MILLSAPS MAGAZINE
FALL 2017
“In the Information Age, facts are cheap and everyone is suffering Google overload. Therefore, the retrieval of facts is not what most of us will ask of you. We want you to suppose, to imagine, to piece out, to divide, to think, to hear, and to judge. In other words, above all else, we want to fire your thoughts.” These are the words of Dr. Eric Griffin, Janice B. Trimble Professor, chair of the English Department, and the 2017 Distinguished Professor, offered to incoming students at this year’s academic convocation. His challenge provides a clear summation of what to expect at Millsaps, and illustrates the value of a Millsaps education. Our graduates leave here with the skills to help them navigate an everchanging world and mark it with their own imprimatur over time. In this issue of the Millsaps Magazine, you will read about individuals who have embraced Griffin’s challenge. The relationships between students and faculty are also the foundations on which Fulbright Scholars and Truman Scholars are built. They are the driving force behind the success of graduates who set new standards of our motto, Ad Excellentiam, through their work in fields of art, science, business, and film. You will also read about the long-overdue, $13.5 million renovation of the iconic Christian Center, transforming it into a beautiful space for students and faculty to learn, work, reflect, and worship. We will soon break ground on a new Visual Arts Center that will
puses. In my own comments to students at convocation, I spoke of these concepts of order and disorder, specifically framing the wondrous experience of the order of our universe as seen in the recent solar eclipse (which, ironically, triggered disordered occurrences of its own) against some of the disorders of our time. I encouraged our students to seek ways to infuse order and hope into a time of uncertainty and confusion. In particular, I encouraged our students to consider the words of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Ford, whom I had the privilege of publicly interviewing during the 2017 Mississippi Book Festival. A recurring and uplifting theme in Ford’s often gloomy stories is the “fabric” of care and intimacy “that holds people close enough together to survive”—what Ford calls the “redeeming quality of human affection.” My words to the Millsaps community at convocation: may we do all in our power this year to be exemplars of the core values of the College—honor, duty, compassion, justice, and service; to embrace and love one another in all our differences; and to claim and live in to on a daily basis the “redeeming quality of human affection.”
provide our art department, featured in this issue for its valued work over more than 70 years, with state-of-the-art studio and gallery space and also re-open our campus to our neighbors in the Midtown neighborhood with the aid of a new entrance on the west side of campus. All of this good work is happening against a broader canvas of order and disorder across the country, including on college cam-
Robert W. Pearigen, Ph.D. President
In the Sticks by Pete Halverson, B.A. 1993
Curating Lives
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On Campus Accolades
Campus Events Methodist Roots Strategic Plan Truman Scholar Shepherd Consortium Davis Fellows
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017 EXECUTIVE EDITOR John Sewell* DESIGN Kelley Matthews
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Major Sports Major Difference
Pursuing a Passion
EXECUTIVE STAFF Dr. Robert W. Pearigen, President Dr. S. Keith Dunn, Provost and Dean of the College Dr. Robert Alexander, Vice President of Enrollment and Communications
PUBLICATIONS MANAGER Nell Luter Floyd
Hope M. Carter, Vice President of Institutional Advancement
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ruth Cummins, Nell Luter Floyd, Daniel Paulling, Hannah Saulters*, and John Webb
Dan Hungerford, Vice President for Finance Dr. R. Brit Katz, Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students
WEB Lucy Molinaro* and Emma Stockton
Penta Moore*, Executive Assistant to the President
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Greg Campbell, Frank Farmer, and Sophie McNeil Wolf
Kenneth Townsend*, Executive Director of the Institute for Civic and Professional Engagement
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Alumni
Lights, Camera, Ward! Millsaps to NASA The Right Note Class Notes In Memoriam
BOARD OF TRUSTEES J. Thomas Fowlkes*, Chair; The Rev. Jerry Bostick Beam*; Ryan Beckett*; Paul T. Benton*; Carol A. Biedenharn*; Noble B. Black*; The Rev. Warren Black*; Dr. Michael Bourland*; Katherine B. Brady; James A. Coggin; The Rev. Dr. Stephen T. Cook; Rev. Claire Dobbs; John D. Durrett*; Mark R. Freeman*; William F. Goodman III*; Judge James E. Graves Jr.*; Judy M. Guice*; Maurice H. Hall Jr.*; Monica Sethi Harrigill*; William R. James; The Rev. Ricky James*; Peder R. Johnson*; The Rev. Steven P. Keen*; The Rev. Vicki W. Landrum*; Charles R. Lathem*; John L. Lindsey; Paul F. McNeill*; Jean N. Medley*; Richard H. Mills*; Monte Rector*; Dr. Robert C. Robbins*; Donna Ruth Else Roberts; E.B. Robinson Jr.; David B. Russell*; Roger Smith*; Mike Sturdivant*; Bishop James E. Swanson Sr.; Ward Van Skiver*; J. Mack Varner*; Betsy S. Walkup*
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HONORARY TRUSTEES Robert H. Dunlap*; Robert W. Pittman* LIFE TRUSTEES Gale L. Galloway; William T. Jeanes*; Robert N. Leggett Jr.*; J. Con Maloney Jr.*; John C. Vaughey; Leila Clark Wynn *Denotes Millsaps Alumnus/Alumna Millsaps Magazine is published by Millsaps College, 1701 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39210, for distribution to alumni, parents of students, and friends of the College. For the online magazine, visit www.millsaps.edu/magazine.
On the front: Multiplicity by John McLeod, B.A. 2001 On the back: Ship Island From Ft. Massachusettes by Reilly Morse, B.A. 1979
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What a lovely day for Commencement Despite rain and wind in the days leading up to it, the 123rd Commencement on May 6, 2017 was a joyous celebration in the Bowl on what turned out to be a perfect morning. The College conferred 149 undergraduate degrees and 43 graduate degrees. “Small in number but large in talent and character, the undergraduate, graduate, and EMBA Class of 2017 has provided inspiration and hope for this great college during the past four years,” said Dr. Robert W. Pearigen, president of Millsaps. “You have placed an indelible imprimatur on the institution and on those of us who teach and work here.” During the ceremony, honorary degrees were awarded to a former Mississippi governor, a ground-breaking journalist, and a nationally known litigator. Honorary degrees were presented to:
· Ray Mabus, who has served as secretary of the United States Navy, governor of Mississippi, and ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He is a lecturer at Harvard Business and Law schools, an advisor to Google Ventures, and serves as a director on public and private corporate boards as well as a consultant to various business entities.
· Joanne Edgar, a 1965 graduate of Millsaps and a founding editor of Ms. magazine, where she worked from 1971 until 1989. She earned a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University. She is a strategic communications consultant and writer, working with foundations and nonprofits to support social change.
· Roberta Kaplan, a founding partner at Kaplan & Company, LLP in New York City and an adjunct professor of law at Columbia University Law School. She successfully argued U.S. v. Windsor before the United States Supreme Court, which advanced the cause of marriage equality at the federal level. She has also had a meaningful impact in Mississippi where she has argued and won major cases that challenged discriminatory laws in the state. Brittany Hardy of San Antonio, Texas was recognized as the recipient of the Millsaps College Founders’ Medal. The medal is awarded to the graduating senior with the highest grade point average and a score of “excellent” on comprehensive examinations. Rachel Long of McComb was named the recipient of the Frank and Rachel Anne Laney Award for her award-winning essay that reflected upon the value of a Millsaps liberal arts education. Nico Roth of Alzenau, Bavaria, Germany was recognized as the Outstanding Master of Accountancy graduate. Emerald Jaye Norton of Houston, Texas was recognized as the recipient of the Charles H. Sewell Outstanding Master of Business Administration Award. Leah Jeannette Travis of Hattiesburg earned the Don Fortenberry Award, which recognizes the graduating senior who has demonstrated the most notable, meritorious, diligent, and devoted service to Millsaps with no expectation of recognition, reward, or public remembrance. Dr. Eric J. Griffin, a professor of English who holds the Janice B. Trimble Endowed Chair in English, received the Distinguished Professor Award. A Millsaps professor since 1998, Griffin earned a bachelor’s in English from Pomona College and a master’s and doctorate from the University of Iowa.
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
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Meet Zaria Bonds, a junior from Byram who is majoring in communication studies with a minor in business administration. She knew as a junior in high school that Millsaps College was the place for her after she and her parents had coffee with an admissions counselor. “There was something about connecting with me on a personal level and answering all of my questions that made me feel this would be the right place for me. I eventually visited for Junior Jumpstart Day and met professors and other people, and knew even more that Millsaps was the right choice.” Q: HOW ARE YOU INVOLVED ON CAMPUS?
A: I am a writing consultant for the Millsaps Writing Center, a member of 1 Campus 1 Community, chair of Millsaps Pathways to Success, and public relations officer for the sophomore honor society Sigma Lambda. I was the 2016–2017 president of the freshman honor society Phi Eta Sigma.
Q: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ACTIVITY?
A: As part of 1 Campus 1 Community, I volunteer weekly at Brown Elementary in the Midtown neighborhood near Millsaps. I enjoy giving back to our community by assisting the teachers. I believe I make a difference in the children’s lives by helping them with their reading and math skills. I always remember the Millsaps vision ‘across the street and around the globe’ because it reminds me that Millsaps is not only changing my life, but also others.
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Q: WHAT IS CHALLENGING ABOUT BEING A MILLSAPS STUDENT?
A: Time management and balance. There are so many opportunites to explore at Millsaps, and it can be tempting to do everything. Professors expect students to use their skills beyond the classroom.
Q: WHAT HAVE YOU FOUND TRANSFORMATIVE?
A: My growth as a student, writer, and person. Millsaps professors and faculty want students to succeed, and the undying support of the Millsaps community is endearing.
Q: WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT MILLSAPS?
A: I value the many connections I have made with my professors, the long-lasting relationships with fellow students and faculty, and the challenging coursework. The small size of classes makes for great discussions with my peers and professors. I also like that students are able to use their voices to create change on campus and in our community.
Q: WHO IS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE PROFESSORS?
A: Dr. Jennifer Yates, visiting assistant professor of classical studies. Taking Latin was the most challenging class I had as a freshman. She made sure I just didn’t memorize words, but understood the language and the concepts. I appreciate her for keeping everyone motivated, and pushing us out of our comfort zone.
Q: WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS AFTER GRADUATION?
A: I plan to enroll in a communications or public relations graduate program out of state. Millsaps is equipping me with skills to thrive in a graduate program, and I am confident I will succeed.
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Meet Dr. Louwanda Evans, assistant professor of sociology at Millsaps College. She earned her B.A. and M.A. from the University of Texas-Arlington and her doctorate from Texas A&M University. She joined the faculty at Millsaps in 2012. Under her teaching philosophy, everyone takes responsibility for learning. Her courses center on conceptual discussions in which students engage the material in a way that creates deeper connections between sociological concepts and the real world. In the classroom, Evans believes in the reciprocity of learning. “I believe that everyone has a responsibility in the classroom and that all perspectives and voices are valued, not just my voice,” she said. Q: WHAT APPEALS TO YOU ABOUT SOCIOLOGY? A: I have always loved sociology because it provides a logical way to examine the social world and social behavior. Sociology gives me a language and an ability to critique systems of power and oppression, and an ability to understand how these systems, among many others, provide opportunities and/or constraints in our lives.
Q: WHAT IS YOUR AREA OF RESEARCH?
Q: WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO MILLSAPS COLLEGE? A: I was attracted to Millsaps College because of the smaller class sizes, my ability to engage in applied sociology with our students, and the opportunity I would have to partner students with community members. I was particularly attracted to the Department of Sociology and Anthropology because it has a history of doing this type of work, and I was encouraged to consider ways my courses would fit within this framework.
Q: WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT WORKING AT MILLSAPS COLLEGE? A: One of my most favorite things about working at Millsaps (though there are many favorite things) is the encouragement and support around developing courses and community engagement projects that will benefit the students and allow them to truly understand what sociology is and what we as sociologists can do to make our world a better place.
Q: WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO WHEN YOU’RE NOT TEACHING? A: My hobbies are reading and exploring museums and parks with Kameron, my three-year old niece. We also enjoy taking walks with Honey, our 11-year-old pup.
A: My areas of research surround issues of race/ethnic relations, emotions and emotional labor, and the intersections of race, class, and gender, primarily in the workplace. My research grapples with how institutional cultures and systems (re)produce particular forms of inequitable emotional labor for workers of color in professional occupations. Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
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ACCOLADES Millsaps faculty spend time in the classroom, but that's not all they do. They find time for research and creative endeavors, and they participate in professional activities that expand their knowledge and enhance their teaching. Our staff members stay busy, too. Here are some of their recent professional activities.
Faculty
is hand-bound. There are 47 copies in the edition,
“Geophysical and paleoseismic investigation of
and it will be included in several special collec-
the Kingtown lineament along the Big Creek fault
TED AMMON, associate professor of philosophy,
tions that are repositories for WSW publications,
zone, Phillips County, Arkansas.” The award was
including Vassar College, Yale University, and the
funded as part of the U.S. Geological Survey Earth-
Open Court Press, 2016.
Library of Congress.
quake Hazards Program and will provide students
DIANE BAKER, professor of management, published
LOUWANDA EVANS, assistant professor of sociology,
published “David Bowie and Philosophy,” Chicago:
“Teaching Empathy and Ethical Decision Making
with research experience and opportunities for geophysics field work.
is co-author of the paper, “Impossible Burdens: White Institutions, Emotional Labor, and Micro-
ANNE MACMASTER, associate professor of English,
ment Education (August 2017).
Resistance” that was selected as the winner of
wrote the article, “William Faulkner, Jean Toomer,
the 2017 Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Oliver Cromwell Cox Article Award. The Racial
and The Double Dealer: Close Connections of a
GEORGE BEY, professor of anthropology, associate
in Business Schools,” in the Journal of Manage-
dean of international education, and Chisholm Foundation Chair in arts and sciences, was coauthor of two chapters in “Recent Investigations in the Puuc Region of Yucatán” published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd, Oxford. The first chapter is entitled “From Temple to Trash: Analysis and Interpretation of a Dismantled Stucco Façade and its Deposit from Kiuic, Yucatán” and the second is “In Search of Kilns: The Forms and Functions of Annular Structures in the Bolonchén District” (2017). He also had two contributions in the “Encyclopedia of the Ancient Maya,” published by Rowman and Littlefield, London. He wrote the piece on the sites of Kabah and Nohpat as well the one on Kiuic (2016).
CHERYL COKER, associate professor of music, had a proposal selected for the Music by Women Festival at Mississippi University for Women held in March 2017. Coker, a soprano, Lester Senter Wilson, a mezzo soprano, and Janette Sudderth, piano, performed “Virgie Rainey – Two Narratives for Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, and Piano” by Judith Lang Zaimont with text by Eudora Welty from
mer 2017 edition of “The Faulkner Journal.” The
ciological Association gives the award for the best
article stems from a paper she presented at the
research article in the sociological study of race
2015 Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference on
and ethnicity published in the last three years.
Faulkner and print culture.
KRISTEN GOLDEN, associate professor of philosophy
ROBERT S. MCELVAINE , professor of history, received
and director of peace and justice studies, deliv-
the 2017 B.L.C. Wailes Award for national distinc-
ered the presentation, “Teaching Justice Through
tion in the field of history, which was presented
Teaching Empathy,” at the Philosophy Learning
during the Mississippi Historical Society annual
and Teaching Organization meeting in Chicago
meeting in Gulfport in March. The Wailes Award
last June.
is named for B.L.C. Wailes, the founder and first
ERIC GRIFFIN, Janice B. Trimble Professor and chair of the English Department, was awarded a Mayer Research Fellowship at the Huntington Library in San Marino, Calif., where he spent the summer examining the English stage adaptations of Miguel de Cervantes’s “Novelas ejemplares” (1613) written by William Shakespeare’s protégé John Fletcher (1579–1625). Griffin published “Geopolitics and The Spanish Tragedy,” in “The Spanish Tragedy: A Critical Reader” (Bloomsbury, 2016), a volume in the Arden Shakespeare Series, and “Cervantes, Shakespeare, and The Spanish Gypsy
“The Golden Apples.”
(1623): A Postmortem Encounter,” in the bilingual
DAVID C. DAVIS, associate professor of history, pre-
Contexto • Influencia • Relación / Context • Influ-
sented the paper, “Shadow of Death: The Politics of Humanitarian Aid in the Nigerian Civil War,” at the 2017 European Conference of African Studies, hosted by the University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
SUE CARRIE DRUMMOND, B.A. 2012, assistant professor of art, was one of four artists awarded the competitive Artist’s Book Residency Grant from the Women’s Studio Workshop in 2016. During the summer of 2017, she spent seven weeks at the Women’s Studio Workshop in upstate New York creating an edition of artist books entitled A Darn-
ing Stitch. The book is made of handmade paper, hand-printed using silkscreen and letterpress, and 6
www.millsaps.edu
Literary Kind,” that was published in the Sum-
and Ethnic Minorities Section of the American So-
collection, “Cervantes - Shakespeare 1616–2016: ence • Relation” (Reichenberger, 2017). He was honored with a keynote address, “Ye strangers that doe inhabite in this lande’: Shakespeare and Immigration,” at Texas A & M, Corpus Christi’s 2017 Hispanic Shakespeare Symposium.
SABRINA N. GRONDHUIS, assistant professor of psychology, published “Risk Factors for Overweight in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder” in the
Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities (2017).
JAMES B. HARRIS, professor of geology, was awarded a grant from the U.S. Geological Survey entitled
president of the Mississippi Historical Society.
SHELLI POE , assistant professor of religious studies, published a co-edited volume with Maurice Apprey, “The Key to the Door: Experiences of Early African American Students at the University of Virginia” (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017). She also published a monograph, “Essential Trinitarianism: Schleiermacher as Trinitarian Theologian” (New York/London: Bloomsbury, October 2017). With Tonya Nations, senior director of the Millsaps College Center for Career Education, and Kenneth Townsend, B.A. 2004, executive director of the Institute for Civic and Professional Engagement, she presented “Renewal Strategies for Vocational Exploration Programs: Faculty and Staff Development for the Common Good” at the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education Bi-Annual Meeting in Charlotte, N.C. last March. She presented “Expanding the Imaginary: A Queer Community for Feminist Ecumenism” at the American Academy of Religion’s Southeastern Regional Meeting (Raleigh, N.C.) last March. Associate Professor of Music LYNN RALEY’s world premiere recording of Augusta Read Thomas’ “Eurhythmy Etudes” for solo piano will receive international distribution in November on the Nimbus Records label (UK). The CD, “Ritual Incantations,” is seventh in a series devoted to the complete works
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of Thomas, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and former
map turtle (Graptemys geographica) in Missis-
lege, conducted by the FBI Mississippi field office.
composer-in-residence for the Chicago Symphony.
sippi” presented by Grover Brown of USM.
The invitation-only week-long training is for com-
Also, Raley wrote the entry “Milton Babbitt” in “The Mississippi Encyclopedia” (University Press
NATHAN R. SHRADER, assistant professor of political
of Mississippi), which was published in May.
science, was elected secretary of the Mississippi
mand staff law enforcement officers throughout the state.
Political Science Association Executive Board.
TONYA NATIONS, senior director of the Center for
STEPHANIE ROLPH, B.A. 1999, associate professor
Additionally, Shrader conducted more than 30
Career Education, presented “Renewing Vocation-
of history and academic director of the Shepherd
interviews with local, state, and national news
al Inquiry on a College Campus: Creating Effective
Higher Education Consortium on Povery, partici-
media during the 2016 presidential and 2017 Jack-
Vocational Contact Zones” at the 2017 Mississippi
pated in a two-day workshop at Trinity University
son mayoral election cycles. He presented a paper
Association of Colleges and Employers conference.
in Dublin, Ireland, Sept. 29–30. The workshop,
titled “School Board or Springboard? An Analysis
“From Enoch Powell to Donald Trump,” brought
of Political Ambition Among Mississippi School
PENTA COHRAN MOORE , MBA 2017, executive as-
together international scholars of the Radical
Board Members,” at the Southern Political Science
sistant to the president, graduated from Millsaps
Right to review the history of radical movements
Association Annual Meeting last January and the
College with an MBA in May.
in the United States and Great Britain as a way to
Mississippi Political Science Association Annual
enlighten understanding of Britain’s recent Brexit
Meeting last February. Shrader was elected in the
vote and the election of Donald Trump as presi-
May 2017 primary election to the Jackson Munici-
dent of the United States.
pal Democratic Executive Committee, garnering
WILL TAKEWELL , director of campus life and new student orientation, co-published “Exploring Equitable Outcomes of Post-secondary Praxis: How
9,667 votes citywide.
Interactions with Student Affairs Professionals
2016 “Pedagogy meets digital media: A tangle of
ELISE SMITH, professor of art history, published
College: A Replication Study” with Dr. Georgianna
teachers, strategies, and tactics” in “Contemporary
“Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Evelyn De Morgan,
Martin, B.S. 2001. They will also present their
Issues in Technology & Teacher Education;” “But
and the Progress of the Spirit” in “Nineteenth Cen-
findings at the 2017 Association for the Student
that’s not a happy ending!’ Regret as a Pathway to
tury Studies 27” (2013 [publ. 2017]): 27–47.
of Higher Education in Houston in November.
