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Summer 2011

A L U M N I R E V I E W

Are You Ready?Vaught-Hemingway kicks it up a notch

Alumnus at helm of ‘The Help’

A new name for Old Chemistry

Looking for an Apartment?Rent from a Rebel!

Heritage Properties, Incorporated is owned

by two Ole Miss graduates,

George R. Walker, III and Wayne Pierce.

Lexington Pointe 2000 Lexington Pointe Drive (662) 281-0402• Covered Parking• Tennis Court• Clubhouse

Cambridge Station801 Frontage Road(662) 234-1801

• Basketball Court• Swimming Pool• Close To Campus

Old Taylor Place2112 Old Taylor Road(662) 236-4300• Balcony/Patios• Swimming Pool• Volleyball

Summer 2011 Vol. 60 No. 3

features

A L U M N I R E V I E W

On the cover: As Rebel fans anticipate football season, they can also expect major changes at Vaught-Hemingway. Photo by Robert Jordan

Building a LegacyFamily’s commitment reflected in School of Engineering hallBy Tina HaHn

6 From THE CirClE The latest on ole miss students, faculty, staff and friends

15 CalEndar

40 SporTS Six rebels picked in mlB draft

44 arTS and CulTurE

46 TravEl

50 alumni nEwS34

18departments

Directing ‘The Help’ from the Heartum alumnus adapts lifelong friend’s best-seller for the big screenBy riCk Hynum

Game ChangerSports marketer tasked with bringing new energy to football stadiumBy Tom SpEEd

26 on the cover

2 Alumni Review

from the Ole Miss Alumni ReviewPublisher

Timothy L. Walsh (83)

EditorJim Urbanek II (97)

jim@olemiss.edu

Associate Editor and Advertising Director

Tom Speed (91)tom@olemiss.edu

Contributing EditorBenita Whitehorn

Editorial AssistantBrandon Irvine

DesignerEric Summers

CorrespondentsKevin Bain (98), Tobie Baker (96),

Rebecca Lauck Cleary (97), Lexi Combs, Mitchell Diggs (82), Jay Ferchaud,

Michael Harrelson, Robert Jordan (83), Nathan Latil, Jack Mazurak,

Deborah Purnell (MA 02) Edwin Smith (80), Matt Westerfield

Officers of The University of Mississippi Alumni Association

Bill May (79), president

Richard Noble (68),president-elect

Larry Bryan (74),vice president

Mike Glenn (77),athletics committee member

Sam Lane (76),athletics committee member

Alumni Affairs Staff, OxfordTimothly L. Walsh (83), executive director

Joseph Baumbaugh, systems analyst IIIClay Cavett (86), associate director

Martha Dollarhide, systems programmer II

Sheila Dossett (75), senior associate director

Julian Gilner (04), assistant directorSarah Kathryn M. Hickman (03),

assistant director for marketing Port Kaigler (06), alumni assistant and

club coordinatorAnnette Kelly (79), accountant

Tom Speed (91), publications editorScott Thompson (97), assistant directorJim Urbanek (97), assistant director for

communicationsRusty Woods (01), assistant director for

information servicesJames Butler (53), director emeritus

Warner Alford (60), executive director emeritus

The Ole Miss Alumni Review (USPS 561-870) is published quarterly by The University of

Mississippi Alumni Association and the Office of Alumni Affairs. Alumni Association offices

are located at Triplett Alumni Center, 651 Grove Loop, University, MS 38677.

Telephone 662-915-7375.AA-10504

Dear Alumni and Friends,

The Oxford and University of Mississippi community has enjoyed a strong literary heritage for many years. And thanks to the dedication and vision of our faculty and staff, that literary tradition is deepening this summer. Besides bringing incredible opportuni-ties for students in our writing programs, this enhanced empha-sis will enrich the educational experience for everyone on campus.

First, we’re all reading this summer. The award-winning, nationwide best-seller The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is the subject of our new UM Common Reading Experience. Every freshman is receiving a copy of the book dur-ing orientation sessions to read before the fall semester begins. Our instructors in the Center for Writing and Rhetoric, Fresh-man Year Experience, Honors 101, Provost Scholars, Department

of Nursing and several other academic departments will use it in courses this fall.This extraordinary, thought-provoking book is a great human story filled with a bit of sci-

ence, a bit of sociology and a lot about family and family relationships. The Common Reading Experience is an attempt for us all to move forward together in a common conversation, and it is something I’m really excited about. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and, if you have not already read it, I invite you to get a copy and join us.

But the experience doesn’t end there. Rebecca Skloot will visit Oxford to speak at the Fresh-man Convocation ceremony, set for 7 p.m. Aug. 25 at Tad Smith Coliseum. It promises to be an amazing evening that will help incoming students begin the fall semester with a common vision.

