22 minute read
Campus News
FUN FOR ALL
MSU’s museums and galleries offer opportunities for endless exploration
By Sasha Steinberg, Photos by Megan Bean and Beth Wynn
There’s always so much to do and so much to see at Mississippi State, and the reopening of more than 30 museums and galleries ensures visitors can do plenty of both on the Starkville campus.
“MSU is like a self-contained city because we have so many places here, and the Welcome Center is the front door of the university,” said center coordinator Cristi Stevens. “We’ve got upwards of 30 different museums, galleries and areas that the Welcome Center gives tours of. Most universities don’t have that.
“Places on campus like the Mississippi Entomological Museum, bug zoo and the John Grisham Room are special for our university. People also tell us how amazed they are with the Grant Presidential Library and Lincolniana Collection at Mitchell Memorial Library, especially since we’re in the South,” she continued. “It’s fun to have that kind of impact on so many people.”
Personalized individual and group tours are open to all age groups and should be scheduled two weeks in advance. Guided campus tours, as well as historical and children’s tours and self-guided walking tours, are among those available. During each guided tour, volunteers with MSU’s Maroon VIP program share personal MSU stories along with interesting facts about the campus and its 143-year history.
Stevens said the center can provide brochures with information about selfguided walking tours and historic buildings on campus. Visitors also can access MSU’s mobile-friendly campus map to view photos and descriptions of university buildings, monuments, memorials and special features including the Campus Tree Trail.
Patrons who would like to explore campus in their personal vehicles can request tour guide accompaniment from the Welcome Center. The center also can provide riding tours via its six-seater golf cart. These options, along with smaller tour groups, allow for a safer, more personalized experience, Stevens said.
“MSU’s admissions office does a great job with tours for prospective students. Our primary goal at the Welcome Center is to provide tours for visitors of all ages from preschoolers to senior citizens,” Stevens said. “We love when people ask questions about campus or stop by for directions if they’re not familiar with the area. It’s great to see their reactions when they visit the Welcome Center and find out we have an amazing clock museum—one of the only ones in the state of Mississippi—and an art gallery upstairs where they can see art created by faculty, staff, students and local community members.”
Stevens said she enjoys working with staff and students to leave a positive impression on campus visitors.
“I remind our students that it could be the 10th time someone has been on campus or the first, but we show our welcoming spirit to each person who comes in,” she said. “I encourage students to personalize tours and talk about what they find fascinating.
“I think they enjoy giving alumni tours the most because they end up learning more than they’re teaching,” she continued. “Our alumni always have stories to tell about their time on campus, and it’s fun for the students to hear them.”
In addition to resuming in-person tours as pandemic restrictions are eased, multiple museums and galleries plan to continue hosting virtual events to engage patrons in Mississippi
and beyond. Amy Moe-Hoffman, chair of MSU’s museums and galleries committee, said technology has enabled the university’s Dunn-Seiler Museum to share its extensive collection of minerals, rocks and fossils with people across the Southeast and the country. To celebrate National Fossil Day in 2020, the Dunn-Seiler Museum staff showcased faculty, staff and family members’ favorite fossils from the museum’s collection in a series of videos made available for public viewing. Viewers voted for their favorites, and the museum crowned an overall winner.
“I didn’t know what to expect asking people to vote for their favorite fossil by emailing me directly, so it was neat when I woke up to an inbox with 15 messages from people across the U.S., including former students and people who have never had anything to do with Mississippi State,” MoeHoffman said. “It’s neat to think that people outside of Mississippi are interested in our museum and the specimens we have here. This virtual outreach was such an untapped resource for us pre-pandemic, so it’s been really exciting for us to embrace technology and get the Mississippi State name out in a different way.”
Along with discussing plans for future virtual programming, the museums and galleries committee has been hard at work preparing to host Science Night at the Museums, which draws approximately 2,000 visitors to campus for a single night of science demonstrations, tours and activities. The Feb. 19 event will be held at Hilbun Hall and the Cobb Institute of Archaeology.
Moe-Hoffman said museums and galleries committee members also are excited to host in-person visits for individuals and groups, including teachers and students from local schools.
