Montreal & Quebec City Christmas Markets

The Galapagos Islands National Parks & Lodges of the Old West

*All trips and dates are subject to change. Visit our website for the most current information.

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ALUMNI News

46 2 0 2 4 Vol. 101, No. 2

M I S S I S S I P P I S TAT E A L U M N I A S S O C I AT I O N

Honors 2024 National Alumnus and College Alumni of the Year

By Addie Mayfield Each year since 1958, Mississippi State University has recognized an outstanding graduate whose accomplishments and service exemplify the mission of the university through the National Alumnus of the Year award. This year, MSU is proud to distinguish Bryan S. Wilson as its 2024 National Alumnus of the Year.

Born in Tupelo and raised in Fulton, Wilson earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in entomology from MSU in 1982 and 1984, respectively. The path was a natural fit for Wilson, who grew up scouting cotton fields in the summers with his father, a first-generation college graduate who also earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural studies from the land-grant institution.

As a student, Wilson was dedicated to his academic studies, graduating summa cum laude.

He was an entomology club member and played intramural sports. He also met his wife Cindy, a fellow MSU graduate, during his first year of graduate school. An education major, she landed a summer job as a student worker in the entomology department, where their paths crossed.

Wilson’s professional journey spans more than four decades, during which he demonstrated remarkable success and pioneering leadership in the agricultural industry. He began his career at BASF in field sales. During his 15 years with the company, he further developed his skills and entered progressive executive roles in North America and Europe.

In 2002, Wilson joined United Agri Products as president and general manager. He and a few colleagues engineered a buyout of the company from ConAgra Foods the following year, turned around performance and took it public in 2005, trading on the NASDAQ exchange. The company was sold in 2007 to Canada’s Agrium Inc. for $2.65 billion, the largest agricultural retailer acquisition at the time.

Wilson then cofounded Tacoma Ag LLC in 2009. The generic-branded crop protection

company rapidly rose to national prominence, reaching nearly $125 million in sales in less than 10 years. He retired from the corporate world in 2018 following the acquisition of Tacoma Ag by Atticus LLC. Since then, Wilson has spent his time working with private equity groups assessing potential acquisitions in the agricultural industry and investing in various venture capital enterprises.

He also serves on boards of directors for several promising agricultural technology companies, including FruitScout and Zeakal Inc. For his outstanding career achievements, he was honored

by MSU as the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Alumni Fellow in 2014.

Beyond his impressive professional achievements, Wilson has served on the board of several local organizations, including the Greater Starkville Development Partnership, North Mississippi Daily Journal, North Mississippi Medical Center and the CREATE Foundation, which he chaired from 2020-22.

Wilson has served multiple terms on the MSU Foundation board, is a longtime member and current treasurer of the Bulldog Club board and has provided valuable insight to his college as a member of the dean’s advisory board. As an entrepreneur, he is involved with the Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach in the College of Business, is a member of the Bulldog Angel Network, and enjoys working with and serving as mentor for several start-up companies developed through the Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach.

The Wilsons’ gifts, benefiting areas across Bulldog athletics, endowed scholarship awards, the T.K. Martin Center’s Project IMPACT program and student activities, reflect the couple’s belief in the transformative power of education and importance of paying it forward.

For Wilson, receiving the university’s highest alumni award is not just a personal honor but a tribute to his family’s journey and the values instilled in him by his parents.

Out of State ALUMNUS.MSSTATE.EDU

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ALUMNI News

Along with the national alumnus recognition of Wilson, each of MSU’s eight academic colleges honored a graduate for outstanding personal, professional and community achievements. The 2024 MSU Alumni of the Year honorees include (by college):

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Michael “Mike” Bogan of Del Mar, Michael “Mike” Bogan

Ted Trussell Porter

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California, is the CEO of LandCare USA. The Memphis, Tennessee, native earned a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture in 1987 and started his career in Washington, D.C. Bogan joined The Brickman Group in 1989 and helped pioneer a branch model that spurred the company’s national expansion. He subsequently took on roles with Brickman in West Palm Beach, Florida, and San Diego, California, where he built the company into an industry leader. In 2014, he joined the commercial landscape services business LandCare USA, where he rebranded, expanded and led a 2019 management buyout of the company. Today, the $325 million company employs 4,000 with offices in more than 25 states. Bogan is most proud of the purpose-driven culture he is building at LandCare, which has

created fulfilling careers for many landscape professionals. He serves on the boards of directors for the National Association of Landscape Professionals and Nature Sacred, as well as the advisory council for MSU’s Department of Landscape Architecture.

Honored as a 2020 Distinguished Alumni Fellow of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Bogan credits his time at MSU for preparing him for a broad and varied career in the landscape industry. He and his wife Rebecca, a fellow 1987 landscape architecture graduate, are loyal supporters of MSU and its landscape architecture program.

College of Architecture, Art and Design Ted Trussell Porter is an accomplished architect in New York City. The Mississippi native earned a bachelor’s degree in art history from MSU in 1981, followed by a master’s degree in architecture from Yale.

While in graduate school, he worked with Cesar Pelli and Associates. He later joined I.M. Pei and Partners in New York, where he worked on a range of international projects. In 1994, he established the firm that has evolved into Ted Porter Architecture PLLC, which has received many accolades

over the years, including the AIA New York State Design Award, AN Best of Design Award and a Gold Award for Brick in Architecture from the Mississippi AIA. Porter’s work also has been featured in numerous professional publications. He has taught architecture courses at both the School for Visual Arts and the New York City College of Technology and served on educational and professional architectural juries. At MSU, Porter is a member of the School of Architecture’s advisory board and generously invests in experiential learning opportunities for architecture students through the Trussell Travel Award. Beyond his professional life, he has served as chairman of the board of Gotham Chamber Opera and is an American Friend of the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy. He and his partner Steve Godeke enjoy world travel to architectural monuments, notable gardens and music festivals.