Next, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Ford, one of the country’s most respected and honored fiction writers, and also a native Mississippian, joins our creative writing faculty this fall as a senior fiction writer. He’ll teach a graduate fiction seminar this fall and a graduate class on form, craft and influence during the spring semester. His wife of more than 40 years, Kristina, accompanies him to Ole Miss as a visiting professor of public policy leadership.

It is a tremendous honor for our creative writing program to have a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction join us. Our M.F.A. program in creative writing has already been ranked as one of the nation’s best by Atlantic Monthly, and Richard Ford’s presence can only increase the qual-ity, visibility and prestige of that program.

Both of these developments add to our literary heritage and affirm our commitment to being a community of great writers and great readers. The university’s role is to inform, enable and challenge our students, and I invite you to join us this fall in reading, discussing and even cre-ating great writing.

Sincerely,

Daniel W. Jones (MD 75)Chancellor

Ole Miss Alumni ReviewPublisher

Timothy L. Walsh (83, 91)

EditorJim Urbanek II (97)

jim@olemiss.edu

Associate Editor and Advertising Director

Steve Mullen (92)steve@olemiss.edu

Contributing EditorBenita Whitehorn

Art DirectorJohn McCustion

CorrespondentsKevin Bain (98), Pablo Corona,

Rebecca Lauck Cleary (97), Mitchell Diggs (82), Jay Ferchaud,

Tina Hahn, Rick Hynum, Robert Jordan (83), Barbara Lago (82),

Erin Parsons, Elaine Pugh, Edwin Smith (80), Tom Speed (91, 03),

Janis Quinn

Officers of The University of Mississippi Alumni Association

Bill May (79, 82), president

Richard Noble (68, 73),president-elect

Larry Bryan (74),vice president

Mike Glenn (77),athletics committee member

Sam Lane (76),athletics committee member

Alumni Affairs Staff, OxfordTimothy L. Walsh (83, 91),

executive directorJoseph Baumbaugh, systems analyst III

Clay Cavett (86), associate directorMartha Dollarhide, systems programmer II

Sheila Dossett (75), senior associate directorJulian Gilner (04, 07), assistant directorSarah Kathryn M. Hickman (03, 05),

assistant director for marketing Port Kaigler (06), alumni assistant

and club coordinatorAnnette Kelly (79), accountant

Steve Mullen (92), publications editorScott Thompson (97, 08), assistant director

Jim Urbanek (97), assistant director for communications

Rusty Woods (01), associate director for information services

James Butler (53, 62), director emeritusWarner Alford (60, 66),

executive director emeritus

The Ole Miss Alumni Review (USPS 561-870) is published quarterly by The University of

Mississippi Alumni Association and the Office of Alumni Affairs. Alumni Association offices

are located at Triplett Alumni Center, 651 Grove Loop, University, MS 38677.

Telephone 662-915-7375.AA-11502

Chancellor

4 Alumni Review

Presidentfrom the

Dear Alumni and Friends,

I was recently at The Inn at Ole Miss and met an incom-ing freshman from California who, along with her mother, was on campus for freshman orientation. When I inquired what brought her to Ole Miss, she responded, “My best friend is on a soccer scholarship, and when I came to visit her, I just fell in love with everything here.” I welcomed her and her mother to campus, and as I walked away, I chuckled

to myself at how Ole Miss had once again done its magic. This fall Ole Miss will welcome the largest incoming freshman class in her his-

tory. These young students are finding a university that is more beautiful than ever, with incredible promise for great achievements in all phases of university life.

New residential halls are being aggressively constructed to meet the ever-increas-ing demand of on-campus housing. What a wonderful problem for our university—an overflow of bright young students desiring to pursue their education at Ole Miss. I applaud the leadership of Chancellor Dan Jones and his staff, as they have focused on enrollment challenges and continue to keep the university on solid fiscal ground despite challenging economic times. Special thanks go to the thousands of dedicated and generous alumni and friends who donate to the university.

This past year was a challenging athletics season. I am pleased with the exciting and program-changing plans being made through university leadership to position Rebel athletics to break through to a championship level. I applaud these efforts and the commitment that we will all show to our athletes, coaches and athletics programs.

Exciting changes in the football game-day experience also await our fans this fall. Michael Thompson with our athletics department, who is featured in this issue of the Ole Miss Alumni Review, has done an outstanding job seeking fan input and respond-ing with improvements. Let’s fill Vaught-Hemingway every game!

Our Alumni Association is led and served by a dedicated and committed staff. Throughout the year, the association provides outstanding service to alumni throughout the nation through club meetings, football-season events, reunions and membership services. I am so grateful to our staff members for their commitment and love for our university.

