Spring-Summer 2010 Millsaps Magazine

S P R I N G - S U M M E R 2 0 1 0

From the Acting President Throughout its 120-year history, Millsaps has been blessed with a well-educated, respected leader as its president. Each relied upon courage, integrity, and conviction as the College faced challenges and seized opportunities.

The ten former presidents are an outstanding and remarkable group. Six served as United Methodist ministers, and two went on to become bishops in the United Methodist Church. Two were graduates of Millsaps. One carried on the family tradition of serving as a college president. Four earned degrees from Ivy League colleges. One made a name for himself by memorizing the names of students, a feat alumni still fondly recall, and another had a smile so friendly that it earned him the nickname, Smiley.

We credit Dr. William Belton Murrah, the College’s first president who also served as dean, registrar and professor of religion, philosophy and psychology, with helping set the course for the College. In his inaugural address in 1892, Murrah said he wanted to give students the “widest range of investigation and research and the fullest recognition of the truth wherever found.”

Much has changed about the world since then, but Millsaps at its core remains true to providing the educational opportunities that Murrah envisioned. We remain a college focused on developing students with intellectual capacities, ethical principles, and a sense of responsibility needed for leadership in all sectors of the society.

Serving as acting president of Millsaps College for the last ten months has enriched my life. My fondness for Millsaps has only grown during this time. I have met remarkable alumni and friends, and forged friendships with outstanding faculty and staff. I have been rewarded by the opportunity to build upon the College’s history of forward-thinking and courageous leaders. I wish each of you could have the perspective I’ve gained this year because I firmly believe you would like what you see.

Millsaps’ newest president, Dr. Rob Pearigen, officially starts to work on July 1. Again, the College is blessed with a well-educated, respected leader with courage, integrity and conviction.

Sincerely,

In This Issue

c ov e r: I n c om i n g P r e s i d e n t, D r. Ro b e rt W. P e a r i g e n.

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14f e a t u r e s

d e p a r t m e n t sOn Campus2 Costa Rica7 Alvin Jon “Pop” King

Faculty Chat9 Millsaps’ first computer

Faculty & Staff10 Geology professor earns award13 Campus Community

Athletics37 New football coach on the job Major Notes40 Ringling Brothers46 Classnotes49 In Memoriam

Parting Word53 Consistency found in Millsaps history

MILLSAPS MAGAZINEs p r i n g - s u m m e r 2 0 1 0

Executive EditorPatti P. Wade

d i r e c tor o f c om m u n i c at i on s a n d m a r k e t i n g

DesignKelley Matthews

Publications ManagerNell Luter Floyd

Contributing EditorsLisa Purdie

Kara G. PaulkJason BronsonLucy MolinaroSandra Johnson

Student AssistantsRobert Garrett, 2011

Nell Knox, 2010Liz Lancaster, 2011

Jennifer McKinley, 2010Bonnie Tucker, 2011

Contributing PhotographerGreg Campbell

Administrative Officers Howard L. McMillan Jr.ac t i n g p r e s i d e n t

Dr. David C. Davisi n t e r i m d e a n o f t h e c ol l e g e

Louise Burneyv i c e p r e s i d e n t f or f i na n c e

Dr. R. Brit Katzv i c e p r e s i d e n t f or s t u d e n t l i f e

a n d d e a n o f s t u d e n t sDr. Charles R. Lewisv i c e p r e s i d e n t

f or i n s t i t u t i ona l a dva n c e m e n t

m i l l s a p s m ag a z i n e i s pu b l i s h e d by m i l l s a p s c ol l e g e,

1 7 0 1 nort h s tat e s t r e e t, jac k s on, m s 3 9 2 1 0 - 0 0 0 1 ,

f or d i s t r i bu t i on to a l u m n i , pa r e n t s o f s t u d e n t s, a n d f r i e n d s o f t h e

c ol l e g e. p l e a s e s e n d a l u m n i u p dat e s a n d a d d r e s s c or r e c t i on s

to m i l l s a p s m ag a z i n e, c a r e o f t h e a b ov e a d d r e s s.

you c a n r e ac h u s at 6 0 1 - 9 7 4 - 1 0 3 3 , by f a x at 6 0 1 - 9 7 4 - 1 4 5 6 , or by e m a i l at

c om m u n i c at i on s @m i l l s a p s. e du. v i s i t w w w. m i l l s a p s. e du

f or t h e on l i n e m ag a z i n e.

s p e c i a l t h a n k s : We ’d l i k e t o t h a n k D e b ra M c I n t o s h , C o l l e g e a r c h i v i s t , a n d h e r

i n t e r n S a ra S c h u m a c h e r , a n a c c o u n t i n g m a j o rf r o m G u l f p o r t , f o r p r o v i d i n g a s s i s t a n c e w i t h

r e s e a r c h a n d p h o t o s o f t h e C o l l e g e f o r t h i s i s s u e .

Former Presidents Each president faced challenges and accomplished much.

Incoming PresidentDr. Robert W. Pearigen starts work on July 1.

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2 m i l l s a p s m a g a z i n e

Professor makes provision to strengthen Costa Rica study abroad programDr. Robert Kahn plans to visit Costa Rica for the 17th time this summer with students mostly from Millsaps College.

“I see the value in study abroad,” said Kahn, who has directed the Millsaps study abroad program to Costa Rica since 1996. “To me, world peace begins on the individual level. It can promote harmony if someone experiences another culture and gets to know people in other countries.”

A professor at Millsaps since 1976, Kahn recently included a provision in his will to leave the College $130,000 to strengthen and support the Costa Rica study abroad program. “I wanted to do something

meaningful that could change lives,” he said.

Kahn’s gift will allow the College to offer a scholarship to a well qualified student with financial need for study abroad in Costa Rica. His gift will also fund an award for the top student majoring in Spanish, and it will ensure the well-being

of the Costa Rica study abroad program.Kahn said he was inspired by the

Judy and E.B. Robinson, Jr., International Fellows Program, which provides grants for students participating in study abroad programs offered by Millsaps faculty. A student must have a minimum 3.0 grade point average, show financial need, complete an application, and write a required essay to be eligible for the Robinson Program. “I have seen the impact of students being selected as Robinson Fellows and hope my gift will have a similar impact,” he said.

Kahn hopes his gift will encourage alumni and friends to make donations to assist students with financial need for study abroad opportunities. He believes that studying in another country rounds out a student’s education by providing a wider view of the world and introducing a variety of cultural experiences.

He notes that study abroad can enhance a student’s resume. “I tell students that speaking Spanish could especially help them in today’s economy to get a job.”

The Costa Rica program through the years has attracted up to 35 Millsaps students and students from other colleges and universities for sessions from two- to 12-weeks long. One of the courses offered is Learning Spanish through Service Learning. In this class students visit a school, an orphanage, or an assisted living center and interact with the people there.

Kahn’s inclusion of service learning in the Costa Rica program is in keeping with what he requires from students he teaches on campus, said Barbara Brunini, program coordinator for the Faith & Work Initiative at Millsaps. “He designates one Spanish course as a service learning course each semester. His students have tutored students at St. Richard Elementary, Murrah High School, and at St. Mary’s English as a Second Language Program. They have also volunteered with Mississippi Immigrants’ Rights Alliance,” she said. It takes 15 hours of service for a course to qualify as service learning.

Kate Royals, a Millsaps 2010 graduate,

i n t h e s p o t l i g h t

OnCampus

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in Vermont, and his doctorate from Penn State.

Kahn credits his ability to speak French and his degrees in Spanish with helping ensure his hire at Millsaps in 1976. “I got the job because I was qualified in both languages,” he said. “I tell students that speaking Spanish may be the one extra thing that gets them employment. It can be a plus.”

Kahn teaches beginning to advanced classes in Spanish, and he also teaches Spanish and French in the College’s non-credit enrichment program. Millsaps requires a student to study an ancient or modern foreign language in order to receive a bachelor of arts degree.

“I especially like to teach first-year Spanish so I can see how much students who have no or very little knowledge of the language progress,” he said. “I like to see the growth.”

He sees growth in students who study in Costa Rica, too. “I can see them little by little become more confident about speaking Spanish. They blossom.”

—Nell Luter Floyd

said living in Costa Rica for a month helped improve her Spanish-speaking skills. “The only way to truly learn a language is to be immersed in the culture, and this was the best way for me to do so at the time. Being in classes all day long and speaking only Spanish with professors whose first language is usually Spanish really forces your mind to work in a way that you can’t quite get in the U.S.A. Costa Rica is a beautiful country with many natural attractions. I did everything from seeing

a volcano to zip lining to riding horses on the beach, so there is definitely a balance of academics, fun, and culture.”

Alexis Guilbeau, a Millsaps student who plans to return to Costa Rica this summer for the second time, characterized Kahn as “a professor who cares about what students want to do.” Kahn found Guilbeau an internship in San José at Fundación Mujer, an

organization that helps poor women establish their own businesses. “The Costa Rica trip completely exceeded my expectations, and I am happy to have been given the opportunity to go again,” Guilbeau said.

Originally from Elmira, N.Y., Kahn joined the Millsaps faculty after completing his doctorate. He received his undergraduate degree in Spanish from the State University of New York at Buffalo, his master’s in Spanish at Middlebury College

One Campus, One Community book drive

Millsaps faculty, staff, and students joined forces with One Campus, One Community and donated more than 300 books to Brown Elementary in North Midtown in Jackson. The books will be used to create small libraries in individual classrooms at the school. From left, Michael Gaines, Raymond Clothier, Catherine Schmidt, Brown Elementary counselor Valerie Russell, and Quanda Sims delivered the books. Millsaps students, faculty and staff celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday by reading to students at Brown Elementary. For its commitment to service and civic engagement on campus, Millsaps was named to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

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disputation of sometimes controversial issues reminded me of what Millsaps is really all about,” he said.

Abagnale provided tips about protecting oneself from identity theft. He recommends using a micro-cut shredder to shred old bills, unneeded financial documents and address labels from catalogues; the use of a credit monitoring service that monitors all three credit bureaus and notifies in real time by cell phone or text message of any security breach; limiting the number of personal checks written; and the use of a credit card instead of a debit card.

He emphasized an upswing in white collar crime, saying, “Never in my lifetime have I witnessed more crime than there is today. Crime has become easier, faster, and harder to detect during my career. Technology breeds crime. The only thing that controls crime is good character and good ethics of an individual.”

—Lisa Purdie

Catch Me If You Can con man speaks about his life, lessons learned, and ethicsOne of the most famous con men in modern history enthralled an audience of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends when he spoke at Millsaps earlier this year as part of the College’s first Ethics Week.

“I was very amazed when this school said, ‘This is Ethics Week, this is something we do because we strongly believe in it. We believe it is part of one’s education. This has nothing to do with religion. This has to do with right and wrong – ethics and character. We instill it in our students.’ That was one of the reasons that I was very thrilled to be able to speak here this morning,” said Frank Abagnale Jr., whose life as a con man is portrayed in the book and movie, Catch Me If You Can.

Notorious in the 1960s for successfully passing $2.5 million worth of forged checks across 26 countries over the course of five years, Abagnale began his criminal career when he was 16 years old. He successfully impersonated an airline pilot, a physican, a prison inspector, and a lawyer. Abagnale recounted for the audience at the Millsaps Else School of Management 2010 Spring Forum how he spent prison time in France, Sweden, and the U.S., and how his sentence was shortened from 12 years to less than five years in a U.S. federal prison in exchange for his cooperation in working with the federal government to prevent white collar crime.

Though the stories of his clever antics amazed listeners, the heart of his message was his thankfulness for a country where everyone gets a second chance and for the love of his wife and children. “I could stand here and confess to being born again, I could stand here and tell you that prison rehabilitated me, and I could stand here and take a cheap shot and just say I was a

kid and made some mistakes, and I have grown up. But the truth is, God gave me a wife, she gave me three beautiful children, she gave me a family, and she changed my life.”

The idea for the Else School to host Ethics Week grew out of classroom discussions of current events several years ago. “Students need to consider and study ethical issues in the work place,” said Naomi Freeman, event coordinator and director of administration and alumni affairs for the Else School. “Situations arise where good judgment and ethics must be a major part of the decision-making process. It seemed natural to include the rest of the campus in this exploration.“

Other campus events during the week included a panel discussion with students and Dr. Patrick Hopkins, professor of philosophy; Dr. Sarah Lee McGuire, professor of biology; and Dr. Harvey Fiser, assistant professor of business law, and an ethics speech competition that involved 22 students participating from across campus. Dr. Billy Walker, a member of the Else School’s Advisory Board, judged the contest. “My participation in the respectful

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Frank Abagnale Jr. speaks about his life during the 2010 Else School of Management Spring Forum that was part of Ethics Week.

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was convicted of first degree murder for the 1963 assassination of NAACP leader Medgar Evers; Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers, who was convicted in 1998 for the 1966 firebombing of the home of the shopkeeper, Vernon F. Dahmer Sr., who had allowed fellow blacks to pay their poll taxes and register to vote in his store; Bobby Cherry, who was convicted of murder in 2002 for his role in a Birmingham church bombing that killed four girls and injured more than 20 other people; and Edgar Ray Killen, who was found guilty of three counts of manslaughter in 2005 for helping organize the 1964 killings of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner in Philadelphia, Miss.

“I’ve been asked, ‘Jerry, why don’t you just let these old guys alone?’” Mitchell told the audience. “But to me, they are young killers who just happened to get old. I don’t think it matters how long it has

Renowned reporter and MacArthur Fellow gives Nussbaum Lecture Clarion-Ledger investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell believes in redemption. “I think there is redemption in doing the right thing, whether it is me, whether it is Mississippi or the South, whether it is the nation or any of us. It sticks in my craw for people to get away with crime,” he said.

A journalist for more than 20 years who was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2009, Mitchell spoke at Millsaps in March about his work to bring unpunished killers from the civil rights era to justice. He was the featured speaker for the 2010 Rabbi Perry Nussbaum Lecture Series, an annual event endowed in 2008 by Dr. John D. Bower, renal pioneer and friend of Nussbaum. Bower dedicated this series to the men and women who stood against racial bigotry and religious prejudice.

Mitchell spoke about the role he played in the re-opening of these civil rights cases: Byron De La Beckwith, who in 1994

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been, they deserve to be punished.”A native of Texarkana,Texas, Mitchell

moved to Jackson in 1987. He worked as a news reporter at The Clarion-Ledger and

covered the courts beat when he stumbled across the stories of racial injustice of the 1960s. He received a tip from a source that some “supposedly sealed” files of the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, a state agency that existed from 1956 to 1977, had been accidentally filed in an open-court file. A story followed, and Mitchell focused on the commission’s

Millsaps Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the College David C. Davis, left, welcomes Clarion-Ledger investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell and Dr. John D. Bower to campus for the 2010 Rabbi Perry Nussbaum Lecture that Bowers endowed.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich

Visits Millsaps College

Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and general chairman of American Solutions for Winning the Future, visited Millsaps to outline his plan to create jobs and encourage entrepreneurship, savings, and investment. Gingrich joins a long list of national and world political leaders to visit Millsaps College including: John Stennis (1955), Richard Nixon (1966), Robert Kennedy (1967), Robert S. McNamara (1967), Strom Thurmond (1968), Jimmy Carter (1975), George H.W. Bush (1983), and Margaret Thatcher (2000). Chelsea Clinton visited the campus during the 2008 presidential campaign.


to interview those who played a role in the civil rights movement and participate in the Gannett Corp. and YouTube program, “Interview a Hero.” Many of those who played a role in the movement are older or dying, and preserving their stories will ensure their history isn’t lost forever, he said.

Millsaps Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the College David C. Davis said Mitchell was the perfect speaker to address the politics of race in the 1960s and its legacy in Mississippi of 2010 because of his courageous work over the years. “We are honored to claim him as our third lecturer in the series,” he said.

Mitchell has been recognized for his

involvement in the Medgar Evers case. Mitchell said he discovered that the

state of Mississippi was prosecuting Byron De La Beckwith for the killing of Medgar Evers while at the same time the state Sovereignty Commission was secretly assisting the defense in trying to get Beckwith acquitted. He wrote a story about that, and Myrlie Evers, the widow of Medgar Evers, asked for the case to be reopened.

Mitchell now has his sights set on running down leads about the other four living suspects from the Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman murders. He is also working on a book titled Race Against Time, a blend of history and memoir.

Mitchell encouraged Millsaps students

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work with more than 30 national awards, including a MacArthur fellowship that is sometimes referred to as a “genius grant.” The MacArthur Foundation awards $500,000 fellowships to individuals who have used their gifts to improve the world. The five-year grant is bestowed upon individuals who show exceptional creativity in their work and the prospect for still more in the future. The fellowship is designed to provide recipients with the flexibility to pursue their creative activities in the absence of specific obligations or reporting requirements. There are no limits on age or area of activity. Individuals cannot apply for this award; they must be nominated.

—Lisa Purdie

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s p r i n g – s u m m e r 2 0 1 0 7

rehearsals may redeem his or her grade by attending a make-up rehearsal.

The Singers have performed 50 major works conducted with orchestras or instrumental ensembles during Coker’s years as director. Singers receive one hour of academic credit each semester for their participation. “The one-hour credit is about the influential material being learned, not the time put into learning it,” Coker said.

In March, the Millsaps Singers performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, The Resurrection with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra at Thalia Mara Hall in downtown Jackson. The Singers performed Orff’s Carmina Burana and Triptych, a new cutting edge piece by British composer Tarik O’Regan, in April.

Michael Beattie, president and executive director of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, said the Singers are always well prepared and bring a fresh perspective to every rehearsal and performance with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. “Any time you can have a mountain top experience, it changes your perspective

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not have to major or minor in music to participate in Singers, but participation is required for a student who plans to major or minor in music.

