Mississippi State Alumnus Fall 2001

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Unearthing the past, one layer at a time

CONTENTS

ALUMNUS Fall 2001 Volume 77 Number 3 USPS 354-520

President Malcolm Portera (’69, M.A. ’71) Vice President for External Affairs Dennis A. Prescott Alumni Association Executive Director John V. Correro (’62) Mississippi State Alumnus is published three times a year by the Office of University Relations and the Mississippi State University Alumni Association at Mississippi State, Miss. Send address changes to Alumni Director, P.O. Box AA, Mississippi State, MS 39762-5526; telephone 662-325-2434; or access by web browser at http:// msuinfo.ur.msstate.edu/alumni/ alumni.htm.

Editorial offices: 102 George Hall, P.O. Box 5325, Mississippi State, MS 397625325. Telephone 662-325-3442; fax, 662-325-7455; e-mail, snowa@ur.msstate.edu.

Editor/Designer Allen Snow (’76)

2 Mississippi State research is ‘world-class’ Research conducted by the state’s public institutions of higher learning has an $824 million economic impact in Mississippi.

Village site reveals clues to native lifestyles A prehistoric settlement now under excavation by Mississippi State scientists is yielding a wealth of artifacts and information about the native residents and their lifestyle.

8 Slow but sure: Oktibbeha snails may yield environmental clues A Mississippi State researcher believes the ancient remains of a tiny, plodding creature may hold clues about Mississippi’s distant past and offer lessons for the future.

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Designer Becky Smith Photographers Fred Faulk Russ Houston (’85)

Archaeological project helps interpret Chickasaw past in Mississippi

10 Got an itch to grow bugs?

Mississippi State University Alumni Association National Officers Robby Gathings (’81), national president; Allen Maxwell (’78), national first vice president; Gary Blair (’81), national second vice president; Keith Winfield (’70), national treasurer; Steve G. Taylor (’77), immediate former national president. www.msstate.edu Mississippi State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, or veteran status.

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A team of Mississippi archaeologists is re-analyzing part of the state’s history as they sift through thousands of Chickasaw artifacts unearthed during the late 1930s.

When it comes to bugs, most people swat them, a few collect them, and a dedicated handful at Mississippi State University grow them. Not only do they grow insects, but they’re eager to teach others how to do it.

12 Campus News 25 Athletics On the cover: Archaeology students spent more than a month this summer digging at the site of a large and astonishingly well-preserved prehistoric settlement in northeastern Oktibbeha County. Story on page 5.

(Photo by Fred Faulk.)

27 Alumni Activities 30 Philanthropy 35 Class News 43 In Memoriam

Mississippi State research is

‘world-class’ State IHL research has $824 million economic impact in Mississippi

By Sid Salter, Clarion-Ledger Perspective Editor

Microsoft founder Bill Gates was once quoted as offering this observation: “Be nice to nerds. Chances are, you’ll end up working for one.”

Gates—the world’s wealthiest and best known “nerd”—can afford that joke at his own expense.

The ’80s B film Revenge of The Nerds offered the message that the intelligent are loveable and talented as well.

So what are Mississippi’s “nerds” up to these days?

At Mississippi State University, they are involved in some rather amazing projects: Using computer-generated complex field simulations to analyze and improve the designs of surface ships, submarines, aircraft, rocket propulsion, and turbomachinery.

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Creating and designing the next generation of silicon carbide electronics materials that will have applications in the automobiles—internal combustion and electric—of the future as well as aircraft engines and surfaces, electric power distribution, and future space exploration.

Performing supercomputing chores for NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense, and private industry on the 13th largest supercomputer cluster at any American university.

Completing agricultural research on cotton, catfish, Marshall ryegrass, and soybeans that is contributing more than $500 million to the economy annually.

MSU’s catfish research alone contributes $300 million annually to the state’s economy.

Creating a research and development Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems at MSU with an extension center at the Nissan plant in Madison County. The program will establish affiliate education and workforce

training programs at Hinds and Holmes community colleges.

Conducting social science research into rural health, safety, and poverty issues designed to determine—in part—why most Mississippians live five years less on average than residents of “healthier” areas of the country such as the Midwest. The Social Science Research Center also conducts what many consider Mississippi’s most accurate private, non-partisan political polling.

Helping design the innerworkings of much of the furniture produced in Mississippi through stress testing and other methods.

The College of Forest Resources research supports Mississippi’s $1.4 billion forest products industry by examining new technologies in paper and allied products, timber harvesting, furniture, and related products and lumber production.

Using the latest biotechnological research to develop and test vaccines against several dangerous animal diseases in the College of Veterinary Medicine. And using Department of Food Science and Technology to scientifically establish the taste and consistency differences between Mississippi pond-raised catfish and import fish from Southeast Asia.

Using satellite imaging to predict insect outbreaks, agricultural and forest products yield, mapping for poultry disease outbreaks, and a catfish pond inventory system.

MSU’s Remote Sensing Technology Center also conducts significant research in traffic surveillance, monitoring, and management as well as environmental

assessment of future transportation design problems. The space-age technology is also used in soil and crop analysis, wildlife management, and in the fight against “exotic” species like kudzu.

The Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station conducts extensive research into such problems as poultry waste management, alternative fuels, food safety, and alternative crops.

The “nerds,” in a phrase, are busy— really busy.

But here at MSU, the stereotypical image of nerdy engineers and scientists huddled over boiling beakers and brandishing slide rules has been replaced. Talented, top-drawer faculty and students operate world-class computers in bright, gleaming facilities. Their work is part of an overall academic research program at MSU that ranks 58th in the nation according to the National Science Foundation (NSF).

MSU Vice President for Research Robert Altenkirch estimates that the university will attain the coveted NSF Top 50 research institution status in FY 2002.

“Our research expenditures have increased at an average annual rate of 16 percent over the last three fiscal years,” Altenkirch said. “In spite of the fact that competing universities aren’t standing still, we’re on track to make it.”

A land-grant “agricultural and mechanical” college at its inception, MSU is now the state’s leading research institution, with 52.7 percent of all IHL research in the state conducted there. MSU president Malcolm Portera said his “vision” for the future of the school is focused on accentuating the school’s natural strengths.

“We can choose to be a mile wide and an inch thick—trying to be all things to all people—or we can choose to focus our efforts on being the best university we can be in the areas in which we already have exhibited leadership,” Portera said.

“Clearly, that leadership is and should be significant research in science and engineering with an eye toward helping to build this state’s economy.”

With a 2001 enrollment of just under 17,000, Portera said he believes that the school should raise the expectations of potential MSU students.

“In order to be successful here, we believe a student really needs to have been able to earn at least a 2.5 grade-pointaverage in high school and needs to have scored at least 21 on the ACT,” he said.

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“Those students who aren’t performing at that level would likely benefit from another environment in which remediation could be the focus.”

Portera believes that a commitment on behalf of the university to research with real-world, practical applications will have a direct impact on the state’s economy.

“We have an opportunity to be part of an ‘automotive corridor’ running from Atlanta to Madison County with the GM plant in Atlanta, the Honda and Mercedes plants in Alabama, and now the Nissan facility in Canton,” said Portera. “It’s a matter of seizing the opportunity.”

MSU associate professor Dr. Michael Mazzola, who is leading the university’s silicon carbide research, agrees.

“This research has applications in auto manufacturing, electric power distribution, military weapons design and performance, and dozens of other practical applications,” said Mazzola. “Jobs are going to go where the research and development efforts are under way. We believe the possibilities for this research have a strong probability of making a difference in Mississippi’s economy.”

MSU isn’t alone in doing substantive research.

Jackson State University just received a $2.4 million National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant designed to lessen the impact of tropical storms and hurricanes on the Gulf Coast. The historically black university ranks fourth among IHL institutions in research expenditures at $31.2 million and has a strong partnership with MSU in the $108 million, eight-year U.S. Department of Defense supercomputing contract awarded in May. That contract was the largest research contract in MSU history and one of the largest DOD research contracts in history.

“We believe research is the future of the university and of this state,” said Portera. “It’s an exciting time.”

With an $824 million economic impact from IHL research, Portera’s passion for research is likely to become contagious.

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Village site reveals clues to native lifestyles

By Kay Fike Jones Photos by Fred Faulk

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A prehistoric settlement now under excavation by Mississippi State scientists is yielding a wealth of artifacts and information about the native residents and their lifestyle.

Located in extreme northeastern Oktibbeha County, the mound and village site of Lyon’s Bluff may have been home to as many as 300 members of the Mississippian culture between 1000 and 1540 A.D. “This site is the largest one ever found in the area,” said Dr. Evan Peacock, an anthropologist in the department of sociology, anthropology and social work. “No one can say how big it really is without a complete survey, but I estimate that it covers between 20 and 30 acres.”

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In addition to its size, the potential importance of Lyon’s Bluff stems from the vast amount of well-preserved artifacts being uncovered by Peacock’s team of student archaeologists.

Because soil on the bluff is unusually alkaline, researchers are finding large amounts of animal bones, pottery, and even food items like corn and beans. Happily, it’s unlike most Southeastern soils, whose acidity quickly decomposes whatever is buried in them.

“The vast amount of animal bones near the base of the mound, along with the elaborate ceremonial pottery, leads us to believe there could have been communal feasting at the site,” Peacock explained.

He said the remains of bears, turkeys, deer, fish, rabbits, turtles, and at least one cougar prove the people living here were

hunters and fishermen. Corn and bean remains also show they were farmers—good ones, too.

The Mississippians, an archaeological designation for the possible ancestors of later indigenous Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes, also feasted on an abundant supply of snails found in the nearby creek.

“Our excavation will help us learn who these people were and exactly when they lived,” Peacock said. “It also could answer whether they provided all the food for their feasts or had others bring food to them.”

Peacock’s team spent more than a month this summer digging near the mound. A magnetometer was deployed to help the diggers “see” beneath the ground and identify home sites by locating trenches dug for house wall posts. Upon excavation, it was discovered that the Mississippians used creek sand to line their floors.

Radiocarbon dating of firewood and other objects will enable scientists to pinpoint the settlement’s age and to know when a twoinch ear of corn—the vegetable’s original size—and beans were grown.

“Radiocarbon dating of anything that was alive is very accurate in determining age,” Peacock said. “At $350-$500 per object, however, it quickly gets expensive.”

To help ease the costs of this and two future excavations, contributions are being

accepted for a Lyon’s Bluff Fund established with the MSU Foundation.

He said future digs are planned in 2003 and 2005. Analysis of artifacts excavated at Lyon’s Bluff more than 30 years ago also is ongoing. When the fieldwork is complete, it will take researchers several years to fully analyze the finds.

“By combining our research with that of colleagues from earlier excavations, we should have a good feel for the cultural landscape more than 1,000 years ago at Lyon’s Bluff and this area of Mississippi,” he said.

For more information on the Lyon’s Bluff dig, telephone Peacock at 662-325-1663 or e-mail him at peacock@anthro.msstate.edu.

To learn more about the fund supporting the dig, telephone the MSU Foundation at 3253410.

Above, Dr. Evan Peacock checks magnetometer readings.

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By Aga Haupt Photos by Fred Faulk

Snails may yield environmental clues A Mississippi State archaeologist believes the ancient remains of a tiny, plodding creature may hold clues about Mississippi’s distant past and offer lessons for the future.

Through a $41,000 project sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Evan Peacock is researching land snails to determine how Mississippi’s landscape has evolved and to evaluate the implications for the presentday ecosystem.

Thousands of snails recently were dug up during highway bypass construction around Starkville, said Peacock, an environmental archaeologist at MSU’s Cobb Institute of Archaeology.

Because snails vary from habitat to habitat, they can serve as clues in reconstructing environmental history.

His investigation is among the first in the South to focus on the tiny, ancient mollusks.

More commonly studied in Europe, land snails have not attracted the attention of the 8

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region’s archaeological scholars, who “most often research artifacts and the remains of animals that were killed and eaten,” he explained.

When complete, the study should explain how the area looked in the past, how people lived, and how their presence changed the environment, Peacock said. Because many of the mollusks are endangered, the archaeological data also will help biologists, land managers, and conservationists better preserve and restore the Black Prairie ecosystem in East Central Mississippi.

Peacock termed “a myth” the commonly held view of Native American inhabitants as natural conservationists. “They were just people doing what people do,” he said. “Farmers cleared the land and tilled the soil, leading to erosion.”

Because snails “love calcium-rich soil,” the chalk that surfaced following soil erosion led to an increase in the snail population, Peacock said. That premise forms the foundation of his current effort.

In addition to analyzing fossilized land snail remains, Peacock is collecting contemporary soil and leaf-litter samples and studying the modern gastropods.

“There is a magnitude of difference

between archaeological deposits and modern samples,” he said. “The land looked nothing like it looks today.”

Dubbing the Starkville area “Archaeology Central,” Peacock said that he’s never seen samples as rich in amount, variety, and degree of preservation. “Virtually every hill has the remains of a prehistoric house on it,” he added.

Peacock also is analyzing the difference in collections from around Starkville and those from an excavated village located in northeastern Oktibbeha County (see page 5).

A study of 200- to 700-year-old samples may show how a larger population impacted the landscape.

Because of limited available information on the habitats of different snail species, Peacock said it might be some time before hard scientific conclusions can be made.

Nevertheless, he expressed a belief that the research can, in some way, help revolutionize Southeastern archaeology.

“Hopefully, people will realize that the more you look at unconventional remains like land snails, insects, and pollen, the better view you get of the people of the past,” he said.

John O’Hear, right, curator of research collections at the Cobb Institute of Archaeology, shows Chickasaw artifacts to La Donna Brown, a graduate student at the University of Mississippi; Stephanie Seely, historic preservation officer for the Chickasaw Nation; Brad Lieb, staff archaeologist; and ‘Rena Duncan, director of cultural resources for the Chickasaw Nation.

Archaeological project helps interpret Chickasaw past

By Aga Haupt

Sometimes a broken bit of pottery can tell a story of a people’s forgotten culture.

A team of Mississippi archaeologists is reanalyzing part of the state’s history as they sift through thousands of Chickasaw artifacts unearthed during the late 1930s.

“We’re getting a better perspective of Mississippi’s colonial history,” said John O’Hear of Mississippi State’s Cobb Institute of Archaeology.

O’Hear, a specialist in North American archaeology, and Jay K. Johnson of the University of Mississippi are using a $75,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant to study the pottery shards, glass beads, metal tools, and human and animal bones.

The artifacts were excavated in the Tupelo area by the National Park Service between 1937 and 1941. Because of the outbreak of World War II, the collections never were analyzed in their entirety, and, until recently, were stored by the park service in Florida.

“This is the first time that archaeologists from two major Mississippi universities have collaborated on a single project, but we may have bitten off more than we can chew,” O’Hear said, referring to thousands of artifacts now at the Cobb Institute.

Photos by Russ Houston and Fred Faulk

Johnson said the English colonists used the natives as surrogate caretakers during the 17th and 18th centuries. “Because the Chickasaw were at the halfway point between New Orleans and Illinois, they separated the two French colonies of Louisiana and what is today Canada,” he explained.

Historians traditionally have assumed the Chickasaw were allied with the British against the French, but some archaeological and historical evidence suggests factions within the tribe may have traded with both colonial powers, O’Hear said.

Brad Lieb, a Cobb Institute junior research associate, said the artifacts show how the Chickasaw “adapted to being thrust into a global economy involving deerskins and Indian slaves for trade with Europe and the Caribbean, as well as how their value system and political organization changed.

“If we can understand these processes, we can hopefully understand more about human culture and why cultural groups do what they do,” he added.

O’Hear said the study is unique since it is being conducted with the support of the Tribal Government of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma. “It is one of the few projects that teams up Native Americans and archaeologists,” he said.

Two Ole Miss graduate students, Donna Rauch and LaDonna Brown, are members of the Chickasaw Nation who were recruited to help with the analysis. Rauch said becoming an archaeologist has been her lifelong dream.

“A lot of my family history is in this area.

I’m handling things that my ancestors could have handled,” she said, adding that analyzing the artifacts is “an eye-opening experience for us.”

Brown noted the research will help the modern Chickasaw better understand their culture and history. When the Chickasaw left Mississippi in the 1830s, they had already adopted the Euro-American culture, she said.

O’Hear said some of the artifacts eventually will be repatriated to the Chickasaw. Until then, the pottery shards and other objects still have much more to reveal.

“We’re not yet sure what we’ll find,” he said.

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Got an itch to grow

By Bob Ratliff

When it comes to bugs, most people swat them, a few collect them, and a dedicated handful at Mississippi State University grow them. Not only do they grow insects, but they’re eager to teach others how to do it.

Insect rearing at MSU goes back more than 40 years, according to entomologist Frank Davis.

