Fall-Winter 2004 Millsaps Magazine by Millsaps College

WINTER 2004–05

PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2004

Proﬁle in Courage

Our chaplain follows his heart across 30 years of social change

Seeds of Contemplation

Nicholson family garden cultivates new traditions

Another Toast to Tom

Spengler Scholarship honors a quintessential Jacksonian

From the President Dear Friends, As I pointed out in our last magazine, summer was indeed a time of cultivation and growth for the College, and we reaped a significant harvest from our efforts. In at least one instance, it was cultivation and growth in the most literal sense of the word.The new Nicholson Garden, built in honor of Ben and Berniece Nicholson by their three daughters, was established between Murrah Hall and the Christian Center.The new garden features an abundance of flowering plants and incorporates existing elements, such as the M Bench, into an overall design that adds other benches, an arbor, and a swing.This spectacular new addition is one of the first steps in a master plan devoted to making the campus a relaxing framework for an educational experience, as well as a beautiful place for alumni and friends to visit. Another field of endeavor, begun this spring, received its final touches this fall.The new athletic playing field was rededicated at Homecoming to honor Harper Davis, former head football coach. Davis, a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, holds the record for the most wins in Millsaps football history and is also a member of the Mississippi State University Sports Hall of Fame, and a 1989 inductee to the Millsaps Sports Hall of Fame. Millsaps College is proud to call Harper Davis Field our home turf. And another lifetime of work continues to bear fruit. Our chaplain, Don Fortenberry, has long been the most dedicated cultivator of young minds and hearts. Not only was the first Don Fortenberry Award for scholarship and service bestowed at the 2004 Commencement, but alumni—many of whose lives he helped shape—have established the Don Fortenberry Endowed Scholarship and Award Fund, announced in November at Homecoming. Great things are happening at Millsaps College; we were delighted to see the results of our efforts reflected in the U.S.News & World Report rankings. Millsaps College rose to 89th from 91st among the 217 national liberal arts colleges in U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges. In addition, Princeton Review’s Best 357 Colleges of 2005 puts Millsaps College third as a best value and 14th for the encouragement of classroom discussion. Our concert and lecture series again brought stellar talents to the campus as well as notable politicos and pundits at a time when politics was on everybody’s mind. Alumni Hank Holmes, the new director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and Justice James Graves both achieved positions of distinction in state government. We attracted visitors from the other side of the world with our International Kimono Exhibition and celebrated the Festival of Diwali in the company of our own Miss India U.S.A., senior Reshoo Pande. Here’s wishing you, your friends, and your families all the blessings of the new year as we share the warmth of the Millsaps spirit in this new edition of Millsaps Magazine. Warmly,

In This Issue p r e s i d e n t ’ s

4 10 16

r e p o r t

MILLSAPS MAGAZINE winter 2004–05

Cross Roads

Executive Editor Stephen Becker

Chaplain Don Fortenberry on his journey across three decades of change at Millsaps.

Design Heidi Flynn Allen Contributing Editors John Webb c om m u n i c at i on s w r i t e r Jesse Yancy a s s o c i at e d i r e c t or o f m e d i a r e l at i on s Brian Emory s p ort s i n f or m at i on d i r e c t or

Back to the Garden A family’s ﬂowering legacy takes root on campus.

Major Notes Editor Tanya Newkirk a s s o c i at e d i r e c t or o f a l u m n i r e l at i on s

The Spengler Heart

Editorial Assistants Patrick Barb, 2005 Becca Day, 2005 Anu Goel, B.B.A., 2004 Chris Spear, 2007

Scholarship honors debonair actor, historian, and Welty’s ‘Uncle Daniel Ponder’ at New Stage.

Contributing Photographers Katie Brown, 2005 Greg Campbell Fred Ezelle Barbara Gauntt Jason Jarin, 2006 John Webb Jesse Yancy

d e p a r t m e n t s On Campus 2 In the Spotlight 10 Fine Arts

Administrative Ofﬁcers Dr. Frances Lucas president Dr. Richard A. Smith s e n i or v i c e p r e s i d e n t a n d d e a n o f t h e c ol l e g e Louise Burney, M.Acc. 1996 v i c e p r e s i d e n t f or f i n a n c e Dr. R. Brit Katz v i c e p r e s i d e n t f or s t u d e n t a f f a i r s and dean of students Dr. Charles R. Lewis vice president f or i n s t i t u t i ona l a dva n c e m e n t Todd Rose v i c e p r e s i d e n t f or c a m p u s s e rv i c e s

Faculty & Staff 12 In the Spotlight 16 Campus Community Athletics 18 Harper Davis 19 Whistlin’ Dixie Major Notes 20 In the Spotlight 22 Classmates 31 In Memoriam Parting Word 37 Irene Breland, On Reﬂection

8 On the Cover A profusion of golden-orange chrysanthemums, the quintessential autumn ﬂower, brightens a corner of the new Nicholson Garden. Chrysanthemums are among the many colorful blooming plants that beautify the garden throughout the year. p h ot o b y j e s s e ya n c y

m i l l s a p s m ag a z i n e i s p u b l i s h e d b y m i l l s a p s c ol l e g e, 1 7 0 1 nort h s tat e s t r e e t, jac k s on, m s 3 9 2 1 0 - 0 0 0 1 , f or d i s t r i b u t i on t o a l u m n i , pa r e n t s o f s t u d e n t s, a n d f r i e n d s o f t h e c ol l e g e. p l e a s e s e n d a l u m n i u p d at e s a n d a d d r e s s c or r e c t i on s t o m i l l s a p s m ag a z i n e, c a r e o f t h e a b ov e a d d r e s s. you c a n r e ac h u s at 6 0 1 - 9 7 4 - 1 0 3 3 , b y f a x at 6 0 1 - 9 7 4 - 1 4 5 6 , or b y e m a i l at c om m u n i c at i on s @ m i l l s a p s. e du. v i s i t w w w. m i l l s a p s. e du f or t h e on l i n e m ag a z i n e. p e r i od i c a l p o s tag e pa i d at j ac k s on, m s.

i n

t h e

s p o t l i g h t

OnCampus The Making of the Presidency Chip Pickering

Hindsight

“I believe that there should be a separation of church and state, but I do not think there should be a separation of faith and politics.” —Chip Pickering

millsaps magazine

According to veteran political analyst Sid Salter, speaking at a Millsaps Forum on the 2004 presidential election, the most important thing that happened for Mississippians on Nov. 2, 2004, was that Thad Cochran, the senior Republican senator from Mississippi, became chairman of the Senate appropriations committee. Entitled “Reﬂections on the 2004 Presidential Election” and moderated by Dr. Don Fortenberry, the Millsaps College chaplain, the forum featured a panel of politicians, pundits, and academics who suggested what they believe the election said about the mood and concerns of the American electorate. State Representative Virginia Carlton, the Columbia Republican, began by observing that President George W. Bush won reelection “by a clear majority” of the 60 percent of registered voters who turned out to vote. Carlton noted that a large part of the vote for the president was rural, and that his role as commanderin-chief and his response to the 9/11 attacks were also factors in his successful reelection bid. “I don’t think voters were sure of John Kerry’s position as to how he would pursue the war in Iraq,” Carlton said. “And across the nation, on the issue of family values, people turned out to vote in record numbers. When it came to terrorism, people were comfortable with the leadership that we have, and Kerry’s position really wasn’t understood.” State Representative Alyce Clarke, the Jackson Democrat, said people seemed to have voted along party lines rather than voting on what would “be best for our constituents, our neighbors, or ourselves.” “It appears we are divided” as a nation, she said. “That’s very unfortunate. I don’t feel that some of the moral issues we let slip into our vote should be as inﬂuential as they are at the polls.”

From left, Sid Salter, Dr. Bob McElvaine, Dr. Don Fortenberry, and state representatives Alyce Clarke and Virginia Carlton.

But Clarke said she was most impressed with the turnout in the election. “I’m proud of the number of voters who went to the polls,” she said. “We had more people voting this time than I can ever remember in my 40 years of voting. I remember when there were so many people who could not vote. That’s why it means so much to me.” Dr. Robert McElvaine, the Elizabeth Chisolm Professor of History at the College, posed this question: “How is it that a president who took us into an unnecessary war, who squandered the huge outpouring of goodwill from around the world that came to us after Sept. 11, 2001, who had a two-thirds of a trillion-dollar turnaround in the federal budget, could possibly have been reelected?” The answer? “Sex, lies, and videotape,” he said. “The three key moments that enabled Bush to win, I think, were the 4-to-3 decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Court saying that same-sex couples had a legal right to marry, the emergence of the Orwellian-named Swift Boat Veterans for Truth coming out with what were shown to be a whole host of lies about Senator Kerry, and the videotape of Osama Bin Laden that came out the weekend before the election.” Salter, Perspective editor of the

2004: A Millsaps Perspective Ray Mabus

Foresight

Clarion-Ledger, said, “In Mississippi, and in the country in general, it had been widely believed for the last half-century that better voter turnout beneﬁts the Democratic Party, and this election proved that’s no longer true.” “I think by ‘reporting for duty,’ making Vietnam the cornerstone of his convention speech, and pushing to overcome the Swift Boat Veterans” mired Kerry’s campaign “in a straw man debate,” Salter said. “Whether you like Bush or dislike Bush, there are some very signiﬁcant economic problems in the country. Health care is a terrible situation, there have been job losses, and there is a lot to talk about.” But Kerry “spent the time from Boston to New York talking about Vietnam,” Salter said. Finally, Salter brought the perspective back home. “Cochran’s new position as the chairman of the Senate appropriations committee is the single most relevant happening for Mississippians that day because the chairman of the appropriations committee can do things to help Mississippians of every race, creed, color, and political stripe,” he said. Mississippi has had appropriations chairs twice in the last century with Democrats Jamie Whitten in the House and John Stennis in the Senate, and “it means a great deal to the state,” Salter said. —Jesse Yancy

During 2004’s bitterly fought race for the White House, Mississippi politicians Charles (Chip) Pickering, representing the state’s third congressional district, and former Governor Ray Mabus put the “civil” back in civil discourse as they analyzed the making of the candidates for a Millsaps audience. What was perhaps most startling about the evening was the gentility with which the two men approached what, according to the NewYork Times, psychologists have called one of the most disturbing, hateﬁlled contests on record. In opening remarks at an October Arts & Lecture Series program, the two men presented their analyses of the race, with Pickering, a Republican, defending President Bush’s record on both domestic and foreign policy and Mabus, a Democrat, explaining his support for Senator Kerry. Mabus questioned “the why, when, and way” the country went to Iraq. “I think this administration has changed its position on why we went to Iraq more times than Ole Miss has changed quarterbacks this year,” Mabus said. Moreover, he said, the invasion had led Iraq to become a “magnet” for terrorists. “I know what terror looks like,” Mabus said. “I have been through a terror attack in Saudi Arabia, I’ve known what it’s like to see people die, whose only thing they did wrong was go to lunch at the

wrong time and wear the uniform of the United States of America. Terror is awful and should be tracked down and eradicated, and we have not done that because we’ve taken our eye off the terror and put it on Iraq.” Pickering looked back on his formative years as a young man living in Eastern Europe in the 1980s to portray the roots of his political ideology. Pickering said that “if you’ve never been in a different place where you had a radically different system of government and a different way of making decisions economically and politically, you cannot appreciate or understand or fully know what is most important about America and the idea of America. You come from a far place to know much better and much closer your own place and your own home.” He said he supported the president because he believed Bush had a “strong, clear, convinced faith in freedom” rooted in the philosophy of the nation’s founders. “We talk about the war on terrorism and sometimes we forget it is really a war of liberation,” he said. Fielding a question from the audience on the necessity of the Electoral College, Mabus said he thought the process should be examined for one reason: “In Mississippi we’ve gone Democratic once for president since 1956, we don’t ever have candidates coming here, we don’t (continued on next page)

A Green Light for Change David Cobb, the Green Party presidential candidate, appeared on campus in October in an event sponsored by the Green Party of Mississippi. “I think George Bush stole the presidential election in 2000,” Cobb told about 100 faculty, students, and supporters at the Ford Academic Complex. “I think that Al Gore and the Democratic Party, rather than securing the election that their candidate had won, spent the entire time blaming the Green Party for

votes that should have gone to the left.” Cobb added that it was “time that we the people stand up, get out, and be part of the social movement in this country that will challenge the system of corporate takeover of our government.” Cobb’s appearance was coordinated by Sherman Lee Dillon, the Green candidate in Mississippi’s 2003 gubernatorial election, religious studies professor Darby Ray, and philosophy professor Patrick Hopkins.

winter 2004–05

in t he

s pot l ight

Some Food for Thought (And Thoughts About Food) The marquee of the 2004 Millsaps Arts & Lecture Series was illuminated by an array of successful events that appealed to a broad spectrum of cultural interests. The season opened in September with a literary program by the writers Roy Blount Jr., a journalist, humorist, sportswriter, and novelist; Julia Reed, a Mississippi native and writer for Vogue and the New York Times Magazine, and the Jackson writer Jill Conner Browne of “Sweet Potato Queen” fame. Taking the stage of the Ford Academic Complex Recital Hall in October was Gary Gallagher, recognized as one of the best historians of the Civil War. Gallagher is the John L. Nau Professor of the History of the American Civil War at the University of Virginia and is widely published in scholarly journals and the popular historical press. His books include The Confederate War, Lee and His Army in Confederate History, Lee and His Generals in War and Memory, and The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History. The award-winning chef Cat Cora, a television star, cookbook author, teacher, and native of Jackson, transformed the auditorium in November into a 600-seat kitchen, preparing seasonal dishes for the program “Home for the Holidays.” She is executive producer of The Cat Cora Show, a talk show on the Food Network centering on food, wine, and lifestyle. In January, it was standing room only as the Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats combined acrobatics, traditional dance, and spectacular costumes with ancient and contemporary theatrical techniques. That was followed in February by Rufus McKay of the Red Tops, who played high school proms, nightclubs, and fraternity parties in the 1950s and ’60s to become a signiﬁcant cultural icon of Mississippi. Also on the February calendar was Claudia Stevens, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, in An Evening with Madame F, a drama using music performed at Auschwitz by women inmates. Created to depict the struggle and moral dilemma of those who survived, this production has been called “one of the most profound theatre moments of recent times.”

(continued from page 3)

ever get the debate that goes back and forth. I just think that every vote ought to count, every vote ought to matter.” And, he added, “maybe the person that gets the most votes ought to win.” Pointing to deviations from the national model in Colorado, Maine, and Nebraska, Pickering said there were “things that state by state can happen that could make presidential campaigns pay more attention to an individual respective state.” Pickering said that a deep sociopolitical rift in this nation had emerged over the last 30 years. “The current generation of Vietnam-era leaders and we as a nation have struggled both on social issues and on economic and foreign policy issues like no other generation has until you go back to the Civil War period,” he said. He said the nation could not “go an extended period of time with this much division, with this much rancor, with this much mistrust between the two parties.” Then, during an evening that seemed

The award-winning Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats.

millsaps magazine

more polite than political, Pickering seemed ready to take off the gloves. Bush, he said, had “intentionally misled no one. He has core values, core convictions. You may agree with him or disagree with him. But don’t call our president a liar.” Referring to polarizing social issues such as abortion and gay marriage, Pickering said that the nation was being failed by its courts. “Instead of letting state legislatures and Congress make decisions that would reﬂect the values of the majority or a community or a county or a state, judges have begun making decisions I believe are not conforming to the way the founders and the Constitution intended.” Mabus countered that “the most activist decision I know of was the decision four years ago not to allow a recount and see who actually won the presidential election.” Addressing a question from the audience on the separation of church and state in the election, Mabus said that “to go to a church and talk about your desire to be elected, I view that in the same positive way I view faith-based initiatives the administration has undertaken.” “I believe that there should be a separation of church and state, but I do not think there should be a separation of faith and politics,” Pickering said. “And there’s a difference. If you look at all the great movements of our nation’s history, from the Great Awakening during the Colonial time that really shaped the founders’ views of what a government should be, to the Civil War and the abolitionist movement, to the civil rights movement and any great social reform movement in our nation’s history, it has been guided, motivated, and inspired by faith.” Pickering is serving his fourth term and is vice chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Mabus, a native of Choctaw County, was the youngest governor in the nation during his 1988–92 term. Mabus was appointed U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia by President Bill Clinton, serving in the mid-1990s. —John Webb

Else School Under New Management Dr. W. Ken Harmon has been named to lead the Else School of Management into its next phase of growth. He replaced Dr. Randy Boxx, who left the College at the end of the 2003–04 academic year to become dean of the Harry F. Byrd Jr. School of Business at Shenandoah University in Virginia. Harmon, the fourth dean of the Else School, is the former chair of the Department of Accountancy and Business Law at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where he was also a professor of accounting. He has taught at Middle Tennessee State, Arizona State University West, the University of Missouri-Columbia, and Drexel University. He earned a bachelor of science in accounting, a master of accountancy, and a doctor of business administration in accounting at the University of Tennessee. Harmon was named professor of the year four times during his tenure at the University of Missouri-Columbia, as well as the 1989 faculty member of the year at Missouri’s College of Business. His students have lauded him as a dynamic and caring teacher, and he is known for working closely with students to develop their personal and career goals. “Ken’s entrepreneurial ideas and leadership will allow him to quickly build on the ﬁne tradition and reputation that already exists at the Else School,” said Dr. Frances Lucas, president of the College. “Ken emerged from a national search that had many excellent candidates. Ken has an excellent track record as a teacher, instructor, and fund raiser. I have no doubt that his business development skills in particular will go a long way

toward increasing the relationships between the Else School and the business community.” “Millsaps College and the Else School of Management have a long tradition of supreme academic quality,” Harmon said. “I am very excited to have the opportunity to become part of that tradition. Additionally, I see numerous, exciting prospects on the horizon. Especially promising is the notion of building strong, creative ties between the Else School of Management and the regional business community.” Harmon has been active with the business honorary society Beta Gamma Sigma and has been published in the Journal of Information Systems, the CPA Journal, and the Information Systems Control Journal. He served as editor of the Journal of Accounting and EDP and currently is an associate editor for the International Journal of Accounting Information Systems. Harmon has implemented numerous software systems for health-care billing and worked as a staff auditor for Price Waterhouse & Co. “Dr. Harmon is a gifted teacher— winning numerous teaching awards throughout his career, a strong scholar, and a talented administrator,” said Dr. Richard A. Smith, senior vice president and dean of the College. “I fully expect that he will be an excellent dean who will help lead the Else School and the College to new levels of accomplishment and distinction. I very much look forward to working with him.” —J.Y.

