EXPANDING THE TRACK TO SUCCESS THROUGH PHILANTHROPY

To honor the memory of their late father, Dr. Charles Moorman, the brothers established the Moorman STEM Jump Scholarship Endowment with a $1 million gift in 2021. Together, they hope to continue their father’s legacy.

The scholarship awards a minimum of $2,500 to incoming freshmen who are pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors. Specifically, the scholarship is geared toward capable students who are at increased risk of non-persistence due to barriers beyond their control, such as financial need and first-generation status. The Moorman brothers hope the scholarship will relieve barriers for selected students and enable them to excel at Southern Miss as they launch their careers in STEMfocused fields.

The Moormans recently made a second $1 million gift to support STEM education at Southern Miss. Building upon the success of the the Moorman STEM Jump Scholars Program, this second gift established the Moorman STEM Endowed Professorship. The endowment will provide funds to recruit and retain a STEM professor who will oversee the activities of the Moorman STEM Jump Scholars Program and work in support of underrepresented students in STEM.

When Charles Wickliffe "Wick" Moorman IV was a child, he spent many hours playing with his brother, Randall Moorman, M.D., in his father’s office. As his small hand pushed a toy train down imaginary tracks, he had no idea he would one day become the president and CEO of Norfolk Southern and Amtrak.

“Randall and I spent countless hours playing in our father’s second floor office in College Hall,” Wick said. “Sometimes, he’d pay us to go to the library and memorize poetry, too. Our memories of USM are good, mostly because my father was an exceptional professor and mentor.”

Beginning in 1954, the bulk of Dr. Charles Moorman’s career was spent at Southern Miss. He was a professor of English, chair of the English department, associate dean of the Graduate School, dean of students, and vice president of Academic Affairs. After years in administration, he returned to the classroom until his retirement in 1990. In each of his roles, Dr. Moorman was known for helping students pursue academic majors that ensured promising careers upon graduation. The Charles W. Moorman Distinguished Professorship in the humanities was established in 2011 in honor of his retirement.

“The endowments established by Wick and Randall Moorman will help generations of students succeed in their STEM educations and future careers,” said Dr. Chris Winstead, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at USM. “The fact that these gifts honor their father is particularly meaningful to me. As a Southern Miss undergraduate in the mid-1980s, I took Dr. Moorman’s world literature class. I vividly recall him standing on the stage in Stout Hall, dressed in a full suit and tie, reciting long passages from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English. At the time, I had no idea of his many accomplishments and accolades; I just knew he owned that stage and kept an entire auditorium of students engaged, even if they were not particularly interested in literature. Even though I was a physics major, Dr. Moorman’s class remains one of my clearest memories from my undergraduate years, and that signifies the outstanding teacher he was and what an impact he had on students.”

While neither Wick nor Randall is an alumnus of Southern Miss, they remember a wonderful childhood in Hattiesburg and are eager to keep their father’s memory alive while helping students reach their full potential. Wick is a graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology and Harvard Business School, and Randall received his medical degree from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine.

Leaving a legacy for their father, combined with the impact the scholarship and professorship will have on future students, was the catalyst for their gifts. “Students need to have the tools and training needed to leave USM world-ready,” Wick said. “While my father studied and taught in the humanities, my brother and I come from engineering and medical backgrounds, respectively. The cross-section of his desire to prepare students for careers, recruit the finest professors in their fields, and our insight into business and medicine made STEM support at Southern Miss a perfect fit.”

Randall lives in Keswick, Va., and is a professor of medicine and clinical cardiologist at the University of Virginia. While there, he has grown and led a large multi-disciplinary group focused on using Big Data for early disease detection.

Wick spent his entire career in the railroad industry. Starting with Norfolk Southern, he served as CEO after a “wandering series of jobs,” with a second retirement from Amtrak. He resides in Virginia with his family, where he owns and enjoys a “hobby” vineyard. “I want to live well, help others, and enjoy the remainder of my life because we only have a short go at it.”

That understanding leads him to encourage students to work hard, seize opportunities and take risks while accepting the advantage of a little luck. Wick reflects on walking the tracks in downtown Hattiesburg as a child. “I was a kid who loved the trains. Now, I can help others who are at the beginning of their own journey.”