“Insect rearing at MSU began in the early 1960s as a cooperative effort between university scientists and U.S. Department of Agriculture entomologists,” said Davis, an entomologist formerly with USDA who now serves as an emeritus adjunct professor at Mississippi State. Both groups began growing insects for use in research into ways to control cotton pests, with USDA concentrating on the boll weevil and the university growing cotton bollworms and tobacco budworms in its first rearing laboratory, dubbed the “worm shed.”

The Mississippi State research was important in the almost total elimination of the boll weevil as an economic threat to cotton across much of the South and in helping producers implement environmentally friendly methods to control cropdestroying worms.

Growing insects for use in crop pest control research is still an important part of the work of the USDA and university entomologists at Mississippi State, but insect rearing has taken on a new importance with the emergence of hundreds of companies that grow bugs for a myriad of uses.

“There are companies growing lady bugs and other insects that help control insect pests in gardens, greenhouses and field crops,” Davis said. “Other more exotic uses of laboratory grown insects include butterflies reared for release at weddings.”

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BUGS?

Photos by Fred Faulk Because of MSU’s reputation in the world of bugs, scientists in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology and USDA receive inquires from companies and other universities interested in having their employees trained in insect rearing techniques.

“Insect rearing is still learned by on-thejob training, reading scientific literature, and visiting laboratories to learn from professionals,” Davis said. “To meet the demand for training, we offered workshops in September and October 2000 that drew almost 50 participants from throughout the U.S. and seven other countries.”

During the workshops, MSU and USDA entomologists, along with speakers from industry and other schools, covered everything from producing food for moths to collecting insect eggs.

One of those participating in the first workshop was Urs Fanger, production manager for Andermatt Biocontrol, a Swiss company that produces ladybugs and other beneficial insects for use in pest control. He noted that the lessons learned at MSU have helped his company “double production of all our insect products.”

Sharon McClurg, another workshop attendee, is a research technician with about 15 years of insect growing experience as part of her work at the USDA Agricultural Research Service Plant Introduction Station in Ames, Iowa. She came to the workshop in order to hone her skills at growing sunflower moths and other insects for use in host plant resistance evaluation.

“It was an opportunity to expand my knowledge and skills by seeing largescale rearing, “ she said. “A lot of it

was reinforcement of things I already knew, but I also received a lot of technical advice about building new rearing facilities and ways to automate my small-scale rearing facility.”

Another workshop was held in September of this year, and Davis said this time the attendees received part of their training in a new state-of-the-art rearing laboratory in the Clay Lyle Entomology building.

The Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station provided the funds for the facility, which features a hospital-type air filtration system and space for a variety of growing environments. “The new lab will allow MSU to remain in the forefront of insect research and education,” Davis said.

The addition of the lab, continuing demand for workshops, and almost a half century of experience in insect rearing have prompted the university to consider adding an insect rearing course to the entomology curriculum.

“We hope to add this course in the nottoo-distant future,” Davis said. “This would make MSU the first school to offer an insect rearing class as part of an entomology program and attract students with an interest in an industry that will be an important part of 21st century insect pest management.”

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‘How Congress Works’ shows human side of government To give junior high and high school students—and their parents—a better understanding of American constitutional processes and civic life, Mississippi State now offers a new Internet web site.

Titled “How Congress Works,” the PowerPoint presentation was developed by a team at Mitchell Memorial Library and the John C. Stennis Institute of Government to describe the history of Congress and, using actual case studies, illustrate the legislative process. The presentation is

available at http:// library.msstate.edu/congressional/research_center.asp and also at www.sig.msstate.edu.

Michael B. Ballard, archivist and coordinator of the library’s Congressional and Political Research Center, developed the project with library colleague Craig S. Piper and Stennis Institute research analyst Stephen Williams.

“Our goal is to show the human side of government,” Piper said. “Presented in simple, understandable language, this project illustrates

how congressional decisions affect everyone.”

Methods of introducing legislation, types of legislation, and the typical path a bill follows through Congress to the president’s desk are among topics covered. Web site visitors also are introduced to congressional committees and their roles in the legislative process, with links provided to additional committee information.

Additionally, “How Congress Works” offers insights into both interactions

Opera House renovation effort moving ahead The renovation and restoration of the Grand Opera House and adjacent Marks-Rothenberg Building in downtown Meridian is set to move ahead with the recent transfer of ownership of the properties to Mississippi State.

MSU issued a request in September for proposals from architects interested in the huge project, said Bev. Norment, special assistant to the president and coordinator of the project.

The design phase of the project will require at least six to nine months and construction will likely take three years or more, Norment said. The renovated buildings will house the Riley Education and Performing Arts Center.

The restored Opera House will become a performing arts venue and the MarksRothenberg Building will be an

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education and conference center housing programs from MSU-Meridian and others.

The board of trustees of the Grand Opera House of Mississippi Inc. has transferred title to the historic properties to the Riley Foundation, which provided the lead gift of $10 million last year as funding for the renovations was being acquired. The Riley Foundation in turn deeded the buildings to Mississippi State, which is overseeing the project.

The planned restoration of the Opera House will be the culmination of years of efforts

to preserve and protect the historical and architectural treasure, which has stood empty and unused since 1927.

The $19 million in funding for the planned Riley Education and Performing Arts Center construction comes from the Riley Foundation, Lauderdale County, and federal grants and appropriations, while the City of Meridian is financing the associated $7 million parking structure.

Fund raising to establish a $5 million endowment for maintenance and operation is well under way, Norment said.

between Congress and the executive branch and the motivations and personalities that drive legislation.

Using the 1973 War Powers Act as a vehicle, the web site invites visitors to follow the act’s development and ultimate passage over President Richard M. Nixon’s veto. Growing out of conflicts during the Vietnam War between the executive and legislative branches, the WPA requires presidents to consult with Congress before involving American armed forces in military hostilities. (Stennis, then Mississippi’s junior senator and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was a co-sponsor of the document.)

“This web site will provide a variety of constantly changing examples that portray the dynamic nature of the legislative process,” Williams explained.

In addition to the Stennis papers, MSU’s Congressional and Political Research Center houses the papers of former United States representatives G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery, David R. Bowen, Charles Griffin, and Mike Espy, and current 3rd District Rep. Chip Pickering. Rounding out the collection are papers of the late Wiley Carter, former chief aide to Sen. Thad Cochran, and Wayne Weidie, chief of staff for Rep. Gene Taylor.

The library center and Stennis Institute jointly produce a quarterly newsletter titled “We the People” and cosponsor a school-year lecture series featuring a variety of political leaders.

▼ Governors, presidents talk technology Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and Mississippi State President Malcolm Portera were among the participants in a three-day summit in September of Southern governors and Southeastern university presidents.

A discussion of joint initiatives on information technology and coastal research was among the session topics at the Southern Governors’ Association annual meeting in Lexington, Ky. During one session, the heads of a dozen universities in the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) joined state leaders to talk about development of the South’s research and development capabilities.

Portera, current chairman of the SURA Council of Presidents, said the use of regionwide networking technologies for education and research, economic development, and service delivery was one initiative on the session agenda.

“Our prospects for the future are directly linked to our ability in the South to be networked and technologically connected, and that will depend on linking our political and educational leadership,” Portera said.

Another major topic was research on the nation’s increasingly developed coastal zones. SURA university presidents have called for expanded and linked oceanmonitoring systems to help protect life and property, as well as marine resources, along the Southern coastlines.

This year’s SGA meeting focused on “The Triple Crown

of the South’s New Economy: Research, Development, and Technology.”

Enrollment, ACT scores up at Mississippi State The largest group of transfer students in Mississippi State history contributed to the sixth consecutive record enrollment as the main campus topped 16,000 for the first time and the statewide total climbed to 16,878.

University enrollment at Starkville is 16,066, while the Meridian Campus is up slightly to 730. The remaining students are in graduate programs at Vicksburg and the Stennis Space Center at Bay St. Louis.

The 1,777 new freshmen reported an average American College Test composite score of 23.5, up from 23.1 last fall.

About 22 percent of the entering class scored 28 or higher on the ACT, with 32 National Merit Scholars and two National Achievement Scholars.

State community college graduates make up the largest group among the record 1,692 transfer students entering Mississippi State this fall.

Traditionally, about half of those receiving bachelor’s degrees at MSU begin their studies elsewhere, most often at a Mississippi community college.

About 76 percent of MSU students are Mississippi residents and 18 percent are African-American. Graduate enrollment is up to 3,274.

For the first time this fall, entering freshmen with neither 2.5 high school grade-point averages on required courses

nor composite ACT scores of 21 are getting special support and counseling.

The at-risk students are being assisted by the University Academic Advising Center during their freshman year and will take a restricted course load, including a basic study skills course. They also will not be allowed to select a major before completing 30 credit hours of basic courses.

Admission requirements at Mississippi State are the same as those at all state universities and are set by the Board of Trustees of Institutions of Higher Learning.

May 1, 2002, is the application deadline for students seeking admission to Mississippi State as freshmen for the fall 2002 semester. Transfer students have until Aug. 1, 2002, to apply for admission next fall.

“Although the number of faculty members at Mississippi State has increased over the past three years, keeping pace with the enrollment growth is an ongoing challenge, and that has been compounded this year by the reduction in state funding,” said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs David Cole. “I will be speaking with the president about the possibility that we might initiate a cap on entering freshman enrollment.”

Students design winner for Mini-Baja entry A sleek maroon vehicle built from the ground up by Mississippi State mechanical engineering majors turned some heads, as well as wheels, at the

recent Midwest Mini-Baja competition.

The team of future engineers took advantage of their design training and expertise in composite material construction to produce a machine that captured first-place honors for originality at the Society of Automotive Engineerssponsored event in Troy, Ohio.

The MSU vehicle also earned high marks for its pulling ability and for the team’s design report.

Overall, the MSU entry finished 13th in a field of 123 competitors that included top engineering schools from throughout the United States, Canada, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. The University of Akron (Ohio) placed first overall.

This year’s competition “drew the largest number of participants in the more than 25-year history of Mini-Baja competition,” said campus SAE chapter adviser Bill Jones.

“Each year, the Mini-Baja competition challenges students to design a four-wheel, off-road recreational vehicle capable of negotiating rough terrain,” the mechanical engineering professor explained. “From the experience, they learn skills that are highly valued by the automotive industry, including project management, teamwork, design and manufacturing.”

Nine SAE chapter members worked on the award-winning entry from its initial design to final competition.

True Temper of Amory, HMC Technology of New

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▼ Albany, Marine Gears of Greenville, and the MSU College of Engineering’s Hearin Enhancement Fund were team sponsors.

MSU again among world’s top supercomputer sites Mississippi State is once again on the list of the world’s most powerful computer sites.

The latest “TOP500” list of supercomputer sites shows MSU’s Engineering Research Center has the 158th most powerful computer site in the world, 85th most powerful at any U.S. facility, and 13th at any American university.

Mississippi State also has the

only TOP500 site in the Southeastern Conference.

The list is based on data compiled and released twice a year by the universities of Mannheim (Germany) and Tennessee.

MSU first made the list in 1996, debuting at 359th, and has moved to its current position thanks to a new system that is actually a cluster of computers, said Engineering Research Center computer specialist Roger Smith.

“In its current configuration, the cluster contains 165 dualprocessor Pentium III computers using special software and a high-speed network to make them function like a single supercomputer,” he said.

Clustering to create supercomputers is a recent

trend, but Smith noted it is an area Mississippi State pioneered more than a decade ago.

“The ERC started research with clusters in 1987, and the current system is our fifth generation cluster,” he said.

“The benefit of a cluster is that it lets you create a lot of computing power using off-theshelf personal computers and other readily available hardware at a cost much lower than a traditional supercomputer.”

Scientists in the ERC’s Computational Simulation and Design Center use the Mississippi State supercomputer for computational fluid dynamics research, with applications as diverse as submarines, surface ships, tiltrotor aircraft, turbomachinery, and automobile components.

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There are plans to double the capacity of the cluster in the next few months, which should keep the MSU site on the TOP500 list, but making the list is secondary to the benefits the equipment provides, according to SimCenter director David Whitfield.

“The TOP500 list is a bonus, but computer technology changes quickly,” he said.

“Keeping up with changes is a vital part of MSU research in support of the Department of Defense and NASA, as well as state and national industries.”

White directs distinguished scholars The longtime leader of Mississippi State’s honors program is the new director of

▼ the university distinguished external scholarships office.

Dr. Jack H. White, who has led the University Honors Program since 1984, is taking on the additional role of identifying and assisting students who seek to become Rhodes, Truman, Goldwater, Marshall, and USA Today AllAcademic scholars.

Currently enrolling more than 1,200 students in every academic discipline, MSU’s honors program is among the largest in the region and a charter member of the Southern Regional Honors Council.

Through participation in its special classes, academically talented students receive a variety of individualized learning and leadership opportunities.

White said the honors program philosophy of providing full access to all qualified students will complement his work with candidates for distinguished national scholarships.

“Our philosophy is to set long-range goals to help students prepare for competitive scholarships and to provide appropriate information and challenging academic experiences early,” he said.

Among national scholarships, the Rhodes is awarded to students for literary and athletic accomplishments; Truman, leadership and interest in public service; Goldwater, academic talent in mathematics, science and engineering; Marshall, further study in Great Britain;

and USA Today, all-around academic achievement.

“Mississippi State University has a record of attracting very bright, capable students,” White said. “About 22 percent of this fall’s entering freshman class scored 28 or higher on the ACT, with 32 National Merit Scholars and two National Achievement Scholars among the group. We have a strong foundation on which to build.”

An English professor, White is a past chair of the Mississippi Humanities Council and a past director of the Mississippi Alliance for Arts Education.

MSU offices expand outreach To expand its communications with both the entire campus and the Starkville community, the university’s Division of Student Affairs is broadcasting a biweekly television program and a weekly radio show on campus stations.

The televised version of “Live, Learn, Lead: An Inside Look at the Division of Student Affairs” airs at 6:45 p.m.

Mondays and Thursdays on MSU-TV via Starkville’s Northland Cable channel 30.

Bryan Nesbit, associate director of enrollment services, and Rachel Pike, a senior public relations and broadcast-

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▼ ing student from Brandon, are program hosts.

Nesbit also has the lead role in the weekly radio version on the university’s WMSV, 91.1 FM, which reaches a 60-mile radius of campus. Each radio segment begins at 12:05 p.m. on Wednesdays.

Student Affairs departments include admissions, Dean W. Colvard Union, counseling and testing services, dean of students, enrollment services, financial aid and scholarships,

Richard Holmes Cultural Diversity Center, housing and residence life, international services, John Longest Student Health Center, office of the division vice president, recreational sports, sexual assault services, student life, student support services, and university police.

Archived episodes of the programs are available on the Internet at www.saffairs.msstate.edu by

2002 MSU Calendar (See back cover for information.)

Mail to: MSU Foundation, P.O. Box 6149, Mississippi State, MS 39762 Name Address City/State/ZIP (Attach additional sheet for other gift order addresses.)

Send gift orders to: Name Address City/State/ZIP Amount enclosed

Please send me

calendars @ $10.95 each

Add $1.95 shipping and handling for first calendar; 45 cents for each additional

.

Subtotal Mississippi residents add 7% sales tax (Subtotal x .07) Total enclosed Check or money order Credit card: American Express;

.

. . .

MasterCard;

VISA

Account number Exp. Date Signature Make checks payable to the MSU Foundation.

To order through the Internet, go to https://www.ur.msstate.edu/calendar/

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selecting either “Student Affairs TV” or “Student Affairs Radio.”

Mississippi State center builds timber info file A pilot project at Mississippi State to help professionals generate precise county-level timber resource information could attract new forest-related industries and enhance existing businesses if applied statewide.

A computer program developed by the university’s Forest and Wildlife Research Center uses inventory data to develop county-level timbervolume estimates. It enables users to determine if adequate forest resources are available to support the construction or expansion of production facilities.

Completed over a two-year period, the project focused on the timber volumes of Clay, Choctaw, Oktibbeha, and Winston counties. The four were chosen because the combined area represents most of Mississippi’s forestland types, said Dr. David Evans, forestry professor and principal investigator.

Evans said the first step involved the production of forest-cover maps through an analysis of satellite images by Veridian-ERIM International of Ann Arbor, Mich. “Field inventory data were then collected using global positioning technology,” he explained.

Next, the data were entered into the Mississippi Forest Monitoring and Inventory System, an integrated software package that generates reports on timber volume in an area.

Evans expressed hope that

resources will be found to enable the use of MsFMIS software for other areas of Mississippi.

A version of MsFMIS may be viewed at www.forestry.cfr.msstate.edu/.

For information on the software, contact Tom Matney at 662-325-2791 or tmatney@cfr.msstate.edu .