i n t h e

s p otli ght

Scholarship Honors Extraordinary Siblings Just scratch the surface of many Jackson cultural traditions—from the Crossroads Film Society to Jubilee!JAM—and you’re likely to encounter the name of Ruma Haque, B.A. 1983, who died in 2002 as the result of an automobile accident. In 1996, her brother, Raju Haque, who left his imprint on New Orleans as “the Mardi Gras attorney,” succumbed to cancer. It is in memory of these two extraordinary young people that their mother, Dr. Monira Haque of Edison, New Jersey, has created the Ruma and Raju Haque Memorial Endowed Scholarship. The scholarship, which will be awarded to an entering freshman majoring in English or political science, was announced on campus in July at an “Evening Celebrating the Lives of Ruma and Raju Haque.” “The response to the event, which was more of a celebration than a memorial, was overwhelming,” said Vernon King, director of development at Millsaps College. “We received numerous gifts in memory of Ruma and Raju, and Dr. Haque seemed overcome with the number of alumni and friends that came. “Throughout the evening Dr. Haque seemed struck speechless by the number of guests that greeted her and told her how much they loved Ruma and Raju. However, when it came time for Dr. Haque to receive her daughter’s Livesay Award posthumously,

Gallery of memories: photographs of Ruma and Raju Haque displayed at an evening celebrating their lives and contributions.

winter 2004–05

in t he

s p otl ig ht

she was as eloquent as any orator could be. Her speech was heartfelt, and everyone in the audience was noticeably moved by her words. The evening was indeed a celebration of the lives that Ruma and Raju lived and each of them lived life to the fullest.” Both Raju Haque and Ruma Haque entered the field of law after studying at Millsaps. Ruma Haque graduated from Millsaps with a degree in English. She was a member of Kappa Delta sorority, as well as the Millsaps Players and the English honorary society Sigma Tau Delta. She served on the staff of the Bobashela and the Purple & White . After graduating from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1987, she served as president of the government law section of the Mississippi State Bar Association, president of the National Association of County Civil Attorneys, vice president of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, vice president of the Crossroads Film Society, and secretary of the Hinds County Bar Association. She also served on the board of directors of the Millsaps Arts & Lecture Series and was a member of Mississippi HeARTS Against AIDS and the Junior League of Jackson. At the time of her death, she was serving as the attorney for the Hinds County Board of Supervisors, that body’s first full-time attorney. Raju Haque graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi and Loyola University Law School. He became a member of the Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association and civic organizations. He also served as an assistant city attorney for New Orleans. He was an envoy to the New Orleans Asian-American Pacific Society, the National Rifle Association’s Legion of Honor, the Mardi Gras Task Force, and the Krewe of Tucks. “Both Ruma and Raju are prime examples of the type of outstanding

millsaps magazine

alumni that Millsaps produces,” King said. “They gave 100 percent of themselves while they were students and continued to give back to their respective communities after graduation.” King added that the Haque Endowed Scholarship would perpetuate those values and their commitment to others. —J. W.

Miss India A Jewel In Millsaps’ Crown Senior Reshoo Pande, 21, was crowned Miss India USA in an October pageant at Kean University in Newark, New Jersey. Pande, who is from Greenwood, was selected as the ﬁrst Miss India Mississippi in a pageant on the Millsaps College campus in June. She competed against more than 22 state representatives during the three-day pageant and faced off against representatives from 32 other countries in the Miss India Worldwide competition in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India, in January. The Miss India USA pageant is organized by the New York City-based India Festival Committee, which has been holding the annual event for the last 23 years. Pageant contestants must be of

Festival of Lights In November, the Diwali festival was celebrated on campus for the ﬁrst time in the history of Millsaps College. It is a day observed by Hindus worldwide, marking the return of the god Rama from 14 years of exile. The evening started with an Indian buffet, followed by the singing of the mantra and lighting of the Diwali lamps by Dr. Frances Lucas, president of the College. The Diwali story was told as a skit performed by Indian children from the Mississippi Indian community. Regional dances were performed by Indian students. A tabla (drum) performance and a fashion show were also featured. The local Indian community, the Student Body Association, and the Ofﬁce of Student Affairs helped make the evening a success. —Anu Goel

Indian origin, ages 17 to 25, unmarried, and living in the United States. Pande is the daughter of Dr. Ravi and Manju Pande of Greenwood. “My parents were so surprised,” she said. “We thought I’d do well, but winning came as a total surprise.” The pageant’s four segments included evening gown, Indian dress, talent, and question and answer. “I did a dance to a mixture of Indian and hip-hop music,” Pande said. “It wasn’t competitive at all,” added Pande, an accounting major. “My roommate was from Arizona, and she was incredible. I made a lot of friends, and even if I hadn’t won, it would have been a good experience.” Pande received the crown, a $1,000 scholarship, and two tickets to India for the pageant. —J. Y.

Allegiance to the Millsaps Flag Millsaps senior Yulon Stewart carries the College flag in Iraq. A biology major with a minor in psychology, she was called for duty in January 2004. She had six months left before her graduation. Not long ago, while on leave, she visited Sherryl Wilburn, director of the Multicultural Association at Millsaps College, and asked for a Millsaps flag. She said she wanted the flag to represent her college with the rest of the troops.

—A.G.

Thai Score: Student Receives Asian Grant Senior Doc Billingsley was awarded a Freeman Foundation-Asia scholarship to conduct research in Thailand for his honors project in anthropology, and his journey into the heart of that nation was posted online in a detailed, engaging, and colorful travelogue. Billingsley, a native of Senatobia, spent the summer at the University of WisconsinMadison studying the Thai language and spent the fall semester in Chiang Mai, Thailand, with the UW-Madison Thailand program. His honors project is entitled “Culture, Policies, and Population Trends

in Thailand: An Anthropological Case Study.” He worked with professors at Chiang Mai University, as well as several nongovernmental organizations. The primary goal of the Freeman-ASIA Award Program is to increase the number of American undergraduates who study in East and Southeast Asia by providing students with information and ﬁnancial assistance. Awardees are expected to share their experiences with their home campus to encourage study abroad by others and to spread understanding of Asia in their home communities. Billingsley was awarded $5,000 and to complete the service requirement set up a weekly online travel journal for high school

students. The site, www.savethisworld.net, is full of factual information about his studies, as well as whimsical photography and anecdotal material about life in the Far East. For instance, Billingley’s Nov. 4 entry in “Doc’s Thailand Travel Journal” details his fieldwork in family-planning research. “Nowadays, contraception use and low fertility are the norm rather than the exception,” he writes. So the Planned Parenthood Association of Thailand “spends most of its resources combating HIV/AIDS and administrating various rural development projects.” “Supporting Doc is easy to do,” said Dr. Michael Galaty, associate professor of anthropology. “He is a great student who works hard and has good ideas that he follows up on. The plan to study in Thailand and do an honors project was his originally, and we have done what we can to help that plan become reality.” Over the course of his four years, Billingsley will have done field research in Virginia, Hungary, Mexico, and now Thailand. He has given readings at the Society for American Archaeology, and published with Galaty, one of his mentors. The paper Billingsley presented at the Southern Sociological Association won the best student paper award from the association and is soon to be published. “Doc is an excellent student who has shown his abilities both in the classroom and in various field settings,” said Dr. Julian Murchison, assistant professor of anthropology and sociology. “I know that he has gained a great deal personally and intellectually as the result of his experiences.” —J. Y., J. W.

i n t h e

s p otli ght

From left, Eleanore Kelly, Ellen Beilmann, Nicole Christopher, and Brad Corban, theological fellowship recipients.

The Fellowship Of the Cross Students Ellen Beilmann of Hattiesburg, Brad Corban of Tupelo, and Eleanore Kelly of Memphis, along with Nicole Christopher, B.A. 2004, of Pensacola, have received fellowships from the Fund for Theological Education, an Atlanta-based organization that provides support and guidance to students who wish to consider the ministry as a possible career. Beilmann (United Methodist), Corban (United Methodist), and Kelly (Episcopal) received undergraduate fellowships, and Christopher (United Methodist) received a ministry fellowship to attend the Candler School of Theology at Duke University. These fellowships were awarded through the Fund’s Partnership for Excellence program, which is aimed at “identifying, inspiring, and supporting persons of excellent gifts and diverse backgrounds for careers in the church and related institutions.” Fellows receive a stipend and will attend an Excellence in Ministry conference in California this summer, where they can meet top theologians and religious leaders and reﬂect upon vocation with students from throughout the country. All three undergraduate students have been

winter 2004–05

in t he

s p otl ig ht

involved in the CALLS (Considering a Life of Leadership and Service) program of the Millsaps College Faith & Work Initiative, which has offered these students resources and support for their exploration of a life of religious or theological leadership. “CALLS provided me with a network of students with whom I am able to discuss discernment from a common perspective,” Beilmann said. “It encouraged an environment of insightful and meaningful conversation in a group that is completely unique at Millsaps.” Begun in 1954 with the goal of supporting excellence in the profession of ministry and supported by individuals and grants from a group of U.S. foundations, the Fund for Theological Education has provided students with nearly 5,000 fellowships and has generated new programs for theological and ministerial support. —J.Y.

Millsaps on the Rise In Media Rankings Millsaps College has risen to 89th from 91st among the 217 national liberal arts colleges in U.S.News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges. The U.S.News & World Report ranking system relies on data gathered from each college on up to 15 weighted indicators of academic excellence. The colleges in each category are ranked against their peers. In addition to the U.S.News & World

Report announcement, Princeton Review’s recently released Best 357 Colleges of 2005 ranks Millsaps College third in the category of “best bargains” and 14th in the academic category of “class discussions encouraged.” The Princeton Review annually surveys more than 106,000 students who rate their respective colleges for the publication. Millsaps has also been featured in Colleges of Distinction, a new college guide and website proﬁling some of the nation’s strongest institutions of higher education. Based on the opinions of guidance counselors, educators, and admissions professionals, Colleges of Distinction honors colleges that excel in key areas of educational quality. “Millsaps is a remarkable institution with amazing faculty and students,” said Ann Hendrick, dean of admissions and ﬁnancial aid. “While we know what makes us nationally competitive and regionally distinctive, it’s always great to be recognized by national college guides. This third-party endorsement attracts student scholars and encourages them to learn more about Millsaps.” Millsaps College was also recognized in an article entitled “Who Needs Harvard?” in the October 2004 issue of Atlantic Monthly. Contributing editor

Gregg Easterbrook writes that while this year only 16 of the 32 American Rhodes Scholars hailed from elite colleges, “the others attended Hobart, Millsaps, Morehouse, St. Olaf, the University of the South, Utah State, and Wake Forest, among other nonelites.’’ “For his 1990 book, Looking Beyond the Ivy League, Loren Pope scanned Who’s Who entries of the 1980s, compiling ﬁgures on undergraduate degrees,’’ Easterbrook writes. “Pope found that Bowdoin, Denison, Franklin & Marshall, Millsaps, and the University of the South were better at producing Who’s Who entrants than Georgetown or the University of Virginia . . .” Millsaps is also cited as one of Pope’s 40 Colleges That Change Lives and is the only Mississippi institution featured in the Fiske Guide to Colleges. —J.Y., J.W.

United We Stand: College Wins Charity Challenge Millsaps College received the College/ University Challenge Trophy from the United Way of the Capital Area at its annual meeting in June. The College/University Challenge was a competition for the largest percentage of employee participation in the campaign.

PACIFIC OVERTURES A fashion show of kimonos from the Cultural Foundation for Promoting the National Costume of Japan was held on the Homecoming 2004 weekend, featuring performances of Japanese folk songs by the Millsaps Singers. The presentation was a product of cooperation between the foundation, Nissan North America in Canton, the Japan Association of Mississippi, the Japan-American Society of Mississippi, and Millsaps College. Every year, the foundation, based at the Hakubi Kyoto Kimono Schools in Tokyo, chooses one American city to host the exhibition. This year, the foundation made an exception and visited both Jackson and New Orleans. Japanese models demonstrated 31 kimonos, ranging from the yukata (a casual summer kimono) to the formal suikan (the ceremonial kimono worn by samurai in ancient times).

millsaps magazine

—Julie Whitehead

The participants, who collectively increased pledges by almost 62 percent, were Belhaven College, Jackson Sate University, Millsaps College, Hinds Community College, Mississippi College, and Tougaloo College. Maintenance was the first department with 100 percent participation in the drive, which spurred several other departments to obtain total participation. The names of departments and individual contributors were placed on a “Tree of Compassion” in the A. Boyd Campbell College Center, where the trophy is displayed. “We congratulate Millsaps for winning our College Challenge,” said Carol Burger, president and chief executive officer of the United Way of the Capital Area. “Their participation helped to make the competition a success. They should be proud of their efforts to help make an impact on our community’s needs.” In addition, Quint Withers, a Millsaps student, won the Youth Volunteer Award. Withers joined the Youth United Way Student Volunteer Program in February 2002 as a member of the Youth Donor Investment Committee. He assisted other high school and college students in making funding decisions for youth programs in Hinds, Madison, and Rankin counties to address teen pregnancy, alcohol and drug abuse, violence, and reading proficiency among teens. —J.Y.

Commencement 2004 A Matter of Degrees The 2004 Commencement ceremonies were distinguished by the presentation of the ﬁrst Don Fortenberry Award for scholarship and service, ideals that Millsaps goes out of its way to integrate and promote on campus. “For more than 30 years, your unconditional involvement in student lives and campus life has literally reshaped our students’ experiences,” Dr. Frances Lucas, president of the College, told Fortenberry.

i n t h e

s p otli ght

“It is no surprise that one of my chaplain colleagues refers to you as the best college chaplain in these United States. You are a precious treasure to our College and we publicly proclaim our affection with the annual award that bears your name.” The award went to Julia Mitchell of Magnolia. Her classmate Kenneth Townsend, himself a Rhodes Scholar now studying at Oxford University, wrote in his nomination: “What is most remarkable about Julia is the way she has served without the expectation of recognition. Julia serves and leads with a spirit of selflessness.” The Honorable John Palmer, U.S. Myrlie Evers-Williams receiving her honorary degree. ambassador to Portugal, served as the keynote speaker. A pioneering business executive in answering and paging Mississippi School of Medicine, and Myrlie services, and radiotelephone and wireless Evers-Williams, widow of the assassinated technologies, Palmer has set a standard civil rights leader Medgar Evers, who equaled by few for creative thinking, worked with her husband to organize innovative technology, and successful voter registration drives in the 1960s. management and marketing. Palmer served Also presented with an honorary on the first President George Bush’s Export degree, at a later date, was Hugh Landrum Council and as an adviser to the Office Jr., a business pioneer and community of the U.S. Trade Representative. leader in Columbus, Georgia. Landrum’s He has also served as chairman and health prevented him from attending president of Mobile Communications commencement. Corp. and was the founder and chairman The Founders’ Medal was shared of SkyTel. In 1994, Palmer established by Brian Houston of Grand Junction, the Jonathan M. Sweat Music Endowment Tennessee, who entered medical school at at Millsaps, and the Millsaps Emory University in Atlanta, Bell Concert Series of piano and Townsend, a native of performances was established Phi Beta Kappa Kosciusko pursuing graduate last year in the memory of his studies at Oxford in political Lauren Elizabeth Brian grandmother, Mrs. J. Y. Bell. philosophy. Sonya Rochelle Brown The Rev. Kenneth Carder, Jeffrey Bryan Cole The Frank and Rachel Anne Joye Caroline Cox formerly the bishop of the Laney Award went to Ashley Jay Oliver Craddock Mississippi Conference of the Nichols of McComb, who was Margaret Anne Dykes United Methodist Church and chosen for her essay reflecting Jared Wayne Eastlack an author who has lived out on the value of a Millsaps Erin Elizabeth Gourlay his vision for peace, racial Peter Whittlesey Gray education, “A Second Hand Akanksha Gupta reconciliation, and ministry, Account.’’ Jason Daniel Hatt delivered the baccalaureate Dr. Suzanne Marrs, Brian Allan Houston address. professor of English and Jerry Michael Landry In addition to Palmer and noted Eudora Welty scholar, Matthew Jonathan Luter Carder, honorary degrees went Julia Lane Mitchell was the recipient of the 2004 Ashley Norwood Nichols to Dr. Wallace Conerly, a 1957 Distinguished Professor Award William Michael Pickard alumnus who has served as for teaching and scholarship. Elizabeth Lene Santiago dean of the University of Natalie Nicole Smith Gloria Beth Surber Kenneth Lane Townsend Randi Kay Young

winter 2004–05

OnCampus Entrances and Exits On Behalf of Goss Theatre Endowment All the world was the Christian Center stage for Lance Goss, the longtime Millsaps director, and the Players’ production in August of The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) helped raise money for an endowment honoring Goss, whose productions packed the Christian Center Auditorium for decades. Tiered sponsorships were tailored to the farce, a slapstick and irreverent foray into the works of the world’s most famous playwright. “We came up with whimsical names for the giving levels, like the SpeareShakers, the Stratford Strutters, and the Globe Groupies, and though the names are whimsical because the show itself is wacky,

we are serious about sponsorship,” said James Anderson, who directed Shakespeare. Anderson, no stranger himself to the Millsaps stage, said the campaign also served to reach out to the community of former Players, among whom are Ward Emling, the director of the Mississippi Film Office, and the writer Kevin Sessums, whose celebrity profiles are often featured in Vanity Fair. Former Players have gone on to Broadway, television, and film work. “First and foremost we were honoring the memory of Lance Goss, and his contributions to the College and to the theatre department, but a secondary goal was that of renewing an interest in the Players, not only in the community at large but with the considerable community of former Players.” Brenda Ware Jones of Jackson, B.A. 1982, remembers her own experiences working with Goss, who passed away in 2001. “Lance Goss rarely raised his voice and never dictated how a character should be played by an actor,” Jones said. “He would sit in that chair of his, rocking, rocking, rocking, many yards away from the stage. After a run-through of a scene, the performer would peer out into the darkness and know instantly whether Lance was pleased or not. Pursed lips, a tense posture, and the stilled rocking chair meant: ‘Let’s try that again another way.’ Vigorous rocking and a beatific smile on his face meant, ‘Yes! I like that!’” The Lance Goss Endowment for the Theatre was established in 1992 with gifts from former students and friends. The endowment enables students to work and study under guest artists, provides opportunities for master

“He would sit in that chair of his, rocking, rocking, rocking, many yards away from the stage. After a run-through of a scene, the performer would peer out into the darkness and know instantly whether Lance was pleased or not.” classes, allows the entire community to enjoy renowned guest lecturers, supports the College’s interdisciplinary curriculum, and provides a forum for partnerships with Millsaps College and the Jackson community. Former Players who remember Goss “and his gentle but exacting professionalism owe it to themselves to come and see the truly wonderful theatre being done at Millsaps,” Jones said. “Lance himself would be proud, and we all can be proud of the ﬁne shows being mounted these days. Let’s all—as former Players—make sure that his rocking chair never pauses up in the heavens.” “We want former Players to redirect energy back to the current generation of Players,” said Anderson, adding that a letter was sent to veteran Players offering sponsorship opportunities. “We want to hear from them, and we want them to become involved in the sponsorships and become part of a support team for the Players.” The Players presented Jean Anoulih’s Antigone in October, produced by senior Mike Padilla. Originally produced in Paris during the Occupation in 1942, the play explores the consequences of resistance to an authoritarian regime. The production was modernized “to show that the themes are still relevant,” said Padilla, a theatre major.