Our incoming Alumni Association president, Richard Noble of Indianola, stands ready to lead us next year. Richard and his wife, Laurie, are “die-hard” Rebels, and their commitment and passion for Ole Miss are inspiring. Richard will lead us well, and I thank him for his great service to our association and to Ole Miss.

Serving Ole Miss as your Alumni Association president has been one of the great honors and highlights of my life. Throughout this year, you have shown unwaver-ing support for and dedication to our university. To each of you, I offer my deepest thanks for your support and for serving faithfully with me, as we love Ole Miss—always. God bless each of you.

Go Rebels!

Bill T. May (BA 79, JD 82)

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Circlefrom the

The laTesT on ole Miss sTudenTs, faculTy, sTaff and friends

A Bite of the Big Apple shePard sMiTh Teaches uM class, GiVes adVice To risinG JournalisTs

Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith (87) shared his insights and experiences with University of

Mississippi journalism students through an intersession class in May.

Smith taught Journalism 580: Mul-timedia Storytelling, a two-week course with 12 students enrolled.

“This place gave a lot to me, and I want to try to give a little back,” says Smith.

During the first week of the class, Smith met the students in person and talked with them via Skype. The class traveled to New York during the second week, where they worked on various

stories at the Fox News headquarters. Additionally, they had opportunities to shadow staff from “The Fox Report with Shepard Smith.”

Gerard Manogin, a rising junior from Jackson, says that he hopes the course will help him chart his career.

“I hope to become a better story-teller,” he says. “I would also like to learn how to survive working in New York. That would be really valuable.”

Smith says he was impressed after meeting the students.

“I think their ideas are great,” he says. “I can’t wait to see their work and

find out what they will accomplish, and watch them grow and make us proud.”

Smith joined FNC at its inception in 1996. He anchors “The Fox Report with Shepard Smith,” as well as “Studio B with Shepard Smith.” Over the course of his career, he has covered events including Hurricane Katrina and the Middle East conflict. He was recognized as America’s second-most trusted news anchor in a TV Guide poll.

For more information on the Meek School of Journalism and New Media, go to http://meek.olemiss.edu. AR

Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith taught a May intersession class on broadcast journalism at the UM Meek School of Journalism.

Photo by Erin Parsons

6 Alumni Review

Spyglass to the PastdiGiTal TechnoloGy alloWs sTudenTs clearer oBserVaTion of hisToric PaPers

Revolutionary War letters handwrit-ten by President George Wash-ington and unpublished poetry

by Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner are among the rare and fragile documents being scrutinized at The Uni-versity of Mississippi with the use of a pio-neering digital-imaging technology.

Both the Kate Skipwith Papers and the Wynn-Faulkner Collection contain damaged, faded manuscripts that are being made legible once again with the use of the portable, high-power, multispectral digital-imaging laboratory being developed by Gregory Heyworth, UM associate professor of English. Roger Easton Jr., professor of imaging science at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and William Christens-Barry, chief exec-utive and technical officer of Equipoise Imaging LLC, are assisting Heyworth’s

research efforts. “We are imaging two very important,

fascinating sets of papers,” Heyworth says. “The Skipwith papers primarily consist of correspondence between the president and patriot soldiers, includ-ing Nathaniel Greene. Oxonian Kate Skipwith, who was a direct descendant of Greene, donated these items to the Uni-versity of Mississippi for preservation.

“The Faulkner papers are unpub-lished letters and poems found in the attic of Phil Stone, one of his closest confidants. Given to the university by a Mrs. Wynn in the 1980s, these docu-ments are in both his (Faulkner’s) and some unknown person’s handwriting.”

The Wynn Faulkner Poetry Collection, donated by Leila Clark Wynn and Doug-las C. Wynn (LLB 56), consists of 48 pages of early poetry written by Faulkner, most

likely between 1917 and 1925. “What distinguishes this collec-

tion is the proportion of unknown, unpublished poems, poem fragments and variants contained among the 48 typescript pages,” says Jennifer Ford (PhD 10), head of UM’s Department of Archives and Special Collections, where both collections are housed.

“Ideally, I want the lab to be a teach-ing tool for UM students,” Heyworth says. “The lab is to be made available to U.S. researchers to use in recovering other manuscripts at home and around the world. Already, the imaging team is planning trips to the Sinai and T’bilisi, Georgia, to recover some of the earliest copies of the Gospels, hopefully with the help of UM students.”

For more information on Heyworth’s work, email heyworth@olemiss.edu. AR

Roger L. Easton Jr., Ph.D. (left), Devon Emig, Marie Wicks, William A. Christens-Barry, Ph.D., and Danielle Thornton look at the images as they are downloaded from the camera to a laptop computer.