“It’s been too long since we’ve heard the little voices of kids getting excited before they come into the museum,” she said. “If they want to bring their students and give them something new to draw or to inspire them, I encourage teachers to schedule a tour and talk with us about ways we can collaborate. There are so many hidden treasures to discover at the university, and we want to help them start that journey.” n
Most of MSU’s museums and galleries currently have limited hours of
operation, so Moe-Hoffman encourages individuals and groups to visit museums. msstate.edu to view a comprehensive list of galleries and collections that are open for public viewing.
Welcome Center tours are conducted Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
To view indoor and outdoor tour options or schedule a visit, go to visit.msstate. edu, call 662.325.5198 or email visit@ pres.msstate.edu.
MSU’s art galleries regularly host rotating exhibitions, often with
weekend hours. Individuals and groups interested in touring these facilities can follow on Facebook
@MississippiStateUniversityArtGalleries
for updated information.
Starkville Murals
ART AROUND TOWN
Marcus Williams, a senior art major from Starkville, works to paint a new mural on a concrete retaining wall next to the university's downtown innovation hub, a part of MSU's Research & Technology Corporation, on Jackson Street. Mural photos by Megan Bean.
Along with exploring Mississippi State’s museums and galleries, visitors can immerse themselves in Bulldog Country with a casual tour of Starkville’s murals and public art installations.
Many of these works of art represent a vibrant blend of creative talent and community outreach made possible through the contributions of students and faculty in MSU’s Department of Art.
“From City Hall to Lee Hall: We’re in this Together” is one of many eye-catching examples of Bulldog talent that can be found in Mississippi’s College Town. The mural depicting local and MSU landmarks is located along North Jackson Street in downtown Starkville.
Critz Campbell, a professor and head of the MSU art department, said working on murals and other public art projects provides students with opportunities for complex collaboration and public discourse.
“I hope creating public works opens students’ eyes to an unexpected avenue for their talents and careers,” he said.
MSU also is leaving its mark on the local community through the efforts of its Fred Carl Jr. Small Town Center, which in October secured a $25,000 grant to fund the University Drive Corridor Connections project in Starkville. The city is one of 26 in the nation receiving the grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Asphalt Art Initiative.
The local project will help connect the one-mile stretch between downtown Starkville and the Mississippi State campus at key intersections on University Drive, from Camp to Washington streets. Intersections will be painted with designs to progressively lead pedestrians along the corridor, creating a safe and attractive means of connecting Starkville’s downtown, midtown and Cotton District.
Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill, a 1974 MSU business graduate, said MSU students and faculty are major contributors to the Starkville art community.
“Having an art department and a creative program that foster art in our community through the university is wonderful. It is important to me and to our city that we have exciting interactions with the students who are calling Starkville their home,” she said. “When you take pride in your community, you in turn take care of your community. Whether through music or murals, art makes our lives better, and it’s one of many attributes that makes Starkville a place we are proud to call home.” n
Works produced by Mississippi State faculty and students complement other art installations that can be found around town, including murals on buildings, bridges and retaining walls throughout downtown and the Cotton District.
Hail to the King of Cowbells
Make no bones about it, the late Paul Perry knew a thing or two hundred about cowbells. Just ask his wife Nancy.
“Paul was a collector of many things, but cowbells were a love of his. He collected over 200 in all shapes and sizes,” said Nancy, a Houston native who studied at MSU in the 1970s. “Paul would spray paint and prime unpainted ones himself or get Starkville artist Vicki Burnett or someone like that to paint them for him. Or he may find a regular bell that a cow wore and ask his friend to weld him a handle. He liked to have a big variety.”
At her husband’s request, Nancy donated the cowbells to Mississippi State following his death in 2014. She said MSU staff did an “excellent” job with building custom display cases to showcase her husband’s cowbells at the university’s Welcome Center.
“It’s nice to give things to people who are grateful to have them, and Mississippi State was so genuinely grateful to get Paul’s cowbells,” Nancy said. “They would have been sad reminders if I kept them at home, but now, they’re happy reminders because everyone is getting to enjoy his passion.”
