Spring-Summer 2009 Millsaps Magazine by Millsaps College

SPRING–SUMMER 2009

From the President Is there a doctor in the house? Actually, quite a few! This issue of Millsaps Magazine should fill you with confidence about the future of medicine and the spirit of the next generation of medical professionals. Millsaps alumni in the medical professions are legion. In these pages you will get a perspective on our pre-health programs from current students, medical students, practicing and retired professionals, and faculty.The elements that connect them are the broad curriculum, effective mentoring, and the exceptional value of the Millsaps experience. The health care path traditionally includes biology, chemistry, and other sciences. At Millsaps, a student is just as likely to have a major in the classics. May graduate Emily Gilbert says it best: “Biology provides the health part of the health care equation. For me, my classical studies major greatly helps to provide the care part.” The liberal arts approach to pre-health creates well-rounded and compassionate medical professionals. Millsaps alumni reveal their personal stories and credit our faculty with providing the wisdom and encouragement that helped launch their careers. We launched our new brand campaign for the College this spring.This brand is the culmination of two years of research, resulting in a creative new way to tell the Millsaps story.The new brand will help increase awareness and clarify the value and distinctive strengths of Millsaps. Take a tour of our campus during the summer months and see the three beautiful new residence halls that will be completed in July.These sustainable buildings are state-of-the-art and represent the new standard in student housing.The rooms are all single-occupancy, which is a trend on college campuses. Outside, the inviting porches remind us of our long southern tradition of hospitality. It’s easier now than ever to stay in touch, whether you make an actual visit to campus or join the Millsaps Facebook fans. Regardless of how you choose to communicate, let us hear from you. Warmly, Frances Lucas

In This Issue f e a t u r e s

MILLSAPS MAGAZINE spring-summer 2009

Medical Mentoring Millsaps students view world of medicine up close.

Executive Editor Patti Wade d i r e c t or o f c o m m u n i c at i on s and marketing Design Kelley Matthews

Alumni Reflecting

Professionals Practicing

Alums credit Millsaps with preparing them for medical fields.

Alums find medical careers satisfying.

Publications Manager Nell Luter Floyd Contributing Editors Lisa Purdie Kara Paulk Jason Bronson Lucy Molinaro Sandra Johnson Kevin Maloney Editorial Assistants Kathryn Buchan, 2009 Andy Kutcher, 2009 Katie Sargent, 2009 Contributing Photographers Greg Campbell Frank Ezelle Jay Ferchaud, University of Mississippi Medical Center Kelley Matthews

d e p a r t m e n t s On Campus New brand introduced 2 10 James Martin performs Faculty & Staff 14 Universities receive books 16 Campus Community Legacy 38 A campaign update Athletics 40 Scholar-athletes excel Major Notes 43 Alumnus of the Year 48 Classnotes 51 In Memoriam Parting Word 57 Millsaps provides nurturing path

c ov e r: m i l l s a p s s t u d e n t l au r e n g a b r e s k i wat c h e s a s d r . l e e c op e c a r e s f or a l l i e w i s e, d au g h t e r o f t i m w i s e, m i l l s a p s at h l e t i c d i r e c t or, h e a d m e n â&#x20AC;&#x2122; s b a s k e t b a l l c oac h a n d a l u m n u s.

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 v i c e p r e s i d e n t f or f i na 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 l i f e and dean of students Dr. Charles R. Lewis vice president f or i n s t i t u t i on a l a dva n c e m e n t Dr. Todd Rose v i c e p r e s i d e n t f or c a m p u s p ro g r a m s and alumni

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, j ac 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 o m 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.

c or r e c t i on : M i l l s a p s Tr u s t e e , D r. C h r i s G l i c k , should have been listed in the previ o us i ssue as r e c e i v i n g h e r b a c h e l o r â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s d e g r e e f r o m t h e University of Souther n Mississippi

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New brand position highlights distinctive strengths of Millsaps Describing a selective national liberal arts college concisely and effectively is a challenge. The new "ARE YOU ONE?" message introduced in April 2009 is designed to do just that. Developed with thorough research, the new brand message and resulting campaigns will help increase awareness and clarify the value of Millsaps College among target markets. The brand message will position the College among similar selective southern institutions while communicating its distinctive strengths to our prospective students. What better way to speak of the College than by describing the success of alumni? And what better way to demonstrate that success than by showing alumni as the principled leaders and accomplished citizens that they are? One campaign, illustrated in part with the advertisement at the right featuring restaurateur Jeff Good, will feature alumni

There is a Millsaps student in every high school. The valedictorian. The athlete. The poet. The performer. They’re leaders because they’re thinkers—and Millsaps helps them clear their path in a way no other college can.

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who are individuals who thrived at Millsaps and are notable within their communities. A second campaign, shown in part below, invites prospective students to learn about Millsaps from personalized websites set up just for them. Trustees, faculty, staff, alumni, and students have received material to help them express the great things to be said about Millsaps, including research-based key messages. Key messages include that Millsaps: • Offers unrivaled personal attention from national-caliber faculty. • Embraces and pushes the whole student: academic, spiritual, civic and social • Provides many international study abroad opportunities, including the innovative Yucatán facility • Increases acceptance to medical, law, business and grad schools • Builds principled leaders and accomplished citizens For a look at our new video, visit www.millsaps.edu and click on the banner that says "ARE YOU ONE?"

—Patti Wade

There is one in every communiTy. Jeff Good, millsaps ’86 entrepreneur, restaurateur

Millsaps graduates are leaders because

they are thinkers. Take Jeff Good, who opened three of Jackson’s most successful restaurants – and helped revitalize their neighborhoods in the process. He came here with passion. Our faculty gave him the guidance and knowledge to harness it. www.millsaps.edu

are you one?

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Communications, applied mathematics offered this fall The ancient Greek philosopher Plato argued that the three essential academic disciplines are rhetoric, logic, and mathematics. Two of those, rhetoric and mathematics, are being taught in a new way at Millsaps College in the form of two new majors—applied mathematics

The two new majors, which will be offered for the first time in the fall semester, will bring Millsaps’ bachelor’s degree offerings to 32. In the last five years new majors at Millsaps have included religious studies-sociology/anthropology, biochemistry, art history, studio art, public management, and the option of a selfdesigned major. Communications

Today, Plato’s rhetoric has evolved into the study of communication, and it is consistently listed as one of the top ten most popular majors for college students. It’s also one of the fastest growing fields. The field has changed drastically in the last century as radio, television, and the Internet joined newspapers and other print media in changing the way people communicate and absorb news. “We’ve Dr. Curtis Coats will oversee the new communications major, teach communications courses and core courses, and create internships. Millsaps will have 32 bachelor's degree offerings this fall. always had a number of English students interested in careers in journalism, and communications. The new majors public relations, and advertising, and we’ve reflect the College’s long-standing goal of done a good job getting them internships combining a liberal arts education with and jobs,” said Dr. Laura Franey, associate practical skills that prepare students for professor of English. successful careers. “This major will combine practical “Millsaps College has a history of offering exceptional academic programs,” skills in fields such as journalism and said Dr. Richard A. Smith, senior vice public relations, while allowing students president and dean of the college. “These to explore communications in a liberal two new programs build on our existing arts environment stressing critical thinking, global awareness, and historical strength of interdisciplinary programs by consciousness,” Franey said. using the College’s resources in a way to Dr. Curtis Coats will oversee the new react to changing student interests and to major, teach a range of communications new needs in the marketplace.”

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courses as well as Millsaps core courses, and create a strong slate of internships. His master's degree and doctorate were earned within the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado-Boulder. “Curtis is great because he has education in journalism and mass media and knows the practical side of the field and how to analyze what motivates people when they see an advertisement or watch the news,” Franey said. “He’s excited about building this program and collaborating with other departments.” Beginning this fall, freshman and sophomores will be able to declare a major in communications, and other students may opt for a minor. In addition to the Millsaps core courses, a major in communications will require ten courses including Introduction to Interpretation, Introduction to Communications, Public Speaking, courses in written and visual communications, and electives. Internships will also be an essential part of the major. Franey expects at least ten current students to declare the new communications major, and numerous upperclassmen are interested in pursuing a minor. Applied Mathematics

The Mathematics Department at Millsaps College has always been interdisciplinary in nature and this year has furthered that effort by creating an applied mathematics major that will offer students the option of studying mathematics in real-world settings. By using current class offerings, the mathematics faculty was able to arrange a curriculum that lets applied mathematics majors choose an area of focus by completing two courses with mathematical content at the 2000 level or above from one department outside mathematics. Students may choose to customize their major with six different tracks: chemistry, computer science, geology, physics, economics, and finance. The majors must also take Computer Science I and nine math courses, including

Analytic Geometry and Calculus II and III, Introduction to Advanced Mathematics, Linear Algebra, Senior Seminar, Differential Equations, Mathematical Statistics, and at least eight additional hours of applied mathematics course work at or above the 3000 level, with at least four of those hours at the 4000 level. “We are using what we have to build something that is hot and trendy and serves students well. This new major will give students a particular distinction for employers and graduate schools,” said Dr. John Osoinach, assistant professor of mathematics, who was instrumental in forming the new major. Osoinach said an applied mathematics degree can lead students to careers in engineering, medicine, accounting, chemistry, biology, economics, computer engineering, geology, and others. “It’s a great option for students who love math but don’t know what they want to do with it,” Osoinach said. “It’s interdisciplinary and encourages students to develop interests in another field.” Several students have already declared the applied mathematics major. One of them is Amanda Smithers, of Tyler, Texas, who plans to take the pre-med track and hopes to one day become a surgeon. “This major sounded perfect for me because I love math but also love chemistry and taking upper level classes in both disciplines wouldn’t otherwise have fit into my schedule,” said Smithers. The mathematics faculty pursued the idea of an applied mathematics major after noticing many students in the department intend to seek careers outside the field of pure mathematics. The mathematics faculty also considered the increasing number of doctoral students across the nation going into applied mathematics fields, such as statistics and biomathematics.

—Kara Paulk

Programs provide opportunities to learn more about business The Else School of Management at Millsaps will offer for the first time in the fall semester the Business Advantage Program, designed for professionals to learn about basic business principles. “Many people work in a business organization and have no formal business training,” said Dr. Blakely Fender, B.A. 1992, associate professor of economics and head of the Business Advantage Program. “We thought it would be useful to put together a program for non-business professionals to get formal business training.” Else School of Management faculty members will lead the 14-week course that will provide a fundamental understanding of accounting, economics, marketing, management, and communications. Students will analyze case studies and visit business leaders. A certificate will be awarded upon completion. The Business Advantage Program for Professionals is unique and would be a resume builder in many professions, Fender said. A therapist who wants to open his or her own practice but lacks knowledge about the business side would find the Business Advantage Program useful, Fender said. So would someone who wants to be more marketable in his or her chosen field. A low- or mid-level manager who wants to move up the corporate ladder but doesn’t have the resources or desire for a master’s of business administration degree would also benefit from the program, Fender said. Completion of the Business Advantage Program is not a substitute for the M.B.A. program, which has more extensive coursework and awards a degree upon completion. The student Business Advantage Program that is scheduled for the first time this summer also covers the business basics

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of accounting, economics, marketing, management, and communications. The four-week, eight-hour credit course appeals to students who want to be knowledgeable about business but do not plan to major in business. “I am taking the BAP to establish a basic understanding of the business world and to educate myself with issues that I may be faced with down the road in terms of finances and management,” said Katie Tebo, a Millsaps psychology major from Baton Rouge, La. A third Business Advantage Program known as the International Business Advantage Program is designed for rising high school seniors. The program allows students to study with Else School of Management faculty, travel internationally, and earn a college scholarship to Millsaps. The International Business Advantage Program teaches high school seniors about the global economy, provides an opportunity to live on the Millsaps campus, and culminates with a trip to the Millsaps Else School of Management Center for Business and Culture in Yucatán, Mexico.

—Andy Kutcher

New endowment to boost research and academic conference experiences Dr. Gene Cain introduced countless Millsaps students to the secrets of chemistry and inspired them to become research chemists, physicians, health care professionals, and teachers. Dr. Cain, emeritus professor of chemistry, died Aug. 1, 2007, but a generous gift from his wife, Helen, will ensure that the legacy of his life and work continues. “Gene was one of the College’s early and most active teacher-scholars,” said Dr. Richard Smith, senior vice president and dean of the College. “He helped transform

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our curriculum in ways that ultimately led to cutting edge undergraduate research grants from major national foundations including the Howard Hughes Medical Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and most recently, the W.M. Keck Foundation.” The C. Eugene Cain Endowment for Undergraduate Chemistry and Pre-

achieved accreditation from the American Chemical Society and acquired a reputation for successfully placing students in medical school and graduate programs. Dr. Cain was a lifetime member of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences of which he was president. He was named Chemist of the Year by the American Chemical Society, Mississippi Section in 1998. He was particularly proud of the grant programs he directed at Millsaps that were funded by both the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and focused on increasing the number of minority students who would pursue careers in medicine and scientific research. Dr. Cain’s life was a life of inquiry, Helen Cain said. He studied paper degradation—a serious problem Dr. Gene Cain introduced countless Millsaps students to the secrets of chemistry and inspired them to become research chemists, health care professionals, and teachers. with the preservation of books and historical Medical Research will provide the kind documents—at Colonial Williamsburg and of mentoring, research, and academic at Delaware’s Winterthur house museum conference experiences that Dr. Cain and presented his research about the regularly provided for his students. subject at an international conference in “I wanted to establish a permanent Japan. He was the ultimate life-learner and witness to a life so well lived, a field he kept ready for reading a prodigious stack so loved, and a College he so cherished,” of magazines, journals, and books about said Helen Cain, who was her husband’s cultivating bonsai, gardening, American research, teaching, and life partner for 49 history, furniture making, chemistry, years. “We began our life together when and Bible study. He possessed the love of we met in the Chemistry Department at learning that Millsaps College seeks to Duke University. I wanted to celebrate his nurture in its students. 42 years in the Chemistry Department at The only activity Dr. Cain loved more Millsaps College.” than research was teaching, which is why For more than 10 years, Dr. Cain when the call came from Millsaps in 1960 chaired the Chemistry Department and to join the Millsaps faculty, he eagerly the Pre-med Advisory Committee. It was left a lucrative research position at the DuPont Corporation, Helen Cain said. He during that time that the department

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used his love of research to strengthen the undergraduate pre-medical program at Millsaps College. Dr. Cain was recognized by students and faculty alike as a remarkable teacher-scholar who had an uncanny ability to connect his research with his teaching by bringing to the classroom real world stories of how chemistry affects so many fields. He spent hours side-by-side students in afternoon teaching labs, providing patient counsel, modeling outstanding scholarship, and transforming not just individual molecules but the lives of individual students.

—Holly Wagner

A college friendship remembered with a Millsaps scholarship Jim Carpenter met his college buddy, Brad Dew, at Millsaps in the late 1980s. “Brad was a sportsman, an athlete, and a scholar,” said Carpenter, B.A. 1990. “His disarming manner, keen mind, and intense sense of fairness earned him the love and respect of anyone who spent time in his presence.” Dew, who attended Millsaps from 1989 through the spring of 1992, met an untimely death when he was killed on June 7, 1992, after leaving his job at a Jackson restaurant. In the years after Dew’s death, Carpenter went to work in his family’s business and returned to Millsaps to work on his M.B.A., but he never forgot about Dew. Carpenter suggested establishing a scholarship in memory of Dew after his father, James “Joc” Carpenter, became involved in the Madison Charitable Foundation. “I talked to Dad about what I wanted to do, and he thought it was great,” he said. Wiley Hatcher, longtime friend of Joc Carpenter, established the Madison Charitable Foundation with proceeds from the sale of his pipeline engineering company. Hatcher resided in Port Gibson for many years before relocating to Houston, Texas, after the sale of his engineering company.

Jim Carpenter, standing left, Leigh Anne Carpenter and James "Joc" Carpenter established a scholarship in memory of the late Brad Dew.

“This means a great deal to us. When you lose a child, you don’t want him to be forgotten,” said Richard Dew, a Gatlinburg, Tenn., physician who has written two books about his journey through his grief. “This scholarship means Brad’s legacy will remain alive at Millsaps.” This gift is part of the Millsaps Legacy campaign, which has a goal of $160 million. Funds raised through the campaign support scholarships, facility improvements, faculty development, international educational opportunities, and academic, athletic, and fine arts programs. For more information, visit www.legacy.millsaps.edu. Your donation to the Bradley Morris Dew Endowed Scholarship Fund can be doubled. Thanks to a gift from a generous donor, matching funds that total $25,000 are available to double donations to this scholarship. For information, contact Nancy Flowers at nancy. flowers@millsaps.edu, or 601-9741454.

—Nancy Flowers “Wiley just wants to help people,” said Joc Carpenter. “He wants to give people a chance.” The Bradley Morris Dew Endowed Scholarship Fund, established with a gift of $100,000, will help Millsaps students with financial need. “We are truly grateful for this gift,” says Dr. Charles Lewis, vice president for institutional advancement. “More than 94 percent of our students receive some type of financial aid, so this gift makes a big difference for us.” Joc Carpenter and his wife, Leigh Anne, also made a gift of $2,500 to the scholarship. Although both are graduates of the University of Mississippi, they are very proud that their son chose to attend Millsaps. “He never really looked anywhere else,” said Joc Carpenter. “Millsaps was a great place for him.” Brad Dew’s parents, Richard and Jean Dew, said the scholarship is meaningful to them.