Photo by Robert Jordan

Summer 2011 7

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Lightning in a BottlePhysics Professors’ research ‘discoVered’

Two University of Mississippi physicists’ efforts to understand the fundamental nature of light-

ning has attracted worldwide interest and acclaim, including a two-page story in the March issue of Discover magazine.

Tom Marshall, professor of physics and astronomy, and Maribeth Stolzen-burg, research associate professor of physics and astronomy, discuss their work on lightning physics in the article written by Dava Sobel. Sobel is a science writer whom they met when she spoke at the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College fall convocation in September 2009, which was sponsored in part by the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

In the article, Marshall and Stolzen-burg relate how they hope to capture the entire life cycle of a lightning flash by linking their detectors with four other types of sensors. They hope the data will eventually shape a general theory of lightning behavior.

Sobel was with the two researchers for three days of a seven-week data acquisition trip to the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This site is ideal because it has one of the highest summertime lightning flash rates in the country and because NASA has several permanent lightning sensors that were useful for the experiment.

“A lot of excellent research is being done at UM that is worthy of inclusion in science magazines like Discover; such articles help Mississippians see that UM research is competitive on the national level,” Marshall says.

Three University of Mississippi gradu-ate students, Sumedhe Karunarathne and Nadeeka Karunarathne, both of Sri

Lanka, and Lauren Vickers of Hender-son, Ky., were also featured in the article.

For more information on atmospheric

physics research at UM, go to www.olemiss.edu/depts/physics_and_astron-omy/research/atmospheric.html. AR

8 Alumni Review

MasTer of healTh care adMinisTraTion ProGraM To Be offered online

The university of Mississippi school of Busi-ness administration and university of Mis-sissippi Medical center school of health

related Professions are seeking charter stu-dents for a new online master’s degree program in health care administration.

The program is designed for full-time stu-dents, with online instruction as the primary method of content delivery. courses are offered for the fall, spring and summer terms. due to the specialized content and close working relation-ship between faculty and students, an on-site ori-entation is required over a weekend at the begin-ning of each student’s first term.

“This is a great collaboration between the uMMc and the school of Business,” says Bethany cooper, director of corporate relations and MBa services. “We are excited to combine our collec-tive faculty expertise to deliver a program that will graduate future leaders in the health care admin-istration industry.”

new graduates and mid-career profession-als are encouraged to pursue the program, coo-per says.

“The industry is growing and changing rapidly, and there is a need for bright creative talent,” she says. “This is a new, cutting-edge online program designed to provide graduates an opportunity to assume upper-level managerial and leadership roles within the health care delivery system.”

“The program will include an internship to ensure that graduates are ready to meet the demands of the workplace upon graduation,” says clyde deschamp, professor and chair of general health professions. “The job outlook and earn-ings potential of health care administrators is very good. The mean annual wage for all health care managers in 2009 was $90,970. hospital exec-utives may earn considerably more with a mean salary exceeding $400,000.”

for more details about the Master of health care administration program, visit www.olemiss-business.com/mha. AR

Green Thumb neW Medicinal PlanT Garden faciliTy Goes Green To GroW BeTTer Green

By design and by its very nature and purpose, the Maynard W. Quimby Medicinal Plant Garden at the University of Missis-sippi will undoubtedly be the “greenest” facility on campus.

Operated by the School of Pharmacy for more than 40 years, the garden is being relocated from the Coy Waller Laboratory Complex on Hathorn Road to a new site on Intramural Road. When complete, the new six-acre site will include a 4,300-square-foot office and labora-tory building, 4,200-square-foot horticulture building, 3,800-square-foot shade house, 1,800-square-foot greenhouse, 1,320-square-foot equipment shed and areas for growing medicinal plants outdoors.

Energy-efficient features of the new structures include natural lighting, a 20,000-gallon tank to collect rainwater running off the roofs and green “walls” of climbing medicinal plants for cooling.

“We can’t use tap water to germinate sensitive medicinal plant seeds for research unless we remove the chemicals it contains, like chlorine and fluoride,” says Aruna Weerasooriya, a research scientist who manages the garden for UM’s National Center for Natural Prod-ucts Research. “It is much better to use natural rainwater.”

The new complex will provide new space for greenhouses, labs, demonstration plots and education projects, says Ikhlas Khan, NCNPR assistant director.

“The facilities are important to the center’s drug-discovery efforts because we collect, grow and provide plant material for those efforts.”

The garden’s staff members maintain one of the nation’s largest col-lections of medicinal plants and provide plant material to researchers around the country and world, in addition to those at NCNPR. They also provide educational opportunities to local residents and visitors, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration uses the garden for one component of its training program for botanical supplement Good Manufacturing Practice enforcement.

“We have trained more than 200 FDA inspectors to go out and monitor the dietary supplement industry,” Weerasooriya says. “This work is important for the health and safety of U.S. consumers, because there are new companies, new products and new plants entering the industry at a rapid pace.”