Researcher selected for regional Powe award An assistant professor of animal and dairy science at Mississippi State Willard is a 2001 selection for a top Oak Ridge Associated Universities honor memorializing a late MSU administrator.

Dr. Scott T. Willard is among 25 young scientists receiving a $10,000 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award. His research focuses on heat stress and the physiology of reproduction in dairy and beef cattle.

Established in 1946 and based at Oak Ridge, Tenn., ORAU is a consortium of 85 doctoral-granting institutions of higher learning. The organization works to advance science and education by establishing partnerships among government, academic and private sector representatives in key areas of science and technology.

Presented annually, the Powe awards provide research seed money to young faculty members at ORAU member institutions. They honor Mississippi State’s longtime

▼ research vice president who headed ORAU’s Council of Sponsoring Institutions. Powe died in 1996 following a lengthy illness.

A faculty member in Starkville since 1999, Willard holds doctoral and master’s degrees from Texas A&M University.

Study will aid children of imprisoned parents An oft-forgotten group of state residents is getting the attention of two Mississippi State psychologists.

Over the next three years, associate professor Virginia E. Fee and assistant professor Kristine M. Jacquin will seek to learn more about children

whose mothers or fathers are in prison. They estimate that as many as 5,000 young Mississippians have at least one parent in the state corrections system.

“There is no easily accessible database of these children in Mississippi,” Fee said. “No one is following them and no one knows how many of them there are, partly because of the social stigma associated with having an inmate parent.”

The state departments of Correction and Health and Human Services, as well as a state prisoner resource group, are supporting the MSU project. The study focuses specifically on sons and daughters of family members in the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility at Pearl.

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Fee said about 80 percent of women incarcerated in the state are mothers and 60 percent of incarcerated men are fathers.

“Children of imprisoned parents are more likely to have a greater exposure to violence, are at a higher risk for physical or sexual abuse, and are more likely to suffer drug and alcohol addiction,” Fee said. “As a result, they are more likely to turn to a life of crime themselves.”

The researchers said their goal is to help the affected children break the cycle. In developing programs that target an age range from infancy to adolescence, Jacquin said their first step will be “to learn which of the children’s needs aren’t being met.”

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Federal agency recognizing MSU financial aid efforts Mississippi State’s success in managing and distributing student financial aid and scholarships is being honored by the United States Department of Education.

Bruce Crain, MSU director of student financial aid and scholarships, recently accepted for his staff colleagues an Education Department certificate of appreciation recognizing their past and current efforts.

“This honor acknowledges our role as a Department of Education ‘partner’ in the successful delivery of federal student financial aid funds,” he added.

Crain said MSU last year

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▼ “awarded more than $65 million in student financial assistance to approximately 12,000 students.”

MSU officials briefed on computer security Mississippi State was among some two dozen universities invited to a Washington, D.C., briefing in September on the nation’s information infrastructure.

The National Security Agency-sponsored meeting focused on the role of higher education in assuring information systems protection.

Dr. Robert A. Altenkirch, vice president for research, and computer science professor Rayford Vaughn represented MSU. Earlier this year, NSA named Mississippi State a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education. The designation “recognizes the university’s expertise in computer security,” Altenkirch said.

“Mississippi State is proud to be in the company of such universities as Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon, and the U.S. Military Academy,” he added.

The nation’s top cryptology organization, NSA conducts a range of activities to protect U.S. information systems and produce foreign intelligence information.

‘Beautiful,’ ‘ugly’ words now available online Earlier this fall, Mississippi State classics professor Robert E. Wolverton shared with an audience on National Public 18

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Radio’s “Morning Edition” his students’ picks as the most beautiful and ugliest words in the English language.

The list of 900 entries was compiled from an ongoing class exercise designed to show his university students how language evolves.

Soon after his segment aired, Wolverton began receiving follow-up responses from listeners around the country.

“I’ve had calls from California, Texas, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Arkansas requesting a list of the words,” he said. At the time, however, a five-page handwritten list was the only thing he could fax to those making the requests.

No longer.

For the entire good, bad, and ugly collection of the students’ selections, visit the original MSU news release at www.ur.msstate.edu/news/ stories/classics.asp.

MSU assisting Barksdale Institute with area pre-school pilot project Mississippi State and the Oxford-based Barksdale Reading Institute announced in August an 18-month pilot project targeting pre-school children in Clay County.

The Barksdale Institute, housed at the University of Mississippi, is providing more than $150,000 to MSU’s Early Childhood Institute. The collaboration seeks to strengthen language skills and improve the potential for reading success at private child care and public Head Start centers in the West Point area.

To be known as Leaders in Literacy, the project was launched during a program at West Point’s Northside Head Start Center. Cathy W. Grace, director of the MSU Early Childhood Institute and a widely known early childhood advocate, heads the project.

Centers that volunteer to participate will receive staff training in techniques that promote literacy and language skills. Books and other supporting materials also will be provided.

Grace said the primary goal “is to ensure that children enter kindergarten with language skills necessary for them to learn how to read.”

If as successful as the sponsors believe, the project will expand to other child care centers around Mississippi.

“We may eventually be working with as many as 270 centers in the state in any one year,” said Grace, an associate professor in the College of Education.

Floristry students bring home bouquet of honors A group of Mississippi State majors in horticulture/ floristry management are winners of two top-10 awards and three scholarships given at a national meeting last summer of leading floral industry professionals.

Senior Callie E. Montgomery of Starkville finished seventh in overall student competition sponsored by the American Institute of Floral Designers.

AIFD is a non-profit professional organization of more than 1,200 members generally regarded to be among the best in their field. This year’s AIFD collegiate challenge drew more than 40 entrants.

“Callie’s achievement is the highest rank a Mississippi State student has received in this contest in recent years,” said Jim DelPrince, associate horticulture professor and director of the University Florist. “We are very proud of her and our other national winners.”

The other MSU students honored in Chicago include: —Kelly M. Nesbit of Vaiden, who took first place in the poster competition for her presentation on Biedermeier floral design. An MSU graduate in floristry management, she is pursuing a master’s degree in technology and education.

—Senior Kimberly N. Crowley of Maben, and juniors Melanie P. Allison of Oxford and Julianna B. Chapman of Starkville, all named AIFD Foundation Scholars. Crowley received a $2,000 award; Allison and Chapman, $1,500 each.

MSU’s floristry management degree curriculum was developed more than two decades ago to help meet the needs of America’s multimillion-dollar retail florist industry. The four-year program is the only one of its kind in the Southeast.

▼ MSU helping launch composites consortium Mississippi State is an inaugural partner in a new higher education consortium that specializes in composite materials research for NASA. The National Center for Advanced Manufacturing is a collaboration among MSU, the University of New Orleans, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, and Tennessee Tech universities.

Other NCAM participants include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and Lockheed Martin Space Systems-Michoud Operations in New Orleans.

UNO is the consortium’s lead institution.

“The partnership’s goal is to strengthen the competitiveness of the United States in aerospace and other commercial markets that require large composite-structure manufacturing,” said aerospace engineering department head John McWhorter. “The initial focus will be on composite manufacturing, which is a strength of our Raspet Flight Research Laboratory.”

Composites are highstrength, lightweight combinations of alloys, plastics and ceramics.

MSU’s initial portion of the federal grant totals $250,000 this fiscal year.

In addition to providing additional opportunities for scientists and students to work with colleagues at member universities and industries, the consortium enables Raspet team members to begin investigating the parameters of large-scale

composite manufacturing, McWhorter said.

Library head named to regional board The dean of libraries at Mississippi State is a new member on the board of directors of the nation’s largest regional library network.

Frances N. Coleman is Coleman beginning a two-year term with the Southeastern Regional Library Network, headquartered in Atlanta, Ga. The not-for-profit organization represents 2,100 member libraries in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and the Caribbean.

Cooperating institutions work to enhance local economic and educational opportunities through resource sharing.

Coleman is past president of the Southeastern Library Association, Mississippi Library Association, and the state chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries.

She was a founding member and chair of the Mississippi Alliance for Gaining New Opportunities through Library Information Access, or MAGNOLIA. Currently, she also serves as vice chair of the Mississippi Library Commission’s Board of Commissioners.

Prof helps former Soviet state combat corruption, violence An educational training program developed by a Mississippi State faculty member is helping a Southwest Asian republic address national issues of corruption and violence.

Dr. T. Steuart Watson, university professor of counselor education/educational psychology, is working with the Republic of Georgia to implement a three-year project.

His work takes place under the auspices of the National Strategy Information Center, a Washington, D.C.-based public policy institute.

Watson, director of MSU’s school psychology program and co-author of a 1998 handbook on reducing school violence, has developed several nationally used manuals on problemsolving and crime reduction. A frequent consultant to U.S. school systems, he now is testing his approach on a former member state of the Soviet Union that was home to Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union dictator who died in 1953.

“We’re attempting to teach the citizens of Georgia how to accomplish grass-roots change,” Watson said. Begun this summer, his work initially will target teachers in a country of some five million that’s still in the throes of political and economic reforms.

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▼ An evaluation component of his project will measure the changes in attitudes and behavior over the period of the project. Watson said his research team also is implementing similar programs in Mexicali and Tijuana, Mexico, where local governments face similar issues.

Taylor named continuing ed dean A veteran Mississippi State administrator is the new permanent dean of continuing education at the university.

Dr. Clayborne D. Taylor Taylor has served as interim dean since 1998.

MSU Continuing Education provides flexible educational and training opportunities for individuals, groups, and agencies. The division regularly works with more than 200 associated faculty members in providing both credit- and non-credit courses.

An electrical engineering professor, Taylor previously served as associate dean of research and graduate studies for the College of Engineering, as well as acting director of several university-level centers and institutes.

A native of Columbia, Taylor holds a bachelor’s degree from MSU, and master’s and doctoral degrees from New Mexico State University. Prior to working at MSU, he held positions with the Navy Mine

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Defense Laboratory in Panama City, Fla., and Department of Defense-sponsored Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.

During a 29-year career in engineering education, he was named a Hearin-Hess Distinguished Professor of Engineering at MSU and a Stocker Visiting Professor in Engineering at Ohio University.

United Nations adds MSU library to document repository list Mississippi State is joining a select number of institutions worldwide that serve as official keepers of U.N. documents and publications.

Recent inclusion of the university’s Mitchell Memorial Library is a first for Mississippi. Designated by the United Nations Publications Board, it joins nearly 400 other depository libraries spread among approximately 140 countries.

“The U.N.’s Dag Hammarskjold Library began the depository library system in 1946 to provide free access to U.N. information for users around the world,” said MSU Dean of Libraries Frances N. Coleman. “We are very pleased that Mississippi State will be able to broaden its research collections to offer these resources to scholars.”

The official records of the main U.N. organs, periodicals, and the United Nations Treaty Series are among materials typically available at participating libraries, Coleman said. At MSU, they will be housed in Mitchell Memorial Library’s

government documents area.

LaDonne Delgado, MSU Libraries’ government documents coordinator, said printed documents “will be accessible during all hours the library is open, with additional online access to some documents.”

United Nations Depository Library designation will contribute to MSU’s current push to gain national Association of Research Libraries membership, a major institutional goal. Currently, no Mississippi library holds ARL status.

Chemical engineer bringing ozone research down to earth Dr. Mark Zappi is on a mission to make sure ozone gets the respect it deserves. A gas found in the Earth’s atmosphere, ozone has been in the headlines recently because of theories its depletion may contribute to global warming.

For the MSU chemical engineering professor, ozone offers a more down-to-earth benefit. He, along with forest products professor Hamid Borazjani and graduate students under their direction, are developing an ozone-based water treatment process for removing contaminants from polluted water.

“Ozone is used as a safe and effective drinking-water treatment by Paris, Los Angeles, and other major cities of the world,” Zappi said.

“Despite that, it hasn’t been considered aggressive enough for removing chemicals from industrial wastewater.”

The MSU team recently tested a pilot-scale unit

constructed by Ozonology Inc. of North Brook, Ill., at an industrial site in South Mississippi. Funding for the investigation was provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Gulf Coast Hazardous Substance Center at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.

After test water was pulled from a flow to the site’s bioreactor treatment system, it was treated, re-tested, and put back into the bioreactor flow.

The process was continuously repeated over a two-and-a-half week period.

“The process has promise for industries producing wastewater that requires a high degree of treatment,” said Borazjani, who had helped the host industry install the microbe-based bioreactor used in the test.

At about 50 cents per 1,000 gallons of water treated, the tests also demonstrate that the ozone treatment is pricecompetitive with other methods of handling wastewater, Zappi said.

“This process has particular promise with wood-preserving waste streams and those containing similar chemicals,” he said. “The result could be a new reliable and cost-effective treatment system for the numerous forest product industries in Mississippi and other Southern states.”

MSU receives federal grant to target high-risk student drinking Mississippi State is among 14 national institutions using special United States Department of Education funds to

▼ target high-risk drinking among students.

Through a new $279,000, two-year grant, MSU is implementing a comprehensive, three-part program both to educate students about the risks of drinking and to establish nonalcoholic entertainment alternatives.

Project director Stuart L. Usdan is an assistant professor in the health, physical education, recreation, and sport department. A specialist in health education and health promotion, he will lead an effort that also involves MSU’s Division of Student Affairs and its Center for Alcohol and Drug Education.

“Our collaboration will target incoming freshmen,” Usdan said. Providing accurate information about drinking can help prevent potential problem behaviors, he added.

“Research shows correcting student misperceptions about their peers’ drinking is associated with decreased drinking on campus,” he said.

Establishing an accurate picture of MSU social norms will be the project’s starting point. “Students sometimes engage in behaviors because they think that’s what other students do and expect,” Usdan explained. “Our goal is to convey information that can help students make healthy choices.

“We’re establishing a multifaceted program that we believe will have an impact,” he added.

Professional group honors veteran MSU engineer An MSU agricultural engineer is a newly named Fellow of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, an honor achieved by only about 2 percent of members of the organization.

Dr. David Smith B. Smith received the honor in July. His selection recognizes more than 35 years of accomplishments in research and teaching.

Founded in 1907 and headquartered in St. Joseph, Mich., ASME is the professional organization for engineering as it applies to agricultural, food and biological systems.

“Dr. Smith is considered one of the nation’s leading experts on chemical application in agriculture,” said Dr. Jerome Gilbert, agricultural and biological engineering department head. “His research has resulted in reduced costs to producers and protection of the environment from unnecessary chemicals.”

Two national engineering standards for reduction of drift from agricultural chemical applications are among Smith’s major accomplishments.

A Richland native, Smith received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Mississippi State and a doctorate at the University of Missouri.

He joined the MSU faculty in 1983.

MSU furniture institute appoints first director The Institute for Furniture Manufacturing and Management is Mississippi State’s newest public service center and forestry professor Steven H. Bullard is its first director.

Bullard A university faculty member since 1983, Bullard heads a multidisciplinary research unit drawing on the expertise of faculty and staff in MSU’s Forest and Wildlife Research Center, colleges of Business and Industry and of Engineering, School of Architecture, and the MSU Extension Service’s Food and Fiber Center.

Development and testing of furniture frames and other components, as well as product testing and other research and support activities for the furniture industry, are among the institute’s focus areas.

“The institute’s primary goal is to secure the future of the furniture industry in the state and region by increasing its international competitiveness,” said Sam Foster, director of the Forest and Wildlife Research Center.

“Dr. Bullard and his staff will accomplish this by using the university’s existing resources and capabilities to effectively work with industrial and other groups to meet the furniture industry’s current and future needs,” Foster added.

Bullard holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in forestry from MSU and a doctorate in

forest management/economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

He has worked with the MSUbased Furniture Research Unit since its creation by the Legislature in 1987.

Mississippi’s furniture industry annually contributes $3.2 billion in total output, provides almost 50,000 jobs and pays $1 billion in wages.

MSU offers training for vision specialists Mississippi State is announcing a new national training program for professionals working with the visually disabled.

The Vision Specialist in Vocational Rehabilitation certificate is a new program in MSU’s Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision.

Support for the expanded service is provided through a four-year $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration.

RRTC director Elton Moore said the program “is unique because it’s the only one of its kind available to students from any state or United States territory.”

The first rehabilitation vision specialist training session will begin in June 2002.

The curriculum includes four three-credit-hour courses spread over a 10-week term.

“We will provide vocational rehabilitation counselors and graduate students in vocational rehabilitation programs with the expertise to address issues and techniques specific to visual disabilities,” Moore said.

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▼ To receive the training, students first must be admitted to the MSU Graduate School.

Qualified applicants agreeing to work for at least two years with a public rehabilitation agency following graduation may be eligible for stipends covering tuition, travel, and other expenses.

For additional information on the certificate program, contact project coordinator Stacy Butler at 662-325-3304 or sle2@ra.msstate.edu.