Expert on ancient disease and death speaks at Millsaps She describes herself as one who “loves disease,” particularly “when disease causes death.” And she is thrilled at the sight of bones and corpses and all that remains after life has ceased. Dr. Anglique Corthals is an expert on the study of ancient disease, death, and most fascinating—the royal mummies of Egypt. Corthals, a renowned biological/ forensic anthropologist who received her doctorate from Oxford University, spoke at Millsaps College in February as part of the 2008-09 Moreton Lecture Series in the

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Sciences. Students, faculty, and community members heard the firsthand account of what is being called the most important find in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings since the discovery of King Tutankhauman’s tomb—the discovery of the 3,500 year-old mummy, Queen Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut, who Corthals described as “a maverick,” stole the throne from her young stepson, dressed herself as a man, and in an unprecedented move, declared herself pharaoh. Although her power stretched across Egypt and her reign was prosperous, Hatshepsut's legacy was systematically erased from Egyptian history—historical records were destroyed, monuments torn down, and her corpse removed from her tomb. Corthals co-directed the Hatshepsut and Royal Egyptian Mummies Project with Dr. Zahi Hawass, Egypt's secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The project has received worldwide attention and was the recent subject of the Discovery Channel special, “Secrets of Egypt’s Lost Queen.” “My role in the television project was to set up the lab in the basement of the Cairo Museum (of Egyptian Antiquities), train scientists how to take biopsies of mummies, and analyze the results. We only had eight weeks to turn our bat cave into a top-notch lab,” she said. Corthals explained the history behind the preserved bodies of the kings and queens of the 18th, 19th, and 20th Dynasties, and she spoke about the Valley of the Kings where they were hidden. “Only one mummy has ever been found in its original tomb, that of King Tut,” she said. “All the rest were found piled in caches and many unlabeled. This was because despite the best efforts of builders, the tombs underwent constant robberies. The priests of the 21st Dynasty decided to relocate the mummies because they were at great risk of being destroyed. “The priests hurriedly moved them and didn’t leave notes as to which corpse was which. They also reused the coffins, so the mummies were all piled together. As you can imagine, there is quite a lot

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of confusion as to who they really are,” Corthals said. Corthals explained how the film follows a team of forensic experts and archaeologists led by Hawass, and how they explored crypts. Through knowledge

Instituted in 1986, the Moreton Lecture Series in the Sciences brings national experts to campus. This year's series focused on archaeological science in conjunction with the opening of the W.M. Keck Center for Instrumental and BioChemical Comparative

Dr. Anglique Corthals, a guest speaker for the Moreton Lecture Series, examines a mummy for clues about its history.

of royal Egyptian mummification and clues from two tombs linked to Hatshepsut, the team narrowed their search for Hatshepsut to four mummies from thousands of unidentified corpses. Computed tomography scans allowed the scientists to link distinct physical traits of the Hatshepsut mummy to that of her ancestors. The search was narrowed to two possibilities—both from the tomb of Hatshepsut's nanny—but the final clue lay within a canopic box inscribed with the female Pharaoh's name. A scan of the box found a tooth that, when measured, perfectly matched a missing upper molar in one of the two mummies. But although Corthals is fairly convinced the corpse is that of Queen Hatshepsut, she won’t give a “yes” until the DNA extracted during bone biopsies is conclusive and replicated. The Discovery documentary indicated the DNA results were incomplete and did not prove the mummy was Hatshepsut.

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Archaeology at Millsaps. Chocolate expert Dr. Jeffrey Hurst spoke in April about ancient people and cacao.

—Lisa Purdie

Millsaps “pops” over Welty Centennial A child in a Eudora Welty short story once remarked that, “When you get to be a hundred, you pop.” This spring, in celebration of Welty’s centennial birthday, events at Millsaps and across the country have been “popping” to celebrate the life and work of one of the 20th century’s greatest authors who gave her gift of storytelling through fiction, non-fiction, and photography. In January, the Great Topics Seminar in the Humanities and Sciences honored Welty with a semester-long study of Eudora Welty and Friends directed by Dr. Suzanne Marrs,

Welty Foundation scholar-in-residence and professor of English. In April, students and professors from more than 30 colleges visited Millsaps for the Southern Literary Festival dedicated to Welty. “Welty’s legacy lies not only in her work but in a life well lived,” Marrs said. “Over the course of her 92 years, Eudora engaged the world with all her powers and never retreated into a single, narrowly defined role. Openness to experience complemented her creative talent and helped her to produce some of the most memorable fiction of the twentieth century.” Sixteen people participated in Eudora Welty and Friends, which studied the connection between friendship and language in the work of friends and authors Eudora Welty, Elizabeth Bowen, Reynolds Price, and Ross MacDonald. “For me, this class has been an antitoxin to the corporate world, a sharpening of analytical skills, the opportunity to discuss Welty with other intelligent readers, and Suzanne Marrs, the preeminent Welty scholar and a fine writer and educator,” said Scott Naugle, M.L.S.1991, a chief administrative officer with BancorpSouth Insurance and coowner of Pass Christian Books. Many in the class are docents at the Eudora Welty House who knew Welty personally and could share valuable insights with the class. Martha Blount, a docent at the Welty house, knew Welty through social interactions with mutual friends and through her husband, Dr. Dick Blount, B.S. 1958, who was Welty’s ophthalmologist. “Suzanne has so many stories to tell about Miss Welty, and such a breadth of knowledge about the works of Welty. I have appreciated learning more about these particular friends of Miss Welty and her particular relationship with each one,” Blount said. “The diversity of our group has delighted me as we share questions and insights regarding our reading.” Others like Opal Croke grew up in the Belhaven neighborhood. She remembers getting reprimanded by Welty’s mother,

Dr. Suzanne Marrs, standing right, led members of the Great Topics Seminar in the Humanities and Sciences in a semester-long study of the language and friendship Eudora Welty shared with authors Elizabeth Bowen, Reynolds Price, and Ross MacDonald.

Chestina, for riding her bike through the Welty backyard. “There could not be a better merging of topic and teacher for me,” said Julianne Summerford, B.A. 1969, a docent at the Welty House. “Eudora Welty is my favorite writer, and Suzanne Marrs is the foremost authority on her life and work.” Welty was not only known for her lasting friendships and her magical use of language, but also as someone dedicated to seeing fiction as art and sharing her talents. In the 1960s she taught creative writing courses at Millsaps College and remains the most frequent participant of any author at the Southern Literary Festival. The festival, which since 1937 has been hosted by a revolving group of Southern colleges and universities, offers a veritable “who’s who” of Southern writers. This year authors Richard Ford, Ann Patchett, Elizabeth Spencer, and Alfred Uhry read from their own works and discussed their own friendships with Welty. “This year we had some very prominent contemporary writers, all of whom are appreciators of Miss Welty’s work and were happy to come to honor her,” said Austin Wilson, president of the Southern Literary Festival and emeritus associate professor of English at Millsaps. “Miss Welty always encouraged

younger writers and I’m sure she would be pleased with the success of these writers such as Ann Patchett, Richard Ford, and James Kimbrell, and she would be delighted at the number of younger writers who attended the festival.” The festival included workshops in fiction, non-fiction, playwriting, songwriting and poetry. Other events coordinated with centennial festivities by the Eudora Welty Foundation, New Stage Theatre, Mississippi Museum of Art, and the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. Centennial pops in Welty’s honor have been heard not only across Mississippi,

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but also around the nation and the world. Students across Mississippi are reading The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty as the "Mississippi Reads" book for 2009. Marrs has participated in programs hosted by the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration, the Mississippi Historical Society, and the Eudora Welty Society. She was part of the Old Capitol dedication of Welty’s portrait for the Mississippi Hall of Fame. During the past year, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian Magazine, Garden & Gun magazine, Southern Living, International Herald Tribune, and El Pais, Spain’s most widely circulated newspaper, have featured articles about Welty. Marrs has also participated in National Public Radio’s Selected Shorts and The Diane Rehm Show. “Eudora Welty was able to part curtains between people through her mastery of language, her ear for dialogue, her striking use of metaphor, and her creation of vivid images that bring the world alive for readers even as they complement the thematic structure of a story or novel,” Marrs said.

—Kara Paulk

Rabbi Perry Nussbaum Lecture Series April 2009 Recognized for standing their ground against racial bigotry and religious prejudice in the South during the civil rights era were from left, Bill Minor, Bea Gotthelf, Dr. Helen Barnes, and the Rev. Edwin R. King, B.A. 1958. Dr. John Bower founded the series in 2008 in honor of his friend, the late Perry E. Nussbaum, who served from 1954 until 1974 as rabbi at Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson.

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James Martin finds harmony with his role at Millsaps After a year of singing at funerals and other events at Trinity Church on Wall Street, James Martin wanted a fresh start. “I had spent a year walking past the devastation that was the World Trade Center almost every day. It affected me more than I even realized,” he said. He moved to Mississippi where his parents live, continued to take singing jobs, and landed a job two years ago teaching voice at Millsaps College. “I’m jazzed about being here because I like the focus of the College, the inter-connectedness of the educational philosophy, and the quest for excellence,” he said. Martin, an adjunct professor in the Performing Arts Department, teaches basic music skills. “Many students may perform at a high level, but I fill in the part of their education that’s missing. I start with music they may know such as something from a Broadway musical, give them something classic, and we meet in the middle.” Dr. Tim Coker, chairman of the Performing Arts Department, said Martin brings a combination of liberal arts education and professional training and experience. “He is passionate about his work with students and remains a student himself, as he seeks to find new ways to communicate about music performance with them. James’ love for his students and his desire to help them grow vocally allows for streams of communication that match relationships established by the best professors of Millsaps’ past and present.” Martin said he sees part of himself in many of his students. “I was a great student in high school, but I didn’t know really where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do. My test scores were high and I was very capable, but I couldn’t link my passion to any specific goals. Music was a huge part of the equation, but I couldn’t see clearly as

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to how I could make a go of it as a career. I needed time and a different environment to figure out who I was.” Martin thought he would major in oboe and English at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Ill., but a week filled with numerous practices changed his mind. He changed his major to voice his sophomore year. “The turning point came when my best friend was asked to sing in Amahl and The NightVisitors, and he said, ‘You should talk to my roommate.’” Martin received a master’s degree from The Juilliard School in New York, where he was a young artist with the Juilliard Opera Center and served as director and facilitator of the school’s annual Martin Luther King Celebration for many years. His performance career is unusually broad in scope, including opera, musical theater, straight drama, chamber music, and concert music. His musical repertoire includes Bach, be-bop, Busoni, Burleigh, Berg, and Bernstein. “I’ve not had a traditional career because I’ve had so many interests,” he said. Martin’s musical interests served him well during the Savannah Music Festival’s American Traditions Competition in April. Martin was among six finalists in the competition that required singers to perform a different repertoire each day. Finalists were narrowed from 99 to 28 and then to six. Accompanied by Dr. Lynn Raley, associate professor of music at Millsaps, Martin’s performance of “Ol’ Man River,” with its deep bass notes was named the emotional highlight of the final evening. Martin was also featured during Carnegie Hall’s Honor! Festival in conjunction with the Abraham Lincoln bicentennial celebration. He performed the solo recital, "Emancipation's Jubilations," in the Bruno Walter Theater at Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The recital featured spirituals and songs that Lincoln loved. Black Entertainment Television interviewed Martin for a documentary. He has appeared with orchestras and musical organizations and at music festivals

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Photo courtesy of Mississippi Opera

James Martin, adjunct professor in the Millsaps Performing Arts Department, takes the stage in the Mississippi Opera's production of "Noah's Flood." Martin, who draws upon an unusually broad performance career, was among top finalists in the Savannah Music Festival's American Traditions Competition in April.

throughout the United States and abroad in Austria, Switzerland, and Norway. He has made concert and recital appearances with New York’s Continuum, Summergarden, Joy in Singing, the American Composers Orchestra, Meet the Composers, Lincoln Center’s African American History and American Songbook Series. He has been a soloist with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Mississippi Chorus, Mississippi Opera, and the William Grant Still project of the Mississippi Arts Commission. He sings with the choir at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church,

and is involved with the Mississippi Conference for Church Music and Liturgy. Martin’s operatic roles include Sam in Trouble in Tahiti, Marcello in La boheme, and Betto in Gianni Schicchi, as well as roles in Mozart’s Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Papageno. Regional musical theater credits include Billy Flynn in Chicago, Joe in Show Boat, Billy in Some Enchanted Evening, Quixote and Cervantes in Man of La Mancha, and Lucky in Dames at Sea. “I love singing opera or lyric theater as I prefer to call it,” he said. “It’s truly the ultimate artistic expression for a performer.

You sing absolutely beautiful music, act in such a broad emotional spectrum, dance, and all while in the company of extremely talented and discriminating people on a beautiful stage. Beauty based on human knowledge, truth, and emotional honesty... now I get to share it with my students. You can’t beat that for a career.”

—Nell Luter Floyd

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Jewish Film Festival entertains, builds understanding Presenting a wide view of the Jewish experience as seen through the lenses of independent filmmakers and producers from across the globe, the Jackson Jewish Film Festival returned to the Ford Academic Complex at Millsaps College the spring semester for the seventh year. The Millsaps College Jewish Culture Organization and the Jackson Jewish community hosted the festival that is part of Jewish Cinema South: A Network of Jewish Film Festivals. Jewish Cinema South offers communities throughout the South the opportunity to host their own Jewish film festivals in cooperation with the Goldring Woldenberg Institute for Southern Jewish Life. “Every year the festival seems to get better and better. This year, we had more people than ever,” said Dr. James Bowley, faculty sponsor of the Millsaps College Jewish Culture Organization and professor of religious studies. Macy B. Hart, president of the Institute for Southern Jewish Life, started the

program in 2001 to educate and entertain local Jewish communities and the general public, and Millsaps got involved in 2002. The festival travels to 11 cities in seven states during the course of a year. The festival “serves as an educational tool for each community involved by bringing all faiths and religions together to build community and understanding,” said Lynda Yule of Clinton, a 17-year employee of the Institute for Southern Jewish Life. The festival draws members of the community and prospective students to campus. “The festival brings the outside community to Millsaps, and not just the Jewish community. This year for one film, the Jewish community invited the Muslim community for a special inter-religious film, with the result that a large number of people came to campus from both communities,” Bowley said. Volunteers from the community take care of ticket sales, coordinate transportation for visiting speakers, help with publicity, and serve as ushers, said Cheryl Katz of Madison, a member of Beth Israel Congregation. Millsaps students Alexander Nessel and Spencer Nessel, helped their mom, Marcy, spearhead the local community volunteer group. “It took us a couple weeks to prep advertising, and I

couldn’t even tell you how many volunteers we had,” Alexander Nessel said. The festival featured Sixty-Six, a nostalgic tale of childhood; The Counterfeiters, which is based on the true story of Salomon Sorowitsch, counterfeiter and bohemian; Arranged, which tells the story of an orthodox Jewish woman and a Muslim woman who are starting their careers as first-year teachers in a Brooklyn, N.Y., public school; and Praying with Lior, a documentary about the relationship Lior Liebling, a boy with Down syndrome, has with prayer and God. Matthew Olgesbee, a Millsaps student from Hattiesburg, said he couldn’t imagine a better way to spend two hours on a Wednesday night than at the festival. Millsaps student Erin Redman from Alexandria, La., said the movies were worthwhile and the quality was great. “Everyone I know that went really enjoyed the movie they saw,” she said.

—Andy Kutcher

Millsaps Chamber Singers travel to sites of ancient Greece The Millsaps College Chamber Singers, directed by Dr. Tim Coker, will travel abroad May 25-June 3 to Greece where the group will present concerts in Thessaloniki, Kavalla, and Athens. The trip itinerary will follow the journey of the Christian apostle Paul and will include a visit to Thessaloniki where he preached in the first century; Philippi, which Paul visited during his missionary journeys; Delphi, the center of the world for ancient Greeks; Athens, the capitol of Greece and its largest city; and Corinth, which played a major role in Paul’s missionary work.

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FacultyChat Black Death course provides optimistic viewpoint for facing economic woes, wars

Austin Wilson, Ph.D. Emeritus Associate Professor of English

This spring semester, my last before retirement, I taught a course on the Black Death for the tenth and presumably last time. The official name of the course is “Life in a Time of Death: Bubonic Plague and the Cult of Death,” but students call it “Black Death” and sometimes just “Death,” and I do, too. Colleagues warned me that such a course would scare students away, that they would avoid it “like the plague,” but I had utmost confidence in students’ morbid curiosity about the horrendous pandemic of the 14th century that scholars estimate killed about a third of the population from China to Iceland. Besides, as a member of the new Core Council I hoped to set an example, showing how the new core topics courses would stretch faculty members intellectually. I was no medievalist, but I had read Barbara Tuchman’s wonderful book A Distant Mirror and The Plague by Albert Camus. One of my favorite films was Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. I knew enough to know I wanted to learn more. I thought I’d teach the course a couple of times and then go back to my comfort zone, my real specialties. Later I realized that what I normally taught—creative writing, twentieth-century literature, and film studies—accounted in large measure for what attracted me to the Black Death. I was curious how writers like Chaucer, Boccaccio, and Petrarch could write in the face of the terrors of what Tuchman calls “the calamitous 14th century,” having to contend not only with the Black Death, but also the Hundred Years War, the Little Ice Age, famine, and a general attitude that the end of the world was at hand. How can artists and writers continue

to produce in such times, when all human endeavor might seem futile? Tuchman in fact reveals in her introduction that what drew her to her subject was trying to find an even worse time than our own, trying to cheer herself up about our own possibilities of surviving, or as Faulkner says, prevailing, in the face of all the odds against it. There was also The Seventh Seal and the chance to teach that film to a new generation of film goers. Of course always at the back of my mind were the parallels with AIDS and other emerging diseases. This semester the course seems even more apt than usual. One of the course’s main points is that the plague, this seemingly worst case scenario, ultimately contributed to the end of the medieval world, to capitalism replacing feudalism, to the end of one period and the rise of the next, that great period we call the Renaissance. Surely if our ancestors could survive the fourteenth century and what seemed like the end of the world as they knew it, we can survive our current economic mess, our own wars, our own catastrophes. So ultimately the subject of the Black Death is optimism. Our own. Beginning to clean out my office, I’m facing the problem of what to do with shelves of books on the Black Death and on the Middle Ages. I’ve decided to hang on to them, at least for the time being. I might write a novel about the Black Death, its hero some poor medieval scholar trying to make sense out of what seems the end of the world and discovering there is indeed life after Death.

spring–summer 2009

FacultyStaff & i n

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Universities in Afghanistan to receive textbooks collected by Millsaps professor

Dr.

So far the collection, lead by Millsaps student Taylor Cheeseman from Tarpon Springs, Fla., has resulted in more than 200 textbooks. The books are boxed, earmarked for a specific university, and sent to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. The embassy forwards the box to the university. “Books aren’t the problem,” Cheeseman A political science professor and his said. “It’s the postage. Even though we’re students are collecting used textbooks for able to use the U.S. media mail rate, it’s still university libraries in Afghanistan with the $40 a box.” help of the U.S. State Department. Cheeseman, a public management The collection began after Dr. Michael major, became involved in the project Reinhard returned from a research trip after discussing with Reinhard his interest to Afghanistan in the fall of 2008. After in working in nonprofit and charitable organizations. He hopes to one day work in developing education systems. “I believe that anything that is done to improve the education system in Afghanistan will lead to greater understanding between people of different cultures within Afghanistan and between the people of Afghanistan and the rest of the world,” Cheeseman said. Millsaps student Sabira Ebaady, from Ghazni, Afghanistan, is also involved in the project. She first met Reinhard when he was in Afghanistan in 2006 as a Fulbright visiting professor. He interviewed her for a scholarship to an American university in Afghanistan. She took the scholarship, and he promised to help her find a way to Millsaps College. Ebaady knows many contemporaries currently studying Michael Reinhard, assistant professor of political science, and students sort textbooks that will be sent to libraries in Afghanistan. at the universities who will receive the books. She says her friends are appreciative of this opportunity. speaking with several professors there at an “I believe this will be a great support Iranian University, Reinhard realized that for students and a good way of spreading the college libraries at that university and knowledge to those who love to learn others had very few books. but cannot because they are not provided “Afghanistan feels like a really foreign with sufficient opportunities,” Ebaady country but the professors were just the said. “Most of the students know English same as anywhere,” Reinhard said. “Their and will love to read books from different outlook on life and the importance of perspectives on different subjects.” education is just the same as ours.” “I think that an even bigger benefit

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than having the books for educational purposes is that this will be evidence to the Afghan people that Americans care about what’s happening in their country,” Reinhard said. “All of these books are so clearly from different sources and people, all put together without any common subject or order, that I think the very lack of organization behind these collections will somehow show that these were given by real people for personal reasons,” Reinhard said. In March, Reinhard returned to Afghanistan to continue a joint research project with a professor from the University of Tokyo. The two professors surveyed students from four universities to determine the effect on higher education when a university is backed by foreign governments. An account to collect tax-deductible donations to mail textbooks to Afghanistan has been established by the Millsaps College Office of Institutional Advancement. For more information, phone 601-974-1023.