The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged).

millsaps magazine

In late October, senior Celeste Collins of Pinola directed the Players in Nice People Dancing to Good Country Music, a comic journey into the heart of America. Collins said she loved the script at ﬁrst sight. “I read it once and said ‘Okay, that’s my project.’ ” In November, the Players presented The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, a play in two acts based on the life of Henry David Thoreau. The play, by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee, is a dramatic representation of Thoreau’s refusal to pay taxes to protest the U.S. government’s involvement in the Mexican War, which landed him in prison. According to Anne Sullivan, guest director, the play was timely material: “When Lawrence and Lee wrote this play, they wrote it as a protest of the Vietnam War. They decided, while they were writing in that mode, that they were going to protest what they saw as a very monopolistic approach to theatre, which was Broadway. They had had two big hits on Broadway already, so they decided that they wanted college and community theatres to be the lifeblood of this show.” —J.W., J.Y.

Mixed Media: Art And Anthropology Kobay (2004), by Gretchen Beck, in charcoal, graphite, and India ink. Beck, associate professor of art and director of the art department at Concordia University in Irvine, California, exhibited her works in November and December at the Lewis Art Gallery. Her art involves the study and depiction of different aspects of the Nigerien landscape, the Djarma and Fulani cultures, and the art forms they create.

The Martinu Collegium Praga rehearsing in the Ford Academic Complex Recital Hall for their Bell Concert Series performance.

Bell Series Surveys History of the Keys Millsaps College opened the second season of its acclaimed Bell Concert Series with a selection of programs celebrating “The Power of the Keyboard.” The Grammy winner Lambert Orkis presented the program “From Hammers to Bytes,” which began with pieces played on the early fortepiano and concluded with the SonataFantasia (2001), by James Primosch. The performance combined the power of the modern Steinway with the Kurzweil synthesizer to show the breadth of artistic expression on the keyboard as it has evolved over the centuries. In late October, the Martinu Collegium Praga, an exciting piano, violin, and cello trio that has performed throughout Europe, celebrated the centennial of the death of Antonin Dvo˘rák with a performance of works by Dvo˘rák, Martinu, and Piazzolla. “I especially enjoyed the Astor Piazzolla tango nuevo Four Seasons,” said George Sanders of Jackson, a Bell subscriber. “It is the most romantic piece of music I’ve heard lately. The Bell Series is an amazing opportunity. For $20 you can hear worldclass artists in an intimate setting.” The Bell Series brought to campus the Singular Talent-Spectacular Workshop in January, featuring the award-winning jazz composer and pianist Orrin Evans, described by the NewYork Times as “one of the best developments in jazz in the late ’90s.” In addition to an evening of

jazz piano, Evans held a jazz workshop with Jackson area collegiate and high school faculty and students. A recital by the winner of the Wideman Piano Competition, Kostyantyn Platonovich Travinskyy, was on the calendar for February. The Wideman competition, conducted under the auspices of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, draws young people from the United States and around the world. Winners are recognized as some of the world’s most outstanding piano talent. The pianist Constance Carroll, a name familiar to Jackson music lovers, will perform on Friday, March 11. Carroll, who has won national acclaim as both a solo recitalist and a chamber musician, has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a piano artist-inresidence at Centenary College in Louisiana and a professor at Louisiana State University. The day after she entertains with her keyboard artistry, Carroll will present a master class on piano pedagogy to teachers and students. The Bell Concert Series is an eclectic performing arts series featuring a sweeping variety of piano performances. Presented in memory of Mrs. J. Y. Bell, the performances are complemented by educational programs including presentations in public schools, preconcert lectures, and master classes for advanced students. —J.Y., J.W.

winter 2004–05

i n

t h e

s p o t l i g h t

FacultyStaff & of the College. “She is also an excellent scholar. She is the author of two books, and many articles and conference papers. And ﬁnally, she is a highly respected leader among the faculty, thoroughly dedicated to making Millsaps College a better place for the entire Millsaps community. Not surprisingly, Dr. Smith is a past winner of the College’s Distinguished Professor Award, the highest award that the College bestows on a faculty member.” Smith’s most recent book, Evelyn

Pickering De Morgan and the Allegorical Body (Fairleigh Dickinson University

Für Elise: Smith Wins Humanities Award Dr. Elise Smith was named the Mississippi Humanities Council Teacher of the Year for 2004 and presented a lecture entitled “Knots, Boils, and Cankers: The Pollarded Oak in English Art” at an October program in her honor. Smith, chair of the Department of Art, is a specialist in 18th and 19th century British art. Smith is focusing on 19th-century Victorian painting, and her primary scholarly focus since 1995 has been the late Victorian English artist Evelyn Pickering De Morgan. “Dr. Elise Smith is a superb teacher, beloved by her students and valued as a mentor and a role model,” said Richard A. Smith, senior vice president and dean

Press, 2002), analyzes the Pre-Raphaelite artist. De Morgan “represented women as members of a constraining civilization, who exhibit at times a sort of drooping resignation,” but in some works “the women are powerful natural elements, actively in control of their destinies,” she says. “During my years at Millsaps I’ve grown more and more interested in issues related to women artists, whom I never heard about at all as an undergraduate or even a graduate student.” Smith, also the author of The Paintings of Lucas van Leyden (University of Missouri Press, 1992), is currently working on a book with her friend Judy Page, whose specialty is British Romantic poetry and who teaches at the University of Florida. “We’re exploring the role of women in the domestication of the English landscape, c.1750–1850, looking at a wide range of texts by women: instructional manuals in gardening, drawing, and watercolor, treatises on botany, children’s books, moral tales, popular poetry, novels, and gardenrelated illustrations, among others.” Smith has penned articles for The Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies, Woman’s Art Journal, Victorian Literature and Culture, The Dictionary of Art, Dutch Art: An Encyclopedia, Southern Quarterly, and

“During my years at Millsaps I’ve grown more and more interested in issues related to women artists.” 12

millsaps magazine

Art History. She also wrote the catalogue essay for the Mississippi Museum of Art’s 1994 exhibition “The Turbulent Years: Selections from the Tougaloo Collection.” She belongs to the College Art Association, Association of Historians of 19th-Century Art, Historians of British Art, Nineteenth Century Studies Association, and Women’s Caucus for Art. She is also on the board of directors for the Southeastern College Art Conference. —J.Y., J.W.

“The Mississippi Chorus is thrilled to have Dr. Coker as our new director. His interpretation of the music has brought a fresh perspective and created a new energy.”

perspective and created a new energy.” Coker has a family history with Millsaps: He has taught at the College since 1984, his children attended, and his wife, Cheryl, teaches voice. As a conductor, he directs the Singers and Chamber Singers and takes them on national and international tours. He says taking over the Mississippi Chorus gives him added mental stimulation. Dr. Timothy Coker, professor of music, “Taking another group that had worked chair of the Department of Performing Arts, under another person for a long time and and director of choral activities at Millsaps, then beginning to get them to think the has assumed the role of artistic director of way you’re thinking is a challenge once the Mississippi Chorus for the 2004–05 again,” he said. season. As interim director, he succeeds The chorus is presenting Orff’s Martin Bittick, who founded the chorus Carmina Burana in April, marking the and stepped down after 15 years because ﬁrst time Coker will conduct the full of personal and family obligations. orchestral version. Bittick has known Coker for many A pivotal moment in Coker’s life years and called him several weeks before came during Easter of his junior year in the season started, asking if he would take high school. Jane Marshall’s Fanfare for the position. “A lot of time and energy Easter was performed at Jackson’s Christ had gone into making it one of the major United Methodist Church. Coker was a arts groups in Mississippi,” Bittick said. “The last thing I wanted to see happen to it was for it to diminish in size or quality. In my opinion, it needed someone special to continue to build on what we had already built. Tim is one of the best choral musicians in central Mississippi.” Coker is complimentary of the ensemble he will be guiding. “That was Martin’s baby,” he said. “It’s grown into a really good, very effective organization under his leadership. I’ve been very impressed with the commitment the people have with it.” They, in turn, are impressed with him. “The chorus is thrilled to have Dr. Coker as our new director,” said Sherry Boyd, president of the chorus. “His interpretation of the music has brought a fresh

Passing the Baton To Conductor Coker

pianist at the church and, on the Saturday afternoon before Easter, he learned that the minister—who conducted the choir— had pneumonia. As it happens, Coker had been practicing conducting the piece in his spare time. “I was ready, emotionally and musically, to get up there and make the effort to do that. From that point on I was hooked,” he said. His mother began the church youth choir, and he took over as a senior in high school. He conducted the youth choir for two years while attending Belhaven College. When he transferred to the University of Southern Mississippi, he studied with David Foltz, choral director and chair of the music department. After graduating from USM, Coker went to Seminary at Emory University, but returned to USM for his master’s degree in choral conducting. He was the ﬁrst person in that master’s program. Coker has also been named vice president for development and chairman-elect of the board of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. “He is invaluable to MSO in the variety of gifts and energy he brings to its work,” said Michael Beattie, president and executive director of the symphony. “He also brings a musical perspective that is highly valuable. His insights and willingness to work tirelessly for the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra is crucial to keeping it the cornerstone of the arts in this community.” —Greg Waxberg, music director, Mississippi Public Broadcasting Radio

winter 2004–05

in t he

s p otl ig ht

f a c u l t y & s t a f f

Miller’s Crossing: A Grant to Write Poetry in France Dr. Greg Miller, a professor of English at Millsaps, was awarded a grant from the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France, to work on his current creative project. There, over the spring semester of 2005, Miller will continue work on his series of poems about the interactions between young refugees from the Sudan and different communities within the Deep South. The trip will be a five-month-long sabbatical from his teaching duties within the English department. Miller’s poetic series also considers deeper connections between the war in Sudan and violence around the world, says the Camargo Foundation newsletter. It includes reflections on the violence of 9/11, as the poet meditates on different forms of electronic communications with friends in New York during the crisis. The finished series of poems will be book-length. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to work for an extended amount of time in a community with other artists, filmmakers, and poets,” says the new Camargo Fellow. “Art colonies open up new creative possibilities I couldn’t have foreseen without talking to other artists.” The Camargo Foundation is dedicated to providing a residential study center in southern France for the benefit of fellows who wish to pursue projects in the humanities and social sciences. It is primarily to facilitate those who are well into the writing/making phases of their projects as opposed to initial research. The foundation offers its fellows a furnished apartment, as well as access to a reference library, darkroom, music-conference room, reading room and artists’ and music

millsaps magazine

composition studios. The residential fellowship is accompanied by a $3,500 stipend, which was awarded automatically to Miller as a recipient of the grant. Miller was engaged in similar work a decade ago at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Likewise, his time spent at Cassis with the Camargo Foundation will build upon a previous extended trip to France during Miller’s undergraduate studies at l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne. —Chris Spear

Award Recognizes Language Professor Dr. Robert Kahn, associate professor of romance languages, received the Distinguished Service Award from the Mississippi Foreign Language Association at its annual conference in November. The association encourages active interest and research in languages other than English, as well as the study and teaching of those languages in schools, colleges, and universities in Mississippi. “Throughout my entire career I have always wanted to promote the study of foreign languages and cultures,” Kahn said. “I ﬁrmly believe that to create understanding and peace in the world, there must be communication, respect, and acceptance of differences. Since so many of my colleagues in MFLA have also demonstrated such a belief over the years, I feel truly honored

“I ﬁrmly believe that to create understanding and peace in the world, there must be communication, respect, and acceptance of differences.”

that they share my ideals and respect my work so as to give me this award.” First given in 1995, the award recognizes excellence in foreign language teaching, active participation in the association, evidence of leadership and promotion of foreign language teaching and learning, and professional involvement in one or more foreign language organizations other than the MFLA. Another Millsaps professor, Gail Buzhardt, received the award in 1999. Kahn was nominated by Dr. Robert Quinn, former modern languages chair, and was selected because of his dedicated service to the association. Kahn has served as president of the entire association, as well as president of the college section, has presented numerous papers, and has been a member for almost 30 years. “Dr. Kahn has attended every conference for the past 30 years and his contributions to the association are incalculable,” said Vernon LaCour, executive director of the association. —J.Y.

A New Director For Alumni Relations John Conway, previously director of annual giving at Millsaps, has assumed the role of director of alumni relations. “John has been with Millsaps for six years now, and along with his knowledge of and love for the College, he brings great energy, interest and skill to the position,” said Dr. Charles Lewis, vice president for institutional advancement. “My most pressing mandate to John is to get alumni chapters up and running in each of the cities targeted by the Alumni Association,” Lewis said. “This comes as the Alumni Council makes its transition toward a more active Alumni Association.” Conway was hired in March 1998 as associate director of annual giving, and

i n t h e

s p otli ght

f a c u l t y & s t a f f

“The Ofﬁce of Alumni Relations wants to serve every alumna and alumnus, and we want alums to remain an active part of the Millsaps family long after graduation. “ in July 2001 was promoted to director of that department. Before coming to Millsaps, Conway worked as an advertising and public relations writer at Peavey Electronics. “It’s been great to get the chance to work more directly with Millsaps alumni,” Conway said. “The Ofﬁce of Alumni Relations wants to serve every alumna and alumnus, and we want alums to remain an active part of the Millsaps family long after graduation. With Tanya Newkirk, Luran Buchanan, and Trenee Palmer, I have a great staff to work with, and we look forward to doing all we can to keep Millsaps alumni involved and connected with the College.” A Jackson native, Conway received his B.A. in communication with an emphasis in public relations from Mississippi State University in 1989. He taught freshman composition at MSU while working toward a master’s degree in English. —J.W.

Griffin Appointed To Stewart Chair Dr. Eric Griffin, associate professor of English, has been appointed to the E. B. Stewart Family Professorship in Language and Literature. The Stewart Professorship is awarded on a competitive basis for a two-year term to support the scholarly work of a faculty member teaching language and literature. It carries a reduced teaching load, a summer stipend, and a research and travel fund. Dr. Ted Ammon currently holds the professorship. In past years, Dr. Judith Page, Dr. Greg Miller, and Dr. Suzanne Marrs have also held the position. Griffin earned a bachelor of arts from Pomona College (cum laude with distinction in English literature and creative writing), and an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the

University of Iowa. His doctoral dissertation, “The Temper of Spain: The Forging of Anti-Hispanic Sentiment in Early Modern England, 1492–1604,” won the D. C. Spriestersbach Prize for Excellence in the Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of Iowa and was a finalist in the Council of Graduate Schools/University Microfilms International Dissertation Competition. “Since coming to Millsaps in 1998, Dr. Griffin has established himself as an excellent teacher and scholar,” said Richard A. Smith, senior vice president and dean of the College. “He is widely respected as a caring, yet demanding teacher who consistently challenges his students. His courses are uniformly well received by students, whether he is teaching Shakespeare or British literary history. His students especially appreciate his quiet, relaxed style and his willingness to engage in thoughtful discussions both inside and outside of class.” Griffin is an active scholar, with six published articles and book chapters, two book reviews, a book manuscript entitled “Ethno-poetics and Empire,” and numerous conference papers and presentations. He received a prestigious National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Research Grant in 2000 and won the Outstanding Young Faculty Award in 2001. Griffin plans to work on a new book project about the reception of a single play, The Spanish Tragedy, which was written by Thomas Kyd, one of Shakespeare’s most important precursors. This play appears to have been the most popular play of the English Renaissance. Griffin’s book, tentatively titled The Spanish Tragedy in Its Contexts, will seek to explain the play’s popularity across more than 80 years of stage history, and especially its connections to changing currents of Anglo-Spanish religio-political relations. —J.Y.