Though Paul was not an MSU graduate, he was a diehard Bulldog fan. His cowbell collection was one of many ways he showed his love for Mississippi State. Another of Nancy’s favorites is the impressive MSU-themed tree her husband put together for Christmas.
“It was awesome,” Nancy said with a laugh. “Every year, we would go to Mistletoe Marketplace in Jackson. Paul would go in and say to me, ‘I’ll talk to you later.’ He would go straight to Campus Book Mart’s booth and buy at least one of every ornament they had for Mississippi State. Then he’d go home and decorate this tree. It was so ‘him.’ He absolutely loved it.”
Visitors can view Paul’s collection at the MSU Welcome Center, 75 B.S. Hood Dr. on the Starkville campus. To schedule a visit, go to visit.msstate.edu, call 662.325.5198 or email visit@pres. msstate.edu. n
A MAN OF NOTE Honoring “Doc” Kent Sills
By Sasha Steinberg, Photos Submitted & Archive
Those closest to Kent Sills remember MSU’s late band director as a man of many interests. By far, his greatest were family, music and his students at Mississippi State University.
“Kent was the most loving, kind and generous person. It didn’t matter if you had one dollar or a million; you were all the same in his eyes,” recalled Nora, his wife of 52 years. “He loved every single one of his students at Mississippi State and took such a personal interest in helping them become better musicians and people. I hope that’s the way he is remembered.”
Elva Kaye Lance, who came to MSU as Sills’ assistant in 1992, said that’s exactly how she remembers her former mentor.
“Every band has a personality, and I think one of the things that helped develop our family atmosphere in MSU’s Famous Maroon Band was Dr. Sills’ personality. He always had a good sense of humor and kept things in perspective,” said Lance, who became MSU’s director of bands in 2002. “There are many days when I see something that happens on campus or within our program, and I chuckle to myself because I think how Dr. Sills may have responded."
Nora said her husband’s personality came out best when he was in front of his students. He became known for his funny one-liners— phrases students coined “Doc-isms.”
“For example, whenever students would finish playing, Kent would say, ‘OK, now go play in the street,’ which of course he did not mean at all,” she said with a laugh.
Nora, a pianist and organist in Starkville, said she and Kent met in high school in Attala
County. Kent was a multi-sport athlete, played in the band and was “Mr. Kosciusko High School.” Nora was homecoming queen during the couple’s senior year.
“He escorted me onto the field in his dirty No. 82 football uniform. That was interesting,” Nora joked.
Sills aspired in his early years to be a dentist, but Nora said her high school sweetheart always loved music. He was selected for the prestigious Mississippi Lions All-State Band in high school and eventually served as the band’s director for nearly a decade.
“Even in high school, Kent would go around and play with people in jazz bands. Right around Kosciusko, there were people interested in jazz music, and they would get little groups together and just play in homes,” Nora recalled. “When Kent became a trombone player in the Kosciusko High School band in ninth grade, that was his love. He decided he wanted to be a musician and a band director.”
After teaching high school band in Lumberton and Clarksdale, Sills joined the MSU faculty in 1967 as assistant director of bands and was appointed its sixth director in 1983.
He founded MSU’s Stage Band—now known as the Jazz Band—and started both the MSU Jazz Band Festival and the MSU Junior High Band Festival. As director of MSU’s Famous Maroon Band, Sills codesigned and produced the band’s first patriotic halftime show in the mid-1980s with then choral director Jerry Williams. To this day, the Famous Maroon Band and choral ensembles honor Sills’ legacy with a performance at MSU’s annual
military appreciation football game in Davis Wade Stadium.
“This show is a neat tradition because we still present it in much the same way, and it’s one that a lot of the kids remember most fondly when they graduate from the band,” Lance said. “Dr. Sills had the big flag constructed by a manufacturing plant here in town, and we still use that same flag today. We’ve had to resew it several times,” she admitted with a laugh.
Sills retired as MSU’s director of bands and a professor of music education in 1999. Band alumni, current members, university employees, retirees and friends paid tribute to Sills during a September 2021 building dedication for MSU’s Kent Sills Band Hall. The MSU Foundation sponsored the event, with special guests including Sills’ wife Nora and their son, Dr. Allen Kent Sills Jr., who serves as the National Football League’s chief medical officer.