For more information on education and research programs at the UM School of Pharmacy, go to www.pharmacy.olemiss.edu. AR

Architects expect the Medicinal Plant Garden facility to receive a high rating in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification program.

Summer 2011 9

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Record HighsMore Than 600 GraduaTe aT uMMc’s coMMenceMenT

A total of 634 physicians, dentists, nurses, allied health profession-als and graduate students in the

health sciences—the largest group of grad-uates in the Medical Center’s history—were awarded degrees during the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s 55th Com-mencement on May 27 at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson.

Graduates included 118 who received the M.D.; 35 who received the D.M.D.; 26 who received the Ph.D.; 45, the Master of Science; 44, the Master of Science in Nursing; 121, the Bachelor of Science in Nursing; 63, the Doctor of Physical Therapy; and 36, the Master of Occupa-tional Therapy. Two students received both the M.D. and the Ph.D.

Receiving the B.S. in the School of Health Related Professions were 144 students. They included 41 in clinical labo-ratory sciences, six in cytotechnology, 21 in dental hygiene, 12 in health informatics and information management, 43 in health sciences and 21 in radiologic sciences.

UM Chancel lor Dan Jones (MD 75) noted before conferring degrees that research on both the Medical Center and Oxford campuses has experienced vast growth with 618 externally funded research projects for a total of $177.6 million.

Jones introduced Dr. Hank Bounds (PhD 00), commissioner of higher educa-tion, and Institutions of Higher Learning board members C.D. Smith, Bob Owen and Stacy Davidson (MedCert 55, MD 57). Davidson is a member of the Medical Center’s first medical school class and has never missed a UMMC commencement during his 12-year tenure on the board. AR

Photo by Jay Ferchaud

Dr. Mary Currier (left), state health officer for the Mississippi State Department of Health, hoods her son, Drew Mallett, after he received his Doctor of Medicine diploma May 27.

10 Alumni Review

‘Crooked Letter’ AcclaimuM Professor ToM franKlin Wins la TiMes BooK PriZe

Author Tom Franklin, assistant professor of fiction writing at the University of Mississippi, has

won a Los Angeles Times Book Prize for his acclaimed 2010 novel, Crooked Let-ter, Crooked Letter.

Recognized in the “Best Mystery/Thriller” category, the book was also nomi-nated for a Barry Award, an Edgar Award, a Hammett Award and a Southern Inde-pendent Booksellers Association Award. It is the recipient of the Alabama Librarians Association Award for Best Novel.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter (Wil-liam Morrow) is Franklin’s third novel. Like his Hell at the Breech and Smonk, it is set in a small Southern town.

A recipient of a 2001 Guggenheim Fellowship, Franklin credits the univer-sity and the Department of English with nurturing and encouraging his work as a writer.

“I can’t even imagine a more sup-portive environment for writing,” he

says. “Not only does the administration encourage me as a writer, but [it makes] it easier for me to write; for example, providing a summer research grant so I have the time away from classes to work. Knowing there are expectations for me as a writer, as well as a teacher, keeps me on my toes and motivated.”

The national attention Franklin’s novel has garnered brings acclaim to the department and to the university, says Ivo Kamps, UM English chair.

“Tom Franklin is an enormously talented writer and storyteller whose novels and stories raise the reputation of the English department and its MFA program across the country,” Kamps says. “We are extraordinarily fortunate that Tom and his wife, the poet Beth Ann Fennelly, have made Oxford and the English department their home.”

For more information on the Depart-ment of English, go to www.olemiss.edu/depts/english. Tom Franklin

Photo by Maude Schuyler C

lay

MooT courT TeaM Wins PresTiGious naTional coMPeTiTion

A university of Mississippi school of law moot court team won the prestigious 23rd annual national

environmental law Moot court compe-tition, held at Pace law school in White Plains, n.y.

More than 250 law student competi-tors and 150 attorney judges assembled at Pace during the three days of oral argu-ments. The uM law school emerged as the winner out of 73 competing law schools from across the nation.

The ole Miss team included second-year law student dreda culpepper of oxford and third-year law students chris-tina ashoo of oxford and neal Wise of Jackson. david case (Ba 85, Jd 88), asso-ciate professor of law at uM, and steph-anie showalter otts, director of the uM school of law’s national sea Grant law center, served as team coaches.

The team put in extraordinary efforts in

preparation for the competition, conduct-ing at least 25 live practice rounds, typi-cally between two and three hours long, in the six weeks leading up to the competi-tion, case says.

“first, the students spent two months writing a federal court of appeals brief, which constitutes 40 percent of the over-all preliminary rounds scoring,” case says. “Those efforts were rewarded when the team won the award for best brief–appellant and just missed receiving the award for best overall brief in the competition by less than two-tenths of a point. second, the team [members] spent nearly three months in researching, outlining and practicing their oral arguments.”

