Give Wing Support Overview

There is perhaps no greater wish than to fly, to break free, to take to the skies and touch the clouds. As part of The University of Southern Mississippi’s storied legacy, you have been given this opportunity.

In life, you have risen. You have succeeded. You have flown.

Now, you have the chance to help others do the same.

MAKING HISTORY

CHANGING THE GAME We make educational achievement a reality for students from all walks of life.

We provide them with the opportunity to learn in an environment that blends teaching with life-changing academic discoveries. Our students come to The University of Southern Mississippi with a strong work ethic and big dreams, and our graduates leave with the global perspectives and career tools to achieve immeasurably more than they ever imagined.

RICH HISTORY,

PROMISING FUTURE In our first century, we evolved from a small teachers college into a premiere research university with a national reputation for excellence.

Constant through all our growth and into the next 100 years of excellence is our unwavering commitment to student success. We are poised to write the next chapter of our history and our students’ futures.

OUR VISION We will be a model student-centered public research university that prepares students to thrive in a global society by providing high-quality programs and transformative experiences in a community distinguished by inclusiveness.

WE WILL ACHIEVE THIS VISION BY FOCUSING OUR EFFORTS IN THREE KEY AREAS.

1. STUDENT SUCCESS 2. ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE 3. INNOVATION & DISCOVERY LET US SHOW YOU HOW TRANSFORMATIVE THE IMPACT CAN BE WHEN YOU GIVE WING.

Success stories don’t write themselves . . .

GIVE WING TO TODAY’S BRIGHTEST STUDENTS, TOMORROW’S FRONT-RUNNERS AND THE NEXT GENERATION OF TRAILBLAZERS.

In 1995, Oseola McCarty forever changed USM with the announcement of a planned gift of $150,000. As a washerwoman who lived frugally, this gift represented the majority of her life savings. The Oseola McCarty Scholars Program carries on McCarty’s giving spirit and financial impact by providing scholarships for students who possess a strong work ethic, leadership skills and a commitment to serving others through community service and student organizations.

TAMIA EVANS | CHILD & FAMILY SCIENCES | OAK GROVE, MISS.

STUDENT AFFAIRS PROGRAMMING The challenging and supportive atmosphere of Southern Miss inspires students to pursue their passions and drives them to be the authors of their own futures. They experience the rigors of a high-caliber academic community and develop their intellects through close relationships with faculty. They cross campus borders to experience the communities in which they will live, work and excel. Philanthropy helps Golden Eagles to enter the world equipped with a solid foundation of knowledge, real-world experience and the confidence and boldness to achieve their highest aspirations.

ATTRACTING THE BEST STUDENTS Competition for the finest students is fierce. The brightest scholars, the most talented artists and athletes, and the emerging leaders of tomorrow from Mississippi and beyond – have many options. They often have competitive financial offers from multiple universities. Scholarships are critical to our success. We must offer competitive financial packages to attract this top talent and build a student body of the highest quality.

USM sports a well-documented tradition of excellence in producing Goldwater Scholarship winners. USM is the only Mississippi college or university to have three Goldwater Scholars this year. (Zachary Ahmad, Kaitlyn Birkhoff and Alyssa Necaise) This year’s recipients bring the total number of USM Goldwater Scholarship recipients to a state-leading total of 27. This marks the second time in three years, USM has produced three honorees.

STUDENT SUCCESS

HEALTHY. CONNECTED. LEARNING-FOCUSED. Developing HEALTHY students and communities requires a focus on physical and mental health, as well as risk and crisis management. We energize all members of the campus community to learn about and adopt healthy lifestyles. CONNECTED students and communities produce a positive educational environment and a strong affinity for Southern Miss. Through involvement with approximately 180 student organizations, we galvanize students’ connections to Southern Miss and with their peers, faculty, staff and communities. Developing LEARNING-FOCUSED students and communities is a primary concern for the University, to inspire and empower students to capitalize on their learning experiences in and beyond the classroom.

Establishing an endowment to support student development is crucial to provide a variety of initiatives to maximize and enhance the Southern Miss student experience. You can help create intentional learning experiences, equipping students to pursue their passions and develop their abilities.

Southern Miss is dedicated to removing any obstacle preventing a student from continuing their education.

For many of our students, finances are a major hurdle to achieving their full potential. A large proportion of our students are the first in their families to pursue a college degree, and their families often cannot fund their education.

A degree empowers these students, changing their futures, and carrying forward a positive impact on their families and the individuals they will serve throughout their personal and professional lives.

Through scholarship support, you Give Wing to these hard-working, ambitious students, ensuring financial circumstances do not limit them.