Tegtmeier Oertel Honored With Young Faculty Award Dr. Kristen Tegtmeier Oertel, assistant professor of history, is the 2004 recipient of the Outstanding Young Faculty Award. She will receive a one-semester release from teaching and $1,000 to support her scholarly activities. Tegtmeier Oertel earned a B.A. from Cornell College (magna cum laude), an M.A. in history from the State University of New York, Binghamton, and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Texas at Austin. “She is seen by her students as a provocative, caring teacher who engages them with her passion and love of history and her Socratic style,” said Richard A. Smith, senior vice president and dean of the College. “She also challenges her students to be politically aware and active and models for them ways to engage in the political process.” She is an active scholar and the author of two articles (one of which won an award for excellence in writing), two book chapters, a book manuscript that is currently under review at the New York University Press, and several conference papers and presentations. Tegtmeier Oertel plans to use her release time to research a biography on Clarina Howard Nichols, an abolitionist and suffragette who played an integral role in progressive movements of the mid-19th century. Oertel plans to collaborate with another historian in writing this book and will use her release time and award stipend to meet with her co-author in Vermont and to conduct research at Harvard and in California.

winter 2004–05

c a m p u s

c o m m u n i t y

FacultyStaff & Arts and Letters Gail Buzhardt (modern languages) was

named a member of the editorial board of the French division of the Rich Electronic Archive for Language Instruction Anywhere. REALIA is a web-based collection created by several consortia, including the Associated Colleges of the South. Cheryl Coker (performing ar ts) was invited

to perform during the Regional National Association of Teachers of Singing Conference in Louisiana. Along with Lester Senter Wilson, a professional opera singer, she presented two duets written for them by Judith Lang Zaimont. Richard Freis (classical studies) presented a paper entitled “Future Literacy and the Integral Vision” as part of a panel on “Developmentalism: What Are the Key Factors in Conscious Evolution?” at the August 2004 annual conference of the World Future Society in Washington, D.C. Reﬂecting his interest in integral studies, Freis is a founding member of the executive circle of the Integral Education Center at Integral University, which will have a presence both as a virtual community and as a part of Indiana University in Pennsylvania. He is also one of eight members of the Peer Learning Group, The Anamcara Circle, who have received a Lilly Endowment-funded grant from the Pastoral Excellence Project administered by the Millsaps Center for Ministry. Paula Garrett (writing center) has recently published an article, “An ‘Unprotected’ Pilgrim; or, a New Woman in the Old World: Grace Greenwood’s SelfSexualization in the Popular Press,” in Women’sWriting. Another article, “A Splinter Off the ‘Sound Ol’ Theological Block’: Grace Greenwood’s Humorous Revision of the American Jeremiad,” has been accepted for publication in Studies in American Humor for 2004–05.

millsaps magazine

Garrett, along with Eric Grifﬁn (English) and Kathi Grifﬁn (writing center), served on a panel entitled “Collaborating Across the Curriculum: Interdisciplinary Conversations About Teaching Writing” at the National Council of Teachers of English annual meeting in San Francisco.

contemporary cinema at the South Central Modern Language Association, in New Orleans in October 2004.

Kristen Tegtmeier Oertel (history) published an article in the special sesquicentennial issue of the journal Kansas History entitled “From Brown to Brown: A Century of Eric Griffin also presented papers commem- Struggle for Equality in Kansas.” The article orating the 400th anniversary of William was co-authored with the historian Rusty Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello (c.1604) Monholland of Hood College (Maryland) at the annual Sixteenth Century Studies and charts the struggle for racial equality Conference in Pittsburgh and the 50th waged by African Americans in Kansas anniversary meeting of the Renaissance and throughout the nation between 1854 Society of America in New York. (John Brown) and 1954 (Brown v. Board of Education). Rachel Heard (performing ar ts) was recently featured in a solo recital for the Mississippi Darby Ray (religious studies) contributed Academy of Ancient Music. This marked to a new book, Constructive Theology: A her debut with this prestigious early Contemporary Approach to Classical Themes, music society. Heard is a specialist on the published by Fortress Press in November. 18th-century Viennese fortepiano, which The book is the product of a five-year is a predecessor to the modern piano. collaborative process among 50 of North She is also in the final stages of production America’s top teaching theologians. of a new CD featuring the works of Franz Joseph Haydn on fortepiano to be released in the coming year.

Else School

Patrick Hopkins (philosophy) presented two papers on technology and religion in the fall, one entitled “Transcending the Animal: How Transhumanism and Religion Are and Are Not Alike,” for the Symposium on Faith, Transhumanism, and Hope at the University of Toronto in August. The other, entitled “The Miracle of Technology/The Technology of Miracles,” was presented at the Humanities and Technology Association Annual Meeting, at York College in York, Pa., in October. He also guest edited a special issue of Calliope, a national children’s educational magazine. Robert McElvaine (history) has been selected for the 59th edition of Who’s Who in America. McElvaine is proﬁled in the 2005 edition of the Marquis publication, which was released in November. Holly Sypniewski (classical studies) gave a paper on uses of Plato’s Symposium in

Ajay Aggarwal (management) received the

Distinguished Service Award from the southeastern chapter of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences at its annual meeting in Myrtle Beach in October. He has previously served as president, vice president, secretary/ treasurer, and program chair for the organization. Diane Baker (management) and Connie Campbell (mathematics) collaborated on

two papers that have been accepted for publication. “Fostering the Development of Mathematical Thinking: Observations From a Proofs Course” is coming out in the journal Problems, Resources and Issues in Undergraduate Mathematics Studies. A second paper, “When Is There Strength in Numbers? A Study of Undergraduate Task Groups,” will be published this year in College Teaching.

Blakely Fox Fender (economics) and Carl Brooking (economics) published an article

in the Justice System Journal entitled “A Proﬁle of Indigent Defense and Presentencing Jail Time in Mississippi.” A paper by Fender, Susan Washburn Taylor (economics), and Kimberly Gladden Burke (accounting) is forthcoming in the Atlantic Economic Journal. The paper, “Making the Big Leagues: Factors Contributing to Publication in Elite Economics Journals,” examines the impact of teaching and research on publication in economics journals. Last spring, Walter Neely (ﬁnance) presented “Using Boards of Advisors of Student-Managed Funds” at the Financial Education Association conference in Mystic, Conn. Also, his article “A Survey of Student Managed Funds” was published in Advances in Financial Education. Kevin Pauli (MIS) and Tammy Arthur (formerly MIS) presented a paper, “In

the Eye of the Beholder: Moral Disengagement and Ethical Decision-Making Among Information Systems Professionals,” at the Ethicomp International Conference on the Social and Ethical Impacts of Information and Communication Technologies in Syros, Greece.

Science Kamilla Bahbahani (education) gave two presentations at the annual Association for Constructivist Teaching Conference in St. Louis in October. She participated in a research panel where she discussed her doctoral work on effective teacher practice and co-facilitated a workshop on teacher action research. Michael Galaty (sociology-anthropology)

has published an edited volume entitled Archaeology Under Dictatorship. It includes an introductory chapter written by Galaty and co-editor Charles Watkinson of the

The education department, following up on an initial contact with Connie Schimmel, chair of the department, has been collaborating with the Clarksdale Press Register to create literacy and math activities for Dick Highfill (biology), Debora Mann (biology), a weekly “Delta Kids” page in their newspaper. Students in Kamilla Bahbahani’s and biology major Ryan Day, 2005, pubEducation 3100 class are creating the lished an article, “Investigative Laboratory activities in support of literacy and learnon ‘Filling In’ by the Brain of the Blind ing in the Mississippi Delta. Spot of the Visual Field,” in Tested Studies for Laboratory Teaching. Mann also presented a paper entitled “Ecological Footprint as an Educational Tool for Investigating Carrying Capacity” at the 89th annual meeting of the Ecological Society of Brit Katz (student affairs) presented the keynote address at the 2004 Student America in Portland, Ore., in August 2004. Leadership Experience at Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge. His keynote was Christopher Lawrence (political science) titled “The Ten (New) Commandments” presented a paper entitled “Political and focused upon leadership qualities Sophistication and Conditional Strategic for the 21st century. Behavior in U.S. Presidential Elections” at the January 2005 Southern Political Science Patti Wade (communications) will help Association conference in New Orleans. Copiah-Lincoln Community College Lawrence’s Research Methods in strengthen and broaden its alumni netPolitical Science class conducted an exit work as vice president for the CLCC Alumni poll of the November 2004 presidential Association for 2004–05. Wade is a graduate election at five precincts in the city of of CLCC and earned her bachelor’s and Jackson, producing a valuable collection master’s degrees from the University of of primary data on the political attitudes and voting behavior of voters in Mississippi. Southern Mississippi. American School of Classical Studies at Athens and eight chapters written by international experts in the field of politics and archaeology.

Staff

A paper by Mark Lynch (mathematics) entitled “A New Characterization of Continuous Functions” has been accepted for publication in the International Journal

Jesse Yancy (communications) was appointed to the board of the College Public Relations Association of Mississippi in a meeting in Vicksburg in April. Yancy will represent the College in CPRAM’s annual meeting in Gulfport this spring.

Jimmie M. Purser (chemistry) will make a presentation entitled “Visualizing Scientific Data” at the March 2005 Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference in Phoenix. The presentation describes the use of information technologies to empower students and prospective teachers to visualize complex scientific datasets in a simple, concise manner. Such visualization of scientific data can provide an intuitive understanding of the phenomenon or data being studied.

John Webb (communications) adapted “The Bremen Town Musicians” by the Brothers Grimm for Peter Zapletal’s Puppet Arts Theatre. Webb’s play The Sound of Steel was chosen for production this spring by the Fondren Theatre Workshop.

of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology.

winter 2004–05

Athletics Harper Davis Field Is Dedicated to A ‘Millsaps Treasure’ Harper Davis, former head football coach and athletic director, was honored during Homecoming 2004 festivities in October with the renaming of Alumni Field in his honor. More than 300 of his former players and friends joined Davis, B.A. 1947, and former assistant coach Tommy Ranager on the field for the ceremony. Davis, a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, holds the record for the most wins in Millsaps football history and is also a member of the Mississippi State University Sports Hall of Fame. He is a 1989 inductee to the Millsaps Sports Hall of Fame. During the Captain’s Dinner, a Homecoming event for former players, a video entitled Harper Davis: A Millsaps Treasure was shown. According to Rick Cleveland, longtime sports columnist for the ClarionFormer Coach Harper Davis at the dedication. Ledger, naming the field for Davis was a particularly appropriate honor. “He fertilized it, watered it, mowed it, lined it, coached, and taught on it,” Cleveland wrote. “He and Tommy Ranager were a two-man coaching staff and grounds crew. And that was enough because Millsaps won 138 games and lost only 79 from 1964 until 1988, when Davis stepped down.” “It’s funny, we spent all that time keeping that grass just right and now they’ve got artificial turf,” Davis told Cleveland. “But I can’t tell you how honored I am. I have received a lot of awards and honors in life, but this is the highest honor I’ve ever received.”

Davis spent 25 seasons at the helm of the Majors that included an undefeated 9-0 season in 1980. Davis led the Majors to their ﬁrst NCAA Division III playoff appearance, a win against Colorado College, in 1975. Following an All-Southeastern Conference career as a defensive back at Mississippi State University, Davis was selected by the Chicago Bears in the ﬁrst round of the draft in 1950. Davis also played for the Green Bay Packers in 1951. A native of Clarksdale, Davis is in his 36th season of coaching, currently serving as an assistant football coach at Jackson Academy. —Brian Emory

Dessauer Smashes Records, Earning Regional Honors Senior Carly Dessauer can add two-time South/Southeast All-Regional runner to her lengthy résumé as a cross-country runner at Millsaps College. Dessauer placed 14th overall, up from her 24th place finish last season in the championship meet. She was named to the All-Regional Team for the second consecutive year. No other Millsaps runner has ever been named to the All-Region Team. But Dessauer set a school record in the process. She now holds the school record in both the 5K and 6K distances. Men’s and women’s soccer coaches Lee Johnson and Paul Van Hooydonk worked hard this off-season to recruit first year players ready for starting positions with the hope that they could carry the teams through a tough conference schedule. Just the opposite was true for Head Coach Jaime Burns and the volleyball team. The Lady Majors had experience and leadership that showed itself in the season results with a flip-flop (11–20/20–11) in their overall record from 2003 to 2004. (continued following insert)

millsaps magazine

(continued from page 18)

In Johnson’s second season leading the Majors, his young team showed the same style of aggressive play in 2004 that their coach was known for in his four years as a Major. A 1998 graduate, Johnson was named most valuable defensive player, as well as being named to the Southern Collegiate Athletics Conference all-conference ﬁrst team as a senior. Johnson, who took the women’s soccer team at Pearl High School to three consecutive state championship games, winning one in 2002, hopes that lessons learned the hard way will pay off in a big way for next year’s squad that will feature 5 seniors, 4 juniors, and 15 sophomores. Van Hooydonk spent two seasons as head coach of the men’s soccer program at Millsaps before taking over the reins of the women’s program in 2004. In one year of recruiting, Van Hooydonk brought in a nine-member freshman class that paid immediate dividends for the program. Notching wins against Division II Delta State University, LeTourneau University, and Louisiana College should prove to be a good start for the future of the women’s soccer program. The Millsaps Lady Majors (20-11,

10-8) volleyball team closed the 2004 season in the SCAC tournament hosted by Millsaps in November, by going 4-1. The biggest of those wins came over the Centre College Colonels in ﬁve games. —B.E.

These Players Aren’t Just Whistlin’ Dixie From Dixie State to a state in Dixie proved to be a good move for three football players who transferred from Dixie State College of Utah in St. George to Millsaps College. Their intention was not to come to Millsaps as a package deal, but Jay Buck, Joey Doxey, and J. J. Gilmore did exactly that. Buck, a 26-year-old lineman from Emmett, Idaho, found his football career sidelined after exhausting his eligibility for playing Division I college football. “I found out I couldn’t go to a Division I college around the time I returned from my twoyear mission (for the Mormon church) to Toronto,” said Buck, a 6-foot-6 315-pound offensive tackle for the Majors. “And about that same time I met Keith Majors,” the Millsaps running backs coach. Eager to carry on his football-playing career, Buck met with Majors on a recruiting trip during the summer of 2004, when

Sophomore left tackle Jay Buck, 77, opened holes on the offensive line for SCAC Offensive Player of the Year, Tyson Roy, 2. Buck, a left tackle, was named to the All-SCAC Offensive Second Team.

Majors visited Dixie State. Although he claims he would have come alone to Mississippi, Buck called his Dixie State teammate, Doxey, to see if he was interested in playing for the Division III Millsaps College team. Doxey, a 21-year-old defensive player, who red-shirted one season at the University of Utah and played one season at Dixie State, listened to the pitch from Majors and Buck and made the decision to attend Millsaps College. Doxey stepped right in as the starting free safety for Millsaps in 2004. The 6-foot-2 200-pound sophomore had 44 tackles including one interception and eight pass breakups. But Buck, the only one of the threesome to visit the Jackson campus, and Doxey weren’t finished with recruiting their friends. They made their pitch to Gilmore, 24, a 5-foot-10 190-pound running back/ cornerback who had given up on football after injuries had kept him off the field for more than a year. Gilmore, who grew up on a Navajo reservation in Arizona, jumped at the chance to continue his studies at Millsaps while taking extra time to heal after surgery. Gilmore plans to return to the reservation after graduation to be a football coach. As a 20-year-old, Gilmore spent his two-year mission working crops in the fields of Ghana, West Africa. “Yeah, some of the guys were wondering why we decided to come to Millsaps College and they would ask a lot of questions at first,” said Doxey. “But it’s not like that anymore. I think I can speak for all three of us when I say we feel a part of this team and we feel accepted by our teammates.” “Their statistics and the way they’ve played really speak for themselves,” said second-year Head Coach David Saunders. “But I think what really matters, with each of them, is the fact that they wanted to come to Millsaps College and receive a top-quality education.” —B.E.

winter 2004–05

i n

t h e

s p o t l i g h t

MajorNotes Major Perestroika: Council Restructured As Alumni Association Alumni representation at Millsaps has been restructured, with what was once a council of no more than 60 giving way to an association open and free to the more than 12,000 graduates of Millsaps. It is a move intended to empower the alumni body to better help themselves through networking, and better help the College through the creation of chapters around the country. The association, formed in 2003, came about partly because of a “collision of ideas that our Alumni Council didn’t always provide us an avenue to help the College very much,” said Ward Van Skiver, B.A. 1966, of Madison, president of the Alumni Association. “Basically we were a sounding board listening to reports from Alumni Relations about what was going on.” Five leadership teams had existed within the council. The first was designed to assist the College in recruitment of prospective students; the second, to encourage alumni giving; the third, to support the Millsaps faculty; the fourth, to strengthen career networking opportunities, and the fifth, to build “visibility,” or alumni engagement in the life of the College. “For a couple of years we worked toward the goals of each of those committees,” Van Skiver said. “But it became evident that we really needed a more widespread opportunity to reach out to people in the Washington, D.C., area, for instance, if we were having an admissions effort there. We looked at the structure of quite a number of alumni associations around the country and determined that the council structure didn’t allow us the format to be effectively involved.” The College identified the areas where it needed help and alumni wanted to know how they could help, said John Conway, director of alumni relations. “The Alumni Association bridges that gap,” Conway

millsaps magazine

said. “Our five leadership teams evolved into committees nationwide. We wanted to better reach our alumni and the association structure gives us the resources to do that.” The next step was to provide regional chapters, with 10 target cities in development, from New York and Washington, D.C., to New Orleans, Nashville, and Memphis, in addition to in-state chapters in Jackson, Tupelo, and the Gulf Coast. “We want more alumni, no matter where they live, to be involved in projects that benefit the school,” Conway said. “The game plan is to form chapters geographically dispersed that can actively work in these five committee areas.” Some committee work is already under way. Take admissions, for example. “We put together an alumni panel who addressed prospective students’ parents as part of Scholars Day, while the high school students were off visiting classes,” Conway said. “In career development, we’ve had alumni addressing graduating seniors on employment issues, graduate school, handling work and school, and studying for the LSAT.” “The Faculty Support Committee has been very active over the past several years,” added Tanya Newkirk, associate director of alumni relations. “Annual projects include welcome packages given to new professors each fall, attendance at on-campus lectures, and hands-on help with conferences and symposia organized by Millsaps faculty.” Conway said that the Alumni Association could be the catalyst for connections not only between alumni and the College, but also among alumni themselves. “What I visualize over the next three years is an alumni body aware of what’s happening on campus, aware of what’s happening with one another, and with what’s happening in the world via one another,” Conway said. “The association, and things like the online community and the eNewsletter, can help alumni stay in touch. Perhaps, because of reading the eNewsletter, and checking on mymillsaps. com, two alumni discuss an upcoming Arts & Lecture program and decide to meet for dinner at the Mayflower before

Holmes Is Tapped To Head Archives

the program. We’ve not only helped them stay connected to the College, but we have given them the opportunity to reconnect with each other.” Alumni chapters are forming across the country. To help get a chapter started in your city, or for more information about alumni chapters, contact the Ofﬁce of Alumni Relations at alumni@millsaps.edu or call 1-866-455-7277 or 601-974-1038. —J.W.