JULIE RUST, professor of education, published in
Empathy” in “First Opinions Second Reactions,”
Shape Cognitive Outcomes in the Fourth Year of
Takewell spent his summer as a lead facilitator
and “Mother-Scholar tangles: Always both this
STEVE SMITH, professor of philosophy and religious
and program co-lead for the Institute for Leader-
and that” in “Ubiquity.” She presented the paper
studies, published the book, “Centering and Ex-
ship Education and Development, the signature
entitled “Play as Assemblage: Creative Production
tending: An Essay on Metaphysical Sense” (State
leadership program of the Association of College
across Contexts with the Digital Dialogue Project”
University of New York Press, 2017), and two ar-
Unions International. He also served as a lead
at the American Education Research Associa-
ticles: “Meaningful Moral Freedom: An Improved
facilitator for the Undergraduate Interfraternity
tion Conference. During the Literacy Research
Kantian View,” in “International Philosophical
Institute, a program of the North American Inter-
Association Conference, she presented three
Quarterly” (June 2017), and “George Cartwright” in
fraternity Conference. Takewell has been selected
papers: “You could tell they was telling the truth:
“The Mississippi Encyclopedia” (University Press
to be a master facilitator for Alpha Sigma Tau
On digital compositions, authentic audiences, and
of Mississippi, 2017). He also presented a paper on
sorority and a social strengths and alcohol skills
the stories we weave”, “Always both this and that:
“The Problem of Harmonizing Civic and Political
training instructor for Phi Gamma Delta fraternity
Mother-scholar mashups”, and “(Dis)assembling
Responsibility” at the annual Mississippi Philo-
for 2017–2019.
boundaries: The digital dialogue project.”
sophical Association conference in Starkville last February.
WILL SELMAN, B.S. 2003, assistant professor of biol-
KEN THOMPSON, registrar and director of institutional research, presented “Propensity Score
ogy, recently published “Diagnostic trait variability
KRISTEN TORDELLA-WILLIAMS, assistant professor
Matching: Moving Towards Causality in Educa-
in the imperiled freshwater turtle, Graptemys fla-
of art, was invited to serve on the board of the
tion” at the 2017 Association for Institutional
Mid-South Sculpture Alliance, which advances the
Research Annual Forum in Washington, D.C.
vimaculata” in the journal Herpetologica. He also presented his past and ongoing research at the 15th
creation and awareness of sculpture in its many
annual Symposium on Conservation and Biology
and varied forms, promoting a supportive environ-
SOPHIE MCNEIL WOLF, creative content manager,
of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises in Charleston,
ment for sculpture and sculptors. The Mid-South
presented “Community + Higher Ed” on May 22
S.C. Presentation titles included “A major field
Sculpture Alliance seeks to advance the under-
during the College Public Relations Association
experience: new Millsaps College turtle research
standing that sculpture educates, effects social
annual conference in Ocean Springs. She was also
projects in Mississippi” and “Spatial, seasonal, and
change, and engages artists, art professionals, and
elected as a CPRAM board member (senior institu-
sexual variation in the diet of a threatened turtle
the community in dialogue. She also presented her
tions representative) for the 2017–2018 year. Wolf
artwork as part of the Im-Permanence? panel at
also presented “Sharpen Your Social Media Skills,”
species (Graptemys flavimaculata) of the Pascagoula River system, Mississippi, USA.” During the
the 2017 National Conference for Contemporary
a half-day workshop for senior-level communi-
summer of 2017, he and collaborators from the
Cast Iron Art that took place at historic landmark
cations and public relations professionals from
University of Southern Mississippi also document-
Sloss National Furnace in Birmingham, Ala.
around the state, for the Public Relations Associa-
ed a species of turtle not yet recorded in Missis-
Staff
sippi. This was the focus of a poster presentation at the aforementioned meeting entitled, “A Yankee turtle in the Deep South: surveys for the northern
tion of Mississippi in June at Millsaps College.
JOHN CONWAY, director of campus safety, recently attended the Mississippi Chiefs’ Command Col-
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
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CAMPUS EVENTS
SCHOLARS, AUTHORS, AND FILMMAKERS WERE AMONG VISITORS IN RECENT MONTHS.
Pam Houston
Anita Modak-Truran
Former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky
Rick Cleveland, Jerry Mitchell, Ray Mosby, Natalie Perkins, Jamie Patterson, and Tim Kalich
Paul D. Summers III
Dr. Greg Miller
MCMULLAN YOUNG WRITERS WORKSHOP Noted fiction writer Pam Houston read from her work as the keynote speaker for the McMullan Young Writers Workshop, which was held on campus in July. She is the author of “Contents May Have Shifted” and the linked story collections “Cowboys Are My Weakness” and “Waltzing the Cat,” as well as the novel “Sight Hound” and the essay collection “A Little More About Me,” all published by W.W. Norton. Her stories have been selected for volumes of “Best American Short Stories,” “The O. Henry Awards,” “The 2013 Pushcart Prize,” and “Best American Short Stories of the Century.” She is the recipient of multiple literary and teaching awards.
MILLSAPS ARTS & LECTURE SERIES Anita Modak-Truran, executive producer of the first official Faulkner documentary, and Paul Summers, Faulkner’s oldest grandson, opened the 2017–2018 season of the Millsaps Arts & Lecture Series with a program focused on the legacy of William Faulkner and his continued relevance in our society.
VISITING WRITERS SERIES The first installment of the 2017–2018 English Department Visiting Writers Series, presented in partnership with the Eudora Welty Foundation, featured Dr. Greg Miller, emeritus professor of English, and former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky. Three of Miller’s five collections of poetry were published by the University of Chicago Phoenix Poets Series, his most recent “The Sea Sleeps: New and Selected,” by Paraclete Press (2014). Miller has worked the last three years as an editor at The Sheep Meadow Press in New York. He has been a writing fellow at Yaddo, MacDowell, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the Dora Maar House, Camargo, and the CAMAC Centre d’Art. Miller received his Ph.D. in English from UC Berkeley, where he had the good fortune to study with Robert Pinsky and Thom Gunn, his M.A. in English and creative writing from Stanford, and his B.A. in French literature and political science from Vanderbilt. Pinsky’s work has earned him the PEN/Voelcker Award, the William Carlos Williams Prize, the Lenore Marshall Prize, Italy’s Premio Capri, the Korean Manhae Award, and the Harold Washington Award from the City of Chicago, among other accolades. He is a professor of English and creative writing in the graduate writing program at Boston University.
FRIDAY FORUM Dr. Peju Layiwola, an associate professor of art history and head of the Department of Creative Arts at the University of Lagos in Nigeria and a visual artist working across mediums with an emphasis in experimental printmaking and repousee fine art, spoke in September during a Friday Forum. She gave an artist talk about her Benin 1897 project, which refers to the British ‘Punitive’ Expedition and presents the artist’s impression of Benin’s cultural rape. Benin 1897 seeks to recontextualize the invasion, during which British imperialists sacked an ancient government and its monarch in addition to looting its art by recreating culturally significant artworks. Five winners of the Bill Minor Journalism Prize participated in a Millsaps Forum, co-sponsored by the Mississippi Press Association, during September. Jerry Mitchell of The Clarion-Ledger and Ray Mosby and Natalie Perkins of the Deer Creek Pilot in Rolling Fork, recipients of the Bill Minor Prize for Investigative Journalism, and Tim Kalich of The Greenwood Commonwealth and Jamie Patterson of The Yazoo Herald, recipients of the Bill Minor Prize for General News Reporting, spoke about their work and community news reporting. Established in 2003, the Bill Minor Prizes are funded through an endowment to the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson in honor of Minor’s long career as a reporter and columnist. Minor, whose 70-year career spanned much of Mississippi’s history in the 20th Century, died in March at 94. 8 www.millsaps.edu
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Mapping Millsaps’ biocultural reserve thanks to technology Using a method of surveying that utilizes lasers, Millsaps College students have begun mapping the terrain of Kaxil Kiuic, the 4,500-acre biocultural reserve in Yucatán owned by the College. During the summer of 2017, students began using an aerial survey method known as Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) that results in high-resolution maps with detailed overviews of landscapes, allowing researchers to determine features such as roads, architecture, and the layout of centers of activity. “Millsaps College has a long history of significant and important archaeological work in this area, and the introduction of LiDAR technology has an immediate and important impact on our work,” said Dr. George Bey, professor of sociology and anthropology and Chisholm Foundation chair of Arts and Sciences at Millsaps. “I’m excited about how this project will build on the research that has been done to date and lay the foundation for future students to explore, excavate, and interpret Maya history.” The technology is made possible by a $286,000 grant from the National Science Foundation that Bey received along with Dr. Tomas Gallareta Negron of Centro Yucatan-INAH in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico and Millsaps scholar of Maya Studies, and Dr. William Ringle, chair of the Department of Anthropology at Davidson College in Davidson, N.C. Ringle serves as senior investigator for the project.
Funding will be used for a three-year project to carry out research focused on how understanding patterns of cultivation and architectural construction by the ancient Maya in the eastern Puuc Hills of Yucatán shaped the regionalism of the area during that time. “This is an incredible opportunity for us to understand the rise of civilization in the Puuc on a grand scale,” Bey said. “We have LiDAR data from a flyover made this spring of an area roughly 250 square kilometers in size. This past summer we had data on 77 square kilometers. We began to identify, map, and excavate not only the large cities but also the towns and villages that formed the complex regional settlement system. “With LiDAR you can see even small buildings, allowing us to now locate sites on our computers in the lab and then ‘ground truth’ them in the field. Our goal is to comprehensively study the ancient Maya from both a macro and micro scale. We want to define the growth of this region, its socio-political organization, and economy, in order to better understand why the Maya were so successful in the Puuc and what led to the almost total abandonment of this region after two millennia of occupation.” Although the population of the Puuc was densely settled between A.D. 650 and 1000, “our project has shown that there was a very significant population in the region with massive platforms and pyramidal structures as far back as 900 B.C.,” Bey said. The area was later largely abandoned, and the region remains largely uninhabited to this day. Bey said he expects the project will help strengthen longtime collaboration with the College’s partners in Mexico as well as provide new opportunities for Mexican and American students to work together. Millsaps has been involved with the Kiuic project since 1999. The project has been recognized by the National Geographic Society, the Archaeological Institute of America, and the World Heritage Foundation for its efforts as well as highlighted in the 2012 National Geographic documentary “Quest for the Lost Maya.”
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Reaffirming our historic relationship with The United Methodist Church
Townsend, B.A. 2004, executive director of the Institute for Civic and Professional Engagement. “Rev. Reed McCaleb’s passion for engaging and mentoring young people complements perfectly Joey’s and Paige’s skills and interests,” said Townsend. Shelton, Swaim-Presley, and McCaleb share the common goals of ministering to all who work and study at Millsaps, regardless of their faith traditions, as well as driving external outreach that will tighten bonds between the College and United Methodist churches statewide. “I’m bringing together the narrative of the College and the Mississippi Conference of The United Methodist Church, acting as a
The convergence of three ministry leaders at Millsaps College is giving the United Methodist Church-affiliated institution a stronger and more diverse religious base and a deeper tie with the church as a whole. The Rev. Dr. Joey Shelton, B.B.A. 1982, is the College’s new chaplain and director of church relations. Working with him are the Rev. Paige Swaim-Presley, executive director of the Center for Ministry; and the Rev. Reed McCaleb, campus minister and director of the Wesley Foundation. “There is likely no one in the world who knows and loves Millsaps and the Mississippi Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church more than the Rev. Joey Shelton, and we could not have found anyone more suitable for, and committed to, the work of the Center for Ministry than Rev. Paige Swaim-Presley,” said Kenneth
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conduit to merge resources where appropriate,” said Shelton, a former attorney who for nine years was pastor at Galloway United Methodist Church in Jackson before joining the Millsaps staff. “This will strengthen the bond between the College and the conference, and the constituencies of each, through preaching, teaching, and the Center for Ministry.” Swaim-Presley worked for three years as executive director of the conference’s Seashore Mission in Biloxi. She then served at Saucier United Methodist Church and Gateway United Methodist Church in Gulfport before accepting her post in 2016 at the Center for Ministry, which focuses on developing Christian leaders through lifelong learning. “The center brings together the best of Millsaps and the church in a way that benefits the community,” said Swaim-Presley. “The majority of programs work with adult laity and clergy, but in the new model, we’re trying to integrate the work of the center within the entire cam-
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pus. That’s the hope and the strategic goals that this new team are trying to meet, most specifically me, Joey, and Reed, and the people who work with us at the College and the conference.” An ordained minister in the United Methodist system for eight years, McCaleb most recently served as pastor at Fannin United
clergy, and we educate new pastors and clergy for the ministry.” Swaim-Presley’s job includes teaching Sunday school classes at Methodist churches, leading retreats, and helping church leadership teams with strategic planning that is geared toward laity. “We mean to be a connection between the church, the College,
Methodist Church in Rankin County. He serves as a daily presence
and the community in ways that share their best with each other,”
for all of the Millsaps community.
Swaim-Presley said. “We have dreams about how we will extend what
“We call this extension ministry,” he said of his transition from church pastor to campus minister. “I’m leaving a pulpit and going into
we do into the life of the College and campus.” For the last five years, McCaleb has served on the Mississippi
a different setting. Sometimes, that means teaching and preaching, or
Annual Conference Committee for Higher Education Ministry, an
listening and building relationships with groups as well as individuals.
experience that prepared him for his new position. “It’s more of a
“My office works with Joey in a Christian perspective to meet all of those traditions and find a way for all to work together—to find the things that bring us together, even when there are things that we don’t agree upon.” The three leaders all make their home in the metro Jackson area.
fulfillment of the passion that I’ve been experiencing, and the call to where I think my work was headed,” he said. “Campus ministry has been part of my passion and heart since being an undergraduate and leading campus ministry as a student,” he said. “Even though I’ve served in Natchez and other more obscure
Shelton is married to the Rev. Dr. Connie Shelton, superintendent
places where there are not many opportunities on the college level,
of the Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church’s East
I’ve tried to help equip the different campus ministries across the
Jackson District, and they have two daughters. Swaim-Presley and her
state.”
husband, Lance, who recently began his first year as pastor of Broad-
The spiritual identity of a college student is a significant devel-
meadow United Methodist Church in Jackson, share their home
opmental issue, said Dr. Brit Katz, vice president of student life and
with cat Ginger and standard poodle Paris. McCaleb and his wife,
dean of students at Millsaps.
Karie Sue, who serves as associate pastor of children and families at
“The Revs. Shelton, Swaim-Presley, and McCaleb will propel the
St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Brandon, have a son and a
spiritual exploration and development for our Christian and non-
daughter.
Christian students, while revitalizing the inclusive historic heritage
Shelton provides pastoral care to faculty, staff, and students, and is a member of the president’s cabinet. “I’ve had the great good fortune to be on the Board of Trustees
established with The United Methodist Church,” he said. “They have already ignited a strong connection with our student body.” Shelton said his short-term plans include bringing more emphasis
for the last eight years,” Shelton said. “That has given me a unique
to external relations “as we continue to raise funds and go forward
perspective and familiarity with how the College runs. I still have a lot
with renovations to the Christian Center. As we look at the program-
of names to learn, but I also have developed relationships.
ming and ministry access for both the campus minister and the Cen-
“The United Methodist Church is what is known as connection-
ter for Ministry, we want to converge some resources from the College
al,” Shelton said. “When you are a member of The United Methodist
that we have not before, and to have some offerings that would not
Church, you are United Methodist. You practice your faith at your
only benefit Mississippi, but the entire southeast region.”
particular congregation, but every congregation supports financially the same external ministries at Millsaps.” That support also is extended to Rust College, a United Methodist-affiliated church in Holly Springs. McCaleb said he, Shelton, and Swaim-Presley are “taking a stance together” to bridge the College and churches statewide. A key part of that continuing outreach is the Center for Ministry,
The hirings of Shelton, Swaim-Presley, and McCaleb, made possible in part by significant new and increased gifts from donors who understand the value of Millsaps proudly proclaiming its ethical heritage and United Methodist affiliation, “is a real game-changer,” Townsend said. “The Millsaps Strategic Plan ‘Across the Street and Around the Globe: Partnerships and Influence at Millsaps College’ includes
“a partnership between Millsaps and the Mississippi Annual Confer-
among its overarching goals a commitment to reaffirming our historic
ence,” Swaim-Presley said. “Our mission is to develop Christian lead-
relationship with The United Methodist Church,” he said. “With the
ership through lifelong learning. Even though we’re a partnership,
recent additions (of Shelton, Swaim-Presley, and McCaleb), the Col-
we offer programming that meets the needs of a variety of people and
lege has shown that this commitment is one we take seriously.”
organizations, some of them Methodist and some not.” One of the center’s most transformative and beloved programs is
“My four great loves professionally are Millsaps, the Mississippi Conference, the Center for Ministry, and Galloway Methodist
Journey Partners, which offers two years of training in spiritual direc-
Church,” Shelton said. “All four of those will be intricately involved
tion.
in the partnerships and the convergences in this job. It’s a fantastic
Journey Partners, Swaim-Presley said, “is life-giving and lifechanging. It’s spectacular in that it’s a program that laity and clergy
opportunity.” BY RUTH INGRAM CUMMINS
participate in at the same time. We do continuing education for
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Five years in: the Millsaps College strategic plan The title sums it up: “Across the Street and Around the Globe: Partnerships and Influence at Millsaps College.” This designation for the Millsaps College strategic plan provides a guiding light for the six key categories developed in 2012 by a committee of trustees, students, faculty, and staff. Building on the College’s vision and mission statements, the categories include: Ad Excellentiam; local and global experience and influence; campus enhancement; ethical heritage and church relations; student body expansion, diversity, and support systems; and endowment growth and financial strength. Each category also carries its own set of major initiatives for completion. Five years since the development and release of the strategic plan, we want to offer an update on some of the more visible and representative successes tied to the plan: • The Compass Curriculum for first-year students was implemented in the fall of 2015. Offering a mix of problem-solving, creative practices, integrative and collaborative learning, and the exploration of the humanities, science, and business, the Compass Curriculum challenges students to engage and explore a variety of course topics. And, as with everything related to the learning process at Millsaps, there is writing – lots of writing. • Under the leadership of Kenneth Townsend, B.A. 2004, the announcement of the new Institute for Civic and Professional Engagement in April 2016 signaled a new and innovative means for Millsaps College to focus on ensuring student development through the support of living and learning communities, professional internships, and research projects. According to its mission statement, the Institute “builds connections among the College, the capital city of Jackson, and communities beyond to provide concrete and imaginative approaches to civic and professional involvement, and to facilitate meaningful dialogue that empowers students and the broader community to understand how daily work can promote flourishing communities, responsible citizenship, and thoughtfully engaged lives.” • The International Perspectives Program, funded by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, kicked off its inaugural year this fall. Interested students completed a competitive application process to secure one of 12 openings to serve as an IPP Davis Fellow, which entails working closely with other Fellows and faculty mentors to study a global topic in the fall semester, followed by the planning
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and execution of a conference on that topic in the spring. In the fall of 2017, Fellows are focused on the issue of global warming through a seminar led by Dr. Bill Storey, and will host their conference on the issue in February 2018. • The completion of a comprehensive master plan for the campus in 2013 set the stage for numerous campus enhancements and for work that is currently underway or in development. Athletic program improvements include a new press box and seating for baseball and softball, a new tennis facility and viewing deck, a new track facility and soccer field, and a new turf in the main stadium for football and soccer. Residence halls have undergone a facelift and the conference room in the Campbell Student Center has been converted into the Leggett Living Room. The James Observatory has also undergone a complete renovation and the telescope and instrumentation have been restored. The fall of 2017 is seeing the long-awaited start of a $13.5 million renovation of the historic Christian Center as well as groundbreaking for a new, $5.2 million Visual Arts Center and West Street gate house. • The Rev. Dr. Joey Shelton, B.B.A. 1982, who led the congregation at Galloway United Methodist Church in Jackson as its senior pastor and served on the Millsaps College Board of Trustees, has returned to Millsaps as chaplain and director of church relations. Shelton will support campus ministry efforts and serve as a liaison with The United Methodist Church. Aligned with Shelton’s return to Millsaps, the Center for Ministry at Millsaps College (started in 1999 as a partnership between the College and The United Methodist Conference) has relocated from its space in the Cabot Lodge Hotel adjacent to campus and into the Student Life offices in the Campbell Center. Rev. Paige Swaim-Presley, director of the Center, will support Shelton as an associate chaplain for students. Rev. Reed McCaleb has also joined the Millsaps family as campus minister and director of the Wesley Foundation, a position funded through support from The United Methodist Church and other associated entities. • The announcement of Millsaps College as one of 10 sites selected nationwide in August for the establishment of a Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Campus Center illustrates the powerful role of the College in serving as a place that leads and supports healthy, questioning, challenging, and safe conversations about difficult topics. Funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation through the Association of American Colleges & Universities, this program recognizes the work done by the College in years past and acknowledges the work still to be done with regard to issues of race and racism.
The complete strategic plan is on the Millsaps website at millsaps.edu/strategic-plan.
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Teaching in Spain as part of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program Sara Del Castillo, a 2014 graduate of Millsaps College who has spent the last three years helping Honduran and Guatemalan immigrants in New Orleans master the English language, is spending the 2017–2018 academic year teaching in Spain as part of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.