STUDENT SUCCESS

SUPPORTING MILITARY STUDENTS

SUPPORTING STUDENT ATHLETES

THEY SERVED PROUDLY. NOW, WE PROUDLY SERVE THEM. USM is nationally recognized as one of the nation’s top military friendly institutions and the top military friendly four-year institution in the state of Mississippi. For fall 2020, more than 1,800 military students and military family members attended Southern Miss. With a drive to succeed in civilian life, our militarystudents possess core values such as loyalty, duty, respect, honor, courage and commitment. The determination and commitment these students display makes us proud of their service to our country and their tenacity in the classroom.

The new Quinlan-Hammond Hall of Honor will house the Center for Military Veterans, Service Members and Families, allowing Southern Miss to holistically care for and meet the needs and interests of our military-student community. Many of our military-students bring diverse life experiences to our campuses. The Hall of Honor is reflective of those experiences, while respectful to their service. The Hall of Honor will have its own unique identity and defined place for military-students to connect with others.

The Southern Miss Athletic Department is committed to supporting the educational mission of the University by educating student-athletes from over 28 states and 21 countries around the world. Spring of 2021 was a banner semester campuswide for Southern Miss student-athletes, who posted a school-record 3.103 GPA. Enhancing the student-athlete experience requires your help to improve our programs, facilities, support services and competitive success. Your support of these Golden Eagles pursuing their academic and athletic dreams allows scholarships and mentors to have a life-changing influence.

“Receiving scholarships allow me the ability to live out my childhood dreams, while creating the room to dream bigger and brighter for my future. I’m proud to be a Golden Eagle – there is so much community here, and my teammates are my family away from home. After graduation, I know I will be prepared to start my own business in the fitness industry because my education, internships and experiences at USM.”

LAUREN GROSS | WOMEN’S BASKETBALL | SPORTS MANAGEMENT MAJOR | SOUTHHAVEN, MISS. | 3.7 GPA | GRADUATED IN 3 YEARS

The Bower Academic Excellence Center provides over 360 student-athletes the resources needed to succeed. The facility offers increased computer accessibility, additional tutoring rooms for individualized study in a quiet setting and expanded group study spaces in a convenient location.

STUDENT SUCCESS

STUDENT SUCCESS

Faculty hold the intellectual capital of Southern Miss.

GIVE WING TO THE SCHOLARS WHO INSPIRE OUR STUDENTS AS THEY LEAD BY EXAMPLE AND BREAK NEW GROUND, GENERATING KNOWLEDGE THAT AFFECTS ALL AREAS OF OUR WORLD. As leaders in their fields of study, our professors’ superior teaching, research and course offerings draw students to Southern Miss. Faculty are the single most impactful influence on students and their educational achievements. We ensure every student has access to high-caliber teachers and researchers who provide them with viable solutions and applications to guide, challenge and inspire them to succeed.

SECURING TOP FACULTY & RECOGNIZING THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS Our top-tier faculty are the key to maintaining excellence in advancing their field of study and teaching students. The market for the best faculty is increasingly competitive and puts us at risk of losing our brightest scholars to other universities. Endowed chairs and professorships help ensure we will continue to attract renowned academics, and retain them as their prominence rises. Your support can provide faculty in any area with financial rewards in the form of salary enhancements and discretionary funds, encouraging new research ventures and rewarding outstanding work.

“War Stories” – Faculty within the Dale Center for the Study of War and Society at USM are capturing and preserving the oral and written story of Mississippi’s National Guard and its service in America’s 21st century military exploits, including the Global War on Terror and managing domestic recovery operations following Hurricane Katrina.

USM will be a research hub for national and international scholars on the National Guard and present wars.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

EXPANDING LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM To assist students in developing academically, personally and professionally, Southern Miss faculty work to incorporate career preparedness and applied learning content into rich educational experiences beyond classroom walls. Opportunities abound, including study abroad programs in more than 20 countries, premier speakers through the University Forum, and pathway experiences such as internships, clinicals, research and fieldwork.

EXPERIENCE IN APPLIED LEARNING Using grants supported by the Southern Miss Fund, faculty and staff led incoming freshmen Jump Scholars in getting a jump start on their classes by participating in living-learning communities with the opportunity to go behind the scenes at Ochsner Medical Center, tour local historical sites and visit off-campus businesses where they learned how to apply classroom content in real-world settings.

With 92 LED monitors, 18 LED smartboards, 12 LED digital signs, seven touchscreen monitors, an 88-seat testing center and a financial services center with a Bloomberg terminal, Scianna Hall has dramatically enhanced learning for business students at Southern Miss.

BUILDING ATHLETIC FACILITIES Our experiences are shaped by the environments in which we live, work and grow. As such, facilities and associated features play a critical role in our growth and development.