Graves Is Elected To State High Court James Graves, B.A. 1975, was elected to the Mississippi Supreme Court in November, a seat to which he was appointed by Governor Ronnie Musgrove in November 2001. He had previously served as a circuit court judge for 10 years. ”When I was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice, I promised the people of Mississippi that I would serve with honor, dignity, and integrity: honor because Mississippi deserves it; dignity because my family expects it, and integrity because God requires it,” Graves said. Giving back to the community is a part of every student’s legacy from Millsaps College, but for Graves it has become a part of everyday life. As a student, Graves became interested in social work. This eventually led to a career in law. “I saw law as an opportunity to effect change, make policy, and inﬂuence the law,” Graves said. “I could also have contact with people.” So he left his home state for Syracuse Law School, only to return after graduation to dedicate his life to public service. He knew there was still work to be done in Mississippi and he longed to reinvest his energies in improving the state. Graves has likened this sort of public service to the ministry. Graves graduated from Sumner Hill High School in Clinton, where he was valedictorian. He met his wife, Dr. Bettye Ramsey Graves, an assistant vice president

Justice Graves and President Lucas.

of Jackson State University, at Millsaps. One of his sons is an attorney in Jackson, and another is a senior at JSU. Graves served as an instructor at Harvard Law School, where he taught trial advocacy in 1998, 1999, and 2000. He also served as an adjunct professor at Jackson State University, where he taught both media law and civil rights law. Graves has been active in the Jackson Public School district, and JPS named him Parent of the Year for 2000–01. Student mock trial teams he has coached have reached the state ﬁnals every year since 1991, and the Murrah High School mock trial team that he helped coach won the 2001 state championship. Millsaps has honored Graves numerous times for his dedication to law, education, and service. The Millsaps College Black Student Association named him the recipient of its Alumnus of the Year Award in 1993. He received the Livesay Award for service to the College in 2004 and was the commencement speaker in 2002. This semester, Graves is teaching Law and Society at Millsaps College. As soon as word spread of his lectures, students were eager to sign up. “It’s rare that you are able to take a course that is being taught by such a distinguished jurist,” said Clint Kimberling, a senior from Fort Worth, Texas, who plans a career in law himself. “I think Judge Graves will have a lot of unique and profound observations to offer on how law affects society and vice versa.” —Becca Day

H. T. (Hank) Holmes, B.A. 1973, has been selected to serve as the new director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Holmes succeeds Elbert Hilliard, who led the department for 31 years. Holmes, director of the department’s Archives and Library division, began his association with the state archives in 1969 as a college intern. “While a freshman at Millsaps I began interning with the Department of Archives and History,” Holmes said. “The liberal arts education I received has been invaluable in my work, and I am glad to see that liberal arts tradition reﬂected today in the Millsaps students coming through the department.” Holmes went on to serve as oral historian, archivist, records analyst, manuscript curator, map curator, and head of the special collections section. After earning his English degree at Millsaps, the Winona native earned a master’s degree in library science from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1982. “I cannot think of a more appropriate choice for director than Hank Holmes,” said William Winter, former governor and president of the board of the Department of Archives and History. “I know that under Hank the department will continue to meet the high standards set by Elbert Hilliard during his decades of leadership.” Established in 1902, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History is the second-oldest state department of archives and history in the United States. The department collects, preserves, and provides access to the archival resources of the state. In addition, the department administers museums and historic sites, and oversees statewide programs for preservation, state and local government records management, and publications.

winter 2004–05

MajorNotes Send It In: Millsaps Magazine would like you to know that its Major Notes policy has changed. The magazine is now printing only information sent in speciﬁcally for Major Notes. In the past, material was gleaned from newspaper clippings and other sources. The change was made to protect the privacy of alumni and to simplify the editing process. We would like to encourage all alumni to send in their news, whether big or small, personal or professional, to: Tanya Newkirk, Major Notes Editor, Ofﬁce of Alumni Relations, Millsaps College, 1701 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39210-0001. Or fax : 601-974-1088. Phone: 601-974-1038 or 1-86-MILLSAPS (1-866 - 455-7277 ), the alumni relations toll-free number. Email: alumni @ millsaps.edu. Please include your name, address, phone numbers, email address, graduation year and degree, and any news you want to share. Appropriate items include births, weddings, advanced degrees, awards, job promotions, etc. Photographs are also welcome. If you are aware of alumni who are not receiving the magazine, please send us their names and addresses.

1944

1954

Rev. Franklin W. (Wilson) Ray, B.A. 1944, of Itta Bena was appointed pastor of Moorhead and Sunﬂower United Methodist Churches for a second year as retired supply.

Michelle (Mike) Punshon Covington, 1954, of Rock Hill, S.C., has received the American Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Services Award for the Southeast/Southwest region, a 12-state area.

1947 Mary Tingle (Tink) Selah, B.A. 1947, of Huntsville, Ala., is retired from the Huntsville City School System. Active with the Huntsville Art League, she is in charge of a drawing group, the Monday Morners. Her main duty involves gathering live models for the group’s weekly drawing sessions.

1949 John Garrard Jr., B.A. 1949, of Atmore, Ala., was elected to a third term as councilman of District Four in Atmore. He was recently named an advanced certified municipal officer by the Alabama League of Municipalities and named to the Half Century Club by the Alabama Bankers Association. Garrard is a retired president and chief executive officer of First National Bank.

1950 Daphne (Middlebrooke) Bruce, B.A. 1950, of Hermanville is on the music staff at Utica United Methodist Church. She also volunteers at the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Port Gibson.

1952 Rev. Herbert L. (Lavelle) Woodrick, B.A. 1952, of Philadelphia, Miss., is a retired United Methodist minister. He plays trumpet in three bands in Meridian: the Community Band, the Wind Ensemble, and the Jazz Band. He played with the Community Band of America on a cruise through the Northeast and Nova Scotia.

millsaps magazine

Franklin A. Nash Jr., B.A. 1954, of Hopkinsville, Ky., volunteers part-time as minister of congregational care at St. John United Methodist Church in Hopkinsville.

1955 Eugene (Gene) B. Antley, B.A. 1955, of Edinboro, Pa., has retired as an associate professor of sociology at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Dorothy (Dee) Ford Bainton, B.S. 1955, of San Francisco retired from the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine in June. Her retirement marked the end of a remarkable 42-year career at the university. The Mississippi native and graduate of the Tulane School of Medicine (where she was one of only five women in her class) worked as a postdoctoral fellow and research associate in the UCSF pathology department from 1963–69. She joined the faculty in 1969 and became a full professor in 1981. In 1987, she was appointed chair of the Department of Pathology, becoming the first woman at UCSF to head a department. In 1994, she was appointed vice chancellor of academic affairs. For more than 30 years, she headed research on bone marrow cells and blood diseases. Bainton has chaired editorial boards of prestigious scientific journals and among her numerous honors, belongs to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. In addition to her personal

successes, Bainton has served for three decades as a role model for women in academic medicine, achieving her goals and rising in the ranks at the university while taking time off to raise her three sons. She has become a strong advocate for mentoring and promoting women pursuing careers in her ﬁeld. At UCSF, she served on the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Women from 1976–78 and 1985–89, chaired the Academic Senate’s Equal Opportunity Committee from 1979– 81, spearheaded a 2001 survey of the work climate for women faculty on the campus, and recently chaired the Council on Faculty Life. Among her goals was to implement family-friendly policies, such as the provision that now allows university faculty (both male and female) to earn six weeks’ paid leave for childbearing and childcare. Bainton is also credited with helping to strengthen campus sexual harassment guidelines and improving the merit and promotion system for women faculty. In 2003, she was awarded the Chancellor’s Award for the Advancement of Women. Dr. Anne C. (Finger) Graves, B.S. 1955, of Bowling Green, Ohio, received the Woman of the Year Award for a nonbranch member from the Bowling Green American Association of University Women in April.

1957 Martha W. (Wolford) Willets, B.A. 1957, of Birmingham retired as music educator from the Fairﬁeld, Ala., school system in June 2002. She provides educational consulting for the Alice Stephens Performing Arts Center and serves as organist and choirmaster for St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, both in Birmingham.

You’ve Got (Millsaps) Mail!

1959 Peggy Seay Brent, B.A. 1959, of Jackson received the 2003 Emphasis on Excellence Award, the highest employee award given at Hinds Community College. She also recently received a Mississippi Humanities Council Teacher Award and was named a William Winter Faculty Scholar. Rev. Arnold A. Bush Jr., B.A. 1959, of Niceville, Fla., recently retired. He is serving as an interim rector in Panama City, Fla., and works as a consultant in church growth. William (Billy) M. Rainey, B.S. 1959,

of Gulfport was named a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers during the 2004 spring meeting in Phoenix. He is a partner with Franks, Rainey, & Salloum of Gulfport. Rainey has practiced in Gulfport for 37 years.

1960 Dorothy May Davis Miley, B.A. 1960, of Jackson received the Hinds Community College 2003 Alumni Service Award in October 2003. She is serving her second term as a member of the Hinds Development Foundation Board. Beverly B. (Bracken) Rhodes, B.A. 1960, of Forest writes “The Cook’s Corner,” a weekly recipe column for the Scott

County Times.

Clay (Marler) Stone, B.A. 1960, of Memphis

received the 2004 Eugart Yerian Award for Lifetime Service to the Memphis Theatre in August. A Memphian since 1965, Stone has appeared in and directed many regional theatrical productions. His acting roles include: King Arthur in Camelot; Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman; Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady; Pangloss, et al. in Candide; Harold Hill in The Music Man; Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind; C. S. Lewis in Shadowlands; and Daddy Warbucks in AnnieWarbucks. His starring roles since 2001 have been Nunzio in Over the River and Through TheWoods

The first edition of the Millsaps College alumni eNewsletter, with information on alumni happenings, College events, and more, went online in December. Found at www.millsaps.edu/enewsletter/, the newsletter has updates on the Alumni Association’s first official meeting, the Millsaps Arts & Lecture Series, the Bell Concert Series, other performing arts events, Homecoming, the Southern Circuit Film Series, exhibitions at the Lewis Art Gallery, community enrichment, the spring 2005 Leadership Seminar in the Humanities, and other links. This publication is in addition to mymillsaps. com, the alumni online community and a source for email addresses, the alumni directory, a calendar of events, and other member services. For more information on the newsletter and other Millsaps alumni happenings, call toll free, 1-866-455-7277 (1-86-Millsaps), or contact Trenee Palmer, administrative assistant for alumni relations at 601-974-1038.

and Yaveni in No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs—the latter a play concerning racial prejudice and tensions in the South in the late 1940s. His directing duties have included productions of Brigadoon;The Diary of Anne Frank; The SubjectWas Roses; and Little Red Wagon Painted Blue. Stone has also been a theatre judge for the Memphis Magazine/Greater Memphis Arts Council Theatre Awards for the past eight years. He serves as director of community relations at Youth Villages. Headquartered in Memphis, the organization provides homebased counseling, therapeutic foster care and adoption services, residential treatment, community-based programs, and prevention services to children and their families.

1962 Robert (Bob) N. Leggett Jr., B.A. 1962, of

Great Falls, Va., has been elected to serve on the board of trustees of the Washington National Cathedral’s Cathedral Choral Society. The resident symphonic chorus of the National Cathedral, the 200-voice chorus is the oldest choral group in Washington, D.C. It performs four major concerts each season. In addition to its subscription concert series, the Society sponsors educational and community events, including a Partner Schools project, preconcert lectures, Cathedral Sings!, and summer community concerts. Leggett will serve on the board until 2008. A private investor whose career focused on private

sector work for leading-edge technologies, he is president of the Robert and Dee Leggett Foundation, co-founder of the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship, and director of the Vienna Choral Society. Dr.Terry J. Puckett, 1962, of Wesson received an honorary associate of public service degree from Zane State College in Zanesville, Ohio, in June 2004. Zane State is a two-year technical school that was formerly named Muskingum Area Technical College. Puckett served as president of the college from 1973–80.

1964 Jennifer Stocker Yates, B.A. 1964, of Fulshear, Texas, donated her father’s collection of art books to the MillsapsWilson Library during Homecoming 2004. Her father, the late Dr. Leonard Stocker, was a professor of voice at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he also taught music appreciation and humanities and started the opera workshop program. The collection of 132 hardcover and 45 paperback books includes books on museum collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, works on speciﬁc artists such as Manet, Rembrandt, and Andrew Wyeth, and more general works on art history.

1966 Sherry M. (Monk) Jones, B.A. 1966, of Madison teaches “Pathways,” a program for gifted students in the Brookhaven school district. In July 2004, she served as a study leader for the Mississippi United Methodist Women’s School of Missions at Millsaps, where she taught public education. Marion (Taylor) Reid, 1966, of San Marcos, Calif., has been named interim vice president for external affairs at California State University San Marcos. She leads campus fund raising, communications, and civic and legislative affairs

winter 2004–05

m a j o r

n o t e s

c l a s s m a t e s

Wheelchair Accessible George B. Pickett Jr., B.A. 1966, of Jackson, is the 2004 Million Dollar Round Table president. He traveled to Jamaica in December 2003 to help donate wheelchairs to people in need. The wheelchair donation was the result of a partnership between the MDRT Foundation and the Wheelchair Foundation.

efforts. She has worked for the university since 1989, as director and later dean of library services. Wilson R. (Ragan) Rodgers, B.S. 1966,

of Lynchburg, Va., is the manager of the ﬁnance department in the Nuclear Products Division of BWX Technologies in Lynchburg.

1967 Michael W. Allen, B.A. 1967, of Adrian,

Mich., received the Ross Newsom Award for Outstanding Teaching at the Adrian College Convocation ceremony in September. Allen, professor of theatre and chair of the theatre department, has signiﬁcantly revised and expanded the theatre program at Adrian. One of his most notable achievements was the development of a playwriting class, which results each year in the production of several studentwritten, student-performed plays. Many of these plays have been performed at regional festivals, have won awards and commendations, and have been published in anthologies. Allen has frequently acted at the Croswell Opera House, where he is serving his second term as chair. He also serves on the board of the Adrian Symphony Orchestra. A. Jerry Sheldon, B.A. 1967, of Jackson

was named partner-in-charge of the Jackson ofﬁce of Adams and Reese in the

millsaps magazine

fall of 2003. Adams and Reese is a regional law ﬁrm with approximately 275 lawyers with ofﬁces located in New Orleans, Houston, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Mobile, and Washington, D.C., in addition to Jackson. Sheldon is presently listed in Best Lawyers in America (Natural Resources Law) and is a past chairman of the Natural Resources section of the Mississippi State Bar Association.

1968 Dr. Ben L. Mitchell, B.S. 1968, of Jackson was named dean of the School of Health Related Professions at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in spring 2004. He had served as associate vice chancellor for institutional affairs at UMC since 2001.

1970 Rev. Joe G. Burnett, B.A. 1970, of Omaha,

Neb., was consecrated as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska in September 2003. Burnett, a Mississippi native, was serving as professor of pastoral theology at the School of Theology of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., at the time of his election in May 2003.

1971 Sandra (Sandy) I. Hackemann, B.A. 1971, of Mishawaka, Ind., is the general education program head for the Elkhart campus of Ivy Tech State College. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in higher education through Capella University. Beecher Smith II, B.A. 1971, of Memphis

is the author of three poems that appeared in Off the Record: An Anthology of Poetry by Lawyers, published by the Legal Studies Forum, in February 2004. His poetry and short-story collection, Recovering My Sanity, was released as an audio CD in June. He is a practicing lawyer in Memphis.

1972 Dr. Gilliam S. (Swink) Hicks Jr., B.S. 1972, of Madison is a professor of medicine at the University of Mississippi School

of Medicine. He was named Teacher of the Year at the medical school in June 2002.

1973 Martha J. (Jan) Mullin Lamb, B.A. 1973, of Durham, N.C., was awarded the E. Robertson Hersey Distinguished Faculty Award at Durham Academy. The award is given annually to a teacher for inspiring enthusiasm in the classroom, encouraging the academic aspirations of students, demonstrating sensitivity to the academic and personal needs of the individual student, encouraging and supporting the efforts of colleagues, and contributing to school life outside of the classroom. Lamb has taught at the Hill Center Special Education division of Durham Academy for more than 19 years.

1974 Lamar (Marty) D. Jones, B.S. 1974, of Cherryville, N.C., is the president and CEO of Innovative Developments in Cherryville. Joseph L. Morris, B.S. 1974, of Jackson is an assistant vice president at Trustmark Bank in Jackson. Karen Ezelle Redhead, B.A. 1974, of Jackson is working part-time at the Eudora Welty House, assisting the director. She also taught social studies at Murrah High School for 12 years.