College of Arts & Sciences Paul Kinsey is a foreign language and international business graduate who spent his career traveling around the world. After graduating from MSU in 1987, he furthered his education at Georgia State University, earning an MBA. Kinsey’s career journey began at Threads USA, where he worked as director of international sales. He later joined US Air and progressed to roles in areas including operational oversight, emergency response planning, and labor negotiations and relations over the next 25 years. His work contributed to the organization’s mergers with America West Airlines, followed by American Airlines. Upon retiring from American in 2019, Kinsey joined Starkville-based real estate brokerage Mississippi Magnolia as director of operations in 2022. He is grateful for the influence of several MSU faculty mentors he had as a student and credits their guidance for much of his academic and professional success. In return, he has generously invested in scholarship support to assist current and future Bulldogs. The Trenton, Tennessee, native considers Tupelo his true home and now resides in Starkville near his beloved alma mater.

James Worth Bagley College of Engineering Rodger L. Johnson of Atlanta, Georgia, has led a distinguished career as an entrepreneur in the communications technology and application software sectors, transforming innovative start-ups into commercial successes across the nation and internationally. His ventures have included Knology, Brock Control Systems, Communications Central, Tower Cloud, Point Broadband and Highline. Before embracing entrepreneurship, Johnson refined his skills at AT&T, where he took part in its Management Development Program, laying the groundwork for his future successes. He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1971 and later earned an MBA from Georgia State University. A proud MSU alumnus, Johnson is a cofounder of MSU’s entrepreneurship program and a longtime member and current vice chairman of the MSU Foundation board, and he has served in various advisory roles for both the foundation and the Bagley College.

For his outstanding achievements and dedicated service, he was recognized as the Bagley College’s Alumni Fellow in 2004 and received an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree from MSU in 2023.

Paul Kinsey

Rodger L. Johnson

College of Business Thomas G. “Tom” Hixon of Ridgeland is the chairman of Phoenix Development Company LLC. The Charleston native graduated from MSU in 1967 with a degree in accounting and went to work for the U.S. Army and Air Force Exchange Service as a civilian managing the retail supply channel at the Pentagon Annex. After his military civil service, he transitioned into accounting as the CFO, CEO and director of operations for Valley Food Service.

Later, he held several positions at Forestry Suppliers Inc., including co-owner, CFO, CEO and president. Hixon then took on an entrepreneurial role as cofounder and chairman of Gulf South Medical Supply,

Thomas G. “Tom” Hixon

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ALUMNI News

Kathy Olsen

growing sales and profitability and taking the company public. After a merger with another company, Hixon and his management team founded another medical supply group, First Choice Medical Supply, and later sold the company to McKesson Pharmaceutical. Hixon’s wife and family have always been very supportive of his business career. Both of Hixon’s sons, Tommy and Shane, are also entrepreneurs and own and operate their own businesses.

As an entrepreneur, Hixon learned valuable lessons quickly: “hire great people, give them more responsibility than they’ve ever experienced, give them ownership in the company, compensate them on an incentive basis, then leave them alone and don’t mess up their heads with corporate politics and other meaningless rules and regulations.” A proud Bulldog alumnus, Hixon serves on the board of the MSU Foundation and is a former Bulldog Club board member. He was previously honored as the 2018 Alumni Fellow for the College of Business.

College of Education C. Conrad Kempinska

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A two-time MSU graduate and resident of Nashville, Tennessee, Kathy Olsen is an accomplished CPA and tax accountant.

The Mississippi native earned a bachelor’s degree in music in 1973 and a master’s degree in music education in 1974.

She taught music theory at Northwest Mississippi Community College before earning an accounting equivalency degree from the University of Memphis.

She worked for several years in Big 8 accounting and corporate tax. Despite transitioning into accounting, Olsen’s passion for music has remained a strong part of her life and involvement at MSU. Along with her love for the piano and harp, she has continued to teach piano voluntarily in limited-income schools and regularly hosts concert performances. She and her husband are proud supporters of MSU’s music department, contributing to its transformation into an All Steinway School. They also generously support the university’s veterinary and animal care clinic. Recently, she was asked to serve

on the advisory board for the Nashville Music Chamber Society, a high honor and testimony to her dedication to the arts.

College of Forest Resources C. Conrad Kempinska’s journey from MSU to a global executive has spanned various businesses and taken him to more than 30 countries. The Natchez native earned dual bachelor’s degrees in wood science and business administration from MSU in 1983, followed by an Executive MBA from Rutgers University. He began his career at Koppers, a global leader in wood preservation technologies, treated wood products and carbon compounds primarily used for railroad crossties, utility poles and outdoor wooden structures. After seven years, he left to embark on a multi-decade stretch of international business assignments where he gained extensive experience in the wood protection, specialty chemical and materials industries. In 2015, Kempinska returned to Koppers as vice president for commercial and business development for the company’s Performance Chemicals division, based in Griffin, Georgia. In that role, he played a key part in developing KPC’s strategic plan and helped drive several new business and product initiatives. In 2019, he was promoted to senior vice president, North America, having since led KPC’s largest business unit through its most significant growth phase. During his career, Kempinska has been active in several industry associations, including the American Wood Preservers Institute, Consumer Specialty Products Association, Glass Packaging Institute and Treated Wood Council, serving in frontline advocacy roles with regulators and legislators in various states and Washington, D.C. At the local level, he and his Koppers colleagues are active community supporters of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Boy Scouts of America, Anne Street Elementary School, Southern Conservation Trust and several local charities.