Rehearsals take place Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from noon until 12:50 p.m. Rehearsals start promptly at noon with warm-ups while roll is taken. Singers hurry to grab their music folders so they can get to their seats on time. By the time each Singer is in his or her seat, Coker is already standing at the podium with Janette Sudderth ready to play at the piano. After warm-ups, the Singers launch into pieces that will be performed during the semester.

Although Coker sometimes jokes about how the altos sound like they are Julia Child when they sing, he keeps the rehearsal focused on the task at hand. Coker expects each Singer to sit up straight with feet on the floor and to pay full attention to his direction. A Singer may have two unexcused absences before his or her grade for the semester is dropped by one letter grade. A Singer who misses more than two

Millsaps Singers still performing great choral music works

Alvin Jon “Pop” King established the Millsaps Singers in 1935 to strengthen the music program at Millsaps College. Back then, the Singers would travel for a week or

two each semester to perform at Methodist churches, and the 80 or so members received no academic credit for their participation.

Seventy-five years later, the Singers are an institution on campus and are known for performing some of the greatest works ever written, partnering with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra in performances, and presenting their annual Advent Lessons and Carols Christmas concert. One thing has remained true throughout the years of directors from Pop King, Holmes Ambrose, Leland Byler, Bill Carroll to now—the Singers can entertain an audience. The 1948 Bobashela referred to the Singers as “Nightingales in Purple and White.”

“The group this year is exceptionally talented, and we have enough technique and talent to put more into our music. We’ve retained more information, have more leadership and are beginning harder pieces at higher levels,” said Dr. Tim Coker, professor of music and conductor of the Millsaps Singers for the last 26 years.

Any Millsaps student may audition to become a Singer. A student needs to know how to read music and sing. A student does

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OnCampus

Alvin Jon "Pop" King

Pop King rehearses at the piano with students from left, Eugenia Kelly Dickinson, Peggy Sanford Sample, Karen Gilfoy, Wally Conerly, John Awad, and an unidentified student.


King’s inspiration, influence, and impact on the College and the Music Department.

—Liz Lancaster and Nell Luter Floyd

In the spring of 2011, the Millsaps Singers are scheduled to perform a composition by Jones in memory of King. Former Millsaps Singer Vic Shaw, B.A. 1962, commissioned Jones to write the composition. The piece will be dedicated to

on life,” he said, explaining the benefit of performing with professional musicians.

Rachel Alexander, a Millsaps student who is a music major, said she likes the diversity of students who are in the Singers. “I have made wonderful friends, and I have enjoyed the exposure to great music. Without Singers, I really wouldn’t get out of the Music Department bubble. It is so nice to have a bit of social time with non-music majors. As a music major who will one day have to lead a choir myself, watching Dr. Coker and seeing how he works through the music and fixes problems is extremely valuable.”

Some former Millsaps Singers go on to musical careers. Clifton Ware, B.A. 1959, is a successful tenor soloist, teacher, and author, and Samuel Jones, B.A. 1957, is composer-in-residence for the Seattle Symphony. Jones, who was a member of the Singers when King was conductor, credits the Singers with launching his career as a musician, composer, and conductor. “Pop was very gracious to let me conduct and record an a cappella piece that I specifically wrote for the Millsaps Singers. My senior year, I was asked to be the conductor for the Millsaps band. I got great hands-on experience.”

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Author draws crowd for Arts & Lecture SeriesKathryn Stockett, a Jackson native and author of The New York Times bestselling novel, The Help, appeared before a sold-out crowd in March at Millsaps as part of the Arts & Lecture Series. Dreamworks Studio recently slated the novel for production, and Stockett's childhood friend and Jackson native Tate Taylor is set to direct the production. Architectural historian Todd Sanders shared the program with Stockett, and showed slides of Jackson through the years.

Dr. Tim Coker, professor of music, leads the Millsaps Singers.

Members of the Millsaps Singers rehearse for 50 minutes on four days each week.

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Dr. Robert ShiveProfessor of Mathematics

circa 1972

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FacultyChatMathematics professor recalls Millsaps’ first computer

Dr. Robert Shive joined the Mathematics Department at Millsaps College in 1969. He taught for ten years, was associate dean of the College for 16 years, and returned to full-time teaching in 1995. He has served through six presidents and seven deans, starting with President Benjamin Graves and Dean Frank Laney.

Technology seems to have grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years, and Millsaps is now a wireless campus. How technologically advanced was Millsaps in your early days at the College?

There was not much if any general-use technology. There was one copy machine, located in the basement of Murrah Hall.

What innovations have you been part of at Millsaps?

I helped secure the College’s first computer in 1972 and then another in 1976 when it was realized we needed a computer with broader capacities. This computer allowed some administrative offices and some faculty to have on-line access to computing resources for the first time. We started the Department of Computer Studies in the 1970s, and I was the first chair. When I became responsible for Computer Services, we wired the campus, placing ethernet and fiber optic cable to all buildings and residence halls. In 1991, I was responsible for getting Millsaps connected to the Internet when very few places in Mississippi had such a connection.

You are said to know where most all of the underground cable is on campus. How did that come to be?

My team took advantage of a conduit that had been placed underground from the

new Academic Complex to the side of the Bowl and extended it to Sullivan-Harrell Hall. This allowed a multi-wire cable to be run, allowing Sullivan-Harrell to have access to equipment in the Academic Complex. From that point, any time a trench was dug on campus, I was there to see if we could extend it to connect our buildings. When fiber optic cable became available, we trenched across campus, connecting all buildings and residence halls to our campus network.

When did you realize that desktop computers and other technology would become common and part of our everyday life?

As we installed the PDP-11 in 1976, I gained awareness that this was a major step in making computing available to those who wanted or needed it. Having “time-shared” computing for an individual meant, in the words of a colleague in higher education at a major university, “we had personal computing long before the advent of the personal computer.” My mathematics background helped me to appreciate how powerful a resource computing would continue to be for Millsaps.

Your family is well connected to the College. Please elaborate.

My wife, Lynda Fowler Shive, is a 1964 Millsaps graduate. My youngest son, Hampton, is a 1991 Millsaps graduate. My oldest son, Allen is a 1995 M.B.A. Millsaps graduate. And, my daughter, Allyson Shive Willis, is a 1995 Millsaps graduate.

I tell my students that everyone in my immediate family has a Millsaps degree except me. I have a bachelor's and a master's from Southern Methodist University and a doctorate from Iowa State University.


Geology professor receives Outstanding Young Faculty AwardDr. Zachary A. Musselman, assistant professor of geology at Millsaps, is the most recent recipient of the Outstanding Young Faculty Award. He will receive a

one-semester release from teaching and $1,000 to support his research activities.

Dr. David C. Davis, interim vice president of academic affairs and dean of the College, said Musselman has proven success in both the traditional classroom setting and in the geology field program in Yellowstone National Park. “He has shown himself to be a dedicated and challenging teacher, well-liked by his students, and well-respected by his colleagues,” he said.

A full-time assistant professor at Millsaps since 2007, Musselman teaches six courses: Geosystems, Plate Tectonics and Earth History, Sedimentary Geology, Process Geomorphology, Yellowstone Field Study, and Folded Rocks – Crossing the Appalachia.

Marie Thomas, a Millsaps student who is majoring in biology and planning to minor in geology and education, said Musselman presents concepts clearly and is an example of how to be an effective teacher. “I’m planning on teaching and going to graduate school after I leave Millsaps, and I believe my experience working with Dr. Musselman in the Ford Fellowship Program will be most valuable,” she said.

Musselman plans to use his release time during the fall 2010 semester to collect data within the Pearl River basin to test Sternberg’s Law. Sternberg’s law, also known as the abrasion law, attempts to establish a general relationship between textural characteristics of alluvium — clay, silt, sand, gravel, or similar material deposited by running water — in streams and the location of that alluvium within the stream profile.

He plans to scout locations for a field trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. “A majority of the geologic rock record is preserved within coastal sedimentary environments, making coastal environments and processes crucial to the understanding of how much of Earth’s history is recorded," he said.

Musselman’s field of research is fluvial geomorphology, with an emphasis on geomorphic processes in streams of the coastal plain of the Gulf Coast. “I emphasize the use of field-based studies in my research on geomorphic change, as fieldwork is an indispensable tool for investigating systems that incorporate both surficial processes and human impacts over varying temporal and spatial scales,” he said.

His current research focuses on the downstream effects of the Ross Barnett Reservoir and dam on the Pearl River. “My research plan for the next three years will include continuing research on the geomorphology of the Pearl River and testing Sternberg’s Law,” he said.

Musselman serves as faculty adviser to the Geology Club, which is open to any student who is interested in geology, and as adviser to Phi Eta Sigma, the nation’s oldest and largest honor society for first-year college and university students in all disciplines.

Musselman has a bachelor of science in geology from Bloomsburg University; a master of science in geology from Texas Christian University; and a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Kentucky. His wife, Kristin, is gifts administrator for Institutional Advancement at Millsaps.


&FacultyStaff

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Dr. James B. Harris, professor and chair of the Geology Department at Millsaps, praised Musselman for bringing new ideas and energy to the geology program.“He is an outstanding teacher, both in the classroom and in the field.”

—Nell Luter Floyd

Millsaps students and professor begin work on guide to spiders

Work on an identification guide to spiders found near the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson is under way thanks to Dr. Brent Hendrixson and 14 of his students.

“It’s a several year project,” said Hendrixson, assistant professor of biology and an expert on spiders, who joined the Millsaps faculty in 2008. “It’s tied to filling a need the museum has and improving students’ skills at collecting and identifying specimens.”

On Monday afternoons, students in Hendrixson’s Biology 3320 class would head to the museum that is nearby campus, carrying large nets and jars in which to preserve specimens. In natural areas outside the museum, students would swipe their nets back and forth, collecting spiders to study and identify.

Gerri Wilson, a Millsaps 2010 graduate, said the excitement of the class came from never knowing what species would be found. “Basically, we would pair up and just start walking along the paths at LeFleur’s Bluff State Park, looking for any signs of an arachnid. These signs included strands of silk hanging from branches, strands spread along the trunks of trees and their root systems, and webs built over holes. The next challenge would be to find the creature responsible for that silk and capture it using jars, forceps, and human ingenuity. After we returned to the lab, each of us would identify what we had

receives questions about them from visitors who hike the nearby trails. “It’s good to document what we have. A lot of time the creepy crawly stuff gets overlooked,” she said.

Hendrixson said he hopes the class will help students increase their appreciation for arthropods and improve their observational skills. Observation is a skill that physicians rely upon, and that’s a career path for many biology majors, he said.

—Nell Luter Floyd

History chair leads tour of VietnamWar involvement with the Japanese, the French, the Americans, the Cambodians, and the Chinese kept Vietnam from being a top vacation destination for more than a half a century. Now touted as one of the most attractive tropical places in the world to visit, Vietnam could become such a destination thanks to its mountains, deep valleys, endless rivers, and rich history.

For Dr. Robert McElvaine, Elizabeth Chisholm Professor of Arts and Letters and chair of the Millsaps History Department who teaches a class about the 1960s, it made sense that a study abroad opportunity in Vietnam would resonate with students and provide a perspective that could only

captured.”Students have identified at least 50

species. “I’m guessing that we’ll be close to 300 species plus,” Hendrixson said.

Andrew Fredericks, now a Millsaps 2010 graduate, found a brown widow spider, a species similar to the black widow spider but not usually found in the Jackson area.

Identifying spiders proved to be a test in problem solving. “Very early on to get a single identification would easily take an hour,” Hendrixson said.

Wilson said the class taught her just how diverse spiders are. “Identifying them takes a great deal of patience because each spider is not only unique, but their body parts are very intricate. I knew there were spiders everywhere, but I did not truly grasp this concept until I actually started looking for them.”

Wilson said she’s helping educate others that spiders are not the terrible, deadly creatures portrayed in popular culture. “Spiders are very important organisms in our ecosystem. Out of the 40,000 known species in the world, only 20 to 30 are actually of potential medical concern, and the U.S.A. has only two or three of those,” she said.

Lisa Yager, research and collections coordinator at the Museum of Natural Science, said a field guide to spiders will be useful because the museum regularly

f a c u l t y & s t a f f


Lydia Gikas and Gerri Wilson, now Millsaps alumni, search for a black widow spider as part of a class project.


of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in January 2011. The trip is limited to 12 people. For details, contact McElvaine at 601- 974-1291 or email [email protected].

—Lisa Purdie

New dean of admission and financial aid in place

Michael Thorp is the new dean of admission and financial aid at Millsaps. He has 24 years of experience in higher education, working for Earlham College, Lawrence

University, and most recently as associate vice president and dean of admission and financial aid of both Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict in Minnesota.

“My passion lies with the liberal arts college and its process, goals, and ambitions for student learning, and changing lives,” Thorp said. “During my visit to Millsaps College I was so struck by the faculty’s passion for teaching and how it aligned with my own values of being a part of a liberal arts community.”

Thorp is a graduate of Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind., where he majored in English literature with a minor in classical civilization. He holds a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Louisville, his native city, and has completed work toward a doctorate degree in educational policy at the University of Minnesota. He and his two children live in Fondren.

—Kara G. Paulk

come from actually being on its soil. McElvaine and Dr. George Bey, associate dean of international education at Millsaps, toured Vietnam and Cambodia in January 2009 to determine the feasibility of taking students there to study.

McElvaine and Bey returned to Millsaps convinced students would remember a trip to Vietnam for the rest of their lives. The first group of Millsaps students will travel with McElvaine May 10 through May 26 for a course titled, “Vietnam – It’s More Than Just a War.”

“I know from my two trips over the past two years that the students will have an amazing experience and come to understand the war, its causes and effects, and the people of Vietnam and Cambodia in ways that they could not possibly do in any other way,” McElvaine said. “Few Americans visit Hanoi and the north, and even fewer visit Dien Bien Phu in the remote Northwest where the French were defeated in 1954, or My Lai, site of the massacre in 1968. I will be taking the students to all of these places.”

McElvaine, who incorporates Southeast Asia and its importance to American history in his classes, did a test run of this tour when he took several members of the Jackson community to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in January of this year. The group included former Jackson Mayor Kane Ditto and his wife, Betsy, and their son, Martin Ditto; Sally Molpus; Ann Myers Schimmel;

Avery and Jackie Rollins; and Anne Guidry.Kane Ditto said all of the cities visited

were interesting. “In Hanoi, we visited the large memorial building that contains Ho Chi Minh’s embalmed body, the ancient Temple of Literature, and the Military History Museum. We stopped in areas on the coast of Vietnam on our way to Saigon such as Hue, a royal city with the enormous Citadel and beautiful royal mausoleums west of town along the wide Perfume River. Hoi An was another stop, a compact city where you can walk to all the historical sites within a few minutes,” he said.

Kane Ditto also marveled at the growth of Saigon with its 12 million people and millions of motorbikes. “The ancient buildings of Angkor near Siam Reap Cambodia could hold your attention for a month. This area is unique in its buildings, irrigation system, and 12th century urban infrastructure.”

Schimmel had long included Vietnam on her list of places she wanted to visit. “I came of age when my brother’s friends were going to fight in Vietnam and protested the war during my college years. Going with Dr. McElvaine sealed the deal because he was our historian on the 1960s and the war. The people were lovely – very friendly and open.”

Molpus had participated, along with Kane Ditto, in the Millsaps Great Topics Seminar: The History of the Sixties, which McElvaine led in 2004. “Having taken Bob’s course and having grown up in the Sixties, I really just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take this trip when my friend, Ann Myers, told me about it,” she said.

Molpus praised McElvaine for his knowledge about every place they visited. “He included most all the sites on our tour that were of importance in America’s relationship with Vietnam. The country is beautiful, and the people possess a lovely spirit. For me, it was the trip of a lifetime – lots of fun and a glimpse of a world extremely different from Mississippi.”

McElvaine will guide another adult tour

f a c u l t y & s t a f f


Dr. Robert McElvaine, Millsaps professor of history, and a group of Jackson area residents tour sites in Vietnam.

s p r i n g – s u m m e r 2 0 1 0 13

c a m p u s c o m m u n i t y

&FacultyStaffRobert S. McElvaine (history) is the recipient of the 2010 Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award, presented at the 21st annual Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration on Feb. 27. The Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award is given annually to honor author Richard Wright. Past winners of the award, which is based on a body of literary work, rather than a single book, include Eudora Welty, John Grisham, Greg Iles, Willie Morris, Elizabeth Spencer, Richard Ford, Beth Henley, and William Raspberry. McElvaine is the author of numerous books that include The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941; Down and Out in the Great Depression: Letters from the "Forgotten Man;" Eve’s Seed: Biology, the Sexes, and the Course of History; and Grand Theft Jesus: The Hijacking of Religion in America. Greg Miller (English) had his poem

“Gascoigne’s Weeds” from Watch featured on Poetry Daily, an online web anthology and book store.

Peggy Whitman Prenshaw (English) received a Lifetime Achievement Award during the biannual meeting of the Society for the Study of Southern Literature in New Orleans in April. Her book, Composing Selves: Southern Women and the Life Narrative, will be published by Louisiana State University Press next year. She presented the paper, “Eudora Welty’s Language of the Spirit,” at an international Welty conference in Venice last November.

Steve Smith (philosophy, religious studies) had two articles published. They are “The Structure of Unlimited Action Sharing,” which was published in Philosophical Frontiers in the July-December 2009 issue and “Hume, Kant, and Road Runner on Causation” in Film and Philosophy in the 2010 issue.