1977 Robert (Bob) C. King, B.A. 1977, of San Antonio, Texas, received the 2003–04 Division III National Athletic Director of the Year award for the West Region from the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics in June 2004, during the association’s annual convention in Dallas. King, who has served as athletic director at Trinity for 11 years, also received this honor in 2000. The Trinity University Tigers have claimed 91 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference titles since King’s arrival, in addition to winning 10 of the last 11 SCAC President’s Trophy awards.

m a j o r

n o t e s

c l a s s m a t e s

Four Trinity teams have won NCAA Division III championships (men’s and women’s tennis, men’s soccer, and women’s basketball). The university was selected as the third best college in Division III for female student-athletes by Sports Illustrated forWomen. King was director of athletics at Millsaps from 1989–93. Catherine (Cae) A. Ivy Larsen, B.A. 1977,

of Pascagoula retired from the Pascagoula Municipal Separate School District in May. She taught children with learning disabilities for 25 years. Daryl M. Plunk, B.A. 1977, of Alexandria, Va., is self-employed as an international business consultant. Stephen H.Wilsey, B.S. 1977, and Terry Wilsey of Lake Jackson, Texas, have an adopted son, Samuel Hunter, and will be adopting one more child from Russia by spring 2005.

1978 Janet M. Hall, B.A. 1978, of Chevy Chase, Md., has been elected to a two-year term as president of the board of trustees for the Washington National Cathedral’s Cathedral Choral Society. The resident symphonic chorus of the National Cathedral, the 200-voice chorus is the oldest choral group in Washington, D.C. It performs four major concerts each season. In addition to its subscription concert series, the Society sponsors educational and community events, including a Partner Schools project, preconcert lectures, Cathedral Sings!, and summer community concerts. Hall, a former Choral Society singer and Fulbright scholar, is president of Flash Talk Communications, a startup Internet communications company based in Silver Spring, Md. Elizabeth Box Plunk, B.A. 1978, of Alexandria, Va., is the office manager for the Washington, D.C., and Reston, Va., offices of Bracewell & Patterson, a Houston-based law firm of 400 attorneys.

1979 Ellynda P. (Price) Lipsey, B.A. 1979, of Doraville, Ga., is the pastor of St. Timothy United Methodist Church in Stone Mountain, Ga. LTC Richard E. (Rem) MacNealy, B.S. 1979, of Killeen, Texas, was promoted to vice president for aviation training and sustainment with System Studies and Simulation in September 2004. MacNealy joined the firm in August 2000, and is the 11-year-old company’s first vice president. He is a 27-year veteran of government and commercial business enterprises, with experience primarily focused on rotarywing aviation training, operations, and maintenance. He entered into commercial business activities after serving more than 20 years as an officer in the U.S. Army, where he served in a variety of leadership and staff positions. System Studies and Simulation provides technical and support services to the Department of Defense, the Intelligence community, and NASA. The company is a small business with headquarters in Huntsville, Ala., and employs 245 people at 11 sites located throughout the United States and Europe. As vice president, MacNealy operates from the company’s Training and Sustainment business unit office in Killeen. His responsibilities include overseeing company activities at six sites in both the United

Chartered Flight From left, Betsy McLean, M.B.A. 2004, a member of the Mississippi state treasurer’s staff; Dr. Walter Neely, CFA, professor of ﬁnance at Millsaps; Dayne Zimmerman, a 1991 economics graduate with Centrica, an energy company in Houston, and Helen Currie, a 1990 economics graduate employed in Houston at ConocoPhillips. Zimmerman and McLean were awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in October at a meeting of the CFA Society of Mississippi.

States and Europe, representing approximately 35 percent of the company’s business revenue. Christopher L. Yochim, B.S. 1979, of

Parkesburg, Pa., was unanimously selected in June 2004 to join the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association’s board of directors. A director of licensing with AstraZeneca’s Global Discovery Alliance Group, Yochim is responsible for technology transfer and strategic collaborations in North America, while providing AstraZeneca’s Swedish and U.K. drug discovery sites with access to U.S.-based academia and NIH research. In addition, he coordinates the image and awareness activities for AstraZeneca Global Discovery as the ofﬁcial company representative to the Biotechnology Industry Organization and the Association of University Technology Managers, where he serves as eastern regional chairman. He joined the cardiorenal pharmacology department of ICI/ Zeneca Pharmaceuticals in 1980. During his 15 years in drug discovery, Yochim has contributed to the discovery and development of several key products, including treatments for cardiovascular disease, asthma, and schizophrenia. He also breeds and trains standardbred racehorses.

1981 Steven W. Smith, B.A. 1981, M.B.A. 1986,

of Alexandria, Va., has been appointed chair of the trustee affairs committee on the board of trustees for the Washington National Cathedral’s Cathedral Choral Society. The resident symphonic chorus of the National Cathedral, the 200-voice chorus is the oldest choral group in Washington, D.C. It performs four major concerts each season. In addition to its subscription concert series, the Society sponsors educational and community events, including a Partner Schools project, preconcert lectures, Cathedral Sings!, and free summer community concerts. Smith is senior vice president of U.S. Trust in Washington, D.C.

winter 2004–05

m a j o r

n o t e s

c l a s s m a t e s

1982 Dr. Leah E. Adams-Curtis, B.S. 1982,

of Peoria, Ill., was named associate dean of the social sciences department at Illinois Central College-East Peoria, in August 2003. Prior to joining the college, she was associate professor of psychology at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill. She has published numerous articles on behavioral science in professional journals.

1984 Tom Gober, M.B.A. 1984, of Birmingham

is the president and owner of Thomas Gober Forensic Accounting Services in Birmingham. He specializes in fraud investigations and forensic accounting, and consults primarily in the insurance and health-care industries. During his 17-year career, he has served as an expert witness in insurance fraud for the U.S. Attorney’s Ofﬁce, as well as other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. He has also served as a consultant to the FBI in connection with criminal investigations within the insurance industry. The author of numerous articles on the use of forensic accounting and fraud detection, Gober also delivers lectures and seminars for organizations such as the Association of Certiﬁed Fraud Examiners. Suzannah Bowie Moorman, B.A. 1984,

of Houston, Texas, presented lectures and performed in Singapore in August and September. Sponsored by the Methodist School of Music, she was featured in a sacred concert at Toa Payoh Methodist Church with the Methodist School of Music Singers. In addition, she lectured on hymn appreciation, worked with two area children’s choirs, and sang in worship during her stay. Moorman has presented recitals and sacred programs in churches since 1983 throughout Texas, the Midwest, and the South. In 2003

millsaps magazine

she released two recordings: Great Wesley Hymns, in honor of John Wesley’s 300th birthday, and Words of Life, an album of favorite traditional hymns. She has appeared on “Time That Makes the Difference,” a production of the United Methodist Hour, and for the Mississippi United Methodist Annual Conference. A native of Mississippi, she was the ﬁrst student to receive a B.A. in Church Music from Millsaps. She is a member of Cornerstone UMC, where she directs the elementary children’s choir and is chair of worship. Dr. Benjamin R.Wynne, B.B.A. 1984, of Funston, Ga., wrote the introduction for Recollections and Letters of Robert E. Lee, a collection of the Confederate general’s correspondence, published in July 2004 by Barnes & Noble. He is also the author of A

Hard Trip: A History of the 15th Mississippi Infantry, 1861–1865, published in June

In the Big Easy for the Big 4-O From left, Ralph Kaiser, B.A. 1986; David Loper, B.A. 1986; Charles Woods, B.S. 1986, and Stephen Bush, B.A. 1986, gathered this fall in New Orleans not only to celebrate their 40th birthdays, but also as an excuse to have a reunion with other Lambda Chi Alpha members.

and being fair. Other Millsaps alumni involved in the project include Tracy Applewhite Broome, B.A. 1989, and Allyson S.Willis, B.A. 1995. The curriculum has been adopted by West Corinth Elementary School for all kindergarten and ﬁrst grade classes. Schools outside of Mississippi have also expressed interest in the program. Robert T. Davis, B.A. 1988, of Olive Branch is a teacher and coach at Desoto County Academy in Olive Branch. William J. (Jack) May Jr., B.B.A. 1988, and

2003 by Mercer University Press. Wynne is currently visiting assistant professor of history at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Ga. He has served on the history faculties at Florida State University and the University of Mississippi.

Loree May of Fairhope, Ala., are the parents of a daughter, Madeline Ouida, born on April 2, 2003.

1986

parents of Sara Elizabeth, born Aug. 4, 2003. She has one sister, Mallory Grace.

Marion H. Lyons III, 1986, and Marie Lyons of Avon Lake, Ohio, are the parents of Payton Carrington, born July 4, 2004. He has a brother, Marion H. Lyons IV, and four sisters: Hayden Carrington, Ashlyn Bixler, Bailey Marie, and Cassidy Amelia. Kirk A. Patrick III, B.A. 1986, of Baton Rouge, La., started a law ﬁrm, Donohue Patrick, in December 2003.

1988 Sara W. (Williams) Berry, B.E. 1988, of Corinth has created a 26-week educational curriculum entitled “Integrity Time,” designed to reinforce values in education. The multimedia curriculum for children ages 4-8 focuses on such values as serving others, using good manners, being kind,

Thad C. Pratt, B.S. 1988, and Wyn Ellington Pratt, B.A. 1990, of Vicksburg are the

1989 Carolyn A. Bibb, B.A. 1989, of Decatur, Ga.,

became a certiﬁed massage therapist in August 2003 and began her own massage practice. In February 2004, she completed her sixth marathon. Mitylene (Mity) Myhr, B.A. 1989, and Larry Clay of Austin, Texas, are the parents of Andrew Myhr, born on March 27, 2003. Mitylene is a postdoctoral associate at St. Edward’s University in Austin. William P. (Paul) Wilson, B.A. 1989, of

Belleville, Ill., is deputy division chief of Mission Support and Global Readiness for the U.S. Air Force at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.

m a j o r

n o t e s

c l a s s m a t e s

1990 Kenneth T. (Andy) Andrews, B.S. 1990, of Chapel Hill, N.C., is the author of Freedom

Is a Constant Struggle:The Mississippi Civil Rights Movement and Its Legacy, published by the University of Chicago Press in September 2004. He is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr.William E. Henderson, B.S. 1991, of Oxford is in his ﬁfth year of private practice as an OB/GYN in Oxford. Shelley L. (Lose) Johansson, B.A. 1991,

of Johnstown, Pa., is marketing manager for the Johnstown Area Heritage Association.

Dr. Steven A. Fesmire, B.A. 1990, of East Poultney, Vt., is the author of John Dewey

Rev. John P. Leach, B.B.A. 1991, of Germantown, Tenn., graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary in May 2004 and was ordained as a deacon in the Episcopal Church at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Memphis in June. He serves as vicar of the Church of the Annunciation in Cordova, Tenn.

Indiana University Press. Fesmire teaches philosophy and environmental studies at Green Mountain College in Poultney.

Blair R. (Richards) Manning, B.A. 1991, and Judson Manning of Smyrna, Ga., are the parents of Russell Judson Manning Jr., born on Jan. 6, 2004.

Kevin A. Crothers, B.S. 1990, and Kimberly

S. Crothers of Ridgeland are the parents of Quinn Ashburne, born on Oct. 30, 2001.

and Moral Imagination: Pragmatism in Ethics, published in September 2003 by

Dr. John W. Maynor, B.A. 1990, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., is an assistant professor of political science at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. Beverly V. Renfroe, B.B.A. 1990, and Tim Renfroe of Madison have a daughter, Brooke Anne, born on Sept. 7, 2003. Martin E.Willoughby, B.A. 1990, of Madison has formed the law ﬁrm of Harrington & Willoughby in Ridgeland and launched the ﬁrm’s website.

1991 Dr. Rainna P. Bahadur, B.S. 1991, of Gulfport

is an ophthalmologist with Eye Associates of the South in Biloxi. She specializes in cornea, external disease, and refractive surgery. Mary Margaret (Dill) Case, B.A. 1991,

of West Point started her own business, Mary & Me Company, in January 2004. The company specializes in personalized and customized ceramic, paper, and wood products.

Margaret Jones Moore, B.S. 1991, and Brian Moore of Kingston Springs, Tenn., are the parents of David Stone, born July 2, 2004. He has one brother, George Everett, and one sister, Martha Florine. Margaret provides part-time computer training and Access database development from her home. Brian is an employee of Southwest Airlines in Nashville. Amy L. Morris, B.A. 1991, of Jackson is

the coordinator of international student and scholar programs at Millsaps. Rev. Ollie V. Rencher, B.A. 1991, of Oxford is assistant rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Oxford and the Episcopal chaplain of the University of Mississippi. L. Drake Walsh, B.S. 1991, and Kathleen (Katie) Walton Walsh, B.A. 1992, B.S. 1993,

of Peachtree City, Ga., are the parents of Hayden James, born on Sept. 18, 2003.

1992 Christina (Chrissy) Coker Hrivnak, B.M. 1992, and Michael J. Hrivnak of Milford,

Ohio, are the parents of John Michael, born on Oct. 3, 2003. He has one sister, Maren Elizabeth. Chrissy is pursuing a doctorate of musical arts in voice performance at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. Dr. Jana M. Rose, B.S. 1992, and David R. Wehrstein of Demorest, Ga., have a daughter, Ava Katherine Wehrstein, born on June 15, 2004. Jana has a solo practice in foot and ankle surgery in Cornelia and Gainseville, Ga. David is the administrator of Riverpoint Community Church in Cornelia. Dr. William W. Snow, B.S. 1992, of Mobile, Ala., graduated summa cum laude from Auburn University’s College of Veterinary Medicine with a doctor of veterinary medicine degree in May 2003. He practices at Rehm Animal Hospital in Mobile. Dr. Jennifer L. (Lewando) Sutton, B.S. 1992, and Jeff Sutton of Biloxi have a son, Connor Rice, born on Aug. 16, 2003. The Suttons are both veterinarians and own Gulf Coast Veterinary Emergency Hospital in Biloxi. Heidi J.Wood, B.A. 1992, of Baton Rouge, La., has a son, Warren Thomas, born on Nov. 23, 2002. She is a licensed clinical social worker who works part-time with the geriatric psychiatric department of Summit Hospital in Baton Rouge.

1993 Sonya B. (Bowser) Ashley, B.A. 1993,

and Randy Ashley of Long Beach are the parents of Rhayna Auriel, born on Feb. 11, 2003. Tanya G. Brieger, M.B.A. 1993, of Ridgeland, is the director of enrollment for Belhaven College. Her main responsibility is to oversee recruiting and

winter 2004–05

m a j o r

n o t e s

c l a s s m a t e s

accounting efforts for the ASPIRE program in Memphis, Jackson, and Orlando, Fla. The program, which awards bachelor’s and master’s degrees to adult students, has ﬂourished under Brieger’s leadership for the past two years. Enrollment has increased 35 percent, with signiﬁcant gains in Memphis and Jackson. In 2003, Brieger was named to the Institute of Professional Development’s President’s Circle and awarded the institute’s Annual Achievement Award, given to its top employee. John O. Lawrence, B.L.S. 1993, of Auburn,

Ala., is the chief administrative ofﬁcer for Aetos Technologies in Auburn. Betsy (Varner) McIntire, B.A. 1993, and

Candice R. Love, B.A. 1994, and Emile

Christopher C. (Chad) Duncan, B.B.A. 1995,

Pierre Lafourcade III of Hahnville, La., were married on May 24, 2003, in New Orleans. She is a national account manager for Southern Eagle Sales & Service in Metairie, La., and he is a sales representative with Allergan Pharmaceuticals.

of Atlanta is the manager for Accenture in Atlanta.

Ursula K. (Allen) Pietsch, B.S. 1994, of Munster, Ind., is the staff therapist at the Samaritan Counseling Center in Munster. Dr. James M. (Matt) Randall, B.S 1994, and Laurie Carpenter Randall, B.B.A. 1994, of

Baton Rouge, La., are the parents of Jackson David, born on March 30, 2004. He has one sister, Allyson Virginia. Matt’s dental practice, A Family Dental Care Clinic, in Baton Rouge, continues to grow. Laurie is a full-time mother.

Troy McIntire Jr. of Hattiesburg are the parents of Jane Tess, born on Nov. 10, 2003. She has one sister, Mary Elizabeth.

Chase L. Robertson, B.A. 1994, and Antoine

Walter B. (Burl) Salmon, B.A. 1993, of

Martin of Austin, Texas, were married on May 8, 2004, in New Orleans.

Washington, D.C., teaches 9th and 10th grade English and is the yearbook adviser at St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School in Alexandria, Va. A co-educational, college preparatory school serving prekindergarten through 12th grade, it is one of ﬁve schools owned and operated by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. C. Ballard Scearce Jr., B.B.A. 1993, of

Chattanooga, Tenn., is an attorney with the ﬁrm of Husch and Eppenberger in Chattanooga.

1994 Elizabeth (Beth) L. Hewitt-Colley, B.A. 1994, and Andrew S. Colley of Crownsville, Md., are the parents of Rebecca Anne, born on June 2, 2004. Hewitt-Colley earned her certiﬁcation as a professional résumé writer through the Professional Association of Résumé Writers in October 2003. In July 2004, she established her own résumé writing and career coaching business, Chesapeake Résumé Writing Services, in Crownsville.

millsaps magazine

Anna Burdette Taylor, B.A. 1994, and Justin

Taylor of Pass Christian are the parents of Ella Linwood, born on March 24, 2004. Anna became a national board-certiﬁed teacher in November 2003. Robert C.Tenent, B.S. 1994, of Broomﬁeld, Colo., is a process engineer for ZettaCore in Denver. ZettaCore is a semiconductor startup company that integrates molecular charge storage into computer memory devices. Dr. Michael H.Vanderlick, B.S. 1994, and Emily Prejean, B.B.A. 1997, of Lafayette, La.,

were married on Jan. 24, 2004, in Lafayette. She is an accountant with Prejean Company and he is a practicing physician in internal medicine.