Starkville company with MSU ties wins national award A computer software company that grew out of Mississippi State research is receiving one of the nation’s top business awards.

MPI Software Technology Inc. is receiving a 2001 Roland Tibbetts Award. Given by the Small Business Administration, the annual honors recognize technology firms with a limited number of employees that achieve excellence in their respective fields.

Established in 1996, the Starkville company is the only Mississippi winner. Led by founder, president, and chief executive officer Anthony Skjellum, MSTI produces software for message passing interface—MPI—applications.

MSTI currently has 21 fulltime employees, most of whom are MSU graduates. Customers include businesses and research laboratories throughout the U.S., as well as in Canada, Europe, Australia, and other overseas locations.

Skjellum joined the MSU faculty in 1993 following more than two years of related research at the U.S. Energy Department’s Livermore National Laboratory near San Francisco.

The company was launched at the Golden Triangle Enterprise Center’s small business incubator in the Mississippi Research and Technology Park in Starkville. After “graduating” in 1999, it purchased and renovated a historic bank building in downtown Starkville.

MSU project expands Medieval scholarship via the Internet The efforts of an MSU English professor are making more accessible to worldwide scholars many significant handwritten parchment documents, including some rare selections from the fifth century.

Dr. Dan Embree has organized an Internet resource that marks the first attempt to forge a single reference work containing the location of every known manuscript of every known Latin chronicle of the Middle Ages.

Titled “Repertorium Chronicarum,” Embree’s web site at www.chronica.msstate.edu also is available through the MSU Libraries at library.msstate.edu.

The project’s scope is huge: a survey of more than 7,500 manuscripts and more than 1,000 works now found in hundreds of public and private collections in Europe, the United States, and Japan.

Spanning time in Europe between the fifth and 16th

‘Brat’ memoirs providing support for libraries His father was a 1917 Mississippi A&M alumnus who spent a career teaching botany on the Starkville campus. As a child, he was raised—literally—in the shadow of Scott Field and athletes like Dudy Noble who competed there.

Now, Dr. J. Chester McKee Jr. has put parts of seven decades worth of memories in a book whose sales will provide support for the libraries of now-Mississippi State University.

“Campus Brat” is published by Friends of the MSU Libraries, a local private support group.

McKee’s reminiscences cover a period from the 1920s until the early 1940s, when he left what had become Mississippi State College to serve in World War II. The 130-page book is available for $24.95 (plus $5 for shipping and handling) by writing to Friends of the MSU Libraries, P.O. Box 5408, Mississippi State, MS 39762. All proceeds will support library services.

McKee devoted his professional career to Mississippi State. He served as electrical engineering department head, graduate school dean, and the first university research officer. He retired in 1979 as vice president emeritus for research and graduate studies.

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centuries, the chronicles describe the national, political, military, and ecclesiastical life of the Middle Ages. Previously, no bibliographic tool was available to locate all members of this class of Latin manuscripts, many in libraries throughout the Continent.

Embree said his interest in the project began while editing a series of chronicles, first in Middle English, then in Latin and Anglo-Norman. With no single locator resource, he and other scholars were forced to laboriously search through catalogs written in English, Latin, French, German, and Italian.

“The project is an attempt to track down every surviving manuscript that self-consciously recounts history,” Embree said.

“Because the project is so big, our plans are to continuously publish information as it is collected and to invite scholars to contribute their findings,” Embree explained.

A teacher and researcher in Old and Middle English literature, Embree has published scholarly editions of “The Simonie” and “The Chronicles of Rome.” He is coeditor of Boydell and Brewer’s Medieval Chronicle Series.

In addition to academic responsibilities, he currently is in a second one-year term as chair of the university’s Robert Holland Faculty Senate.

2001-2002

▼

‘Tonka,’ the new Bully, takes lead MSU mascot role

Bully XIX

When Mississippi State opened the 2001 season Sept. 3 on campus, the university’s football team was accompanied on the playing field by the newest four-footed holder of the mascot title “Bully.”

“TaTonka Gold,” a white-and-fawn bulldog pup, officially is designated as Bully XIX. He is an 8-month old descendant both of Bully XVI, “Replica of Corker,”

and Bully XVII, “Lucky Be Happy.”

Lisa Chrestman, an animal health technician at MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, continues in her role as Bully’s foster mom and social secretary.

She said “TaTonka”—a Sioux term for “buffalo”—was named by veterinary students who thought the word best described the shape of the animal’s head. “Gold” was part of his mother’s name and also is the color of parts of his coat, she added.

“Tonka,” his moniker, is the first mascot purchased outright by the MSU athletic department. His predecessors were donated either by alumni, students, or university employees.

The pup, which goes to work with Chrestman every day, is the latest in a long line of bulldog mascots dating to the early days of the 20th century.

Chrestman said the process of selecting a new Bully required more than a year and included the screening of some 15 candidates by a team of veterinary college specialists and athletic department staff members.

In addition to being healthy, the general criteria for selection included an attractive conformation (body shape) and a multi-colored coat, which is more photogenic and more easily appreciated from stadium seats than a solid-colored dog.

Chrestman said each candidate was given full physical examinations, including a chest X-ray to determine trachea size. Bulldogs with small tracheas have problems breathing in the Mississippi heat, she explained.

“The first thing I noticed about Tonka was that he had that ‘I’m it and I know I’m it’ air about him,” she said. “He seems to be the perfect mascot.”

In addition to appearances at home football games, Tonka greets alumni prior to each of the seven home games at the Butler-Williams Alumni Center. He also will be in attendance at basketball and baseball games, and many other university events.

When not working, Tonka will reside at the Bully House in the Wise Center, home of the veterinary college on Blackjack Road.

Chrestman said campus visitors are welcome to stop by and see Tonka whenever the “Bully” flag is flying on the Wise Center flagpole. Entrance to the Bully House may be made through the medical complex’s north entrance, which is near the flagpole.

Chrestman said Tonka’s mascot career probably would run about six or seven years.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE DATE OPPONENT

TIME

NOVEMBER 1 EXH. HOUSTON JAGUARS 8 EXH. AUSTRALIA Institute of Sport 16 ALABAMA A&M 18 TENNESSEE TECH 21 ! vs. Maryland 23 ! vs. Iowa State/DePaul 27 MEMPHIS 29 Alabama-Birmingham DECEMBER 4 at New Orleans 15 # JACKSONVILLE STATE 16 # MONTANA/HOUSTON 20 % vs. Pittsburgh 21 % vs. North Carolina State 29 at Cincinnati 31 at Xavier JANUARY 3 * at Kentucky 6 * SOUTH CAROLINA 10 * MISSISSIPPI 13 * GEORGIA 20 * at Auburn 24 * ARKANSAS 27 * at Mississippi 31 * at Georgia FEBRUARY 3 * AUBURN 7 * at Alabama 10 * at Vanderbilt 14 * TENNESSEE 16 MORRIS BROWN COLLEGE 21 * at LSU 24 * FLORIDA 28 ^ at SEC Tournament

7 p.m.

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TBA

All times local to game site and subject to change. Home matches in BOLD CAPS and played at Humphrey Coliseum. *—SEC game !—at Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament, Ames, Iowa #—MISSISSIPPI STATE CLASSIC, STARKVILLE %—at Sports Tour International Tournament, Cancun, Mexico ^—SEC Tournament, Feb. 28-March 3, at Nashville, Tenn.

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Johnson named to state sports hall of fame ▼

Three chosen for MSU Hall of Fame Mississippi State has selected former Diamond Dogs Brantley Jones and Bobby Croswell and former Bulldog football standout Mardye McDole as the 2001 selections into the school’s sports hall of fame.

A four-year letterwinner for the Bulldogs, Jones recorded a 27-8 record over the 1967-70 seasons. During that time he earned all-SEC Western Division accolades three-straight times from 1968-70. During his senior season, the Cleveland, Miss., native notched a school second-best 9-0 record and a 1.51 earned run average en route to helping the Paul Gregory-coached squad to the SEC title.

Croswell, a four-year letterman on the baseball diamond from 1968-71, enjoyed a stellar career playing shortstop for the Bulldogs. Croswell teamed with Jones on the 1970 contingent that won the SEC West and the conference overall crown.

During that season, the Meridian native earned SEC all-Western Division honors for the second straight season.

Croswell was selected by the Montreal Expos in the second round of the 1971 draft. He played in the New York Mets organization from 1971-75. During his time with the Mets’ AAA affiliate, Tidewater of

the International League, Croswell earned Most Valuable Player accolades along with Most Popular and Most Inspirational Player honors in 1974.

McDole, MSU’s career receiving leader with 2,214 yards, earned four letters on the gridiron for State from 1977-80. The Pensacola, Fla., native posted five 100-yard receiving games during his career and was an integral part of head coach Emory Bellard’s squad that posted a 9-3 overall mark, including a 5-1 SEC standing, in 1980 to earn the Bulldogs a trip to the Sun Bowl against Nebraska.

The school’s top receiver all four years of his college career, McDole posted an MSU single-season best 1,035 receiving yards in 1978, making him the only MSU player ever to have over 1,000 yards receiving in one season.

McDole went on to play professionally for the Minnesota Vikings from 1981-85.

He ended his pro football career playing for the Memphis Showboats of the USFL and the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders in 1985.

The class of 2001 marks the 142nd, 143rd and 144th former State standouts to be inducted into the MSU Sports Hall of Fame, established in 1970.

Stan Jones joins basketball staff Mississippi State’s head men’s basketball coach Rick Stansbury announced in May the hiring of Stan Jones as assistant basketball coach.

Jones spent the 2000-01 campaign as an assistant coach on the staff of the NBA’s Washington Wizards, where his duties included practice planning, scouting opponents, and developing game plans, as well as maintaining the organization of offensive and defensive schemes and progressions.

Prior to joining the Wizards in July 2000, Jones spent the previous five seasons helping revive the basketball program at the University of Miami. Involved in all aspects of the U.M. hoops program, Jones helped direct the Hurricanes to four consecutive postseason tournament appearances, culminating with a regular-season Big East Conference championship and school-first NCAA Sweet 16 showing two years ago.

Before moving into collegiate coaching in 1995, Jones compiled an impressive composite record of 353-91 and directed four state championship teams during a successful 14-year head coaching stint in the high school ranks. During a five-year stint at Jackson Academy, Jones led the Raiders to a composite mark of 141-28 capped by back-to-back state championships during the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons.

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Mississippi State Associate Athletic Director Samye Johnson is a 2002 inductee to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

The Jackson Touchdown Club and Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Inc. recently announced eight new inductees of its 40th anniversary class.

Johnson was a four-year letter winner in basketball Johnson and track at Mendenhall, 1964-67, where she was an all-district and honorable mention All Little Dixie hoops star. She helped Mendenhall High School win the 1965 District 6 basketball title and the 1966 District 6 track championship.

A 1971 graduate of Mississippi University for Women, Johnson participated on basketball, volleyball, swimming and badminton teams for the Blues. For her efforts in four sports, she was listed in the 1969 edition of “Outstanding College Athletes of America.”

After earning a master’s degree from Delta State University in 1972, Johnson entered the coaching ranks at Festus (Mo.) High School as a gymnastics and track coach. After three years there, she was hired as volleyball and tennis coach at East Texas State in Commerce.

Johnson returned to MUW in 1977 to coach the Blues badminton squad and was named head coach of the volleyball team in 1979. Her coaching reign at MUW was a remarkable 15-year run and she proved to be a versatile coaching veteran as she also took over coaching duties for basketball and softball. Between 1983 and 1986, she led four teams to NCAA playoff appearances, including two in volleyball, one in basketball and one in softball.

MSU hired Johnson in 1994 as head coach of the Bulldog volleyball team and assistant athletic director for women’s sports. Johnson served three years in that dual capacity before handing over her coaching duties in 1997.

She was promoted to her current position of associate athletic director in 1999. Currently, she oversees nine women’s sports and 20 coaches at the university.

Johnson compiled 506 wins in 20 seasons as a volleyball head coach.

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Alumni association names new officers A Jackson business executive is the new national president of the Mississippi State University Alumni Association.

Robert M. “Robby” Gathings, a 1981 accounting graduate, leads the volunteer board that directs activities for more than 94,000 university alumni. Chief financial officer for U-Save Auto Rental of America, Gathings has served on the alumni association board of directors since 1995, most recently as national first vice president.

He succeeds Steve G. Taylor of Starkville, the 1977 banking and finance graduate who is president of BankFirst in Starkville.

“I’ve been fortunate to work with Robby since 1995 and he always has been a valuable asset to our alumni association,” said executive director John V. Correro.

“We look forward to the enthusiasm and commitment he will bring in service to Mississippi State in this leadership role.”

Other 2001-02 association leaders include: —E. Allen Maxwell of New Albany, national first vice president. A commercial underwriter for State Auto Insurance Co., he is a 1978 general business graduate who has served on the association’s board of directors since 1997.

—Gary A. Blair of Brookhaven, national second vice president. A regional vice president of the Federal Land Bank Association of South Mississippi, he is a 1981 agribusiness and business administration graduate. He has served on the alumni board of directors since 1995, most recently as South 2 Region director.

—S. Keith Winfield of Starkville, continuing as national treasurer. A 1970 accounting graduate and partner in the accounting firm of Watkins, Ward and Stafford, he has served on the association’s board of directors since 1993.

Five regional officers also were elected recently. They include:

Mississippi State University Alumni Association national officers for 2001-02 are, from left, Gary A. Blair (’81), national second vice president; Steve G. Taylor (’77), immediate former national president; Robert M. Gathings (’81), national president; S. Keith Winfield (’70), national treasurer; and E. Allen Maxwell (’78), national first vice president.

—Ronald E. Sleeper of Corinth, North 2 Region director. He is a regional vice president of the Fleetwood Retail Corp.

—Joe L. Bryan of Yazoo City, who will be serving a second consecutive term as Central 1 Region director. He is a senior vice president for Bank of Yazoo City and a 1968 agricultural economics graduate.

—Charles W. Farrior of Vancleave, who begins a second term as South 3 Region director. He is a supervisory contract specialist and corporate administrative contracting officer for the United States Navy’s Shipbuilding Division and a 1982 banking and finance graduate.

—Robert S. Tuttle of Hernando, Young Director-Northern Region. An international development manager at Alexander International, he is a 1995 political science graduate.

—Archie E. Cammack of Mobile, Ala., is serving a second term as out-of-state

director. A senior field representative for Countrywide Service Corp., he is a 1964 business administration graduate.

The alumni association’s executive committee also made the following appointments: —Brenda D. Thornton of Ridgeland, a second term as at-large director. A 1978 computer science graduate, she is executive vice president and chief information officer for AmFed Companies.

—Tommy Everett of Magee, a one-year term as at-large director. A 1950 general business administration graduate, he is retired president of Magee Auto Supply and the alumni association’s longtime (1979-92) national treasurer.

—Henry Hamill of Brookhaven, a oneyear term as South 2 regional director. A 1990 marketing graduate, he is an agent with Farm Bureau Insurance.

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS Mississippi State University Alumni Association

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State offers college savings plans The State of Mississippi provides two unique ways to help families save for college. Known as “Section 529 plans,” Mississippians can participate in either or both of these programs to plan and save for higher education expenses.

The Mississippi Prepaid Affordable College Tuition Program (MPACT) guarantees full payment of tuition and mandatory fees at any public college in the State of Mississippi, no matter how much the cost of tuition rises between the time you purchase your contract and the time the child attends college. Taxpayers may

With passage of the new federal tax bill, Mississippi residents interested in saving for college are being given another reason to invest in the Mississippi Affordable College Savings Program (MACS), the state’s new tax-advantaged college savings plan. Starting Jan. 1, 2002, any withdrawals used for qualified college expenses will now be free of federal income taxes.

MACS is a flexible program that allows families of all income levels to open an account. The minimum investment is $25 ($15 through an automatic payroll plan such as payroll deduction), and the maximum

OCTOBER 20 MSU vs. LSU; Pre-game Open House; Butler-Williams Alumni Center; begins 2 1/2 hours prior to game.

23-24 IHL College Fair; Trade Mart Center, Jackson.

27 Oktibbeha County Chapter Golf Tournament and Shrimp Boil.

For details contact Myra Wooten at mwooten@alumni.msstate.edu or 662-325-8400.

NOVEMBER 3 MSU vs. Kentucky; Pre-game Open House; Butler-Williams Alumni Center; begins 2 1/2 hours prior to game.

8 Lee County Fall Luncheon with Coach Ron Polk. For details contact Myra Wooten at mwooten@alumni.msstate.edu or 662-325-8400.

22 MSU vs. Mississippi; Pre-game Open House; Butler-Williams Alumni Center; 4 p.m. til 5:30 p.m.

2002

deduct the full contribution from state income tax; however, either the purchaser or the beneficiary must be a resident of Mississippi at the time of purchase.