Lola Williamson (religious studies) spoke at the American Academy of Religion conference in Montreal on “American

Arts and LettersRichard Boada (writing program) had several poems published in various journals, including “Auricular Confession” in Southern California Review;“Vieux Carre,” Rougarou; “At Dawn,” Hawaii Review; “New Appliances,” The Binnacle;“Modern Glow,” Sakura Review; and“Hemispheric Divide,” Temenos. He presented on a creative writing poetry panel at the College English Association Conference in March. His work was titled “Post-Soviet Recession and Other Poems.” He presented a paper titled,

“The Crisis of Individuality and the Ecosublime in the Industrial Metropolis: Anthropomorphizing Engineering in Hart Crane’s 'To Brooklyn Bridge' ” at The Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture Since 1900. He also read "Mercy and Other Poems” on a creative writing panel at the same conference.

Richard Freis (emeritus, classics) had an essay published in the fall 2009 Alabama Literary Review. It was a revised version of a piece he privately printed a decade ago,

"Patrick O'Brian and the Art of Fiction," vol. 18, no. 1, 119-144.

Eric J. Griffin (English) recently had his book, English Renaissance Drama and the Specter of Spain, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. Here’s how the University of Pennsylvania press described the book: “Imagining an early modern public sphere in which dramatists cross pens with proto-imperialists, Protestant polemicists, recusant apologists, and a Machiavellian network of propagandists that included high government officials as well as journeyman printers, Eric Griffin uncovers the rhetorical strategies through which the Hispanophobic perspectives that shaped the so-called Black Legend of Spanish Cruelty were written into English cultural memory.”

Models of the Guru-Disciple Relationship.” Her chapter, co-authored with Devparna Roy, “The Changing Face of Indian Hindu Identity in Mississippi” for Ethnic Heritage in Mississippi, will be released this spring (University Press of Mississippi). Williamson spoke about her recently released book, Transcendent in America (New York University Press, 2010) at Syracuse University in April.

Else SchoolDiane Baker (management) had her article, “Enhancing Group Decision-Making: An Exercise to Reduce Shared Information Bias,” accepted for publication in the Journal of Management Education.

ScienceMichael Galaty (sociology, anthropology) chaired a research team short seminar at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, N.M. The seminar is part of a new School for Advanced Research series sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Galaty was joined by seven colleagues, including two from Albania. They discussed from Feb. 23-26 the results of the Shala Valley Project, which will be published in 2011.

Debora Mann (biology) received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mississippi Native Plant Society at its annual meeting, which was held at the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Moss Point on Sept. 26, 2009. Mann, who has been secretary-treasurer of the society since 1997, was recognized for

“outstanding service and contributions to the study of Mississippi native plants.”

14 m i l l s a p s m a g a z i n e s p r i n g – s u m m e r 2 0 1 0 14 15 m i l l s a p s m a g a z i n e s p r i n g – s u m m e r 2 0 1 0 15 Old Main Building, circa 1912

15 m i l l s a p s m a g a z i n e s p r i n g – s u m m e r 2 0 1 0 15

Millsaps presidents through the ages

16 m i l l s a p s m a g a z i n e 17 m i l l s a p s m a g a z i n e s p r i n g – s u m m e r 2 0 1 0 17

called one of his favorite phrases as “will not be tolerated.” Murrah required that every student — all males at that time — tip his hat when greeting or addressing the College’s president. The tip of the hat was meant not as a personal salute but a show of respect to the head of the College.

Henry Lane in an interview in the summer of 1949 remem-bered, “There was fear of displeasing Dr. Murrah…For evening trips to town students were supposed to have faculty permission. Once in a while, however, boys would go into town without such approval. Those truants risked, of course, a face-to-face meeting with the President, should he decide later in the evening to follow the plank-walk edging Greenwood Cemetery en route to town. On occasions

such meetings were known to be averted by a vaulting over the fence into the cemetery.”

During the College’s first year, there were 149 students with two-thirds be-

longing to the preparatory school and the rest to the College. The College offered seven departments of instruction: ancient languages, mathematics and astronomy,

English language and literature, philosophy and biblical instruction, natural science, modern languages, and history and geology.

During the College’s first operating year, salaries were set at $1,500 per annum for president and $1,200 for professor. The first

Dr. William Belton MurrahPresident, 1892-1910

by: kara g. paulk

Along with Major Reuben W. Millsaps and Bishop Charles Galloway, Dr. William Belton Murrah is considered a founder of Millsaps College. In 1925, Rev. A.F. Watkins, Millsaps’ third president, wrote of these three men: “All were needed and, in the good

providence of God, all were given—the great banker, with his high purpose and his consecrated weal th; the great bishop, his unsurpassed graces of tongue and pen; and the great president, with his well-balanced judgment, his outstanding powers of organization and admin i s t r a t ion , and h i s calm, tempered, and unwavering optimism.”

When Millsaps College opened its first session on Sept. 29, 1892, Murrah took his place as the Col-lege’s first president. Known as “Old Doc” by his students, Murrah was remembered as “a man of quiet dig-nity, slow and deliberate in speech and manner, positive – almost pe-remptory – in facing serious issues, yet tender of soul when the occa-sion arose.”

As president, dean, registrar, and professor of religion, philoso-phy, and psychology, Murrah taught whatever classes the other four fac-ulty members did not. The College’s one-room library opened into his office, and all students were supposed to spend their free time in the library. He was known to invite any loitering student into his office for an oral quiz.

Students remembered Murrah as a strict disciplinarian and re-

William Belton Murrah

• Known as “Old Doc” by his students

• A multi-tasker, he served as president, dean, registrar, and professor of religion, philosophy, and psychology

• A man of quiet dignity

1890Major Rueben Webster Millsaps establishes the College with a personal gift of $50,000.

1901 Millsaps builds the first golf course in Mississippi.


announcement about the Col-lege read: “No tuition will be charged, but a matriculation fee of $25.00 and incidental fee of $5.00 must be paid by all except young preachers, for whom provision has been made in this matter.”

A s t h e d e s i g n e r o f Millsaps College’s academic program, Murrah worked to ensure the best academics available. He emphasized pro-viding a high quality educa-tion for outstanding students. Of the first nine men em-ployed, four had a doctor of philosophy degree or were to receive it later; all did gradu-ate work at universities such as Johns Hopkins University, Vanderbilt University, or the University of Chicago. Mur-rah established the tradition of giving leave to faculty for advanced study and allowed faculty flexibility in their approach to teaching.

The physical buildings of the College expanded during Mur-rah’s time as president to include an astronomical observatory; a library; Webster science hall; Founders Hall, the first dormitory; Burton and Galloway halls, two additional dormitories; and two fraternity houses.

Notable firsts include the first female graduate, Mary Letitia Holloman in 1902 and first foreign student, Sing-Ung Zung of So-ochow, China, in 1908. In 1913, Millsaps became the second insti-tution in Mississippi, after the University of Mississippi, to gain ac-creditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Born in 1851 in Pickensville, Ala., Murrah spent most of his childhood near Columbus, Miss., where his father was a prominent Methodist minister of the Alabama Annual Conference. In 1874, he graduated from Southern University in Greensboro, Ala., where he studied arts, science, and law and was a charter member of the university’s first fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha. Two years after gradua-

tion, he was admitted to the Methodist North Mississippi Annual Conference. Over the next ten years he served congregations in Oxford, Winona, and Aberdeen before being elected vice-president of Whitworth Female College in Brookhaven. He remained there until elected president of Millsaps.

He married his wife, Beu-lah Fitzburgh, in 1881 when he was her pastor in Oxford, Miss. Their son, Capt. Wil-liam Murrah, graduated from Millsaps in 1908, and became a prominent and successful member of the Memphis bar. Major Millsaps once said of him: “I have never known a better balanced human being than Dr. Murrah.” His leader-

ship abilities were recognized multiple times: he was elected six times as a delegate to the General Conference of the Church, twice sent to the decennial Ecumenical Conference, in Washington in 1891, and in London in 1901. In 1887, he was given an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Centenary College and in 1897. a doctor of laws degree by Wofford College.

After leading the college through its first two decades, Murrah was elected a bishop of the Methodist Church in 1910. In 1911, he made a tour around the world inspecting mission stations and studying conditions in the Near and Far East. Afterwards, he and his family moved to Memphis. From 1918 to 1922 he presided over the three conferences in Missouri and the Denver conference. On June 30, 1916, he returned to Jackson to conduct the ceremony celebrat-ing the life of one of his most intimate friends, Major R.W. Millsaps, at Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church.

At his death in 1925, he was supervising three of the largest southern Methodist church conferences: Alabama, North Alabama, and North Georgia.

Shared visionsDr. Charles Sallis and his wife, Dr. Harrylyn Sallis, have a combined total of 51 years of service at Millsaps, and they believe two things are true for each president of the College: Faculty and staff played a role in every accomplishment during each president’s tenure, and all presidents strongly supported academic freedom.

“We always felt free to give our opinion without fear of retribution,” said Dr. Charles Sallis, emeritus professor of history.

“That’s one of the reasons why Millsaps enjoys the reputation it has,” said Dr. Harrylyn Sallis, dean emerita of adult learning.

Founders Hall, circa 1912

1902Mary Letitia Holloman becomes the first woman to graduate from Millsaps College.

1908Sing-Ung Zung, of Soochow, China, becomes the first international student to graduate from Millsaps.


to preach in 1890. He graduated with highest honors from Missis-sippi A&M, now Mississippi State University, in 1895.

For the first year after graduation he taught at McCool public school and then the next year taught in the English Department at Mississippi A&M. He then spent a year as principal of the high

school in Philadelphia and three years as prin-cipal of Meridian High School. From 1902-1910 he taught at Mississippi A&M while working on his master of science de-gree. He spent two years doing graduate work at the University of Chicago.

As vice president of the State Teachers’ Asso-ciation in 1910-11, Hull showed an interest in

educational issues throughout Mississippi. He was a delegate to the National Religious Education Association in 1909.

After leaving Millsaps in 1912, he was superintendent of Merid-ian City Schools until 1920 when he was named president of Mis-sissippi A&M. In 1925, he became president of Kentucky Wesleyan at Winchester and stayed there until his death in 1928.

Dr. Alexander Farrar WatkinsPresident, 1912-1923

by: kara g. paulk

Dr. Alexander Farrar Watkins was one of six men selected to make plans and receive donations after the Mississippi Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, decided in 1888 to establish a Methodist college in the state.

Major Reuben Webster Millsaps promised $50,000 if the same amount could be raised between the state’s Methodist conferences, and Watkins, the Rev. J.W. Chambers, and Bishop Charles Galloway campaigned four years to raise the needed amount.

David Carlisle HullPresident, 1910-1912

by: kara g. paulk

David Carlisle Hull, Millsaps College president from 1910-12, spent most of his life educating Mississippi’s youth. He is the only president in the history of the College to serve as president of another institution of higher learning in Mississippi.

When Hull resigned at the end of the 1912 session, tuition was $30 with a fixed fee of $47. There were 243 academic students and 238 law school students.

Born in Attala County in 1869, Hull was the son of a Methodist minister and farmer. Hull himself was a Methodist minister licensed

David Carlisle Hull• Son of a Methodist minister and farmer

• Only president in the history of Millsaps College to serve as president of another institution of higher learning in Mississippi

• President of Mississippi A&M, now Mississippi State University, from 1920-1925

1914Murrah Hall replaces Old Main, one of the first buildings on the Millsaps campus.

1916Major Reuben Webster Millsaps dies and is buried on campus.


The Legislature granted Millsaps a charter on Feb. 21, 1890, and Watkins was recognized as one of the original members of the board of trustees. In her history of Millsaps, Marguerite Watkins Goodman, Watkins' niece and a Millsaps professor from 1935 until 1968, quoted Watkins’ report given at the College’s opening in 1892: “Everything was propitious – Dr. Murrah was complacent, Major Millsaps gracious; and the agent happy – and everybody from the “grand marshal” and other members of the faculty to Jake, accommodating and industrious janitor, surrendered to the enjoy-ment of the happy days.”

In 1950, Watkins' wife, Lula Gaulding Watkins, wrote about her memories of living at the College. Her memories reflect both the challenges and happy times of the presidency of Watkins.

When Millsaps’ third president came to live at the College in 1912, there was a tradition of Millsaps students playing pranks on April Fool’s Day. Many of the pranks involved doing things that Mrs. Watkins called “undignified and unworthy of their better selves.”

The Watkins family transformed the day into Spring Cleaning Day, and the entire campus dressed in overalls and aprons and spent the day planting flowers and shrubs, trimming hedges, and prun-ing shrubs. Beef and lamb were roasted in a barbecue pit, and fried chicken, stuffed eggs, pickles, jelly, and ice cream were served.

In 1914, the College community was badly shaken when the administrative building, Old Main, caught fire just as a Spanish class was completing the last examination of the day. Students and profes-sors rushed to save portraits,a piano, and Watkins' office desk, files, and most of his library.

“I shall never forget how the tall bell tower looked as it began to burn. We could see the bell as it hung in its iron framework getting redder and redder and then it fell with a great crash. I have never felt a keener sense of finality, as if the building had sounded its own

death knell,” wrote Mrs. Watkins in her 1950 letter to Goodman.The dawn of World War I brought new challenges, and rumors

of war brought feelings of uneasiness to the College grounds. “The college boys became men with a purpose to devote themselves to the defense of the country, and the ideals for which it stood,” wrote Mrs. Watkins.

Officers and enlisted men were stationed at Millsaps for train-ing and took academic courses. During that time, the flu epidemic spread and ill students filled every dormitory, rooming house, and fraternity house. “It was impossible to get nurses. The servants quit. Dr. Galloway, the faithful, efficient college physician, was on call day and night. How efficiently he served was shown by the fact that there were no deaths. Millsaps was the only college in the State that held that record…we kept buttermilk in the refrigerator and hot soup on the stove all the time” wrote Mrs. Watkins.

A bright spot during the war years was the College’s pet bull-

1931A gas well is erected to heat the campus. The heat is thermostatically controlled.

1931The first night football game in Mississippi is played on the Millsaps campus.

Dr. Alexander Farrar Watkins• Spent four years raising funds to match Major Reuben Webster Miillsaps' initial $50,000 gift that helped establish the College

• One of the original members of the board of trustees of the College

• Transformed April Fool’s Day of pranks into Spring Cleaning Day


Dr. David Martin KeyPresident, 1923 – 1938

by: jesse yancy, freelance writer

Dr. David Martin Key, a native of Missouri with degrees from Central College, Vanderbilt University, the University of Chicago, and Emory University, began his career at Millsaps as a distinguished professor of ancient languages, eventually becoming a vice

president of the College. At the close of the 1923-19 24 session, Key was made president of Millsaps. He was the first layman to be president of the College. His tenure of 15 years is the third longest in the College’s history.

In 1923, for the first time the resources of the College totaled

dog, Joe, an honored member and retriever for the ball team. Joe became a favorite of the soldiers, and the College sent Joe with the soldiers as their mascot to Camp Livingston and then to Camp Beau-regard. There, he was accidentally shot during a target practice. Lula Gaulding Watkins noted that Joe was mourned by all on campus and that the soldiers buried him with full military honors—“salute, reveille, and all.”

A native of Natchez and the son of a well-known minister, Wat-kins attended Natchez schools and the Magruder Institute in Baton Rouge, La. He attended college at both Centenary College and Van-derbilt University, where he graduated with a B.A. in 1883.

A Methodist minister, his first church was First Church Jackson, now Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church, and he then spent four years in Brookhaven as pastor at the Methodist church. He took a three-year hiatus from preaching to be the financial field agent for the not-yet-formed Millsaps College. He then served at First Church Jackson and Crawford Street in Vicksburg.

He was president of Whitworth College, sister institution to Millsaps, from 1900 to 1902 before being elected financial secre-tary of the Superannuate Endowment Fund.

Throughout his lifetime Watkins remained active in the devel-opment of Millsaps College. Two years after retiring as president, he was named president of the board of trustees, a position he held until his death. He returned to the pastorate and served Methodist congregations in Yazoo City, Me-ridian, and Brookhaven.

“Of course, that which I remember most clearly and cherish most dearly is the delightful association of men and women, the Faculty Family, and the boys and girls of the student body…there are many more 'memories that bless and burn,' ” wrote Mrs. Watkins. “The memories that make you happy, keep you young, and make you wise—the others need not be entertained.”

1941Elbert Wallace receives the first bachelor of arts degree for economics.

1943The V-12 program at Millsaps begins with 184 Marines and 196 Navy sailors.

Dr. David Martin Key• Oversaw the consolidation of Whitworth College in Brookhaven and Grenada College in Grenada with Millsaps College

• Faced the Scopes “Monkey Law” challenge and defied Gov. Bilbo

• Known for his rapier wit


more than $1 million. Early in the Key administration, several events of histori-cal significance to the College took place. Bishop William B. Murrah, the last of the triumvirate of founders, died on March 5, 1925. In 1927 and 1933, two Methodist colleges for girls, Whitworth College in Brookhaven and Grenada College, became part of the Millsaps system; they operated separately as junior colleges until 1938 when they were closed, and students transferred to Millsaps. In 1934, Millsaps College also instituted the comprehensive examination.

The College’s first great challenge during the Key administration, consid-ered among the most emotional issues to confront academic freedom at Millsaps College and in higher education in gen-eral, stemmed from the Anti-Evolution Crusade, which culminated in the Scopes “Monkey” Trial in Dayton, Tenn., in 1925.

In 1926, the Mississippi Legislature passed a “Monkey Law” that made it un-lawful “for any teacher or other instruc-tor in any university, college, normal, or public school or other institution of the state which is supported in whole or in part from public funds . . . to teach that mankind ascended or descended from a lower order of animals” or to use textbooks which so stated.