Like his father, Al was a trombone player and member of the Mississippi Lions All-State Band. He later became a member of the Famous Maroon Band at MSU, where he earned a bachelor’s in biological engineering in 1986.
“Kent was so proud and always wanted Al to be his best,” Nora recalled. “He also was a father figure to so many band students. They loved him because they knew he truly cared about them. He wanted them in church. He wanted them in school. If they had a problem, they felt free to come to him. He would sit down and talk with them any length of time they needed because he wanted them to do well. It was a lot of hard work and practice, but he made band fun.” n
MSU FILMS
UNIVERSITY TELEVISION CENTER TACKLES ‘STORIES THAT CAN’T BE TOLD IN SECONDS’
By Susan Lassetter, Photos by Robby Lozano and Beth Wynn
As much as everyone loves the quick videos that populate social media, some stories need more than 60 seconds to unfold. That’s a gap the MSU Television Center hopes to bridge with its newest, award-winning venture: MSU Films.
“MSU Films focuses on in-depth, rich storytelling, while providing a testbed for TV Center producers to develop new skills that enhance the department’s production capabilities,” explained David Garraway, director of the University Television Center.
Focused on documentary-style filmmaking, MSU Films aims to tell the stories that affect Mississippi and showcase the impact of Mississippi State and Bulldogs across the country.
Recently, MSU Films brought home a 2021 Edward R. Murrow Award for “The Last Supermarket,” an installment of the television center’s series “The Hungriest State,” which looks at food insecurity across the Mississippi. The Radio Television Digital News Association presented “The Last Supermarket” with the award for Best News Documentary in the small market category.
Garraway co-produced the documentary with James Parker, senior documentary and special projects producer at the TV Center. Hal Teasler, creative manager, served as graphic artist for the film.
“Our team’s creativity and skill in creating the ‘The Last Supermarket’ has set a new standard for university production,” Garraway said. “This is the first national Edward R. Murrow Award for the center, but I don’t think it will be the last.”
The MSU Television Center also earned four Southeast Emmy Awards in 2021 for MSU Film projects.
With 12 nominations, the team brought home an Emmy in Environment/Science-Long Form Content for “It’s a Journey,” a documentary that explores land conservation efforts on the rapidly urbanizing Gulf Coast. Parker earned photographer and editor Emmys in the long form content categories, while Teasler earned a prize for graphic arts in the motion graphics category.
“The University Television Center staff is an important part of Mississippi State’s storytelling apparatus,” said Sid Salter, MSU’s chief communications officer and director of the MSU Office of Public Affairs, which administers UTC. “The Television Center has evolved from simply producing video content for clients to producing unique films that enable MSU to share our research and service missions with the world. These multiple awards represent professional recognition that is richly deserved. I’m very proud of the work our Television Center does for the university.”
To learn more about MSU Films or to view full videos or trailers for upcoming productions, visit www.films.msstate.edu. n TOP: L-R: James Parker, David Garraway, MSU President Mark E. Keenum and Hal Teasler. BOTTOM TWO: The TV Center’s studio and control room facilities have recently been updated to provide for the growing digital production needs of the university community.
MSU officials cut a ribbon on Oct. 27 to mark the completion of the Richard A. Rula Engineering and Science Complex. Standing behind the ribbon are, from left, Interim Rula School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Director Isaac Howard, project benefactors Sherry and Richard Rula, MSU President Mark E. Keenum and Bagley College of Engineering Dean Jason Keith.
MSU celebrates opening of
RULA ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE COMPLEX
By James Carskadon, Photo by Robby Lozano
Mississippi State University is celebrating the completion of the state-of-the-art home for the Richard A. Rula School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
University leaders held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in October 2021 to mark the official opening of the $34 million, 70,000-squarefoot Rula Engineering and Science Complex in the James Worth Bagley College of Engineering. Located at the corner of Hardy and Morrill Road, the facility contains classrooms, offices, research and chemistry labs, and high bay areas. The research portion of the new structure will help faculty stay on the leading edge of new technologies and support economic development in Mississippi, while training future engineering leaders in key fields to provide clean water, safe roads, proper sanitation and quality buildings.