MPACT is backed by the full faith and credit of the State of Mississippi. MPACT’s annual enrollment is Sept. 1-Nov. 30.

Newborns may be signed up for the program anytime during their first twelve months. A variety of payment options are available.

account balance limit is $235,000. The money can be used for future costs at colleges throughout the country, as well as certain foreign schools. Expenses covered include tuition, fees, supplies, books, and certain room and board costs.

Information about the MACS and MPACT programs, including an application and a full disclosure booklet, is available by calling toll-free, 1-800-486-3670, or by visiting the MACS web site at www.collegesavingsms.com.

JANUARY 5-18 Travel with MSU Alumni — Trans-Panama Canal Cruise. For details contact Dianne Jackson at djackson@alumni.msstate.edu or 662-325-3444.

25 Alumni Awards Banquet MSU Alumni Association Executive Committee meeting.

MSU Alumni Association National Board of Directors meeting.

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Leadership Conference MSU Alumni Association Annual Business Meeting

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Alumni Challenge provides opportunity to help build Henry Center The Alumni Challenge for the Hunter Henry Center had generated $238,000 from alumni and friends of Mississippi State as of Aug. 20. With several weeks to go before the challenge ends—and with more than $360,000 in matching funds still available—the opportunity remains for MSU supporters to help guide the project to completion.

In January, the Alumni Association allocated $600,000 in the form of a matching grant to challenge its alumni and friends for contributions to construct the Henry Center, which will become the new home for the Alumni Association and the Foundation.

“As an alumnus or friend of Mississippi State, the Alumni Challenge is your chance

to help build this new state-of-the-art facility,” said John Correro, executive director of the alumni association. “The challenge was issued to allow everyone an opportunity to make a commitment to support the project.”

Through the challenge, the Alumni Association will match gifts up to $49,999 provided they occur on or before Dec. 31, 2001. Gifts of $1,000 or more may be made over a three-year period. Gifts of less than $1,000 must be completed within one year.

Contributors through the challenge will have their names permanently displayed in the new facility. For their tax-deductible gifts, donors will also become active members of the Alumni Association as well

as receive recognition in the appropriate giving levels within the MSU Foundation.

“The Alumni Challenge will match not only your gift, but your company’s matching gift dollars as well, dramatically increasing the impact of your gift,” Correro said. “We want to encourage everyone to take part in this effort to build one of the finest alumni centers on any university campus.”

For more information regarding the Alumni Challenge, contact the MSU Alumni Association at 662-325-8399.

See related article on the Henry Center on page 31.

1/2 page license plate ad

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University surpasses $55 million giving total Mississippi State has marked the highest single-year giving total in its 123-year history.

The university received $55.8 million in gifts and pledges during the recently ended 2001 fiscal year, said Dennis A. Prescott, vice president for external affairs. The total reflects a 37 percent increase over the previous year, when $40.5 million was recorded, he added.

President Malcolm Portera said, “The level of giving recorded last year is a powerful indication that alumni and friends of Mississippi State have confidence in the quality of the university and are willing to invest their own resources to help us do a better job of moving Mississippi forward.

“Private support is more important now than at any time in the history of the institution, and the generosity of people who believe in and support the university’s mission is critical to maintaining our momentum.”

The largest giving year previously took place four years ago when $44.2 million in gifts and pledges were received during the final year of Mississippi State’s first major gifts campaign.

Prescott said the $55.8 million total “is particularly gratifying in light of the uncertain economic conditions” of the past year.

“This record-breaking total is a tribute to our loyal donors and hard-working staff,” Prescott said. “I truly believe the Founda-

tion is making a difference and we look forward to being called upon in the future to provide further support for Mississippi State.”

Of the total, new gifts and pledges accounted for $43.5 million, a 27 percent increase over last year. Deferred gifts received during the fiscal year totaled more than $12.3 million.

Prescott said giving totals during a fiscal year are determined by adding new gifts received to pledged monies and deferred gifts received during the fiscal year. In Mississippi, a fiscal year for state agencies begins July 1 and ends the following June 30.

The university’s endowment currently is more than $153 million.

Armstrong named executive director of development Armstrong Bunton (’72/’77) was a graduRichard Armstrong, the university’s new ate, as were two uncles, the late A.G. executive director of development, has a “Aggie” Weems (’35) and John S. Weems long history with his alma mater and enjoys (’44). telling people about the “My parents and relatives had Armstrong legacy at Mississippi such wonderful experiences at State University.

Mississippi State that there was Armstrong grew up as part of never a doubt in my mind that I a Mississippi State family. He is would attend here as well,” the son of the late Charles H. Armstrong said. “Now, I am “Pee Wee” Armstrong (’37). honored to serve my university to Longtime football fans may an even greater degree, where remember hearing about the Armstrong and Weems roots run elder Armstrong’s athletic ability deep.” during the early days of thenArmstrong Following graduation in 1968 Mississippi State College. with a degree in general business “My dad threw the touchadministration, Armstrong was commisdown pass to Fred Walters in 1935 that sioned a second lieutenant in the United allowed State to beat national powerhouse States Marine Corps. After 25 years of Army at West Point, N.Y.,” Armstrong said. active service that included a tour of duty in “The play has been immortalized in various Vietnam and various command and staff Mississippi State history books as one of assignments, he retired with the rank of the university’s greatest sports moments.” colonel in 1993.

Armstrong’s mother, Margaret Weems Armstrong joined the university’s Armstrong, is a 1938 alumnus. She was development team that same year, as a fundone of a small number of female students on raiser in the School of Architecture. During campus and one of the first initiates of Chi his eight years with the university, he also Omega Sorority. has served as director of development for Armstrong’s ties to Mississippi State the College of Business and Industry and don’t end there. His sister, the late Janet 30

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helped raise funds for the MSU Library.

Most recently, he was director of planned giving for the Foundation.

Despite a busy military career, Armstrong has kept MSU high on his list of priorities. He was president of the MSU Alumni Association’s Montgomery, Ala. chapter while serving as the Marine Corps representative at the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base. For his alumni work, he was awarded the association’s Distinguished Service and J.E. “Red” Ruffin Annual Fund awards.

Armstrong and his wife, the former Charlotte Ann Burns, are Meridian natives.

Their son Jason became a third generation alumnus when he received his bachelor’s degree in 1997 and a master’s in 1998. He is currently a commercial loan officer with Trustmark National Bank in Tupelo.

Armstrong officially assumed his new duties July 30.

“I have great confidence in Richard Armstrong’s ability to lead our fund-raising staff at the MSU Foundation,” said Dennis A. Prescott, vice president for external affairs. “He has established a great relationship both with donors and with board members.”

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Construction begins on Hunter Henry Center The MSU Alumni Association and the Foundation edged one step closer to their new home as construction began in September on the Hunter Henry Center.

“The staff is very excited that construction is under way. I might add that Hunter Henry also is very happy that we have reached this point as well,” said Dennis Prescott, vice president for external affairs.

The center is named for Henry, the project’s lead donor, a1950 alumnus and retired president of Dow Chemical USA. The Canton native made a lead gift commitment of $3 million in the spring of 2000.

Following groundbreaking ceremonies in March, the Foundation and Alumni Association began identifying potential contractors for the estimated $8.5 million facility. The contract has been awarded to Jesco Inc. of Fulton.

The firm should complete construction in the fall of next year, according to Prescott. “We have great confidence in Jesco, a firm which has done an excellent job with numerous statewide and MSU

projects, including the Bryan Athletic Building.”

Donors have committed more than $7.4 million, including the lead gift from Henry, to construct the new facility. Designed by Foil Wyatt Architects of Jackson, the 41,000 square-foot building will be the permanent headquarters for the Alumni Association and the Foundation. The Henry Center will stand on the western edge of campus at the intersection of Barr Avenue and University Drive.

Recent large commitments for the project include a gift from Bud and Sue Thompson of Meridian to name the executive director’s suite in the Foundation wing and a gift from the Durward Dunn Family of New Orleans to fund a similar suite for the executive director of the Alumni Association. Meridian-based Gipson Steel Inc. has committed $100,000 to name the amphitheater.

Remaining naming opportunities include the distinctive spire, the donor recognition rotunda, and 36 internal pillars. Recent commitments for pillars have come from Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth B. Hood of

Known for his yard of flowers, especially his beautiful roses, on South Lawndale Street in Tupelo, Joseph B. Whiteside is a generous alumnus of Mississippi State University. The foundation board member makes every effort to attend academic and athletic campus events. Among his contributions are gifts to the Bulldog Club, the College of Business and Industry, and the Hunter Henry Center.

Gunnison; Drs. Bill and Karen Hulett of Jackson; Capt. Richard T. Norman of Houston, Texas; Mr. and Mrs. James J. Rouse of McLean, Va.; and Mr. and Mrs. W. C. “Dub” Shoemaker of Kosciusko.

Several prime naming opportunities remain, both interior and exterior, said Prescott. “Richard Armstrong and I are available to meet with interested individuals, confidentially, regarding a gift, at any time,” he said.

Donors should remember that a matching grant is available to encourage contributions, Prescott said. $600,000 has been allocated by the Alumni Association to challenge alumni and friends. Individuals who give from $100 up to $49,999 through the challenge are eligible to have their gifts matched at a 1:1 ratio.

Hemphill to head fundraising efforts for business college James V. “Bo” Hemphill IV is the new director of development for the College of Business and Industry at Mississippi State University.

A Starkville native, Hemphill began his new duties in July. Most recently, he served as director of development for the university’s College of Education, a position he held since Hemphill joining the MSU Foundation last year.

“We are confident that Bo will do an outstanding job for business, just as he has done for education, “ said Richard Armstrong, executive director of development for the MSU Foundation. “Although he has moved into a new role, he will continue to assist the College of Education in a limited capacity until that position is filled.”

Hemphill received his bachelor’s degree in marketing from Mississippi State in 1994.

He is married to the former Patricia Lyon (’94) and lives in West Point.

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Ward continues husband’s vision for small animal health care

By Amy Stewart Cagle In December 1962, Joe Ann Willis, a registered nurse, married veterinarian Hugh G. Ward. The union lasted 36 years, until Dr. Ward died in an automobile accident.

However, Mrs. Ward’s undying love for her husband remains evident through her generous contributions to his beloved College of Veterinary Medicine.

Mrs. Ward is continuing her husband’s lifelong work of assisting CVM by giving the college the largest outright gift in its history: $1.5 million to fund a critical care unit for small animals. Her previous gift of $1.25 million, given in May of last year, funded the college’s first endowed faculty chair in memory of her husband.

Jackson veterinarian Hugh G. Ward was instrumental in establishing MSU’s veterinary school. As president of the Mississippi Veterinary Medical Association, he traveled the state seeking support for its creation. In 1977, his dream became a reality when be became a member of the original committee of nine as it advised and counseled the college’s founding dean, James Miller.

The Ward gifts speak highly of MSU’s veterinary program, according to dean John Thomson. “Mrs. Ward clearly understands that the College of Veterinary Medicine at MSU has elevated the veterinary profession’s contribution to society. Our profession and college are indebted and challenged by the confidence she has demonstrated through her generosity,” he said.

“Our goal of becoming the preferred referral center for small animal medicine and surgery will be greatly enhanced by both the endowed chair and a leading edge intensive care unit. With these gifts, we will be able to provide expertise and services needed by regional veterinarians to meet improving medical advances,” he added.

Although Mrs. Ward lives in Jackson, she spends a great deal of time visiting family and friends at her second home, 32

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Starkville. She remains actively involved with CVM and Mississippi State.

Originally, the Wards had planned to make a deferred gift to the university.

However, following her husband’s death, she said. “Hugh even had a flying squirrel.”

Mrs. Ward decided otherwise. “We had Dr. Ward grew up on a dairy farm in discussed that we would leave something to Brookhaven. “I think that when the local the college in our will, but after Hugh veterinarian came to the farm to help with passed away, I decided that I wanted to reap some sick cattle, Hugh was so intrigued and the rewards of seeing how a gift could loved animals so much that he decided to benefit the school,” she said. “The veteribecome a veterinarian himself,” Mrs. Ward nary college is like an extension of our said. family, and I want to see it reach the next His love of animals continued throughlevel of excellence just as my husband out his life. Following their marriage, the would have.”

Wards’ life revolved around animals as well.

Dr. Ward briefly attended Mississippi “We owned a pet shop in Jackson next to State before completing his education at Briarwood Animal Clinic where he worked.

Auburn University. “He really wanted to I ran the pet shop, doing the bookkeeping,” help establish a veterinary school in she said. On occasion, she assisted her Mississippi since he knew firsthand that husband in the clinic if the procedure students wanting to become veterinarians required an extra set of hands. She attended had to go out of state to Alabama,” she said.

Mississippi College and is a graduate of “He was determined to have an outstanding Gilfoy School of Nursing in Jackson. veterinary college in Mississippi.”

Besides animals, the late Dr. Ward had Mrs. Ward continues working to enhance another passion—children, and in particuthe veterinary medicine program her lar, the prevention of child abuse. “Hugh husband held so dear. “Hugh always said was a that top quality professors were vital for continued next page continued growth of the school, as well as training the best veterinarians possible. For that reason, I considered it a privilege to establish the Hugh G. Ward Chair for Small Animal Practice,” she said.

Mrs. Ward believes her late husband always envisioned becoming a veterinarian. “I never saw a childhood picture of him in which he wasn’t with some sort of animal, particularly a dog,” she said. “When I grew up in Clarksdale, I didn’t have a Joe Ann Ward and John Thomson tour the current facilities pet so it was more of a at the CVM Animal Medical Center, where space will be learned thing on my part,” converted to house the new small animal critical care unit.

▼ longtime member of the North Jackson Exchange Club and participated in their projects,” Mrs. Ward said.

Dr. Ward was in the process of helping community leaders construct a children’s playground at Palmbridges Park in Jackson at the time of his death. Last year, the park was opened and dedicated in his memory.

Mrs. Ward welcomes opportunities to support the causes close to her late husband’s heart. She unselfishly assists the College of Veterinary Medicine in countless ways. Through her generosity, the college has been able to lease a skybox in the newly renovated Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field to help entertain alumni and friends, said Keith Gaskin, director of development for the college. “Her determination to help the college in any way possible has had a tremendous impact and we believe her continued support will encourage others to

Web site online An exclusive web site for alumni and friends of Mississippi State University went online in August. The MSU Foundation’s new site is accessible at www.msufoundation.com.

“We hope this unique site will give MSU alumni and friends an inside look at the Foundation and what it does for Mississippi State University,” said Dennis Prescott, vice president for external affairs.

“We have tried to provide a personal experience online for individuals who want to know about giving opportunities, but may not be ready or have the time to talk with us.”

Visitors to the site will be able to view profiles of outstanding persons associated with the university and learn about special giving programs. They also will have the option of making a gift or pledge online in a secure environment.

The web site was designed by the Quest Marketing agency of West Point.

do the same,” he said.

Mrs. Ward emphasizes that her gifts to the university are made to areas that she feels her husband would have chosen to make himself. “I want to do anything I can do to keep Hugh’s veterinary school on the map,” she said.

Thanks in part to the efforts of the late Dr. Ward, today MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine is one of only 27 accredited veterinary colleges in the United States. Dr. Ward’s influence remains evident in the design and operation of the MSU Animal Health Center, particularly in many clinical areas such as quality diagnosis and animal care. The two clinics he founded in Jackson, Briarwood Animal Hospital and Millcreek Animal Clinic, continue to provide training and mentorship for aspiring veterinarians.

The Small Animal Critical Care Unit

continued from previous page The Small Animal Critical Care Unit will provide a much needed addition to the College’s Animal Health Center, which examines, diagnoses, and treats more than 6,000 individually owned pets a year. Complex cases of animal disease and injury are typically referred to the hospital from veterinarians in Mississippi and surrounding states. The unit will provide a unique laboratory for students to learn important medical concepts in intensive and critical care delivery, as well as greatly enhance the hospital’s ability to care for small animals.

Jackson foundation gifts boost MSU engineering, architecture The Hearin Foundation is making another major gift to Mississippi State University.

The Jackson philanthropy is committing a total of $4 million over four years, with $3.6 million going to the College of Engineering and $400,000 to the School of Architecture.

“The Hearin Foundation’s continuing support for higher education throughout the state is a significant factor in helping Mississippi become more competitive in the global marketplace,” said MSU President Malcolm Portera.

“At Mississippi State, the foundation’s support over a number of years has allowed for innovations in our programs in engineering and architecture that have heightened instructional quality, attracted outstanding students and faculty, and helped increase the technological capacity that is vital to the state’s future,” he added. “We’re deeply grateful for the foundation’s support and the role it plays in helping us do a better job of serving Mississippi.”