The Pace competition is one of the largest national moots and has the rep-utation of being among the very best in terms of the quality of competition.

f o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n on the school of law, v is i t www.law.olemiss.edu. AR

Summer 2011 11

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Peer Review enGlish, african-aMerican sTudies Professor naMed 2011 uM Teacher of The year

Whenever Ethel Young-Minor enters her classroom at The University of Mississippi, she

brings a smile, a positive attitude and an enthusiasm for her subject matter that students find contagious.

Colleagues across campus have taken notice of Young-Minor’s lively teaching style, and alumni cite her as a major influ-ence on their own successes. Chancellor Dan Jones introduced the associate profes-sor of English and African-American stud-ies as recipient of the 2011 Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teacher Award at the univer-sity’s 68th Honors Day Convocation.

“This one is amazing because it is voted on by professors from across the university,” says Young-Minor, a Mem-phis native who also serves as senior fellow for the Luckyday Residential College. “This is the ultimate statement from stu-dents, alumni and your peers from across the college. It’s really a humbling honor.”

In many ways, Young-Minor is

exactly the kind of teacher the award was created to honor, Jones said.

“She takes her job seriously, but everybody notices her infectious laugh and boundless energy when she’s work-ing,” Jones said. “She is noted for her uncanny ability to connect with students as individuals, and that’s what makes her perfect for her role as the senior fellow of the Luckyday Residential College.”

A member of the UM faculty since 1996, Young-Minor teaches undergradu-ate and graduate courses in Southern literature and the Harlem Renaissance. Students praise her as a powerful educa-tor, motivator and mentor.

Young-Minor earned her bachelor’s degree in English at the University of Tennessee and her master’s and doctoral degrees, both in English, from Bowling Green State University. Since joining the UM faculty, she has been a leader in efforts to improve student writing and helped develop the university’s Quality

En h a n c e m e n t Plan, which aims t o s t r e n g t h e n student writing across a l l aca-demic disciplines.

S h e w a s named the 2003 L i b e r a l A r t s O u t s t a n d i n g Teacher of the Year. In 2001, she was faculty adviser for the university’s Gospel Choir, which was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Each year since 1966, the university has recognized excellence in teaching by presenting the Elsie M. Hood Outstand-ing Teacher Award. Based on nominations from both students and faculty, the award includes a personal plaque and a check from the chancellor. Recipients’ names are also engraved on a plaque listing previous winners, which is displayed in the J.D. Williams Library. AR

Ethel Young-Minor

araBic ProGraM helPs fill criTical need

Demand for professionals proficient in arabic language has skyrocketed since 2002, and civil unrest spreading across the Middle east is sure to fuel the need in both the gov-

ernment and private sectors. arabic has become the fastest growing of all language classes

taught in the united states. To help meet the demand, the uni-versity of Mississippi is offering a minor in arabic through its ara-bic language program in the department of Modern languages.

development of the minor is a huge step in the right direction for the arabic language Program, which was launched in the uM department of Modern languages in 2008, says allen clark, the program’s director and assistant professor of modern languages.

“since the beginning, our department has been working steadfastly to provide a minor in arabic and hopefully, in the next three years, offer a major, too,” clark says. “students who complete the minor in arabic will leave the program as marketable students with real-world experience to offer their future employers.”

This is accomplished by providing students an opportunity to spend summers abroad at yarmouk university in Jordan during their sophomore, junior and senior years.

students also can practice with language partners, particu-larly through the arabic language club, in which only arabic is allowed. The pro-gram also allows students to experi-ence arabic culture th rough mov ies , television, food and conversation.

for more infor-mation on the ara-bic minor at uM, go to www.olemiss.edu/arabic. AR

Photo by Kevin BainPhoto courtesy of Allen C

lark

12 Alumni Review

Battle TestedarMy roTc uniT ranKs second naTionally on TraininG, recruiTinG and Mission focus

Hard work, diligence and excel-lence in team performance have paid off for some 120

cadets in the Army ROTC Unit at the University of Mississippi.

The Rebel Battalion was selected as second-best in the nation in the annual Order of the Founders and Patriots of America “Outstanding Army ROTC Unit Award.” Seattle University placed first, with Cameron University coming in third.

There are 273 Senior Reserve Officer Training Corps programs in the nation, which are divided into eight regional brigades. The UM unit is part of the 6th Brigade, which nominated the UM pro-gram for the annual review recognition. The review is based on certain criteria, including recruiting, retention, training and cadet performance at summer camps.