The program, funded by the State Department, provides grants for individually designed study/research projects or for English Teaching Assistant Programs. Del Castillo will work as an English teaching assistant in Galicia, Spain, through the middle of June 2018. “I know that I will be teaching English in a high school four days of the week, and for the remainder of the week, I will be partnering with a local organization such as SOS Racismo or Caritas Spain,” she said. “In collaborating with a local organization, my plan is to offer free English classes, career-building workshops, and cultural events for immigrants and Spanish citizens to build community together.” Del Castillo graduated from Millsaps with a B.A. in religious studies/sociology-anthropology, earned membership to Phi Beta Kappa, and was named to the Millsaps Hall of Fame. Dr. Robert W. Pearigen, president of Millsaps, praised Del Castillo’s selection as a Fulbright Scholar. “Sara was such an outstanding student leader at Millsaps, and we’re proud of the manner in which she is using the skills learned here and applying them as she builds her career,” Pearigen said. “Her commitment to service and dedication to being a force for change will have a positive impact for years to come.” After graduating from Millsaps, Del Castillo joined Teach For America and asked to be placed in the greater New Orleans area. “Having attended high school on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, this was the area I was most culturally familiar with and the place where I knew there was a rapidly growing Latinx population,” she said. “I became a high school English and English Language Learner teacher and taught students from over 20 different countries.” Dr. James Bowley, professor of religious studies, remembers Del Castillo, who usually was called “Sara Del,” as a model religious studies major because of her passions: passion for learning, passion for questioning, passion for living fully, and compassion for her fellow human beings in many places of the world. “It does not surprise me at all that she has won this award and will be bringing her keen intellect to work and serve others in this new opportunity,” he said. Dr. Brit Katz, vice president of student life and dean of students at Millsaps, called Del Castillo a consummate servant-leader. “She committed herself to countless contemporary social justice issues: gay rights, children of undocumented persons rights, women’s rights, Hispanic citizens identity issues, and socio-economically disadvantaged persons’ issues,” he said. Del Castillo said she plans to return to New Orleans after her year in Spain, attend law school, and bridge together her “passion for immigration and education.” Del Castillo follows eight recent Millsaps graduates—Daniel Kees, B.A. 2016; Kenny Artigues, B.A. 2013; Victoria Gorham, B.A.2012; Sarah Hartzog, B.B.A. 2011; Joseph Muller, B.A. 2011; Emily Tuberville, B.A. 2011; Nadia Al-Hashimi, B.A. 2010; and Chelsi West, B.A. 2008—selected for the Fulbright program. Dr. Lynn Raley, associate professor of music at Millsaps College, received a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach music in Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 2012–2013.
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A jack of all trades, including being named a Truman Scholar Noah Barbieri, a senior majoring in economics, mathematics, and philosophy, is the second Millsaps College student to be selected as a Truman Scholar. A native of the northeast Mississippi town of Belden, Barbieri is one of 62 students in the nation named a Truman Scholar in 2017.
He plans to pursue a doctorate in economics and a master’s degree in public policy with the support provided by the Truman Scholarship. His career goal calls for gaining skills in economics and management so that he can effectively run a government organization. “This scholarship reinforces what we already knew about Noah, that he embodies a true passion for learning and has a tremendous future ahead of him,” said Dr. Robert W. Pearigen, president of Millsaps College. “He has been a strong presence on the Millsaps campus, and we couldn’t be more proud of him and what he has accomplished here.” The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation was created by Congress in 1975 to be a living memorial to President Harry S. Truman. Recipients of the prestigious award receive a $30,000 scholarship toward graduate school and the opportunity to participate in professional development programming. “I am thankful for the scholarship money and the doors the scholarship will open at top graduate programs around the world, but I am most looking forward to being a part of the Truman Scholar community and working on changing the world with them,” Barbieri said. “I would like to thank my parents and Millsaps College for all of their support and encouragement over the years. I could not have done it without them.” Barbieri, who serves as student body president at Millsaps, has completed two honors projects. One was a more than 100-page thesis in philosophy entitled “The Ethics of Controlling Capital,” and the second, a more than 70-page thesis in economics entitled “How to Increase Prime Age Male Labor Force Participation Rates in Mississippi.” A member of the mock trial team and a Foundations leader, he works as a tutor in the math department. He has served as a Presidential Ambassador and participated in the Wellspring Intentional Learning Community, during which time he tutored students at Brown Elementary School in Jackson. He is a member of numerous honorary societies. “Deciding to attend Millsaps was the best decision I have ever made: it completely opened the world up to this Mississippi boy in a way that I do not think anything else could have,” Barbieri said. “I knew that if I worked as hard as I could I could go anywhere in the world for further schooling. Case in point, I have received a $120,000 full scholarship offer to attend graduate school at the University of Singapore.” Millsaps’ first Truman Scholar was Kenneth Townsend, B.A. 2004, who serves as executive director of the Institute for Civic and Professional Engagement at Millsaps and also chairs the Fellowships Committee. “Few students I have ever taught work as hard or care as much as Noah,” said Townsend. “I’m delighted now to call him a fellow Truman Scholar. He is in for an adventure!” In 2017, there were 768 candidates for the award, with 199 finalists interviewed. Scholars received their awards during a ceremony at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in May.
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Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty Comes to Millsaps Sometimes all it takes is one flat tire, or an unexpected co-pay at the pharmacy, or a run-in with the law to plunge an individual or family from comfortable to impoverished—situations Millsaps College juniors, Sara Rimmer and Angel Williams, became familiar with during internships through the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty. Consisting of 23 colleges and universities across the country, the consortium is a nonprofit that develops curricula and experiential education opportunities for students to better understand poverty. In April 2017, Millsaps was named the consortium’s new academic home and Dr. Stephanie Rolph, B.A. 1998, associate professor of history, its academic director. A member of the consortium’s council before becoming director, Rolph was familiar with the program. Drawing on her involvement at Millsaps with Community Engaged Learning courses, Rolph notes that the courses function in much the same way as the consortium’s internships, as “students take in traditional content by studying the history or sociology of poverty, but they’re also preparing to go out into communities and to experience work opportunities that will help them further sharpen those ideas they might have about how their talents and their passions could be applied to impoverished communities.” One prerequisite for Millsap students to apply for an internship is the course, The Many Dimensions of Poverty, taught by Dr. Louwanda Evans, assistant professor of sociology. The course equips students
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with the language and context to grapple with internship experiences. Rimmer is on the pre-med track, with an interest in sociology and public health. She spent eight weeks at SOME (So Others Might Eat), a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., where she assisted in the medical clinic. After learning about the term “structural violence” in Evans’ class, she encountered it in her role as a medical assistant. “What are little problems in an environment of privilege are exacerbated and just become such a bigger deal in an environment of poverty,” Rimmer said. “If you have to come into the clinic for minor things like ibuprofen or a Band-Aid, that’s a billable service. It becomes expensive.” Rimmer was able to look at systemic factors that go into patient compliance, noting that issues such as access to reliable transportation or shelter can play a role. In her work in the Baltimore public defender’s offices, Williams, an aspiring law student, saw “intersections of poverty with race and class and gender” solidify. “Although poverty doesn’t happen in a bubble and everyone’s experience is different,” she said, “I noticed how I kept seeing a certain ZIP code and the same streets and neighborhoods. So it kind of shows how the environment and the place you live can tie into the likelihood of poverty.” With plans for developing a poverty studies minor, Rolph sees the potential for internships in Mississippi. “It gives us the opportunity to take a close look at what we’re already doing and to think big about what we want to offer in the future. We have a lot of existing programs,” she said, citing the Institute for Civic and Professional Engagement and the Vocation, Ethics, and Society minor. ”It is an opportunity to grow what we have and that infrastructure is part of what appealed to the consortium’s committee,” a sentiment Evans echoed. “One of the things that I’ve been concerned with since being at Millsaps is our relationship with the Midtown neighborhood and our lack of a similar relationship with other parts of Jackson,” Evans said. “Those relationships can be so beneficial, but also strained because students might not have enough understanding of the consequences of poverty. So I hope having a course of study helps students understand systems of poverty, that there’s just so much going on.”
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Leading the way as a campus center for Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Millsaps College has been selected as a site for one of the first Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Campus Centers by the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Millsaps is one of ten institutions chosen nationwide out of 125 colleges and universities that applied for the program, and will receive an initial award of $30,000 to develop programming to engage a variety of stakeholders and examine the underlying issues driving the current atmosphere of racial tension in the country.
Dr. Anita M. DeRouen, who serves as director of writing and teaching at Millsaps, worked alongside the Office of Intercultural Affairs, the Institute for Civic and Professional Engagement, and the Division of Institutional Advancement in preparing and submitting the grant application. She believes Millsaps is a worthy choice as a site for a center. “As a teacher who is deeply interested and invested in fostering better avenues for communication around issues of race and racial healing, I’m thrilled to be able to play a role in bringing these opportunities to our campus and local community,” she said. “This is the work that brings the academy and public together, and it’s the work we must all do if we are to leave a better foundation for those to come after us. Millsaps has been growing and working toward precisely this type of opportunity for decades. I am grateful to AAC&U and the Kellogg Foundation for recognizing our potential and giving us resources to make the possible probable.” Institutions were selected based on competitive applications submitted to the association. Criteria for selection included, according to the association, an institution’s “ability
“The selection of Millsaps to
to create positive narratives about race,
serve as one of the inaugural Truth,
identify and examine current realities
Racial Healing and Transforma-
of race relations in their communi-
tion Campus Centers further
ties, envision communities without
supports our role as a leader in
entrenched racial hierarchies, and
matters of justice and equality,”
pinpoint levers for change and key
said Dr. Robert W. Pearigen,
individuals to engage.”
president of Millsaps College.
“In the aftermath of the horrific,
“Given the tragic events in
heartbreaking events in Charlottes-
Charlottesville and the broader
ville, we must not be silent. Instead,
conversations occurring around
we must harness our collective intel-
issues of race, we find ourselves in a
lectual, social and financial resources
unique and hopeful position of being a place that will engage our campus and community in honest dialogue about difficult topics.” Demitrius Brown, associate dean of intercultural affairs & community life at Millsaps, applauded the selection of Millsaps as a site for a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Campus Center. “All you have to do is turn on the news or read the comments section of a local newspaper to know that, particularly around issues of race, that there is so much work that needs to be done to help our society move forward in significant ways,” he said. “This grant affords Millsaps the opportunity to significantly contribute to moving forward. It allows us to engage the campus and the community in transformation, which pushes us past having the
to transform words into action,” said Dr. Lynn Pasquerella, president of the association. “AAC&U is thrilled to partner with these first ten outstanding institutions on our way to establishing 150 centers across the country to ensure that higher education is playing a leadership role in promoting racial and social justice.” The other institutions selected as Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Campus Centers include Austin Community College (Texas), Brown University (Rhode Island), Duke University (North Carolina), Hamline University (Minnesota), Rutgers University (New Jersey), Spelman College (Georgia), The Citadel (South Carolina), University of Hawai’i, and University of Maryland Baltimore County.
same conversation we have had on race for decades. It is a true opportunity to change.”
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Executive Education provides training for Mississippi business When C Spire wanted to provide a pioneering learning experience for its high-level team members, it turned to the Else School of Management at Millsaps College. “C Spire is about innovation, progression, and results, and that carries over into how we’re starting to think about the way we train our leaders,” said Liz Williamson, manager of training and development at C Spire, a diversified telecommunications and technology service company that is based in Ridgeland. “From the first conversation we had about training, the Else School at Millsaps listened to the intent of our request and embraced the uniqueness of the request.” LeAnne Brewer, B.A.1988, director of Executive Education, worked with Williamson and with professors in the Else School to provide the experience C Spire sought. A newly developed program, Executive Education offers customized professional development tailored to meet the needs of businesses as well as open enrollment for general business training sessions. Program areas include leadership development, budgeting and forecasting for non-finance managers, strategic management, managerial decision-making, and employment law. Also available is training in strategic planning, managing and motivating different generations in the workplace, leading change, organizational development, and process improvement. Collaborating with Millsaps to design and implement an executive leadership development plan can be an effective approach to growing a more cohesive and competent leadership team capable of leading that business into the future. The goal of the training is
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to assist businesses so that they may operate effectively in a rapidly changing business environment, Brewer said. The Else School was a true partner in training when working with C Spire, Williamson said, and responded quickly on a tight time line of events. “I can’t imagine working with a group more willing to share the vision we had for this training program than the Else School at Millsaps,” she said. “At C Spire, we strive to be easy to do business with. The team at Millsaps shares the same mission.” Millsaps has a reputation for excellence and that describes the training it provides for C Spire, Williamson said. “By utilizing the College’s Executive Education program to customize training for us, we’re connecting high performing C Spire managers with thought leaders in the business education field,” she said. “Only good things can come from this type of collaboration.” Also falling under the umbrella of Executive Education at Millsaps College are these programs: • Executive M.B.A., an opportunity for mid-career executives to earn an M.B.A. without putting careers on hold. Classes are offered alternating weekends for 16 months starting January of 2018. • Business Advantage Program for Professionals, a certificate program for professionals with no business training. Classes meet two nights per week for a semester and cover a fundamental understanding of economics, accounting, finance, marketing, and management. • Millsaps Commercial Real Estate Investment Seminar, a two-day seminar hosted by Steve Rogers of Rogers & Associates that focuses on advanced investment practices in the current real estate climate. Sessions are taught by nationally recognized real estate and investment leaders. For more information about Executive Education, contact LeAnne Brewer at leanne.brewer@millsaps.edu or 601-974-1258.
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New life for the Christian Center Members of the Millsaps College community recently celebrated the formal launch of renovations to the Christian Center, one of the most iconic buildings on campus. Completed in 1950 with funding from Methodist churches in Mississippi and individual donors and dedicated to members of the Millsaps community who died during World War II, the center is undergoing a $13.5-million renovation. “After three years of planning and two years of fundraising, a transformative renovation is underway,” said Millsaps College President Robert W. Pearigen during the formal launch of renovations.
The McRae’s son, Vaughan W. McRae, was a 17-year member of the Millsaps Board of Trustees and a representative of the McRae Foundation. He said the renovation is significant for several reasons, including his family’s many connections with the College. Dr. Alexander Farrar Watkins, a great-uncle of Mrs. McRae’s, served from 1912–1923 as the third president of Millsaps, numerous McRae family members have attended the College, and Selby and Richard McRae endowed a faculty chair for the Else School of Management plus an ongoing scholarship program to attract top students to the College, he said. “I think our family’s abiding interest in the success of the College is best explained in the theme of the College’s strategic plan, Across
the Street and Around the Globe,” he said. “The future of Jackson, of Mississippi, and of our world demands great leadership, and Millsaps College has for 130 years been a source for those great leaders.” William G. Yates III, president and CEO of W.G. Yates & Sons
“When finished, the building
Construction Co., commended
will, indeed, be a jewel on our
Pearigen’s commitment to the
campus.”
project and recognized Millsaps
The renovated Christian
alumnus and architect Robert
Center will include faculty of-
Parker Adams, Yates Construc-
fices and meeting spaces for the
tion Co., and Dale Partners
departments of English, history,
Architects P.A. for the role they
religious studies, philosophy,
will play in transforming the
and classical studies. “Our
building.
students will engage with the
“We have some great
humanities in new, updated
projects and are honored to be
classrooms and a state-of-
all over the world in different
the-art lecture hall, which will
things, interesting things, from
provide seating for up to 180
the State department to Volvo
people,” Pearigen said.
and Mercedes, but this project
The building will also
has a special place in our
include a suite housing the chaplaincy, the Center for Ministry, and
heart,” he said. “I’ve been talking to Rob (Pearigen) about this project
the Wesley Foundation, which will help the College strengthen its
for several years -- and his vision and commitment and dedication to
relationship with The United Methodist Church as called for in the
make this happen has really been inspiring.”
College’s strategic plan. “With the humanities departments and
Yates, a Millsaps trustee from 2008–2016, said an important com-
the chapel under one roof,” said Pearigen, “it will also reinforce the
ponent of the renovation is the chapel space. “Being able to provide a
shared values and compatibility of reason and faith—the mind and
space where Millsaps students for years and years can come and wor-
the heart—in our world today.
ship is very meaningful, and we’re proud to be part of that,” he said.
“The renovation will return a beautiful chapel to the heart of the building, providing a sacred space that has not been available on our campus for many years,” he said. “Serving as a worship space and as the
The William G. Yates family has committed a gift of $2.2 million to the project, and the chapel will be named for the Yates family. Dr. David C. Davis, associate professor of history at Millsaps, re-
center of the College’s religious and spiritual life, the new chapel will al-
called that the Christian Center had not only been home to numerous
low students of all faiths to connect their intellectual, spiritual, and mor-
theater productions from “The Sound of Music” to “Cat on a Hot Tin
al commitments. It will also provide a central, sacred, gathering place for
Roof,” but also to some of the College’s most beloved professors and
our community in times of celebration and in times of sadness.”
nurtured the education of generations of students.
Upon completion, the building will be rededicated as the Selby
“Housed within historic walls,” he said, “this will be a place where
and Richard McRae Christian Center in honor of a $4-million gift
the minds, hearts, and spirits of students will continue to be inspired,
from the Selby and Richard McRae Foundation for the project. Selby
challenged by the legacy of those who have come before us.”
McRae was a 1946 graduate of the College, and Richard McRae was a longtime trustee and the recipient of an honorary degree presented by
Construction on the project is estimated to be completed by spring 2019.
the College in 1991. Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
19
{ON CAMPUS}
Davis Fellows bring global dimension to the student body The international impact of global climate change is the focus of a dozen Millsaps students during the inaugural year of the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations’ International Perspectives Program. Dr. Bill Storey, a professor of history who has a strong record of interdisciplinary teaching at the College, serves as the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations’ International Perspectives Faculty Fellow for the 2017–2018 academic year and teaches the seminar, “The History and Future of Climate Change.” Students participating in the program have been appointed as Davis Fellows to represent the college and its living/learning community. The 2017–2018 cohort includes Adria Walker, Ashley Chang, Kelsey Stone, Neha Nafis, Adonia Goshu, Bobby Wang, Caiying Zhang, Saihou Ceesay, Vajresh Balaji, Charles Hoffman, Alex Uschmann, and Alex Wicker.
20
www.millsaps.edu
During the fall semester, students will discuss specific case studies about the history of climate science, the history of human responses to ancient ice ages as well as modern warming trends, and the history of alternative energy sources such as nuclear power. Storey and students in the program will plan and support a college-wide conference on the topic in the spring of 2018. Storey contends that historical perspectives on climate change are important as society considers how to modify human behavior to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and to sustain a growing human population. Storey is well suited to lead the program as he has woven business, environmental, and technological issues into his core teaching as well as his history department electives. His scholarship and service have brought these themes together, too, through his writing about environmental and technological history, and his involvement in the American Society for Environmental History and the Society for the History of Technology. Nearly six percent of students at Millsaps are from countries outside the USA, and about half of all students at the College explore the world through education abroad opportunities, said Molly West, director of the program. “It has been exciting to work with faculty and the Davis Fellows as they innovate ways to bring a global dimension to the larger student body through events and an annual conference that will focus on issues that impact our collective world,” she said.
{ON CAMPUS}
Inspiration leads to educational equity and the Freedom Summer Teaching Fellowship A partnership between the Institute for Civic and Professional Engagement at Millsaps College and Freedom Summer Collegiate brought doctoral candidates from the nation’s top universities to underserved areas of Mississippi for the summer. Doctoral students provided instruction for college-level summer seminars for high school students, most of whom were located in the Mississippi Delta. High school students can apply the college credit they earned toward a bachelor’s degree at Millsaps or transfer it to another college. Inspired by the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer, the Freedom Summer Teaching Fellowship focuses on providing educational equity by collaborating with partner programs that put promising future academics in the classroom to educate students. The 2017 Freedom Summer Collegiate curriculum included 13 courses that were offered in Mississippi in Sunflower, Rosedale, and Meridian, as well as in Eudora, Ark. Among the courses eligible for Millsaps credit were “Criminal Justice in the US,” taught by Kaneesha Johnson of Harvard University’s Government Department and “Why Haven’t We Cured Cancer Yet?,” offered by Marina Watanabe of the Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Harvard. Kenneth Townsend, B.A. 2004, executive director of the Institute for Civic and Professional Engagement, led the College’s efforts to develop the partnership but credits numerous faculty members and administrators for their commitment to making the project work. “All of the many people involved in developing this relationship recognized that this presented an exciting win-win opportunity. Millsaps is helping make college more accessible for talented, underserved populations while also exposing those same students to Millsaps early in their college searches—all of which is being done without burdening the College’s existing resources or infrastructure,” he said. Andy Donnelly, executive director of Freedom Summer Collegiate and a Ph.D. student in English at Harvard University, was pleased to have developed a relationship with Millsaps. “We knew Millsaps was the right college for this partnership because of its commitment to service and excellence in education on campus and beyond,” he said.
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
21
{FEATURE}
The Millsaps art department reframes its rich tradition to prepare students for a rapidly changing world-in-progress BY JOHN WEBB
22
www.millsaps.edu
WILLIAM HOLLINGSWORTH (1910–1944), SELF-PORTRAIT , 1943. OIL ON CANVAS. COLLECTION OF THE MISSISSIPPI MUSEUM OF ART, JACKSON. BEQUEST OF JANE OAKLEY HOLLINGSWORTH, 1987.040.
{FEATURE}
William R. Hollingsworth Jr.