—Kara Paulk

Welty expert recognized as humanities scholar Nationally recognized Eudora Welty scholar and Millsaps College professor Dr. Suzanne Marrs is this year’s selection for the Scholar Award from the Mississippi Humanities Council. The honor recognizes a humanities scholar who has participated in Mississippi Humanities Council programs and is an effective interpreter of the humanities to public audiences.

Marrs, professor of English and Welty Foundation scholar-in-residence, has taught at Millsaps since 1988. As an expert on southern literature and Welty, Marrs is a well respected author and speaker. Her most recent book, Eudora Welty, A Biography, was selected as an Editor’s Choice by the NewYork Times Book Review, as one of the Chicago Tribune’s “Best of 2005” in the non-fiction category, as one of Amazon.com’s top ten biographies of 2005, and as one of Booklist’s Top 10 Biographies in 2005-6. In 2006, the book also received the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Non-Fiction Award and the Mississippi Library Association Award for Non-Fiction. “In addition to her scholarship, Dr. Marrs is a fine teacher who cares deeply about Millsaps College,” said Dr. Richard A. Smith, senior vice president and dean of Millsaps College. In recognition of both her teaching and scholarship, Marrs received the Millsaps College Distinguished Professor Award in 2004 and the Mississippi Humanities Council Award in 2002. She also has twice held the Stewart Family Chair of Language and Literature.

—Kara Paulk

Professor appointed to Stewart Family Professorship Dr. Patrick Hopkins, associate professor of philosophy and chair of the Philosophy Department, has been appointed to hold the E. B. Stewart Family Professorship in Language and Literature, beginning July 1. The Stewart Professorship

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is awarded on a competitive basis for a two-year term to support the scholarly work of a faculty member teaching in the area of language and literature. It carries a reduced teaching load, a summer stipend, and a research and travel fund. Hopkins plans to work on two books while he holds the Stewart Professorship. The first will examine the extent to which highly influential dystopian books and films, such as Brave New World and The Matrix, “present a world view as evil, which could actually be understood as having truly good elements or being at least a permissible alternative form of life." The second book will “create a short dictionary of phrases and terms common in Southern language and explain the moral background assumptions of those phrases and words.” Hopkins earned a bachelor’s in philosophy and psychology from the University of Mississippi and a master’s and doctorate in philosophy from Washington University. Since coming to Millsaps in 2000, Hopkins has made a name for himself as a teacher with a gift for framing questions about ethics and other complex issues in ways that engage and excite students, said Dr. Richard A. Smith, senior vice president and dean of the College. Hopkins is an accomplished scholar of ethics, biomedical ethics, social philosophy, and the philosophy of technology, Smith said. Hopkins is the author of two edited books, numerous articles and book reviews, and many conference papers. Other Millsaps professors who have held the professorship include Dr. Laura Franey, Dr. Judith Page, Dr. Greg Miller, Dr. Suzanne Marrs, Dr. Ted Ammon, and Dr. Eric Griffin.

—Lisa Purdie

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FacultyStaff & Arts and Letters James E. Bowley (religion) presented a series of lectures for Congregation Sha’arey Israel’s 2009 Scholar-in-Residence Weekend during March in Macon, Ga. Lectures included “The After Life of the Dead Sea Scrolls,” “Beauty Will Save the World,” “Judeo-Christian and Other Political Inventions,” and “Dressing Jewish in the Bible Belt (The Bible Through Jewish Eyes).” Brent Fogt (art) had a solo exhibition

entitled “Silent Topographies” from March 13 to April 18 at the Lawndale Art Center in Houston, Texas. Catherine Freis (emerita, classical studies)

presented a lecture on "Sacred Geography, the Cross, and the Christmas Tree" in December 2008 to the Catholic Student Association at Millsaps. In February, she led the 14th annual Leadership and Great Topics Alumni Reunion Retreat at Gray Center on “Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the Patterns of Myth.” Kristen Tegtmeier Oertel (history) had her book, Bleeding Borders: Race, Gender, and Violence in Pre-Civil War Kansas, published by Louisiana State University Press in April. She gave a presentation at the Organization of American Historians meeting in Seattle in March that built upon research in Bleeding Borders. Oertel’s paper, “‘There is no manliness in a scoundrel’: Competing Visions of Masculinity at Mid-Century,” was one of three papers on a panel that focused on race and masculinity in the 19th century. Andrew Paxman (history) recently had

his dissertation awarded the Lathrop Prize for Best Dissertation by the University of Texas History Department and nominated for the general U.T. Best Dissertation Prize. Paxman’s dissertation is a biography of William Jenkins (1878-1963), who in 1901 left Shelbyville, Tenn., for Mexico.

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Through ventures in textiles, sugar, and the Mexican film industry, he became the richest businessman in the country and as a monopolist, union foe, and friend of corrupt politicians, the most controversial. Steve Smith (philosophy, religious

studies) published “What Is Scripture? Pursuing Smith’s Question” in the Fall 2008 issue of Anglican Theological Review and “Historical Meaningfulness in Shared Action” in the February 2009 issue of History & Theory. He delivered the paper “Hume, Kant, and Road Runner on Causation” at an American Philosophical Association meeting in December 2008.

Else School Carl G. Brooking (economics and

quantitative management), B.S. 1971, who has taught at Millsaps since 1981, was named emeritus professor of economics and quantitative management. Jane Collins (accounting), B.B.A. 1999, was named one of Mississippi's Top 40 Under 40 Business Professionals by the Mississippi Business Journal for 2009. Top 40 Under 40 recognizes 40 up-and-coming business leaders under the age of 40. Recipients of the award are known for making significant contributions to Mississippi’s overall economic progress.

Science Brent E. Hendrixson (biology) received a grant from the National Science Foundation to study the systematics, biogeography, and evolution of North American tarantulas. This award will provide students with research stipends and unique field experiences in the American Southwest, Mexico, and possibly Costa Rica. He received an award from a private donor in Canada to purchase new lab equipment and cover expenses related to the research thesis (field and lab work) of his honor student, Bernadette DeRussy.

Hendrixson will present a research paper at the American Arachnological Society meeting hosted by Arkansas Tech University in June. He will be the keynote speaker at the American Tarantula Society meetings in Rio Rico, Ariz., in July. Shadow JQ Robinson (physics) was a featured scientist at yearofscience2009.org in March. "Year of Science 2009" is part of the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science, which shares how science works and why science matters. Jimmie M. Purser (computer science) will appear as a panel member at the south central meeting of the Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges on April 25 in Hammond, La. The discussion topic is "Computer Science Education at Private Colleges and Universities."

Staff Brit Katz (student life) is co-author

of the article, “The continual need for improvement to avoid derailment: A study of college and university administrators,” that will be published in the mid-2009 edition of Higher Education Research and Development. Vernon E. King (development) completed

the course requirements for the master of theological studies degree from Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Va. Maribeth Wann (office of the president) is now LEED certified. LEED ( Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a third-party certification program for construction and development under the U.S. Green Buildings Council.

BUSINESS ADVANTAGE PROGRAM FOR PROFESSIONALS No matter your passion or profession, business plays a role in every career path. Whether it’s navigating the corporate ladder, marketing a new project, or effectively managing employees—basic business principles help you make the best decisions for you and your company. And the Millsaps Business Advantage Program for Professionals offers you the knowledge and insight to make the smart moves. Visit www.millsaps.edu/esom/bap.

spring–summer 2009

Millsaps equips students for

Historically considered a stepping stone to success in health care fields, Millsaps College prepares pre-health profession undergraduates in remarkable ways. Alumni are recognized for their academic preparation for professional schools, admired for their sense of community, and appreciated as well-rounded individuals. Their presence in a community strengthens its economy and health. Although far from capturing the vast numbers of successful health care professionals who are Millsaps alumni, the articles that follow reflect voices of graduates from the decades, provide a glimpse in various health professions, note some of their accomplishments, and look to the future through the eyes of current pre-health students. Whether mentoring or researching, learning or practicing, remembering or reflecting, Millsaps graduates acknowledge their experience at Millsaps set them

medical careers

on the path for success.

Mentoring Program provides

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IMI NGUYEN CAN USE A STETHOSCOPE, READ a medical chart, and knows what it’s like for a physician to interact with patients and families. Nguyen credits the Medical Mentoring Program at Millsaps for providing the opportunity to shadow a physician and solidifying her decision to pursue a career

Dr. Dana Roe Grant teaches Millsaps student Mimi Nguyen how a stethoscope works.

in medicine. “It has reinforced how much I want to be a pediatrician,” said Nguyen, a biology major from Fayette, Miss. Nguyen is among Millsaps students enrolled in the Medical Mentoring Program for the spring semester. Once a week for three or four hours, the students follow a medical professional such as a physician or dentist and learn about his or her work. The program was established in 2002 with 40 medical professionals and now includes more than 100 professionals who volunteer their time, said Dr. Kristy Stensaas, associate professor and chair of the Chemistry Department at Millsaps. Physicians, dentists, veterinarians, physical therapists, and optometrists participate, and

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many of them are Millsaps graduates, she said. “We let the physicians decide what the students can do,” she said. “Students may see surgery or go on rounds in the hospital. They really are immersed in the medical world.”

O PARTICIPATE, STUDENTS MUST BE ENROLLED in a pre-health curriculum course and have a faculty member recommend them for the program, which awards one semester hour of credit. The program averages 20 students a semester during the school year. Millsaps students may also participate in the Health Careers Development Program at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Stensaas said. “They rotate through different departments versus being with a single medical professional,” she said. The mentoring program improves a student’s chance of getting into medical school, Stensaas said. “Students need to have patient

Millsaps student Emily Mosow learns about the skeletal system from Dr. Earl T. Stubblefield.

contact before getting into medical school. It gives them a competitive edge and helps them decide if that’s the work they want to do." Dr. Dana Roe Grant, B.S. 1997, said Nguyen watches as she checks infants to make sure they’re growing properly, examines children who are sick, and writes prescriptions. “Of course, I hope she’ll want to become a pediatrician,” said Grant, a pediatrician at Jackson Pediatric Associates. Grant said she volunteered in the emergency room at the University of Mississippi when she was a student at Millsaps because there was no medical mentoring program. “Any kind of volunteer situation in a clinical setting is good if you know what medical path you want to follow and even if you don’t know,” she said.

Mentoring Dr. Earl T. Stubblefield, 1967, a gynecologist at Jackson Health care for Women, arranges it so students such as Emily Mosow of Greenville spend time in his office, watch the birth of a baby, and observe surgery. He also schedules time for students to meet with physicians in other specialties. “The idea is to let pre-med students get exposure to what doctors do,” he said.

Cope said the mentoring program gives students a real look at being a dentist. “It’s not a structured program. It just sort of happens. They say the best lessons are caught not taught.”

OPE HAS BEEN A MENTOR TO MANY MILLSAPS students, including Dr. Nathan Beavers of Madison, 1998 B.S., a pediatric dentist in Madison; Dr. Clay Johnston, 1996 B.S., a general dentist in Brookhaven; R. ANTHONY CLOY, B.S. 1987, ASSISTANT and Jenny Linder Watts, 1994 B.S., a dental hygienist. professor of family medicine at UMC, said the Many Millsaps students who have participated in the mentoring program is a way to give back to his alma mater and share his work as a physician. “It’s an opportunity for program have pursued medical careers, and some of the physician them to see if this is something they want pursue. mentors remain in contact with them. “Neha Solanki shadowed Dr. They could have an interest from an academic viewpoint and find Stubblefield, and he called and congratulated her for getting accepted into both Tulane University and the University of Mississippi out it’s not for them.” Cloy was recently shadowed by Elizabeth Meyer, a Millsaps Medical School,” Stensaas said. —N e l l l u t e r F l o y d student from Monroe, La., and Lance Philyaw, a Millsaps student

Millsaps students Elizabeth Meyer, Lamees El-Sadek, and Lance Philyaw meet with Dr. Anthony Cloy.

from Jackson, students he mentors, and Lamees El-Sadek, a Millsaps student from Crystal Springs and a Lily Intern with the Faith & Works program. “It’s exciting to learn what goes on at a doctor’s office,” Philyaw said. “With a family doctor a patient could come for anything.” Lauren Gabreski, a Millsaps student from Southhaven, said she has wanted to be a dentist since she was a child, and she welcomed the opportunity to watch Dr. Lee Cope, a pediatric dentist, work. “I mostly watch, but he explains to me what he’s doing,” she said. Cope said he finds it energizing to have students in his office. “It’s an awesome privilege and responsibility to show what daily life as a dentist is like and how to deal with others,” he said.

Dr. Lee Cope educates Millsaps student Lauren Gabreski about his work as a dentist.

Did you know? Dr. Henry Holleman, B.S. 1939, achieved a fine record as a combat surgeon, served in medical detachments during World War II and the Korean War, and was promoted to the rank of major. The details of his Mobile Army Surgical Hospital have been told in Richard Hornberger’s 1968 novel, MASH, with the character of Lt. Col. Henry Blake based on Holleman and his experiences.

spring–summer 2009

Learning Students who want medical careers find professors helpful, small classes ideal

ILLSAPS STUDENTS WHO HOPE TO BECOME physicians, dentists, and other health care professionals find nurturing professors, small classes, and a knowledgeable Pre-Health Advisory Committee helpful, but there’s more. An academic environment that encourages success and a built-in support system of students with similar goals are also part of the picture. “About half of the incoming freshmen indicate they want to be doctors,” said Dr. Kurt Thaw, chairman of the Pre-Health Advisory Committee. “They all get an e-mail that lets them know the committee is here to help.” Millsaps does not offer a pre-med major, Thaw said, because medical schools do not require such. Medical schools require a baccalaureate degree, designated prerequisite classes, and a good score on the standardized admissions exam. Thaw advises students to broaden their horizons and major in a subject they’d like to study. Emily Gilbert, a May 2009 graduate who received bachelor’s degrees in biology and classical studies, has found a unique combination that she believes will enable her to be a better physician. She will attend the University of Mississippi School of Medicine's M.D./Ph.D. program. “Biology provides the health part of the health care equation,” Gilbert wrote on her personal statement for her medical school application. “For me, my classical studies major greatly helps to provide the care half. My classical studies courses, especially my Homer class with Dr. (Catherine) Freis, have been influential as well. Drawing upon my readings as a student of classics especially Homer's words in Book XXIV of his Iliad, I know that I shall be able to combine both health and care into health care as it should be. Homer's words in Book XXIV of the Iliad convey the idea of a shared humanity between me, you, and all in the world.” The Pre-Health Advisory Committee schedules meetings to let freshmen and sophomores know what classes are required for entrance into medical and dental schools and other programs and informs them of required standardized tests. “With our juniors and seniors it’s a matter of making sure they know what they need,” Thaw said.

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The committee arranges for admissions directors at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, University of Mississippi School of Dentistry, and Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans to speak to students. Recruiters with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army are invited, too. Thaw, associate professor of psychology; Dr. Jim McKeown, professor of biology; and Bob Nevins, associate professor of biology, have spent sabbaticals doing research at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and have developed relationships with professors there. Gilbert said she found the Pre-Health Committee helpful in providing practice for the round of interviews during the medical school interview day. “By the time interviewing with members of the admissions committee at my prospective school came around, I was already comfortable articulating answers to typical medical school interview questions because of the one hour spent with the Pre-Health Committee. The committee is also useful because most medical schools will either accept three letters of recommendation or simply one letter of recommendation from a Pre-Health Committee. Once you provide the Pre-Health Committee with the list of schools to which you are applying, the committee handles getting your letter in to the American Medical College Application Service. It cuts down on your stress of making sure each letter arrives at the right place since the committee mails your one letter to the service.” Entrance into medical or dental school does not require a perfect 4.0 grade point average, Thaw said. “We do everything we can to help them realize their goals,” said McKeown, an organizer of the first Pre-Health Advisory Committee in the late 1960s. “Millsaps challenges students. Our students are ready for the professional school they want to attend. They’ll have a lot of new information thrown at them, and they’re more than capable of handling it.” Students who excel are those who persevere when they have difficulty with a class and a good work ethic when it comes to studying. “Unless you learn to study you won’t make it,” McKeown said.

ILBERT NAMES DR. ELIzABETH BRANDON, WHO taught her zoology, as influential. “She was both a (Millsaps) adjunct professor of biology and postdoctoral fellow in the Physiology and Biophysics Department at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. She told me about a summer internship that their department offered and encouraged me to apply. She even took me to the physiology department and introduced me to Dr. Michael Ryan, who hired me as his summer student. Dr. Ryan has now been my mentor since the summer of 2006, and I’ll be his graduate student soon.” Gilbert said she found comparative vertebrate morphology and histology taught by McKeown a resource. “I recently attended a program at UMC giving some medical school applicants a second look at the school. At this program, I was able to attend a first-year medical student physiology lecture and found that I could answer every question the professor asked thanks to what Dr. McKeown had

Learning

Emily Gilbert spent countless hours in science labs as a student at Millsaps. She will attend the University of Mississippi School of Medicine M.D./Ph.D program.

already taught me in his classes. Dr. McKeown has definitely helped prepare me for medical school." Millsaps attracts quality students, classes are small, and professors are available when extra help is needed, said Nevins. One thing that’s missing: cutthroat competition among students, he said. “Our students help each other study,” he said. McKeown said he believes a liberal arts education makes for a well-rounded physician. “You want a doctor who can empathize, relate, and talk to you,” he said. “You expect them to have scientific knowledge.” —N e l l l u t e r F l o y d

Did you know? Dr. Ruth Kellum Fredericks, B.S. 1980, has made a name for herself in neurology and neuro-oncology. A Mississippi Senate resolution in 2005 recognized her for her medical career and as “evidence that a physician can be effective—and self-protective— without placing an emotional barrier between herself and desperately ill patients. Dr. Fredericks gives of her very soul when caring for patients. She laughs and cries with patients and their families, and they repeatedly tell her she’s like their best friend.”

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Researching Grant enables collaborative research projects

T’S BEEN 20 YEARS SINCE MILLSAPS RECEIVED A $600,000 grant from a nonprofit medical research organization founded by aviator and industrialist Howard R. Hughes, and the collaborative research projects it encouraged are still an integral part of the sciences.

In 1988 Millsaps received the grant to transform the undergraduate research program and strengthen the College’s teaching and research programs in the biological sciences. The grant provided for faculty appointments in molecular biology and biochemistry, summer research opportunities for science faculty and students, acquisition of laboratory instrumentation and computer equipment, undergraduate fellowships for minority students in the sciences, and laboratory training for local high school teachers and students. One of the faculty members hired was Dr. Timothy Ward, current professor of chemistry, who joined the faculty in June of 1990. He was charged with transforming the College’s undergraduate

Dr. Tim Ward, professor of chemistry, guided Aprile Gilmore in her study of science when she was a Millsaps student. She is now a medical student at the University of Mississippi.