In a congratulatory letter to Lt. Col. John Abruscato, the unit’s commander, Maj. Gen. Mark McDonald, command-ing general of the U.S. Army Cadet

Command, said, “The degree of excel-lence the Rebel Battalion has achieved in total training performance, recruiting and achievement of mission will make a visible and enduring contribution to our command’s mission—to commission the very best young men and women that America has to offer.”

Paying tribute to his unit for a job well done, Abruscato said, “This award is a review of the overall program, not any one particular cadet, and we have the best and most motivated cadre that a commander could ever ask for. This has been the best job in the Army over the course of my 20 years of service.”

The number of students enrolling in the Ole Miss Army ROTC program has doubled over the last three years, Abruscato says. Last year, the program commissioned 27 officers, the most commissioned from this program since the 1970s, when ROTC was required.

Typical of the caliber of students who

comprise the Ole Miss unit is senior Gabriel Weiss of Ocean Springs. A mem-ber of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College and Croft Institute for International Studies, Weiss is majoring in international studies and Chinese, with minors in intelligence and security stud-ies, and military science and leadership.

Weiss says the award reflects the hard work of the cadre and cadets over the last several years.

“I have witnessed firsthand the changes in this program and was happy to see our standards raised and our performance improved. Only the best and brightest should be able to become Army officers, and our program today is a reflection of that philosophy,” says Weiss, who plans to report to the active-duty Army for Infantry Officer Training in January 2012.

For more information about UM’s Army ROTC program, visit www.olemiss.edu/orgs/arotc. AR

Members of The University of Mississippi Army ROTC participate in the unit’s commissioning ceremony in May in the Ford Center for the Performing Arts.

Photo courtesy of UM

Army RO

TC

Summer 2011 13

Circlefrom the

uM coMMon readinG eXPerience uniTes caMPus

For the first time at The university of Mississippi, students, faculty and staff will take part in a reading pro-

gram designed to unite the ole Miss cam-pus through discussion about a book.

“The uM common reading experi-ence is an attempt for us all to move for-ward together in a common conversa-tion,” says chancellor dan Jones (Md 75). This year’s common read will be the award-winning, nationwide best-seller The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by rebecca skloot. This book has been the inspiration for more than 50 col-lege, university and one Book programs across the nation. skloot will visit oxford in august to speak and sign books at the freshman convocation ceremony.

Jones spoke about the program to upcoming freshmen at a recent orienta-tion session.

every freshman is receiving a copy of the book during summer orientation to read before the fall semester begins. instructors will use it in courses taught by more than 120 faculty and staff.

“When you come back in august and begin classes, you’re going to find this book being discussed in your classes,” Jones told the students.

students say they are looking forward to participating in the program.

“i think it’s a really good program because it’s something that all students can read together and share as one,” says ian nicely, an incoming freshman from

atlanta. “it’s one of the only things here that everyone will have in com-mon when they come to class for the first day.”

“i think the book is a really cool idea,” says susan Jenkins, incoming fresh-man from starkville. “it will be nice to talk to other students about it and compare.”

skloot will be available to sign books after the freshman convocation cere-mony, set for 7 p.m. aug. 25 at Tad smith coliseum.

for more information, visit the uM common reading experience, http://umreads.olemiss.edu. AR

Prescription for Successschool of PharMacy naMes disTinGuished TeachinG scholars

Four faculty members in The Uni-versity of Mississippi School of Pharmacy are being recognized

through the Distinguished Teaching Scholars Program, which rewards fac-ulty for teaching excellence, dedication to student achievement and research on effective teaching and learning.

Named The lma H. Ce rn i g l i a Distinguished Teaching Scholars are Brian Crabtree, associate professor of pharmacy practice and clinical associate professor of psychiatry, and Gary Theil-man, associate professor of pharmacy practice and vice chair for practice, education and student affairs. Both work at the UM Medical Center in Jackson.

John Rimoldi, professor of medicinal chemistry, was named to his second three-year term as Galen Order Distin-guished Teaching Scholar, and David McCaffrey (MSPh 92), professor of pharmacy administration, is the Dean’s

Advisory Committee Distinguished Teaching Scholar.

All the awards include an annual stipend for three years.

“Teaching and student learning are our No. 1 priority,” says pharmacy dean

Barbara G. Wells. “The recipients of these awards are passionate about both, as well as overall student welfare and assessment. Other faculty members desiring to improve in these areas often look to them for mentoring and inspiration.” AR

Three of four Distinguished Teaching Scholars—John Rimoldi (left), Gary Theilman and David McCaffrey— pose for a photo following the pharmacy school’s May commencement ceremony. Not pictured is Brian Crabtree.

Photo by Jay Ferchaud

14 Alumni Review

Summer 2011 15

AUGUST4-7 Academic Traveler:

New York: A Culinary Adventure. Call 662-915-6511, or email antonow@olemiss.edu.