In February 1927, Key represented Millsaps College at the con-ference of the Methodist Educational Association in Nashville, Tenn., where Methodist educators and prelates favored free academic inquiry. Key’s name appeared on a resolution that he co-sponsored with 14 other prominent educators, stipulating that “We, the members of the Educational Association of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, here put ourselves on record as opposed to all leg-islation that would interfere with the proper teaching of science in American schools and colleges.”

Despite bitter condemnation, Key did not back down in his

defense of free academic inquiry. In an article in the conference or-gan, the New Orleans Christian Advocate, he stated that he assumed the terms of the resolution to be the views of the Millsaps College faculty and trustees and went on to assert that he had “no disposi-tion to apologize for the resolution.” In response to the resolution’s critics, he said that their opinions “have only such insight as their scholarship and character give them.”

The second challenge for Key came from Theodore G. Bilbo, who was elected to his second term as governor of Mississippi in 1928. Bilbo sought to replace every president of a state-supported higher educational institution with his political allies. He succeeded

Interim presidents at Millsaps CollegeThe Millsaps College Board of Trustee minutes indicate that Howard L.. McMillan Jr., who has most recently

served as acting president and chief executive officer of the College, is the third person in the history of the

College to be named acting president.

In 1923, Dr. David Martin Key, vice president of the college, served as acting president during Dr.

Alexander Farrar Watkins’ illness and subsequent retirement. In 1978, Dr. Harry W. Gilmer served as acting

president for five months between the terms of Dr. Edward Collins and Dr. George Harmon.

In 1964-1965, a three -person committee was assigned to run the College for about six months between

the terms of Dr. Homer Ellis Finger Jr. and Dr. Benjamin Graves. The three were Dean Frank Laney, Dean John

Christmas, and Business Manager J.W. Wood. No acting or interim president was named, as Finger still came

to the meetings even though he had been elected Methodist bishop in July 1964 and could no longer be

College president. Graves arrived in February 1965, earlier than anticipated after his December 1964 election

to the presidency of the College. During other transitions, similar committees were formed or the departing

president stayed until his successor arrived.

—Debra McIntosh and Sara Schumacher

Old Main Building and President's Home, circa 1912

1944Louis H. Wilson, B.A. 1941, receives the Congressional Medal of Honor. He goes on to become commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps.

1948The Millsaps fight song is sung for the first time, during a football game between the Majors and the Mississippi College Choctaws.


in ousting the presidents of the Teacher’s College in Hattiesburg (now the University of Southern Mississippi), A & M College (now Mississippi State University), and the University of Mississippi. The dismissal of these three presidents was also accompanied by the wholesale discharge of members of the faculties. Bilbo replaced faculty members with his appointments.

As a result, every public college in the state lost accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Millsaps, as the senior accredited private institution in the state at that time, took the lead as a nationally recognized educational insti-tution in Mississippi.

After Millsaps, Key moved to Birmingham-Southern College for five years. He also taught at Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio, and Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. He retired to Birming-ham, where he died in 1956.

Dr. Marion Lofton SmithPresident, 1938-1952

by: lisa purdie

Dr. Marion Lofton Smith is remembered as being instrumental in the Methodist “Million for the Master” campaign. As a pastor, he was renowned for his inspirational and encouraging nature. As a husband and father, he was described as being gentle

and loving. Throughout his life, one trait of Smith is dominant: his outgo-

ing personality. Called “Smiley” by the Millsaps students and well-known for his cheery disposition and mega-watt smile, Smith was the fifth president of the College. He served 14 years.

A native of Alabama and a Methodist minister, Smith received a bachelor’s degree and a master of arts degree from Kingswood College in Kingswood, Ky., a master of arts and bachelor of divinity degree from Emory University, and a doctorate from Yale University. He taught for five years at Huntingdon College and in 1929, was

named head of the department of reli-gious education at Birmingham-South-ern. He became president of Millsaps in 1938.

In his 1938 inaugural speech, Smith wrote, “The one supreme purpose that Millsaps College must continue to follow is that of building character and develop-ing leaders. We want to teach our students to think. Our purpose is the man himself – his mind, his emotions, and his will.

Former Millsaps Director of Financial Aid Jack Woodward, B.A. 1951, was a stu-dent at Millsaps during Smith’s time and remembers him fondly. “I was a freshman in the fall of 1947. Dr. Smith was presi-

dent throughout my four years at Millsaps. Dr. Smith was a very well liked man by all on the campus. He always smiled when he would meet you, and he would stop and talk to everyone. Many who were in the administration at that time bragged on how he could gather

1949Director Elia Kazan makes the movie,"Pinky," based on the book, Quality, by Cid Ricketts Sumner, B.S. 1909. The movie receives three Oscar nominations.

1952Dr. Homer Ellis Finger Jr. becomes the first alumnus to be named president of the College.

Dr. Marion Lofton Smith• Called “Smiley” by the Millsaps students because of his mega-watt smile

• Whitworth Hall, Sanders Hall, and the Christian Center were built during his presidency

• Obtained Navy V-12 unit for the College


Dr. Homer Ellis Finger Jr.President, 1952-1964


Dr. Homer Ellis Finger Jr. was at the helm of Millsaps College through some of its most tumultuous years, steering it into the turbulent 1960s and passing on a steady wheel for his successor in the midst of a historic crisis.

Finger was born in Ripley, Miss. He entered Millsaps when he was 16, graduating magna cum laude in 1936. He received his bachelor of divinity degree from Yale Divinity School and began his work with the Methodist Church in Coldwater, Miss. After serving as a chaplain in the U.S. Navy, he was appointed to Oxford University

funds for the College,” Woodward said. Smith’s ability to gather funds increased the College’s financial

resources by almost two-fold during his 14 years. He assumed the presidency toward the end of the Great Depression and led the College during war time when student enrollment was down. He obtained a Navy V-12 unit for the College to help carry it during the war era and headed a “Million for the Master” campaign in 1950 during which Methodists of the state raised $1million for church institutions.

The physical appearance of Millsaps College changed during his tenure. Whitworth and Sanders Halls were con-structed, as well as the Christian Center and the auditorium which bears his name. One of his first acts as president was the installation of the cafeteria, as students had eaten in a dining hall be-fore this addition.

Smith added new courses, created six additional departments, increased the number of faculty and staff, and initiated a program of sabbatical leave for faculty. The departments of psychology, eco-nomics, speech, sociology, and geology were added and religion and philosophy were made into separate departments. Typing and shorthand were added to the curriculum.

Millsaps students dedicated the 1940 Bobashela to Dr. Smith with these words: “He has instilled in us a love for our college which will broaden and grow stronger with the years, and has made us feel that we as students are the crew which, working together, keeps Millsaps sailing ahead; he steers our course.”

After Smith left Millsaps, he took a pastorate at Moss Point Dant-zler United Methodist Church where he served until he retired in 1961. The Rev. Robert L. Kates of the First United Methodist Church of Pascagoula said in an obituary that he wrote in 1984 for the Mississippi Methodist Conference Journal: “Humility and modesty marked Marion Smith’s life, and a simple, quiet faith in God’s good-ness gave beauty and winsomeness to his soul. We will remember him as a model of the highest and best.”

1953Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis judge a Millsaps College beauty contest.

1957Twentieth Century Fox selects Millsaps as a site where it can find new talent for the movies.

Dr. Homer Ellis Finger Jr. • Negotiated a solid policy of academic freedom for the College

• Insisted on fried chicken at “Sunday dinners” that were held on Saturday afternoon because of his ministerial duties

• Well known for his phenomenal ability to recall the names of students


Methodist Church. In 1952, he became president of Millsaps at age 35.

The issue of civil rights had been simmering beneath the sur-face of the country for decades, and Mississippi and Millsaps College were at the center when it came to a boil. In March 1958, a series of lectures scheduled by the Millsaps College Christian Council attract-ed a racially mixed audience, gaining the attention of the local press.

Two days after the meeting, the president of the Jackson Citi-zen’s Council published an open letter to Finger in Jackson’s Sunday papers that formally listed the complaints of the Citizen's Council and demanded to know whether Finger and his faculty were for or against segregation. Finger did not respond to the letter. "I answered to the trustees of the College,” Bill Finger remembered being told by his father in 1989 when they visited the College archives hours before his father was named Alumnus of the Year and read the letter together.

The president of the Citizen’s Council addressed a letter in 1958 to Bishop Marvin A. Franklin, chairman of the Millsaps College Board of Trustees, demanding a clear statement of policy on segre-gation. The board adopted a statement upholding “the encourage-ment of academic freedom in the faculty and the spirit of inquiry in the students” yet recognized that the College followed a policy of segregation at that time.

Bill Finger recalled that his father re-read during his campus visit in 1989 the notes of support from throughout rural Missis-sippi. The notes were from “places like Iuka and Pontotoc, some of the towns where Dad would drive and preach every Sunday morn-ing, promoting the College. One note reads, ‘We the undersigned members of the Official Board of the Coffeeville Methodist Church, in our monthly session this night wish to express our confidence in your leadership ability as President of Millsaps College.’ Twelve scrawling signatures followed.” As Millsaps president, Finger summed up the position of the College when he said, "College students have a right to hear various points of view. They are more mature in their judgment than they are sometimes credited with...Millsaps College has its weaknesses...but indoctrination is not one of our weaknesses.”

This 1958 incident, described by Dean James S. Ferguson as the “most intense public crisis of (Millsaps’) history” passed, but the civil rights struggle endured and began to engulf the nation in the early 1960s. In 1965, Millsaps became the first all-white college in

Mississippi to integrate voluntarily.In July, 1964, Finger was elected bishop of the Methodist

Church, and was assigned to the Nashville area, where he super-vised the Memphis and Tennessee conferences.

Bill Finger recalled what many alumni remember about his father: his ability to call students by name. “I used to wake up early and go into the living room, where I always saw Dad at a card table in the corner. I learned later as an adult that he was outlining his sermons on those cards. Or, he would be working with a different set of cards, one for each incoming freshman at the college. By the time the 300 or so entering students came to our house for a welcoming ‘Coke party,’ he knew all of their names and home-towns. Knowing people’s names was important to him, and people remember that about him.”

Dr. Benjamin Barnes GravesPresident, 1965-1970


Dr. Benjamin Graves became the seventh president of Millsaps College in 1965, ascending to the presidency at a time when the College, along with the state of Mississippi, found itself embroiled in the racial tumults of the decade.

Graves, a native of Jones County, graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1942. He received a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University and a doctorate from Louisiana State University. For many years he was associated with Esso Standard Oil Company in Baton Rouge, La., and New York in the fields of employee relations and personnel management, cost analysis, and public relations. He was an associate professor at the University of Virginia and taught at LSU before coming to Millsaps.

Graves arrived at Millsaps in February 1965, more than two years after the admission of James Meredith to the University of Mississippi, and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 required colleges in the U.S. to integrate in order to receive federal funding. Graves agonized over the acceptance of the presidency. He knew that his predecessor, Dr. Homer Ellis Finger Jr., had been subjected to criticism from hard-line segregationists for his moderate views.

1961David Donald, B.A. 1941, wins the Pulitzer Prize for his biography Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War.

1962Millsaps V-12er Johnny Carson becomes host of the Tonight Show.


During the February 1965 meeting of the Millsaps College Board of Trustees, it was unanimously decided by the governing body to consider all qualified applicants for enrollment at the Col-lege. The news appeared in newspapers across the state. According to the statement issued by the board of trustees, the College stood to lose approximately $200,000 if it did not comply with the Civil Rights Act. The statement stressed that there would be no relaxation of scholastic qualifica-tions and that the College would oppose the efforts of any extrem-ist persons or groups “to use the campus, its facilities, its faculty or its students as vehicles for activi-ties unrelated or detrimental to the educational purpose of the College.”

It was up to Graves to con-vince supporters and alumni of the College that this transition was implemented to move Millsaps forward as a superior institution of higher learning. Immediately after the board’s announcement, Graves mailed a copy of the board’s statement with a personal letter to the alumni. The letter read: “Un-less we can continue to receive your support as alumni, the contin-ued support of the Methodist Church and our other friends, this institution could sink into oblivion. On the other hand, if we make a successful adjustment, which we believe is going to be relatively easy, we can make this college one of the finest liberal arts institu-tions in the United States.”

Although some, including faculty and some board members, felt that the loss of federal funds was the motivating factor in the board’s decision, the Millsaps associates, countless alumni and both conferences of the Methodist Church in Mississippi gave Millsaps their support in view of the morality behind desegregation. On June 8, 1965, Millsaps formally enrolled the first black student.

While at Millsaps, Graves expanded the board of trustees to include business leaders, and did away with a dress code with a rule that women could not be seen on campus wearing shorts. The Millsaps Arts & Lecture Series, which brings prominent writers, art-ists, and musicians to campus, and the Enrichment Program, which

offers a variety of non-credit classes open to the community, were established. The interdisciplinary Heritage Program was offered to students for the first time in September 1968, and the Millsaps/University of Mississippi Medical Center Pre-Medical Training Co-Operative was started to interest minority students in the pre-medical program.

Graves’ daughter, Janis Black, B.A. 1972, remembers living on campus with fondness. “We always had Sunday lunch in the cafete-ria. My brother had beagles, and they would follow us to lunch, so they were a part of campus life. Mother played a very important role in terms of building community on campus. She did a lot of enter-taining, and she did much of the cooking herself. Daddy was very outgoing; he was a wonderful listener and conversationalist. He enjoyed hearing the stories of the students and their hometowns.”

1965Millsaps becomes the first all-white college in Mississippi to integrate voluntarily. Yvonne Ratliff, B.A. 1969, was the first African-American to enroll in the College on June 8, 1965.

1967Robert Kennedy speaks at Millsaps about obligations of young Americans to give back to their country.

Dr. Benjamin Barnes Graves• Led the College after the board of trustees voted to accept all qualified applicants, then a bold move

• The Heritage Program and the Arts & Lecture Series were established during his tenure

• The Graves family’s beagles were popular campus- wide pets who accompanied the family to meals at the cafeteria


Dr. Edward McDaniel Collins Jr.President, 1970-1978


Dr. Edward M. Collins was inaugurated as Millsaps College’s eighth president on April 3, 1971. Mississippi Lt. Gov. Charles Sullivan, Jackson Mayor Russell C. Davis, and some 22 other college presidents attended the ceremony.

In the early 1970s, chiefly as a result of fairly static enrollment and rapidly increasing operations costs, the College began to face annual operating deficits. Collins, who lives on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in Gautier, remembers that his most significant challenge was the economic climate of the 1970s. “We went through some really

tough economic times during the (Jimmy) Carter administration. I had to scramble around and find a way to fund pay raises for the faculty and the administration. We did come up with a pay raise one particular year. The only way I did it was to convince the students that an increase in their tuition would go towards a raise for the faculty.”

Through the efforts of the trustees, the Millsaps Development Corp. was established in 1970 to develop a tract of approximately 40 acres of land on the north end of the campus. The Texaco Corp. and United Inns of America agreed to lease Millsaps property and construct, respectively, a service station, which is now Medical Center Texaco, and a Holiday Inn Motor Hotel, which is now Cabot Lodge Millsaps.

Collins was the second alumnus to become president of the College. He graduated from Millsaps in 1952 with a bachelor's in political science after three years of study. He earned his bachelor's in theology from Emory. He earned a master’s degree from the University of Iowa and a doctorate in communications from Ohio University. He is an ordained Methodist minister.

During the Collins administration, historic Founders Hall, built in 1885, was demolished. First used as a dormitory, it was the home of the Millsaps Preparatory School until 1922. Before its demolition

in 1973, it housed offices and classrooms.

Dr. T.W. Lewis, B.A. 1953, emeritus professor of religious studies, recalls that the Heritage Program and classical studies were advanced under Collins’ leadership.

“Somet ime around 1970-71, there were retire-ments in the areas of clas-sical studies, and the board of trustees felt that this was

a good opportunity to save some money by not filling the vacancies and removing the classical studies programs from the curriculum,” Lewis said. “A team from the American Philological Association vis-ited the college in 1973, met with Dr. Collins, and after that meet-ing, he asked a faculty committee to find a foundation that would

1967Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara gives convocation speech.

1971Joanne Edgar, B.A. 1965, co-founds Ms. magazine.

Dr. Edward McDaniel Collins Jr. • Second alumnus to become president of the College

• Scored the winning touchdown in a game against Mississippi College when he was an undergraduate at Millsaps

• Led the College during a difficult economic climate


fund the Heritage Program.”Collins supported the

faculty team that was able to secure a grant from the Har-din Foundation. The grant enabled the Heritage Pro-gram to flourish. Collins in-structed the faculty team to find a classicist who would direct the Heritage Program. Dr. Richard Freis was hired to chair the program and build on the foundation es-tablished by former director Dr. Robert Padget.

“Collins was able to hire not only Richard Freis to lead the Heritage Program, but also Catherine Freis, his wife, who began to rebuild the classics program. Collins was instrumental in saving the classics program and perpetuating the Heritage Program,” Lewis said. “You would never have gotten a Phi Beta Kappa chapter at Millsaps without a classics department or if the Heritage Program had been allowed to languish. If the College had not had an outstanding liberal arts interdisciplinary humani-ties program like the Heritage Program or a Classics Department, Millsaps would not be the important liberal arts college it is today.”

Dr. George Marion HarmonPresident, 1978-2000


Dr. George Harmon, the longest-serving president of Millsaps College, spearheaded what was then the largest fundraising campaign in the College’s history, allowing for improvements in the physical plant and the academic foundations of the College. Harmon

also oversaw the foundation of the Else School of Management and the establishment of the first Phi Beta Kappa chapter in the state.