Karl Wolfe
DESCRIBING THE PAINTER WILLIAM R. HOLLINGSWORTH JR., WHO FOUNDED THE MILLSAPS COLLEGE ART DEPARTMENT IN 1941 AS THE NATION WAS PLUNGING INTO WORLD WAR, EUDORA WELTY WROTE: “WITH WHAT KNOWLEDGE, YES, BUT WITH WHAT TENDERNESS HE PAINTED! IT WAS NOT A TENDERNESS THAT STOOD IN THE WAY AND BLURRED WHAT HIS EYE TOLD HIM; RATHER IT MUST HAVE COME OF EVER-INCREASING AWARENESS.” As the late O.C. McDavid, a former editor of the Jackson Daily News and artist, quoted Welty in his introduction to “Hollingsworth: The Man, the Artist, and His Work,” that tenderness “opened some door further down the perspective, and showed him new things—those relationships he has expressed between grass and sky, between roof and roadway, between rain and the upstreaming smoke from a cabin.” And so it is that some 75 years after Hollingsworth first taught at Millsaps, ever-increasing awareness and opening doors further down the perspective is what the Millsaps art program is all about. Students are introduced to new perspectives and a new awareness of relationships among the artist’s media, among academic disciplines, relationships between the practice of art and the study of its history, and, perhaps most important, the relationship between an educational background in art and almost any career field. Yes, Millsaps art graduates have gone on to work in related fields like advertising, graphic design, museum and gallery administration, art therapy, art restoration, video production, framing, book design, interior design, architecture, and teaching art at all levels. But others have taken more unpredictable routes to careers in law, medicine, haute cuisine (one
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
23
{FEATURE}
alumna went from painting meat to cooking it in New Orleans), and almost every profession imaginable.
PAST AS PROLOGUE In retrospect, it may be the department’s pedigreed history that has provided the strong foundation from which it could pioneer its widening scope and a curriculum that makes the computer and video camera companions to the paintbrush and chisel. Hollingsworth, a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, had a passion for painting, a fondness for portraying the people and pastures of Mississippi, and a yearning for excellence in his work, but his life’s work was cut short by his death in 1944 at only 34. Taking his place at the helm of the Millsaps Art Department was Brookhaven native Karl Wolfe, also a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, who returned to Mississippi after the war. He was accompanied by his equally talented wife, Mildred Nungester Wolfe, who
From left to right: Mildred Wolfe and Hunter Cole, B.A. 1960, and Holly Harmon, B.A. 2008
also eventually taught at the College. The Wolfes’ influence was widely felt in Jackson, and it remains so. According to the Wolfe Studio website, the couple “created
In “The Wolfe Years: A Collection of
a lot of pressure to find a successful career, so we give them more choice in how they want
many works of art for public spaces as well as
Millsaps Memoirs,” Cole, who majored in
an important body of work held in collec-
English, observes: “What better teacher could
tions nationwide. Karl became a portraitist in
an art student wish for than a working artist
ing not only the visual arts but also theatre,
great demand, and although Mildred painted
whose knowledge and theories are proven
creative writing, and music, can prepare
portraits as well, she focused on landscapes
by the deeds in the workshop, a teacher who
students for a complex life in truly distinc-
and scenes of everyday life.” Their daughter
shares them, pointing to their vitality in the
tive ways, Smith said. “We have something
Elizabeth “Bebe” Wolfe still runs the Jackson
natural world, and watching for the creative
to offer students even if they decide they
studio her parents started in 1946.
spark to ignite the student?”
don’t want to go into an arts-oriented profes-
to build their studies here.” At Millsaps, the arts in general, includ-
Thus was a lofty bar set for the depart-
sion,” she said. “You learn a lot of skills that
“Skill is not what we want in an artist—we
ment, which has continued the tradition of
turn out to be remarkably important in this
want soul, and next to soul, thought . . . at
excellence established by its founders.
complicated world—flexibility, strengthen-
Said Karl Wolfe, in a 1961 faculty address:
Millsaps we reach for the highest level … in reaching we stretch and enlarge our souls.” Recalling Karl Wolfe, Hunter Cole, B.A.
But it has not been afraid to experiment. “We’ve had to make a lot of changes over
ing of imaginative muscles, analytical skills, problem-solving, handling criticism, and
the last 10 to 15 years to stay viable and have
1960, a former editor, associate director, and
moved away from a strict studio approach
marketing manager for the University Press
to one that seems more accessible to today’s
of Mississippi, said: “I am grateful for the
students,” said Dr. Elise Smith, professor of
WANT IN AN ARTIST—WE
direction he gave to my thinking and to my
art history. “Akin to many art departments
WANT SOUL, AND NEXT
perception. Art classes under Karl Wolfe re-
we have had to change to get stronger.”
TO SOUL, THOUGHT . . . AT
main as inspiring and as lasting as my major
24
create. I sense his influence every day.”
As romantic as the starving artist conceit
“SKILL IS NOT WHAT WE
MILLSAPS WE REACH FOR
field has been. I began my professional life
might be, the College wants to prepare
as a college English teacher but gravitated to
students for the real world. “As the world
THE HIGHEST LEVEL … IN
publishing. Both experiences were fulfilling,
changes, so too do ideas as to what consti-
REACHING WE STRETCH AND
and Karl Wolfe seemed always looking over
tutes the study of art and beyond that study, a
my shoulder and urging me to perceive and
solid career,” Smith said. “Students are under
ENLARGE OUR SOULS.”
www.millsaps.edu
–KARL WOLFE
{FEATURE}
the humility you acquire when you make mistakes.” These skills dovetail well with the Com-
aspects of the new curriculum,” Smith said. Just back from Berlin, Smith said she was
and the world beyond the campus gates. Distinguishing the Millsaps art program
fascinated by the way East and West Ger-
from others across the nation “is the fact
pass Curriculum, which the College intro-
many had reunited. And if there is a recur-
that we are interested in building bridges
duced in the fall of 2015 and designed to help
ring motif in the composition of the Millsaps
between studio and art history and between
students navigate an increasingly complex
art program, it is the faculty’s emphasis on
academic and real-life contexts,” Smith said.
and rapidly changing world. “Collaborative
the many connections among disparate dis-
“We are a department that combines studio
problem solving and imaginative skills are
ciplines and between the classroom or studio
and art history, and all art faculty advise and
PUTTING IT TOGETHER Art classes are given a broad cultural context, and students are encouraged to develop a voice and a vision—a new mode of seeing and a new form of communication that involves both a deeper connection and a widened perspective. Students can explore artistic meaning through art-making as well as discussion and writing, and they are expected to learn to trust and strengthen their own voices as they acquire an understanding of the vocabulary of art history and methods of analysis.
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
25
{FEATURE}
work with students majoring in both areas. They get advice from both sides.”
NO PAINT-BY-NUMBER CURRICULUM Millsaps students can major in studio art or art history, or can choose to get a concentration in digital arts within the studio major, or a concentration in museum studies within the art history major. They may also double major in studio art and art history, or minor in studio art, digital arts, art history, or museum studies. Beginning in 2019, students will be able to pursue this coursework in a brand-new $5.2 million visual arts center designed to give students and faculty expanded access to arts media and programs, develop a stronger sense of community for artists on campus, and provide educational opportunities and ease of access for the neighboring community. (see page 29) A foundation in studio art or art history can be an advantage in many professions, Smith said, because of the way the department combines analytical skills with problemsolving. “It’s as important in law and business as in museums and architecture,” she said. “A lot of it has to do with facing a difficult problem and trying to come up with a solution, testing it, finding it doesn’t work, and trying again until you find a resolution. There’s a remarkable similarity with the sciences.” Millsaps has students who are pursuing double majors in art and one of the sciences, or majoring in art while taking all of the required pre-med courses. “They will think about tying together seemingly disparate interests and creating an interesting undergraduate experience,” Smith said. “When they are interviewed for medical school they often find that their well-rounded undergraduate background is received with particular interest.” Furthermore, old norms of staying in a single profession for a lifetime are becoming obsolete. “Members of this generation on average will go through seven career changes, so students have to be quick-witted and flexible and have the ability to think imaginatively about their strengths,” Smith said. “That affects the way we construct our majors. We have to allow them to take their blinders off
26
www.millsaps.edu
From left to right: Amanda Cashman, B.A. 2002, Dr. Nora Oliver, B.S. 2005, Pete Halverson, B.A. 1993, and Michael Boerner, B.B.A. 1998 and seriously consider different fields.” An art major who years ago retired any blinders is third-generation Gulf Coast attorney Reilly Morse, B.A. 1979, president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Justice. “I was deeply influenced by my art training and overall training at Millsaps,” said Morse, who led a lengthy campaign to provide essential legal services to survivors of Hurricane Katrina and ensure fairness in the recovery process. That the College emphasized communication skills in bold italics during his years here was essential to Morse’s transition to legal work, he said. “To distinguish yourself
OF POWERPOINT AND POWERFUL POINTS The medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan famously said, and a Millsaps background can strengthen both: “Bar charts that make a powerful point, models that explain a complex industrial process—it’s a question of how many different dimensions can be used to help people experience an idea,” Morse said. “We have such a mediarich experience, whether we’re walking through a mall or driving on the high-
as a lawyer you have to be able to grab and hold people by the way you speak and write,” said Morse, who majored in art and French. “You also have to be able to understand the power of an image.” Morse said that the Millsaps art department prepared him for his courtroom role by keeping him “alive to the importance of imagery and design” in the fine art of legal
“TO DISTINGUISH YOURSELF AS A LAWYER YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO GRAB AND HOLD PEOPLE BY THE WAY YOU SPEAK AND WRITE. YOU ALSO HAVE TO BE ABLE TO
persuasion. “I learned what makes a compel-
UNDERSTAND THE POWER OF
ling image and how the visual display of data
AN IMAGE.”
can enhance its impact.”
–REILLY MORSE, B.A. 1979
{FEATURE}
way, that we have become sophisticated consumers of these messages. It helps to understand how visuals work to bring a problem to life.” “How did I become a lawyer?” Morse said he often asked himself. “How is what I am doing different from what other lawyers are doing? What did my Millsaps teachers teach me? There is something deeper about being at a school where you are taught interdisciplinary thinking as a freshman. My chemistry and geology friends were saying they would get big jobs and beat the socks off me, and maybe they did. But the liberal arts approach of Millsaps made me a better lawyer and made what I do more accessible.” Sometimes, accessibility is about conveying information effectively, and the Mississippi Center for Justice has worked to explain the complexities of social justice and racial disparities. “We designed slides with maps showing slavery in the Delta that dissolve into slides showing that the current lowest African-American income is in that part of the state,” Morse said. “That’s a synthesis of the Millsaps training I got. Using maps and
graphics to tie 19th century slave popula-
palette knife for a scalpel said the Millsaps
tions to 21st century issues of race is different
approach to art cultivated in her an openness
from just reading about it. The geography of
to all kinds of patients, as well as an ability to
poverty persists over the centuries.”
sympathize and empathize.
Despite his devotion to an important
Dr. Nora Oliver, B.S. 2005, majored in
legal cause, Morse said he had recently
art history and minored in chemistry at
revisited his roots in fine art. “Over the last
Millsaps, and in 2010 she graduated from the
decade I have resumed painting, and I’m re-
University of Mississippi School of Medicine.
connecting with what I learned at Millsaps,”
After her residency in internal medicine at
he said. “I continue to go to galleries and
the University of Maryland Medical Cen-
museums,” he said, adding that he was on
ter and a fellowship in infectious diseases
his way to Long Island to meet a friend from
at Baylor College of Medicine and the MD
his Millsaps junior year abroad in Aix-en-
Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Oliver
Provence, France.
became an infectious disease specialist at the
But avocation can also nurture vocation.
Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center and
“I have found more and more ways to use my understanding of design for work,” Morse said, “whether building a slideshow for a pre-
“MILLSAPS PROVIDED THE
sentation or using my design knowledge to
FOUNDATION FOR MY ART
make graphs tell a story. I can use the power
EDUCATION AND WITHOUT IT
of design to make a point and win a case.”
I WOULDN’T HAVE IMAGINED
He added that a portrait he had painted of a board member of his organization had ended up becoming a fundraising tool. If an art degree can lead to the court-
PURSUING A CAREER IN ART MUSEUMS.” –HOLLY HARMON, B.A. 2008
room, it can also lead to the emergency room. And one alumna who chose to trade the
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
27
{FEATURE}
an assistant professor at the Emory University Division of Infectious Diseases. “My education at Millsaps and my art history major cultivated an open mind and well-roundedness that have allowed me to better understand the hardships of my patients and also to be a more empathic clinician,” Oliver said. She added that she is the primary provider for patients infected with HIV, a job that inherently demands “an open mind and heart, and the ability to think beyond the physicality of an illness.” As a doctor who cares for patients living with HIV, Oliver may have even picked up her bedside manner, in part, from Smith. “She is kind, empathetic, and an amazing listener,” she said. “I regularly teach medical students and other trainees in my job, in the classroom and at the bedside. I strive to be a role model much like Smith by demonstrating to them my passion and enthusiasm for medicine and infectious diseases.” Oliver said Smith not only taught her how to think critically, but also helped her to get into medical school. “She believed in me, encouraged me, and was there when I needed career advice,” Oliver said. “She wrote me letters of recommendation for medical school as well as graduate school.”
“A liberal arts college art program can’t
fessor Collin Asmus, who had been compli-
really focus on the technical aspect of art,
mentary of McLeod’s work, let the student
because of the time and resources required,”
use his own stone carving tools—just another
program afforded Oliver the chance to get
said McLeod. “But what they can do is give
example of Millsaps’ uniquely personal brand
up close and personal with medicine. “I was
foundations and ideas of what is possible
of teaching, said McLeod, who uses many
able to shadow Dr. Vonda Reeves-Darby, B.S.
to explore and ways to look at art in a much
media from oils to resins and calls his work “a
1978, on a weekly basis during my later years
broader sense.”
flexible exploration and expression of life.”
A Millsaps-sponsored mentorship
at Millsaps,” Oliver said. “This relationship continues to this day.” Dr. Julian Murchison, Oliver’s medical
Millsaps encourages “a passion for seek-
“I chose my major because it brought to
ing,” McLeod said. He recalls when, while
bear all the things I’m passionate about—art,
taking a walk with a Millsaps adjunct profes-
history, psychology, sociology—and Millsaps
anthropology teacher, also provided guid-
sor, a rock about the size of an orange caught
reinforced that art is just another kind of
ance. “His class opened my eyes to how
his eye. From that field stone he sculpted
communication, of having a discussion,” he
health and wellness for both individual
Embryo, an abstract fusion of forms—a hu-
said. “Elise’s classes were really challenging,
and population intersect with culture and
man embryo and a nautilus seashell.
because she always appreciated what you had
society.”
The carving represented the moment
to say, but you always had to back it up. If we
McLeod put his learning in perspective and
ART FOR ART’S SAKE
came of age as an artist. “When I graduated I
For some, education and vocation have been more intricately intertwined.
“What I’d experienced was all this informa-
THE POINT OF ALL THIS? OR,
tion and technique and ideas that needed to
WHEN AM I EVER GOING
be synthesized. I picked up that stone and
TO USE THIS?” SHE SAID.
John McLeod, B.A. 2001, a Chattanooga sculptor whose work has been exhibited in galleries and museums from major cities like Brooklyn and Denver to cities throughout the Southeast like Savannah, Charleston, S.C., and Jackson, said his Millsaps years had taught him less about how to make art than how to think about art.
28
www.millsaps.edu
had no voice of my own at all,” McLeod said.
said, I’m going to do what I want with this. I shed this powerful debate that had been
“I NEVER FELT LIKE, WHAT’S
“AT MILLSAPS THE COURSES
raging in my head that makes you question
AND THE PROFESSORS
everything about art. At a certain point you
ALWAYS MANAGED TO
have to start making decisions, even if you
STAY RELEVANT.”
have to one day edit them.” Another turning point came when Pro-
– AMANDA CASHMAN, B.A. 2002
{FEATURE}
WEST STREET RENDERING
CONSTRUCTION TO BEGIN ON VISUAL ARTS CENTER The Visual Arts Center, funded in significant part by the Windgate Foundation of Arkansas and to be named in the foundation’s honor, will enhance the studio art offerings of the College as well as create gallery and classroom space for the art and art history departments. A new entrance on West Street—the original front door of campus—will allow easy and safe access for activities associated with the Visual Arts Center, the chapel, the Else School of Management, 1 Campus 1 Community, and more. The new entrance will also encourage community participation in the James Observatory and the new track and soccer facilities. Construction of the Visual Arts Center and West Gate entrance will begin in November 2017 and take about 12 months. were looking at something and discussing
to a general audience. Through my Millsaps
making content both relevant and acces-
the possibilities of what it meant, she would
art history classes I developed communica-
sible,” Harmon said.
never say, ‘That’s wrong.’ But she would tell
tion skills and a passion for teaching.”
us to really look at what’s going on and under-
The Millsaps emphasis on writing—as
stand how in different periods certain images
well as Smith’s unflagging mentorship—
represented different things.”
has been invaluable to Harmon’s career.
Similarly, McLeod said, cultural context
“Throughout my tenure at Millsaps, she en-
has been important to his own body of work.
couraged me to submit my papers for awards
“The textures and colors and gestures I’m us-
and symposiums,” Harmon said. “Her sup-
ing come from a long line of artists’ choices.”
port gave me confidence in my writing ability
Few alumni have done more, perhaps,
to pursue my first museum job—writing
than Holly Harmon, B.A. 2008, to represent
exhibition labels that describe works of art in
Millsaps College in the national art world.
less than 50 words—a challenge!”
Harmon, who has worked in education and
Smith also accepted Harmon as a student
interpretation at the Brooklyn Museum, the
teacher for a class on women artists in her
Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Smithson-
senior year. “This experience helped me to
ian Institution, traces directly to Millsaps her
realize that I enjoy educating people about
current success at the New Museum, which
art, particularly contemporary works that
is billed as “Manhattan’s only dedicated
were baffling to my peers who studied other
contemporary art museum.”
subjects,” Harmon said. “I loved the moment
“Millsaps provided the foundation for my art education and without it I wouldn’t have imagined pursuing a career in art museums,”
when I could see them appreciate the works as much as I did.” In her current position at the New Mu-
said Harmon, who majored in art history
seum, Harmon said she not only engages visi-
and minored in education. “Throughout my
tors with intimidating works of contemporary
career, my focus has been on education and
art but also trains volunteers to lead daily
how to convey complex concepts of art his-
tours. “My amazing professors at Millsaps
tory in ways that are accessible and engaging
served as models for engaging learners by
BINDING COMMITMENT Also putting his background in art to professional use is Pete Halverson, B.A. 1993, who worked as a fine art framer and gallery manager for eight years after graduation. Then, in 2001, he was hired as a part-time production assistant at the University Press of Mississippi, where he is now the senior book designer with over 300 books and book covers to his credit. “I am thankful for my liberal arts education because the University Press publishes books on a wide variety of subjects,” Halverson said. “I’ve designed books on everything from the Mississippi Secession Convention to Steven Spielberg. My Millsaps background has been very beneficial.” Halverson, who remembers Smith’s art history classes as “challenging and fun,” said Millsaps had given him the freedom to explore projects creatively. “Creating art has always been part of my life,” Halverson said. “When I was young I loved to draw, and
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{FEATURE}
at Millsaps I picked up a paintbrush and learned a whole new method for expression. My work became less realistic and more abstract.” Now, he said, as a book designer he works only on a computer. “Book covers require a different set of skills,” he said. “The work is still creative, but instead of dealing with tactile supplies I am using type, color, and photographs to convey a message.” But he never lost his Millsaps-bred love for the canvas. Halverson took part in a Millsaps alumni show at the Lewis Art Gallery in spring 2017, co-curated by two art history majors, where he exhibited paintings derived from photographs shot from vehicles in motion. “I have a habit of taking photographs from a moving car when on long trips,” Halverson said. “Many of these have resulted in paintings. I like the silhouetted trees and the blurred movement. These paintings are totally separate from my career.” His love of painting did, however, color his career when one work—In the Sticks (2015), which was created on a three-quarter inch piece of wood—was chosen for the cover of The Legend of the Albino Farm, by Steven
From left to right: John McLeod, B.A. 2001, Reilly Morse, B.A. 1979, Maria Welch, class of 2018, and Madison Brennan, class of 2017
B. Yates, associate director of the University Press. “I began by gouging the surface of the
have professors who see them as more than
of depth in the work,” Halverson said, add-
a grade or test score. “And that’s what I got,”
ing that he liked the way the wood’s texture
Cashman said. “Great relationships with
shows through the paint. “I wouldn’t change
great professors.”
a thing.” Art education would seem to be a natural
Smith inspired Cashman to aim high. “I wanted to impress her with every paper I
career for an art major, but Amanda Cash-
wrote and to make her proud,” she said. “Her
man, B.A. 2002, who is on the faculty of St.
kind words introducing me at the ceremony
Anthony Catholic School in Madison, said
where I was awarded Millsaps Outstanding
that at Millsaps she never imagined she
Young Alum were more important and mean-
would be teaching. “I thought I would end
ingful to me than the award itself.”
up working in a gallery or museum, not in
Michael Boerner, B.B.A. 1998, said Smith
education,” said Cashman, who majored in
and Asmus had influenced the unlikely
studio art. “So, I didn’t take a single educa-
career path that led him from the marketing
tion course. It’s one of my biggest regrets. But
department of the ill-fated Mississippi tele-
my art history background is leagues above
communications firm WorldCom, where he
that of so many of my colleagues who went
worked his senior year, to architecture firms
elsewhere.”
in Dallas, Birmingham, and New Orleans.