The late Robert M. Hearin Sr., a Jackson businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer of Mississippi Valley Gas Co., made provisions in his will to establish the philanthropy. His foundation supports state university and college efforts to both improve education and promote economic development.

The engineering college will apply the Hearin grant to several key areas, said Dean A. Wayne Bennett. The new funding supports research in energy and human systems, as well as communications and information technology, he said.

The grant also will enable the college to implement an eminent scholars program to help recognize and retain MSU faculty who have national reputations and assist in attracting other nationally recognized scholars to campus. In addition, the college will use the new grant to expand its undergraduate initiatives and K-12 outreach.

The $400,000 School of Architecture grant supports graduate fellowships, student recruitment, the acquisition of new technologies and instructional materials, and equipment maintenance and replacement, said interim Dean James L. West.

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Revocable living trusts offer flexibility The topic of wills was featured in the Fall 1999 Alumnus and Some advantages of a revocable provided specific language for living trust are: making a bequest to Mississippi State. The will is a vital document that we all need in order to direct The trust is private; personal affairs are not a the disposition of our assets at matter of public record at death as in a will. death, but many people also include in their planning a You can make provisions in the trust for medical “revocable living trust.” It is called care; if you are trustee and become unable a “living” trust because it is created to manage the property, a successor trustee during an individual’s lifetime and can take over and carry out responsibilities may be changed or cancelled at any for your care. time by the creator of the trust.

The revocable living trust is You avoid the probate process, which can be similar to a will in that the trust expensive and lengthy. specifies what is to happen to your property (cash, stock, land, You can revoke the trust or make additions and personal possessions, etc.) after withdrawals at any time. death. You create the trust by transferring title of property to the You can secure professional management trust. A trustee named by you for the trust. manages and administers the trust property. Under the terms of the trust, transfer of ownership occurs You can designate charitable beneficiaries. immediately after death and does not pass through the probate process.

If charitable gifts are specified in a revocable living trust, they can be for a specific sum of money, a percentage of trust

The Old Main Society recognizes donors who:

• Include the MSU Foundation as a beneficiary in a will (and provide a copy of the will or that portion of the will pertaining to MSU) • Make a deferred gift to the MSU Foundation (i.e., charitable remainder trust, charitable gift annuity, or life estate)

Benefits of membership include:

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• Co-equal status with other donor recognition clubs, including invitations to special donor events on campus

assets, a specific property, or all or a portion of the remainder of trust assets after providing for family and others. An unlimited amount of property may be distributed to charity from your trust free of federal estate taxes.

If you are seeking a way to provide management of assets while living and distribute your property quickly, privately, and efficiently at death, you might consider a revocable living trust. It can be a simple document, but it—like your will— should be drafted by a professional.

If you are considering charitable giving in your trust and want to include MSU, please contact the office of planned giving in the MSU Foundation for details regarding specific language as well as your gift designation within the university.

For assistance, please contact: The Office of Planned Giving P. O. Box 6149 Mississippi State, MS 39762 662-325-5127 or visit us at www.msufoundation.com

• Make the MSU Foundation a beneficiary in a life insurance policy, IRA, qualified retirement plan (pension plan), or revocable trust and provide a copy of the form or document to the Foundation

• A special edition copy of the book, Old Main: Images of a Legend

Joseph N. Kisner has retired after 31 years of service in public schools in Kentucky and Arkansas, most recently as an elementary principal in the Farmington (Ark.) Public Schools. He is relocating to the Tampa Bay, Fla., area.

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48 B.A. Jordan of Carter participated in a March ceremony at the new Armed Forces Museum at Camp Shelby to honor the veterans of World War II’s Battle of the Bulge. Jordan, a veteran of the campaign, wrote an account of his experiences for the museum’s permanent collection.

49 Leonard Mobley of Mineral, Va., a retired division director for the U.S. Department of Commerce, has received a first-place award from the South Atlantic Region of the National Council of State Garden Clubs for his outstanding achievements in the field of horticulture. He earlier had received first-place honors in horticultural competitions at the state and local levels.

50 A.M. Ratcliff Sr. of Natchez has been inducted into the Mississippi Credit Union League Hall of Fame for more than 40 years of service to the Old South Credit Union in Natchez and the Mississippi Credit Union League.

51 Bill Dickson of Huntsville, Ala., retired deputy division chief at the Marshall Space Flight Center, is a volunteer consultant at Huntsville Hospital. In that role, he designed the Health Group Alabama regional laundry and also devised an efficient system for disposing of hospital garbage and medical waste.

53 Wallace M. Wall (M.Ed. ’58) of Raymond is retired as a teacher at Hinds Community College and as an engineer with the Hinds County Road Department, where he was named Employee of the Year in 1984. Wall introduced technical education at HCC in 1967.

57 Charles Glenn Ivy of Memphis, Texas, is retired from Boeing Aircraft Co. in Corinth, Texas.

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65 David B. Smith (M.S. ’70) of Starkville, professor and agricultural engineer at Mississippi State, has been named a Fellow of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers.

Jay Brumfield of Yazoo City has been named vice president of strategic initiatives at Mississippi Chemical Corp.

61 Douglas M. Blount (M.S. ’74) of Columbus has received the Legend Award of the American Recreation Coalition, honoring his significant contributions to the advancement of outdoor recreation. He recently retired as assistant operations manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the Tenn-Tom Waterway.

Leon Combs of Marietta, Ga., professor and head emeritus of the chemistry department at MSU, now is chair of the chemistry department at Kennesaw State University. He recently received the ELearning Award from the College of Science and Mathematics at Kennesaw State, for excellence in developing web pages for teaching online courses.

63 Lester Andrews of Charlottesville, Va., professor of chemistry at the University of Virginia, has received the prestigious Ellis R. Lippincott Award from the Optical Society of America together with the Coblentz Society and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. The award recognizes his spectroscopic research on novel reactive molecular species.

William H. Gillon III of Natchez, managing director of the accounting firm of Gillon & Co., has been elected vice president/president-elect of the Mississippi Society of Certified Public Gillon Accountants.

66 William R. Johnson of Valrico, Fla., research vegetable specialist for Shamrock Seed Co., has been appointed to the Board of Seed Arbitration for the state of Florida

by Commissioner of Agriculture Charles Bronson.

68 Tom Bryant, a registered professional engineer, has been named managing principal of the Mississippi offices of Pickering Inc. of Memphis, Tenn. He most recently was director of project development for the company.

Albert J. Bush III (M.S. ’79) has been named a division chief in the geotechnical and structures laboratory at the U.S. Army Engineer R&D Center’s Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg.

Herbert T. Dubuisson Bush of Bay St. Louis has merged his company, ERA Bayshore Realty, with Coldwell Banker Alfonso Realty. He will serve as president of the new company.

Bill Hawks (M.S. ’70) of Hernando, a farmer and former state senator, has been named by the White House to the post of undersecretary of the USDA’s marketing and regulatory programs.

Joyce Robinson Hill of Philadelphia recently retired from the Winston Louisville Vocational Center and now is an instructor at the Manpower Training Center with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. She has received the Outstanding Secondary Business Educator award from the Mississippi Business Education Association and A Fall 2001

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74 ▼ the FBLA Central District Advisor of the Year award.

John B. Noblin of Goodyear, Ariz., director of systems engineering for Lockheed Martin Management and Data Systems-Arizona, has returned from a fouryear assignment in the United Kingdom where he was systems engineering manager for a proposal effort called ASTOR. He retired from IBM in 1998, with 30 years of service.

Dan Renfro of Germantown, Tenn., has been named executive vice president of Mississippi Valley Associated General Contractors.

James L. Roberts Jr. of Pontotoc is a professor of criminal justice at the University of Southern Mississippi and maintains a mediation/ arbitration practice. He is a retired justice of the state Supreme Court, having served 1992-99.

Julian Watson of Jackson, an agent with Prudential Financial, has received certification in longWatson term care.

69 Gwin S. McCalip of Natchez has been named director of admissions at CopiahLincoln Community College. She is a former academic counselor at Co-Lin and serves on the college’s Foundation Board.

She is immediate past president of the state Community and Junior College Counselors Association.

Edgar Earl Thompson of Senatobia, owner of E.E. Thompson Photography, has completed a term as president of Professional Photographers of MississippiAlabama and has been elected chairman of the organization’s board.

70 Charles L. Warner of Decatur, Ga., a licensed attorney and professional engineer, practices patent, trademark, and copyright law with the Troutman Sanders law firm in Atlanta.

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Julia Williams of Goodman, reading instructor and adviser of Phi Theta Kappa’s Kappa Alpha Chapter at Holmes Community College-Goodman Campus, has received the honorary’s Robert Giles Distinguished Adviser Award.

71 Jack Kean of Starkville has had his second book published. Being From the South Doesn’t Make Me Stupid appeared this month. His first book was Deadly Sacrifice.

72 Rob Carpenter of Baton Rouge, La., associate professor of painting at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, is a featured artist in a recent edition of New American Paintings magazine.

Jerry C. Welch of Findlay, Ohio, has Carpenter been named senior vice president for transportation and logistics at Marathon Ashland Petroleum.

Welch

73 Robert Glen Ford of Great Lakes, Ill., has been promoted to colonel in the U.S. Army and serves as Region I director of the Selective Service System, headquartered at Great Lakes.

Prentice O. McKibben Jr. (M.B.A. ’74) of Kingsport, Tenn., has been promoted to vice president for corporate development at Eastman Company.

Celia Thomason of Germantown, N.Y., has been named superintendent of the Germantown Central School District. She is the first woman to hold that position.

Kent Wingate (M.S. ‘75) of Dayton, Ohio, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, works in civilian aviation for AirBorne Express in Wilmington.

James B. Allen of Clinton has retired as company officer with Clinton Fire and Rescue and has been named Eastern regional sales manager for Hartwell Medical of Carlsbad, Calif.

W.B. Berry (M.S. ’76) has been named senior vice president of exploration and production Eurasia-Middle East for Phillips Petroleum Co. Terry L. Bullard of Corinth has been named first vice president at Peoples Bank and Trust Co. Don Dornan of Biloxi, an attorney, is president-elect of the Mississippi Bar Association. He also has been appointed to the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Campaign Reform.

Tim Lawrence of Dornan Jackson has been elected president of the Jones County Junior College Alumni Association. He also is a member of the Senior Executive Advisory Board of MSU’s College of Business and Industry.

Rick Robertson has been named chief of the hydraulics section of hydraulics branch, Lawrence engineering division, at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Vicksburg District.

Fred Shaw III of Canton has been promoted to colonel in the Mississippi National Guard and appointed deputy chief of staff for operations and plans. He has been a member of the National Guard since 1975.

75 Charlie Cumbaa of Charleston, S.C., has been named vice president of the Professional Services Division of Blackbaud Inc., a provider of fundraising and related solutions to nonprofit organizations. He previously was executive vice president of Intertech Information Management.

Debbie Dawsey-Brown of Beaufort, S.C., has been nominated for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association 2002-04 Legislative Council. She is a

▼ speech-language pathologist and hearingimpaired consultant for Beaufort County schools.

Jane Lauderdale Flowers (M.S. ’77) of Vicksburg, work-based learning coordinator at Hinds Community College, has been named State Vocational Educator of the Year by the Mississippi Manufacturers Association.

David E. Johnson (M.B.A. ’77) of Hattiesburg, CEO and chairman of the board of the First National Bank of South Mississippi, has been appointed to the board of directors of the New Orleans branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

Padgett Kelly of Murfreesboro, Tenn., a professor at Middle Tennessee State University, has received the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award from the National Marine Educators Association.

Ellen Hildebrand Ratcliff of Baton Rouge, La., has received a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Louisiana State University and is an assistant professor at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond.

76 Everett P. Hailey of Memphis, Tenn., has been appointed to the board of directors of QualityLife Communities, a company that develops and manages independent living communities for adults 55 and older.

Katherine H. Wingate of Dayton, Ohio, is a pediatrician in her seventh year of private practice.

78 Mike Armour of Tupelo, vice president of Peoples Bank & Trust Co., has been appointed senior relations officer. He is a member of the board of directors of the Bulldog Club and is past president of the Lee County Alumni Chapter and the 10county Northeast Mississippi Bulldog Club.

Elizabeth Davidson of Suffolk, Va., has been named quality manager of Ford Motor Co.’s Norfolk Assembly Plant.

79 Kathy Waldrop Burnham of Oxford teaches third- and fourth-grade exceptional children in Oxford. She recently was nationally certified through the National Boards for Professional Teaching Standards.

Freddie Pinkard of Vicksburg has been named chief of the hydrologic engineering section of hydraulics branch, engineering division, at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Vicksburg District.

Kirk Sharp (M.S. ’88) of Long Beach, a NASA technology transfer officer, has been named a member of the Long Beach Schools board of trustees.

Lamar Stacy (M.S. ’80) of Huntsville, Ala., is payload operations director for the International Space Station. He is headquartered at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. Stacy has overall authority for planning and executing all payload activities-science experiments and activities-on board the space station.

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Mary Frances McNeer Blanton (M.Ed. ’78) of Birmingham, Ala., has been named executive program director for the Department of Psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She previously was director of research and grants administration at Charleston Area Medical Center and West Virginia University, Charleston Division.

Betty Sue Adams of Madison, math instructor and adviser of Phi Theta Kappa’s Alpha Lambda Sigma Chapter at Holmes Community College-Ridgeland Campus, has received the honorary’s Robert Giles Continued Excellence Award.

the 890th Combat Engineer Battalion as senior personnel noncommissioned officer.

Aldie Warnock of Houston, Texas, has been promoted to vice president of regulatory affairs with Reliant Energy.

James Barry Williams of Princeton, W. Va., is retired from Cigna Healthcare-Intracorp after 15 years as a vocational Warnock rehabilitation counselor/ senior case manager.

While with Cigna, he won the Cigna President Club award two times and the Intracorp Gold Medal Award.

82 Steven Bergonzoni of Pemberton, N.J., is director of food service and hospitality management and is an adjunct coordinator in the Liberal Arts Division at Burlington County College. He has earned a Certified Hospitality Educator certificate from the Educational Institute of the American Hotel and Motel Association.

Robert H. Cox of Roswell, Ga., is southeast region director of eBusiness Solutions for Nortel Networks.

Paul G. Heflin of Clifton, Va., has been appointed one of nine new shareholders of Ewing Cole Cherry Brott, a multidisciplinary design firm. He is managing principal of the firm’s Washington, D.C., office.

Lamar Jenkins Jr. Heflin has been named office engineering team leader in the construction division at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Vicksburg District.

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81 Michael A. Sanders of Gulfport has been promoted to sergeant first class in the Mississippi National Guard and serves with

Brumfield

Jay Brumfield has been named vice president of strategic initiatives for Mississippi Chemical Corp. in Yazoo City.

Carey Buckles of Blair, Neb., has been named production leader for the lactic acid production plant for Cargill Dow.

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89 ▼ William Robert Ellis of Crane Hill, Ala., has been named product manager for radio frequency countermeasures at PEO Aviation in Huntsville.

Shelia Lynn Hendon of Memphis, Tenn., is a fourth-grade teacher of gifted students in DeSoto County, Miss. She is pursuing a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction at the University of Mississippi.

Paul D. Smith of Newnan, Ga., has been named an equity partner and branch manager for Roofing & Insulation Supply.

He is in charge of the Smyrna and Suwanee branches.

Shari Tucker Veazey of Flowood is director of development for the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson.

84 Tony Vetrano of Parkland, Fla., has been named vice president and chief financial officer of Health Care Financial Services.

85 Joseph Drapala of Jackson has been promoted to director of engineering and science for Hazclean Environmental Consultants.

Aubrey L. Jackson of Germantown, Tenn., is director of operations for a division of Thomas and Betts Corp. in Memphis.

Kel Shurden of Vicksburg has been named to head the Vicksburg District revetment section for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

86 Ross Crawford has been elected president of the Mississippi Child Support Association.

David Hopkins of Memphis, Tenn., has been elected to partnership in the public accounting firm of KPMG LLP.

87 Adrianne P. Fountain of Pinellas Park, Fla., has been promoted to technology transition manager for CEC programs at Raytheon in St. Petersburg.

R. Douglas Vaughn of Gulfport has joined as a member the law firm of Allen Vaughn Cobb & Hood.

Ted C. Williams of Brandon has been promoted to senior vice president of the Rankin County Division of Trustmark National Bank. He also serves on the executive council of the Mississippi Young Bankers.

88 S. Ross Aldridge of Brandon has been named assistant project coordinator for the state Department of Rehabilitation Services.

David Coode of Nashville, Tenn., has been promoted to vice president at Lose & Associates, the largest landscape architecture firm in Tennessee.