Harmon was born in Memphis in 1934. He attended South-western, now Rhodes College, where he graduated with a bachelor's in economics and Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa honors. He completed his M.B.A. degree at Emory University in 1957 and completed his doctorate in business administration at Harvard.

In 1963, he joined the Syracuse University faculty and taught graduate and undergraduate business courses from 1963 until 1966. He then joined a consulting firm in Washington, D.C. as senior associate. He returned to Southwestern, where he became chair of the Department of Economics and Business Administration. It was a small department, but over seven years, he added faculty, improved the quality of the program, and increased the number of departmental majors significantly. During his tenure there, he proposed that Southwestern start a graduate school of management within the framework of a top quality liberal arts college, a proposal that was not acted upon.

In November 1978, Harmon was named the ninth president of

1975Jimmy Carter speaks to Millsaps students about the crisis in the Middle East.

1979The Else School of Management is established.

Dr. George Marion Harmon • During college, he spent four summers as a riverboat deckhand on towboats on the Mississippi, Ohio, and Illinois rivers

• The Else School of Management was established during his tenure

• Commented that “Being president is an exhausting and lonely job sometimes because you are the one sitting there making the hard calls that affect the history of the College, and you always want to be right. And no one can always be right.”


Dr. Frances LucasPresident, 2000-2010

by: nell luter floyd

Millsaps College welcomed the 21st century with a new type of leader: A female president and one of few in the nation with young children.

Dr. Frances Lucas became the first female president of Millsaps on July 1, 2000. Inaugurat-

ed on April 6, 2001, she praised Millsaps for remaining "consistent in its distinctive strengths, always shining as a top academic envi-ronment. And always a college committed to the pursuit of truth and fairness of social justice, despite some of the backward political and social movements over the last century."

Daughter of former college president Dr. Aubrey Lucas, she spent her childhood in Hattiesburg and her high school days in the Mississippi Delta in Cleveland. She earned a bachelor's degree in communications from Mississippi State University and a master's and a doctorate in administration of higher education from the University of Alabama.

She oversaw the College when it had a $46 million budget, 100 faculty members, 225 staff members, 1,118 undergraduates, and 105 graduate students.

Lucas championed the College’s hallmarks of social justice causes, diversity, and tolerance. She led with her own exuberant style, nurtured by her previous positions at Emory University where she was senior vice president for campus life and at Baldwin-Wal-lace College where she was vice president of student affairs.

Dr. Don Fortenberry, B.A. 1962, retired Millsaps chaplain, said Lucas considered the College's relationship with the United Meth-odists important and sought to strengthen it any way she could. He believes one of Lucas’ legacies will be that she presided over a change in student culture and worked to ensure a welcoming envi-ronment for the increasing diversity of Millsaps’ student population.

She would telephone prospective students to encourage them to attend Millsaps. She would wear a Millsaps T-shirt, jeans and bright purple clogs to welcome freshmen and their parents on Move-In Day. She would write personal notes to faculty and staff members to congratulate them on the births of their children. She met students

Millsaps College. The board of trustees wanted a quality graduate school of business established at Millsaps, so Harmon updated and refined the proposal he had made at Southwestern five years earlier and presented it to the Academic Affairs Committee the following February.

Some faculty members saw the business school as an assault on the liberal arts, while others thought it was risky from a financial point of view, but the Else School of Management, founded in 1979, is now a key component of Millsaps College.

When Harmon assumed the presidency, the College had a bud-get of $4.8 million that had shown 14 successive deficits. Within two years, the budget was balanced and has continued to grow. In 1979, the College had no full-time development, student affairs or admission staffs. The administration and the physical plant had been cut in order to shift funds toward maintaining the academic programs.

Millsaps Board of Trustees Chairman Jim Campbell and Har-mon convened a meeting of the board of trustees and set out an ambitious goal of raising $7 million. The Centennial Development Campaign Phase I raised $14 million, twice the original goal. The new strategic goal also set out creating endowed chairs in business, the humanities, and the sciences, and called for a larger admissions office to bring in the finest students in the state and the nation. In response to a clear need, the 1982 library budget for the purchase of books and periodicals was 45 percent higher than in 1979. In 1983, U.S. News &World Report named Millsaps College one of the best liberal arts colleges in the South. In 1985, the Board raised another $33 million in Phase II of the campaign, supporting the construction of the Olin Hall of Science, the renovation of Sullivan-Harrell Hall, and the beautification of campus grounds.

In 1988, Millsaps College received the Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, and Harmon later supported founding a chapter at the University of Mississippi. In Harmon’s 2008 obituary in The Clar-ion-Ledger, Robert Khayat, former chancellor at the University of Mississippi, said, ”When we applied for our Phi Beta Kappa chapter, President Harmon gave me great advice and was fully supportive of our application. He made significant contributions to education in Mississippi well beyond the Millsaps campus. Universally respected, he truly made our whole society better.”

1984Ellen Gilchrist, B.A. 1967, wins the American Book Award for Fiction for her novel, Victory Over Japan.

1988Millsaps initiates the first campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity in Mississippi.


for lunch in the Caf' regularly.She placed photos of her children, Michael and Anna Catherine,

in her office, remembering how she was advised against doing so early in her career. “When I first started in higher education, I was told by my mentors not to put family photos up in my office. We’ve certainly come a long way from those days of compartmentalizing employees, and I realize that acknowledging my motherhood is being a good role model to young women and men.”

Lucas led Millsaps in a decade marked by the tragedy of 9-11, the suffering and recovery from Hurricane Katrina, and the greatest recession of our times. “The largest accomplishment of the last decade was keeping extraordinary quality and top rankings as judged repeatedly by our students and peers. Despite a tough economy and difficult competition from new honors colleges at public universities, we never dropped at all in the quality of the students we recruited or the faculty we hired,” she said.

Lucas’ term as president saw seven new majors and the option to create a major, an Office of International Education, and ten new international study programs added. Three facilities in Yucatán, Mexico, including a 4,000-acre biocultural reserve, were purchased.

Lucas raised the profile of the College by serving in leadership roles in numerous national educational organizations, said Maurice Hall, chairman of the Millsaps Board of Trustees. She was president of the National Association of Schools and Colleges of the United Methodist Church, the Associated Colleges of the South, the South-ern Collegiate Athletic Association, and the Southern University Conference.

Hall said Lucas’ tenure will be remembered for raising more than $132 million, more than any other president, creating a cam-pus master plan and building three new residence halls, beautifying the campus and creating 118 new scholarships. A coffeehouse, six garden areas, and two statues were also added to the campus.

“Frances brought the New Orleans Saints summer camp to Millsaps, initiated new sports programs in lacrosse and track, im-proved our sports facilities, and added communications as a new major field of study,” he said. “Thanks to the leadership of Fran-ces Lucas, today we can see a glimpse of the promise that awaits Millsaps College as we achieve our vision to be recognized as the premier college in the South and one of the best in the nation for developing compassionate and principled leaders and citizens for a global society.”

Her tenth year as president will conclude on June 30, 2010.

1989Millsaps College becomes the first school in Mississippi to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa honorary.

2000Dr. Frances Lucas becomes the first female president of the College.

Dr. Frances Lucas• Daughter of a former college president

• Welcomed British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, anthropologist Jane Goodall, and journalist Cokie Roberts

• Led during a decade marked by 9-11, Hurricane Katrina, and the greatest recession of our time


A new president on campus


A new president on campus

32 m i l l s a p s m a g a z i n e s p r i n g – s u m m e r 2 0 1 0 32 33 m i l l s a p s m a g a z i n e s p r i n g – s u m m e r 2 0 1 0 33 Phoebe and Dr. Robert Pearigen

33 m i l l s a p s m a g a z i n e s p r i n g – s u m m e r 2 0 1 0 33

I f he were envisioning a perfect working day, Millsaps College’s 11th president, Robert W. Pearigen, Ph.D., would begin with a run in the outdoors, followed by time to prepare for his day in the quiet early hours of the morning.

Most items on Pearigen’s calendar would have been set weeks in ad-vance and would relate directly or indirectly to the strategic priorities of the Col-lege—from a planning session with his senior leadership team to a luncheon with a major donor prospect to a meeting with local business leaders. He would also arrange time on his schedule to walk about campus, engage in casual conversation with students, faculty, and staff, and take in an athletic event, attend a dramatic performance, or participate in a student-faculty forum. Ideally, his day would also include teaching a class in constitutional law or political theory.

This mix of action focused on the strategic goals of the College and interaction with people characterizes Pearigen’s belief that advancement of the institution will come from both formal and informal activities, and from keeping in touch with the people who are at the heart of the Millsaps’ experience.

“We must always remember,” Pearigen said, “that our fundamental purpose is the education and development of our students. They must be our uncompromising focus. At the same time, we must pay close attention to the folks who make the place work—the faculty and staff. I’ve always tried to support and encourage the people who teach and serve our students. It’s important to me that my colleagues have re-warding professional lives, and it’s my hope that their work will also contribute to their personal happiness.” Pearigen strongly believes that relationships built around a common cause have an enduring impact upon people, their success, and the suc-cess of the institution.

He would close his perfect day by cooking dinner on the grill for his fam-ily. There would be lively conversation around the dining room table (where the Pearigens take all their meals), and he would later read beside a glowing fire in the fireplace.

Pearigen’s lifestyle is characterized by a balance of work and pleasure, with interests ranging from fine food to the history of constitutional interpretation and from fishing to reading. He recently finished Run by Ann Patchett and has started on The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope, recommended by his friend Jon Meacham, Newsweek editor and Pulitzer Prize-winner. Meacham is scheduled to

Dr. Robert W. PearigenIncoming President

by: patti p. wade


speak at Pearigen’s inauguration on Oct. 7 in the Bowl. Rereading Eudora Welty’s Thirteen Stories is next on Pearigen’s list as he at-tempts to immerse himself in the culture of Millsaps and Mississippi.

His activities are inspired by the idea that experiences are memories in the making. A collector of worthy memories, he recalls what he said the day he met his wife, Phoebe, the details of a trip to Italy with Phoebe and their daughter, Carolyn, and the way an excursion to Cactus League baseball games with son Wesley turned into a memory-making visit to the Grand Canyon.

His vision for Millsaps carries a similar balance, but ultimately he wants the College to be—and be recognized—among the very top liberal arts colleges and business schools in the country and to be sought after by the best students and faculty. He envisions Millsaps ascending in the liberal arts arena due to the quality of the faculty and staff; a distinctive academic program that exempli-fies the best in liberal arts as preparation for life; a strong sense of

service and community among the Millsaps family; a campus-wide focus on excellence as well as an incredible can-do spirit among the faculty and staff; and a pervasive belief among many people in-cluding trustees, faculty, staff, and alumni, that even greater success awaits the College.

“To have that kind of enthusiasm and ambition is a strong sig-nal of great things to come,” Pearigen said. His confidence in the value of a liberal arts education grew out of his own undergraduate experience at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., as well as his post-graduate study of classical political theory, particularly the work of Plato and Aristotle, at Duke University. “I have a pas-sionate belief in liberal arts education as intrinsically meaningful for individuals as well as being the very best preparation for a good and worthy life of learning, leadership, and service,” he said.

Pearigen’s extensive experience in higher education caught the attention of Presidential Search Committee Chairman Tom Fowlkes and others throughout the Millsaps community. From the classroom to administrative positions—including student life, institutional advancement, strategic planning, and admissions and financial aid—Pearigen’s expertise matches well with Millsaps’ historic path and its hopes for the future. “Dr. Pearigen is a powerful intellectual force and a dynamic leader with a broad range of experience in higher education,” Fowlkes said. “I am confident that we have found the right person to lead Millsaps College as we reach toward an ever brighter and more promising future.”

As he looks to the future for Millsaps, Pearigen envisions capi-talizing upon the opportunities for the College to be a nationally-recognized leader in distinctive areas of excellence where the Col-lege already possesses great strengths. These opportunities, he said, include but are not limited to international and global studies; busi-

ness education through a liberal arts curriculum; community service; and vocational exploration and prepara-tion in fields ranging from medicine to law to education.

He also will look toward ad-vances in student recruitment and retention, increased support for faculty and staff, enhancement of the financial position of the Col-lege—particularly through growth in the annual fund and the endowment, and development of the historically rich relationship between the Col-lege and the Methodist Church. He will continue to promote Millsaps’ vision of cultivating compassionate and principled citizens for a global society. “Our goal is to send gradu-ates into the world who are loyal to their alma mater, who are leaders in their respective professions and com-

munities, who have a high sense of honor and integrity and who are committed to helping change the world for the better,” he said.

Pearigen enthusiastically anticipates life in Mississippi and Jackson. The second of four boys in a tightly-knit family, he grew up in Memphis, with north Mississippi and Sardis Lake feeling like an extension of home during his high school years. His father—a pharmacist (his mother was a nurse)—owned a drug store in Southaven, Miss., where Pearigen worked as a clerk, as he had done at his father’s store in Memphis “from the time I could reach the counter and make change from the cash register.” Working with his father at nights and on weekends during junior high and high school was a formative and deeply memorable experience, he said.

Pearigen finds the cultural opportunities of Jackson appeal-ing. “Phoebe will love the International Ballet Competition,” said

Pearigen familyRob and Phoebe Pearigen have been married for 24 years, and are parents of two children: Carolyn, age 17, and Wesley, age 15.


Pearigen of his wife of 24 years. “She is an accomplished ballerina and well-loved dance teacher. She’s also very community minded, loves helping people, a great mom and wife….she’s the glue of the family.”

He counts Vaughan and Nora Frances McRae of Jackson among his dear friends. He and Nora Frances attended Sewanee together, and they and their families have remained close in the years since college. Nora Frances McRae has observed a soundness, a consis-tency, and a work ethic “that has never wavered” —from Pearigen's college years as president of the student body and his fraternity to his career in education. “When Rob talks to individuals in the Millsaps family, they can have confidence in what he says,” McRae said. “Rob is so prepared to take on this job. Everything is in place…all the ingredients are there.” He combines hard work with thoughtfulness, compassion, integrity, and humor, she said. “He is one of those individuals who is a born leader, but has taken these God-given talents for leadership very seriously all his life. He can articulate a vision and work tirelessly to make sure that vision is fulfilled with energy, creativity, and resources.”

Besides ties to Mississippi, Pearigen has roots in Methodism. His paternal grandfather was a Methodist minister in small towns in west Tennessee, and his maternal grandfather was named Wesley, as is Pearigen’s 15-year-old son. “My faith, my family, my mentors, and my friends are the important influences in my life,” he said, “and I try to remember the words of the prophet Micah who said, 'What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, love kind-ness, and walk humbly with your God.' ”

The Rt. Rev. Duncan Gray, retired bishop of the Episcopal Dio-cese of Mississippi and former chancellor of The University of the South (who received an honorary degree at Millsaps this spring) commented, “I think Millsaps has made a good choice, and I’m personally delighted that he and his family are going to be in Jackson. First and foremost, Rob Pearigen is a hard worker and a conscientious worker. Also, he is a wonderful person to get along with and enjoyable to be around.” Gray, of Jackson, has served at The University of the South in several roles over the years, includ-ing that of chancellor, which is the senior religious official and ceremonial leader.

Pearigen’s point of view is grounded in faith, family, and friendships and is informed by his education in political theory, his experience in higher education, and his intellectual curiosity. Optimism and humor also play a role.

He is referred to as “Sunshine” by security guards at his alma mater, because while he was Sewanee’s dean of students he was “relatively pleasant” when called at home to handle student inci-dents during the middle of the night. He is known for wearing a coat and tie on almost all occasions, a habit he developed during his undergraduate days at Sewanee when a dress code was still en-forced, as were Saturday classes.

“I’m considering introducing that dress tradition and Saturday classes at Millsaps,” he said, but quickly adds, “Just kidding!”

Dr. Robert W. Pearigen at a glance

Age: 55

Hometown: Memphis, Tenn.

Education: Doctorate in political science, Duke University Fields: public law, political theory, American government Master's in political science, Duke University Bachelor's in political science, Phi Beta Kappa, The University of the South

Career: Vice President for University Relations, The University of the South, 2005-present

Assistant/Associate Professor/Professor, The University of the South, 1987-present Dean of Students, The University of the South, 1994-2005 Dean of Men, The University of the South, 1987-1992 Associate Dean of Students, The University of the South, 1992-1994 Assistant Professor, Hillsdale College, 1985-87 Instructor, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1982-1985 English Instructor, Towering Oaks Academy, Memphis, 1977-1979


In celebratIon of 120 years,we pause to acknowledge

our wesleyan roots“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can,

in all the ways you can, in all the places you can,

at all the times you can, to all the people you can,

as long as ever you can.”

—John Wesley, father of the Methodist movement

A United Methodist College (1890-2010)

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Aaron Pelch heads football program at Millsaps CollegeAaron Pelch, a National Football League assistant coach who from 2006 until 2009 coached at Millsaps College, began work in March as the new head football coach at Millsaps. He succeeds Mike DuBose who

concluded four years as head football coach before joining the University of Memphis coaching staff in December 2009.

“It’s not often that you inherit a program in the upside,” Pelch said during a news conference to announce his hire.“I know the direction of the program is solid, and the foundation has been laid.”

Pelch said he was attracted to the job because students at Millsaps can be successful on the field and in the classroom. When a player graduates, he is prepared to be successful in life, he said.

Pelch, an assistant special

teams coach for the NFL’s Oakland Raiders, coached linebackers, the defensive line and special teams at Millsaps beginning in 2006 before taking over as associate head football coach from December 2007 to March 2009. Pelch was a member of the Millsaps coaching staff during the 2006-2008

seasons in which the Majors won three consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference titles and had a pair of NCAA Division III national playoff appearances.