Millsaps gave Cashman the freedom to
Boerner then came back to Jackson, where he
PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG UNDERGRAD Millsaps has been called an intellectual environment in which students feel safe to take risks. And Millsaps art students have not been afraid to risk exploring the shadow self. With her honors project, A Cathartic
Remembrance, Maria Welch said she is investigating the nature of grief and its power to distort memory. “My work showcases my attempt at recovery, and by expressing rather than continuing to suppress my grief, my art is my catharsis,” said Welch, adding that the
“MY PROFESSORS ARE FOUR OF THE STRONGEST WOMEN I
take courses that appealed to her own inter-
is a founding principal of Wier Boerner Allin
KNOW, AND THEIR CONTINU-
ests, which is one of the guiding principles of
Architecture, located in Fondren less than a
the Compass Curriculum. “I never felt like,
OUS SUPPORT HAS HELPED
mile north of campus.
ME FIND PURPOSE WITHIN
What’s the point of all this? Or, when am I
30
Some choose Millsaps out of the desire to
wood, hoping that it would improve the sense
Boerner said his work regularly brings
MY ART, TAKING IT TO THE
ever going to use this?” she said. “At Millsaps
him into contact with Millsaps classmates.
the courses and the professors always man-
“We often reflect on campus memories we
NEXT LEVEL.”
aged to stay relevant.”
share,” he said. “Truly amazing times!”
–MARIA WELCH, CLASS OF 2018
www.millsaps.edu
{FEATURE}
series comprises large-scale paintings that
themselves to each student, and I feel lucky to
rely heavily on color and brushwork to convey
have had the opportunity to work with them
emotion. “A Cathartic Remembrance is not
and be inspired by them.”
about the precise moment when grief entered
And for her senior project, studio art and
my life, but it is about learning to live again,
art history double major Madison Bren-
accompanied by fickle and ever-present
nan, who will receive her B.A. in December,
grief.”
produced Violations … And Then I Became
Welch, who is majoring in studio art with
Angry, which she said was spurred by “the
a minor in art history and will graduate in
onslaught of rape culture in American
May 2018, said the Millsaps Art Department
society.” The body of work, which she called
was given her the confidence to pursue an
“cathartic,” was designed to showcase the
honors project and a Ford Fellowship in her
“violence associated with sexual assault,
senior year. “My professors are four of the
the frequency with which it occurs, and the
strongest women I know, and their continu-
silencing of victims.”
ous support has helped me find purpose
Illustrating the power of bridging studio
within my art, taking it to the next level,”
art and art history, Brennan said her courses
Welch said. “The professors in the art depart-
in the latter cultivated a knowledge of art
ment are accessible and immensely invested
theory and ideas that influenced her work in
in their students. I never dread going to class
the studio.
because my professors are always so passionate about what they do.” Welch said the themes she pursues in her
Brennan added that the Millsaps reputation for excellence had given her entree to work in museums in Mississippi and
own work are similar to those of some of her
Louisiana, and also to work as an artist in
professors. “It’s really exciting to be able to
residence. “That was a once-in-a-lifetime op-
discuss the subtle nuances of your work with
portunity for someone my age,” she said.
and vibrant present, the Millsaps art program is embarking on an innovative future. As she prepares for the department’s relocation, Smith said she hopes the new building will be a catalyst for more students to consider majoring or minoring in art—or simply taking a single course. “Sometimes just one course can be eye-opening, can be transformative,” she said. Also eye-opening and transformative has been three-quarters of a century of art, architecture, and design by Millsaps alumni, and the social contributions of those in many professions who have been informed by the College’s unique brand of understanding art. And those to come. “Hollingsworth: The Man, the Artist, and His Work,” edited by his wife, Jane, carries this dedication: “To Mississippi artists who were, who are, and who will be.”
someone who is intrigued by the same ideas,” she said. “It becomes more like collaboration and less like a student-professor dynamic. The professors of the art department devote
THE FUTURE And now, building on its colorful past Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
31
{MAJOR SPORTS}
Making a Major Difference for our student-athletes When he came to the Millsaps campus in 2016, Director of Athletics Donnie Brooks knew he wanted Millsaps to be a leader in taking care of its student-athletes. He defined how this would happen, and the Major Difference was born. An innovative approach, the Major Difference seeks to motivate student-athletes to achieve excellence in every aspect of their lives, including their athletic, academic, and personal development. This all-in approach will redefine what it means to be a student-athlete and promote a first-class experience of which elite athletes will want to be a part. What does the Major Difference mean for student-athletes?
• Counseling/sports psychology resources. • Pre- and post-workout supplements and snacks for studentathletes. ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT Now • Team Faculty Advisors—Millsaps teams have faculty members who serve as institutional advocates. • Tutoring Resources—The Opportunity Club provides free tutoring in multiple subject areas twice a week for studentathletes. • Innovative Learning Space—Renovation of additional classroom spaces in the HAC. The Future • Faculty advisor training for coaches and faculty. • Strategic Partnership with Millsaps’ Pathways to Success Program.
ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Now
Now
• Nutrition—Workshops for coaches and student-athletes.
• Life Skills Workshops.
• Sports Medicine—Enhancement of facilities and equipment
• The Major Way Leadership Development Program-
that better serve student-athletes. • Strength & Conditioning—Staff provides both in- and out-ofseason training for all sports teams and student athletes. • Integrative Health—Massage therapist providing recovery massages for teams.
32
The Future
www.millsaps.edu
Leadership Curriculum. • Community Service. The Future • Strategic Partnership with Vocate© (internship Marketplace). • Career Mentoring Network
{MAJOR SPORTS}
Pursuing a passion and following dreams Jimmy Smith made the right choice in 2009. He had worked for the previous three years as a health care repre-
dence that we can become one of the best programs in the South year-in and year-out.” Smith has spent his coaching career building successful teams. Schreiner University had not experienced a winning season before Smith took over, but went 15–12 overall and 10–4 in its conference during Smith’s second season in 2013–2014. Texas Lutheran went from worst to first place in 2014–15 during Smith’s first season there. Millsaps women’s basketball head coach Justin LeBlanc, who coached
sentative for Pfizer, and then decided to attend law school at Texas Tech
against Smith previously and helped recruit him for the position, said
University.
Smith’s name was the only one that popped into his mind when the job
Unable to find a job in coaching, Smith still hoped for one in sports. All of the basketball recreational leagues he joined couldn’t fill the gaping hole left after playing at the college level. One week before law school started, Smith received an offer to become
became available. “As an alum of the men’s team and knowing a little bit about what I thought it needed to get back on the right track, I knew we needed a guy that has a personality like Jimmy’s,” LeBlanc said. “All of the players
the assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of Mary Hardin-
respect him enough to where they just love to play for him, and they’ll do
Baylor, his alma mater, and he accepted.
anything. They’ll run through a brick wall for him.”
Smith became the head men’s basketball coach at Millsaps College
Smith grew up surrounded by the sport — his father, Ken Smith, was
in April, following stints at Division III Schreiner University and Texas
a TCU assistant coach from 1987–94 and coached elsewhere — and he
Lutheran University and, most recently, Division I Sam Houston State
respects how well-rounded players need to be.
University. He relishes the opportunity to return to the Division III level, saying
Smith’s love for basketball makes coaching a much better option for him than working in the health care field or doing whatever he would’ve
there’s more camaraderie in the athletic department and a greater oppor-
found with a law degree. Smith has a perfect record to worry about leftover
tunity to impact the lives of players.
from his first win when he coached at Texas Lutheran against Millsaps.
“I think the education Millsaps offers is top notch,” he said. “With the College being located in Jackson, there are many opportunities for students. This is a place you can recruit kids to come, and they’re going to
“I’m 1–0 right now in the Hangar Dome,” Smith said. “I’d love to keep that going.” BY DANIEL PAULLING
enjoy the experience. All of those things together give me a lot of confi-
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
33
{ALUMNI}
LIGHTS, CAMERA, WARD! BY JOHN WEBB
34
www.millsaps.edu
{ALUMNI}
Forget Hollywood endings. As the Mississippi Film Office’s recently retired director, who for a record-breaking three decades helped bring filmmakers here from around the world, Ward Emling, B.A. 1976, would rather talk about Mississippi beginnings. It is 1975, and for Emling, who would ultimately help Hollywood blockbusters like “A Time to Kill” get made in Mississippi, an hour between classes is just time to kill in the theatre department chatting with his mentor, Lance Goss. And that’s where Emling, an English major, finds himself as Goss, the legendary director of the Millsaps Players who passed away
consummate Mississippi Film Commissioner for over two decades, because he understands both the needs of the producers whom he advises and the needs of the citizens of Mississippi, whom he has served. I’ve always admired how Ward is equally at home on a movie set or on the floor of the Senate and how he exercises his skills, judgment, and leadership abilities equally there and elsewhere.”
Beyond the Yellow Brick Road If Emling’s life were a movie, there would be an almost supernatural serendipity to the plot line. Even before “The Premonition,” the kinds of opportunities that
in 2001, picks up the phone and alters the course of his young pro-
the College affords its students were helping position Emling on the
tégé’s life. The producer of a thriller called “The Premonition” (1976),
set of his own unfolding drama. In fact, unseen Millsaps forces were
being filmed in Mississippi, wants to know if Goss can recommend an
at work before he had arrived on campus. Another Goss protégé,
office production assistant.
Claire Crofford, B.A. 1972, had seen Emling in “The Wizard of Oz” at
“I got a job on that film, then I got a speaking role and my Screen Actors Guild card,” Emling said.
Murrah High School in Jackson, and was so impressed with Emling that she told Goss that he should keep an eye out for the gifted young
The rest is Mississippi film history.
actor. Goss first cast Emling in Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of
As he recalled the way the disparate pieces of his life had come
Being Earnest,” and he went on to play the lead in “Hamlet” and per-
together, Emling was assembling a jigsaw puzzle of London, where
form in every Millsaps Players production from 1975 to 1976, includ-
after graduation he studied acting at the prestigious Guildhall School
ing the musical “Robert and Elizabeth,” Barry England’s “Conduct
of Music and Drama, whose alumni include Daniel Craig, Orlando
Unbecoming,” and Philip Barry’s “Hotel Universe.”
Bloom, and Michelle Dockery of “Downton Abbey.” Other Millsaps
But Millsaps College is all about transcending campus boundar-
alumni who studied theatre in London include the late Rex Stallings,
ies, and in the summer of Emling’s freshman year he found out that
B.A. 1965, who studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and
the musical “Huckleberry Finn” (1974) was filming in Natchez. After
Mike Taylor, B.A. 1971, who studied at the Central School and later
he and several other Millsaps students auditioned, Emling was hired
took the stage name of Michael Beck (“The Warriors,” “Xanadu,”
as an extra and then retained as a wardrobe assistant.
“Houston Knights”), as well the late Cliff Dowell, B.A. 1969, and Edward Shelnut, B.S. 1973, who preceded Emling at Guildhall. Early in his career Emling worked in L.A., appearing in “Mat-
Said Emling, who sometimes recalls the past in the present tense—as a screenplay’s directions might read: “That changes my life, and if that doesn’t happen I don’t know what my life looks like,
lock,” “Knots Landing,” and “St. Elsewhere,” but it was that fateful
what my trajectory is. If I’m not in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’
call from “The Premonition” that introduced Emling to the state film
at Millsaps, I probably don’t audition for ‘Huckleberry Finn,’ which
office. There, he met Charles Allen, former head of the state’s eco-
means that summer never happens for me, and I don’t know what I’m
nomic development agency who founded the office in 1973, and Wal-
doing with the rest of my life.
terine Odom, both of whom he stayed in touch with over the years. After all, as a young actor he knew they could help him find roles. But soon the office had another kind of role in mind. Emling was
“That is the direct impact of Millsaps.” Indeed, what goes on outside the classroom can have as much impact as the classes themselves, said Emling, who in addition to
contacted about working as a replacement for Odom while she was on
acting covered sports for The Purple & White, managed the football
maternity leave, which led to his first stint at the agency from 1980–83
team, played intramural tennis, volleyball, and softball, took part
and ultimately his marquee engagement from 1990 until the summer
in student government, and performed in the Troubadours and the
of 2017.
Millsaps Singers.
That is the longest anyone has held such a position in any state
But foremost was the faculty. “You don’t know how much you’re
in the nation—or anywhere else in the world, for that matter, said
learning outside the classroom, with professors challenging and
Emling, who was twice elected president of the Association of Film
sometimes beguiling you into learning and thinking and relating,”
Commissioners International, an organization of 300 commissions
Emling said. “These are essential parts of any successful career. Em-
representing six continents. Under Emling’s guidance the film of-
pathy, understanding, commitment, these are integral to Millsaps.”
fice brought movies like “Ghosts of Mississippi,” “My Dog Skip,” “O
And when the credits roll on Emling’s life story, Lance Goss will
Brother, Where Art Thou?,” “Cookie’s Fortune,” and “The Help” to
surely get top billing. Said Emling: “Did I ever think I’d go to school in
Mississippi. He even found opportunities for crews to film on the
London for two years? Lance inspired us, and he created in us a love
Millsaps campus.
for the theatre and the possibilities of the theatre and the possibilities
Said Hollywood producer Hudson Hickman: “Ward has been the
of language. Lance did two things. He let you discover, and he let you
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
35
{ALUMNI}
work onstage with biology majors and football players and a pretty broad range of students. Not just theatre people.” Another major influence was Dr. Dan Hise, an assistant professor of English, from whom Emling took many classes, including a combined 20th century history and literature class, also taught by Dr. Robert McElvaine, professor of history. That course, as well as the Heritage program, helped create perspective, he said. “It was extraordinarily influential for me in making connections and connecting culture and history on a time line and gave me an appreciation and understanding of how things fit together,” Emling said. “I will say that once you know the rules and how things fit together, then you can break the rules and create something new. You have to make connections in the world and have the ability to connect on every level, personal, professional, theoretical, and philosophical. Those were encouraged by all of the professors I had.”
‘Dog’ days Emling said that of all the films he had shepherded, Willie Morris’ “My Dog Skip” was the most rewarding experience. Morris, who wrote the book, was on the set every day, Emling said, adding: “It was such a joyful experience. Willie loved film, and it’s an incredibly sweet film that tells a great story and creates the world we all wish we grew up in.” Mississippi has a rich heritage of storytelling, and the state has its own stories to tell in celluloid, Emling said. “These smaller films, as we bring them in, say to our local directors and writers, you can do this,” he said. “Small personal stories with limited budgets become an example for an aspiring Mississippi filmmaker. This generation and every subsequent generation is going to have a camera. We can’t forget them.” Emling said that while many rely on rigid systems and structures that never change, the world around them changes, opportunities change, and that “if you aren’t confident that you can walk into that change then you are not going to move forward, not going to make the world a better place. Tomorrow will be like yesterday. And that is not what Millsaps is about. “Millsaps is about understanding yesterday and moving forward from there.” (Roll credits.) WARD EMLING RECREATES HIS “WHO’S WHO” PHOTOGRAPH FROM THE 1976 BOBASHELA.
36
www.millsaps.edu
{ALUMNI}
MILLSAPS TO MISSION CONTROL
BY RUTH INGRAM CUMMINS
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
37
{ALUMNI}
When Steve Jenkins began work 28 years ago at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., he was the only employee who could claim Millsaps College as his alma mater. In 1999, he discovered he was no longer the lone Major on a mission to explore the solar system and beyond. It was then that Blaine Baggett joined the laboratory as director of the Office of Communications and Education. Jenkins, an engineer and mathematician, learned about the Millsaps connection when Baggett’s hiring was announced. Jenkins, B.S.1977, reached out to Baggett, B.A. 1973. The common ground of Millsaps was the start of a friendship in a professional setting neither would have imagined during their college years. “How do you set out from Jackson, Miss., and end up in the premier center for space exploration?” Baggett said. “I wouldn’t have imagined myself here, and here I am.” Millsaps’ president, Rob Pearigen, has spent time with Baggett and Jenkins during his travels in California. “At first glance, it may seem remarkable that two Mississippi-raised, Millsaps alums would land themselves at one of the top scientific facilities in the world,” Pearigen said. “But, it’s not so remarkable after all; that’s just what our graduates do. They leave Millsaps with inquisitive minds and pioneering spirits, and they go on to become highly successful citizens and leaders in their field, ‘across the street and around the globe.’” Although they work in different disciplines at the 5,000-employee laboratory managed by the California Institute of Technology, their mission is the same: supporting the world’s premier center for robotic exploration of the solar system and beyond. “I’m a mere storyteller, but it’s a big story. My job is to tell the world about the universe—to share with the public all of our exciting adventures and discoveries,” said Baggett, who grew up in Horn Lake. “For instance, this week, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of Voyager, the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space.” Before joining the lab, Baggett was vice president of program development, scheduling, and acquisitions for public television station KCET in Los Angeles. His television productions have been recognized by virtually every major national and international awards competition, including national and international Emmys. Several of his productions dealt with space themes. He was also a finalist for NASA’s First Journalist in Space, a competition that was cancelled after the loss of the Challenger shuttle. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s website explains the laboratory’s history and purpose: The “unique national research facility carries out robotic space and Earth science missions. JPL helped open the Space Age by developing America’s first Earth-orbiting science satellite, creating the first successful interplanetary spacecraft, and sending robotic missions to study all the planets in the solar system as well as asteroids, comets, and Earth’s moon.” The Jet Propulsion Laboratory also gets credit for developing and managing NASA’s Deep Space Network, “a worldwide system of antennas that communicates with interplanetary spacecraft.” 38
www.millsaps.edu
Jenkins, a principal engineer in the laboratory’s Systems Engineering and Formulation division, and his team plan the early stages of NASA space missions. He is technical lead for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s initiative on integrated model-centric engineering and supports the systems engineering team for the Europa Clipper project. Europa is a moon of Jupiter, and a prime candidate in the search for life elsewhere in the solar system. “We think about the scientific objectives of the laboratory and their technical feasibility—what we want to accomplish, and if we can do that,” said Jenkins, whose family moved to Jackson about the time he began kindergarten. “I try to bring more modern techniques to dealing with information in our practice. I have a Ph.D. in engineering, but what I’m mainly good at is knowing a little bit about a lot of areas.” Jenkins was a mathematics major at Millsaps; Baggett, an English major. Their broad liberal arts education, however, gave them the tools to advance through their professions and become the analytic thinkers who power space research. Both are recipients of NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal. Baggett came to Millsaps after attending Northwest Mississippi Community College. The choice wasn’t entirely his. Baggett credits the chairman of Northwest’s English Department, Millsaps graduate Carson Holloman, B.A. 1960, who told him: “You’re going to Millsaps.” “Carson called the college and somehow arranged for the financial support I needed, including an academic scholarship and a work study program. Choosing Millsaps was one of the best decisions I ever made,” Baggett said. “When I got to Millsaps I didn’t know a soul. And I found that the academic rigor was much more demanding. I really had to bear down.” He pledged Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, “and it was filled with diversity for its time,” Baggett said. “My senior year, I’m proud to say we pledged the first African-American into a campus fraternity.” Baggett became friends with Dr. Dan Hise, an assistant professor of English who taught American Literature at Millsaps, and Hise became a mentor. “One of my debts to Dan was introducing me to (author) Walker Percy. He had us read “Love in the Ruins,” and to this day, he’s my favorite novelist. I named my youngest son Walker,” Baggett said. “Dan selected a special group of his students to be in the audience for a taping of William F. Buckley’s ‘Firing Line’ at Mississippi ETV. Buckley’s guests were Walker Percy and Eudora Welty. We sat on the concrete studio floor, literally at the feet of Percy and Welty,” Baggett remembered. “That was special.” In classes he taught, Hise said, “it was so good to have people like Blaine. It was so much easier when I graded papers. There was no one stronger than Blaine, both academically and personally.” Baggett “was composed, and in the most positive way,” said Hise, who recently retired after practicing law for 32 years. “He was centered. He was already a grown man when I met him.” Former Jackson resident Julius Cain, B.A. 1973, met Baggett at Millsaps. Both Cain and Baggett went on after Millsaps to work at Mississippi ETV, with Cain being Baggett’s boss.
{ALUMNI}
From left to right: Blaine Baggett, B.A. 1973 and Steve Jenkins, B.S. 1977 Baggett “was headstrong—a really tough guy,” said Cain, a New
his student,” said Shive, who is retired. “I am confident that Steve’s
Orleans resident who enjoyed a 32-year career as a salesman with the
curiosity and investigative, broad-based, system-wide approach to
British Broadcasting Corporation. “I hired him as a continuity writer,
problem solving has been a major factor in his success at the JPL.”
but he took a look around and said, ‘I’m going to do a show.’” A couple of years later, Baggett made his way to the PBS network
Alan Huffman, now of Bolton, went to school with Jenkins both at Murrah High and Millsaps. “If someone had told me back then that
in Washington, D.C. “Blaine never looked back,” Cain said. “He is a
he’d become a rocket scientist, or whatever the accurate technical
total space guy, and he is doing good work.”
term is, I wouldn’t have been the least surprised,” said Huffman, who
Although both of his parents are Millsaps graduates, Jenkins said that wasn’t the main reason he chose to attend the College. “I was performing as a musician in the St. Andrew’s Cathedral Chamber Society, and I wanted to continue doing that,” Jenkins said. “I met Bob Shive, a mathematics professor at Millsaps, when he came to lecture to a group of students at Murrah High. He talked about computing, and that was one of the reasons I went to Millsaps.” Jenkins pledged Kappa Alpha and began work on the first of two
went on to graduate from the University of Mississippi and is now an author, journalist, and political researcher. “Not that he was a typical math nerd,” Huffman said. “What most people probably remember about him is his crazy sense of humor.” Both Jenkins and Baggett say many of the life lessons afforded to them by Millsaps didn’t emanate from a textbook. “Millsaps taught me two things: How to think critically and analytically, and how to write a story,” said Baggett, who served as a
mathematics degrees he would earn. He also holds a Ph.D. in electri-
Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia, West Africa after graduation before
cal engineering from the University of California-Los Angeles and an
starting work at Mississippi Educational Television.