Construction, design and functionality contribute to our ability to recruit top high school and transfer student-athletes and be highly competitive in our conference. You can help us step up our game with our facilities – both the structures and everything inside them — to provide student-athletes, coaches and our Golden Eagle fans with an environment equal to their talent.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

The Drapeau Center for Undergraduate Research empowers our undergraduate students to pursue their research and creative interests and deeply immerse themselves in high-impact experiential learning activities.

Students can apply for a variety of competitively awarded grants for projects they complete under the guidance of a faculty mentor and to present their findings at professional conferences. To date, close to 300 Southern Miss students have benefitted from Drapeau Center grants, which corresponds to approximately $325,000 of funding.

Golden Eagles are on the brink of new discoveries every day.

GIVE WING TO INNOVATIONS WITH A WORLD-CHANGING IMPACT IN DIVERSE FIELDS OF STUDY. USM’s inclusion in the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education’s “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity” category places the University among the distinguished company of only 131 institutions in the nation, including Harvard, MIT, Stanford and Johns Hopkins.

Southern Miss is known for pioneering work in bringing language to children with communication disorders, polymer science, marine science and spectator sports safety and security. Our faculty and students explore new approaches seeking cross-disciplinary collaboration that magnifies the impact of their findings.

ENHANCING UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH & CREATIVE ACTIVITY At USM, we are actively working to enhance undergraduate and graduate experiences by promoting and supporting student-faculty collaborations in research, creative projects and scholarship. The benefits of active participation in faculty-mentored exploration are myriad to the student experience and the University community at large. Faculty who mentor and collaborate with students at Southern Miss open the doors of innovation, allowing the intellectual capital of our professors and students to have a world-changing impact.

You can strengthen our undergraduate student research programs to offer opportunities to a larger community of students, changing the culture of how students view and participate in creating new knowledge.

Doctoral student, Luke Galuska remains awe-struck that his research team holds a world record for the thinnest film that’s ever been tested in this manner for medical devices.

“Our work focuses on thin-film mechanics for use in organic electronics. The materials can be stretched or bent. So, for example, if you wear a heart monitor made of this material, it can move with your skin.

It’s so light you don’t even perceive it, it’s just there monitoring you.”

INNOVATION & DISCOVERY

From the arts to health, faculty are given a wide range of flexibility in proposals to stimulate original work across our campuses. By providing Faculty Excellence Awards to reward faculty whose research excels nationally, you will strengthen the intellectual capital of Southern Miss and deepen the educational offerings professors bring to the classroom.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP Many USM students arrive with an entrepreneurial mindset. By teaching them to ideate and innovate, students have the opportunity to develop the skills to market and manage their own business or launch successful new ventures wisely.

Bringing big ideas into reality can be accomplished through competitions, events, education, research and partnerships within the business community.

Imagine a Hatchery within the College of Business and Economic Development. This hub of entrepreneurial activity will encourage and support learning among faculty and students to create job makers — not job takers.

LUKE GALUSKA | POLYMER SCIENCE & ENGINEERING, PH.D

Founded in 2007, The Southern Entrepreneurship Program is an outreach service designed to advance high school innovation and student entrepreneurship in Mississippi.

Programming consists of an annual series of regional, virtual and statewide student opportunities, each specifically designed to introduce high school students to essential topics like opportunity recognition, market validation and essential/soft skills. More than 50 high schools across the state have been engaged, and more than 500 high school students and educators are trained annually in the application of critical business development, personal finance and economic principles.

INNOVATION & DISCOVERY

OUR PLAN Southern Miss will accept nothing but the best for our students and every scholar will be armed with the tools they need to succeed in the world beyond graduation. They will learn from leaders who have made Southern Miss their home for research and discovery, classroom instruction and new learning environments. They will go forth to make their mark on the world in ways we can only imagine.

With pride in our history and confidence in our future, we have set ambitious goals and will work to attain them to redefine expectations of what it means to be a student-centered public research university. Accomplishing our aspirations will require a massive effort from every component of the University community.

OUR GOALS ARE LOFTY, AND OUR PASSION IS UNRELENTING. JOIN US AS WE PURSUE MODEL UNIVERSITY STATUS, PROVIDING HIGHQUALITY PROGRAMS AND TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCES TO PREPARE STUDENTS TO THRIVE IN A GLOBAL SOCIETY. OUR PATH TO THE TOP IS CLEAR AND WE INVITE YOU TO BE A PART OF THE JOURNEY.

HOW WILL YOU GIVE WING?

601.266.5210 givewingtosouthernmiss.com

118 College Drive, #5210 Hattiesburg, MS 39406