During his years at Millsaps, Pelch coached six All-SCAC defensive line selections, a First Team All-SCAC linebacker, a SCAC Co-Defensive Player-of-the-Year, and a defensive All-American honoree. The team’s defensive line ranked second in rushing defense in the conference in 2006 and improved to first in 2007.

Millsaps gained Special Teams Player-of-the-Year nods for three consecutive years under Pelch’s leadership and had the SCAC’s best net punt average in 2007 (eighth nationally) and 2008 (fifth nationally). The Majors were also the top SCAC punt return team in 2007 and 2008. Pelch also saw his team receive an All-American selection at special teams.

He has a bachelor’s degree from Weber State University and has coached at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, N.M., and Everett Alvarez High School in Salinas, Calif.

Pelch’s coaching philosophy is this: “I believe to be a great coach you must be a great teacher. A great football coach is someone that can guide his group of young men to victory on the field and by doing so, have a profound positive effect on their lives.”

Dr. Brit Katz, vice president for student life and dean of students, said he welcomes Pelch’s return to Millsaps football and campus life.

“Aaron built a significant network of support among scholar-athletes, parents, supporters, and colleagues during his three years at the college,” Katz said. “He is familiar with our regional and national student recruitment goals and will quickly re-acclimate to our campus culture.”

Tim Wise, B.A. 1989, Millsaps athletic director, said individuals and groups who met the finalists for the job considered Pelch the top choice.

“He knows our programs, our scholar-athletes, and our mission for placing academics as our highest priority,” Wise

Athletics


Five other schools in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference have men’s lacrosse teams including Birmingham-Southern College, Colorado College, Hendrix College, Oglethorpe University, and the University of the South. Women's lacrosse should become the league's 21st sport in 2010-2011 as Centre and Millsaps plan on fielding teams that season to join the current programs at Birmingham-Southern, Colorado College, and the University of the South.

“We look forward to our men’s and women’s lacrosse programs with the expansion of opportunities for our student-athletes,” said Millsaps Athletic Director Tim Wise, B.A. 1989. “Lacrosse is the fastest growing youth sport in America, and we have great hopes for that

advancement in the South and here at Millsaps College.”

—Jesse Yancy, freelance wr iter

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said. “We look forward to his immediate start during the important student-athlete recruiting season.”

Acting President Howard McMillan said Millsaps is committed to the lessons of discipline and integrity modeled for its scholar-athletes by its athletic staff.

“I believe we have in Aaron Pelch an outstanding coach and leader who is dedicated to the successes of this program on and off the field,” he said.

Millsaps first college in Mississippi with varsity lacrosse teams Get ready to watch the fast-paced game of lacrosse at Millsaps beginning in the 2010-2011 school year. Laying the foundation for the program are Men’s Lacrosse Coach Luke Beam and Women’s Lacrosse Coach Tracy Cepnio.

Beam joined the Millsaps from DeSales University in Center Valley, Pa., where he was the assistant coach from 2006 to 2008 and primarily served as the defensive coordinator. Beam was a part of the longest-winning streak in the university’s program history. Before his stint at DeSales, Beam spent one season as an assistant coach at Belmont Abbey College, where the first-year program boasted a 6-6 record in 2006.

Cepnio joined Millsaps from Washington & Jefferson College in Pennsylvania where she spent two seasons as the assistant women's lacrosse coach and was also assistant coach for the presidents' field hockey team. Cepnio was a four-year letter winner and a two-year starter on defense for women's lacrosse team at Ohio Wesleyan. During her career, she helped Ohio Wesleyan claim the North Coast Athletic Conference title and earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2005 and the NCAC Regular Season Championship in 2007.

“When you’re talking about men’s

lacrosse as opposed to women’s lacrosse, you’re talking about two vastly different sports,” Beam said. “You’re looking at the difference between field hockey and ice hockey. Men’s is a contact sport; women’s is a finesse sport.”

“Women’s lacrosse is a combination of women’s basketball and soccer," Cepnio said. “It’s like having a basketball game on a soccer field. You have about as much contact as you would in a basketball game. I think it’s a blast.”

Cepnio said that her recruiting efforts are focused in Texas and the Carolinas. “Colorado is also a good place to look for players because they are attracted to the warmer weather,” she said.

She said that Millsaps' reputation sells the College. “Every kid I’ve had on campus

puts Millsaps into their top two choices as a school.”

During a ten-year period between 1997 and 2007, lacrosse showed a 200 percent growth, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. Millsaps will be the first college or university in Mississippi to add lacrosse as a conference-affiliated intercollegiate sport.

Women's lacrosse is a varsity sport at Millsaps that began as a club sport.

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in Greenville, S.C. Barrett completed a 14-month fellowship in sports medicine and knee surgery under Hughston at The Hughston Orthopaedic Clinic in Columbus, Ga., and a fellowship in Basel, Switzerland. He is board-certified in the specialty of orthopaedic surgery with a special interest in anterior cruciate ligament surgery and other advanced knee procedures.

Southeast Athletic Trainers’ Associationhonors alumnus

Dr. Gene Barrett, 1970, is recipient of the Jack C. Hughston, M.D., Sports Medicine Person of the Year award that is presented by the Southeast Athletic Trainers’ Association. He received the award during the association's meeting in Panama City, Fla.

The award was established in 1988 to honor Hughston, a pioneer in sport medicine and knee surgery. The award is presented to someone other than an athletic trainer who has significantly contributed to the athletic training profession. It is the highest award given by the Southeast Athlectic Trainers' Association.

Barrett is a founding member of Mississippi Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center in Jackson. Since its creation in 1984, the clinic has contributed

research, time and funding in support of athletic trainer education and development. The clinic sponsors high school sporting events such as state basketball championships and football all-star games; supports numerous charitable and community events in the area; and provides free annual sports physicals to thousands of high school athletes throughout central Mississippi.

Barrett was born and reared in McComb. After receiving an associate of arts degree from Southwest Community College, where he served as student body president, and then attending Millsaps College, Barrett entered medical school at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in Jackson. He received his medical degree in 1974.

Barrett's training in orthopaedic surgery includes a one-year general surgery internship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He completed his orthopaedic surgery residency in 1979 at the Greenville Hospital System

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Team physician receives awardDr. Gene Barrett, a Millsaps alumnus and head team physician for the Millsaps Athletic Department, right, accepts the Jack C. Hughston, M.D., Sports Medicine Person of the Year award from MaryBeth Horodyski, president of the Southeast Athletic Trainers' Association, and R.T. Floyd, executive director of the association.


From Summit, Mississippi, to the top of the circus world

An old joke tells of the young circus performer who devastated his family by running away to college. Jack Ryan, Millsaps College Class of 1961, did it the old way. After Millsaps, the

Army, time at Gordon Marks Advertising in Jackson, and two years as a New York publicist, Ryan astonished friends and faculty members by running away with the circus. And not just any circus, the king three-ringer of them all: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, “The Greatest Show on Earth.”

Had you paid attention to the young Jack Ryan growing up in Summit, Miss., you might have spotted the danger signs. Like entertainers Dick Cavett and Johnny Carson (who attended Millsaps for V-12 officer training), Ryan was a boy magician. Moreover, his father, an architect, was a die-hard circus fan. Frequent excursions to circuses all over the South instilled in Ryan a deep affection for the sawdust and stardust of the circus world.

“We would get up at 3 a.m. and be in New Orleans by dawn to watch Ringling Brothers put up the big canvas tent,” said Ryan. “Then we would have a picnic lunch, go to the matinee performance, and head back to Summit. It was great fun because there was nothing going on in Summit. Our only entertainment attraction was Mary Cain (the late controversial editor of The Summit Sun).”

Ryan graduated from Summit High School in June 1957, and that September


MajorNotesentered Millsaps, where he began to learn of a world beyond Mississippi. He remembers with special warmth Millsaps Players director Lance Goss, “who taught me about the magic of theater as art reflecting life,” and George Boyd, head of the English Department, who “had a profound influence on my life.” The list went on.

“Dr. Milton Christian White, Dr. Ross Moore—these men shaped my life and how I think. Ms. Marguerite Goodman taught me any grammar skills I may have—you didn‘t learn to be a grammarian at Summit High School. And, of course, Ms. (Eudora) Welty, who came and talked to us many times on campus, plus the nights she read her work while we sat on the floor at someone’s house. Magnolia Coullet, who gave me not only Latin heritage but a dear friend in her son, Tink.”

At Millsaps, Ryan joined Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, made good grades despite a heavy schedule with the Millsaps Players, and was named to Omicron Delta Kappa his senior year.

In 1965, Ryan found work in Manhattan as a publicist with Look magazine. He worked with a tall blonde man who kept a novel-in-progress in a desk drawer. The novel was Catch 22, and the other publicist was Joseph Heller.

Ryan viewed the Look position as a step toward his heart’s ambition: work as a publicist for Broadway shows. It turned out to be just that. By 1967 he was working for Solters & Sabinson, a legendary Broadway publicity firm. Lee Solters, on whom the Tony Curtis role in Sweet Smell of Success was reputedly based, would become a pivotal influence in Jack’s professional life.

At Solters & Sabinson, Ryan worked with such diverse entertainers as Benny Goodman, Diahann Carroll, Florence Henderson, Paul Anka, Carol Channing, Bobby Short, Duke Ellington, Lotte Lenya, Neil Simon, and others. It was Broadway, and it was the big time. “Did I love it? You betcha.”

Then, right out of the bleacher seats, Solters & Sabinson got the Ringling

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said. “And in just a few years, ‘Gunther’ was an answer in The New York Times crossword, so I guess I did my job.”

Ryan could also execute press-agent stunts. Witness the year the circus moved its New York venue from the old Madison Square Garden at Eighth Avenue and 50th Street to the new Garden at Seventh and 33rd. The parade left Central Park on 67th Street and headed south on Columbus Avenue, led by a female elephant named Siam. At 50th Street, it unaccountably halted. Ryan ran to the front of the parade to investigate. The elephant trainer said, “She remembers that she always turned left here. For the old Garden.” The parade had been stopped by an elephant that didn’t forget.

Or had it? It transpired that Ryan had engineered the pause at 50th Street, and the New York media fell for the ploy hook, line, and trunk. “The elephant that didn’t forget” became an overnight sensation.

Verging on burnout, Ryan left the circus to accept a lucrative offer from Magic Mountain, a California amusement park, but he continued to do special assignments for Ringling Brothers. In 1979, he became a full-time freelancer, with the circus as his number one client. He continued to write programs as well as complete show scripts for Ringling Brothers.

In 1986, Ryan began teaching public relations theory and writing at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. A full-time adjunct professor, he retired in 2003 but continued to

line —to loud and long applause. The circus years, six as a full-time

publicist and another 20 or so as a consultant and freelancer, defined Ryan's professional life. “The two most influential men in my professional life were Lee Solters and Irvin Feld. Both were pros, and both could be difficult. But they didn’t become legends for nothing. It was especially rewarding to work at Irvin’s right hand, to watch a visionary entrepreneur up close. Not because I was so valuable to him, but because of the nature of my job. I had to know everything that was going on.”

Ryan counts as a career high point being the press agent for Gunther Gebel-Williams, an astonishingly talented animal trainer who, using only voice commands, could control a cage filled with big cats or elephants. “When Gunther showed up, I knew he was the future of the circus,” Ryan

Brothers account. A friend of Lee Solters's, Irvin Feld, had bought the circus with Judge Roy Hofheinz of Astrodome fame. Feld hired Solters to arrange an announcement press conference in Rome—at the Coliseum.

By the time Solters returned to Manhattan, his in basket held a carefully worded memo from Jack Ryan. Solters learned that he already had a circus expert on staff. The “circus expert” appellation was accurate. Ryan was an expert and had often appeared in that capacity on “The Long John Nebel Show,” a night-time talk-radio staple on WNBC.

He got the Ringling Brothers assignment, and within hours was in Venice, Fla., being shown through the winter quarters of the circus by Harold Ronk, the regal ringmaster who opened every performance with the unforgettable intonation, “Children of all ages…”

Thus began six years as the lead publicist for Ringling Brothers. One of Irvin Feld’s first moves was to form two Ringling Brothers shows that would travel the country, which meant that Ryan’s work effectively doubled. Among his many assignments were the circus programs, which had traditionally ended with a letter from the owner, closing with, “Thank you and au revoir, John Ringling North.” A new owner required a new sign-off, which became, “May All Your Days Be Circus Days.”

“That line is my contribution to circus lore,” said Ryan, adding, “People even put it on tombstones.” At a recent circus benefit in Sarasota, Fla., Ryan was introduced as the man who wrote the “circus days”


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Jack Ryan, a Millsaps alumnus, worked for six years as lead publicist for Ringling Brothers. He coined the sign-off, "May All Your Days Be Circus Days."


freelance and to present his seminar, “The Art & Craft of Public Relations Writing,” all over the country—including an appearance at Millsaps.

Ryan moved to Pensacola, Fla., in 2004, and he continues to write for a number of clients including the non-profit Circus Sarasota. Asked for thoughts on his career in public relations and the circus, Ryan mentioned a book written by Francis Beverly Kelley, who preceded Jack as a Ringling publicist.

“It sums things up perfectly,” he said, “Bev’s title was ‘It Was Better Than Work.’”

—William Jeanes, B.A. 1959

Lincoln's use of religious language sparks book ideaA rejection letter prompted Al Elmore, B.A. 1962, to do more than just write an article about the Gettysburg Address but to complete an entire book.

Southern Illinois University Press published the resulting book, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: Echoes of the Bible and Book of Common Prayer, by A.E. Elmore in 2009 during the Lincoln bicentennial year. History professor and Lincoln author Ferenc Szasz calls it “an absolutely stunning interpretation.”

A professor of English and law at Athens State University in Athens, Ala., Elmore was in the process of writing a play about Lincoln when he was inspired to write an article about how the language Lincoln used in Gettsyburg Address reflected the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer.

“I sent it off and received a four-page, single-spaced rejection letter,” he said. “The editor felt compelled to rebut my idea. What became apparent was he didn’t know the Bible. It occurred to me that he was typical of Lincoln scholars and scholars in general. Knowledge of the Bible has deteriorated, especially knowledge of the

King James version.”Elmore realized he needed to write

the book in such a way that someone who is unfamiliar with the Bible would understand it. “I went deeper and slower to show that Lincoln knew the Bible and borrowed from it in the Gettysburg Address,” he said.

Rising at 4 a.m. many days to spend hours writing, Elmore’s book took less than a year from start to publication. “I have to work fast or I won’t work at all,” he said. “I have to have routine in my life.”

At least one other Millsaps alumnus has written about Lincoln. The late David Herbert Donald, B.S. 1941, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, wrote Lincoln at Home: Two Glimpses of Abraham Lincoln's Family Life; We Are Lincoln Men: Abraham Lincoln and His Friends; and Lincoln, a single-volume biography of the president.

“More books have been written about Lincoln than any other figure in history except for Jesus Christ and William Shakespeare,” Elmore said. “The pace of books coming out about Lincoln is so great that they will soon overtake those about Shakespeare.”

Elmore attended the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., before the death of his mother brought him home to Mississippi, and he enrolled at Millsaps. He was among Millsaps students who attended social science forums at Tougaloo College, which were said to be the only racially integrated meetings in Mississippi at the time. “It was very scary, but like war, it was exciting, too,” he said.

He recalls meeting in January 1962, civil rights activist Medgar Evers and getting to know Evers before he was assassinated on June 12, 1963. “I'll never forget a hundred-mile ride I made with Medgar during the great snow of January 1962, from Jackson to West Point, where we picked up copies of a newspaper that Medgar's friend, Hazel Brannon Smith, was printing for him,” he said.

Elmore dedicated his book to Evers, and he has placed bricks inscribed in the Bowl in memory of Evers. “Abraham Lincoln was

a man who was what he appeared to be, and Medgar Evers was too. Such rare people have a mesmerizing quality,” he said.

Luran Buchanan of Jackson, B.A. 1963, said Elmore is one of the most brilliant people she’s ever known. That’s a sentiment that Rex Poole of Clinton, B.A. 1963, shares.

Poole became friends with Elmore when they roomed together at Millsaps and worked part time at Deposit Guaranty National Bank. “You knew when you were with him that he was destined to do something great. He was inquisitive. I could always visualize him as an academic,” Poole said.

Elmore considers the time he spent at Millsaps as among the happiest periods of his life. “I liked everything about Millsaps—the teachers, the students, the setting—and had wonderful adventures. I've told my boys that I'd like to be remembered the way I look in a picture from the 1962 yearbook, where a snowball is exploding in my hand outside the student center. This was the same snow through which Medgar and I rode up to West Point a day or so later. The look on my face is as close to rapture as I can ever hope to achieve this side of heaven,” he said.


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s p r i n g – s u m m e r 2 0 1 0 43

Elmore holds a doctorate in English and American literature from Vanderbilt University, and he has won grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities for post-doctoral study at the University of California-Berkeley, City University of New York, and the University of Chicago. At age 39, he enrolled in the University of Mississippi School of Law where he overlapped with John Grisham, who would become a best-selling author. Elmore finished second in his law school class. He went on to become a prosecutor in Jackson, public defender in Las Vegas, and staff attorney for Legal Services of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where he also taught criminal law at the University of Alabama Law School.

Millsaps classmate Jim Haynes, B.A. 1962, mentioned in 1987 that Athens State University had an opening in its English Department, which also meant directing plays, and Elmore returned to academic life.

His next project might be one similar to the Lincoln book but with a focus on the Declaration of Independence. “I want to talk about it using the same terms I used about Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address,” he said.