M.S. in applied mathematics from Southern Methodist University. At Millsaps in the 1970s, Jenkins said, “there wasn’t much formal computer science, but there was programming. I developed a lot of practical skills that I have used all of my life, and I write a lot of software in order to do my job.” He remembers being on the front lines when Millsaps got a computer with substantially increased capabilities. “The students largely
Working in Shive’s laboratory and the Millsaps computing center for three years, Jenkins said, “I had the opportunity to do much more than classroom work. I gained a lot of practical skills.” Baggett’s “better half ” is a cellist in the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is the father of two. Jenkins has one child. Baggett and Jenkins both take part in other pursuits between their day jobs. Before the recent death of his wife Abbey, Jenkins said, the couple
built the facility where it was placed,” Jenkins said, using discarded
purchased a 42-foot boat. “She redecorated it, and it’s like a floating
materials donated by a local downtown bank that was replacing its
condo. We spent every weekend on the boat, and it still takes a lot of
flooring. “We drove there in a truck and got it, and we installed the
my time and attention,” he said.
flooring and leveled it and cleaned it.”
Baggett plays occasionally in a rock band that recently, as part
To this day, Jenkins maintains a close friendship with Shive.
of Voyager’s 40th celebration, played a music set before much of JPL
“The man who influenced me more in my life than anyone except my
that included Chuck Berry’s famous “Johnny B Goode”—a song that
father is Dr. Shive,” he said.
now sails through interstellar space on Voyager’s Golden Record.
Shive, emeritus professor of mathematics and computer science, said he and Jenkins connected early on, becoming lifelong friends. “Steve was clearly one of my best students in the 43 years I was at Millsaps, and one that any faculty member would be proud to call
“I have greater thoughts about what I want to leave as a legacy,” Baggett said. “I’m in the middle of a TV series on the history of the lab and exploring the solar system. There are eight episodes in the can. I hope the planets will align and I’ll get to do more in this series.”
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
39
{ALUMNI}
Sounding the right note Millsaps College prepared Jessica Nelson, B.A. 2005, to become, at age 33, organist and choirmaster at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Jackson. But it’s not just the bachelor of arts in music she earned in 2005 that is shaping her future. “The most helpful and important thing
tired from Millsaps in 2016 as professor of music. “That’s one of the great things about Millsaps. Students take advantage of what’s there for them, and it holds them in good stead later.” Nelson was a member of the Millsaps Singers directed by Coker, a former Department of Music chair who now holds professor
emeritus status. “She did her work quite well, and she was always involved,” he said. “She was doing really fine work at the church in Tupelo. She prepared herself for this new job, and when the opportunity presented itself, she was ready.” As a Millsaps undergraduate, Nelson was a member of Phi Mu
that has carried me through my career is the communication skills
and was inducted into Order of Omega, Omicron Delta Kappa,
I learned at Millsaps,” Nelson said. “I spend half of my life writing
and Mu Phi Epsilon music honorary. “I spent a lot of time in piano
and talking and teaching. It’s much more about that than practicing
lessons, and being in the Millsaps Singers was a huge part of my
the organ or leading choir rehearsals.”
Millsaps experience,” she said. Dr. Rachel Heard, associate profes-
Nelson, who also earned a degree in liturgy and music from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, began work in July at St. Andrew’s. Previously, she was organist and choirmaster at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Tupelo, the city where she was reared. Early in 2017, Nelson said, she began conversations with St. Andrew’s. Its longtime choirmaster and organist, John Paul, retired in 2016 after 51 years of service at the downtown cathedral. “I had a few more conversations during the spring. It became apparent that I felt a call, both to the place and to the time in the life of St. Andrew’s,” she said. “They extended an invitation to join the staff.” Nelson conducts two adult choirs and a children’s choir at St.
sor of music, and Elizabeth Moak were her piano teachers, Nelson said. “The support I’ve gotten from Dr. Coker since I’ve left Millsaps has been really important. He’s kept an interest in my career,” Nelson said. When one thinks of the religious life of Jackson, Coker said, “the influence of five downtown churches comes readily to mind: Galloway United Methodist, First Presbyterian, First Baptist, St. Peter’s Catholic, and St. Andrew’s Episcopal.” For decades, the position of choirmaster and organist at St. Andrew’s “has been one of strong leadership in the religious and cultural life of Jackson,” Coker said. “I look forward to following
Andrew’s, in addition to playing the organ and participating in
with keen interest Jessica’s tenure and know that she will make
liturgical planning for worship services.
equally important contributions.”
The cathedral houses a classic Aeolian-Skinner organ. “It’s really the industry standard. It’s a great solid instrument,” Nelson said. “I’ve played on one a couple of times before, but it always takes
Studying what it means to be a cathedral choir and a cathedral music program is first on Nelson’s agenda. “We have certain responsibilities to the broader church, especially the Episcopal Church in Mississippi,” she said. “Figuring out
me a couple of months to get used to a new instrument,” Nelson
what that means, and building on the cathedral’s music program, is
said. “It’s the space that it’s in as well, and how each congregation
very important to me.”
sings. They’ve got to get used to me, too.” Several months after graduation from Millsaps, Nelson began work as assistant to the director of music at Galloway United Methodist Church in Jackson. Two years later, she began her seminary studies. While at All Saints’ in Tupelo, she taught classes at the University of North Alabama. Although Nelson chose a piano performance concentration for her music major, “she also took organ, which was a smart thing. It
40
opened up this new position for her,” said Dr. Tim Coker, who re-
www.millsaps.edu
At St. Andrew’s, she said, “I’ve gotten a very warm welcome. It’s been so wonderful. I feel like I’m standing on the shoulders of giants.” BY RUTH INGRAM CUMMINS
{ALUMNI}
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
41
{CLASS NOTES}
Class Notes
Check out Class Notes to find out who has celebrated a major milestone. We would like to encourage all alumni to send in their news items, large or small, personal or professional, to Nell Luter Floyd, Office of Communications, Millsaps College, 1701 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39210-0001. 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. Photographs should be no less than 300 dpi. We reserve the right to not include a photo that doesn’t meet our standards. If you are aware of alumni who are not receiving the magazine, please send us their names and addresses.
1962
University Law School as a member of the Order of the Coif. He is a member of the LSU Law Center
Ivan Burnett Jr., B.A. 1962, originally from
Hall of Fame.
Meridian and now of Prescott, Ariz., had one of
1995
his anthems performed by the Catalina United Methodist Church Music Department in Tucson, Ariz., and it is now on YouTube. (See “Christ Be with Me” by Ivan Burnett Jr.) The anthem is based
Thomas R. Temple Jr., B.B.A.1995, of Ba-
on words attributed to St. Patrick and purported to
ton Rouge, La., a part-
have been on his breastplate. Another of Burnett’s
1988
ner and member of the
anthems, based on Psalm 46 and Romans 8, “God Is Our Refuge and Our Strength,” was recently
Shelley Ritter, B.A. 1988, of Clarksdale, director
at Breazeale, Sachse and
of the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, hosted a
Wilson, has been named
reception at the museum for Jane Chu, chairman
to the 2018 Edition of
of the National Endowment for the Arts, when
Best Lawyers, the oldest
she visited Mississippi last June. Chu visited arts
and most respected
organizations funded by the National Endowment
peer-review publication
published by The Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church (See the website: umcdiscipleship.org/resources/god-is-our-refuge-andour-strength).
1970 David W. Clark , B.A. 1970, of Jackson, received the Distinguished Service Award from the Mississippi Bar, recognizing a lawyer for outstanding service and significant contributions to the legal profession. He returned to Mississippi after graduating from Harvard University and the University
management committee
in the legal profession.
for the Arts and the Mississippi Arts Commission. The Delta Blues Museum, the world’s first
Temple’s broad areas of practice include class
museum devoted entirely to blues, received in 2014
action litigation, medical malpractice defense and
a National Arts and Humanities Youth Program
other healthcare related issues, toxic tort litigation,
Award in recognition of the Delta Blues Museum
insurance coverage litigation, products liability
Arts and Education Program.
defense, transportation and construction general liability claims, as well as a variety of other types
1992
of casualty litigation. He earned a law degree from
of Michigan Law School and starting his practice in Chicago. He has been involved in a variety of
John Stone Campbell, B.B.A. 1992, of Baton
University.
civic, education, arts, pro bono legal, and national and state bar association work.
1979 Robert C. Robbins, B.S. 1979, a member of the Millsaps College Board of Trustees, was named the 22nd president of the University of Arizona, a land grant university in Tucson, Ariz., last April and began work in June. He was president and CEO of Texas Medical Center, the world’s largest medical network, from 2012 until 2017. In that role he significantly enhanced Texas Medical Center’s commitment to collaboration, introducing five cross-institutional research initiatives centered on innovation, genomics, regenerative medicine, health policy and clinical research.
Rouge, La., a partner and executive committee member at Taylor Porter, has been recognized in commercial litigation among the Best Lawyers in
the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State
1996
and universally regarded as the definitive guide to
Omar Rahman, B.S. 1996,
legal excellence.
of Omaha, Neb.,
America 2018, an annual list compiled since 1983
Campbell is engaged primarily in a litigation
joined the Univer-
practice and serves as the co-chair of the firm’s
sity of Nebraska
professional liability, insurance, casualty, product
Medical Center’s
liability, and personal injury litigation practice. In
Munroe-Meyer In-
the last several years, his work has mainly involved
stitute for Genetics
commercial litigation, construction litigation,
and Rehabilitation
real estate litigation, class actions, admiralty and
as the new director
maritime cases, premises liability and general tort
of the Department
litigation, and insurance coverage and litigation.
of Genetic Medi-
His practice includes extensive experience with
cine. Rahman is the
jury trials, bench trials, appeals, arbitrations, and
inaugural holder of the Friedland Family Founda-
resolution of cases prior to trial or arbitration.
tion Distinguished Professorship. Rahman was
Campbell graduated from Louisiana State
formerly the division chief of medical genetics in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of
42
www.millsaps.edu
{CLASS NOTES}
Mississippi Medical Center. He earned his medical degree from the University of Mississippi School
2006
central and south Mississippi. He has more than 15 years of experience with the cooperative working
of Medicine and completed a pediatric residency
Tiffany Hammond,
in engineering, operations, economic develop-
at UMMC and a genetics residency at Stanford
B.S. 2006 and M.B.A
ment, and rate-making. The last five years he has
University.
2013, of Hattiesburg,
served Southern Pine as assistant general manager
and Michael Lewis
overseeing all day-to-day operations.
1999
Jr., welcomed their daughter, Mya DeAnn
board of directors for Cooperative Energy, the
Misty Leon Bernknopf, B.A. 1999, of Dallas,
Lewis, on March
wholesale power supplier for 11 distribution coop-
has been named partner by the Wilkins Finston
7, 2017. Tiffany is
eratives, including Southern Pine. Also, he will join
Friedman Law Group. She has practiced law in the
assistant director of
the board of directors for the Electric Cooperatives
area of employee benefits and executive compensa-
conference services
of Mississippi, a statewide service organization
tion since 2002, and also serves as the immediate
at the University of
serving the state’s 26 electric cooperatives.
In his new role, Siegfried will serve on the
past president of the Worldwide Employee Ben-
Southern Mississippi and game day entertainment
efits Network, Dallas Chapter Steering Committee.
and events assistant for the New Orleans Saints.
Siegfried is a graduate of Mississippi Economic
She and her husband, Brian, have two children,
Because of Tiffany’s fight with cardiovascular
Council’s Leadership Mississippi. He received the
Brady and Maren.
disease and her ability to remain healthy through-
Mississippi Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40
out pregnancy and practice a healthy lifestyle
award, and has been the recipient of the Paul Har-
post pregnancy, she was selected as a USM Health
ris Fellow Recognition for his work as a Rotarian.
Champion.
Additionally, Siegfried has served as a director for
2001 Betsy Sanders, B.S. 2001, of Memphis, an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Rhodes College, was recognized for outstanding teaching and research. She received the Clarence Day Award for Outstanding Research and/or Creative Activity. Since joining the Rhodes faculty in 2007, Sanders has helped to build the computer science program at Rhodes. Her research, involving both computer science and psychology, focuses on understanding the cognitive capabilities of humans in virtual environments and improving the design of these environments. She has worked on issues related to computer graphics, animation, computer tutoring, and learning in immersive virtual environments. Sanders is an internationally recognized expert in her field, having presented her research at some of the most selective conferences in the United States, China, and Germany. Besides these conference presentations, she has a record of peerreviewed journal publications, panel presentations, and professional appearances.
2004 Kelly Sellers Wittie, B.A. 2004, of Hammond, La., is the co-founder of Row 10 Historic Preservation Solutions, LLC. Row 10 is a full-service consulting firm located in New Orleans and is dedicated to the preservation of our nation’s cultural and historic resources. Wittie is married to Joshua Wittie, B.A. 2004, technology director at St. Thomas Aquinas Regional Catholic High School in Hammond, La.
An alumnus of Mississippi State University,
the Mississippi Burn Foundation, the president of
2007
the Rankin County Rotary Club and the president
Michael Franklin, B.A. 2007, is the 2017 recipient of the National Education Association’s Applegate-Dorros Peace and International Understanding Award, which was presented at the NEA
of the Engineering and Operations Division of the Electric Power Associations of Mississippi.
2010
Representative Assembly in Boston on July 1. A teacher at Franklin County High School in Win-
Colby Langston, B.S. 2010
chester, Tenn., and vice president of the Franklin
and M.B.A.
County Education Association, Franklin spends
2011, of Boon-
about 20 days in Honduras each year. He is a team
eville, and his
leader, team leader trainer, public relations officer,
wife Jessica
and community development coordinator for the Alabama Honduras Medical Educational Network
Eastin Langston, B.S. 2011,
and co-manages its web presence. Franklin serves
welcomed their
as the domestic coordinator for the Alabama Hon-
son, Bonner Ray
duras Medical Educational Network’s community
Langston, on April 12, 2017. Colby is associated
empowerment program, Agentes Comunitarios de
with the Langston & Weems Law Firm in Ocean
Salud Integral, which means Community Wellness
Springs, which he opened with fellow Millsaps
Agents. The program hosts workshops and trains
graduate Evan Weems, B.A. 2008. Jessica is open-
women to be change agents, so they learn to work
ing the Success Center of Mississippi in Ocean
together to determine local health problems, why
Springs, helping with tutoring and college applica-
they exist, and how they can be overcome.
tion preparedness. Bonner’s grandfather, Joseph C. Langston, B.S. 1979, and great-uncle, Shane
2008
Langston, B.A. 1980 and M.B.A. 1981, are gradu-
Jason S. Siegfried, MBA
ates of the College.
2008, of Hattiesburg, is the
Sarah Lloyd Stevenson, B.A. 2010, of Wash-
president and chief execu-
ington, D.C., was appointed to a position in the
tive officer of Southern Pine
Trump administration after serving as health
Electric, a member-owned,
policy advisor to Congressman Roger Wicker, for
not-for-profit cooperative
whom she had worked since her graduation from
that distributes electric-
Millsaps. She is a policy advisor in the Department
ity to more than 66,000
of Health and Human Services.
members in 11 counties in
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
43
{IN MEMORIAM}
{IN MEMORIAM}
In Memoriam Millsaps College remembers those in our alumni family and College community who have died. These In Memoriam listings reflect those received from January 1, 2017 to August 31, 2017.
Louise Moorer Martin, B.A. 1940, of Madison,
Vivian Marie “Peggy” Stroud , B.A. 1944,
his service in the Naval Reserve at Millington,
died Jan. 14, 2017. She was a well-known artist
of Ridgeland, died May 24, 2017. She earned a
Tenn. Barnard was an officer with the Bank of
who began taking art lessons at the age of 10 from
master’s degree from the University of Mississippi.
Clarksdale, United Southern Bank and retired at
renowned artist Marie Hull. Over the years she
She was a social science instructor in Mississippi
Regions Bank. He served as a director with Region
worked in a variety of art media including oil, batik,
and Arkansas from 1945–1954. In 1954, she became
One Mental Health and was one of the founding
papier-mache, ceramics, jewelry, and fabric design,
the associate dean of students at Arkansas State
members of Youth, Inc.
but her passion was watercolor. She exhibited
University and served in that role from 1954–1984.
widely and received numerous prizes in national
While at ASU, she was instrumental in organizing
Corinne Doty Greer, Class of 1946, of Birming-
and regional juried shows. She served as president
the Arkansas Association of Women Students. She
ham, Ala., died Nov. 25, 2016. Church life, music,
of the Mississippi Art Association and the Art
was a member of numerous professional organiza-
dancing, and entertaining were the pillars of her
Study Club. Through her church affiliation at St.
tions. She was named emeritus associate dean of
personal life. She sold World Book Encyclopedias
James Episcopal Church, she designed and created
students upon retirement in 1984.
in the 1960s, and was the first registrar of Brookwood Forest Elementary School, but her enduring
altar cloths, clergy vestments, and banners, as well
Dorothy “Dot” Taylor, B.A. 1945, of Jackson,
vocation was real estate. In 1977, she became a real
died Jan. 29, 2017. She was a member of the Junior
estate agent with Ray and Company and Realty
Jean Grambling Noel, Class of 1943, of Jackson,
League of Jackson who was on the steering com-
South in Mountain Brook, Ala. She received the
died Jan. 24, 2017. She graduated from Louisiana
mittee for the Mississippi Arts Festival, a volunteer
Vulcan Award, signifying her membership in the
State University. She was a member of Riverside
and board member of United Way, local presi-
Club of Excellence for 25 consecutive years.
Church and numerous women’s clubs.
dent and a national board member of Goodwill
as a mosaic created for the side chapel.
Industries Volunteer Services, and director of the
Anne Lampton Walker, B.A. 1946, of Agoura
Ollie Dalton Smith, Class of 1943, of Birming-
Millsaps Arts and Lecture Series. She was involved
Hills, Calif., died Feb. 20, 2017. She spent a lifetime
ham, Ala., died Oct. 11, 2016. He graduated from
in activities at Woodland Hills Baptist Church and
as a voracious reader in pursuit of knowledge.
the University of Alabama School of Law in 1947
later at Northminster Baptist Church. She was
She married Parker Walker, who also attended
and worked as an attorney at Martin, Turner &
profiled in author V.S. Naipaul’s “A Turn in the
Millsaps, before he left as a senior to attend Navy
McWhorter, which is now Balch & Bingham. He
South” as someone who had been raised in a small
Officer Training School in New York. She lived in
then became manager of the Land Department
Southern community during the Great Depression
Columbia until 2013, when she moved to live close
for Alabama Power Company and eventually vice
and lived through what she viewed as a revolution
to her son in California. She was a member of the
president of the company. Smith was also a builder
in the 1960’s. She told Naipaul of following the
Methodist church in Columbia.
who constructed many homes and apartment
guidance she was given by her father, who died
houses in Jefferson County, Alabama.
when she was 13: “You never get ahead by step-
Sarah Frances Clark Bowman, B.A. 1947, of
ping on somebody’s back. We all need to come up
Birmingham, Ala., died June 21, 2017. She attended
together.”
the University of Denver for graduate studies in
Clara Porter Cavett , B.S. 1944, of Madison, died
social work. Her career included teaching on a
July 7, 2017. She met her future husband, James Cavett Jr., at Millsaps. They were married in Decem-
Billie Jean Dear Whitfield , B.A.1945, of Flor-
Choctaw Indian Reservation, drawing maps for the
ber 1943 and would continue in loving marriage
ence, died March 1, 2017. She taught school in
California Oil Co., adjusting claims for Blue Cross,
for 69 years, until his death in 2012. During Jim’s
Magee and Tupelo before she married. She loved
providing customer service for Delta Airlines, and
tenure in the Navy, they lived in Philadelphia, Pa.;
her family, walks in the country, and her pets. She
processing mortgage loans for Prudential, all before
Bethesda, Md.; and Pensacola, Fla., before settling
was an avid reader who went to the library weekly.
she married. She was later active in the PTA, serving as president and treasurer for several years. She
permanently in Jackson, where they raised their family. She was a longtime member of Galloway
Robert Browning Barnard Sr., Class of 1946,
and her husband traveled throughout the country
Memorial United Methodist Church, a member of
of Clarksdale, died May 8, 2017. He was in the Navy
and world until his death in 1999.
the Junior League of Jackson, and a volunteer for
V-12 program and finished his pre-flight training
more than 20 years with Mississippi Public Broad-
at the University of Iowa where he got his wings.
Robert Patrick Connolly, Class of 1947, of
casting’s Radio Reading Service of Mississippi.
While serving in the Navy, he flew F4-U Corsairs
Meridian died June 5, 2017. He enlisted in the Navy
from four different air craft carriers and completed
in late 1942 during his senior year in high school.