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Researching research program to get more students admitted to medical and graduate schools. The grant paid 100 percent of the salary for the two faculty members for the first year and then decreased in 20 percent increments until the professors met tenure. “Dr. Ward has played a key role in Millsaps’ efforts to build a national and international reputation in the sciences,” said Dr. Richard A. Smith, senior vice president and dean of the College. “He has taken what the Howard Hughes Grant began and formed an extraordinary program that is giving our students unparalleled opportunities for undergraduate research in real-world settings.” The Howard Hughes Medical Institute Grant has led to the successful placement of numerous students in professional schools. In addition, the grant helped faculty members complete research projects that boosted the national reputation of the science departments and led to an increased acceptance of students into the country's top graduate research schools and medical professional programs. “The Howard Hughes Grant was a big deal because this was really the catalyst for Millsaps faculty to change to a teacher-scholar model,” Ward said. “It changed the way we as professors viewed ourselves. Teaching remained the top priority but we concurrently began to focus on contributing to the national and international body of scholarship.” Since the grant, the College has hired many faculty members that fit the teacher-scholar model that has transformed the culture in the sciences division. These faculty members are able to focus on individual research projects, which in turn became specialized interdisciplinary programs—something that is in high demand by today’s students, Ward said. Programs that cross disciplines such as the Keck Center for Instrumental and BioChemical Comparative Archeology, Living in Yucatán, archaeology programs in Albania, Tanzania, and Yellowstone National Park, a Medical Mentoring Program with Jackson area physicians and health care professionals, and the Faith & Work Initiative would not be possible without the changes in divisional culture instituted by the grant. “Students who 20 years ago were interested in majoring in just chemistry or biology are now looking for programs like archaeology, forensics, etc.,” Ward said. “I always tell students interested in the sciences to get as broad an experience as possible in the different sciences,” Ward said. “The nature of science is true interdisciplinary and team-orientated. Our educational approach mirrors what the world is like now.”

URRENTLY STUDENTS ARE ENROLLED IN MEDICAL schools at Johns Hopkins University, Emory University, Vanderbilt University, Tulane University, the University of Virginia, the University of Tennessee, the University of Alabama, and the University of Mississippi. To his many students, Ward has been professor, advisor, friend, colleague, and dad all rolled into one. “The greatest reward is watching students who come into the laboratory and over their college career develop their abilities and

are able to set very high goals. They are amazed to see the potential impact their abilities can have,” Ward said. “To get to see a student’s career develop through your mentoring and relationship and to be a part of his or her goals and dreams is really a cool thing.”

R. TONY BELL WAS ONE OF THE FIRST STUDENTS to benefit from the grant and Ward’s guidance when he came to Millsaps as a freshman in 1990. “I didn’t know anybody when I came to Millsaps,” Bell said, a native of Biloxi who received a bachelor's degree from Millsaps in 1994. “I had Dr. Ward second semester of my freshman year, and working with him was the springboard for graduate school. He gave me an introduction to the lifestyle of academia where you work really hard on things you’re passionate about.” Since leaving Millsaps, Bell has received a master’s degree and a doctorate in chemistry and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Columbia University and Harvard Medical School. Aprile Gilmore, a 2007 honors graduate in chemistry and a current medical student at the University of Mississippi, considers Ward her “Millsaps dad” and says his guidance and encouragement as an academic and research advisor taught her discipline and responsibility. “Dr. Ward always believed in me, even in times when I did not believe in myself. On graduation day after I received the Founder’s Medal, Dr. Ward told me something that I will always carry with me; he said that he could not be any prouder of me than if I were his own daughter,” Gilmore said. “It was at this moment that I realized that Millsaps College would always be a part of my life, supporting me and cheering me on every step of the way.” —

Kara PaulK

Did you know? Dr. Pat Barrett, B.A. 1970, is the 2008-2009 president of the Mississippi State Medical Association, a physician organization serving as an advocate for its members, their patients, and the public health. The association promotes ethical, educational, and clinical standards for the medical profession and the enactment of just medical laws.

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Reflecting Millsaps alumni contribute to well-being of Mississippi small towns, medical centers

ILLSAPS COLLEGE ALUMNI WORK IN THE field of health care throughout Mississippi, contributing not only to the care of residents, the operation of medical centers, and the vitality of small towns, but also to the state’s economy. “In Mississippi, a physician in any small community has over a $1 million economic development impact for the community, but more than that, a physician has an important influence on the health of the community,” said Dr. Diane K. Beebe, professor and chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. “Graduates of Millsaps are extraordinarily well prepared for medical school. They are solid students with competitive GPAs and MCAT scores, but even more than the academics, they are notable because of their participation in other activities. Their well-rounded experience shows up in their interpersonal skills and sense of community.” The following pages hold reflections of Mississippi physicians from more than six decades and are followed by feature stories about medical professionals, ranging from a family physician to a veterinarian. In his 47 years at Millsaps, Dr. Jim McKeown, professor of biology, has seen hundreds of Millsaps students become physicians and hundreds more become dentists. And that doesn’t include alumni who are pharmacists, physical therapists, registered nurses, and other health care professionals. “The students who persevere, work at it and mature are the ones who achieve success in the health care field,” he said. No matter their medical specialty, Millsaps alumni share a common bond: They acknowledge their experiences at Millsaps prepared them for success in their chosen field.

Calling all Jackson Area Alumni Are you a physician, lawyer, minister, or business professional living in the Jackson area? If so, then join our club—or shall we say “your” club. We have recently added several affinity groups to our alumni network: the Millsaps Medical Professionals Alumni Club, the Millsaps Lawyers Alumni Club, the Millsaps Clergy Alumni Club, and the Millsaps Business Professionals Alumni Club. Creating affinity groups for Millsaps alumni in the Jackson area also creates valuable opportunities for alumni to socialize in the city. An affinity group is a gathering of Millsaps alumni who have their alumni status and some other relevant characteristic such as professional interests in common. Each group has already held a successful event and offers the opportunity to make time at alumni gatherings even more meaningful. Visit www.millsaps.edu/alumni frequently for an updated list of affinity group events. Need more information? Contact Associate Director of Alumni Relations Brooks Brower at 601-974-1028 or email at brooks.brower@millsaps.edu.

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Here’s what some alumni had to say: Dr. John D. Wofford, B.S. 1950, Millsaps College, retired physician who served as physician at Millsaps in the early years of his practice from July 1958 until 1962

He completed his medical degree before Mississippi had a four-year medical school. It had a two-year medical school prior to 1955. At that time many who were pursuing a medical degree went out of state, to Tennessee, Tulane in New Orleans, Atlanta and Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pa. “There were about 12 of us from Mississippi in medical school at Jefferson. All but one of us came back to Mississippi and the one who did not return went to Memphis. The dean of Jefferson was from Mississippi and encouraged Mississippi graduates to come there.” Many members of Wofford’s family and that of his wife, Elizabeth Ridgway Wofford, have attended Millsaps. When the college started the Memory Brick program that places inscribed bricks in the center of the Bowl, the family bought 25 bricks to commemorate family members they counted at that time who had attended Millsaps. Dr. Kermit Till, B.S. 1959, retired physician who wrote about his 43-year career in the book, The Romance of Medicine (so named because the practice of medicine was his next love after his wife and children)

“Millsaps constantly kept pressure on you, whether you were in English, German or whatever. It was a pressure to do well— not pressure that made you nervous or anxious—but pressure that lets you know what was expected of you.” Till said his medical school class at the University of Mississippi had 78 students, 22 from Millsaps. At the end of four years about 20 students had dropped out but none from Millsaps. “When I got through, and I saw that all 22 Millsaps graduates in my medical class finished, I realized Millsaps had something to do with it.” Dr. Don Q. Mitchell, B.S. 1964, retired allergist

“The faculty at Millsaps was good when I was there and still is good. The student body was good when I was there and still is good. If you have good folks around you, you feed off each other.” Mitchell is among 14 members of the medical school admissions committee for the University of Mississippi. “Every year there are Millsaps students headed to medi-

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cal school, and I get to interview them,” he said. Mitchell, a trustee, met his wife, Mary Sue McDonnell Mitchell, B.A. 1963, at Millsaps. Dr. Gene Barrett, 1970, orthopedic surgeon

Initially an alternate for medical school at the University of Mississippi, he remembers being a senior at Millsaps for two weeks and then receiving his acceptance into medical school. “I went from attending a genetics class at Millsaps College in the morning to attending histology lab at UMC later that day. Millsaps was a real stepping stone. It taught you how to study.” Barrett said Dr. Jim McKeown and Professor Bob Nevins made sure students were prepared in the biological sciences, and Dr. Eugene Cain and Dr. Al Berry made sure students were knowledgeable about chemistry. “Most people I went to school with went from attending Millsaps to straight across North State Street to attend medical school at UMC.” Barrett is head team physician for the Millsaps Athletic Department and provide coverage for football games. His clinic, Mississippi Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Clinic, provides physicians, athletic trainers, and support staff for physicals for Millsaps athletes. Dr. Vonda Reeves-Darby, B.S. 1978, gastroenterologist

“The pre-med mentoring program surrounded me with people who wouldn’t let me stray too far from the fold. But the Millsaps attitude of self-accountability allowed me to test my boundaries. The experience taught me a very important lesson that I have followed throughout my life—boundaries are not obstructions, but are challenges to be addressed—and flattened when necessary.” Dr. Thomas Floyd “Tom” Carey, Jr. of Natchez, B.S. 1985, obstetrician-gynecologist

“I knew I was going into the pre-med program. My father, Dr. Thomas Floyd Carey, a pediatrician in McComb, had gone to Millsaps. What I liked was we had the support of professors, and you were around intelligent people. If you had trouble with a concept you could always go talk to your professor and get help. Dr. Al Berry, who taught chemistry, was always helpful, so was Dr. George Ezell." “Many of the guys in Ezelle Hall went into medicine. All of the Millsaps students who got into medical school knew each other.” Floyd met his wife, Delecia Seay, B.A. 1987, at Millsaps.

Dr. Anthony Cloy, B.S. 1987, assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center

“Millsaps, while having a strong premed reputation, always taught the 'big picture.’ This liberal arts background has been especially helpful for me as a family physician in seeing the patient in a more holistic way. Similarly, learning concepts as opposed to facts has made synthesizing volumes of information into a practical tool with which to practice medicine.”

Dr. Jayson Payne, B.S. 2001, who will finish his general surgery residency at UMC in 2011

“Millsaps forced me to learn new ways to study and retain information, and I used many of those methods throughout medical school. I learned a lot while at Millsaps, not just from the books either. I learned many life lessons that have shaped who I am today. My experience with Greek life as a Lambda Chi Alpha also taught me a lot about time management, which is particularly important in the field of medicine. He said many professors helped him along the way. “The one that stands out the most is Dr. Kristina Stensaas, associate professor of chemistry. If I'm not mistaken my first year at Millsaps was also her first year as a professor.”

Dr. Dana Roe Grant, B.S. 1997, pediatrician

“I learned time management and how to study at Millsaps. That was critical during medical school because there’s so much material you have to learn in a short amount of time.” Grant named Dr. Sarah Lea McGuire, professor of biology, as influential. “I’m still good friends with her.”

Dr. Alisha Stockton, B.S. 2000, a third-year resident at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine who will begin work as a pediatrician at Rankin Children's Group in August

“I gained confidence from my time at Millsaps that I could compete for a spot in higher education. Dr. McKeown is a wonderful professor and has so much to give to his students.”

,,,

Aprile Gilmore, B.S. 2007, second-year student, University of Mississippi School of Medicine

“The courses at Millsaps challenge you to think in new and different ways. Even the courses that are more fact-based, like math and sciences, require in-depth thinking, reasoning, analysis, and logic. These skills are absolutely essential for success in medical school and as a practicing physician.”

Looking for outstanding alumni Know of any outstanding alumni who have distinguished themselves in health care or other fields? Please e-mail us at communications@millsaps.edu. We welcome your suggestions for future issues of the Millsaps Magazine.

Did you know? Dr. Wallace Conerly, B.S. 1957, served as chief executive officer of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the state's only academic health sciences center. He led a 7,200- employee institution with an annual budget of more than $610 million. He was the chief architect of the medical center's ongoing expansion program. Phase one of the program, completed in 1999, included a new children's hospital, a new women and infant's hospital, a building for the School of Health Related Professions, an addition to the School of Nursing, a student union, two parking garages, and an imaging center. He also gets credit for a dramatic increase in the medical center's budget, a multimillion-dollar endowment, new alliances that enhanced research, and solid progress toward a more ethnically diverse environment at the medical center.

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Home and family tied in ways that have significance for Kosciusko and beyond

OME AND FAMILY ARE WORDS RICH WITH meaning for Dr. Tim Alford. The 1978 Millsaps graduate has spent nearly 25 years providing medical care to families in rural Kosciusko, 70 miles northeast of Jackson. That in itself is a career full of meaning. Yet on the state and national level, he has influenced the practice of family medicine and how it is valued by the medical community and legislators. His work as president of the Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians and as chair of the National Commission on Legislation for the American Academy of Family Physicians allowed him be part of discussions aimed at finding solutions to rising health care costs. Globally, such discussions

among physicians of various specialties, legislators and policy leaders are coming to fruition in a concept now called the patientcentered medical home. The patient-centered medical home seeks to provide “comprehensive primary care for people of all ages and medical conditions” in a manner that reduces complexity for the patient, controls cost, maintains quality, and effectively coordinates medical services under the leadership of a personal primary care physician selected by the patient, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. “The patient-centered medical home concept puts family practice as the quarterback of patient care,” said Alford. “In a large way, it offers a more practical solution to escalating health costs. It ditches the former ‘boutique medicine approach’ where patients make decisions about what specialist to approach for a certain problem and “acknowledges that 90-95 percent of health issues can be taken care of by family practice offices. It allows the family physician to get the patient to specialty sources when needed. Ultimately, it delivers a bigger bang for the buck.” Alford’s service on the National Commission on Legislation for the American Academy of Family Physicians from 2002 to 2006 allowed him input at the early stages of a topic that is now being piloted in several states, seriously discussed in congressional offices, and advocated by the American Academy of Family Physicians and

Dr. Tim Alford, who practices family medicine in Kosciusko, checks the heart rate of patient, Carolyn Ellis, of Kosciusko. Alford is a former president of the Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians.

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other medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, which originally introduced the concept, the American Osteopathic Association, and the American College of Physicians. “The rise in cost is unsustainable for employees and employers. I don’t think we have faced up to the reality that this is unsustainable,” said Alford. “The patient-centered medical home could very well be a real part of the solution of the rising cost of health care.” Alford referred to the published work of Barbara Starfield, M.D., M.P.H, of Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in Baltimore that bolstered earlier studies that all found lower mortality rates in areas with more primary care physicians. General practitioners, family medicine specialists, pediatricians, general internists, osteopathic medical physicians, and some obstetricians and gynecologists consider their practice primary care.

AMILY ALSO APPLIES TO HIS EXPERIENCE AT MILLSAPS College. With siblings who attended other nationallyrecognized elite colleges similar to Millsaps, Alford was not unfamiliar with the type of opportunity Millsaps presented. Yet Millsaps was not completely on his radar. “I knew I was interested in medicine, and I was trying to determine what direction to take,” said Alford. “My parents and Elizabeth Wofford, B.A. 1950, (spouse of Dr. John D. Wofford Sr., B.S. 1950), sort of triangulated on me. I remember a conversation in her kitchen where she told me ‘You will thrive in the Millsaps environment, and you need to go there.’ The Woffords have a strong legacy at Millsaps, and her comments made an impression on me. It was a pivotal moment.” This encouragement from family and friends resulted in a path that Alford says serves him each day, especially with the formidable issues that arise in medicine. “Millsaps provided educational balance. The biggest gift that Millsaps gave me is to try to look at any issue on balance and to be aware of your own biases in your assessment of an issue. I’m extremely grateful for that experience at Millsaps, and not a day goes by that I’m not applying that well-rounded experience in daily life.” With all the complicated challenges in medicine, including the required conversion to electronic medical records, Alford sees a lot of anger and frustration in his field. “The tendency in life is to get extremely frustrated. Anger, frustration, and cynicism are common emotions experienced in medicine. We have to do better than that. Millsaps has given me the intellectual fortitude to try to work the problem out rather than just throw my hands up. We have significant problems before us. Yet I draw on my Millsaps courses and professors—including Dr. T.W. Lewis in religion and Dr. Michael Mitias in philosophy—and find that what I learned in those classes helps in everyday situations. With the right approach to problems, I can still enjoy and appreciate the essence of what I do.” Alford found the discipline of good study habits developed at Millsaps proved useful in medical school at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. In particular, he found that in biochemistry, he had good preparation, and in histology, he could “absolutely coast and apply energies elsewhere” because of the Millsaps back-

ground. He completed a community-based residency in Columbus, Ga., where he had an enriching family medicine experience that provided full training in pediatrics, obstetrics, and gynecology. Both Alford and his wife, Mary Al, “really wanted to come back to Mississippi,” and chose Kosciusko. The experience in residency in Georgia proved valuable as he worked with others to establish cooperative relationships with state medical agencies for maternal and child health care needs. This effort contributed to lower infant mortality in Kosciusko in his early years of practice. Millsaps, medicine, and family are interwoven for Alford. His wife, Mary Al Alford, B.A. 1977, is daughter of Dr. Alton Cobb, former State health officer for nearly two decades. Her brother, Dr. Thomas Cobb, B.S. 1979, is an obstetrician-gynecologist and his wife, Laura Lea Cobb, B.S. 1979, is a physical therapist. The Alford’s daughter, Leah, a 2007 Millsaps graduate and Phi Beta Kappa member, who matriculated through pre-med, chose to teach biology rather than pursue medicine. Dr. Alford is pleased with her choice. “I must say she has found her place and it is great to see her apply her skills and do one of the most important things you can do—teach the next generation.” While Leah teaches biology at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Ridgeland, her husband Tal Hendrick, B.S. 2006, is the one in medical school. A second-year medical student at UMC, Tal is remembered at Millsaps as a baseball standout and outstanding student. The Alfords have two other children, Timothy and John Paul, and the family is involved in the United Methodist Church, which Alford says is a big part of his family’s life. Dr. Alford keeps in touch with his former Millsaps professor and friend, Dr. Jim McKeown, and the two hunt quail together frequently. Now mid-career, Alford still looks forward to his work, despite the challenges faced in medicine. “Practicing medicine is just a joy for me. It has helped me realize my patients are not only my patients, but my best friends,” he said, which is valuable because “the essence of family medicine is to understand patients entirely.” What better friend could patients have during these times than an advocate for their health—and an advocate for the family—both at home and across the nation?

—P a t t i W a d e

Did you know? Dr. Ed Thompson, B.A. 1969, serves as the state health officer for the Mississippi State Department of Health, which directs a wide range of essential health services throughout the state's 82 counties and nine public health districts. He spent three years at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention in Atlanta as its chief of Public Health Practice and as deputy director for Public Health Services.