—Nell Luter Floyd

Alumna takes charge of Eudora Welty House as director Karen Redhead leads one of the most intact literary house museums in the country. She is director of the Eudora Welty House, the home where Pulitzer Prize-winning author Eudora Welty lived from 1925 until her death in 2001, and where she wrote nearly her entire body of work. Welty served as writer-in-residence at Millsaps during the mid-1960s and was an emerita member of the College’s board of trustees.

“As a former educator, one of the things I love about the Welty House is that it was the home of a reader,” said Redhead, a student at Millsaps from 1970 to 1972 and president of the Millsaps Alumni Council from 2000 until 2002. “In every room there are books. Eudora said in One Writer’s Beginnings, at the age of two or three, she learned that every room in the house is a place to read or to be read to. In today’s world that is such an important thing.”

Restored by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and opened as a museum in April 2006, the Welty House

has attracted visitors from all 50 states and 33 foreign countries. It is located at 1119 Pinehurst St., about three-fourths of a mile from Millsaps in the Belhaven neighborhood. Tours are scheduled Tuesday through Friday at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. by reservation.

Redhead’s job calls for her to administer operations of the house from its policies and budget to its preservation, interpretation, and educational programs. She also serves as a public relations representative for the museum and works with the Eudora Welty Foundation and the National Advisory Board.

Redhead is well prepared for her job, having worked with Mary Alice White, niece of Welty and the museum’s first director, until she retired. Redhead taught Mississippi history and social studies at Murrah High School in Jackson before joining the Welty House staff in 2004. Redhead’s Millsaps ties are strong – Ezelle Hall was named after her grandfather – but she is not the only one with connections to Millsaps at the Welty House.

Elaine Blaine, a member of the Millsaps Class of 2008, is the education and administrative assistant at the Welty House. Katie Hamm graduated from Millsaps in 2009, and as special projects coordinator,


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Awards recipients

Howard L. McMillan Jr., center, acting president of Millsaps, recognizes alumni honored at the College Awards and Recognition Dinner. They are from left, Kay Barksdale, B.A. 1964, Livesay Award; William Jeanes, B.A. 1959, Livesay Award; McMillan; Wayne Dowdy, B.A. 1965, Alumnus of the Year; and Hugh Parker, B.S. 1973, Livesay Award. The Alumnus/a of the Year Award is presented annually for contributions to one's profession, church, community, or the College. The Livesay Award honors the spirit of commitment demonstrated by the late Jim Livesay, B.A. 1941, who served the College as an alumnus, an administrator, and a volunteer.



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works with the docents at the house.Among the many docents with Millsaps

ties are Alec Valentine, B.A. 1968, and Beverly Fatherree, B.A. 1973, who both teach English at Hinds Community College. Docent Lee Anne Bryan, B.A. 1993, studied with Dr. Suzanne Marrs, Welty Foundation scholar-in-residence at Millsaps, and worked at the Welty House for about two years.

Other Millsaps alumni connected to the Welty House include Hank Holmes, B.A. 1973, director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History; Jeanne Luckett, B.A. 1966, and Kay Barksdale, B.A. 1964, who are associated with the Eudora Welty Foundation, as well as William Jeanes, B.A. 1959, who currently serves as a member of the Welty Foundation Board.

Valentine is well versed as a docent about Welty thanks in part to a short story writing class that he took at Millsaps that Welty taught. The house is about as close to Welty as anyone can get, he said. “It’s as if she just walked out the door,” he said.

Redhead, Hamm, and Blaine all say that Millsaps instilled in them an appreciation for the things they would later work to preserve at the Welty House. “I had a love of reading, but I didn’t have a love

of writing when I got to Millsaps,” said Hamm. “Working in the Writing Center at Millsaps was such an important experience for my development as a writer. Then to come here, where reading and writing are such a way of life–I couldn’t have found a better fit.”

Blaine was influenced by Millsaps to combine literature and work. “I had a whole other career in business, but I had always loved literature. It was an honor for me to attend Millsaps, and I feel fortunate to be here at the Welty House.”

The favorite area of the house for many of the visitors and for Blaine is also one of the most personal: Welty’s bedroom, specifically the writing desk by the window facing the Belhaven College campus. “I have a sense of her more in that room than anywhere else in the house,” said Blaine.

Whether greeting a London reporter who is stopping in Jackson just to visit the home, leading a writer from Los Angeles on a tour, or adjudicating entries for the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, work at the Welty House is never boring, Redhead said. “It is a privilege,” she said, “to share the place where one of the 20th century’s greatest writers lived and worked. People visit the Welty House for different reasons, but we hope they all leave inspired to pursue their own creative endeavors.”

—Kathleen Mor r ison and Nell Luter Floyd

Millsaps alumnus finds success in restaurant business Doug Hogrefe is the illustration of a Millsaps College alumnus who has used his liberal arts degree to run a successful business—and in his case that business includes restaurants in Mississippi and Tennessee. He is the owner of JHS Holdings LLC, the parent company of Char, a Chicago-style steakhouse in Jackson, and

four high-end Italian Amerigo restaurants including one in Jackson.

After graduating as a history major, Hogrefe, B.A. 1989, thought he’d take a year off before pursuing graduate or law school. That was his official story anyway, and he and a friend, fellow Millsaps alum Cullam Pope, began a band. “The Shines” found moderate success with a recording label out of New Orleans, produced two records, and played in hundreds of shows throughout the Southeast and Midwest.

“Since no one actually makes money playing in a band, I worked at Amerigo as a server to pay the bills. The restaurant allowed me the scheduling flexibility to go on the road, and the money was always good. Plus, it was, and is, a great place to work. The band began to fizzle out in the late 1990s, and as it did I accepted the long-standing invitation to get into management with Amerigo,” Hogrefe said.

After managing Amerigo in Jackson for a few months, he moved to Amerigo in Nashville and a year later opened Amerigo in Brentwood, Tenn., serving as general manager. Since 2003 he has overseen the Brentwood and Nashville restaurants.

Hogrefe credits the College’s emphasis on writing with his written and verbal skills that he uses daily. “Dr. (Bob) McElvaine taught me the basics of looking at things from a historical perspective and using what I learned in the decision making process. This is something that I do every day and has become second nature. Also, Dr. (Ted) Ammon was integral in helping me develop my own personal philosophy from the writings of others.”

Ammon, associate professor of philosophy, recalls bantering about old music versus new music with Hogrefe. "At some point we all confront the large and looming questions that philosophy tenaciously pursues,” Ammon said. “Doug wears his liberal arts education well, and all the more so because he has taken it into the business world, a place where many scoff at abstract thought.”

McElvaine said Hogrefe is a sterling example of the benefits a liberal arts

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education gives to someone going into the business world. “Although it is not evident to many people, the sorts of critical thinking skills and approaches that are developed in the study of history, philosophy, and the liberal arts in general are enormously useful in business—and life,” he said.

Hogrefe credits the independent thinking process he learned at Millsaps with helping him realize that the company he had worked for nearly 20

years was in serious financial trouble. In 2006, Amerigo/Char was bought from the original owners by Vivid Restaurant Concepts as a growth vehicle.

“They proceeded to almost destroy the business in the span of two years by over leveraging themselves and mismanaging the company. It was heartbreaking to watch,” Hogrefe said.

When the company was placed into receivership in 2008, Hogrefe and partners, David Joseph and Paul Schramkowski, worked to purchase the company. In 2006, VRC purchased the company from the original owners for $13. 2 million, and two years later Hogrefe and his partners bought it for $6 million.

“Fortunately, the receiver quickly recognized that the company was a well-run, financially viable business that had just fallen into the wrong hands,” Hogrefe said. “Of course, I knew this all along and began working with the receivership to renegotiate the debt and take the company over. "

Hogrefe’s group took control July 23, 2009, and so far it has exceeded projections financially and operationally. “Right now, the focus is simply to get the company back to where it was three years ago: from a sales standpoint, a profit standpoint, and a cultural standpoint,” Hogrefe said.

The group’s success in a short time

can be attributed, in a large part, to a simple business approach: take care of the people that take care of guests. “If you have happy cooks and servers then that is going to carry over to the guests that dine in the restaurants. And that takes care of everything else,” he said.

Taking care of those around you is another concept that he remembers from his time at Millsaps.

“I was a Lambda Chi at Millsaps, and we always placed a big emphasis on charity, especially food drives. That has always resonated with me, and I basically never say no to requests from groups that help others. I have an especially soft spot for non-profits that assist homeless and abused animals,” he said.

Millsaps’ small environment and personalized approach to education made it the right fit for Hogrefe. “I went to a small private high school, McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tenn., that focused on liberal arts, and I knew that I wanted to go to a college that had the same focus and had very small class sizes. I would have been completely lost at a big school. Millsaps was perfect.”

He and his wife, Heidi, live in the Nashville area.

—Kara G. Paulk

Alum chosen to carry Olympic torchMillsaps alumnus Dr. Tim Alford of Kosciusko, B.S. 1978, served as a torchbearer for the Olympic Torch Relay that led up to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. Alford's wife, Mary Al, B.A. 1977, cheered for him. Coca-Cola North America selected Alford, president of the Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, because of his efforts to strengthen public education and wellness in Mississippi. He was one of 20 chosen to carry the torch as it passed through Calgary, Canada, on the way to Vancouver.


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1955Sybil Casbeer Eppinger, 1955, and her husband, the Rev. Dr. Paul Eppinger, of Phoenix, were recently honored by the Arizona Institute for Peace, Education, and Research for their lifetime commitment to peace, understanding, and community justice. Eppinger received the Valiant Woman Award of Arizona Church Women United in 2006 and the Ecumenism Award from the Women of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of the Western United States in 2004. She was named Arizona Mother of the Year in 2002.

1960Dorothy Davis Miller, 1960, was honored by the Hinds Community College Development Foundation for her service to the college and the foundation. The Mississippi Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals honored her during its 2009 National Philanthropy Day luncheon on Nov. 19, 2009, at the Country Club of Jackson.

1965Joy Weston Arnold, B.S. 1965, and her husband, Joe Pack Arnold, are retired and live in New Mexico. She has obtained her license in New Mexico as a licensed professional clinical counselor, and she plans to resume work as a counselor this year. She reports, “We live in the interesting little town of Truth Or Consequences, which changed its name from Hot Springs, N.M., back in 1950, with the help of Ralph Edwards and his radio game show of the current name.”

1973The Rev. Johnny Whitmire Wray, B.A. 1973, delivered the May 2009 commence-ment address at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Okla. He

is known for his work in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) as the former director of the Week of Compassion and

chair of the Emergency Response Committee of Church World Service. The seminary awarded Wray an honorary doctor of divinity degree.

1988Elizabeth Rives de Gruy, B.A. 1988, of Jackson, has been appointed administrative law judge for the U.S. Social Security Administration. After graduating from Millsaps, De Gruy received her juris doctorate from Mississippi College School of Law in 1991. Before her appointment with the Social Security Admistration, de Gruy served as a senior attorney for

Millsaps Magazine prints only information sent in specifically for Major Notes. In the past, material was gleaned from newspaper clippings and other sources. The change was made to protect the privacy of

alumni and to simplify the editing process. We would like to encourage all alumni to send in their news items, whether big or small, personal or professional, to Nell Luter Floyd, Office of Communications, Millsaps

College, 1701 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39210-0001. Fax : 601-974-1456. Phone: 601-974-1033 or 1-86-MILLSAPS (1-866 -455-7277). Email: [email protected]. Please include your name,

address, phone numbers, email address, graduation year and degree, and any news you want to share. Appropriate items include births, weddings, advanced degrees, awards, job promotions, etc. Photographs

are also welcome. If you are aware of alumni who are not receiving the magazine, please send us their names and addresses.

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MajorNotes

First Millsaps Conference on PhilanthropyThe Student Council for College Advancement hosted the first Millsaps College Conference on Philanthropy in March. Alumni representing non-profits and service organizations joined with students to hear from 2010 Conference on Philanthropy Award recipients: David McNair, 1960; Joe Bailey, B.S. 1969; and Luther Ott, B.S. 1971. From left, are McNair, SCCA 2010 recipient for global giving; Chelsea Rick, SCCA president; Polly Bailey, B.M. 1968; Taylor Cheeseman, SCCA philanthropy chair ; Joe Bailey, SCCA 2010 recipient for community giving; and Ott, SCCA 2010 recipient for alumni giving.

s p r i n g – s u m m e r 2 0 1 0 47

the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review. She has also served as counsel for the Mississippi State Legislature and as executive director of the Lawyers

and Judges Assistance Committee for the Mississippi Bar. She is married to André L. de Gruy. They have four children and are members of St. Richard Catholic Church.

1990The Rev. Alicia Beam-Ingram, B.A. 1990, and the Rev. Jim Beam-Ingram, of Columbus have adopted a daughter, Addie. She is welcomed by her brother Boz.

1993Susan Feldman Gibbes, B.B.A. 1993 and M.B.A. 1994, and Walter Gibbes III, B.S. 1993, of McComb announce the birth of their son David Kirkfield Gibbes. He is welcomed by his brother Walter Henry Gibbes IV.

1994Dr. Colby B. Jubenville, B.A. 1994, professor of sport management at Middle Tennessee State University, was selected by the Nashville Business Journal for its second

annual Forty Under 40 special section. The section spotlights top Nashville-area business leaders under the age of 40 who excel in their industries and show dynamic leadership.

At Middle Tennessee State, Jubenville oversees the graduate sport management academic program and serves as

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director of the Center for Sport Policy & Research, which built and launched the first online, interactive, reality-based sportsmanship education platform called RealSportsmanship. The Sun Belt Conference of the NCAA Division I uses the platform as part of its initiative to educate its athletes and coaches on issues about ethics and behavior.

In 2008, Jubenville secured private funding for, developed and launched the Journal of Sport Administration & Supervision, the first open access, peer-reviewed journal in the academic discipline of sport management. The journal is designed to connect academic research to the jobs of practitioners and leaders in the sport industry. Under Jubenville’s leadership since 2001, the Middle Tennessee State sport management master’s degree program has produced more than 120 graduates.

Robert C. Tenet, B.S. 1994, was recently promoted to senior scientist in the Chemical and Materials Science Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. His work has been featured in an article in Technology Review.

1996Elizabeth Cooper, B.A. 1996, married Tim Kirby on Dec. 19, 2009, in New Orleans. Emily Crowe, B.A. 1995, stood as a bridesmaid, and Patrick Cooper, B.A. 1994, and Claude Mapp, M.B.A. 1989, stood as groomsmen. Stephanie Burks, B.S. 2002, was soloist.

Trent Favre, B.A. 1996, of Kiln is a shareholder in Watkins Ludlam Winter & Stennis. He works in the Gulfport office, and his practice focuses on commercial litigation,

insurance defense, and health care law. He is a graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law where he was also a member the Mississippi Law Journal and Moot Court Board.

He is involved in numerous civic and charitable organizations that include the Mississippi Gulf Coast Business Council, Hancock County Chamber of Commerce, American Heart Association, Live Oak Alliance, and the Bay-Waveland Affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. He and his wife Shannon Fite Favre have two children, Katie, 4, and Sam, 3.

Jenny Irons, B.A. 1996, and George Hobor announce the birth of their daughter, Adelaide Rose, on Feb. 9. Jenny is an associate professor of sociology at Hamilton

College in Clinton, N.Y.

1997Heather Lott Welch, B.S., 1997, and Duncan Welch, B.B.A. 1998 and M.B.A. 1999, announce the birth of Jack Finley Welch on Jan. 27, 2009. He is welcomed by his brothers Gray, Tristan, Aidan, and Davis.

Stay in touch with Millsaps Here’s how: • Check out the College website at millsaps.edu.

• Become a fan of Millsaps on Facebook at facebook.com/millsapscollege and facebook.com/millsapscollegealumni.

• Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/millsapscollege.

• Read the Millsaps e-newsletter at millsaps.edu/alumni_friends/enewsletter.

• To find alumni online, log on to MyMillsaps.com.

• Email your alumni news to communications@ millsaps.edu.


Holy Name of Jesus Church in New Orleans. The wedding party included Colleen Moody Bent, B.S. 2005, matron of honor; Amy Coburn Jones, B.S. 2005, matron of honor;

Karla Kregting, B.B.A. 2005 and M.B.A. 2006, bridesmaid; Kate Dyess Fillingim, B.A. 2005, bridesmaid; Chris Schiro, B.B.A. 2002 and MAcc 2003, groomsman; and Brent Lejeune, B.S. 2002, usher.

Katie received her master’s degree in accounting from Ohio State University in 2006. Katie is a senior accountant at Ernst & Young LLP in the Fraud Investigation and Dispute Services practice. Matthew is a corporate controller at Edison Chouest Offshore. They live in New Orleans.

Dr. Amy Jones Coburn, B.S. 2005, and Walker Coburn, B.A. 2002 and MAcc 2003, announce the birth of their son, William Walker Coburn, on Oct. 24,

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2000Katherine OCarroll, B.B.A. 2000, married Christopher Magann, B.B.A. 2000, on Nov. 28, 2009. Katherine is a national category development manager

for Acosta Sales and Marketing, and Christopher is the investment specialist for Strategic Financial Partners. They live in Little Rock.

2001Mary Frances Prejean Huggard, B.B.A. 2001, of Lafayette, La., and Blake Huggard, B.B.A. 2001 and M.B.A. 2002, announce the birth of their daughter, Amelie Frances Huggard, on Oct. 25, 2009.

2002Katie Herringshaw, B.B.A. 2005, married Matthew Devall, B.B.A. 2002 and MAcc 2003, on March 7, 2009, at The Most

2009. Amy is a pediatric optometrist with Pediatric Eye Specialty Group, and Walker is a certified public accountant with Heard McElroy and Vestal in Shreveport, La.