44
www.millsaps.edu
{IN MEMORIAM}
From boot camp at Farragut Naval Training Sta-
of the Rebecca Cravat Chapter, Daughters of the
rose to the rank of first lieutenant. He returned to
tion, Idaho, he was selected to go on to Machinist
American Revolution, and she served for many
Texas A&M College after World War II where he
Mates School and selected for the Navy V-12 pro-
years as a docent at the Mississippi Governor’s
earned his degree in petroleum engineering. He
gram at Millsaps College and Tulane University. In
Mansion.
and his wife established Mueller Engineering, a petroleum engineering firm that they ran together
1951, Connolly purchased a ranch in Ruby Valley, Nev., which he sold in 1962. He later bought two
Lois Abel Saunders, B.A.1948, of Duck Hill,
other farms and worked at Idaho Feedlot Company
died Jan. 7, 2017.
for 40 years.
Josephine Potts Whatley, Class of 1949, of
until he was 83. After retirement, he pursued his
Alden Evan Davis Jr., B.A. 1949, of Coden, Ala.,
Brandon, died May 30, 2017. She served as secretary
died Jan. 30, 2017. After high school graduation,
at Callaway High School, Millsaps College, and
Lewis G. Odom Jr., of Mobile, Ala., Class of
he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. While waiting for his
the U.S. Naval Station in New Orleans. She was a
1947, died Jan. 16, 2017. Upon high school gradu-
assignment, Davis attended the University of Texas
member of Crossgates United Methodist Church.
ation, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve and
for a semester where he was an invited walk-on for
A bridge aficionado who achieved the rank of Life
was selected for the V-12 Navy College Training
the Longhorn football team. In November 1943,
Master, she also enjoyed playing the piano and bak-
Program at Millsaps College and Tulane University.
he received his Navy assignment and reported to
ing caramel cakes for her family.
He served on the U.S.S. Mississippi before being
Millsaps College for training in the V-12 Navy Flyer
discharged in 1946. He graduated from the Univer-
Program. The Navy also sent him to Northwestern
Mary Olive Eudy Woods, B.A. 1949, of Green-
sity of Alabama School of Law in 1949 and joined
University for Midshipman School and to Princ-
wood, died Jan. 31, 2017. She was a member of First
the U.S. Army the next year. He was commissioned
eton University for training in advanced weaponry.
United Methodist Church in Greenwood for more
as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force in 1951
In early 1945, as a 19-year-old lieutenant JG, Davis
than 60 years and active in many functions of the
and served as a legal officer in Korea. After being
was sent to the newly constructed aircraft carrier
church.
discharged in 1952, Odom returned to Gadsden,
U.S.S. Midway as a gunnery officer, where he com-
Ala., to practice law. He was general counsel of
pleted shakedown cruises to Haiti and the Arctic
Lindsey Head , B.A. 1950, of Madison, died May
the U.S. Senate Small Business Committee and
Circle before the end of World War II. He served
28, 2017. He joined the U.S. Air Force where he
then an administrative assistant to U.S. Sen. John
in the U.S. Navy until 1946 and is a plank holder
taught electronics at Keesler Air Force Base. Dur-
Sparkman (D-Ala.), and staff director and general
on the U.S.S. Midway. After his discharge, Davis
ing his lifetime he owned and operated many busi-
counsel of the U.S. Senate Committee on Bank-
returned to Millsaps and earned a degree in phys-
ness including Lindsey Head’s, a men’s clothing
ing and Currency. He later became deputy to the
ics. He took the helm of his family’s business, Davis
store in Brookhaven, the Little Kitchen restaurant
chairman, FDIC, and later was appointed senior
Nurseries in Coden, in 1950 and was the owner
in Philadelphia, Miss., and the Green Derby restau-
deputy comptroller of the currency and became a
for 65 years. Under his cultivation and leadership,
rant in Jackson. For 64 years, he served Lindsey’s
charter member of the Senior Executive Service.
hundreds of thousands of camellias and shrubber-
Lemonade at the Neshoba County Fair. He was
He retired from federal service in 1981 and returned
ies were sold all over the Southeast.
also a certified life underwriter and sold insurance.
hobby of working with aragonite stone.
to practice law in Mobile.
William McBride Yandell Jr., Class of 1948, of
Joseph R. Huggins, B.S. 1950, of Blooming-
George E. Burchfield, B.S. 1948, Columbia, died
Memphis, died Feb. 15, 2017. He was a graduate of
ton, Ind., died May 31, 2017. He studied electrical
Jan. 11, 2017. He was a sergeant in the U.S. Army
the V-12 program at Millsaps College and Columbia
engineering at Mississippi State University and
in the 881st Field Artillery Battalion 69th Division,
Midshipmen’s School in New York City. He served
the University of Alabama. From 1950 to 1954, he
serving for four years and fighting in Germany
on the U.S.S. Missouri as a commissioned ensign
served as an officer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps
during World War II. During his service he was
where he witnessed the signing of the Japanese In-
and was stationed in New Jersey and Germany.
awarded the Bronze Star medal for heroic achieve-
strument of Surrender in September 1945 in Tokyo
His career as an engineer in the aerospace and
ment in connection with military operations as
Bay. He graduated from Mississippi State Univer-
television industries took him to Eglin Air Force
well as the ATO, EAMETO, Good Conduct, and
sity in 1948 with a degree in agricultural engineer-
Base., George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, and
World War II Victory medals. He earned a master’s
ing. He began farming in 1948 and lived in Vance
to RCA in Memphis, as an electrical test engineer.
degree in geology from Mississippi State University,
most of his life until his retirement in 1995 when
In 1971, he moved to Bloomington, Ind., where he
where he taught geology, and then joined Gulf Oil
he moved to Memphis. He was vice president of
worked at RCA until his retirement in 1988. After
where he had a 33-year career as a geologist.
the Delta Council and was an organizing director
retirement, he was an electronics instructor at Ivy
of the First National Bank of Clarksdale, where he
Tech Community College and at Otis Elevator in
served on the board of directors from 1964–1997.
Bloomington.
varied civic activities but her favorite was her
Joseph Paul Mueller, Class of 1949, of Corpus
Joe E. Majure, B.A. 1950, of Forest, died Dec.
garden club work. She was a charter member of
Christi, Texas, died July 11, 2016. He attended
21, 2016. He had a successful insurance business
the Brandon Garden Club and served as presi-
Millsaps as part of the Navy V-12 Training Program
for many years and was active in the Rotary Club,
dent of the Mississippi Garden Club from 1971 to
and then pre-flight school at the University of
where he was named a Paul Harris Fellow.
1973. The Brandon Garden Club recognized her
North Carolina where he played center on the foot-
achievements in 2015 by establishing a scholarship
ball team under Bear Bryant’s coaching. He served
Joyce Rush, Class of 1950, of Meridian, died July
at Hinds Community College. She was a member
in the Korean War as forward artillery observer and
8, 2016. After high school graduation, she attended
Janet Adalyn Fox McLaurin, B.A. 1948, of Brandon, died June 29, 2017. She enjoyed many
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
45
{IN MEMORIAM}
two years at Mississippi State College for Women
Benjamin F. “B.F.” Lee, B.A. 1952, of Tupelo,
Patrick George Allen, B.S. 1955, of Highlands,
before marrying her soulmate and the love of her
died Jan. 24, 2017. He attended Vanderbilt Univer-
N.C., died May 15, 2017. He attended the University
life, Dr. Lowry Rush, Jr. She and her husband con-
sity Divinity School and was ordained as an elder
of Tennessee College of Dentistry and earned his
tinued their studies at Millsaps College. She served
in the Methodist Church in 1955. Lee and his wife,
D.D.S. He was then commissioned to the United
on numerous boards and committees in Meridian,
Ruth, served appointments across north Missis-
States Air Force as a dentist and served as a colonel
was an avid bridge player, and a member of Central
sippi, including Glendora, Goodman, Cleveland,
at Aviano Air Force Base in Italy. He practiced
United Methodist Church and then First Christian
Conference Council, Greenwood, Columbus, Sena-
dentistry in Atlanta before furthering his career as
Church.
tobia District, Starkville, and Tupelo. After retire-
an oral surgeon. He trained in oral surgery as a fel-
ment, he remained active on the staff of the Tupelo
low at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where
William Pierce Bailey Jr., Class of 1952, of
District, serving as interim pastor for Nettleton
he also received a master’s degree. He practiced
Huntingdon, Tenn., died Jan. 12, 2017. He gradu-
Presbyterian Church, Thaxton United Methodist,
dentistry for almost 30 years in Macon, Ga. He
ated from the University of Mississippi with a
and Pontotoc First United Methodist. He was also
lived in Highlands, N.C. for 23 years, where he and
bachelor’s degree in philosophy and from Vander-
instrumental in launching The Orchard of Tupelo.
his wife opened and operated the Morning Star Inn
bilt University with a master’s of divinity degree.
for seven years before retiring.
He began his 43 years of ministry as a Methodist
Barksdale Johnston Crosland , B.A. 1953, of
minister in the North Mississippi Conference,
Jackson, died March 30, 2017. She taught first grade
Peggy Suthoff Collins, B.A. 1954, of Gautier,
transferring to the Memphis Conference in 1958.
at Jackson Academy for more 25 years. She was a
died June 6, 2017. It was at Millsaps that she met,
In addition to serving small and large membership
lifelong member of First Presbyterian Church of
courted, and eventually married “Eddie” Col-
churches in rural, urban, suburban, and inner city
Jackson, taught Sunday school, served on numer-
lins, her husband to be of 62 years. Describing
settings, he served The United Methodist Church
ous committees, and received the Women’s Minis-
the courtship, she would say: “I chased him until
on the conference, jurisdictional, and general
try Lifetime Membership Award.
he caught me.” She assumed the role of first lady
church levels. He was elected to lead the delega-
when her husband accepted the presidency of
tion to General Conference and be recognized as
Glenna Goodwin James, B.A. 1953, of Broom-
Millsaps College (1970–1978) and the College of
a candidate for the episcopacy for three quadren-
field, Colo., died Dec. 21, 2016.
Charleston, S.C. (1978–1985). In this capacity she
nia. In 1972, Bailey was a major contributor in the
was the official host of the college, working with
writing of “The Social Principles of the United
Virginia Ann Echols Umstead , Class of 1953,
students, faculty members as well as supervising
Methodist Church,” the majority of which remains
of Grenada, died Aug. 6, 2017. She was a retired
official college functions for visiting dignitaries.
as originally written.
educator and accomplished musician.
She and her husband were world travelers, visiting
Roy Andrew Eaton, B.A. 1952, of Fort Wayne,
John Arthur Williams, B.A. 1953, of Gulfport,
Ind., died Jan. 14, 2017. He received his divinity
died July 24, 2017. He served in the Navy during
John Bertrand Lott Sr., B.A. 1955, of Monte-
degree from Candler School of Theology at Emory
World War II. He worked as a teacher, then for the
vallo, Ala., died May 4, 2017. He earned a doctor-
University and a master’s of evangelism from
Social Security Administration, and later for the
ate in English with a minor in philosophy from
Scarritt College. He served Methodist churches
Harrison County Welfare Department. He was a
Vanderbilt University in 1960. Lott spent his entire
in Brookhaven, Centreville, and Richton. In 1968
member of Trinity United Methodist Church in
teaching and administrative career at what is now
he transferred to the Northern Indiana United
Gulfport where he sang tenor in the choir and then
the University of Montevallo. Beginning as an as-
Methodist Conference where he served churches in
a member of Long Beach First United Methodist.
sistant professor of English, Lott served as English
more than 40 countries.
Fort Wayne, South Bend, and Chesterton. In 1989
professor and chair of the English Department
he was appointed district superintendent of the
Mildred Ballard Gorman, Class of 1954, of
(1962–1980), and dean of the College of Arts and
Marion District. He also served as a member of the
Jackson, died Jan. 27, 2017. She earned a B.S. in
Sciences, (1980–1989 ), after which he became
Army National Guard in Mississippi and Indiana,
chemistry from the University of Southern Missis-
director of international/intercultural studies. At
obtaining the rank of major.
sippi and also graduated from the School of Medi-
the time of his retirement in 1995, he had attained
cal Technology at Mercy Hospital. She worked as a
the rank of distinguished professor of English and
medical technologist in Magee and in Jackson.
International Intercultural Studies. In the late
K. Edwin Graham, B.A. 1952, of Gulfport, died May 12, 2017. He was a resident of Gulfport for
1980s he was awarded a fellowship by the National
more than 30 years and had a private practice in
Sylvia Sanford McDavid, B.A. 1954, of Jackson,
Council on US-Arab Relations to spend a summer
psychotherapy. He earned a master’s in theology
died March 4, 2017. She graduated from the Uni-
in Tunisia. He also participated in a Friendship
from Emory University, a degree in counseling
versity of Mississippi where she was one of three
Force exchange which took him to Moscow and St
from Wesley Theological Seminary, and a doctor-
female law students during her first year and the
Petersburg.
ate in marriage and family therapy from Howard
only female student during her second year. After
University. He served as a pastor in Methodist
she married and gave birth to her first child, she be-
Charles Allen Planch, B.A. 1955, of Madison,
churches in Mississippi in Georgetown, Bassfield,
came a full-time wife, mother, and homemaker. She
died Feb. 15, 2017. He started his insurance career
and Summit as well as churches in Eatonville, Ga.,
and her husband visited all 50 U.S. states, all ten
in 1956 and worked for many companies, includ-
Webster Hills, Mo., and Washington D.C.
Canadian provinces, 32 European countries, and
ing Aetna, Zurich, Fireman’s Fund, Phoenix of
additional countries in Central American, South
Hartford, The AIG, New Hampshire, and the EMC
America, and Africa.
companies. Planch was involved with the Missis-
46
www.millsaps.edu
{IN MEMORIAM}
sippi Insurance Council Board as a member of the
he returned to Millsaps to complete his education.
years as chairman of the board for the Diocese
Mississippi Rating Bureau, the Executive Commit-
He graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1960
of Mississippi’s camp and conference center in
tee, and its president. He served on the advisory
with a master’s in sacred theology and received
Canton and was the co-founder of its camp for
committee of the Insurance Office for the State of
the Wallcot-Caulkins Award for Preaching. He was
handicapped children, a program that is ongo-
Mississippi, was a charter member of the Aetna
ordained in the Indiana Conference of the United
ing. He was a long-time deputy to the Episcopal
Insurance Leadership Council, vice president of
Methodist Church. His last appointment was St.
Church’s General Convention and served on many
the Independent Insurance Agents of Mississippi,
Mark’s United Methodist Church, in a university
of its legislative committees, as well as six years on
president of the Mississippi Field Club, and presi-
community, at Bloomington, Ind. In 1983, he was
the Executive Council of the Church.
dent of the Mississippi Underwriters Association.
employed by T.I.S., Inc. and spent 15 years in training, development, publishing, and operations.
Marylyn McNeill Lee, B.A. 1957, of Crystal
Marjorie Boleware Albrycht , B.A. 1956, of
For the last 18 years of his life was associated with
Springs, died Feb 25, 2017. She worked for Bell
Ocean Springs, died April 5, 2017. She earned a
Briarwood United Methodist Church in Jackson.
South for 37 years, retiring in 1994. She was a
master’s degree in education administration from
member of the Telephone Pioneers of America on
the University of Southern Mississippi in 1977. She
Jeanelle Howell Waldrop, Class of 1956, of
both the local and state level. She was a founding
was employed at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi
Houston, Texas, died July 3, 2017. In 1952, she
member of the Copiah County Art Association and
and retired as a computer training manager. She
enrolled in Millsaps College where, during her
the Copiah County Historical and Genealogical
was a member and served as president of the Gulf
sophomore year, she met Walter I. Waldrop, who
Society.
Hills Garden Club, secretary of the Gulf Hills Civic
would become her husband. While he finished his
Association Board, and a member of the local PEO
degree at Millsaps, she went to Atlanta to work as a
Robert Carroll Smith, B.S. 1957, of Brandon,
chapter. She was a board member of the Jackson-
stewardess for Delta Airlines. She was later active
died Feb. 22, 2017. He designed more than 100
George County Regional Library System during the
in Little League Sports and the Houston Junior
houses before entering the burgeoning field of
rebuilding period after Hurricane Katrina.
Forum. She enjoyed playing tennis at the Hous-
information technology in 1963 where he sup-
ton Racquet Club, devoted time to the SPCA, and
ported mainframes and electronic data systems for
Nancy Napier Engle, Class of 1956, of Green-
volunteered as a docent at the Edith Moore Nature
multiple institutions, including several local banks.
wood, died Jan. 15, 2017. She was a member of
Sanctuary. She liked to watch sports, travel, sew,
He retired from Blue Cross Blue Shield as security
the National Society of the Colonial Dames of
play golf, and hook rugs.
manager of systems information.
America. In 1951, she married the Rev. Michael Thomas Engle, who served as the rector at Grace
Elizabeth Barfield Walters, B.A. 1956, of
Robert Ludwig Smith, B.A. 1957, of Tallahas-
Episcopal Church in Canton, All Saints Episcopal
Franklin, Ind., died Dec. 19, 2016.
see, Fla., died July 23, 2017. He earned a master of
in Grenada, All Saints Episcopal in Tupelo, and
music degree from the University of Mississippi
Reynolds Smith Cheney II, B.A. 1957, of Mem-
and a doctorate of music education from Florida
phis, died July 10, 2017. He attended Episcopal
State University. He worked for Florida State as
Jack Milton Lof lin, B.A. 1956, of Star, died April
Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., graduating
a professor in the College of Music and served as
5, 2017. He received a master’s of divinity from
with a Master of Divinity degree in 1961. During his
director of the study abroad programs in Costa
Vanderbilt University in 1959. For more than 50
years in seminary, he received a Danforth Scholar-
Rica and Spain. He loved God, his family, music,
years, he served as an ordained minister in commu-
ship to intern as college chaplain for a year at the
golf, and fishing.
nities throughout Mississippi. He taught adaptive
University of Pennsylvania. He was ordained to
organizational process for decades before such
the priesthood by the Rt. Rev. Duncan M. Gray,
Richard “Dick” Carothers Brown Jr., Class
thinking became common, seeking to lead con-
Jr. at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Jackson on June
of 1958, of Jackson, died July 23, 2017. He was loved
gregations and groups of people beyond dualistic,
16, 1961. From 1961–1963, he served as curate to St.
by everyone and he loved life.
win-lose scenarios toward models of discernment
Matthew’s, Kosciusko; St. Mary’s, Lexington; Grace
and consensus. An ordained elder in the United
Church, Carrolton and St. Clement’s, Vaiden in the
Charles W. Nicholson Sr., B.A. 1958, of Bran-
Methodist Church, he served as senior pastor at
Diocese of Mississippi. From 1963–1968, he served
don, died Feb. 1, 2017. He received his Master of
Bude, First Columbia, Broadmeadow in Jackson,
as rector of St. John’s, Aberdeen and as priest-in-
Divinity from Emory University. He served many
and Central in Meridian. He also spent many
charge of St. Michael and All Angels, Amory, and
churches, with the most recent being in Meridian,
years of his ministry in service as the Mississippi
Grace Church, Okolona. In 1968, he became rector
Ocean Springs, Columbia, and Pascagoula. He also
Conference youth director, the Brookhaven District
of St. James Episcopal Church in Greenville, where
served as a district superintendent and represented
superintendent, and the Conference Council on
he served for 13 years and priest-in-charge of Re-
the Mississippi Conference at General and Juris-
Ministries director.
deemer from 1968–1971. In 1981, he became rector
dictional Conferences. Upon retirement, Nicholson
of Church of the Holy Communion in Memphis
and his wife lived in Lake Junaluska, N.C. where he
Albert Hardy Nall Jr., B.A. 1956, of Jackson,
where he served until he retired in 2001. After his
was chaplain to the Lake Junaluska Assembly.
died July 26, 2017. His education at Millsaps
retirement, he continued to assist congregations
was interrupted when the Dixie Division of the
throughout the Diocese of West Tennessee. He
Glenda Wadsworth, B.A. 1958, of Clinton, died
National Guard was called to serve in the Korean
was instrumental in establishing the Head Start
on Dec. 31, 2016. After Millsaps she studied in
War. Honorably discharged from the Army in 1952,
program for the Delta region. He served for many
France on a Fulbright scholarship. In her late 30s
The Church of the Nativity in Greenwood.
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
47
{IN MEMORIAM}
she moved to Oxford to attend law school at Ole
La. from 1983–1996, and medical director of Capital
Gail Madsen Lail, Class of 1967, of German-
Miss, and upon graduation worked in the legal
Area Human Services in Baton Rouge, La. in 1997.
town, Tenn. died July 19, 2017. She began her
field until her retirement in 2005. In retirement she
career at the City of Memphis where she rose to be-
returned to an interest in writing that began when
Wilma Sanderson Sewell, B.A. 1960, of Pana-
come director of insurance. Active in civic affairs,
she was a student at Millsaps and wrote feature
ma City, Fla., died April 2, 2017. She was a retired
she was a charter member and sang in the choir at
stories for several local publications.
school teacher and a member of Mount Pleasant
Farmington Presbyterian Church.
Primitive Baptist Church in Dothan, Ala., and the
Terrell Davis “Ted” Blanton, B.S. 1959, of
Panama City Garden Club.