1995 Margaret Cross-Beliveau, B.B.A. 1995, and David M. Beliveau of Waltham, Mass., have a son, Lane Martin, born on March 17, 2004.

Robert K. Hubbard III, M.B.A. 1995, and

Stephanie Hubbard of Memphis are the parents of Robert Kellis Hubbard IV, born on March 7, 2004. Jason F. McMillian, B.B.A. 1995, and Melissa Lee McMillian of Cedar Park, Texas, are the parents of Zachary Taylor, born on Jan. 21, 2004. Lynn M. Pohl, B.S. 1995, of Asheville, N.C., is assistant professor of history at Warren Wilson College in Asheville.

1996 Dr. Christopher D. Lawrence, B.S. 1996, of Lafayette, La., is an emergency room physician at Lafayette General Medical Center. Renee A. (Gober) McGill, B.A. 1996, and Derek McGill of Corinth, are the parents of Hannah Renee, born Dec. 25, 2003. She has one sister, Sarah Anne. Dr. Stephen A. Morgan Jr., B.S. 1996, and Amanda Bell Morgan of River Ridge, La., are the parents of Avery Christopher, born on Jan. 16, 2004. He has one brother, Preston Locke. Steve is a practicing dentist in Houma, La.

1997 Douglas S. Leonard, B.S. 1997, of Chapel Hill, N.C., received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in May 2004. James P. (Philip) McDermott, B.A. 1997, of Memphis teaches English with the American Academy of English in Sosnowiec, Poland. Thomas H. Moore, B.L.S. 1997, of

Richland is an administration specialist for the Mississippi Military Department in Jackson.

m a j o r

c l a s s m a t e s

Saterstrom’s Prose Is Pretty in ‘Pink’ Selah Saterstrom, B.A. 1996, is the author of The Pink Institution, published in early April by Coffee House Press. In her debut novel, Saterstrom uses her childhood in the South to tell the tale of four generations surviving in a Southern family. She describes The Pink Institution as “the institution of memor y/bodies/marriage/blood/mad-houses/haunted houses. It is also the rich, sugary, impoverished, decaying places of the Deep South as I have known it. It is the institution of the law, the book of social codes, the suspect history book.” With its beautiful and unusual prose, the book has seized the attention of several noteworthy critics. The Pink Institution has been described as “masterful” and “utterly compelling.” Also impressive is the budding author’s commitment to giving back. Ten percent of proceeds from Institution will be given to the Sunshine Shelter for Abused and Neglected Children in Natchez. “It sees and honors children,” Saterstrom said. “It is an organization more than deserving of support.” —Becca Day

Christy (Sylvan) Nash, B.A. 1997, and

Derek Nash of Huntersville, N.C., are the parents of Nicholas (Cole) Robert, born on May 21, 2003. Pamela M. (Musgrove) Rials, B.A. 1997,

and Billy Rials of Brandon are the parents of Katelyn Mea, born on May 18, 2004. Heather (Lott) Welch, B.S. 1997, and D. Duncan Welch, B.B.A. 1998, M.B.A.

1999, of Brandon are the parents of Aidan Von, born on March 16, 2004. He has two brothers, William Gray and Tristan Sage. Heather is a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Jackson, and Duncan is manager of credit operations for Saks in Jackson.

1998

Mississippi in Hattiesburg. She began her position in February 2004.

1999 Molly K. Alton, B.A. 1999, of Vestavia Hills, Ala., will be running in P. F. Chang’s Rock ’n’ Roll Half Marathon in Phoenix in January and the Birmingham Mercedes Half Marathon in February. She is participating in both as a member of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s “Team in Training” program, which offers personalized training and a support group for athletes in half and full marathons, biking, swimming, and triathlons. In return, team members help raise funds to beneﬁt the society’s research programs. Alton is the assistant vice president of commercial lending with Aliant Bank in Birmingham.

Michele D. Biegel, B.B.A. 1998, of Jackson graduated from the Mississippi College School of Law in May 2003. Amanda W. (Wood) Johnston, B.A. 1998, and Patrick W. Johnston, B.A. 1999, of

Dawsonville, Ga., are the parents of Abigail Leigh, born on Nov. 7, 2003.

Amy M.Yeend, M.B.A. 1998, of Purvis

is the assistant director of career services for the College of Business and Economic Development at the University of Southern

Kimberly Pace Becker, B.A. 1999, of Wauwatosa, Wisc., graduated from Northern Arizona University with a master’s degree in applied linguistics in May 2004. While attending graduate school, she taught both freshman composition and English as a second language in the Program in Intensive English. She currently works as an online instructor of writing and grammar for Johns Hopkins University. Nicole (Saad) Bradshaw, B.A. 1999, of Brandon graduated cum laude from Mississippi College with a master’s degree in communications in May 2004. In the fall of 2003, she was named director of public relations and marketing for the USA International Ballet Competition, headquartered in Jackson. Her duties include writing and disseminating press releases and serving as general copywriter for the IBC Pointes newsletter and other USA IBC printed pieces. Sarah A. Calhoun, M.B.A. 1999, of West Monroe, La., was selected as the 2004 Best Small Business Person of the Year for northeast Louisiana in June 2004. The Louisiana Department of Economic Development and the U.S. Small Business Administration chose the regional winners of the awards. Calhoun is the owner and president of Medical Temps, a temporary medical stafﬁng agency with more than 100 clients and 380 employees. David R. Jones, B.B.A. 1999, M.Acc. 2001, and Jamie E. Jones, B.S. 2000, are the parents of Ainsley Elizabeth, born on Oct. 31, 2003.

Melinda C. Owens, B.B.A. 1998, M.Acc. 1999, of Austin, Texas, is audit manager for KPMG in Austin. Brett O.Theiss, B.B.A. 1998, of San Antonio, Texas, is director of marketing for SBC in San Antonio.

n o t e s

Daniel M. Scearce, B.B.A. 1997, and Lesley Anne Stiles of Chattanooga, Tenn., were married on June 14, 2003, in Chattanooga. The wedding party included C. Ballard Scearce Jr., B.B.A. 1993. Daniel is controller of the Herman Grant Company and Lesley is director of development for WhykNOw Abstinence Education in Chattanooga.

Suzanne E.Wahrle, B.S. 1999, of St. Louis, Mo., is in her ﬁfth year at Washington University’s M.D./Ph.D. program in St. Louis. She is researching the role of lipid metabolism in Alzheimer’s disease.

2000 Michael J. Bentley, B.A. 2000, and Sarah McAtee, B.S. 2001, of Jackson were

winter 2004–05

m a j o r

n o t e s

c l a s s m a t e s

married May 31, 2003, in Mobile, Ala. The wedding party included Chris Alexander, B.A. 1998, John R. Gomez, B.A. 2000, Prasad V.Vasamsetti, B.S. 2001, Georgia W. Pearson, B.S. 2001, and Jane E. Buck, B.S. 2002. McAtee completed her master’s degree in geosciences at Mississippi State University in May 2003. She works as a science writer for Mental Floss magazine. Bentley worked as a citizen and community services coordinator for Governor Ronnie Musgrove from July 2000 to January 2004. He began law school at the Mississippi College School of Law in fall 2004. Hayes Bryant, B.B.A. 2000, and Sarah K. Young, B.A. 2000, of New York City, were

married June 18, 2004, in Lafayette, La. The wedding party included Dr.Thomas R. Bryant, B.A. 1970, Bart Liles, B.A. 1999, Ashley E. Reed, B.S. 1999, Amy C. Brazda, B.S. 2000, Matt Carroccio, B.A. 2000, Rachel E. Cook, B.A. 2000, Jessica Ditch, B.A. 2000, Lindsay Lehman, B.B.A. 2000, Wes Lehman, B.S. 2000, Deanna K.Wise, B.B.A. 2000, Jeff Douglas, B.S. 2001, Stephanie A. Hardwick, B.S. 2001, and McCall K. Bryant, B.S. 2003. Hayes is an investment banker for UBS in the firm’s Global Industrials Group and Sarah teaches fifth grade at the Buckley School. Marin R. Dawson-Caswell, B.S. 2000, of Orlando, Fla., graduated from Nova Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with a doctorate in osteopathic medicine in May 2004. She is a first-year pediatric resident at Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital in Orlando. Her husband, Kyle Caswell, is completing his third year of medical school at NSUCOM and is doing his clinical rotations at Florida Hospital East in Orlando. Bridget E. Foss, B.S. 2000, and John Hagan

of New Orleans were married June 5, 2004, in New Orleans. She is employed with the New Orleans Reading and Learning Center.

millsaps magazine

2001

2002

Laura W. Ferry, B.A. 2001, of Cambridge,

Jonathan E. Kelly, B.B.A. 2002, of Memphis was recently appointed as a financial representative for Strategic Financial Partners in Memphis. The firm is affiliated with New England Financial, a Boston-based financial services company.

Mass., graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in June 2004. While at Harvard, she was a prelaw tutor, a research assistant, and was awarded Best Advocate as a member of the ﬁrst place team at the 2004 ABA Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy Competition in Chicago. During the summer of 2002, she was a law intern with Lawyers for Human Rights in Pretoria, South Africa. During the summer of 2003, she worked as a law intern with the Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C. After graduating from Harvard, Ferry served as a summer associate with the law ﬁrm of Crowell & Moring in Washington, D.C. As of August 2004 she was working as a law clerk for Judge Nancy Gertner on the U.S. District Court in Boston.

Frances (Fran) C. Stallings, B.B.A. 2002, M.Acc. 2003, of Jackson passed her CPA examination in May 2004. In August 2004, the Mississippi Society of CPAs newsletter listed her as one of only 15 people to pass all four sections of the CPA exam during the ﬁrst period of the new computer-based examination process. In November 2003, she took the last-ever paper version of the exam, passing all but one section. Stallings Blake A. Huggard, B.B.A. 2001, M.B.A. 2002, is the director of accounting for the law and Mary Frances Prejean, B.B.A. 2001, of ﬁrm YoungWilliams. Houston, Texas, were married Aug. 30, 2003, in Lafayette, La. She is a professional Raymond M. (Michael) Waters IV, B.B.A. representative with Merck, and he is a 2002, of Jackson is a business analysis consultant with Deloitte Consulting in manager for Saks of Jackson. Houston. Julie T. Lassalle, B.A. 2001,

of Blacksburg, Va., has entered the master’s degree program in higher education and student affairs administration at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Participation in the program is limited to only 15 new students each year. She has also been awarded an assistantship in the residence life ofﬁce. For the three years prior, Lassalle was employed by Ferrum College in Ferrum, Va., as a residence life professional. Cary M. Pierce, B.B.A. 2001, of Nashville,

is a credit analyst for First Tennessee Bank.

2003

Elizabeth L.Vincent, B.A. 2003, of West

Somerville, Mass., is a receptionist for ViaCell. ViaCell is a cellular medicine company that develops treatments for cancer, genetic diseases, immune deﬁciencies, and neurological diseases.

2004 Megan T. Shaw, B.A. 2004, of Arlington, Texas, is working as a ﬁeld consultant for Delta Delta Delta sorority during the 2004–05 academic year. She is helping to establish the Tri Delta chapter at Elon University in Elon, N.C. She served as her chapter’s president, vice president of chapter development, and secretary at Millsaps.

MajorNotes Dr. James J. (Jeff) Alexander, B.S. 1985,

William S. Bryan Jr., B.S. 1951, of McComb

Mary Elinor Moore Comfort, B.A. 1954,

of Long Beach died March 11, 2004. He was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity, Omicron Delta Epsilon, and the varsity tennis team.

died Feb. 20, 2004. He was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity.

of Brandon died April 30, 2004. She was a member of Phi Mu sorority, Kappa Delta Epsilon, the Millsaps Singers, and the Women’s Council.

Alton E. (Tony) Anthony, B.S. 1949, of

Deerﬁeld died July 13, 2004. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Elaine (Jackie) Garrett Bailey, B.A. 1941,

of Gulf Breeze, Fla., died March 6, 2004. She was a member of Kappa Delta sorority. John E. (Buddy) Bell, 1961, of Clinton died

May 9, 2004.

Dr. S. D. (Dewey) Buckley Jr., B.A. 1950,

of Jackson died Jan. 24, 2004. He served as president for both Eta Sigma Phi and the Beethoven Club.

Cecil L. (Pete) Conerly Jr., 1948, of Jackson

William J. Burnett, B.A. 1960, of Cordova,

Jerry M. Covich, 1944, of Biloxi died June

Tenn., died April 16, 2003. He was a member of Kappa Alpha Order. William (Bill) R. Burt, B.A. 1951, of Tupelo

1, 2004. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He attended Millsaps as part of the Navy V-12 ofﬁcer training program.

died Feb. 24, 2004. He was a member of the Ministerial League.

Woodson Goforth Cowan, B.A. 1977, of

died Sept. 16, 2004.

Knoxville, Tenn., died March 22, 2003. Mary G. Nobles Bertschinger, B.A. 1928,

Sen.William (Bill) Caraway, Whitworth

of Ridgeland died March 27, 2004. She was a member of Kappa Delta sorority and the All-One Club.

College, B.S. 1935, of Jackson died March 9, 2004. He was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Delta, the Millsaps Players, and the Millsaps Singers. He later served as the ﬁrst director of development for Millsaps.

Julia Cropper Coyne, 1943, of Pass Christian

Barbara Jo Wooton Carraway, 1948, of

Martha (Evelyn) Brooks Durham, B.A.

Ridgeland died Sept. 23, 2004. She was a member of Chi Omega sorority.

1939, of Tucson, Ariz., died March 12, 2004. She was a member of Beta Sigma Omicron sorority, Eta Sigma Phi, the YWCA Cabinet, and the Purple & White staff. She was also on the Dean’s List.

Gladys Bond Blaine, 1929, of Hazlehurst

died March 28, 2004. She was a member of Delta Zeta sorority and the Women’s Pan-Hellenic Council. Charles (Norman) Bradley, B.S. 1934,

of Lookout Mountain, Tenn., died Jan. 31, 2004. He was a member of Kappa Alpha Order, Omicron Delta Kappa, Eta Sigma, the student executive board, and the Lamar Literary Society. He also served as editorin-chief for the Purple & White. Millsaps honored him as Alumnus of the Year in 1973.

Sara Jean Applewhite Cartledge, B.A. 1944,

of Biloxi died Feb. 20, 2004. She served as editor for her sorority, Beta Sigma Omicron. Fred A. Carver, 1949, of Beaumont, Texas,

died Nov. 27, 2003. He was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity.

Dr. DeWitt Talmadge (D.T.) Brock Jr., B.S.

1944, of Jackson died Feb. 15, 2004. He was a member of Omicron Delta Kappa and Alpha Epsilon Delta. He also served as secretary for Kappa Alpha Order. Martha (Earline) Watkins Bruce, Whitworth

College, B.A. 1936, of Raymond died April 25, 2004. She was a member of Eta Sigma Phi, the Classical Club, the YWCA, the YWCA Cabinet, and the Millsaps Barbarians.

June Stellwagon Catledge, B.A. 1957,

of Jackson died April 3, 2004. She was a member of Chi Omega sorority, Sigma Lambda, the Student Body Association, the Millsaps Singers, Wesley Fellowship, the YWCA, and the Pan-Hellenic Council. She served as secretary-treasurer for the senior class, president of Kappa Delta Epsilon, and secretary and treasurer for the Majorette Club.

died July 12, 2004. She was a member of Kappa Delta sorority. Lois Rogers Davis, B.A. 1955, of Florence

died May 17, 2004.

Pat L. Gilliland, B.A. 1960, of Jackson

died Dec. 16, 2003. He was a member of Campus Ministry and the Student Senate. He also served as No. 1 for Kappa Alpha Order, assistant to the student body president, vice president of the Christian Council, vice president of the Interfraternity Council, president of the Canterbury Club, and a psychology assistant. He was selected as a “Campus Favorite” in 1960. He was elected to the Irwin Province Court of Honor of Kappa Alpha, which recognizes distinguished alumni. In addition, he served as president of the Millsaps College Alumni Association.

Correction: In our summer 2004 issue, the date of the death of Dr. Allen David Bishop Jr. was misstated. He died on June 22, 2003.

winter 2004–05

m a j o r i n

n o t e s

m e m o r i a m

George C. (Charlton) Hardin, B.S. 1950, of

Rev. Floyd O. Lewis, B.S. 1933, of Madison

Rev. Richard F. Milwee, B.A. 1960, of Little

Madison died March 22, 2004. He served as sergeant-at-arms of the M-Club and participated in athletics.

died March 27, 2004. He was a member of Sigma Rho Chi fraternity, the Ministerial League, and the YMCA Cabinet.

Rock, Ark., died July 10, 2004. He was a member of Kappa Alpha Order and the Canterbury Club. He was also on the Dean’s List.

John H. Hinton Jr., B.S. 1951, of Clinton

William Baldwin (Buddy) Lloyd, B.A. 1942,

died Feb. 13, 2004.

of Jackson died Aug. 17, 2004. He was a member of Kappa Alpha Order.

Capt. John N. Howard, 1945, of McLean,

Va., died June 18, 2004. He was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity. He attended Millsaps as part of the Navy V-12 ofﬁcer training program.

Rev.William (Bill) R. Lott Jr., B.A. 1949,

Marian Dubard Hubbard, Grenada College

Roddy Finley Luster, 1950, of Madison

1936, of Grenada died July 9, 2004.

died May 4, 2004.

Dr. William B. (Bernard) Hunt, 1947, of

Merrie (Melissa) Matthews, B.S. 1980, of

Grenada died Dec. 12, 2003. He was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity. He attended Millsaps as part of the Navy V-12 ofﬁcer training program.