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Millsaps alumnus moves from medicine to small town mayor

R. DAYTON E. WHITES DESCRIBES HIMSELF AS A “common old guy” who “enjoys doing things to make life better for others.” As a doctor for nearly 40 years and mayor of the small south Mississippi town of Lucedale, Whites credits Millsaps with providing many basics for a fulfilling life—a life characterized by service. Originally from Lucedale, a town of 2,800 about an hour’s drive

from the Gulf Coast, Whites moved a few times during his educational years before settling permanently in his hometown. After a year at a junior college and a year at the University of Mississippi, he attended Millsaps for a summer term and stayed. Graduating with a bachelor’s in science in 1956 after three years as an undergraduate, he entered medical school at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. After graduation, he completed a family practice rotation in Greenville, S.C. From that point on, it was Lucedale all the way, beginning in 1961. Whites and his wife, Susanne, have four children. Like many who have attended Millsaps, a life of service to others seems very natural to Whites. “Millsaps had a lot to do with preparing me for the life I’ve had,” said Whites. The small atmosphere and faculty, a group of good friends, and the turbulent times were pieces of that preparation. “I enjoyed the atmosphere and the professors,” Whites said, commenting about what made Millsaps the right place for him to set his path to becoming a doctor. “We had a pre-med department

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interested in helping you get what you needed for medical school. I matured a lot at Millsaps and felt like it helped me see that what I was doing was right. Millsaps helped it all come together.” The camaraderie with a cluster of students was also a key to his experience at Millsaps. Dr. Whites and six to seven other students who stayed in the dorm then known as Wollard Hall, located on Faculty Row, were “almost like a fraternity” and still keep in touch. As a Millsaps student of the late 1950s, Whites remembers being part of several meetings where solutions were sought to improve race relations. He recalls the presence of Edwin King, B.A. 1958, then a student on campus then who went on to be influential in race relations. Whites carried those experiences over to his medical practice in Lucedale. He stopped the practice of separate waiting rooms for blacks and whites in his clinic in the 1960s. He was elected to the school board during the integration of George County Schools, the first school system to totally integrate. “We had no problems then and we still have no problems. We have good race relations,” Whites said. Over the decades, Whites has seen medicine evolve using technology, but he still values the diagnostic skills characteristic of family practice physicians. “In the 60s, we had our hands, eyes, ears, blood pressure cuff, and otoscope—and we had to make a diagnosis,” he said. “We are so procedureminded now. If a person comes in with a headache, the first tendency may be to do a CT scan because the technology is available today. Yet we need to retain a certain amount of traditional diagnostic medicine that requires the ability to make a diagnosis without some of the technology available.”

ESIDES INDIVIDUAL CARE OF PATIENTS, WHITES encourages medical professionals as well as elected leaders to become active in promoting health in their communities by “working on a local level to change the terrible health situation in Mississippi. It is time for mayors and aldermen of cities to realize we are in a position to influence the health of our communities,” he said. In the cities of Louisville, Hattiesburg, and Lucedale, physicians and city leaders are joining together to “make Mississippi healthy one city at a time.” The Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians and the Mississippi Municipal League are involved in this project that includes smokefree initiatives, parks, community health committees, and seat-belt and child restraint use. Whites also serves on the Health Committee of the Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians. With 19 board-certified full-time physicians in the city and innovative efforts such as the “healthy cities” initiative, Whites believes Lucedale offers the best rural medicine in the state. The medical community in Lucedale serves several surrounding counties as

well, and provides a good retirement area because of light traffic and proximity to medical care. From caring about the health of families to the health of a community, Whites has demonstrated devotion to his city and its people. “I hope I have made a difference in Lucedale and George County,” he said.

—Patti Wade

Two Millsaps graduates pursue practice of ophthalmology in Oxford

HE SHARED CONNECTIONS OF MEDICAL SERVICE, Mississippi, and Millsaps College have formed a link between two Millsaps graduates and ophthalmologists from different generations. Dr. James Rayner and Dr. Randy Richardson, both of Oxford, joined the same ophthalmology practice steeped in medical tradition and have worked with a clinic that connects working uninsured persons with philanthropic medical providers. Rayner, B.S. 1962, had been to Oxford only once before he and his wife, the former Mary Sharp Lickfold of Grenada, began considering where to open a clinic in the 1970s. After completing a medical degree at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, an internship and residency at University of Tennessee at Memphis, and a Heed Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, plus a year of work at Children’s Hospital in San Francisco, he joined an established clinic in Oxford. The clinic now known as Rayner Eye Clinic was then Rogers Clinic, and in even earlier years, had been Guyton Clinic, owned by ear, nose, and throat specialist Dr. Billy Guyton, father of Dr. Arthur Guyton, renowned physiologist, author, and researcher in cardiovascular physiology. When Randy Richardson, B.S. 1981, joined the clinic in 1989, neither knew the other was a Millsaps graduate. “I liked Dr. Richardson a lot. He is a nice young man. I would have hired him anyway even if he had not been a Millsaps graduate,” said Dr. Rayner. A friend encouraged Richardson to attend Millsaps. “I was a lifelong Methodist and had always heard of Millsaps and its reputation,” said Richardson, who is originally from Union. A high school

friend who was a Millsaps student thought he would like the College and suggested he transfer to Millsaps after graduation from East Central Community College. Though the first semester was tough, he adapted to the academic environment. Millsaps prepared him for medical school by helping him develop “critical thinking rather than just learning facts. I learned to analyze things and form opinions,” he said. He completed both his medical degree and residency in general ophthalmology at UMC. Developing a group of lifelong friends, and keeping in touch with them, is a highlight of his time at Millsaps. “Some of the closest friends I have I made at Millsaps,” Richardson said.

O R R AY N E R , AT T E N D I N G M I L L S A P S A F T E R completing high school in Newton County was an easy decision. “When I made up my mind to be a doctor, I knew Millsaps was the best place to go,” he said, noting that it offered a well-rounded education and good premedical preparation. He intended to graduate in three years and enter medical school. The timing of his graduation was altered when his Reserve unit was activated during the Berlin Crisis in 1961. Rayner says a strong work ethic is the most important lesson of his Millsaps education. He took 18 to 21 hours per semester and studied five to seven nights per week. “It was too hard. Other than that it was all right,” Rayner said with a chuckle. “My perception was that at Millsaps it was easy to find someone with whom to study,” but it was a bit more difficult to find someone with whom to socialize since so many were dedicated to studies. That work ethic served him well in medical school, though. "I'm not sure all universities prepare students this way," he said. "In

Did you know? The late Dr. Robert E. “Bob” Blount, B.S. 1928, served as commander of the 129th General Hospital in Europe and was the personal physician of General Douglas MacArthur during World War II.

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fact, I know they do not." He noted that in medical school a common adage is, "If you drop your pencil, you get behind." Now in retirement, Rayner is involved in a free clinic for the working uninsured. As chairman of the board for the Oxford Medical Ministries Clinic, he helps provide medical care to working people who are not offered insurance by their employers. Dr. Rayner said there are 191 employers in the area that do not provide insurance. The clinic provides general medical care on site and coordination with specialists who agree to take referrals from Oxford Medical Ministries Clinic. Specialists typically agree to see two working uninsured patients per month at no charge. Fellow ophthalmologist Richardson is among these specialists. The Rayner’s eldest daughter, Roane, completed an M.B.A. at Millsaps in 1994 and also was adjunct professor of mathematics at the College. Her husband is Robert V. Grantham, M.B.A. 1993.

—Patti Wade

Greenville dentist keeps patients smiling, healthy at Delta Smile Designs

HIS SUMMER DR. DAVID H . L e e w i l l c e l eb r at e 25 years of practicing dentistry in his hometown of Greenville. “I came to Millsaps because of its reputation of getting students accepted into medical and dental schools,” Lee said. “I received my acceptance letter the first day they were sent out from UMC School of Dentistry. I would say that pretty well sums it up that I was well prepared.” As a chemistry major, Lee greatly admired Dr. Al Berry for his help and encouragement. He also enjoyed the abilities of professors across many departments such as math, English and biology. During his time at Millsaps, he met his wife, Brister, B.B.A. 1978, on a blind date to the Kappa Alpha fraternity initiation dance. The pair recently celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary and have two teenage daughters, Ellen Brister and Adele. Since graduating from dental school, Lee has focused on providing his patients with a full range of dental services by continuing his dentistry training and education. In 1999, he completed a premiere cosmetic course known as PAClive at the University of the Pacific at San Francisco. At his clinic, Delta Smile Designs, in Greenville, Lee does every-

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thing from basic fillings and dental care to implants, periodontal gum surgeries, root canals, and cosmetic surgery. “People in rural Mississippi have access issues to dentistry,” Lee said. “I continue my education so I can offer the dental technology to benefit my patients so they don’t have to go to Jackson or Memphis.” For Lee, beginning to build a career in Greenville was an easy choice. His first partner was a dentist that he knew in high school. Lee eventually bought his practice and then purchased another practice from a dentist who was just across the street. “Most people who get out of dental school immediately settle in the larger cities. They see it as more things to do. I see it as more traffic,” Lee said. “In Greenville I see a lot of people who taught me in high school or saw me play sports or who remember my parents. There’s always some connection.” When he’s not working at his clinic, Lee volunteers with a range of professional and civic organizations including his church, the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, and currently serves on the board of trustees for the Mississippi Dental Association.

—K a r a P a u l K

Millsaps graduate treats injured and sick pets at emergency animal clinic

ENNIFER LEWANDO SUTTON SETS BROKEN BONES, cares for accident victims, and treats patients with all kinds of illnesses—and none of them say a word. She’s a veterinarian and partner at Gulf Coast Veterinary Emergency Hospital in Biloxi. Sutton, B.S. 1992, knew she wanted a career working in a medical field. A class that she took as a sophomore at Millsaps College to learn about techniques for using microscopes confirmed her medical career would involve care of animals. Sutton recalls going to a Jackson veterinary clinic to obtain tissue samples to examine using an electron microscope in a class taught by Dr. David Lentz, and that’s when she got an inside view of a veterinarian’s clinic. “I’d never been behind-the-scenes at an animal hospital,” she said. She worked at North State Animal Hospital her senior year at Millsaps and also worked with a wildlife rescue group. “Dr. Adrian Whittington and Dr. Michael Fromm were great mentors,” she said. After graduating with a degree in biology, she worked from May 1992 until December 1995 as a research associate in the biomedical polymer chemistry lab at Louisiana State University Eye Clinic in New Orleans. She assisted with research to determine which medium would best prevent rejection during corneal transplants, tested materials used in vascular grafts in humans, and conducted research about attaching a prosthetic eye to the actual muscles in the eye to make for a more realistic appearance.

Dr. Jennifer Lewando Sutton is a veterinarian at Gulf Coast Veterinary Emergency Hospital in Biloxi. She cared for many injured and ill pets after Hurricane Katrina.

Even at the eye clinic, she wasn’t far from animals. “I knew I wanted to go to vet school, so I really took an interest in working with monkeys and rabbits,” she said. During the time she worked at the eye clinic, she also worked on weekends and on weeknights as a technician at an animal emergency clinic in Metarie, La. Sutton said she felt well prepared by her Millsaps education when she was accepted into veterinary school at LSU in1994. She graduated in1998, and she and her husband, Jeffrey Sutton, also a veterinarian, lived in Cincinnati, and practiced at a progressive, high-tech clinic from 1999 until 2003. The Suttons returned to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and opened Gulf Coast Veterinary Emergency Hospital in July 2003. Their clinic was the last to close before Hurricane Katrina hit on Aug. 25, 2005, she said. Sutton, who was pregnant at the time with twins, evacuated and returned home to nothing but a concrete slab where her home in Long Beach had once stood. The Suttons’ clinic withstood Katrina and the Suttons debated about returning to Ohio where veterinarians who were friends had offered them work. They found that Katrina had left work for them because many pets needed treatment. “We removed nails from their paws and treated lacerations and upset stomach aches, using supplies donated from all over the

country and driven to the coast by the vet school at Mississippi State University,” she said. Gulf Coast Veterinary Clinic is open 24/7 and sees thousands of pets each year, she said. “We take calls from Alabama to the Louisiana line and as far north as Hattiesburg,” she said.

—N e l l l u t e r F l o y d

Did you know? Millsaps alumna, Dr. Manisha Sethi Malhotra, B.S. 1994, knew as a child she wanted to become a physician and began her path to a medical career at age 15 at Millsaps. She now owns and operates a clinic in Ridgeland and specializes in pediatrics and internal medicine.

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Millsaps alum finds career as pharmacist satisfying

N THE COURSE OF A DAY AT WORK, BRAD PAULK ADVISES patients about drug interactions and dispenses medicines to customers with prescriptions. He might give someone a flu shot, a pneumonia shot, or a B-12 shot. He might make a gel medicine for a patient to apply to the skin. The 2004 graduate of Millsaps is a pharmacist at Marty’s Pharmacy & Compounding Center in Flowood. Paulk graduated from

Tupelo High School and selected Millsaps because he liked the environment. An academic scholarship and one for the Millsaps Singers made it possible for him to attend the College. He majored in mathematics and minored in chemistry. He thought he would apply to medical school, but during his senior year chose to apply to pharmacy school instead. “The pharmacy profession fits my scientific interests and offers the quality of life that I desire,” he said. “Being a pharmacist allows more flexibility than being a doctor. You don’t have to work nights and weekends, and you can earn a decent living.” Paulk, a 2008 graduate of the University of Mississippi School of

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Pharmacy, spent two years studying on the Oxford campus and two years studying in Jackson before earning his Pharm.D. degree. “The first two years were learning about drugs and medicinal chemistry, and the last two years were clinically based,” he said. A pharmacist can work in a retail store, a hospital, a hospice, or in research, and jobs are abundant across the country, he said. Employment of pharmacists is expected to grow by 22 percent between 2006 and 2016, which is much faster than the average for all occupations, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The increasing middle-aged and elderly population and the need to replace pharmacists who are retiring or changing jobs are credited with the job growth.

Paulk credits the interdisciplinary approach at Millsaps and professors such as Dr. Mark Lynch, associate professor of mathematics, and Dr. Wolfgang Kramer, assistant professor of chemistry, with making him feel prepared for pharmacy school. “Professors instill confidence in you that nothing is insurmountable,” he said. “I got a lot out of my education."

—N e l l l u t e r F l o y d

Medical career carries Shoop to the Middle East

ILLSAPS COLLEGE HAS ALWAYS EMPHASIzED the importance of travel in the formation of a wellrounded life, and Dr. Stephen Shoop, B.S. 1988, has certainly taken that to heart. After graduating from Millsaps, Shoop taught high school biology and chemistry and worked at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in the research department while applying for medical school. “My father is from Ohio, and his family remains tight in that state, so I applied to medical schools in Ohio,” Shoop said. “I was accepted at Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine and

the most striking impressions of Stephen Shoop is his contagious enthusiasm. Another is that he’s a general physician at Whitfield, compassionately dealing with probably the most difficult patient population imaginable. He is always eager to help with our premed program, an excellent mentor for the students in our medical mentoring program, and has frequently spoken to the Alpha Epsilon Delta chapter about medicine in the armed services and about training as an osteopathic physician.” While in medical school, an anatomy lab partner serving in the Army National Guard convinced Shoop to join the Guard. He was originally assigned to the 145th M.A.S.H. in Port Clinton, Ohio, and transferred to the Mississippi National Guard during his residency. He has served in the Guard for 18 years and has achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel with the 185th Aviation group. He serves as the group's flight surgeon, as well as the state flight surgeon. "I have been deployed to the Middle East twice, with a third deployment on the horizon,” Shoop said. “My first time was in 2003, and I helped staff a clinic in Qatar with the Third Army, Patton's own. Central Command was located there, and it was very intense.” “I did not see any action until my second deployment in Iraq, when I served as a flight doctor with a unit out of Virginia (29th Infantry) and the base was a very active Marine airfield. I had the opportunity to serve on multiple missions, during the night and day. The night missions were the most hair-raising.” Shoop and his brother recently tackled Mount Kilimanjaro and traveled to the Philippines on a family mission. Shoop’s future plans include retiring from the Guard and possibly from his job with the State Hospital, setting up a part-time primary care clinic and “just enjoying life and travel.”

—J e s s e y a N c y , spent four years obtaining my degree. During my clinicals I did a rotation in Miami and loved it. I then matched with a teaching hospital in Miami and did my internship there.” Shoop matched again for residency in family medicine and met Dr. Edward Hill, who was starting a residency program in Tupelo. “He and I hit it off. I spent two years in Tupelo as their first resident. I enjoyed it there, but I felt compelled to move closer to home. I hooked up with a group in Brandon and then was hired by the Mississippi State Hospital.” Shoop has been with the State Hospital for nine years and currently serves as the medical director of Jaquith Nursing Home, which is the largest nursing home in the state with 474 beds. “As their primary care providers we become a part of their treatment team, and in fact, become a part of their everyday lives. It is a fulfilling experience, as well as challenging.” Bob Nevins, professor of biology at Millsaps said, “One of

FreelaNce Writer

Did you know? Dr. Lamar Weems, B.S, 1953, a retired physician, and his wife, Nanette, B.A. 1954, are responsible for giving Millsaps one of its most treasured meeting places. The Weems commemorated the bond between their family and Millsaps by donating the Weems House at 1718 N. State St. to the College. The Weems family’s relationship with Millsaps spans more than 100 years and includes 36 graduates.

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Legacy: A Campaign for Millsaps College $160 Million The Millsaps Annual Fund The Millsaps Annual Fund provides yearly financial resources that directly affect the quality of teaching and student life. Unrestricted annual gifts support all areas of the College and provide the flexibility to respond to student and faculty needs and opportunities throughout the year. Restricted annual gifts provide ongoing enhancements to programs designated by the donor, such as athletics, academic departments, or the library. Both restricted and unrestricted gifts have an immediate impact on the College community and are a vital component in assuring excellence in the classroom and beyond.

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The current economic climate has created financial challenges for both the College and our alumni and friends. During this time of economic uncertainty, some donors may not be ready to commit to a multi-year major gift commitment. More than ever the students and faculty at Millsaps College need your support. Every additional $100,000 in collective gifts to the annual fund equates to the earnings of $2,000,000 in endowed

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funds. Together, through gifts to the annual fund of varying sizes depending each donorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to give, we can make a profound investment in Millsaps College and leave our legacy for others to follow. In addition to gifts for the endowment or capital initiatives of the Campaign, our goal is to raise a minimum of $12 million in annual fund gifts during the Campaign.

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l a n ce taG a s l l e n ce a E x ce l n Go t g n i e a p tud Cam t to S l e n ce tmen E x ce l i y m t l u Co m Fac n ce ce l l e n t to itme m Ex a m r g m o Co Pr dy n t to al Stu itme ation m n r m e o t C In n ce n t to ce l l e itme t y Ex i l i c Co m m a t to F itmen nd a l Fu Co m m es Annu tanci s p a s xpec ll E i t f M i dG The lanne and P e t a Est l l Goa Tota

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$35 million 10 million 17 million 8 million 18 million 12 million 60 million $160 million

Melinda Holloway, current Millsaps parent, and Janet Gildermaster, past Millsaps parent, enjoy visiting at the regional campaign event in New Orleans.