Murfreesboro, Tenn., died April 12, 2017. After
Samuel Oliphant Morris III, Class of 1967, of Jackson, died April 3, 2017. He graduated with a
graduating from the University of Mississippi Med-
Stanley Edward Munsey, B.A. 1961, of Madi-
B.A. from Mississippi State University in 1966 and
ical School in 1962, Blanton practiced medicine
son, Ala., died Jan. 22, 2017. After graduating from
earned a master’s of divinity degree from Asbury
for 55 years. He served in the Navy from 1961–1974
high school, he joined the United States Army and
University and a doctorate of ministry from Can-
where he earned the rank of commander and
served with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort
dler School of Theology at Emory University. He
numerous commendations for exemplary service.
Campbell, Ky., followed by serving as an ROTC
pioneered the youth group movement in Missis-
He played the banjo, drums, guitar, and piano and
instructor at Middle Tennessee State College, now
sippi Methodism in 1970 as associate pastor and
was a member of the band, The Docs of Dixieland,
Middle Tennessee State University. He then at-
youth director at Alta Woods United Methodist
which cut records and played at events.
tended Millsaps College and went on to earn a law
church in Jackson. In 1989, he became the preacher
degree from Tulane University. Upon moving to
and executive director of the United Methodist
Jeanine Adcock Scott , B.A. 1959, of Houston,
the Shoals in the late 1960s, he served as executive
Hour, the Mississippi conference’s ministry of Ra-
Texas, died Dec. 8, 2016. She earned a master’s
director of the Council of Local Governments, then
dio and Television. In 1995, Morris was appointed
degree in education from the University of Houston
entered private law practice in Tuscumbia, Ala.,
as the lead pastor of Galloway Memorial Methodist
in 1971.
where he practiced for more than three decades.
Church and served there until 2002 when he was
Mary Carol Caughman Burnett , B.A. 1960, of
Bethany Stockett Boone, Class of 1962, of
Church in Columbus, from which he retired in
Memphis, died April 16, 2017. She was a member of
Jackson, died April 14, 2017. She graduated in 1962
2012. After his retirement from pulpit ministry, he
Germantown United Methodist Church.
from the University of Mississippi after transfer-
served as president of the Jerusalem Institute for
ring there to be with the love of her life, Howard,
Biblical Exploration.
appointed lead pastor at First United Methodist
Gary Blaine Caldwell, B.S. 1960, of Chattanoo-
whom she married soon after graduation. She was
ga, Tenn., died July 27, 2017. He was also a graduate
a member of Christ United Methodist Church for
Kenneth M. Beasley, B.A. 1968, of D’Iberville,
of the University of Mississippi Medical School,
nearly 50 years, serving in countless roles. She was
died Aug. 25, 2017. He earned a master’s of educa-
where he received his M.D. degree in 1965. He
a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother, and her
tion from Mississippi College, and had completed
served an internship and anesthesiology residency
most cherished memories were of family gather-
many hours toward his doctorate in psychology
at Erlanger Hospital from 1965–1968. He served two
ings -- birthday celebrations and holiday meals,
and counseling from the University of Mississippi.
years at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Quantico, Va.,
weekends spent at the cabin in Crystal Springs, Me-
He had a lengthy career with the American Red
holding the rank of lieutenant commander. He was
morial Day trips to the beach, and weekly Sunday
Cross and served as director of the blood center in
a physician in Chattanooga for 30 years. He was a
afternoon visits at home.
Louisville, Ky. He was a high school counselor for
member of the Barnard Astronomical Society and
more than 17 years at D’Iberville High School.
received the Lewellen Evans Award in 2008 for out-
R. F. Johnson, B.A. 1965, of Crystal Springs,
standing achievement in astronomy and dedicated
died April 22, 2017. He graduated from Candler
Donald W. Fisher, B.S. 1968, of Alexandria,
service to the society. He built a Glasair experi-
School of Theology at Emory University and served
Va., died March 26, 2017. He earned an M.S. in
mental airplane. He was a member of the Privateer
as an elder in the United Methodist Church for
anatomy from the University of Mississippi School
Yacht Club, the Experimental Aircraft Association,
50 years. Most of his ministry was at churches in
of Medicine in 1971, and a Ph.D. in anatomy from
and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
Copiah County. He taught at the Union Academy
the University of Mississippi in 1973. He was presi-
in Georgetown for a number of years. He loved
dent and CEO of AMGA (formerly the American
Jay Carrol Pennington, B.S. 1960, of New Or-
music, was talented at weaving baskets, and prided
Medical Group Association) for the last 36 years.
leans, died May 20, 2017. He earned a medical de-
himself on his vegetable garden.
He served on numerous health care related boards
gree from the University of Mississippi in 1963 and
and councils and received many honors, including
completed an internship at the Baroness Erlanger
Willis C. Woody Jr., B.A. 1965, of Fort Wal-
the Russell V. Lee Lectureship and the Presidential
Hospital in Chattanooga, Tenn. He served honor-
ton Beach, Fla., died March 6, 2017. He received
Award from the American Academy of Physician
ably for the Strategic Air Command from 1967–1969
his graduate degree from University of Southern
Assistants. Other honors include being elected
as an officer and physician for Barksdale Air Force
California. A navigator of C-130’s, he served as an
to Who’s Who in Health Care, being named to
Base. Highlights of his professional career include
officer in the United States Air Force. His career
Distinguished Leaders in Health Care, and named
chief of staff and founder of Brentwood Hospital in
spanned 24 years, including two tours in Vietnam
by Modern Healthcare as one of the 100 Most Influ-
Shreveport, La, from 1974–1979, clinical director of
where he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross.
ential People in Healthcare.
Greenwell Springs Hospital in Greenwell Springs,
48
www.millsaps.edu
{IN MEMORIAM}
Larry Edmond Clark , B.A. 1969, of Brandon,
for several years with Watkins Ludlam and then
was a member of Kappa Delta Alumni Association
died July 10, 2017. He graduated from the Universi-
Purdie & Metz, where he returned to his passion,
and Les Belle Mains Bridge and Luncheon Club.
ty of Mississippi School of Law in 1972. After active
public education, representing the Simpson County
duty training in the United States Army Reserve,
School Board.
Rev. John Hamlin Harper, B.A. 1970, of Lucedale, died April 1, 2017. He was a graduate of Can-
he returned to Smith County to practice law. The Smith County School Board retained him as at-
Thurston Euzema Wilkes II, Class of 1969, died
dler School of Theology at Emory University and
torney, setting him on a career-long path of interest
Jan. 13, 2017. He received his M.S. and M.D. at the
served as a Methodist minister for 41 years. After
and expertise in education and county govern-
University of Mississippi Medical Center and com-
retirement he continued to serve United Methodist
ment. On behalf of Superintendent Joe Tally and
pleted training in the field of urology at LSU Medi-
churches as needed.
the board, Clark filed and prosecuted numerous
cal Center-Shreveport, where he served as chief
lawsuits against the Smith County Board of Super-
resident. He practiced urology in Oxford for more
Robert “Bob” Newman Bradford, B.A. 1972,
visors, leaseholders, and others who were abusing
35 years. He served as chief of staff and chief of
of Baton Rouge, La., died May 2, 2017. He earned a
the Sixteenth Section school lands by leasing them
surgery at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oxford. He
master’s degree in chemistry from Louisiana State
for pennies per acre to political cronies and friends,
was instrumental in starting the annual Christmas
University and graduated from the School of Phar-
depriving schools of much-needed funds. Several
tradition at the hospital of physicians donating to
macy at Northeast Louisiana University. He served
of his cases went to the Mississippi Supreme
the local pantry and toy drive for children in need.
as a hospital pharmacist in the Baton Rouge area for more than 40 years. He loved reading, travel,
Court. The publicity from those successful cases led to the passage of important legislation by the
Elizabeth Ann “Betsy” Furr Kimbriel, B.A.
swimming, scuba diving, running, playing the
Legislature in 1974 and 1978, which protected the
1970, of Jackson, died March 16, 2017. She earned
stock market, and spending time with his family.
Sixteenth Section trust lands from many abuses. In
an M.Ed. from Mississippi College and taught in
1988, Clark took a position as an assistant attorney
the Jackson Public Schools for 28 years. She was
Fred L. Callon, B.A. 1972, of Natchez, died May
general for Mike Moore. He remained with the
a member of First Presbyterian Church where she
24, 2017. Callon was a third-generation graduate of
AG’s office for more than 12 years. After retire-
served on several committees and participated in
Millsaps, following in the footsteps of his mother
ment from state employment, Clark practiced law
Women in the Church Circles and Bible studies. She
and grandfather. He earned his MBA at the Whar-
Trustee Rowan Hurt Taylor, a life trustee, of Jackson, died July 18, 2017. He attended Power School, Bailey Junior High, and Central High School. For an interval during the Great Depression, he was a student in Washington, D.C., where his father was general counsel for the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation. In D.C., he was lucky to see an FDR inaugural parade from a window in the Willard Hotel restaurant and to attend many a Washington Senators baseball game. Eventually, he studied as an undergraduate at Mississippi State University, where he had the experience of living in “Old Main.” As soon as he was old enough after the outbreak of World War II, Taylor volunteered for service in the U.S. Navy and trained as an officer at the midshipman’s school in Chicago. He then served on a destroyer escort in the Pacific and, as a radar officer, helped his shipmates to survive kamikaze attacks. Having received a degree in physics from Mississippi College, Taylor later earned a J.D. from the Jackson School of Law. He spent his professional life at Mississippi Valley Title, where he became chairman and CEO after his father retired from those positions. He was a longtime member of the boards of directors of Trustmark Bank, Sanderson Farms, and St. Dominic Health Services. He served as chairman or president of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce, the Jackson Symphony Orchestra Association, the Jackson Junior Bar Association, the Jackson Metropolitan YMCA, the Country Club of Jackson, the United Way of Jackson, the Capital City Commission, and the Mississippi chapter of the Nature Conservancy. Taylor was a founding member of Covenant Presbyterian Church and chaired the Building Commission for the beautiful structure that became its home on Ridgewood Road. He served on the Education Committee of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce in 1968–69 and was chosen for the 10-person committee designated to develop a desegregation plan for the Jackson Public Schools. The resultant plan, presented to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, was approved and implemented. Taylor later became chairman of the Board of the Jackson Public School system. Subsequently, he was appointed to fill an unexpired term on the State Board of Education and then to fill a full eight-year term on that board, which he would go on to chair. In addition to working for grades K-12, Taylor devoted time to institutions of higher learning, serving on the Board of Trustees of Millsaps College and on the Board of Directors for the Development Foundation of Mississippi State University. He received an M.B.A. from Mississippi College in 1975 and an M.A. in history from Mississippi State University in 1998. He also participated in Leadership Seminars in the Humanities at Millsaps and met his second wife, Dr. Suzanne Marrs, now emerita professor of English, when he took one of those seminars from her.
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
49
{IN MEMORIAM}
ton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania,
Phillip M. Maples, B.B.A. 1977, of Meridian,
of staff in his House and Senate offices. She was
in 1976, returning soon thereafter to Natchez to join
died Feb. 25, 2017. After graduating from Millsaps,
tapped to work for former President George W.
the Callon Petroleum Company, founded in 1950
he went to work with his father at Maples Gas
Bush during his 2000 presidential campaign. Later,
by his father, Sim C. Callon, and uncle, John S. Cal-
Company. He enjoyed golf and flying and was
she worked in the Bush Administration in several
lon. He became president and CEO of the company
known for his wit and sarcasm.
capacities, including the Office of Strategic Initiatives and Office of the Vice President. Following
in 1997 and chairman in 2004, and led it to a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. With offices in
Katharine Lynn “Kitty” Child, Class of 1985,
her tenure on Capitol Hill and in the White House,
Natchez, Houston, and Midland, Callon Petroleum
of Jackson, died on Feb. 15, 2017. She was a cradle
Clark joined global public affairs agency APCO
Co. has become in recent years one of the leading
Episcopalian and was baptized as an infant at St.
Worldwide and served as executive director and
horizontal operators in the Midland Basin.
Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral.
deputy managing sector of the firm’s Washington,
Benjamin C. Britt Jr., B.A. 1973, of Houston,
James Walker Benton Jr., Class of 1986, of
Texas, died May 26, 2017. While at Millsaps, he
Memphis, died May 16, 2017. He worked as a men’s
Christopher Roan Evans, B.A. 1999, of Lafay-
joined the Mississippi Army National Guard and
clothing executive in New York, was a member of
ette, La., died Feb. 14, 2017. He earned a law degree
served in the 102nd Public Affairs Detachment as a
Toastmasters, and aided others as a life coach.
from Mississippi College School of Law in 2002. In
D.C. office.
second lieutenant. He earned a law degree from the
May 2008, he attended the U.S. Army Judge Advo-
University of Mississippi Law School in 1977. He
John Mitchell Bower, MBA 1992, of Vaughan,
cate Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Va.
worked in the oil and gas industry as a land man.
died Jan. 11, 2017. He received his undergradu-
Evans was a commissioned officer with the Loui-
ate degree from Belhaven University and became
siana National Guard. He deployed to Iraq in 2010
Garland Jerome Garrett , B.A. 1977, of Little
president/CEO of Pure Water Solution, which was
as a judge advocate. He also acted as advising judge
Rock, Ark., died Jan. 12, 2017. He earned his law de-
a business in partnership with his father, sister,
advocate to the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter crash
gree from Southern Methodist University in 1980,
and brother. He also started Land Improvement
in Florida in 2015. He received the Army Commen-
joining Rose Law Firm as an associate that year. He
Services. He enjoyed water skiing, snow skiing,
dation Medal, the Order of the Combat Spurs and
served as practice manager of the firm’s business
hunting, fishing, hiking, biking, and boating.
the Louisiana Cross of Merit. He practiced law with
section and a term as managing partner. He was
the Glenn Armentor Law Corp. in Lafayette.
named as one of the Mid-South Super Lawyers,
Alicia Peterson Clark , B.A. 1993, of Alexandria,
Business/Corporate each year from 2009 until 2012.
Va., died April 12, 2017. After graduating with a
James Ronald “Ronnie” Johnson, B.S. 2003,
He was also named in the Best Lawyers 2013 as
degree in political science, Alicia joined Ameri-
of Brandon, died Feb. 14, 2017. He co-founded the
the Little Rock Banking and Finance Law “Lawyer
Corps VISTA and worked in its literacy program in
Lithic Company. He was an outdoorsman who
of the Year” and was ranked in the Best Lawyers
North Carolina. She went on to work on the 1994
enjoyed hunting, wake boarding, and just being
of America 2013, in the banking and finance law,
U.S. House campaign of now-U.S. Senator Richard
outdoors.
commercial litigation, equipment finance law, and
Burr. Upon then-Rep. Burr’s election to the House,
litigation-securities sections.
she served as his press secretary and later as chief
Trustee Charles Robert Ridgway III, B.A. 1935, a Millsaps trustee from 2001–2009, of Jackson, died Aug. 1, 2017. He was a graduate of Jackson School of Law and received an honorary degree from Mississippi College School of Law. Following family tradition, he was a realtor, a participant in the oil and gas and timber industries, and practiced as an attorney at law for Ridgway Management, Inc. He was a member of the boards of directors of the First National Bank of Jackson and Magnolia Federal Savings & Loan Association. He served as president of the Jackson Board of Realtors and the Jackson Public School District Board of Trustees, and was a 50-year member of the Jackson Kiwanis Club. Ridgway was a lifelong member of the United Methodist Church, belonging to Capitol Street United Methodist Church and Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church. At Galloway, he served as chair of the Administrative Board, the Finance Committee, the Building Committee, and Landscaping Committee. He also served in organizing the Mississippi United Methodist Foundation and as its board’s first president. He served on the Radio and TV commission of the Southeastern and South-Central Jurisdictions that produced “The Methodist Hour.” He was president of the Millsaps Associates. He was named Millsaps College Alumnus of the Year in 1962 and received an honorary degree in 1982. He also served on the Rust College Board. His great interest in the character building organizations included serving many years as president of the Metropolitan YMCA board and later as director, trustee and chairman of the Blue Ridge YMCA assembly board. He also served as president of the Salvation Army Board.
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Faculty
firm. She volunteered time and money to support
of the Country Club of Jackson and a recipient
numerous organizations as well as individuals.
of the Home Builders Association of Mississippi
Rondal Edward Bell, former professor of biology
Housing Hall of Fame award.
died March 5, 2017. He graduated with an A.B. in
Staff
biology from William Jewell College in 1955 and
Frederick Edward Hawkins, Class of 1962,
2017. She began her college years at Randolph-Ma-
earned a master’s degree in biology, with a focus
campus safety officer, of Jackson, died April 14,
con College, but quickly transferred to Vanderbilt
on physiology and microbiology, from the Univer-
2017. He earned a B.A. from the University of
University, starting a family tradition that has per-
sity of New Mexico. He began work at Millsaps as
Southern Mississippi in 1967. He worked in the
sisted through two generations. Living in Nashville
assistant professor of biology and was promoted
Boeing space program in New Orleans and later in
after graduation, she met and married Raymond
to associate professor. In 1967 he took a one-year
sales and in law enforcement. He served for many
S. Martin Jr., B.S. 1942, a Vanderbilt University
leave of absence to enroll in the Ph.D. program at
years as an officer with the Hinds County Sheriff ’s
medical student/surgical resident from Jackson.
the University of Mississippi. Upon his return to
Department Reserve Unit, where, among other du-
Together, they served the U. S. Army at Keesler
Millsaps, while continuing work on his thesis and
ties he served was a firearms instructor. Beginning
Air Force Base, before moving to Jackson perma-
continuing to publish his research, he became
in 2006 and for the remainder of his life, he served
nently to join Raymond’s family. After Raymond’s
chairman of the biology department as an associate
as a campus safety officer at Millsaps.
retirement, he and Margery travelled far and wide
and chair of the department, of Edmond, Okla.,
professor. In 1971 he completed his doctoral thesis,
Margery Luck Martin, of Jackson, died July 18,
together. She enjoyed bridge, tennis, and hosting
received his Ph.D. in biology, and earned tenure as
Mattie Mae Harrison Lyle, retired food services
and attending family gatherings, and she com-
a professor of biology and chairman of the biology
staff member, of Pearl, died Feb. 6, 2017. “Ms. Mat-
posed a poem for every occasion. Margery and her
department at Millsaps. In 1978, Bell left Millsaps
tie,” as she was affectionately known, retired from
late husband were Founders’ Society benefactors of
to become dean of the College and a professor of
Valley Food Services/Millsaps in 2002 after more
Millsaps College primarily through the Raymond
biology at Central Methodist College, now Central
than 26 years of faithful service. She was a member
and Margery Martin Endowment for the Enhance-
Methodist University. He left Central to become
of Eastside Baptist Church in Pearl.
ment of Pre-Medical Education.
dean of the faculty at Phillips University in Enid. In 1993 he and his wife moved to Edmond, Okla.
LaMark Norman, former staff member, of Jack-
and he joined the Omniplex Science Museum, now
son, died July 7, 2017. He worked in housekeeping
These submissions for In Memoriam reflect those
the Science Museum Oklahoma, in Oklahoma City,
from November 1997 until April 1998.
received between Jan. 1, 2017 and Aug. 31, 2017.
Don Edward Strickland, of Winston-Salem,
at 601-974-1089 or floydnl@millsaps.edu.
where he served as program coordinator until he retired.
For more information, contact Nell Luter Floyd N.C., former vice president for business affairs,
Miriam Ruth Kauffman Byler, former piano
died Nov 14, 2016. He earned a bachelor’s degree in
instructor, of Harrisonburg, Va., died Feb. 12, 2017.
accounting as well as his master’s degree and doc-
She graduated from Hesston Academy in Hesston,
torate in higher education, all from Florida State
Kan., in 1947 and from Goshen College in 1951 with
University. He began his career in college adminis-
a B.A. in music. She received a master’s of music
tration at FSU, where he was head of the auditing
degree in piano performance from Wichita State
department. He then accepted the position of vice
University in 1957. She also taught piano and piano
president for business affairs at Millsaps College.
pedagogy at Hesston College, Eastern Mennonite
He finished his professional career as vice presi-
University, and Sterling College in Sterling, Kan.
dent of business at Brevard College.
Lillian Naomi McKinney Cooley, former
Friend
librarian, of Jackson, died July 28, 2017. She graduated from Spelman College with a bachelor’s
George Clanton Gunn III, former member of
degree in music and earned a master’s degree
the Else School of Management Advisory Board,
in library science from the University of Illinois
of Ridgeland, died June 3, 2017. He attended the
Champagne-Urbana. Upon her retirement as a
University of Southern Mississippi and graduated
librarian, she joined the Mississippi Consortium
from the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana
for International Development, a 1989-established
State University. After 34 years of service at Trust-
collaboration of four Mississippi Historically Black
mark National Bank, he retired on April 30, 2017,
Colleges and Universities, which managed and
as executive vice president and real estate banking
implemented hundreds of international exchange
manager. He served on the boards of numerous
and development training projects. She then served
civic and charitable organizations, including the
as vice president of business development for Sys-
Mississippi Children’s Home, Mississippi Kidney
tems Consultants Associates, the Cooley family’s
Foundation, American Heart Foundation, and the
vocational training and management consulting
Make-A-Wish Foundation. He was a past-president
{IN MEMORIAM}
SUPPORT OUR STUDENTS. SUPPORT BELONGING. GIVE TO THE MILLSAPS ANNUAL FUND TODAY. MBENCH.ORG/ANNUALFUND
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{IN MEMORIAM}
Millsaps Magazine Fall 2017
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