College of Veterinary Medicine Dr. Amanda H. Camp of Ridgeland is a two-time MSU graduate whose career is defined by her dedication to animal care and the veterinary community. She earned a bachelor’s degree in microbiology in 1996 and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 2000. She now is a partner and veterinarian at All Creatures Animal Care Center in Madison. For her career success and devoted service, Camp was named Young Veterinarian

of the Year in 2007 by the Mississippi Veterinary Medical Association, which she now serves as an at-large representative. She remains involved with MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, volunteering to serve on interview committees for prospective students and providing opportunities for current students to gain real-world experience in her clinic through the college’s Enhanced Clinical Practicum program.

Camp holds leadership roles in the Jackson Area Veterinary Association and was formerly a speaker for Zoetis, an animal health company.

Dr. Amanda H. Camp

For more on the MSU Alumni Association, visit www.alumni.msstate.edu. n

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ALUMNI News

SPRING TUITION DRAWING Mississippi State University freshman Nolan Brechtel won the MSU Alumni Association’s 21st Tuition Drawing. A freshman majoring in computer engineering, Brechtel received free, full-time tuition, equal to 12 credit hours, for the 2024 fall semester. Brechtel’s ticket was one of 3,396 sold by the Alumni Delegates, the association’s student organization. Each ticket offered MSU students a chance to win one semester of free in-state tuition. Eligible students include any undergraduate enrolled full time at the university. This semester, the Alumni Delegates raised over $14,000 from ticket sales. For more information about the tuition drawing, contact Brooke Bridges, alumni engagement manager, at 662-325-3479 or bbridges@alumni.msstate.edu.

Spring RING CEREMONY The official spring 2024 Ring Ceremony was hosted in May at the Chapel of Memories. The Ring Ceremony, held twice each year before the fall and spring commencements, is a timehonored tradition for presenting the university’s official class rings. MSU President Mark E. Keenum was the keynote speaker and presented participants with their rings. MSU’s ROTC and Black Voices Gospel Choir also made special presentations during the ceremony. The Alumni Association recognized Stephen Woo, who earned MSU degrees in 1994 and 1995, as an active local chapter volunteer and national alumni board member, and as the spring ring honoree. If you or someone you know is interested in a class ring, please contact the Alumni Association at info@alumni.msstate.edu.

SENIOR CELEBRATION The MSU Alumni Association hosted its annual spring Senior Celebration at The Mill Conference Center in April. Over 500 graduating seniors celebrated with music, food, photo opportunities, door prizes and fun as the Alumni Association welcomed them as the soon-to-be newest members of the alumni family. B-Unlimited printed official MSU alumni t-shirts for participants on-site. Congratulations to the spring 2024 graduates!

ORIENTATION LEGACY Receptions Mississippi State University welcomed new Bulldogs to MSU at the Legacy reception at The Mill. Students and their loyal Maroon and White parents enjoyed good food and entertainment in a welcoming, family-friendly atmosphere.

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The 2024 Road Dawgs Tour, presented by Coastal Mississippi, made its way around the Southeast in May. With six stops spanning four states—Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Texas—the tour featured MSU’s Head Football Coach Jeff Lebby, along with appearances from Men’s Basketball Head Coach Chris Jans, Women’s Basketball Head Coach Sam Purcell and Director of Athletics Zac Selmon.

In reception-style gatherings, the coaches shared insight on their respective roles with MSU Athletics and the athletics director shared excitement for the upcoming sports seasons and appreciation for strong support from the Bulldog family.

The annual fan-friendly event and celebration of Mississippi State is a collaboration between the MSU Bulldog Club, the Alumni Association and local alumni chapters. n ALUMNUS.MSSTATE.EDU

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ALUMNI News

MSU Alumni Association WELCOMES NEW,

RETURNING MEMBERS FOR 2024-25

By Jeff Davis

T

he MSU Alumni Association welcomed its officers and directors for the national board for 2024-25 who began terms in July.

The association’s national officers continue in their roles for 2024-25. They are Terri Russell of Helena, Alabama, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering in 1984 and 1986, respectively, as president; Lynn Burwell of Gulfport, a 1980 Bachelor of Science in home economics and child development graduate, as vice president; and Riley Nelson of Vicksburg, a 1999 Bachelor of Accountancy and a 2001 Master of Taxation graduate, as treasurer. Patrick White of Spring, Texas, a 1990 Bachelor of Arts in communication graduate, continues as immediate past president.

Terri Russell

Lynn Burwell

Riley Nelson

Patrick White

The association also welcomed the following returning and new directors to its national board.

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Directors Returning to the Board: Janelle Finley Adams (B.A. communication, ’09) of Mobile, Alabama, returns to serve a second term as director for Alabama. Adams serves as a communications specialist for Outokumpu, a global stainless steel manufacturing company. A volunteer with the Mobile, Alabama Chapter since 2013, she led efforts as the student recruiting chair, assisted with the chapter’s annual Senior Bowl event, and has served in chapter leadership as both president and vice president. She was honored by the association as MSU’s Outstanding Young Alumna in 2017.

Davis W. “Dave” Dickson (B.B.A, ’87) continues his service on the board as Out-of-State Region 1 director. He is president and CEO of Union Bank and Trust Company in Monticello, Arkansas, where he resides. Dickson is active in the Southeast Arkansas Alumni Club and is a longtime Alumni Recruitment Network volunteer, encouraging students to attend MSU and hosting the annual Southeast Arkansas Send-off Party.

Nathan Cummins (B.Acc., ’02; M.Tax, ’03) of Clinton continues on the board as a director for Mississippi Central 3 Region. He serves as the attest partner, a certified fraud examiner and certified information technology professional with May & Company LLP. He is active with the Richard C. Adkerson School of Accountancy and the Warren County Alumni Chapter, and established the Cummins Family Endowed Scholarship at MSU to benefit accounting students.

Bradley A. Garrison (B.S. landscape architecture, ’00) of Chandler, Arizona, continues on the national board as an at-large director. Professionally, Garrison serves as the divisional sports field category manager for Ewing Outdoor Supply. He previously served on the national board of directors as director for Texas. He has been a volunteer and served in various roles with the Nashville, Tennessee Alumni Chapter and the Kansas City Alumni Club, and is a past president of the Dallas, Texas Alumni Chapter.