Making your Millsaps Annual Fund gift has never been easier! Giving Options Credit Cards—Millsaps accepts Visa, Master Card, Discover, and American Express Bank draft Online payments—Visit the Millsaps website at www.millsaps.edu, and click on Annual Fund Matching Gifts Your annual fund gift to Millsaps can be doubled. Through the generous support from members of the Millsaps Board of Trustees, all new and increased unrestricted gifts made to the Millsaps Annual Fund in fiscal year 2008-09 will be matched dollar for dollar. Corporate Matching Program Many companies match their employees’ charitable contributions, which can double or even triple your gift. Visit our website at www.matchinggifts.com/millsaps to see if your company participates in our Corporate Matching Program.

Giving Levels Presidents Society William B. Murrah Council. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000 Marion L. Smith Council. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 Homer Ellis Finger Council. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2,500 Member. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,000 Membership for alumni one to nine years past graduation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$500 Deans Associate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$500 Scholars Club. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $350 Second Century Club. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $200 Century Club. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $100 Donor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5-99 To learn more about ways to donate to the Millsaps Annual Fund, contact Hunter Scott at 601-974-1036, or hunter.scott@millsaps.edu.

Current Millsaps parents Claudia Maxson, left, and Craig Maxson visit with their daughter Courtney Maxson, a studio art and geophysics major from Baton Rouge. Courtney serves as vice president of the Student Council for College Advancement.

Millsaps parents John "Sparky" Welles, left, Anne Barnes, and Don Barnes, right, visit with Millsaps President Dr. Frances Lucas.

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Athletics Former Millsaps scholar-athletes continue to excel in medical careers The fine old English public school tradition of cultivating students who excel on the playing fields as well as in the classrooms still flourishes at Millsaps College. “Our scholar-athletes come to Millsaps because they love their sport and know they will receive an exceptional education,” said Tim Wise, B.A. 1989, athletic director at the

Tal Hendrix balanced baseball and academics at Millsaps and is now a second-year medical student.

College. “This speaks well for the type of students we have as well as the support they receive from the faculty and coaching staff.” Millsaps is a NCAA Division III program. A member of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, Millsaps has 14 men’s and women’s varsity sport teams. In 2008, the Millsaps Majors were SCAC co-football champions and the men’s basketball team advanced to the Elite Eight. Millsaps recently won the David M. Halbrook Award for the highest percentage of graduating athletes for the five-year period, 2003-04 to 2007-08, with a 98 percent graduation rate in the Independent

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College Division. Millsaps has received the Halbrook Award 18 of the last 22 years. “There is no doubt of the exceptional value that the scholar-athlete adds to our culture of academic excellence at Millsaps College,” said Professor Tim Ward, ex officio member of the Pre-Health Advisory Committee. “We expect a lot, and it is wonderful to watch the students uphold this tradition of excellence each year. Millsaps had a school record of 75 students selected to the fall 2008 SCAC Academic Honor Roll, surpassing its previous record of 51.” Among these scholar-athletes, there are some who set the bar even higher by entering one of the most academically demanding paths at Millsaps: pre-med. Dr. Carla Webb, B.S. 1997, an endodontist in Flowood, was a member of the women's basketball team for four years and received the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year Award for the 1995-96 season in which her team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament. Named as an honorable mention All-American that year, Webb was inducted into the Millsaps Sports Hall of Fame in November 2006. “In retrospect, I can't even imagine how I managed it,” Webb said. “I was faced with the challenge of balancing the work in the classroom with work on the court. There were many 6 a.m. practices followed by 8 a.m. classes, and even worse, an 8 a.m. exam following a heart-wrenching loss with a 12-hour bus ride home.” “The thing that I appreciate immensely about my Millsaps basketball experience is that it prepared me for the balancing act of life in graduate school and more importantly in my career,” Webb said. “I think this is what makes Division III athletics special, teaching a person about working hard and setting priorities.” Tal Hendrix, B.S. 2006, a secondyear medical student at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, said, “The four years I spent at Millsaps, although busy and sometimes stressful, were four years that I would relive in a heartbeat.

“Two of the main reasons I chose Millsaps were its outstanding academic reputation, especially in the Biology Department, and the chance to play college sports,” Hendrix said. “It is difficult awaking at 4:30 a.m. in order to be ready by 6 a.m. for a two-hour football practice, all before you have to scramble to get to your 8 a.m. zoology class. And it is stressful playing a three-game series in San Antonio and riding the bus back to Jackson all night Sunday while trying to study for comps the next day. You become an expert at time management. “Most of my former teammates went on to some sort of graduate program. One of the things that helps motivate you is that your teammates are all in similar situations,” Hendrix said. “In a game, there must be an inner drive to succeed, and this same drive is seen in the classroom.” Dr. Brad Madden, B.S. 1997, said, “To be honest, playing a sport probably helped me more than anything. You have practices at certain times, and it pretty much gives you a schedule. I knew I had to focus on my studying, which made it more productive. “If my lab went on until football practice, I didn’t go to practice until the lab was over,” said Madden, who practices family medicine in Brandon. “The coaches knew academics came first, too. Sports never took away from my grades; it helped them. “My senior year, Trinity University was ranked number one, hadn’t lost a game and had barely been scored against all season,” Madden said. “We were huge underdogs, a good team, but scrappy. We upset them 13-10 and won the conference. We had a great year.”

—Jesse Yancy, freelance writer

Songy serious about comedy, raising funds for foster children Chad Songy is a funny guy. A May 2009 graduate with a double major in economics and business administration, Songy, one might think, would have had little time for telling jokes—much less writing, developing, and performing them hundreds of people. After all, he was a point guard for the Millsaps Majors basketball team, was involved in several student organizations,

and found time to serve as a youth minister at St. Richard Catholic Church in Jackson. He even spent six weeks during the summer of 2007 in South Africa assisting refugee women and children through the McNair Fund for Christian Missions at Millsaps. For Songy, humor is just another talent to be developed and put to good use. He is a true comedian, one that takes the stage all by himself, facing tough crowds that dare him to make them laugh. And laugh they do. Citing the likes of Jerry Seinfeld and Ellen DeGeneres as his comedic influences (“I keep it pretty clean,”

he says), Songy has studied the craft of making people laugh and developed a style of joke-telling that is subtle and authentic. Songy got his start doing comedy while attending Teurlings Catholic High School in Lafayette, La. After high school, Songy took a break from comedy until his sophomore year at Millsaps. The TriDelta sorority had slots to fill for its annual charity talent show, and Songy took one. “It was awesome, one of my best performances,” he said. The success of the show convinced Songy that his talent should not go undeveloped—or unnoticed. It also showed him that good, clean fun can make an audience chuckle and have a positive impact on the community.

Through the Students for Life organization, Songy was introduced to a local charity organization called Mississippi Families for Kids (msfamiliesforkids.org), which is dedicated to finding permanent homes for children in the child welfare system. “I’ve always kind of had a calling for kids, and this was the perfect charity for that. I was blessed to have an amazing, supportive family. That’s something that’s always been important to me, and working with these charities really showed me how important homes and families are.” Inspired by his own success and the

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spirit of charity, Songy wasted no time organizing a comedy event to benefit Mississippi Families for Kids. “I know a pretty famous comedian through a friend … Kyle Curtis, who has opened for Dave Chappelle and Jeff Foxworthy.” Curtis has released several comedy albums, and appeared as a contestant on NBC’s Last Comic Standing. “He got to travel around with the Blue Collar Comedy Tour a few summers ago, and he’s friends with all those guys," Songy said. Songy contacted Curtis and asked if he would make the trip to Jackson and perform for free. Curtis convinced two of his Blue Collar cohorts to join him. Songy and company put on the show, dubbed Laughs 4 Kids, in the spring of 2007, raising slightly more than $1,000 for Mississippi Families for Kids. “It got me thinking: ‘Hey, this is something I could do every year.’” Songy began planning a second Laughs 4 Kids show to take place in spring 2008, but scheduling conflicts with other comedians and Songy’s own academic and athletic commitments delayed it. Songy was undeterred. “It actually ended up being great,” he said, “because [the basketball team] made it to the Elite Eight last year, and trying to do the comedy show and the national tournament would have been incredibly stressful.” Songy knew that he could raise more money for Mississippi Families for Kids, and he set his sights on the fall of 2008. “First, Kyle came back in,” Songy said, “and then a sophomore student contacted me and said, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about maybe doing some comedy.’” Songy would spend three months coaching Stephen Butler. The second Laughs 4 Kids event brought in another $1,200 for Mississippi Families for Kids. Curtis, Butler and Songy each performed, and Songy managed corporate sponsorship and a professional videographer (excerpts are available on YouTube.com; search for “Chad Songy”). He is handing the reigns over to Butler. “I’m hoping Stephen will keep it going,” Songy said. “He’ll be a junior next

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year, and I told him I would come back and perform, and Kyle said he would come back as well.”

staff soon after as an assistant coach. He became head coach for the 1989 season. During Page's tenure, the Majors —Jason Bronson have claimed at least a share of the SCAC Championship three of the previous six seasons. The Majors took the crown in 2006 after posting a school best 37-13 record. The Majors were SCAC West Champions in 2007 after posting a 35-11 overall record and 12-4 mark in league play. As of March 1, Page owns a 511-299-3 (.629) career record that includes leading Longtime head baseball coach Jim the Majors to two CAC titles, six SCAC Page, Millsaps’ most winning coach on the titles and five trips to the NCAA Regionals. diamond, etched his name into the NCAA Millsaps was a play at the plate away from a record books on Feb. 6 with his 500th career sixth NCAA appearance in 2008. victory as the Majors’ earned a seasonPage played his college ball at Millsaps opening, 12-8 win over LaGrange College. College (1981-85) under head coach Trailing 8-5 entering the bottom of the Tommy Ranager, who was selected seventh inning, Millsaps rallied for seven into the Millsaps Hall of Fame in 1998 unanswered runs over the final two innings alongside Page. Page earned MVP honors to earn a come-from-behind win and allow his sophomore and senior seasons and was named team captain. During his senior season, Page hit a blistering .487 from the plate, a record that still stands today. More than 60 of Page's former players have been selected to the All-SCAC team, 23 have been selected to the all-region team, Millsaps Head Baseball Coach Jim Page accepts congratulations from Dr. Frances Lucas. seven tabbed AllAmericans and six Page to become the 30th in NCAA Division players chosen in the Major League Baseball III history to surpass 500 victories. draft. Page has also coached ten SCAC “What I'll remember about No. 500 is Players of the Year, including Garner Wetzel all the memories of the players we've had, (2005, 2006) and Hunter Owen (2007, the coaching staffs, the administration and 2008) and five former Pitcher of the Year the support of our fans,” Page said. selections. —Kevin Maloney A six-time Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year selection, Page has been a part of the Millsaps community for nearly four decades. He graduated from the College in 1985 with a B. S. degree in education and joined the

Page moves into NCAA record books with 500th win

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Alumnus of the Year and Livesay Award winners named Millsaps College presented Dr. Samuel Jones, B.A. 1957, with the 2009 Alumnus of the Year Award in recognition of his brilliant musical compositions through the years, distinguishing himself, his home state, and Millsaps College.

Dr. Frances Lucas, center, congratulates Dr. Samuel Jones, left, 2009 Alumnus of the Year, and Livesay Award recipients, the Rev. Shannon Rogers Manning, Ward Van Skiver, and Frank Ezelle.

As the composer in residence with the Seattle Symphony, Jones composed “The Shoe Bird,” a musical fable based on a story by Eudora Welty, which this year received a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Album for Children. Among his many other professional accomplishments, he helped establish the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. A native of Indianola, Jones came to Millsaps in 1953 and lost no time inspiring his fellow students with his love of music. In his freshman year he organized and

conducted the Millsaps College Band. While the band wasn’t quite large enough to configure an “M” on the football field, fans loved the music and the band enhanced team spirit for the Majors on the field. The Alumnus/a of the Year Award was established by the College in 1950 and is awarded annually to an individual in recognition of outstanding contributions to his or her profession, church and/or community, as well as to Millsaps College. The award was presented at the annual College Awards and Recognition Dinner on March 28 in the Lindsey Suite on campus. Jim Livesay Service Awards were presented to Frank Ezelle, the Rev. Shannon Rogers Manning, and Ward Van Skiver. The Livesay Award honors the spirit of commitment fostered by Jim Livesay (1920-2001), who served the College as an alumnus, a member of the College administration, and as a volunteer. Frank Ezelle, B.A. 1973, was honored for the countless hours he volunteered on the sidelines of Millsaps sporting events as a photographer for more than a decade. His body of work includes thousands of pictures that are used at alumni reunions, in sports information publications, websites, recognition functions, and are prized possessions for athletes and their families. The Rev. Shannon Rogers Manning, B.A. 1997, is a distinguished graduate and devoted alumna of Millsaps College. After graduation from Millsaps, she attended General Theological Seminary in New York City, from which she received a master of divinity degree in 2001. In 2002, upon her return to Jackson, she joined the Alumni Council, now the Alumni Association Board of Directors. As national chair for the Faculty Support Committee, Manning was instrumental in focusing and streamlining the committee’s annual projects, giving tirelessly of her time, energy, and talents. Manning is in her second year as associate rector at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Jackson. She is married to Ricky Manning, B.S. 1991, and is the mother of Nicholas, age 6, and Tucker, age 2. Ward Van Skiver, B.A. 1965, received

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the Livesay Award for his time and service to many Millsaps alumni groups. An active and founding member of the Tuesday Luncheon Club that began on campus in 1964, Van Skiver has served as president of the Millsaps Alumni Association and as a member of the Alumni and Parents Subcommittee for the current capital campaign. He joined with United Methodist donors and alumni of the classes of 1964, 1965, and 1966 to raise money for the John Wesley statue that overlooks the Bowl. At the dedication of the statue he said, “We hope that Mr. Wesley’s presence in this place will be a constant reminder of our Methodist heritage and the College’s commitment to personal and social holiness.”

—Kara Paulk

Millsaps alumna educates lawmakers about energy issues A new generation of Americans has made its way to the nation’s capital to help steer government policy, and among them is Millsaps graduate Allison Graves. Graves, M.B.A. 1996, is director of federal energy policy in Entergy Corporation’s Washington, D.C., office. Since 2005, Graves has actively advocated for Entergy’s customers and shareholders with lawmakers and policy makers in the federal government. She educates members of Congress, their staffs, and others on nuclear power, climate change, and similar issues of importance to the electric utility industry. “There are so many issues before congressional members each and every day,” Graves said. “It is hard for every

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member to know exactly what an idea may do in practical terms in Mississippi or other parts of the country. We take in facts and figures of what a proposal really means, how it could work or how it might not, and discuss unintended consequences, good or bad. We try to make sure our voices are part of the mix being heard. We are interested in reliable and reasonablypriced electricity that meets a climate change goal. “I spend much of my time on nuclear energy issues,” Graves said. “Entergy is the second largest operator of nuclear power plants in the country. These plants, during regular operations, produce very low emissions, on par with wind power.” Graves joined Entergy in 1996 and has worked in various customer service, economic development, and governmental affairs positions. Before moving to Washington, Graves worked for Entergy Mississippi, Inc., one of Entergy’s six utility operating companies, as a manger of state governmental affairs. Graves received her bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Vanderbilt University and a master’s in business administration from Millsaps, where she received the Sewell Award for Outstanding MBA student and served as president of the graduate student association in 1995-1996. “There’s much Millsaps history in my family,” Graves said. “My father was a graduate of Millsaps, as were two of my aunts, my brother graduated undergraduate school the same year as I finished graduate school, and a cousin recently graduated. My great-uncle, Benjamin Graves, served as president of the college (1965-70).” Kelle Barfield, Entergy Nuclear vice president of public affairs, said, “Allison is a real jewel in our wardrobe when it comes to understanding and navigating national energy policy, especially as it applies to electricity from nuclear power plants. Through her knowledge of the issues, the players and the processes in D.C., Allison greatly simplifies the public policy side of our planning.” Will Mayo, 1970, Entergy vice

president for governmental affairs, said, “Allison has great analytical skills. She is quick to size up situations and offer solutions to ensure positive outcomes. She is not only one of the most intelligent individuals I've worked with but one of the most pleasant.” “We see Allison as a bright and shining star at Entergy,” said Haley Fisackerly, president and chief executive officer of Entergy Mississippi, Inc. “I honestly think that her education and experience at Millsaps greatly contributed to her success in our company.”

—Jesse Yancy, freelance wr iter

Website, Twitter, Facebook, blogs offer news about Millsaps Not too long ago, connecting for Millsaps students, faculty, staff, and alums meant picking up the phone or meeting in person. Corresponding by fax and email seemed cutting edge for a while, but today, even those methods of communicating could be considered outdated compared to the numerous other options: text messaging, Facebook, online social networks, and Twitter. While Millsaps continues to look around the technology curve and find new ways to reach out, you can count on the following methods for getting in touch and keeping up with Millsaps. Millsaps College switchboard number 601-974-1000

This is the go-to number for reaching anyone at Millsaps over the phone. Email

The best place to look up email addresses for Millsaps is on our website. Visit http:// millsaps.edu, and look for “Contact Us” under the Quicklinks at the top of the page, or search for “directory” in our site-wide searchbox.

Connecting with Millsaps Millsaps College website: http://www.millsaps.edu

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Millsaps College Alumni website: http://mymillsaps.com

Fax

The best place to find fax numbers for Millsaps is on our website. Visit http:// millsaps.edu, and look for “Contact Us” under the Quicklinks at the top of the page, or search for “directory” in our site-wide searchbox. Website

If you are looking for any information related to Millsaps, it can be found on http://millsaps.edu or http://gomajors. com, our athletics website. If you cannot find it, email us at webupdates@millsaps. edu, and we will be glad to help you. The flood of communication options available to a person with a computer and a cell phone can be overwhelming. Millsaps has chosen several key areas for spreading the word: MyMillsaps.com, Facebook, Twitter, and weblogs. MyMillsaps.com

By providing your first and last name used while you were a student and your graduation year, you can register at the official Millsaps alumni website. After supplying an email address, you can complete profile information that will include you in a directory of other alumni. Alumni can search for and bookmark each other in this growing directory. At the time of this writing, nearly 3,700 alumni are registered through MyMillsaps.com. MyMillsaps registrants receive regular Millsaps news via email, including updates on campus events. Facebook.com

Facebook provides a similar service to MyMillsaps.com, except the users are not limited to Millsaps alumni. As a social networking website, it brings together people with common interests or shared backgrounds such as the same schools. Interaction occurs via email or texts on your cell phone, as well as messages posted on a common space on the website. Joining is free and requires a valid

Millsaps on Facebook: Visit http://www.facebook.com. Membership to Facebook is free and just requires an email address. Once you’re logged in, search for Millsaps.Want to receive email or text updates on your phone? Adjust your personal settings. Millsaps on Twitter: Visit http://www.twitter.com. Membership is free and requires an email address. Find us here http:// twitter.com/millsapscollege. Adjust your personal settings to receive updates on your cell phone. Do you have a blog? Let us know at webupdates@millsaps.edu.

email address. You will be notified about activity on your account mostly by email, but you also have the option for turning that off and turning on text updates. To manage your options, go to Settings and Notifications. Going to Settings and Mobile allows you to set up your cell phone to receive updates. Users span a wide range of ages, from 102-year-old Ivy Bean to high schoolers, who consider having a Facebook account the rule rather than the exception. Millsaps currently has 1,539 fans on Facebook, with the number growing daily; this includes not only alumni, but current students, friends, and more. It is easy to find Millsaps on Facebook—simply search for us via Facebook’s search box. If you aren’t logged in to Facebook, you can do a Google search for “Facebook Millsaps.” You will find not only the official Millsaps Fan Page, but also networks for the Millsaps Players, One Campus One Community, and more. Why join Facebook just to become a fan of Millsaps? In an atmosphere where email is starting to be considered oldfashioned, Facebook provides a space for Millsaps to share interesting and sometimes critical news in an area where others are already gathering for fun.