Ramona Eubanks of Moore, S.C., is a Unit VIP Coode with BeautiControl Cosmetics and a homemaker.

Yancy Eubanks of Moore, S.C., has been promoted to division quality manager for Parker-Hannifin’s TechSeal Division.

Thomas F. Massey of Madison, Ala., is a software scientist for Intergraph Government Solutions.

C. Craig Rayner of Chattanooga, Tenn., a director of claims for UnumProvident Corp., has received the professional insurance designation of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter from the Insurance Institute of America and the American Institute for CPCU. Sid Salter of Forest has joined The Clarion-Ledger, Mississippi’s largest daily newspaper, as a columnist and editor of the Perspective section. An award-winning journalist, he had been editor and publisher of the Scott County Times since 1983. He recently was inducted into the Mississippi Press Association Hall of Fame.

Paul Lichlyter of Jacksonville, Fla., has been named a partner with Accenture, a leading management and consulting service.

Joel Thomas Muirhead of Enterprise, Ala., is the staff ophthalmologist and chief of the surgery department at the U.S. Army Aeromedical Center/Lyster Army Hospital at Fort Rucker, Ala. Jimmy Worrell of Madison has been named assistant vice president of the Pearl branch of BanCorp South.

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Keith A. Buck (B.P.A. ’93, M.B.A. ’93) of Horn Lake has been named president of Union Planters Bank in Senatobia.

Christopher Brett Clifford has relocated to Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China, where he is finance manager for ExxonMobil Hong Kong.

Don Hammack of Pascagoula covers New Orleans Saints football for the Sun Herald newspaper.

Berkley N. Huskison of Columbus has been named a shareholder in the law firm of Mitchell, McNutt & Sams.

John Darin Murph of Washington, D.C., is an online producer at National Public Radio and Huskison writes music journalism for high-profile publications including the Washington Post.

Schwann Spectrum recently published his cover story on jazz artists from Mississippi, “Jazz from the Magnolia.”

Belinda Boykin Styres (M.B.A. ’91) of Jackson has been promoted to controller at the Walker Companies.

Jeffrey W. Williams of Beaumont, Texas, a project engineer for Fugro South Inc., has received a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Houston.

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M. Blaine Anderson (M.S. ’93) of Mandeville, La., has transferred from San Diego, Calif., to New Orleans, La., in his job as a federal probation officer.

William G. Armistead of Tupelo has been named a shareholder

▼ in the law firm of Mitchell, McNutt & Sams.

Joe McCaleb Bilbro of New Orleans, La., is an attorney with the law firm of Peuler & Ernst.

Todd Leonard of Southaven has been named vice president of sales and operations at ExpaNets Direct in Memphis, Tenn.

Jose Antonio Rosado of New York, N.Y., has earned an M.B.A. from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University in Atlanta and joined TD Securities’ New York office as an associate in the firm’s investment banking division.

David B. and Tammy Cline Thompson are serving as missionaries for the Southern Baptist Foreign Missions Board in Podor, Senegal.

Lori Lewellen Wicks of Hickory, N.C., has been promoted to travel counselor manager for American Express at Corning Cable.

Julie Ferrill Zwies of Dover, Del., chief of laboratory services at the 436th Medical Group at Dover AFB, received the 2000 Clinical Laboratory Scientist of the Year award from the Society of Armed Forces Medical Laboratory Scientists and the 2000 Air Mobility Command Clinical Laboratory Manager of the Year award.

92 Jerry Bruce Case Jr. of Palmer, Ark., a Methodist minister, is “planting” a church in Palmer. He previously was associate pastor of Central United Methodist Church in Meridian.

Tanya Kay Finch of Booneville has been named executive director of the Booneville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Janelle Egdorf Hughes of New Orleans, La., has received a master’s degree in special education at the University of New Orleans.

Doug Kirchgessner has been named regional sales manager for northern Florida, Alabama, and southern Georgia for Gorell Enterprises.

John K. Newton Jr. of Alpharetta, Ga., has been promoted to senior finance manager with BellSouth Telecommunications. He recently received a BellSouth Signal Award for outstanding contributions.

Gary Dixon Terry Jr. of Newbury Park, Calif., has received a master’s degree in public

health at the University of California at Los Angeles.

93 Aime Mracich Anderson (M.S. ’95) of Mandeville, La., has been named director of residential services at Southeastern Louisiana University.

Jay Kerr of Jackson is a human resources generalist for Nissan North America in Canton.

William Daryl Lewis of Winder, Ga., has been named veterinary program coordinator in pharmaceutical research and development with Merial.

James Grover Shannon II of West Memphis, Ark., is working in advertising in the West Memphis and Memphis, Tenn., area.

Todd Watkins has joined Gulf States Paper Corp. as assistant board mill superintendent for the company’s Demopolis, Ala., pulp and paperboard mill.

94 Whit Alexander of Nashville, Tenn., has been promoted to project Watkins manager for Lose & Associates, a landscape architecture and engineering firm.

Randall Ashley of Douglas, Ga., has been named maintenance manager for the new Melsur Corp. manufacturing plant near Alexander Birmingham, Ala. Stephen Michael Bouis of Houston, Texas, is director of Bouis Tennis Academy.

Brian Chewning has Ashley been named a project manager for the Vicksburg District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Harold B. Clark has joined the Nashville office of Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon as a landscape architect and project manager/planner.

Charles Richard Douglas of Starkville is branch manager for AmSouth Bank. In 2000, he was the first AmSouth banker in the state to receive a Chairman’s Clark Performance Award.

Mike George has received the Army Research and Development Award for software development for the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg.

Michael Y. Milligan of Round Rock, Texas, has joined Whole Foods Market in Austin as a business analyst.

Larry Raines of The Woodlands, Texas, a senior manager for Cap Gemini Ernst and Young consulting firm, has completed requirements for a master’s of business administration degree at the University of Texas.

Dante A. Rogers of Camilla, Ga., has joined Cagles-Keystone Corp. as a complex employee relations manager.

Steven D. Verner has been named associate with the architectural firm of Gresham, Smith and Partners in Nashville, Tenn. Verner was co-designer and project coordinator of the 596,000-sq.-ft. Skyline Medical Center in Nashville.

Alex G. Waterson of Durham, N.C., is a medicinal chemist at Glaxo-Smith Kline.

95 Christopher Campbell (M.B.A. ’97) of Superior, Colo., manages all web development, Internet strategies, and ecommerce for Exabyte Corp. in Boulder.

Amy McKenzie of Jackson has been named manager of Haddox, Reid, Burkes & Calhoun.

Sonja Lynne Murphy of Alpharetta, Ga., has joined Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in Atlanta as a mortgage specialist.

Marsha Hammett Pedersen of Marion, Ark., teaches kindergarten at St. Michael’s Catholic School in West Memphis.

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▼ Todd P. Pedersen of Marion, Ark., is a maintenance manager for Southwire Specialty Products.

96 Ivan O. Bryant of Kosciusko has been promoted to vice president at Citizens National Bank.

David A. Edwards of Demopolis, Ala., has joined Gulf States Paper Corp. as project manager for the Westervelt Wildlife Services area of the Business Solutions Group.

Jamie Ainsworth McBride of Stringer has been named assistant director Edwards of bands for Jones County School District and middle school choral director at Northeast Jones Middle/High School.

Timothy Scott McKenzie of Jackson has been named manager of Haddox, Reid, Burkes & Calhoun.

Jennifer Sinclair Pinkard of Kosciusko is pre-vocational supervisor for Life Help Mental Health Region VI. Martha Marie McElroy Plaster of Biloxi has been named senior security specialist at Hancock Investment Services.

97 Charles Jason Armstrong (M.B.A. ’98) of Tupelo has been named assistant vice president for commercial banking at Trustmark National Bank in Tupelo.

Joe Atkinson is senior process control engineer for Georgia-Pacific, Leaf River Pulp Operations in New Augusta, Ga. Lee Joseph Hunter of Pascagoula has graduate cum laude from the Mississippi College School of Law. Abigail C. Raez of Mobile, Ala., is in her third year of medical school at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. She has been selected as the college’s student representative to the AAMC.

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Jeffrey Todd Taylor of Brandon has graduated magna cum laude from the Mississippi College School of Law.

98 Carley Ruth Barnes (M.S. ’00) of Talahassee, Fla., is assistant director of orientation at Florida State University.

Corey Collins of Yazoo City, assistant vice president at Bank Plus, has completed the curriculum of the Mississippi School of Banking.

Stefanie Douglas of Starkville is office manager for Cunningham Management Corp.

Mark Edwin Gibson of Ft. Worth, Texas, is pursuing a master’s degree in Christian education at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and is a part-time service manager for FedEx Ground.

Paras Griffin of Atlanta, Ga., is a project manager for RubberNetwork.com.

Bill Wagnon of Birmingham, Ala., has been promoted to the new position of vice president for communications at BirminghamSouthern College. He joined the BSC staff in 1999 as associate vice Wagnon president for communications, and before that was associate director for publications in the Office of University Relations at Mississippi State.

Ellie Burnham Word of Brandon has graduated cum laude from the Mississippi College School of Law.

99 Steven Ryan Crotwell of Morton has joined New England Financial as an insurance salesman.

Jeanifer Lynn Pitts DiGuilio of Ocean Springs is a biology teacher at St. Martin High School.

Chuck Dunlap of Helena, Ala., has been promoted to media and public relations director for Southeastern Conference Baseball at SEC headquarters in Birmingham.

Tiffany LeMasters of Euless, Texas, is an aeronautical engineer for Lockheed Martin in Ft. Worth.

Lindsey Claire McQueen of Las Vegas, Nev., has been named finance director for the Nevada Republican Party.

Beth Nichols Middleton of Helena, Ala., is completing a master’s degree in vocal performance at the University of Alabama.

Girish K. Panicker of Lorman has been elected vice chairman of the Division of Plant and Soil Sciences of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences. He is project coordinator for USDA’s Soil Conservation Research Project at Alcorn State University.

Elaine Russum of Sugarland, Texas, is a school psychology intern for Fort Bend Independent Schools. She is seeking a master’s degree in school psychology at Sam Houston State University.

Tamiko M. Whitfield of Marietta, Ga., has been named assistant band director at Morris Brown College in Atlanta.

00 Jennifer R. Adams of Brookeland, Texas, is a park ranger at Lake Sam Rayburn for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Christopher Ryan Akers of Athens, Ga., is an assistant director of undergraduate admission and coordinator of the College Quest program at the University of Georgia, where he also is pursuing a doctoral degree in student affairs administration.

Martha Jane Alexander (M.S. ’01) of Ft. Worth, Texas, is a third-grade teacher at Oakmont Elementary School.

Aimee Baggett of Tupelo is completing a master’s degree in social work at Florida State University.

Lisa Barker of Crystal Springs has joined Crystal Springs Shirt Co. as a sales representative.

Jason Blake of Tupelo is a project designer for Wells-Appel Land Strategies in Philadelphia, Pa. Jennifer Lee Chrestman of Tupelo is a first-grade teacher at Shannon Elementary School.

Brad Darby of Memphis, Tenn., is a graphic design artist for American Roamer.

▼ Jim Griffies of Bonaire, Ga., a registered professional forester, has joined Environmental Consultants Inc. as a contact forester.

Jennifer S. Guimbellot of Birmingham, Ala., has been admitted to the medical scientist training program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she will pursue an M.D. and a Ph.D. Sarah Catledge Howard of McCool has been admitted to MSU’s graduate program in educational psychology.

LaSandra Y. Jones of Fort Worth, Texas, is a software engineer for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. W. Bryan Jones of Dublin, Ohio, is a market quality engineer at Honda of America Manufacturing.

David C. Lowery of Ellisville has joined the faculty of Jones County Junior College as an English instructor.

Nancy Eubank Nanney of Franklin, Tenn., is senior art director for Leading Edge Communications.

Erica Plunkett of Atlanta, Ga., has

received professional certification from the Child Life Council. She is completing a Child Life fellowship at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston.

Jonathan David Thornton of Columbus is an area buyer in Jackson, Tenn., for the Western Procurement Division of Koppers Industries.

Bernardo Vizcaino of Singapore is employed by Citibank Singapore.

01 Patrick Alexander of Ft. Worth, Texas, is attending seminary in Ft. Worth.

Stephen P. Fields of Peachtree City, Ga., is assistant band director at Starr’s Mill High School in Fayetteville.

M S U

Adalyn Claire Aldridge, June 20, 2000, to Chad Aldridge (’97) and wife Janet of New Albany.

Max Randall Allen, April 21, 2001, to Amy Arledge Allen (’92) and David Randall Allen (’87).

Michael Luke Anderson, Feb. 19, 2001, to M. Blaine Anderson (’91, M.S. ’93) and Aime Mracich Anderson (’93, M.S. ’95) of Mandeville, La. Josie Kay Atkinson, Feb. 9, 2000, to Joe Atkinson (’97) and Tonya Kay Atkinson (attended) of New Augusta.

Shelton Scott Bailey, July 3, 2001, to Scotty Bailey (’88) and Renee’ Bailey (’93) of Meridian.

Garrett Raymond Ball, April 23, 2001, to Michael C. Ball (’91) and Amy R. Irwin Ball (’91) of Lexington, S.C. Lindsay Nicole Benjamin, March 8, 2001, to Gerianne Kelly Benjamin (’91) and Scott W. Benjamin (’92) of Memphis, Tenn.

John Philip Bennett, May 29, 2001, to Julie Gilmer Bennett (’94) and husband Philip of Aliso Viejo, Calif.

Latham Thomas Blake, July 7, 2001, to John Blake (’00) and wife Terri of Starkville.

Cadi Bryn Boyer, March 19, 2001, to H. Justine Boyer (’91) and Richard C. Boyer (’91) of Georgetown, Texas.

Christy Renee Brennan, August 2000, to Edward Christopher Brennan III (’91) and wife Monna of Gulfport.

Jack Hughes Brister, June 25, 2001, to Steve Brister (’93) and Julie Boykin Brister (’93) of Tupelo.

Thomas Alton Browning, Aug. 23, 2000, to Amy Rebecca Robertson Browning (’87) and husband Scott of Mobile, Ala. William Crawford Buck, March 28, 2001, to Keith A. Buck (’90, M.B.A. ’93) and wife Pamela of Horn Lake.

Brendan Gregory Burgess, Aug. 26, 2000, to Greg Burgess (’96) and wife Kathy of Clinton.

James Roger Cain, March 21, 2001, to David Walter Cain (’96) and Ashley Green Cain (’96) of Huntsville, Ala. Leland Sumner Capocaccia, April 23, 2001, to Lucy Speakes Capocaccia (’89) and husband John of Cleveland.

Leland Barrentine Cariker, Dec. 4, 2000, to Justin Barrentine Cariker (’89) and Shelby Van Cleave Cariker (attended) of Dundee.

Jacob Bryan Carter, Jan. 4, 2001, to Jay Watts Carter (’89) and Michele Bryan Carter (’88) of Canton.

Cooper Aaron Chatham, April 5, 2001, to David Chatham (’92, M.B.A. ’94) and Tricia Lister Chatham (’94) of Mobile, Ala. Cameron Joseph Cherry, April 8, 2001, to Marcie LeBlanc Cherry (’90) and Greg Cherry (’90) of Dallas, Ga. Asia Dear Chhour, Feb. 11, 2001, to Carissa Dawn Dear (’95) and husband David Chhour of South Riding, Va. Perry Alice Cohan-Smith, Oct. 13, 2000, to Austin K. Smith (’81) and wife Amy of Portland, Maine.

Cooper Matthew Corley, May 8, 2001, to Stacey Read Corley (’90, M.B.A. ’91) and husband Michael of Franklin, Tenn.

Austin Kelly Cosby, Jan. 3, 2001, to Eric Cosby (’90) and Elizabeth Ogletree Cosby (’90) of Starkville.

A Fall 2001

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▼ Abigail Marie Crites, May 22, 2001, to Rubyanne Andress Crites (’85, M.P.P.A. ’87) and husband Tom of Euless, Texas.

Natalie Morgan Crowninshield, Aug. 24, 2000, to Kristy Guin Crowninshield (’94) and Wayne Crowninshield (’92) of Kingwood, Texas.

Charles Andress Davis, Jan. 22, 2001, to John D. Davis IV (’88) and Lesley Andress Davis (’89) of Brandon.

Julia Elizabeth DeClue, April 3, 2001, to Stephanie Brown DeClue (’91) and husband Gene of Memphis, Tenn.

Lauren Emily DeVaney, July 9, 2001, to Tommy DeVaney (’97) and wife Wanda of Hammond, La. Spencer Brian Drake, Feb. 25, 2001, to Jennifer Muha Drake (’91) and husband Spencer of Brandon.

Eva Brennan Farrish, March 16, 2001, to David Farrish (’88) and Paige Watson Farrish (’88) of Canton.