Directors Joining the Board: Burton B. “B.B.” Hosch, Jr. (’70) of Starkville will join the board as the representative of the former national presidents. He is a retired bank executive who served as the Alumni Association’s national president in 1995. He retired after being on the Alumni Association’s national board for several years and is also a former officer and volunteer with the Lee County Chapter.

Belvia Giachelli (’80) of Blue Springs, will join the MSU Alumni Association board as director for Mississippi North 2 Region. She retired in 2016 after serving as an extension agent for the Lee County Extension Service. She has been active with the Lee County and Union County chapters of the Alumni Association, conducting programs and raising funds for local chapter engagement and scholarships.

Carson McFatridge of Searcy, Arkansas, joins the board as president of the MSU Student Association. She is a senior studying wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture and is a member of the Shackouls Honors College. Outside of her involvement with the Student Association, she is a member of Kappa Delta sorority and serves as an ambassador for the College of Forest Resources.

The alumni association was founded on June 17, 1885, by the first three graduating classes of then Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College. A full-service organization, the association now includes over 100 chapters and clubs. Mississippi State currently has more than 165,000 living alumni. For more information about the MSU Alumni Association, contact Executive Director Jeff Davis at 662.325.7000. n ALUMNUS.MSSTATE.EDU

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MAROON REACH & IMPACT Learn how your organization can connect with the powerful network of Bulldogs through customized opportunities that are tailored to help achieve your objectives.

Total Living Alumni

165,589

Alumni By Age

55% 45%

50,011

(Age Unknown Total: 316) 34,738

41,084

29,654

9,783

19—24

25—34

35—44

45—59

60+

1% 1% 3%

Top 6 Concentrated States (as of February 2024)

Mississippi (53%) Alabama (6%) Tennessee (6%) Texas (5%) Georgia (3%) Florida (3%) Addressable Alumni

157,130 1,127 globally 137,861 digital

12%

16%

2%

Alumni By College

22%

22%

100+

21%

ALUMNI CHAPTERS AND CLUBS

No College Designated

College of Education

Active Members*

College of Ag. & Life Sciences

Bagley College of Engineering

College of Arch, Art & Design

College of Forest Resources

College of Arts & Sciences

College of Veterinary Medicine

51,598

*Denotes alumni and friends who have made a gift to MSU

College of Business

ADVERTISE WITH THE MSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION For more information, contact Leanna Smith, Assistant Director of Alumni Partnerships & Business Development, at LSmith@alumni.msstate.edu or 662-325-3360.

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WAYS TO PARTNER The Mississippi State University Alumni Association hosts events and offers programs and services which are directly supported by our partnerships. We can create a customized package to help your organization maximize its resources and strategic goals.

ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES PRINT - Alumnus Magazine, event signage, and event promotion Alumnus Magazine Distribution u 2x/year Print, 1x/year Digital u Reaches more than 51,500 active alumni association members u Print Audience - Active alumni and supporters u Digital Audience - All addressable alumni DIGITAL - E-newsletters, social media, web, email, and mobile app

ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES Engagement opportunities through events and programs: u Tailgates (home and away) u Black Alumni Weekend u Awards Banquet u Reveille 25 u Senior Celebration u Traveling Bulldogs u + Other Annual Events

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HAVE HAVE A A YOUNG YOUNG BULLDOG BULLDOG IN IN YOUR YOUR LIFE? LIFE? Wrap them in Maroon and White

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HEALTH. HABITAT.

RESTORATION. RECOVERY. These goals are being realized by students in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Mississippi State University as they work to bolster sea turtle and dolphin populations along the state’s Gulf Coast.

Why? Marine life health impacts the environmental quality of the Mississippi Sound, an immense ecosystem that’s part of the sustainability of all creatures depending on food.

MSU students are tackling tough environmental and climate threats—big challenges affecting everyone’s future.

Caroline Ferreira Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Class of 2026

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GIVING Back

A Legacy of Passion

THE ENDURING IMPACT OF JOHN AND GLORIA CORRERO

By Shun Pounds

F

or over five decades, John and Gloria Correro dedicated themselves to investing in others. Through their service, the couple improved the lives of countless students, faculty, alumni and citizens throughout Mississippi and beyond.

To carry their legacy of service into the future and honor the memory of his late wife, John Correro has established a new endowment in the College of Education.

By addressing the financial requirements of future educators, the endowment empowers them to pursue their ambitions.

The Correros’ deep connection to MSU stems from the university’s ability to equip individuals to pursue their dreams.

Long before becoming alumni, John and Gloria Correro were two high school sweethearts filled with dreams yet needing opportunities.

When they enrolled at MSU in the late 1950s, they discovered it was the ideal place to pursue their educational goals.

“I owe so much to MSU," John Correro said. “This great university helped

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me achieve everything I’ve ever wanted out of life, and I’m honored and very proud that I’ve gotten to serve MSU in some capacity for most of my life.”

Both John and Gloria Correro made the most of their student experience. John Correro became the Campus M-Club president and served as the secretary/treasurer of the MSU M-Club Alumni Association for 50 years. He was president of Kappa Delta Pi, named Mr. MSU and lettered in football for three years. He graduated in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in social studies and physical education and later earned a master’s degree in educational administration with a minor in counseling. While working on his master’s,

the Greenwood native served as a graduate assistant and assistant freshman football coach for the Bulldogs.

Gloria Correro joined the Chi Omega sorority and MSU’s Famous Maroon Band, where she was head majorette. She was also a member of Kappa Delta Pi, the education honorary fraternity, an ROTC sponsor, a Reveille favorite and a Phi Kappa Phi honor society member. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in elementary education in 1962 and 1963, respectively.