2006 Catherine “Katy” Benvenutti Dowdy, B.S. 2006, and husband, Jovan Dowdy, of Gulfport, announce the birth of their daughter, Amelia Clair Dowdy on June 17, 2009.

Grace H. Skertich, B.A. 2006, is an associate in the Jackson office of McGlinchey Stafford. She focuses her practice on commercial litigation. She earned her law degree in 2009 from Mississippi College School of Law, where she was articles editor of the Law Review and a member of the Moot Court Board.

Join us for Homecoming 2010, featuring campus-wide events,

an exciting football game, reunion activities for the classes of

1960,1970,1980,1990, 2000, and a young alumni party for the

classes of 2001-2008.

If you would like to help plan the activities for your homecoming

class reunion, need to update your contact information, or are

in touch with someone from your class who has not received

information about Homecoming 2010, please call 601-974-1038

or send an e-mail to [email protected].

See you in october!

Homecoming at millSapS collegeFriday, october 8 – Sunday, october 10, 2010

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MajorNotesChristine B. Wright, 1935, of Ridgeland died Dec. 3, 2009. At Millsaps, she was a member of Kappa Delta.

Slater R. Gordon, 1937, of Florence died Jan. 19, 2010. At Millsaps, he was a member of Kappa Alpha.

Margaret S. Fair, 1938, of Louisville died Oct. 12, 2009. At Millsaps, she was a Chi Omega.

Ottomese Cassels Wilson, B.A. 1939, of Summit died Sept. 1, 2009. At Millsaps, she was a member of the Millsaps Singers and the Y.W.C.A. and participated in sports.

Emma Little Bailey, 1940, of Coffeeville died Feb. 14, 2010.

James M. Crisler, 1941, of Jackson died Nov. 11, 2009. At Millsaps, he was a Kappa Sigma.

Ruth S. Hurst, 1941, of Iuka died Dec. 7, 2009. At Millsaps, she was a member of Phi Mu.

Elizabeth C. Lynch, 1941, of Baton Rouge, La., died Dec. 20, 2009. At Millsaps, she was a member of Phi Mu and Sigma Lambda.

Mary L. Ford Ruffin, B.S. 1941, of Laurel died Oct. 21, 2009.

Van M. Richardson, 1941, of Jackson died Jan. 24, 2010. At Millsaps, he was a member of Omicron Delta Kappa and the Millsaps Players and participated in sports.

Evaline Khayat Kruse, B.A. 1942, of Fountain Valley, Calif. died Dec. 20, 2009. At Millsaps, she was a member of Chi Delta, Kit Kat, Kappa Delta Epsilon, the Y.W.C.A, the Millsaps Singers, worked on student publications, and was named to Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities. In 1985, she received the Millsaps Alumnus of the Year Award.

Martha Frances Sheffield, 1942, of Jackson died Feb. 28, 2010. She was a member of Chi Omega, the Millsaps Singers, the Millsaps Players and participated in student publications.

Carolyn McPherson Owen, B.M. 1943, of Brandon died Oct. 29, 2009. At Millsaps, she was a member of Kappa Delta, Kappa Delta Epsilon, and the Y.W.C.A.

Col. Buford C. Blount II, 1944, of Bassfield died Dec. 22, 2009. At Millsaps, he was a member of Kappa Sigma and the M Club and participated in sports.

William Walton “Bill” Gresham Jr., 1944, of Indianola died Feb. 23, 2010. He was a V-12 alumnus.

Doy Evelyn Payne Longest, 1944, of Starkville died Dec. 11, 2009. At Millsaps, she was a member of Beta Sigma Omicron, Omicron Delta Kappa, Eta Sigma and the Millsaps Players and participated in student publications.

Dr. Jack B. Ross, 1945, of Columbus, Ga., died Dec. 28, 2009. At Millsaps, he was a member of Kappa Alpha and the varsity tennis team.

Rose Watkins Keith Johnson, B.S. 1946, of Grand Junction, Colo., died Sept. 26, 2009. At Millsaps, she was a member of Kappa Delta and the Millsaps Singers.

Rev. John H. “Johnny” Morrow Jr., B.A. 1946, of Jackson died Dec. 14, 2009. At Millsaps, he was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha and Omicron Delta Kapppa.

Nat Hovious, B.A. 1947, of Ridgeland died Jan. 18, 2010. At Millsaps, he was a member of Kappa Alpha and held a class office.

John Cotten Sr., 1948, of Huntsville, Ala. died Sept. 23, 2009.

Dr. James “Kris” Gordon Krestensen, B.S. 1948, of Natchez died Aug. 29, 2009. At Millsaps, he was a member of Alpha Epsilon Delta.

Gordon Lyndal “Motor” Carr, B.S. 1949, of Vicksburg died Nov. 11, 2009. At Millsaps, he was a member of Kappa Sigma, Delta Kappa Delta, and the M Club. He was president of the Student Executive Board and named to Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities. He played football, and was inducted into the Millsaps Sports Hall of Fame.

Rev. Robert Howard Conerly, 1949, of Sandy Ridge, N.C., died Dec. 18, 2009.

Charles Lee Taylor, 1950, of Vicksburg died Oct. 27, 2009.

John Sumpter “Johnny” Thompson Jr., 1950, of McComb died Jan. 30, 2010. At Millsaps, he was a Kappa Sigma. Dr. Tip Henry Allen Jr., B.A. 1951, of Starkville died Feb. 7, 2010. At Millsaps, he was a member of Kappa Alpha, Pi Kappa Delta, and the debate team.

Arthur Clay Gould, 1951, of Jackson died Aug. 23, 2009.

Duane E. Lloyd, B.S. 1951, of Ocean Springs died Dec. 13, 2009.

Giles Rawls, B.S. 1951, of Natchez died Sept. 28, 2009. At Millsaps, he was a member of Kappa Alpha and Theta Nu Sigma.

Jimmie Lois Massey, B.A. 1952, of Brookhaven died March 7, 2010.

Ann Walker McGill, 1952, of Jackson died Aug. 28, 2009. At Millsaps, she was a Kappa Delta.


Dr. E. Roy Epperson, B.S. 1954, of High Point, N.C., died Jan. 21, 2010. At Millsaps, he was a member of Theta Nu Sigma, Omicron Delta Kappa, and the Millsaps Players. He was named to Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities and participated in student publications. John P. Perkins, Jr., B.A. 1954, of Kingwood, Texas, died Dec. 26, 2009. At Millsaps, he was a member of Kappa Alpha.

Freeman C. Watson, 1954, of Matthews, N.C., died Aug. 1, 2009. At Millsaps, he was a member of the Millsaps Singers.

Rev. Cecil B. Jones Sr., B.A. 1956, of Hattiesburg died Feb. 4, 2010.

Geraldine “Gerry” Huggins, B.A. 1958, of Greenwood died Feb. 11, 2010.

Mary H. McGraw, 1959, of Yazoo City died January 30, 2010.

James Carlton “Skip” Smith, 1959, of Jackson died Feb. 15, 2010.

William Elton Taylor, B.S. 1962, of Clinton died Feb. 10, 2010.

Robert Ewell Cooper, B.A. 1963, of Pearl died Feb. 28, 2010.

Kenneth Mayo Eikert, B.S. 1964, of Lithonia, Ga., died Nov. 17, 2009.

Julia Poole Matheny, 1964, of Ellisville died Feb. 17, 2010. At Millsaps, she was a member of Phi Mu, Kappa Delta Epsilon, and the Millsaps Players and participated in student publications.

Wyatt Saunders, 1964, of Laurens, N.C., died Sept. 29, 2009. At Millsaps, he was a Kappa Alpha and played varsity football.

Robert “Bob” Lewis, B.A. 1965, of Galveston, Texas, died Jan. 20, 2010.

Joseph William “Bill” Maxey Sr., 1966, of Ridgeland died Oct. 24, 2009.

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Dr. Ed Thompson Jr., B.A. 1969, of Ridgeland died Dec. 1, 2009. At Millsaps, he was a member of the Millsaps Players.

Dr. James Avery Holder, B.A. 1971, of Anniston, Ala. died Jan. 23, 2010. At Millsaps, he was a member of the Millsaps Singers and the Millsaps Band.

Stephen H. Leech Jr., B.A. 1972, of Ridgeland died Jan. 20, 2010. At Millsaps, he was a member of Kappa Alpha, Omicron Delta Kappa, a class officer, and named to Who’s Who.

Ray Neal Daniel Sr., B.A. 1975, of Bentonia died Feb. 21, 2010.

Dr. John G. Shields Jr., 1976, of Jackson died Jan. 12, 2010.

Jonathan Barrett Lehman, B.A. 2007, of Mandeville, La., died Feb. 7, 2010.

Any submission for In Memorium received after March 1, 2010 will appear in the next issue of Millsaps Magazine.


Tom B. Scott Jr.Trustee Emeritus

Tom B. Scott Jr. of Jackson, B.A. 1944, a banker, community leader, and trustee emeritus of Millsaps College, died on Feb. 16 at St. Catherine’s Village in Ridgeland. Scott served as an active trustee from 1969 until 1993 and as trustee emeritus from 1993 until 2010.

Nat S. Rogers, B.A. 1941, a life trustee of the College, said Scott was a long-time friend. “Tom Scott was my close friend from the day he entered Millsaps in 1940. A lawyer-alumnus and longtime trustee, he chaired the trustees’ Academic Affairs Committee. He took great pride in Millsaps’ recognition as the academic leader in the region. He used his influence as a business and civic leader in Jackson to generate good will for the College. He will be missed.”

Dr. Edward McDaniel Collins Jr., B.A. 1952, president of the College from 1970-1978, vividly recalls bestowing Scott with his diploma after he learned that Scott’s military service during World War II prevented him from receiving it. “Jim Campbell was chairman of the board of trustees, and he and Tom Scott were very good friends. They were at an event sitting together and started talking about graduating from Millsaps. Jim asked Tom about when he graduated from Millsaps. Tom turned to Jim said, ‘I never did. I was in my last semester and got called into the military. I don’t have a degree. I’m a semester short.’ ”

Collins said he consulted Dr. Ross Moore, then chair of the History Department at Millsaps, and learned about a policy that allowed a degree to be awarded to a student called into the military who had completed a certain number of hours. “I took the situation to the Academic Council, and it approved a degree for Tom Scott,” Collins said.

Collins said he and his wife, Peggy, held a social function at their home during which he surprised Scott by bestowing the degree by using the same wording that is said at commencement. “He stood there stunned and said, ‘Is this a joke?’ He read the diploma and couldn’t say a world,” Collins said.

Dr. Robert A. Shive Jr., professor of mathematics and computer science at Millsaps, said Scott understood early on the need for computers. “He helped convince other members of the board of trustees, and we got a campus-wide computer,” he said.

Scott was educated in the Jackson Public School system and graduated from Central High School in 1940. He attended Millsaps College and received a law degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law.

During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps as captain and pilot, earning the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters. He flew numerous combat missions. Scott always delighted in telling the story of flying Gen. George C. Patton to search for his troops after Patton had become separated from them. He convinced the General that one could not land a C-47 in a clump of trees.

Scott was president and chief executive officer of Unifirst Bank for Savings from 1962 until 1989. He was president of the United States Savings and Loan League, president of the International Union of Building Societies, director and vice-chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank in Dallas, and a director of the New Orleans branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He devoted countless hours to civic and business organizations and his church, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral.

He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Betty Hewes Scott, Millsaps Class of 1946, and four children. Family members with ties to Millsaps include son, Tom B. Scott III, B.A. 1976; daughter, Sharon S. Rhoden, 1969; and sister, Sybil S. Cummings, 1937.

—Nell Luter Floyd

"He took great pride in

Millsaps’ recognition as

the academic leader in

the region. He used his

influence as a business

and civic leader in Jackson

to generate good will for

the College. He will be

missed.”

—Nat Rogers, B.A. 1941

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Alice AcyVivacious, beloved employee who ran the Grill

Alice Acy, age 87, a long-time Millsaps employee who ran the Grill from 1961 until the mid-1990s, died Nov.17, 2009, at her home in Brandon.

Acy was outgoing, friendly, and popular with students, recalled Dr. James P. McKeown, professor of biology at Millsaps. “When you went in the Grill, you would place your order and take a number. When your order was ready, she would shout out your number.”

That’s the mood that the Feb. 24, 1966 issue of the Purple & White captured with a picture of Acy standing at the counter of the Grill, which was located where the Leggett Center is now, and talking to a male student. The cutline reads: “I’ve called Number 27 so many times that all the glasses broke. Where have you been, boy?” Acy, queen of the Millsaps Grill, addresses one of the subjects of her domain with characteristic vigor.”

Members of the Class of 1968 remember Acy for her loud voice, caring nature, and ability to remember the names of students. “Who could ever forget that voice yelling out numbers of orders that were ready to be picked up or fussing at us for socializing and not paying attention?” recalled Floy Holloman, B.A. 1968. “We all knew that beneath the sometimes gruff exterior was a person who genuinely cared about us. She knew us by name. There are many stories of alums who visited campus and dropped by the Grill years after they had left Millsaps, and Acy could still call them by name.

“When our class was making a video for one of our earlier reunions we asked Acy if she would appear and play herself. She agreed and met us the day we were filming on campus. She was great and didn't mind doing several takes of yelling numbers or fussing. I think we’d all agree she was not only one of the true highlights of the film, but also one of the highlights of our time at Millsaps.”

A March 5, 1985 photo in the Purple & White shows Acy hugging Dr. George Harmon, then Millsaps president, as he displays a plaque commemorating the newly refurbished Grill as Acy’s Place.

Long-time faculty and staff remember Acy for a beverage recipe that packs a punch and came to be known as Acy’s Punch. “For several years we had back-to-school faculty gatherings, and it would be served,” McKeown said.

Millsaps Chef Dave Woodward provided this recipe for Acy’s Punch: •3(6-ounce)cansfrozenlemonade,mixedaccordingtodirectionsonthecan •1(6-ounce)canfrozenlimeade,mixedaccordingtodirectionsonthecan •8cupsofwater •1Fifth100ProofVodka Mix ingredients. Chill. It will not freeze.

Memorial funds received in Acy’s name will be used to place a brick inscribed with her name in the Hauberg Garden on campus. Any amount collected over the $200 required for a brick will go into a fund for a sponsored scholarship bearing her name. The minimum requirement to establish a sponsored scholarship is $2,500.

—Nell Luter Floyd

"She knew us by name.

There are many stories of

alums who visited campus

and dropped by the

Grill years after they left

Millsaps, and Acy could still

call them by name. "

– Floy Holloman, B.A. 1968

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Consistency found in history of Millsaps CollegeWhile researching my articles about Millsaps’ early presidents for this magazine I was impressed by the dedication, knowledge, and integrity of the founders who devoted themselves to building a college where poor men could get an education in Mississippi. In his inaugural address as president, Dr. William Belton Murrah said the College would strive to present its students with the “widest range of investigation and research and the fullest recognition of the truth wherever found.”

After reading documents such as History of Millsaps College by Millsaps Professor Marguerite Watkins Goodman; Methodist History; The Story of Jackson; History of Millsaps College by G.L. Harrell; obituaries; letters; and speeches from commencements and Founders' Day, I realized countless hours of prayer, thought, and work went into shaping the College.

It has been said that history repeats itself, and at Millsaps, patterns of history have emerged. Lula Gaulding Watkins, wife of Millsaps President Alexander Farrar Watkins, wrote about feelings of patriotism that flooded the hearts of those on campus as the “war to end all wars” was beginning. Some of those same feelings swept through the campus nearly ten years ago on 9-11. The fear and uncertainty after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was reminiscent of the same feelings after a cyclone tore through Jackson and woke Watkins when he was president. Fears about swine flu during the fall 2009 semester were reminiscent of fears of yellow fever that kept the College from opening on time for several years in the early 1900s. This most recent recession surely brought some of the same financial worries as the Great Depression.

Through all of these historic events the College has supported its members on tough issues. In 1927, Dr. David Martin Key withstood major criticism for his opposition to Mississippi’s anti-evolution “Monkey Law” and defended free academic inquiry in arts and science. Ten years later student and faculty members of the College’s International Relations Club were accused of being communists by Mississippi Senator Theodore G. Bilbo for giving a “hearty endorsement” to the Gavagan Anti-Lynching Bill. The controversy prompted Key to declare that the College’s “function is to teach how to think and not what to think.” A few years later, the College took a stand for civil rights that led to peaceful, voluntary integration.

Since its beginning the College has defended academic freedom and fought for the truth over and over. In doing so, it has become a place of open hearts, open doors, and open minds. The authentic Millsaps experience can’t be summed up in a page, or even a book. But in their time here, students discover who they are, what they believe in, and leave ready to live lives of meaning and service.

Kara G. Paulk

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P A I DJackson, MS

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1701 NORTH STATE STREET

JACKSON • MS • 39210-0001

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

Upholding A Strong TraditionEach year, the Millsaps Annual Fund provides financial resources that directly affect the quality of teaching and student life at Millsaps. Through scholarships, academic programs, and faculty or library support, your Annual Fund gift helps the College build on its foundation of excellence and prepare for future generations of students.

As Millsaps shapes its learning environment, cultivates its students, and constructs new areas of study, your gift offers the support the College needs to remain one of the nation’s finest liberal arts colleges.

Give to the Millsaps Annual Fund today to ensure our success for generations to come.

Millsaps Department of Annual Giving 1701 North State Street Jackson, MS 39210-0001

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Documents

Spring-Summer 2010 Millsaps Magazine