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Another free social networking website, Twitter, has caught our attention. Its purpose and use may seem unclear to some: users post and reply to an unlimited number of messages no longer than 140 characters. Users of Twitter range from Al Gore to Britney Spears. Millsaps used Twitter last year in conjunction with Facebook to update faculty, staff and students about Hurricane Gustav. Websites tracking the communication efforts of organizations and businesses in the line of Hurricane Gustav recognized Millsaps along with the American Red Cross and others as cutting edge. The Millsaps admissions website will soon feature Twitter updates—or Tweets— from several students, providing a peek into the lives of Millsaps students. Millsaps’ account on Twitter has 86 followers, and we encourage others to register. Registration requires an email address and is free. We also encourage followers to choose to receive updates via text message. We are relying on Twitter to provide a critical communication link should our traditional methods be unvailable. Weblogs

Millsaps’ presence in the “blogosphere”— the online community of serialized, self-published web content sites—is growing. While many blogs do offer interactive conversations via the option for commenting on individual articles, these sites are all about individualizing your presence in the ever-crowded web. The Millsaps admissions team currently has a blog, http://destinationmillsaps. blogspot.com/, as well as recent graduate Chelsi West, http://chelsialbaniaadventure. blogspot.com/. There are plans for other departments and clubs to start weblogs. If you have one you’d like to share with us, please email us at webupdates@millsaps. edu.

— Lucy Molinaro

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Graduate works to ensure equality for all Millsaps graduate Christy Gilliland Dunaway, B.A.1985, offers straightforward advice for interacting with anyone with a disability: “Don’t react to us, interact with us. Remember that we are people first. Behave toward someone with a disability as you would anyone you meet.” As director of LIFE (Living Independence For Everyone of Mississippi), a non-profit organization dedicated to

the school’s general population. Some of them don't need to be there at all, and the rest need to be integrated more. My opportunity as director of LIFE is to have a positive influence on our future teachers, who in turn have a positive influence on parents and school officials,” Dunaway said. LIFE focuses on providing information and referrals, skills training, peer support, and advocacy. “Our goal is to assist individuals, of any age and any type of disability, in their efforts to live independently in the community of their choice,” she said. Centers for independent living

Christy Gilliland Dunaway, advocate for the disabled, credits her college education with teaching her to "think outside the box."

the empowerment of individuals with disabilities, Dunaway often shares those very words with Millsaps students majoring in special education and taught by Dr. Connie Schimmel, associate professor of education. “Many of these students will not meet or have the opportunity to work with a child with special needs before doing an internship somewhere. It’s important they hear from a person with a disability so they will understand that we often don't need to be taken care of. Many kids with disabilities are placed in special education classrooms and isolated from

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developed as early as the late 1970s and were the result of grass roots advocacy from the disabled community throughout the country. Individuals with disabilities were frustrated with the paternalistic and medical model approach to services and wanted to make their own choices and steer the services they needed, so they could live independently in their own homes and communities. As a result, centers for independent living, which includes LIFE of Mississippi, are consumer directed and controlled. “LIFE staff members are uniquely qualified to provide these services because

we have all traveled the same, or similar, roads toward independence. We are individuals with disabilities ourselves who have managed to locate and benefit from available services in order to live, work, worship, and play independently in the community of our choosing. Choice and equality is what we seek for all people with disabilities,” she said. Although born in 1963 with congenital amputations of both arms below the elbow and the left leg below the knee, Dunaway has never missed a beat. Energetic, outgoing, and passionate about her work, she has spent a lifetime speaking up for her personal rights and those of others. “Institutionalization was still practiced when I was born, and my parents were told that placement in a facility would be best. Fortunately, they didn’t feel the same way. My parents chose to take me home to live the same quality of life any other child would. I was raised exactly as my older brother and my younger sister—learning to swim, ride horses, sail, and snow ski. I was not treated any differently.” Dunaway, a sociology major, was a student at Millsaps in the early 1980s, before the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed. “The administration did make accommodations for me to always have a first-floor dorm room and would move my classes to a more accessible location if a wheelchair user couldn’t access the building,” she said. “But most importantly, I had the kind of friends at Millsaps that happily carried me across campus on their backs on two occasions when my prosthesis broke. The atmosphere was very relaxed and tolerant.” Schimmel said Dunaway helps her students become at ease around people with disabilities. “She is a true advocate for LIFE and a wonderful person,” she said. Dunaway credits Millsaps with teaching her to the “think outside the box,” a philosophy essential for getting her job done, as “we often have no choice but to do things differently, often unconventionally.” Dunaway's passion comes from a desire

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to ensure equality and justice for everyone. “When I am worn out with writing grants, developing budgets, and handling personnel issues, I simply step outside my office and meet a new consumer who has come to our office for assistance. Or I go down the hall and hang out with the AmeriCorps members who are always planning a service project. I believe the desire to ensure equality is God-given. And that’s motivation enough for me.”

—Lisa Purdie

Millsaps Alumni Association welcomes new president Maud DeLes Gober Lancaster, B. Ed. 1984, is the incoming president of the Millsaps Alumni Association, succeeding David M. Loper, B.A. 1986, who has served for two years. Formed in 2003, the Millsaps Alumni Association is comprised of chapters in different areas

across the country. The alumni association replaced the Alumni Council and seeks to broaden the connection between the college and its more than 11,000- member alumni base. There is no cost to be involved with the alumni association, and all alumni are considered members. “I’m a descendant of Major (Reuben) Millsaps, and there is a long-time family connection with the College,” Lancaster said. “Both of my parents, my four siblings, my husband, Ken, and my brother-inlaw all attended Millsaps. My daughter, Darrington, graduated in May, and my daughter, Elizabeth, completed her sophomore year at Millsaps.” Lancaster said she’s proud of the academic reputation of Millsaps and also its focus on community service. “I want to keep the momentum that David (Loper) has developed with the alumni chapters and the affinity groups for professionals such as lawyers and physicians, and I would like to continue to get alumni involved with prospective student recruitment and on campus during Homecoming and Family Weekend.” Loper said he’s found that Millsaps alumni want to connect with the College whether they live in Philadelphia, Pa. or in Mississippi. Loper’s father, William E. “Gene” Loper Jr., is a 1953 graduate of Millsaps. The

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establishment of affinity groups has helped re-connect Jackson area alums to the College, and a monthly e-mail newsletter has helped promote alumni activities, he said. “During the last two years I've spent a good bit of time on campus and met many current students,” he said. “In spite of the generalizations that today's youth are babied and selfcentered, I've found that current Millsaps students are much more engaged in public service then we ever were back in the 1980s. They have a genuine commitment to making a difference in the community and it's exciting and inspiring to talk with them about it.” The association focuses on assisting the College in recruitment of prospective students, encouraging alumni giving, supporting the Millsaps faculty, strengthening career networking opportunities, and building alumni engagement in the life of the College.

—Nell Luter Floyd

Alum’s tree house one-of-a-kind Rachel D. Fowlkes, B.A. 1966, built this awe-inspiring tree house on her farm in Abington, Va., after being inspired by a book about specialty tree house projects from around the world. The 300-square foot structure that took more than a year to build and cost about $175,000 includes electricity, plumbing, a full bathroom, kitchen, and a propane fireplace. It was constructed using discarded and “found” lumber, including Douglas fir, cedar, locust, and cherry wood, and designed to leave a very light environmental footprint. Fowlkes plans to eventually rent the space to hikers and campers in the region as a “green” alternative to hotels and the traditional bed and breakfast inn. Fowlkes, who was a member of Chi Omega sorority, the Millsaps Singers, and a cheerleader at Millsaps, is executive director of the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abington. “I loved Millsaps, and I contribute every year,” Fowlkes said. “I think all graduates should be required to sign a binding agreement to contribute annually before Millsaps awards their diploma.”

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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 items, whether big or small, personal or professional, to Nell Luter Floyd, Office of Communications, Millsaps College, 1701 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39210-0001. Fax : 601-974-1456. Phone: 601-974-1033 or 1-86-MILLSAPS (1-866 - 455-7277). Email: communications@ 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.

1959

NEW BOOK by Clifton Ware! The Reality and Hope of Aging In the Second Half of Life

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Publishing 2009). The book details how to live life to the tyeware@yahoo.com) • Phone: (612-253-7707) fullest and age gracefully. Ware is also author 7 39 Ave. NE #311, Minneapolis, MN 55421-4228 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------of Adventures in Singing (McGraw-Hill, 4th ORDER FORM ed.2008), Basics ofVocal Pedagogy (McGrawPhone Hill 1998), and The Singer's Life: Goals and City Roles (BirchStateGroveZipPublishing 2005).

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1978

Make check payable to: Bettye Ware

Thanks!

Isabelle E. (Patterson) Higbee, B.A. 1978, is now an associate director in the Office of Financial Aid at Millsaps. She married Bill Higbee on Jan. 15, and resides in Madison. Eddie Hilliard, B.A. 1978, of Houston,

Texas, traveled to Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa in November to help stop the spread of malaria by distributing long-lasting, insecticide-treated nets purchased through

the Nothing But Nets campaign. He is among more than 85,000 individuals who have supported the Nothing But Nets global, grassroots initiative, which has raised almost $26 million and distributed more than 2.5 million nets. Hilliard and his team delivered 855,000 nets to Ivory Coast residents as a part of a national measles vaccination campaign, led by the Cote d’Ivoire ministry of health, the Measles Initiative, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and other partners. This is the tenth foreign mission trip for Hilliard, who has served with mission teams in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Cuba.

1979 Carol Burrus Hartman, B.A.

1979, recently opened Chandelier, a shop that specializes in elegant linens, unique tableware, home accents, and gifts, at 118 W. Jackson St. in Ridgeland. Chandelier is located in the historic Jackson Street District, which prides itself on a sense of community enhanced by its large number

of locally-owned retailers, restaurants, and service providers. She lives in Madison with her husband, Oscar, and two children, Daniel and Marianne.

1980 Dr. Frank C.Wade, B.S. 1980, received a three-year appointment by Gov. Haley Barbour to the Drug Utilization Review Committee for the Mississippi State Medicaid program. The purpose of the committee is to set guidelines for the proper use of medications. He was also elected to the board of the Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, an organization that provides support to students entering family medicine. Wade has practiced medicine in Magee for 18 years and in Flowood for four years and also is clinical associate professor of family medicine with the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

1982 Brad Chism, B.A. 1982 of Ridgeland, was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Association of Political Consultants. He is one of 14 Democrats from across the nation who serves on

Save the date for Homecoming Oct. 23–25, 2009 Mark your calendar for a fun-filled weekend that will include a 5k run/walk, picnic in the Bowl, alumni welcome reception, memorial service for alumni and friends, football game, reunion activities for the classes of 1959, 1969, 1979, 1989, 1999, and the Young Alumni party. Look for the second annual Don Fortenberry Barbecue Benefit, scheduled Oct. 24 and sponsored by Pi Kappa Alpha. The benefit supports the Don Fortenberry Endowed Scholarship Fund, which provides a scholarship for a freshman who values community service. The scholarship is in honor of the Rev. Don Fortenberry, who served Millsaps College for 31 years as chaplain and professor. For more information, visit www.millsaps.edu/homecoming.

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To find alumni online, log on to MyMillsaps.com

this bipartisan organization of political professionals. AAPC membership consists of general consultants, media consultants, pollsters, campaign managers, public affairs executives, professors, fundraisers, lobbyists, congressional staffers, and campaign service vendors.

1988 Gil H. Harden, B.B.A. 1988, was promoted

The Millsaps alumni online community makes it easy for alumni to stay in touch with classmates and their alma mater. Access to the online community is a password-protected benefit exclusively for Millsaps alumni. Registered users enjoy a number of services, including an online search for other alumni and permanent email forwarding, which allows alumni to receive email no matter how many times their addresses change. An online calendar alerts alumni to upcoming events on and off campus, enabling graduates to stay informed. Alumni can also report changes in their addresses and personal information. If you would like additional information or if you have questions or comments about the online community, please email us at alumni@millsaps.edu or call 1-86-MILLSAPS.

to deputy assistant inspector general for audit in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He has administrative responsibility for programmatic oversight for audits Christy Jenkins Turner, B.A. 1995, and performed in the following areas of the department: food safety, food and nutrition, Jimmy Turner announce the birth of their daughter, Audrey Kate, on Feb. 27, marketing and regulatory programs, civil 2009. Christy Turner is a music professor rights, rural development, and Forest at Tougaloo College, and Jimmy Turner Service. He began his career as an auditor teaches guitar at Millsaps. in the San Francisco regional office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and worked his way east to Washington, D.C. Michael Baynard Hixson, B.A. 1997, of James Robert “Bobby” Soileau, B.B.A. Stuttgart, Germany, married Uta Gminder 1988 and M.B.A. 1989, is a member in the city of Esslingen on the Neckar, of the Multiple Sclerosis Association of Germany on Dec. 12, 2008. Hixson American Board of Directors. He first is an attorney with Smith & Partners became involved with the association International Law Firm, specializing in through its snowmobile ride known as the global products liability defense. He TransMontana that its Northwest Regional coordinates litigation and offers legal Office sponsors to raise funds. The ride services to clients in cases in the United takes snowmobilers across the state of States, the European Union, and beyond. Montana. Soileau’s business, Restoration Uta is a nurse and recently finished a Carpentry, donated several pieces to an bachelor’s degree in nursing care education. auction in conjunction with TransMontana. In addition, he has made a gift to support training of the association board and staff. Ashwin Damodaran, M.B.A. 1998, of He lives in Rosemount, Minn., with his Atlanta joined Innovar Partners as a two children, Andy and Maggie. principal. Innovar is an operational

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David C. Armistead, B.S. 1994, and Laura R. Armistead of Birmingham announce the birth of their son, Louis David, who was born on August 14, 2008. Louis is welcomed by his three brothers: Ethan, Dean, and Whit.

improvement consulting firm that helps large companies create and execute cost enhancement solutions within core operations. Damodaran’s responsibilities include leading engagement with clients on financial and operational transformation projects, ensuring that short- and longterm corporate visions are supported. He was previously vice president of finance and strategy for Cypress Communications. Damodaran’s experience includes stints as

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senior director of global finance operations with MIVA and manager of financial planning and analysis with Interactive Communications, Inc. He also spent time with AirGate PCS, an affiliate of Sprint.

1999 Michael Barham, B.A. 1999, was ordained a priest on Dec. 6, 2008, at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. He is associate rector for the Parish of St. Clement in Honolulu, Hawaii.

2000 Betsy Schetter, B.A. 2000, and Kendrick

Schetter announce the birth of their daughter, Mallory Elizabeth, on March 23. Betsy is assistant to the senior vice president at Millsaps, and Kendrick is director of conference, events scheduling, and the Hall Activities Center.

2004 Katrina Byrd, B.A. 2004, was among cast members of “Hats,” a musical inspired by the Red Hat Society and performed March 27-29 in Ridgeland. Gloria Surber, B.A. 2004, received her

master’s degree in romance languages on Dec. 19, 2008, from the University of Georgia. She lectured as part of the Friday Forums at Millsaps on ‘The Eagle

Has Landed’: Hot News Perfects and the Grammar of Time and Emotion in February. The lecture described how actions speak louder than words, but sometimes our words say more than we realize. Using historical quotes and examples from newspapers and real life, she demonstrated how human beings internalize and verbalize their existence in time and their experience of the world.

2005 Jana N. Santoro, B.B.A. 2005, of Birmingham, Ala. married Jacob Grant Williams on May 10, 2008 in Birmingham. Bridesmaids included Randi Blair Cline, B.S., 2005, Eleanore Davies

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Kelly, B.A., 2005, and Kimberly Elizabeth Petkovich, B.S., 2005. Scripture readers were Hillary Paige Henderson, B. S. 2005 and Kelly Ann Maddox, B.S. 2005. Jana

received a master's degree in business administration in May 2007 and a master's degree in health administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in May 2008. She works as an advisory associate in the health industries division at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Grant is employed as an auditor with Pearce, Bevill, Leesburg, Moore in Birmingham. Meghan Lee Pigott, B.A. 2005, and James Benjamin Brock, B.S. 2005, were married

Feb. 7 in Madison. Bridesmaids include Jennifer Paradise Slover, B.A. 2005, and Erin Suzanne Thornton, B.A. 2005. Groomsmen included Matthew Allen Sample, Brett Ashley Bennett, B.S. 2005, and Christopher Ryan Travis, B.S. 2005. Ushers include Sumon Kumar Bhowmich, B.S. 2002, and Bradley Hamlin Paulk, B.S. 2004.

Doug Webster, B.B.A. 2005, and Angie Rowland, B.A. 2005, were married March 21 in Houston, Texas. Doug is a middle market lender for Whitney Bank and received his M.B.A. in 2009 from Tulane University. Angie graduated in 2008 from South Texas College of Law. Groomsmen included Joe Blades, B.B.A. 2007 and M.B.A. 2008; Adam Cook, B.B.A. 2004; Bo Roberts, B.B.A 2004 and M.B.A. 2006; Jim Bush, B.B.A. 2004; and Danny Jaeger, B.B.A 2004. Matron of Honor was Jaime Pettigrew Parker, B.S. 2005. Bridesmaids were Emily Ford, B.B.A. 2005; Helen Loring Dear, B.A. 2006; Rebecca Sledge, B.A. 2005. Attending the house party were Jessica Lester, B.A. 2005; and Natacha Touchette, B.S. 2005.

2007 Sarah Bounds, B.S. 2007, and Ben Robichaux, M.B.A. 2008, were married Feb. 14, in New Orleans. Sarah received her master’s from Vanderbilt University in 2009. She will attend medical school in the fall.