The couple moved to Natchez in 1964, where they both accepted teaching positions.

John Correro was also an assistant football coach at Natchez-Adams County High

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GIVING Back

“DR. GLORIA CORRERO WAS AN OUTSTANDING EDUCATOR WHO INFLUENCED MY LIFE AND CAREER...

I WILL BE FOREVER GRATEFUL THAT I HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO WORK WITH AND LEARN FROM HER.” ~ Janice Nicholson

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School before his promotion to athletic director and head football coach.

Despite their growing careers elsewhere, neither could escape their love for their alma mater. John Correro described the scene as they left for Natchez: “Tears were rolling down our cheeks when we left because of our love for MSU and the relationships there," he said. "We were maybe 10 miles outside Starkville when I hoped we’d one day be able to get back to MSU.” Five years later, they returned to Starkville to reconnect with the university.

John Correro began working as a field secretary for the MSU Alumni Association.

In 1975, he was promoted to associate director and later to executive director, a position he held from 1994 until his retirement in 2005. Under his leadership, the alumni association grew in active participation and launched many new programs, including the now-traditional Class Ring Ceremony, the online directory and the E-Bark online newsletter.

Gloria Correro made significant strides in early childhood education. In 1979, she pioneered the MSU-Starkville Cooperative Demonstration Kindergarten and created the state’s first two public school kindergarten classrooms. Her work laid the foundation for Mississippi’s Education Reform Act of 1982, which implemented kindergarten in public schools statewide.

Her innovative work shaped the future of Mississippi’s early childhood education.

MSU’s 2021 National Alumna of the Year Janice Nicholson, who has held numerous leadership positions at three colleges and universities, including Mississippi State University, is one of Gloria’s former students. She attests to Gloria’s passion and its impact. Nicholson used what she gained from her former teacher to follow her own passions and build an illustrious 50-year career of teaching and selfless giving to younger generations.

“Dr. Gloria Correro was an outstanding educator who influenced my life and career," Nicholson said. “I sought her guidance when I needed expert advice on educational matters, and she was always willing to share her thoughts and point

me in the right direction. I will be forever grateful that I had the privilege to work with and learn from her.”

In addition to their professional achievements, the Correros generously supported MSU financially. They created the John V. and Dr. Gloria C. Correro Annual Scholarship to help full-time juniors and seniors in the College of Education.

After Gloria Correro passed away in December 2023, John Correro honored her memory by creating the John V. and Dr. Gloria Correro Endowed Scholarship within the College of Education.

Starting in the fall semester of 2025, the endowment will provide ongoing financial assistance to students in the College of Education.

“I didn’t want to miss the opportunity for students to receive the help they need.

The endowment can keep growing and make a difference for a long time,” he said.

Candidates for the endowment must be full-time undergraduate students in the MSU College of Education majoring in elementary, secondary or special education, or teaching and coaching.

They must have and maintain a 3.0 GPA. John Correro ensures aspiring teachers can always have the help they need to pursue their passions. This is nowhere more evident than with former MSU student and Starkville native Valencia Epps, a recipient of the John V. and Dr. Gloria C. Correro Annual Scholarship.

“This scholarship helped me pursue my passion for education by relieving financial stress," Epps said. “These funds contributed to my continuous success as an academic scholar, and I will never forget it.”

Epps now works in the Department of Teacher Education and Leadership at MSU as she prepares for her Fulbright scholar experience in South Korea.

There, she will continue her passion for improving ESL and EFL education.

As John Correro reflects and remembers his late wife, he is thankful for a life well-lived and the opportunity to assist future Bulldogs in the same way. n

“THIS SCHOLARSHIP HELPED ME PURSUE MY PASSION FOR EDUCATION

BY RELIEVING FINANCIAL STRESS. THESE FUNDS CONTRIBUTED TO MY CONTINUOUS SUCCESS AS AN ACADEMIC SCHOLAR, AND I WILL NEVER FORGET IT.” ~ Valencia Epps

LEARN MORE

BUILDING BULLDOG TRADITIONS The Mississippi State University Legacy Program lets active Alumni Association members “wrap their kids and grandkids in Maroon and White” to instill an affinity to MSU from an early age.

“It is the spirit of family and connection that we want this program to foster in our alumni family,” said Jeff Davis, executive director for the Alumni Association.

Upon enrollment in the program, children receive a yearly birthday card and ageappropriate gift from the Alumni Association in the month of their birthday. For MSU active alumni, this is an opportunity to consistently share their Mississippi State legacy and encourage the next generation to become a part of the Bulldog family.

The gifts begin at the age the child is first enrolled in the program, and all gifts bear official MSU insignias. Each child will receive a birthday gift each year based on their age.

Registration for the Legacy Program may be completed online at www.alumni.msstate.edu/ legacy-program. Children may be enrolled at any age through age 17. n

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GIVING Back

INVESTING IN

Mississippi’s Health

By Meaghan Gordon In 1965, a young nephrologist moved to Jackson to begin a storied career in academic medicine that touched numerous lives and helped make kidney dialysis affordable and accessible statewide.

Today, Dr. John D. Bower’s legacy lives on through The Bower Foundation and its recent healthcare education grants to Mississippi State UniversityMeridian’s Bachelor of Social Work and new Master of Science in nursing programs.

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The grant funds nursing scholarships for the state’s first direct-entry accelerated Master of Science in nursing, or MSN, program, which admitted its first students this fall. This unique program offers a 12-month pathway to practice as a registered nurse for those who hold a degree in a non-nursing field. With this, the program will help alleviate the growing nursing shortage across the Magnolia State. Located in downtown Meridian’s historic

“This gift fortifies our recruitment efforts, better Deen Building, the program has access to several empowering us to inspire and attract students highly esteemed Mississippi healthcare systems, to enter professional programs of impactful team-based learning spaces and a state-of-the-art community contribution,” Cruse said. “The Bower interprofessional simulation center.