Rebekah Lauren Fields, March 1, 2001, to Kimberly Albright Fields (’97) and husband Ricky of Corinth.

John Martin Fox, June 6, 2001, to Sara Martin Fox (’88) and husband Grant of Tupelo.

Clara Anne Fuller, Oct. 10, 2000, to Brian Fuller (’92) and Meg Fuller (’93) of Birmingham, Ala. Paige Elizabeth Fuhrman, June 13, 2000, to Eddie Fuhrman (’85) and wife Brigette of Stuttgart, Ark. Mitcham Harris Gentry, Jan. 25, 2001, to James O. Gentry Jr. (’79, ’87) and wife Linda of Newton.

David Alexander Gibbs Jr., Jan. 9, 2001, to Natalie Sorrels Gibbs (’95) and David Gibbs (’94, M.P.A. ’95) of Ridgeland.

Margaret Elizabeth Gordon, March 12, 2001, to Michael Keith Gordon (’90) and Belinda Burge Gordon (’91) of Gainesville, Ga. Emily Marie Grondin, May 7, 2001, to Gina Ledbetter Grondin (’90) and Robert C. Grondin (’90) of Mesquite, Texas.

Jordan Kelly Headley, Oct. 24, 2000, to Blake Thornton Headley (’92) and wife Kelly of Madison.

Parker Anthony Hughes, May 15, 2001, to Janelle Egdorf Hughes (’92) and husband Daniel of New Orleans, La. 42

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Andrea Claire Humphrey, March 25, 2001, to Bonnie Silver Humphrey (’88) and husband Andy of Lake Jackson, Texas.

Walker Chatham Hunter, May 13, 2001, to Catherine Chatham Hunter (’91) and Shawn Hunter (’92).

Hannah Rae Johnson, May 19, 2001, to Jennifer Johnson (’90) and Hugh Johnson (’90) of Madison.

Henley Katharine Johnson, Nov. 13, 2000, to Bethany Brantley Johnson (’93) and husband Thomas of New Orleans, La. Logan Stuart Lamar and William Byars Lamar, April 28, 2001, to R. Alan Lamar (’92) and wife Lou Ann of Meridian.

Jones Hamilton Leonard, Dec. 13, 2000, to Todd Leonard (’91, M.B.A. ’92) and wife Melissa of Southaven.

Levi Hamilton Massey, April 5, 2001, to Thomas Massey (’88) and wife Susan of Madison, Ala. Caroline Alise Maxwell, April 2, 2001, to Brian K. Maxwell (’91, ’92) and Laurie Young Maxwell (’93) of Senatobia.

Maggie Miller McLaurin, Jan. 30, 2001, to Neill A. McLaurin (’93) and Amy Brown McLaurin (’92) of Hollandale.

Alana Ruth McMullan, March 20, 2001, to Stephen McMullan (’92) and Eileen Frank McMullan (’92, M.S. ’94) of Forest.

Sam Alexander Merrick, Dec. 27, 2000, to Jo Matthes-Merrick (’84, M.B.A. ’86) and husband Mark.

Alex Oliver Murrell, July 31, 2001, to Trish Ingram Murrell (’91) and husband David of Canton.

Davis Boyd Newton, Rees Brasher Newton, and Brantley Katherine Newton, June 23, 2000, to John K. Newton Jr. (’92) and wife Denise of Alpharetta, Ga. Harper Page Owen, June 11, 2001, to Scott Owen (’92) and Stacia Smith Owen (’92) of Birmingham, Ala. Haley Marie Palmer, Jan. 18, 2001, to Stephen Palmer (’93) and Jennifer Slater Palmer (’92) of Marietta, Ga. Daniel Graves Pepper and Thomas Parke Pepper, Oct. 2, 2000, to Mike Pepper (’94) and wife Jenny of Madison.

Elizabeth Anne Polk, March 28, 2001, to Steve Polk (’90) and Melissa Galle’ Polk (’93) of Biloxi.

William Gordon Rutledge, Feb. 15, 2001, to Natalie Gordon Rutledge (’93) and Edward Saunders Rutledge (’91) of Birmingham, Ala. Davis McClinton Shannon, Nov. 16, 2000, to James W. Shannon II (’98) and Daphne Clements Shannon (’91) of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. Johnathan Charles Shelton, Aug. 14, 2001, to Timothy W. Shelton (’97, M.S. ’00) and Victoria E. Shelton (’98) of Hot Springs, Ark. Emily Elizabeth Shows, March 11, 2000, to Greg Shows (’92) and Nicole Taylor Shows (’92).

James Carson Sitton, June 7, 2001, to Stacey Carson Sitton (’93) and Scott Sitton (’93) of Corinth.

Virginia Clara Slonaker, July 16, 2001, to Jeremy Slonaker(’95) and Allison Evans Slonaker (’95) of Brandon.

Kaylee Regan Snodgrass, Aug. 16, 2000, to Paul A. Snodgrass (’91, ’95) and wife Kathryn of Luling, La. Alena Read Sowell, Jan. 8, 2001, to Myna Dickerson Sowell (’92) and husband John of Kansas City, Mo. Jessica Faith Styres, May 7, 2001, to Belinda Boykin Styres (’90, M.B.A. ’91) and husband Jeff of Jackson.

Bella Grace Sykes, Dec. 28, 2000, to David Sykes (’91) and wife Michelle of Brandon.

Elijah Baynes Sykes, April 27, 2001, to Joanna Gunter Sykes (’99) and husband Stacey of Conehatta.

Seth Lisha Sykes, Dec. 13, 2000, to Chanda Noelle Thomas Sykes (M.A. ’96) of Pensacola, Fla. Adam Michael Tommasini, March 27, 2001, to Angela Weaver Tommasini (’94, M.S. ’97) of Madison.

Aaron Rhodes Waterson, Sept. 28, 2000, to Alex G. Waterson (’94) and Bobbi Ann Waterson (attended) of Durham, N.C. Joseph Reed Watson, July 21, 2001, to Shawn Watson (’91, M.B.A. ’93) and Sherrye Sanderson Watson (’90) of Hoover, Ala. Kyle Timothy Wicks, May 27, 2000, to Lori Lewellen Wicks (’91) and husband Rocky of Hickory, N.C. Kailey Anna Young, March 6, 2001, to Beverly Burrage Young (’92, M.B.A. ’94) and husband Darrin of Blountsville, Ala. Charles William Zwies, April 20, 2001, to Julie Ferrill Zwies (’91) and husband Walter of Dover, Del.

▼ Lt. Col. Jerry D. Dickerson Jr. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jerry D. Dickerson Jr. grew up in Durant, graduated from Durant High School, and earned an economics degree at Mississippi State in 1983.

He was the university’s distinguished military graduate that year and received a Regular Army commission in the field artillery. Pursuing a military career, he would serve his country at home and abroad in various assignments. He also would make time to complete a master’s degree in industrial engineering at Texas A&M University.

Most recently, Dickerson was stationed at the Pentagon, putting his education to work for a four-star general in the planning and logistics area. That’s where the 41-yearold was Tuesday morning, Sept. 11, when a terrorist-guided commercial passenger jet crashed into the national military command center in Arlington County, Va. In a tragic coincidence, Joe Ferguson, Dickerson’s childhood friend from Durant, was a passenger on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. Ferguson, a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, was an executive for National Geographic.

Family members say Jerry Dickerson loved his family, the Army, and his college alma mater. His father recalled that Jerry “always held his head high at the mention of Mississippi State” and never passed up a chance to return to campus on visits home.

One of his ambitions was to eventually return to MSU as professor of military science, head of the Army ROTC program.

The elder Mr. Dickerson said his son lived and died doing what he loved and what he believed in. “I wouldn’t change a thing and Jerry wouldn’t change a thing,” he added.

Family members also say Dickerson, his wife Page, and children, Beth, 14, and Will, 11, proudly displayed their maroon and white colors no matter where they were stationed. They dressed in full Bulldog regalia on game days, even when living thousands of miles away.

MSU President Malcolm Portera paid tribute to Dickerson during a Sept. 13 memorial service on the campus Drill Field for all who died in the attacks earlier in the week. A memorial scholarship has been established at the university in his honor.

Thomas A. Hester Jr. (’31)—93, Shelby; retired conservationist for the USDA Soil Conservation Service.

Carlton P. Russell Sr. (’31)—90, Carthage; retired pharmacist and former owner of Russell Dry Goods and World War II veteran, May 22, 2001.

Sarah Barr Biggs Milton (’35)—88, Crystal Springs; homemaker, May 1, 2001.

William E. McLellan Jr. (’36)—85, Greenville; retired salesman for Henderson and Baird and World War II veteran, June 3, 2001.

Leonard Broughton West (’36)—86, Jackson; retired director with the Mississippi Employment Security Commission’s Administration and Service Division and World War II veteran, June 5, 2001.

George M. Reynolds (’37)—86, Jackson; retired dentist and World War II veteran, June 15, 2001.

Arthur A. Rogowski Jr. (’38)—86, Bradenton, Fla.; retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and World War II veteran, June 13, 2001.

Jesse Gaston Shields (’38)—Spring City, Tenn.; retired Tennessee Valley Authority employee, Nov. 30, 2000.

Robert Marion Kaiser (’39)—84, Williamsburg, Va.; World War II veteran, Aug. 11, 2001.

John R. Knight Jr. (’39)—Chattanooga, Tenn.; retired production planning employee of E.I. duPont de Nemours, Dec. 21, 2000.

E.C. Lea (’40)—83, Hazlehurst; former Ford Motor Co. employee, Aug. 11, 2001.

Sue Weems Lawrence (’41)—81, Jackson; homemaker, April 25, 2001.

Robert Y. Wiseman Jr. (’41)—83, Kosciusko; retired insurance agent, former member of the state House of Representatives, life secretary of the Class of 1941, and World War II veteran, May 7, 2001.

Paul K. Adams (’42)—Alexandria, La.; entomologist and former president of Adams Pest Control, April 3, 2001.

William Leroy Kerley (’42)—81, Hattiesburg; retired conservationist for the USDA Soil Conservation Service and World War II veteran, June 26, 2001.

Claiborne Hall Bishop (’43)—79, Lumberton; former owner of Western Auto Store in Lumberton, member of the 1941 Orange Bowl and 1941 SEC Championship football teams, and World War II veteran, Aug. 20, 2001.

Henry Woody Jones (’43)—80, Brandon; retired postmaster and World War II veteran, Aug. 16, 2001.1 Henry Lawler Jr. (’43)—79, Rosedale; retired farmer, former Rosedale mayor, and World War II veteran, May 22, 2001.

Charles H. Russell Jr. (’45)—75, Jackson; retired employee of Russell Co. wholesale grocery, Aug. 19, 2001.

Mary Roebuck Kinard (’46)—77, Ridgeland; retired elementary school teacher, June 12, 2001.

Wilbur R. Holland (’48, M.S. ’56)— 78, Mathiston; retired district director for the USDA Agriculture and Stabilization Service and World War II veteran, Jan. 8, 2001.

George Bancroft Ramsey III (’48)— 76, Starkville; former director of NBC bank and World War II veteran, June 12, 2001.

Llewellyn Henry Cox Jr. (’49)—77, Madison; former mayor and alderman of Madison, former Prudential Life Insurance Co. employee, and World War II veteran, June 26, 2001.

Guy Ragan Green Jr. (’49)—76, Jackson; executive director of the 31st Infantry Dixie Division Association, retired Army colonel and businessman, and World War II and Korean War veteran, June 10, 2001.

Allan King (’49)—75, Philadelphia; former owner of Ford dealership, former mayor of Philadelphia, and World War II veteran, April 25, 2001.

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▼ Lewis L. Monroe Sr. (’49, M.S. ’66)— 85, Clinton; retired extension marketing specialist and World War II veteran, May 2, 2001.

Herbert Garnett Peaster (’50)—79, Brandon; retired electrical engineer for Mississippi Power & Light Co. and World War II veteran, April 9, 2001.

Harry H. Teasley Jr. (’50)—73, Ridgeland; retired manager for Van Landingham Lumber Co. in Starkville and World War II veteran, April 29, 2001.

James A. Bragan Sr. (’51)—72, Sterrett, Ala.; retired president of the Southern League of Professional Baseball Clubs, former head baseball coach at Mississippi State, and MSU baseball player 1947-50, when the team won two SEC championships, June 2, 2001.

Martha Jane Oakes Dunn (’51)—71, Birmingham, Ala.; homemaker, June 26, 2001.

Woodson W. Moffett Jr. (’51, M.S. ’52)—82, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.; retired director of Dairy Industries, New Jersey Department of Commerce, retired Army Reserves colonel, and World War II veteran, June 20, 2001.

Charles Donald Wells (’51)—73, Natchez; retired MCES county agent and farmer, Aug. 21, 2001.

Roy Kirkpatrick (’52)—75, Flora; retired FBI special agent in charge of the bureau’s Birmingham, Ala., office and World War II veteran, June 2, 2001.

Tony Ellis Mansell (’55)—83, Starkville; insurance and real estate agent, May 28, 2001.

Richard L. Meador (’55)—Seattle, Wash.; retired Boeing Co. employee, Jan. 1, 2001.

James T. Josey (’56)—69, Starkville; retired rural mail carrier and Korean War veteran, Jan. 11, 2001.

Joe Moore McCullen (’56)—66, Amory; director of finance and accounting for Monroe County Electric Power Association, March 25, 2001.

Oscar Avery Wood Jr. (’56)—66, Greenwood; retired supervisor for the state Department of Corrections and former director of the state Game and Fish Commission, April 27, 2001.

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Joe K. Gillis (’58)—69, Pearl; retired U.S. Forest Service employee and Korean War veteran, May 16, 2001.

Sidney P. Saucier III (’59)—Huntsville, Ala.; associate director of Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville and recipient of NASA’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal, Aug. 6, 2001.

James A. McKay (’60)—63, Madison; retired purchasing agent for Jackson Paper Co., July 6, 2001.

Thomas Felix Torries (’61, M.S. ’63)— 61, Morgantown, W.Va.; geology professor at West Virginia University, April 3, 2001.

Jack Petty Carrington Jr. (’66)—57, Richardson, Texas; operations manager for Key Systems, July 19, 2001.

George Julian Dees (’68)—82, Florence; retired counselor for Mississippi Rehabilitation for the Blind and World War II and Korean War veteran, April 11, 2001.

William Chambers (’72)—50, Lincolnshire, Ill.; Allstate Insurance Co. executive, June 14, 2001.

Michael J. Rabalais (’72)—64, Jackson, Hinds Community College administrator, July 12, 2001.

Mary LeGrande Sullivan Gaines (’75)—48, Starkville; radiologist and owner of Starkville Radiology Association, May 25, 2001.

Barbara Sanford Ruemke (’76)—47, Ocean Springs; mathematics teacher and tutor, June 1, 2001.

George Shaw (’80)—Jackson; Nov. 7, 2000.

Helen Taylor Sharp (’85)—63, Louisville; Spanish instructor at Mississippi State, June 3, 2001.

Laura Fuller Duke (’00)—24, Oxford; computer engineer with Parker-Hannifin in Batesville, April 3, 2001.

Carl Lundquist (attended)—75, Brandon; owner of Jackson Welding Supply Co. and World War II veteran, April 6, 2001.

Edward A. Buckner Sr. (former employee)—80, Starkville; retired 40-year director of Support Services at Mississippi State and owner of Northeast Custodial Service, July 9, 2001.

James W. Crosby Jr. (former employee)—75, Starkville; retired director of Printing Department and Office Supplies at Mississippi State, longtime printer of Mississippi State Alumnus magazine, and World War II veteran, May 11, 2001.

Alton C. Grimes (former employee)— 91, Starkville; professor of mathematics emeritus at Mississippi State and World War II veteran, June 26, 2001.

James Nelson Barron (friend)—98, Crystal Springs; former president of Barron & Co., April 14, 2001.

Clarence Ray Beene (friend)—74, Starkville; former owner of Corky’s Package Store, June 28, 2001.

Bonnie A. DeMent (friend)—90, Indianola; retired office manager for Leland Oil Mill, April 8, 2001.

Elizabeth Hillman (friend)—79, Columbus; retired realtor, April 10, 2001.

Francis Jefferson Lundy (friend)—77, Jackson; legislative consultant and World War II veteran, April 22, 2001.

Vernell J. McAlpin (friend)—69, Pearl; Jan. 7, 2001.

John Edward Mullins (friend)—75, Starkville; June 17, 2001.

Henry Ray Strowd (friend)—76, Jackson; retired purchasing agent for Mississippi Power & Light Co. and World War II veteran, Aug. 17, 2001.

Hazel Billingslea Vanderford (friend)—92, Hermitage, Tenn.; April 19, 2001.