Oldest of three sisters set to bid Millsaps farewell The Sorey sisters spent the 2008-2009 academic year together at Millsaps, but that’s about to change. Mary Rogers Sorey, standing in photo to the left, a May graduate who majored in biology, will soon head off to Nashville to Vanderbilt University. She plans to pursue a M.S.N. degree in acute care nursing, a calling that she credits the Faith & Work Initiative with helping her discern. “None of us picked Millsaps to be close to home or to one another but because Millsaps was the perfect fit for each of us,” said Mary Rogers Sorey, a Student Body Association senator and a member of Chi Omega, the Canterbury Club, the Outdoor Adventure Club, and Beta Beta Beta. Katie Sorey, middle in the photo to the left, said Millsaps’ legacy of excellence in service and academics drew her to the College. “Organizations such as the Campus Ministry Team, CALLS (Considering A Life of Learning & Service), and the Faith & Work Initiative provide the foundation for ministry that I sought,” said Katie Sorey, a religious studies major and education minor. “The professors challenge me to look outside myself and see how I can make a difference in the world.” She is a member of Chi Omega, a Millsaps Singer, chapel co-chair of the Campus Ministry Team, and president of Sigma Lambda. Laura Sorey, bottom in the photo to the left, said she recognized during one of her first visits that Millsaps students share a love for learning. “I knew that signing up for Millsaps would mean more than just reading textbooks and writing essays,” she said. “It would require me to examine my own life and values, to see how I can connect to the world in a meaningful way. Before I came to Millsaps, I hardly realized how little I actually knew about myself, but my visits here showed me who I wanted to become and that Millsaps and the students here would help me achieve that ultimate goal.” Laura Sorey plans to major in geology. She belongs to Chi Omega, the Campus Ministry Team, and the Millsaps Singers.

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Charles Haseeb Abraham, Sr., 1951, of Jackson, died Dec. 14, 2008.

Violet Allen Lackey, B.A. 1934, of Baton Rouge, La., died March 24, 2009.

Maurice S. Auerbach, 1943, of Biloxi, died

Frank Walker Loflin, 1937, of Madison, died Feb. 11, 2009. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity and an outstanding athlete in several sports.

Dec. 25, 2008. Judith Longest Bethea, 1967, of New

Orleans, died March 30, 2009. She was a member of Phi Mu Fraternity, the Millsaps Singers, and the Millsaps Players.

Jean White Lowe, B.S. 1945, of Ridgeland, died Dec. 24, 2008. She was a member of Kappa Delta Sorority.

Charles H. Birdsong, B.S. 1936, of Sarasota,

Fla., died Nov. 24, 2008. Christine Droke Bew, 1947, of Little Rock,

Ark., died Jan. 3, 2009. She was a member of Chi Omega fraternity.

Jean Marie Bailey Norton, B.A. 1975, of Starkville, died Dec. 16, 2008. She was a member of Phi Mu and the Heritage Program. Katherine Riddell, 1947, of Jackson, died

Dr. Calvin Cotten Brister, 1959, of

Morgantown, W. Va., died Dec. 30, 2008. Richard Newton "Dick" Catledge, 1943, of

Hollandale, died Dec. 18, 2008. He was a Millsaps football player.

Feb. 6, 2009. Her grandfather was Dr. John Magruder Sullivan, who taught at Millsaps for nearly 40 years, and is one of the men Sullivan-Harrell Hall is named after. She was a member of Phi Mu. Bernard Glen Rogers, 1949, of Madison,

G.C. Clark Jr., B.S. 1938, of Ridgeland, died

Jan. 16, 2009. Clark lettered in all sports. He served as president of the senior class, voted captain and most valuable player of the football team, president of the "M" Club. He was a member of Omicron Delta Kappa and Sigma Rho Chi fraternities.

died Feb.. 27, 2009.

Carolyn Millsaps Corley Woodward, 1951, of Crystal Springs, died Feb. 16, 2009. She was a member of Chi Omega and a Millsaps College Beauty.

Friends: Martha Collins Harris Campbell, of Jackson, died Oct. 15, 2008. She was an honorary trustee of the Millsaps Board of Trustees. Jimmye Bagley Danks, of Jackson, died Dec.

31, 2008. William Thomas “Bill” Hogg Jr., of Flowood,

died Dec. 4, 2008. Leo W. Seal Jr., of Bay St. Louis, died Nov.

18, 2008.

Faculty: Mildred Nungester Wolfe, a former art

history instructor from 1957 until 1969, died Feb. 11, 2009. One of Mississippi’s most prominent artists, she worked in oils, watercolors, ceramics, prints, and glass.

Kent W.Van Skiver, B.A. 1975, of Biloxi,

died Oct. 10, 2008. Margaret Whitfield Smith, B.A. 1956, of Jackson, died Feb. 12, 2009. She earned her degree in education.

James Marcus Crawford, of Jackson, died

Feb. 21, 2009. Eleanor Berry M. Easterling, 1945, of

Jackson, died Dec. 17, 2008. Evelyn Mullen Frederick, 1939, of Oxford,

died Jan. 30, 2009.

Mildred Nobles Sumner, 1930, of Hattiesburg, died July 29, 2008. She was president of Kappa Delta Sorority, selected Cutest Girl her freshman year, Miss It her sophomore year, and a favorite her junior year. She was a Bobashela staff member, and an honor graduate.

Joe Weems Hobbs, 1954, of Jackson, died Dec. 9, 2008. He was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

William M. "Bill" Weathersby, B.S. 1949,

Robert Michael "Bob" Holleman, B.A. 1968,

James Michael Woods, B.A. 1978, died Jan.

of Wiggins, died Jan. 31, 2009.

5, 2009.

of Jackson, died Jan. 3, 2009. He was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

Any submission for In Memorium received after April 10, 2009 will appear in the next issue of Millsaps Magazine.

spring–summer 2009

Dr. George Marion Harmon Ninth President of Millsaps College

Harmon created a successful school of business, led Millsaps to achieve the first Phi Beta Kappa chapter in Mississippi, and built a strong and capable board of trustees.

Dr. George Marion Harmon, the longest serving president in the history of Millsaps College, died Dec. 17, 2008, in Jackson. Harmon became the College’s ninth president in 1978 and served for 22 years, a time during which time the College achieved many milestones. Harmon created a successful school of business, led Millsaps to achieve the first Phi Beta Kappa chapter in Mississippi, and built a strong and capable board of trustees, said Maurice Hall, chairman of the Millsaps Board of Trustees. Bud Robinson, a member of the Millsaps Board of Trustees, also credits Harmon’s leadership with improving the College’s financial outlook. “George Harmon became president of Millsaps several decades ago in a time of financial hardship for Millsaps, a different type than the financial hardship we are all feeling today. Millsaps’ budget and endowment were in sad shape. His arrival on the scene as president was fortunate, for he put the college on a much better financial footing through three historic capital campaigns that led to major building projects and landscaping we all enjoy today.” Born in 1934 in Memphis, Harmon received a bachelor of arts degree in economics with Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa honors in 1956 from Southwestern at Memphis, which is now known as Rhodes College. He earned an M.B.A. from Emory University in 1957 and completed his doctor of business administration from Harvard University in 1963. After receiving his M.B.A., Harmon worked for Continental Oil Company in Houston for seven months, before being drafted into military service and stationed in Washington State. He married Memphis native Bessie W. Porter in 1958. After completing his doctorate, he joined Syracuse University faculty and taught graduate and undergraduate business courses from 1963 to 1966. He was able to apply his business education in a practical way when he joined the Planning Research Corporation, a worldwide consulting firm in Washington, D.C. He went back into higher education when he was asked to take over the Department of Economics and Business Administration at Southwestern, now known as Rhodes. He made two more moves—to West Virginia College of Graduate Studies in Charleston, and then to the School of Business and Management at Saginaw Valley State in Michigan—before he became the president of Millsaps. Hall said Harmon loved the students and loved to be around them, and he respected the faculty. “His untimely death saddens us all, and his legacy can be seen in a more beautiful campus with far better buildings and facilities than he found when he came to Millsaps.” Millsaps President Frances Lucas said Harmon was a devoted Millsaps Major fan. “I will miss him most in the sky box at football games. That was when he would mentor me on all sorts of topics, and where we would always have such a good time." The state Legislature passed a resolution commending Harmon's life and civic leadership.

—Nell Luter Floyd

millsaps magazine

Dr. John H. Stone Cardiologist, poet and essayist Dr. John H. Stone, a Millsaps College graduate whose career as a cardiologist, poet, and essayist focused on matters of the heart, died on Nov. 5, 2008. He received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the College in May 2008. In 1990, he wrote the libretto for a choral symphony with Dr. Samuel Jones, B.A. 1957, that celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the College. The Writing Center, John Stone Hall, is named in his honor. “His remarkable life enriched a university, a medical school, a city, the world of literature, and, most especially, all who came in contact with him,” said Jones, who was a roommate of Stone’s during their Millsaps days. “The legacy of his boundless heart spills over all these boundaries as his students, his patients, and his grateful readers carry throughout the country—and indeed the world—the hallmarks of his approach to the art of medicine, to the practice of poetry, to the joy of music as well as to the living of life itself: namely, warmth of heart, depth of insight, devotion to word and image, and generosity of spirit. “Having known John since high school and college days, and having remained his close friend and artistic collaborator all these years, I am especially saddened that that magnificent heart no longer keeps, as he put it so well in his text for his Millsaps Centennial ode, ‘all standard time.’ But it still keeps—and always will—the next line in that poem, ‘all timeless time.’ For John’s special way of seeing the world, and of making the profound so clear and so breathtakingly personal, is a great and unquenchable gift to us all.” Stone was born on Feb. 7, 1936, in Jackson. He graduated in 1958 from Millsaps where his activities included playing clarinet in his fraternity combo, the Lamba Chi Combo. Howard Jones, B.A. 1958, brother of Samuel Jones and a member of the Lamba Chi Combo, said Stone was such an exceptional clarinetist that he could have pursued a career as a professional musician. “Of course, it might be said that the music he made with his poetry engulfed that which he had boiling within. So his clarineticism emerged as poetry. It turns out to have been a good trade, although I can still hear those jazz notes in his poetry.” Stone received his medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and was an emeritus professor of medicine, specializing in cardiology, and associate dean for admissions emeritus at Emory University School of Medicine. He received many academic awards for his contributions to medicine and to literature. His co-editorship of On Medicine is a union of literature and medicine, and the anthology has been given to medical students across the United States for more than 15 years. In 2002, Stone was interviewed by Stylus, the Millsaps student literary magazine. He was asked about handling the seemingly different ideals of science and literature. “I’ve never thought that the two fields of study were that different from one another. Science and literature, after all, are both ways of knowing, of understanding the world. All windows open to the same world,” he said in the interview. Both of Stone's siblings are Millsaps alumni: Betsy Stone Walkup, B.A. 1968, and Marler Stone, B.A. 1960.

“His remarkable life enriched a university, a medical school, a city, the world of literature, and, most especially, all who came in contact with him.”

—Nell Luter Floyd

spring–summer 2009

Dr. Howard Gregory Bavender Emeritus Professor

His life was his students and during his time at Millsaps he inspired countless students who were fortunate enough to sit in one of his classes.

Howard Gregory Bavender, emeritus professor of political science, died on Oct. 31, 2008, in Washington, D.C. He was 88. He was raised in Toppenish, Wash., and received an undergraduate degree from the College of Idaho. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and was a captain in the Air Force during the Korean War. He received his master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin and did additional graduate work at the University of Texas and New York University. Bavender taught political science at Millsaps from1966 until 1990. His life was his students, and during his time at Millsaps he inspired countless students who were fortunate enough to sit in one of his classes. Dr. John Quincy Adams, emeritus professor of political science, met Bavender in graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin in 1959. “We went separately to teaching jobs, but when I later came to Millsaps, in 1965, a vacancy opened for the next year, and I knew just the man for the job. Bav, as he was known to nearly all his students, and I were the entire political science department from 1967 to 1990 when he retired.” The political science department graduated about 270 majors during Bavender’s 24 years at the College, Adams said. “Probably half went on to law or grad school (with a few going to seminary), getting there in part due to his out-of-the-ordinary letters of recommendation. His prose would immediately catch the attention of admissions committees, as it did in his regular correspondence with friends, colleagues, and alumni.” Dr. T.W. Lewis, emeritus professor of religion, said he knew of Bavender’s gifts as a teacher through students they both taught and their stories about him as their professor, counselor, and friend. “His intelligence, his command of his discipline, and especially his respect for them as persons made him a compelling teacher. No issue, personal or academic, was brought to him with receiving not only thoughtful hearing, but patient reflection.” Bavender expected his colleagues to uphold the same high standards to which he held himself and always presented a thoughtful point of view whether in faculty meetings or committee assignments. “Best of all was the warmth of his friendship that might arrive in notes or in a brief visit to your office to express appreciation for a lecture, a paper, or a concern for some issue in your life. He was a grand colleague in good and especially trying times.” A scholarship fund has been established in Bavender’s honor, and the Millsaps Archives is accepting correspondence anyone may have received from him. Read additional testimonials about Bavender at www.millsaps.edu/bav/donors.shtml.

—Nell Luter Floyd

millsaps magazine

Dr. Mark Allen Hamon Assistant Professor of Chemistry Mark Allen Hamon, an assistant professor of chemistry at Millsaps, died on Oct. 26, 2008, at his home. He earned a bachelor’s of science degree at Northern Kentucky University and a doctorate in organic chemistry at the University of Kentucky. A member of the American Chemical Society, he joined the Millsaps faculty in 2003. He taught organic chemistry and general chemistry and served on the Curriculum Committee and the Pre-Health Committee. Hamon embraced his competitive nature as an enthusiastic golfer and a University of Kentucky basketball fan. “We had an ongoing rivalry in college basketball, he for Kentucky and me for North Carolina,” said Dr. Jimmie M. Purser, professor of chemistry and computer science at Millsaps. “Not a day went by during the basketball season without our talking in Olin Hall about ‘last night’s’ game.” Hamon also liked to play poker and before games would sometimes show off card tricks he learned in one of the Millsaps enrichment classes. “Most of them worked on his first try,” said Dr. Donald R. Schwartz, associate professor of computer science at Millsaps. "He also loved corny jokes and often told them while we played poker.” His love for sports, however, never matched his joy at the birth of his daughter, Sienna Aline. Dudley Marble Jr., major and planned gifts officer for Institutional Advancement at Millsaps, considered Hamon one of his best friends. “I always try to understand what someone’s passions are, so I can discover what he or she likes to talk about. My granddaughter Mary Peyton was one-year-old when Mark’s daughter was born, and he often conversed with me about his daughter.” Hamon won the hearts of his colleagues when he interviewed for the job wearing black athletic shoes because he forgot to pack dress shoes, Purser said. “He was such a good fit for Millsaps,” he said. “A professional chemistry teacher with a caring attitude, Mark was someone you looked forward to seeing every day.”

"A professional chemistry teacher with a caring attitude, Mark was someone you looked forward to seeing every day.”

—Nell Luter Floyd

spring–summer 2009

James S. Love III Former trustee

Love served from July 1997 until June 2004 as a trustee of the College founded by his great uncle, Major Reuben Webster Millsaps.

James S. Love III, a former trustee of Millsaps College, died March 9 in Gulfport. He was 64. Love served from July 1997 until June 2004 as a trustee of the College founded by his great uncle, Major Reuben Webster Millsaps. In his early years, he was a resident of Jackson and Biloxi, living in the summer at the White House Hotel, which was owned by his father. He attended Duling Elementary and Bailey Junior High and graduated from Murrah High School in 1962. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Mississippi in 1966. He received a master’s of business administration from the Darden School at the University of Virginia in 1968. He began his career in advertising at J. Walter Thompson in New York and then found his calling at Baker Weeks as a securities analyst. He work for several firms on Wall Street, including Paine Weber and Dean Witter. He covered the machinery industry during his roughly 14 years as a securities analyst. He became chairman of Love Broadcasting Co., owner of WLOX-TV in Biloxi, after the death of his father in 1972. He was the executive producer of the Peabody Award winning documentary “Did They Die in Vain” and also “Steps to Nowhere,” a documentary of the lasting impact of Hurricane Camille on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He formed Love Communications Co. of Jackson in 1990. He initially focused on cable advertising, but expanded the company to include a nightly news broadcast. Love and his sisters, Mary Eliza McMillan and Joe Love Little, restored the Jackson home of Major Millsaps into a bed and breakfast inn named the Millsaps Buie House. He also took on the rejuvenation of the White House Hotel, though that project has not been completed. Love’s brother-in-law, Howard McMillan, is dean of Millsaps’ Else School of Management. Love’s son, James S. Love IV, is a 1994 graduate of Millsaps.

—Nell Luter Floyd

millsaps magazine

Millsaps provides nurturing path for graduate's next step Have you always wanted to be on the pre-medical track?

I came to Millsaps College as a pre-med student. The end of my sophomore year, my mother passed away in an automobile accident with an 18-wheeler, and I questioned my desire to become a doctor. Faced with the brevity of life, I wondered if I was making the right life decision in becoming a doctor. My advisor placed me in the Health Careers Development Program and other programs offered by the local hospitals. The programs required that I write mini-reflection essays about what I observed during my rotations. Through this and also my Ford Fellowship in Organic Chemistry with Dr. Kristina Stensaas, I realized that I have a passion for helping others. How have you been inspired by your professors at Millsaps?

I am inspired by their dedication to excellence in what they do, and I aspire to that same degree of excellence for myself. Never once during my time at Millsaps have I been told what to think, but I have been taught the process of thinking in all my classes, including the humanities and the sciences. My professors relentlessly encouraged me to develop a sense of self-confidence in my abilities, which is a quality that I would not be able to cultivate elsewhere to the same degree. As you reflect on your time at Millsaps, what are your fondest memories?

The best part of my experience at Millsaps has been my relationships with my professors. Though they have always held me to the highest academic standards, I have found the greatest comfort in their compassion toward the many hardships I have faced throughout my undergraduate career. My professors and the amazing friends that I have made at Millsaps have formed a support system that I could not dream of having at any other institution. How has Millsaps prepared you for your future endeavors?

Millsaps has prepared me with critical thinking and reasoning skills gained from my science classes. I have also acquired a love for reading authors such as Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and various other writers. These authors serve as some of my advisors and friends through lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s travails. Millsaps has given me an invaluable and priceless way of approaching life.

Neha Solanki, a May 2009 graduate of Millsaps, will attend Tulane University School of Medicine. Interviewed by Lisa Purdie

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

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS 1701 NORTH STATE STREET JACKSON • MS • 39210-0001

Looking to the future 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 or library support, your Annual Fund gift helps the College build on its foundation of excellence and prepare for future generations of students. As Millsaps shapes its learning environment, cultivates its students, and constructs new areas of study, your gift offers the support the College 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. Elizabeth and Mont Mitchell, children of Thomas “Mack” Mitchell, B.B.A. 1993, and Kathleen Mitchell, B.A. 1992, M.B.A. 1997, and grandchildren of Millsaps Trustee Don Mitchell, B.S. 1964, and his wife, Mary Sue Mitchell, B.A. 1963, support the Millsaps Majors. If Elizabeth and Mont attend Millsaps, they will be the fifth generation of their family to do so.

Millsaps Department of Annual Giving 1701 North State Street Jackson, MS 39210 -0001 601-974-1037 1-86-MILLSAPS (toll-free)