Foundation’s vision and partnership strengthens “Since 1996, the Bower Foundation has funded our mission to provide healthcare access and Mississippi health and healthcare projects,” said advancement in rural and underserved areas, The Bower Foundation CEO Anne Travis. “The enhancing our highly reputable Bachelor of Social introduction of the new MSN program from MSUWork program and newly created Master of Science Meridian will not only strengthen the nursing in Nursing program, both of which offer enduring workforce, but also contribute to the delivery of transformative influence.” high-quality healthcare The grant comes at a service to Mississippians.”

"Since 1996, the Bower crucial time in Mississippi’s Mary Stewart, dean of nursing at MSU-Meridian, Foundation has funded healthcare landscape, according to Angela Savage, said the scholarships will Mississippi health and MSU-Meridian’s social remove financial barriers work program director. for Mississippi residents healthcare projects.

“Historically, the interested in becoming The introduction of mention of social work has professional practice-ready been aligned with child nurses. the new MSN program protective services, and “We are incredibly from MSU-Meridian will while that is an area of grateful for this generous gift for our inaugural class,” not only strengthen the focus, the need for social workers in physical and Stewart said. nursing workforce, but mental health is absolutely The Bower Foundation, tremendous,” Savage which directs its funds also contribute to the said. “This grant makes and energies into delivery of high-quality healthcare social work making sustainable, relevant. It will help fill systemic improvements healthcare service to those gaps, particularly in in the state’s health and Mississippians." rural healthcare.” education infrastructures, The Bower Foundation will also help advance ~ Anne Travis grants, which inspire student recruitment and motivated students to advisement efforts and fund pursue healthcare degrees and support those workforce scholarships to assist community college enrolled in a healthcare curriculum who might students entering the social work program at MSUotherwise be prevented from graduating, continue Meridian. the philanthropic efforts of its late founder.

“The healthcare workforce is a priority of the “MSU is extraordinarily proud to partner foundation,” Travis said. “The commitment of with The Bower Foundation as we expand our MSU-Meridian to expand healthcare education healthcare and social work programs in East opportunities in east Mississippi is a significant Central Mississippi,” said David R. Shaw, MSU step toward enhancing the healthcare workforce provost and executive vice president. “These in the state.” programs on the Meridian campus are addressing MSU-Meridian Associate Vice President and critical needs in our state, and The Bower Head of Campus Terry Dale Cruse said the grant Foundation has an excellent track record of marks MSU-Meridian’s first gift from The Bower supporting programs that are recognized leaders in Foundation, which has previously supported the addressing Mississippi’s health.” n university’s Social Science Research Center.

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CLASS Notes

1970s

Rob Hunter (B.S. mechanical engineering, ’73) was elected chair of the 21-person board of trustees of the National Judicial College. A member of the board since 2016, he is a former senior vice president, general counsel and secretary for the Alabama-based Altec Inc. He retired in 2022 after 21 years with the company.

Prior to that, he practiced law for 23 years with the firm of Lange, Simpson, Robinson and Somerville, where he combined his mechanical engineering knowledge with his law degree to defend manufacturers in product liability litigation around the country. During that time, he also provided representation to five Alabama governors: Guy Hunt, Fob James, Bob Riley, Jim Folsom and Don Siegelman. His leadership positions have included president of the International Association of Defense Counsel and Lawyers for Civil Justice; chair of the board of directors of the Product Liability Advisory Council; and dean of the Corporate Counsel College. He has also served on the boards of those organizations, as well as several others including the Duke Law Center for Judicial Studies.

1980s Anne Rushing (B.S. electronic engineering technology, ’83) was recognized as a 2024 Women MAKE Awards honoree. The national award honors women who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in their careers. She is president and plant manager of Monogram Refrigerator LLC, a subsidiary of GE Appliances. Her 30-year career also includes work in the aerospace and automotive industries. She has been a consistent advocate for women in manufacturing, having helped establish the plant’s Empower Women Employee Resource Group, and her guidance has helped several women rise to leadership positions.

Dr. Eric Zacharias (B.S. biological sciences, ’89) was promoted to chief medical officer at COPIC, a professional medical liability insurance company in

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Colorado. He has led patient safety and risk management efforts for over 20 years for various organizations including large, multispecialty groups, a statewide consortium of medical groups, and community health systems. He previously served as director of medical education.

A board-certified physician, he earned his medical degree from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

1990s Lance Porter (B.S. banking and finance, ’91) was named the inaugural Karen W. and Daniel J. King Distinguished Professor in Advertising in the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, from which he earned master’s and doctoral degrees. He previously taught at Louisiana State where he also served as interim associate dean of undergraduate studies and administration, founding director of the Social Media Analysis and Creation Lab and held a joint appointment with the university’s interdisciplinary Center for Computation and Technology. Outside of academics, he served a president of New Media Mind, a digital marketing consulting group, and worked at Walk Disney Motion Picture Group as executive director of digital marketing and director of internet strategy.

Sandy “S.E.” Day (B.A. political science, ’92) is now chief of public affairs for the Bureau of Reclamation, a division of the federal government that focuses on managing water- and power-related resources in 17 western states. He previously served as press secretary for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, developing integrated communication

strategies. His extensive experience also includes overseeing teams of communication professionals as chief of external affairs for the U.S. Geological Survey and serving as a senior communications professional with the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the U.S. Army’s Office of the Chief of Public Affairs and various private sector organizations. In addition to his MSU degree, he holds a master’s in cybersecurity law from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. Brian Ratliff (B.S. civil engineering, ’96) has joined Garver, as construction services team leader in Mississippi. He previously spent nearly 30 years with the Mississippi Department of Transportation, including serving as deputy executive director.