Colorado Springs, Colo., died Feb. 2, 2004. She was a member of Phi Mu sorority, Beta Beta Beta, the Student Senate, the Judicial Committee, and the Millsaps Players.

Rodney Walter Jeffreys, B.A. 1954, of

Ruby Frances Stone McCharen, B.S. 1937,

Jackson died July 31, 2004. He was a member of Kappa Alpha Order and the varsity basketball team.

of Jackson died Jan. 12, 2004. She was a member of Kappa Delta sorority, the YWCA, and the Bobashela business staff. She also served as secretary of the junior class.

of Grenada died August 30, 2004. He was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and the Ministerial League.

Harvey C. (Carroll) Mitchell, B.A. 1943,

of Plantersville died Feb. 3, 2004. He was a member of the advertising staff for the Purple & White. He also served as historian for Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Dr. Ellis Mumford Mofﬁtt, 1956, of Madison

died April 17, 2004. He was a member of Alpha Epsilon Delta. William (Bill) H. Moore, B.S. 1953, of

Madison died Sept. 18, 2004. He served as vice president of both Kappa Sigma fraternity and the student executive board. He also participated in athletics. Dr. Keith C. Moses, 1977, of Augusta, Ga.,

Daisy Kate Brown Jeffries, 1935,

of Tylertown died April 22, 2004.

Jane Ellen Newell Naef, B.A. 1949, of Mary (Sue) Yelvington McDougal, 1936,

of Winona died Feb. 14, 2004. Frank Rea Darden Jones, B.A. 1935, of

Jackson died June 16, 2004. She was a member of Beta Sigma Omicron sorority.

Clyde Vernon McKee Jr., 1940, of Orange,

Texas, died Sept. 14, 2004. He was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

Rev. James (Jimmy) Jones, B.S. 1956, of

Mobile, Ala., died March 16, 2004. He was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity, the Millsaps Players, the Millsaps Singers, the varsity football team, and the M-Club.

died May 8, 2004. She was a member of Phi Mu sorority and was selected as a “Campus Favorite” in 1933.

of Newton died Jan. 21, 2004. He was a member of Kappa Alpha Order.

died Jan. 24, 2004. He was a member of the YMCA, the Ramblers Club, the Pre-Med Club, the Science Club, and Alpha Epsilon Delta.

millsaps magazine

died April 7, 2004. He was a member of the Millsaps Players and the debate team. Louis Joseph Navarro, B.S. 1942, of Jackson

Clinton died Feb. 21, 2004. He was a member of the varsity football team, the varsity track team, and the M-Club. Johnnie Floyd Miller, Whitworth B.S. 1941,

Dr. J. D. Leggett, B.S. 1942, of Parker, Ariz.,

Jackson died March 12, 2003. She was a member of the Millsaps Singers. She also served as corresponding secretary for Beta Sigma Omicron sorority and as treasurer for Kappa Delta Epsilon. Norman K. (Ken) Nail Sr., 1944, of Tupelo

William Patrick (W. P. ) McMullan Jr., 1948,

Bertrand (B. K.) Melton, B.S. 1939, of Maude McLean Lane, B.A. 1934, of Jackson

died July 1, 2004. A member of the Black Student Association, he attended Millsaps as part of the Millsaps/UMC Pre-Medical Training Co-Operative (PMTC) program.

of Collins died Sept. 18, 2004. She was a member of the YWCA, the Women’s Association, the Glee Club, the Science Club, the Empyreans, and the Baptist Student Union.

died June 15, 2004. He was a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, Alpha Psi Omega, the YMCA, the Dramatic Club, the Ramblers Club, and the Men’s Panhellenic. He also participated in student publications. He served as president of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and vice president of the student body association. He was also named Master Major.

m a j o r i n

n o t e s

m e m o r i a m

Dr. Sarah (Waudine) Nelson, B.S. 1944,

Juanita Pierce Harvey Sontag, B.S. 1939,

of Ridgeland died July 23, 2004. She was a member of the Millsaps Vikings, the Millsaps Singers, and Theta Nu Sigma.

of Houston, Texas, died Dec. 6, 2003.

Camille Hogan Davis of Jackson died Nov.

Ann White Spencer, 1953, of Jackson died

7, 2003. She was the wife of Harper Davis, B.S. 1947, former director of athletics and head football coach.

Feb. 20, 2003. John (Nick) W. Nicholson Jr., 1941, of

Jackson died March 6, 2004. He was a member of Kappa Alpha Order.

Betsy Smith Street, 1962, of Canton died

Rev. Paulette Warren O’Dell, B.S. 1967, of

Coralie Cotton Sutherland, B.A. 1925, of

El Dorado, Ark., died June 14, 2004. She was a member of Alpha Epsilon Delta and participated in student publications.

Pascagoula died April 9, 2004. She was a member of Beta Sigma Omicron sorority and the Millsaps Singers. She was also a member of the ﬁrst class of women graduates from Millsaps.

Flora L. Anderson Parks, 1940, of Quitman

April 17, 2004.

died Dec. 7, 2003. William P. (Phil) Wallace, 1954, of Jackson Laura (Ruth) Pellum, 1948, of Bedford,

Texas, died Jan. 23, 2004. She was a member of Phi Mu sorority and Chi Delta. She also participated in student publications.

died May 1, 2004. He was a member of the varsity football team and the varsity basketball team. He was inducted into the Millsaps Sports Hall of Fame in 1983. Doroth A. (Ann) Heggie Wilson, B.A. 1952,

Deborah A. Delmas Peyton, B.A. 1974, of

Gadsden, Ala., died Dec. 8, 2003. She was a member of the Millsaps Players, the Baptist Student Union, and the Wesley Group.

of Wimberley, Texas, died May 21, 2004. She was a member of Chi Omega sorority and the Majorette Club. Zoe A. (Ann) Grigsby Wood, 1958, of

Elizabeth (Lib) Lampton Powell, B.A. 1949,

of Tuscaloosa, Ala., died March 20, 2004. She was a member of Beta Sigma Omicron sorority, Alpha Psi Omega, Kappa Delta Epsilon, and the Millsaps Players. She served as secretary-treasurer for Sigma Lambda and as secretary for the Millsaps Singers.

Natchez died Dec. 17, 2003. She was a member of Chi Omega sorority. George F.Woodliff, 1936, of Jackson died

March 20, 2003. Mable M. (Melvin) Simpson Worthey,

Ala., died Jan. 1, 2004. He was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, Omicron Delta Kappa, Eta Sigma, and the Millsaps Players. He attended Millsaps as part of the Navy V-12 ofﬁcer training program and was instrumental in organizing the V-12 alumni group.

1930, of Jackson died May 25, 2004. She was a member of the Millsaps Singers, the debate team, the women’s basketball team, the Three-Year Club, and the Cap and Gown Committee. She also served as vice president of the Girls’ Glee Club, assistant secretary to the president, and vice president of the Philomathean Literary Society.

Irene E. Rousseau, Whitworth College 1935,

Dr. John B. (Ben) Younger, B.S. 1959, of

of Dallas died Jan. 19, 2004.

Birmingham died Feb. 15, 2003. He was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Delta, and the M-Club.

J. A. (Allen) Reynolds, 1945, of Montgomery,

Charles W. (Bill) Satterﬁeld, B.A. 1960,

of Jackson died March 24, 2003. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.

winter 2004–05

m a j o r i n

n o t e s

m e m o r i a m

Nellie Khayat Hederi Distinguished professor of modern languages

“To meet Nellie in the halls of Millsaps or to watch her transported by great music at a Millsaps Singers concert was to have, even in passing, moments of encounter with a person who loved deeply and gave generously.”

millsaps magazine

Nellie Khayat Hederi, emerita professor of Spanish at Millsaps College, died Sunday, May 30, at her home in Fountain Valley, California. She was 96. Hederi was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, on February 6, 1908. Her family subsequently moved to Biloxi, where she graduated from Biloxi High School. She received an associate of arts degree from Whitworth College, which merged with Millsaps in 1937. She received a bachelor of arts degree in French from the Mississippi University for Women and a master of arts degree from Tulane University. In addition, she pursued advanced studies at Peabody College, part of Vanderbilt University, and at the University of Southern California. Hederi taught French and Spanish at Jackson Central High School. After receiving an M.A. degree, she joined the Millsaps faculty in the Department of Modern Languages in 1952. She taught French and Spanish until her retirement in 1981. Former students remember her as an enthusiastic and scholarly teacher who made her classes a marvelous academic experience. Hederi was an exacting but caring professor who was devoted to her students and would go to great lengths to help them succeed. As Dr. Don Fortenberry, Millsaps College chaplain, remembers her: “To meet Nellie in the halls of Millsaps, often as she sped down corridors on her daily walking sprints, with a pencil still lodged in her hair bun, or to watch her transported by great music at a Millsaps Singers concert was to have, even in passing, moments of encounter with a person who loved deeply and gave generously.” While on the faculty, Hederi was the recipient of the Jim Livesay Award for outstanding contributions to Millsaps College and its students. She was one of the early supporters of the Millsaps Arts & Lecture Series. She and her husband, the late Karim Hederi, established scholarships for Millsaps students in honor of members of the Khayat and Hederi families. After her retirement, her love for teaching and her commitment to Millsaps students kept her on campus several afternoons each week as a volunteer tutor, where she helped many students with their studies of Spanish and French. Apart from teaching, Hederi was a member of the Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church Choir and the Jackson Choral Society. She also traveled extensively with her husband. In lieu of ﬂowers, memorials may be sent to the Nellie Khayat Hederi Music Scholarship at Millsaps College, or the Salvation Army. —Kay Barksdale

m a j o r i n

n o t e s

m e m o r i a m

LeRoy Pratt Percy A life trustee whose counsel helped guide the College LeRoy Pratt Percy, a life trustee of Millsaps College, died Thursday, July 15, 2004, at the Percy home in Greenville, Mississippi. He was 86. Percy became a trustee of Millsaps College in 1978 and was named a life trustee in 1985. A person of stature and integrity, LeRoy Percy’s counsel was widely sought. In times of social tension his was a voice of sanity and moderation, and he was heard. As a Millsaps trustee and chairman of the board’s academic affairs committee during the critical period of expansion in the College’s academic program, his wise counsel strengthened the College. He received an honorary doctor of letters degree from the College in 1989. Percy was born on August 23, 1917, in Birmingham and moved to Greenville at the age of 12. He was the grandson of U.S. Senator LeRoy Percy, the adopted son of the poet and writer William Alexander Percy. He was also the brother of the novelist Walker Percy. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After graduation, he returned to Greenville and began managing the family-owned Trail Lake Planting Co. He married Sarah Hunt Farish on January 3, 1939. He served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Corps during World War II. After his tour of duty, he returned to Greenville, where he ran the family farm for more than 24 years. He was a founder of the Mississippi Chemical Corporation and First Mississippi Corporation and served as chairman of the board for both companies. He was also chairman of the First National Bank of Greenville, a director of Entergy Corporation, and the Columbus and Greenville Railway. Percy was a former Delta Council president and was a founding director of the first statewide Head Start program in Mississippi. Through his many contributions to Greenville, to Mississippi, and to Millsaps, he reminded citizens that a community flourishes not alone in its economic well-being but also in its arts and letters and in its civic decency. —K.B.

In times of social tension his was a voice of sanity and moderation, and he was heard.

winter 2004–05

m a j o r i n

n o t e s

m e m o r i a m

Mittie Creekmore Welty As postmistress and in the bookstore, a touch of class

As Eudora Welty wrote, “The memory is a living thing and during its moment, all that is remembered joins and lives—the old and the young, the past and the present, the living and the dead.”

millsaps magazine

Mittie Elizabeth Creekmore Welty, a retired member of the Millsaps staff, died Tuesday, September 21, 2004. She was 87. Welty, known to the Millsaps community simply as “Mittie,” moved with her family from Water Valley to Jackson when she was 10 years old. She graduated from Central High School in Jackson and went on to study at Randolph Macon College. In 1939, she married Walter Andrews Welty, the younger brother of Eudora Welty, who later used this wedding as the happy model for one in her novel The Optimist’s Daughter. She was active in many civic activities in Jackson and joined the Millsaps staff after her husband’s death in 1959, working as postmistress and in the College bookstore for 36 years. Welty was a soft-spoken and unobtrusive presence on the Millsaps campus who brought dignity and class with her to work every morning. She and her lifelong friend, Katherine Lefoldt, who was hostess in the Academic Complex, were longtime Jacksonians who brought with them a connection with the city that helped anchor Millsaps to its historic past. For several years the two friends, often called the Millsaps Bobbsey Twins, donned white gloves and straw hats to take Millsaps parents on a tour of the “real” Jackson. Katrina Jameson, who managed the Millsaps post office in the late 1980s, described Mittie Welty as a “true belle of the Old South.” She recalled when Harper Davis, then head football coach, came into the post office one afternoon excited about a new radio station that was playing all Big Band music. According to Jameson, he insisted on finding the station so Mittie could hear. “When he got it tuned in, Mittie said, ‘Oh, Harper! Let’s dance!’ So they did—right there in the P.O., Miss Mittie and Harper Davis did the jitterbug.” Her loving spirit, keen mind, and ready sense of humor will endure in the memory of friends and family. As Eudora Welty wrote, “The memory is a living thing and during its moment, all that is remembered joins and lives—the old and the young, the past and the present, the living and the dead.” —K.B.

Irene Breland, On Reflection Irene Breland is lunching at the Mayflower Café, seated amid the neon and worn booths of the downtown Jackson diner that she saw established in 1935. Between courses, the retired high school English teacher is considering the things that endure, and how those are the good things, the right things. Truth. Beauty. The Mayflower, maybe, but certainly not one-way traffic on Capitol Street, which she says must go the way of all silly ideas if downtown is to survive. Miss Breland, as she is known to generations of former students, graduated from Millsaps with a B.A. in the economically devastating year of 1929, and she has seen almost a century of change. But the tumult of progress, so caught up in its own noisy hype, matters not one whit, she says, because what ultimately counts does not change. “They talk about how divided we are, the Democrats and Republicans all shoving and pushing each other,” she says. She’d have them do their homework—and look to the history of those Americans who kept the country dynamic and strong. “What was true for those people way back then is what we ought to be doing today,” she says. Miss Breland is a devoted fan of that great orator Bishop Fulton Sheen: “He said that spiritual truths never change,” she says. You can almost hear the chalk on the blackboard, spelling it out: “Spiritual truths never change. He taught that what was beautiful then is beautiful today and always will be. And that is what I like to testify to in my living.” Over a dish of broiled oysters that arrive dense and briny, Miss Breland recalls four decades of compelling students to savor the texture and flavor of Faulkner, Welty, Shakespeare. “English is something I love because English is life,” she says. “That’s what literature is. It is life.” Miss Breland’s life was her classroom. Alluding to Tennyson, she says: “I’m a part of all that I have met. Those students are part of me. I meet them today, some I taught 70 years ago. I can also see the place where they sat, tell you what they had on.” And she remembers those who shone. “It wasn’t the ones who sat down and memorized last night what they had for today or the one who diagrammed the sentence perfectly,” she says. “Throw them a William Faulkner subject when they come to class, something they don’t know anything about, and have them write.” She was authoritative—even strict—yet students loved her so much that in 1994 Murrah High School alumni paid for her to spend three nights in Manhattan’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, a lifelong dream. She remains in constant touch with former students: One will call about a grammatical error in the newspaper, another to lunch with friends at Walker’s Drive-In. Miss Breland’s most indelible memory of Millsaps is how difficult it was to finance a college education during the Depression. That she had to borrow money, she recalls, was humiliating. “There was a young man who met with those of us who were borrowing money, and I was so embarrassed. I just couldn’t stand for everybody to know we had to borrow. Years later, I told him, ‘You don’t know how embarrassed I was,’ and he said, ‘Did you know I was borrowing, too?’ ” Miss Breland credits Millsaps with instilling in her the confidence to pursue teaching: “We had a liberal arts education, some science, some English, some math. Instead of being afraid, I somehow just was not fearful because of that Millsaps education.” Over her last remaining oysters, Miss Breland reduces that most complex of dishes, the state of education, to its essential ingredients: “If you want to start a university, what do you need? You need a log, a student, and a teacher, and you’ve got a university.” Likewise, she believes life can be boiled down to this: “Beauty is truth, and truth beauty,” she says, quoting Keats. “That’s all you know on earth and all you need to know. And if it’s not a spiritual truth, it’s not beautiful, and it will change. “To me, that’s what the world needs to know today.” —John Webb

“Beauty is truth, and truth beauty,” she says, quoting Keats. “That’s all you know on earth and all you need to know. And if it’s not a spiritual truth, it’s not beautiful, and it will change. “

The Irene Breland Award for Excellence in English and Literature was established at Millsaps College last year. The award goes to an English major certiﬁed to teach English. winter 2004–05

A Living Tradition Annual Fund gifts lay the foundation for Millsaps’ continued success. Each year, the Millsaps Annual Fund provides ﬁnancial resources that directly affect the quality of teaching and student life at Millsaps. Through scholarships, academic programs, and faculty and library support, your Annual Fund gift is the keystone that helps the College build on its excellence. As our students take classes, laying the path to their dreams, your gift gives them the tools needed to get there. As our professors craft and present creative lectures, your gift provides them with the resources to inspire students. As the College itself shapes its learning environment, cultivating its strengths and constructing new areas of study, your gift offers the support Millsaps needs to remain one of the nation’s ﬁnest liberal arts colleges. Give to the Millsaps Annual Fund today to ensure our success for generations to come. Millsaps Annual Fund 1701 North State Street Jackson, MS 39210 -0001 601-974 -1037 • www. millsaps.edu

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS 1 7 0 1 N O RT H S TAT E S T R E E T JAC K S O N , M S 3 9 2 1 0 - 0 0 0 1

Non-Proﬁt Organization U.S. Postage P A I D Jackson, MS Permit No. 164