The building and academic school are named after MSU 2019 National Alumnus of the Year Richard A. Rula of Ridgeland, an education advocate and leader in the construction industry. Rula is the owner of Hemphill Construction Company and also serves on the Bagley College of Engineering Advisory Board, MSU Foundation Board and the Bulldog Club Board. In addition to his service and leadership, he has made significant gifts to the university, including the lead gift for the Engineering and Science Complex. In 2020, the 1970 MSU civil engineering graduate provided the university with a cornerstone endowment gift for the Rula School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
The MSU Foundation has raised approximately $14 million in support of the new facility, including gifts of $25,000 or more from 45 different donors. Four $1 million contributions to the project have been provided by Rodger and Jill Johnson of Atlanta, Georgia; Tommy and Terri Nusz of Houston, Texas; Kelly Gene Cook Sr. Charitable Foundation, Inc. of Brandon; and Ergon in Jackson.
Jackson-based Eley Guild Hardy Architects was the design professional for the building, while Columbus-based West Brothers Construction was the general contractor. The dedicated research and teaching labs will support the school’s technical strengths in the areas of construction, environmental, geotechnical, materials, structural, transportation and water resources engineering, along with space to support the chemistry instructional needs of the university. n
Donovan M. Andrade, a senior communication and kinesiology double major, was personally selected for the exclusive BSMS Charlie Blackwell Scholarship by Kenneth J. McGee, an active Broadway stage manager who has worked on productions such as "Rent," "The Mountaintop," "Tarzan," "Once on This Island" and "The Lion King," among others. A native of Manama, Bahrain, he was one of one five students chosen nationally for the honor. Mayukh K. Datta of Kosciusko, a senior chemical engineering major in the James Worth Bagley College of Engineering and the Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College at Mississippi State University, received the Humanity in Action Fellowship. He is the second MSU student to win the prestigious award. Vincent L. Young, a longtime academic coordinator in Mississippi State’s College of Business is now an assistant dean overseeing the college’s Academic Advising Center. Young is a graduate of East Mississippi Community College and earned bachelor’s degrees in finance and real estate finance from MSU in 2013. He is a 2015 MSU Master of Public Policy and Administration graduate and currently is pursuing a Ph.D. Nicole Ponder, a professor of marketing, is now an associate dean for graduate programs and assessment in the College of Business. She has been a faculty member in the Department of Marketing, Quantitative Analysis, and Business Law since joining the university in 2001. From 2015-2021, she served as director of the college’s graduate studies. Ashli Brown has been named associate vice president of Mississippi State University’s Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine. She has served since 2013 as Mississippi’s State Chemist and since January 2021 as interim head of MSU’s Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion. She also serves as a professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology.
Dominique A. Quarles has been named assistant vice president for access, diversity and inclusion at Mississippi State University. Quarles earned a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Georgia, where he has served as director of diversity and inclusion since 2017. He also holds a Master of Education in higher education and a bachelor’s in biology, both from Georgia Southern University. Expansion of the Animal Emergency & Referral Center, a Flowood satellite clinic of the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine, officially began with a groundbreaking ceremony in May 2021. The $5.6 million, 14,000-square-foot addition will include a much-needed increase in clinical space for staff and students to render emergency and referral services, as well as shelled space for a future residential area for students. A conference room for teaching and outreach programs for the local veterinary community also is part of the plan.
Dianna Wilson, a food science master’s student from Norfolk, Virginia, and Lauryn Heidelberg, a senior microbiology major from Laurel, placed third in the Research Chefs Association 2021 National Student Culinology Competition with their plantbased pizza pocket.
Mississippi Blood Services awarded the MSU Athletic Department and Bulldog Sports Properties the 2020 Outstanding Achievement Award for going “above and beyond” to help maintain a healthy blood supply in the state. Pictured (from left) are Bulldog Sports Properties staff members Alex Sheffield, Jeremy Ward, Justin Sendelweck, Ann Brett Strickland and Tyler Downs.