Scott Tanksley (B.S. economics; B.A. political science, ’93) was appointed to the board of directors of Restore NYC. An associate partner at CarterBaldwin Executive Search, he developed a relationship with the nonprofit while leading successful executive searches to fill its president and chief operations officer positions. He previously founded two social enterprise startups and holds a master’s degree in regional planning from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

2000s Allison Matthews (B.A. communication, ’00) has earned the Accredited in Public Relations, or APR, credential. A news editor with MSU’s Office of Public Affairs for 13 years, she successfully completed the two-part process, which measures advanced knowledge and skills in the field. Prior to coming to MSU, she worked with the Greater Starkville Development Partnership and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. In addition to her MSU degree, she holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Mississippi.

Morgan Abraham (B.S. elementary education, ‘08) was named Mississippi’s National Distinguished Principal program honoree. She was surprised with the announcement by a special assembly at Sudduth Elementary in Starkville, which she has served as principal since 2019. In that time, she has helped the school implement a successful PreK program and fostered a 21st century approach to early learning through the use of multisensory instruction. Prior to joining the Starkville Oktibbeha School District, she worked as a kindergarten teacher, instructional coach and assistant principal in Tupelo—her hometown. In addition to her bachelor’s from MSU, she holds a master’s from Alcorn State, an education specialist degree from Delta State and a doctoral degree from the University of Southern Mississippi.

2010s Anna Barker (B.B.A. international business; B.A. Spanish, ’17) was named one of 2024’s Most Intriguing Women Entrepreneurs by Inc. She was the only woman from Mississippi to make this year’s list. She is cofounder and chief creative officer of Glo, a Starkville-based company known for its namesake product, Glo, a liquid-activated reuseable ice cube and Glo Pals, a children’s toy that uses the same technology. She is credited with leading the company’s transition into 100% recycled materials for its Glo Pal product line and doubling the size of the brand in a year.

Morgan Mills (B.S. psychology, ’18) is now an associate at the Houston, Texas, law firm of Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz and Stogner. A member of MSU’s women’s soccer team, she earned All-American honors her first two years, before leaving the team to focus on her studies which included minors in pre-law and political science.

She returned to her native Texas to study at the South Texas College of Law, Houston. While there, she served as a member of the Journal of International Economic Law and competed in the school’s nationally ranked advocacy program. The joined her current firm in 2019 as a law clerk. After earning her law degree, she worked for the firm as a contract attorney until becoming a junior associate. She is active as a member of the Houston Bar, Houston Young Lawyers, Texas Trial Lawyers and the Texas Young Lawyers associations.

For more information about purchasing a Mississippi State University car tag, please visit alumni.msstate.edu/cartag

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Forever MAROON MAROON Wayne W. Duncan (B.S. physical education, B.S. social studies education, ’56) 89, Anderson, Indiana – A native of Indiana, he played basketball for the Bulldogs as a two-year starter. He spent two years in the U.S. Army in Virginia before joining the Beneficial Finance Company for 26 years. He retired from Star Financial Bank after 14 years. – March 20, 2024 Charles Randy Goldman (B.S. mechanical engineering, ’82) 67, Carnes – A native of Russell, he worked with Babcock and Wilson in West Point following his MSU graduation. He later joined Cooper Power in Lumberton, holding various positions until his retirement. – Jan. 30, 2024 Dr. Gill Gibson Pillow (B.S. microbiology, ’93) 53, Helena, Arkansas – After graduating from MSU, he attended medical school and completed residency in internal medicine/pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He and his older brother, James, established the Pillow Clinic in Helena, Arkansas, in 2005 where he served as founding partner and practicing physician. – Feb. 3, 2024 Dr. Robert L. “Bob” Robinson (Ph.D. business administration, ’69) 88, French Camp – He joined the Marine Corps after high school, then graduated from Holmes Junior College before earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Southern Mississippi. He served as executive director of Medicaid for Gov. Haley Barbour and executive director of the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the Mississippi Department of Personnel under Gov. Kirk Fordice. He was also vice president of Northeast Louisiana University, director of job development and training for Gov. William Winter; assistant director of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning and director of the A&I board, as well as the Department of Welfare under Gov. Bill Waller. – Dec. 28, 2023

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Thomas “Tommy” Thornhill (B.S. general science, ’69; M.S. wildlife ecology, ’75) 77, Baton Rouge, Louisiana – After earning his bachelor’s degree, he served in Vietnam and was honorably discharged in 1972. He then returned to MSU to complete a master’s degree before beginning a career with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. He retired in 2005 as assistant manager of the Mississippi Sandhill Crane Wildlife Refuge in Gautier. An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed both hunting and fishing, and loved all things MSU. – Feb. 24, 2023 Glover B. Triplett Jr. (B.S. general agriculture, ’51; M.S. agronomy, ’55) 93, Starkville – A member of ROTC as an undergraduate at State, he served in the Korean War as an infantry officer. He then returned to MSU as a graduate student, earning a master’s before earning a doctoral degree in farm crops from Michigan State in 1959. He worked for the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center where he was a pioneer in the development of no-tillage crop production.

Following his retirement in 1982, he returned to Mississippi and joined the Department of Plant and Soil Science at MSU where he continued his research. He was a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars, Lions Club, the Crop Science Society and Soil Science Society. He was also a member of the American Society of Agronomy and named Agronomist of the Year in 2007 by its Mississippi chapter.

He established an endowed chair position at MSU, and he and his wife, Imogene, contributed to the funding of scholarships in agronomy, horticulture and forestry. – March 30, 2024

Know a Bulldog who should be recognized in Forever Maroon? Send an email to alumnus@msstate.edu.

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Not only will alumni and friends benefit from various insurance options offered by Farm Bureau, but this relationship will enhance the Association’s mission to strengthen the connection between the Bulldog Family and MSU through events, programming, and other services.

