The Spirit of 76

By Kirsten Shaw

It was a pivotal year in U.S. history – 1941. The nation was finally emerging from the Great Depression and watching a war overseas. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, being sworn in in January for a third term, proposed “Four Freedoms” for people worldwide: freedom of speech and worship and freedom from want and fear. By year’s end, the United States would enter World War II in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

At what was then Mississippi State College, daily activity in many ways went on as normal, with classes and socials and even the SEC football championship title. Yet the world environment brought a seriousness of purpose that pervaded campus life. Administrators and faculty, looking to the future, were singularly intent on ensuring that the youths in their charge were prepared to inherit the country.

This was the environment in which marketing education took root at Mississippi State. It was 1941 when marketing first appeared as a major in the course catalog.

The foresight of those early educators proved correct. Today, the Department of Marketing, Quantitative Analysis and Business Law (MQABL) is a premier academic unit. With 24 faculty and staff members, it offers a marketing major, minor and PhD; a supply chain management concentration and the PGA Professional Golf Management Program. Through courses in law, marketing and quantitative analysis, it reaches every single MSU business student.

Past, present and future were celebrated this year with the Department’s 76th anniversary. Events ranged from a gala at Starkville’s Hotel Chester to an ice cream social in the McCool Atrium. An anniversary logo was applied to custom Christmas ornaments, t-shirts and one very special cowbell.

Some new building blocks – literal and figurative – were conceived to move MQABL forward. The first edition of its newsletter MarketMix was published (www.msumarketmix.com). Plans were drawn up to renovate the office suite, which will feature a wall in the reception area on which people or entities connected with the Department may be recognized.

“We’re going to construct a wall honoring those who have helped build the Department over the years,” says Department Head Dr. Melissa Moore. “Contributors can purchase granite pavers and have them customized to pay tribute to loved ones, favorite professors or companies, or add their own names. The proceeds will shape the future of the Department as the past is honored!”

Among the first to take part were the Marketing Advisory Board members, who are placing the names of MQABL’s former department heads – Dr. Henry Nash, Dr. Ronald Taylor, Dr. Brian Engelland and Dr. Jason Lueg – on the wall. Pavers can be ordered at www.alumni.msstate.edu/MQABLpavers.

Since 1941, every person involved with the Department – student, faculty member, staff member and supporter – has become a part of its history and a contributor to its success. With such an enduring foundation, MQABL’s future is indeed full of promise.

A 76th anniversary cowbell was made by Boston Bell Co. (www.bostonbellco.com), founded by MSU marketing student Jonathan Williams and mechanical engineering student Matt Waddle. The company offers customizable cowbells made from premium materials. Only 200 of their signature product, The Statesman, are being made – fittingly, MQABL’s was the 76th.