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Back STORY

GO TO HELL OLE MISS, as told by Jeff Barry

The late-born son of a WWII prisoner of war, I knew that children were supposed to be “seen and not heard.” I never mastered that command.

Though “ADD” before the disorder was cool, I knew to keep my butt still and my mouth shut when my father and his buddies swapped tales of growing up in the Great Depression or surviving the war. They were all great storytellers.

Years later I sat down with my father, Warren Barry Sr., and recorded many of his stories. He talked mostly of love and war. He married the love of his life, Dorothy Sykes Hall of New Albany in the spring of 1943.

By the spring of 1944, Mom was a coed living in a sorority house on the campus of Ole Miss, and Dad was a pilot flying a B-24 bomber out of the Eighth Air Force in England. He was shot down over Germany on his fourth mission.

What follows is Dad’s account, at times spurred on by my questions, of his miraculous survival, his lonely first night as a POW, and the hope he found the next morning. The hope he found in “Go to Hell Ole Miss.”

“Dad, tell me about your first night in Germany,” I said.

“Loneliest night of my life,” he said.

“Didn’t everybody jump out together?”

“I knew my plane could blow any second after two of her four engines caught fire.

Ordered the crew to bail out while I did my best to hold her steady.”

“How far did you make it after they bailed out?”

“Not far. Three German fighters were closing in for the kill when I found myself over a dark blue lake that looked like it belonged in

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some other world. All of a sudden, they pulled up and flew away. I never saw ‘em again. Had no idea why they’d backed off until I made it to prison camp and found myself in a serious interrogation with the American boys.”

“Americans?”

He nodded. “Germans planted spies in our camps. Toward the end I was telling them about the lake when this colonel piped in, ‘Son, that lake saved your life. It’s where the Germans are making heavy water for their nuclear program. Most heavily defended facility on the planet. You must’ve been flying so low they were late picking you up and couldn’t risk you going down and tearing up the place. Lieutenant, you gotta be the luckiest man in the war!’”

“What a miracle,” I said.

“But not the first.”

“What happened after the lake?”

“I was closing fast on 2,000 feet and knew my chances of the plane holding steady long enough to unhitch my gear, scramble out of the cockpit, and bail out were next to nothing.” Dad paused, staring at the floor.

“But then the strangest thing happened. I heard a voice saying, ’Don’t worry, young man.

I’ve got plans for you.’ God took care of me, and sure enough I made it.

“Wasn’t long before I hit the ground with a thump that knocked off my boots. Buried my chute and ran for a patch of woods but didn’t get far. Germans had seen the whole ordeal and come my way. They hollered and sent a few bullets over my head for good measure.

“They locked me in a farm shed that first night. It was a night I’ll never forget. Feeling guilty for losing my plane, worried sick over the other nine boys in the crew, cold and missing my wife, I hunkered down and leaned against the wall.

“At daybreak my chin was dragging so low I could hardly see my feet. Sun went to rising

and sending beams of light through cracks in the wall I was propped against. Felt the sun warming my back, watched it light up my boots and inch its way up the far wall. And there it was: Go to Hell Ole Miss.”

“What are the odds,” I said, wishing I had more to say. “What a story.”

“My best story,” he said with a chuckle.

“My favorite anyhow. Sure lightened my load knowing a fella from back home had walked my path. And had the gumption to slip a knife past those Germans and give our Ole Miss buddies a piece of his mind.”

“A Mississippi State Bulldog!”

Dad nodded and gave an easy smile. “The good Lord was taking care of me. Tossing a pebble of hope my way. More than a pebble, I suppose.”

A native of North Mississippi, Jeff Barry grew up with family on both sides of the rivalry between Mississippi State and Ole Miss, including his cousin Franklin Evans who played for the Bulldogs under Head Coach Bob Tyler in the late 1970s. He, however, found his undergraduate home at fellow Southeastern Conference institution Vanderbilt, where he played tennis in the late 1980s. n In the story recounted above, the unofficial Bulldog fan battle cry offered a beacon of hope to a GI caught behind enemy lines and showed the tenacity and unerring spirit of the Maroon and White faithful. It also provided inspiration and a title for Barry’s national bestseller “Go to Hell Ole Miss.”

Set in a fictional, rural Mississippi town, this debut novel is a “historical family saga of hope and hardship, redemption and revenge, faith and doubt” that has received comparisons to the works of Pat Conroy and Cromac McCarthy.

For more information about Barry’s work, visit www.jeff-barry.com. The title is available from Amazon and other booksellers.

This historic black-and-white image from the University Archives captures the Industrial Education and Seed Laboratory rising up in the background, a notable campus landmark with a rich past. Built in 1900 in the elegant Italianate style, this building originally served as the Textile Building, home to a brief textile school that closed due to low enrollment by 1914.

Recognizable for its distinctive twin towers and triple arches, it has since hosted various programs, including agricultural engineering and technology education. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Do you have memories or stories connected to this historic structure? Send your story to alumnus.msstate.edu. Please include your name, major(s) and graduation year(s) as some responses may be published in a future issue.

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of

Growth, Strength, and Service.

Since 1974 you have allowed us to share in some of the greatest moments of your lives. Generations of relationships have been forged and a region transformed through real estate developments.

And the best is still to come.

Thank you, Northeast Mi�i�ippi!

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Food Science 402

Study the finer points of flavor in Starkville.

Sit down to a candle-lit dinner. Or get down with sticky-finger barbecue. There are no pre-requisites.

But reservations are encouraged. starkville.org

600 Russell Street Starkville, MS 39759 www.alumni.msstate.edu

SCALING NEW HEIGHTS Step into the newly renovated Sanderson Center, now home to state-of-the-art upgrades like an interactive bouldering cave wall that offers an engaging climbing experience for all skill levels.

Read the full story to see how Mississippi State is investing in infrastructure and student wellbeing as we continue to move forward. p. 28