11-13 M-Club Sum-mer Weekend:

M-Club members and their spouses and guests are invited to enjoy a weekend of fun and fellowship. Various times and locations. Call 662-

915-7375, or email teresa@olemiss.edu.

20 Board Meeting: Young Alumni Coun-

cil, 8:30 a.m., Griffin Board-room in The Inn at Ole Miss, Board members only.

22 Fall Semester: Classes begin. Oxford

campus. E-mail registrar@olemiss.edu.

25 Ole Miss Club Sea-son: Washington Park

Picnic. Denver, Colo., noon-5 p.m. Call 662-915-7375.

25 Luncheon: School of Accountancy. Jackson.

Call 662-915-7375.

27 Picnic: Southeastern Conference Picnic.

Washington Park, Denver, Colo. Call 662-915-7375.

SEPTEMBER1 Luncheon: School of

Accountancy. Memphis. Call 662-915-7375.

3 Reunion: 1951 and 1952 football teams. Locations

and times TBD. Call 662-915-7375.

3 Tailgate: Alumni and friends of the School

of Pharmacy are invited to a tailgate prior to the BYU

Academic Traveler: New York: A Culinary Adventure

AUG. 4-7

Calendar

16 Alumni Review

Calendarvs. Ole Miss football game. Sponsored by Top RX. Two hours before kickoff, Faser Hall front lawn. Call 662-915-7375, or email jovon@olemiss.edu.

3 Football: Ole Miss vs. BYU. Vaught-Heming-

way Stadium, 3:45 p.m.

9-10 Fall Family Week-end: Various times and

locations. Call 662-915-1136.

9-10 Inside OM Event: Major donors take an

“inside look” at the Luckyday Residential College, Robert C. Khayat Law Center, Basketball Indoor Practice Facility and the Center for Manufacturing

Excellence. Tours will be given by students and administra-tors at the respective sites.

10 Football: Ole Miss vs. Southern Illinois.

Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

23 Board Meeting: Fall meeting of the Phar-

macy Alumni Chapter board of directors, Dean’s Confer-ence Room in the Thad Cochran Research Center, 1 p.m. Board members only.

23 Ceremony: M-Club Hall of Fame recep-

tion and dinner. The Inn at Ole Miss. Call 662-915-7375. Invitation only.

24 Tailgate: Alumni and friends of the School

of Pharmacy are invited to a tailgate prior to the Georgia vs. Ole Miss football game. Sponsored by Walgreens. Two hours prior kickoff, Faser Hall front lawn. Call 662-915-7375, or email jovon@olemiss.edu.

24 Tailgate: The Uni-versity of Mississippi

Medical Cen-ter. UMMC alumni and friends are invited to a tailgate prior to the Georgia vs. Ole Miss foot-ball game. Two

hours prior to kickoff. Triplett Alumni Center front lawn. Call 601-984-1115.

24 Football: Ole Miss vs. Georgia. Vaught-

Hemingway Stadium.

OCTOBER2-9 Academic Traveler:

Florence: A Culinary Adventure. Call 662-915-6511, or email antonow@

olemiss.edu.

8 Artist Series: “Chanticleer.”

Ford Center for the Performing Arts, 7

p.m. Call 662-915-2787.

TailgateSEPT. 3, 10, 24

OCT. 15, 22

Photo by Robert Jordan

Summer 2011 17

14 Board Meeting: Fall meeting of the Law

Alumni Chapter board of directors. McMillan Board-room in The Inn at Ole Miss, 3 p.m. Board members only.

15 Tailgate: Alumni and friends of the School

of Education are invited to a tailgate prior to the Alabama vs. Ole Miss football game. Two hours before kickoff, Triplett Alumni Center lawn. Call 662-915-7375.

15 Tailgate: Alumni and friends of the School

of Pharmacy are invited to a tailgate prior to the Alabama vs. Ole Miss football game. Two hours before kickoff, Faser Hall front lawn. Call 662-915-7375, or email jovon@olemiss.edu.

15 Football: Ole Miss vs. Alabama. Vaught-

Hemingway Stadium.

19 Ford Series: “Young Frankenstein.” Ford

Center for the Performing Arts, 7 p.m. Call 662-915-2787.

21 Bridging the Gap: A student/alumni

networking forum, 3:30-5:30 p.m., The Inn at Ole Miss Ballroom.

22 Tailgate: Alumni and friends of the

School of Pharmacy are invited to a tailgate prior to the Arkansas vs. Ole Miss football game. Sponsored by

The Harvard Drug Group. Two hours before kickoff, Faser Hall front lawn. Call 662-915-7375, or email jovon@olemiss.edu.

22 Football: Ole Miss vs. Arkansas. Vaught-

Hemingway Stadium.

27 Ford Series: “RAIN, A Tribute to the

Beatles.” Ford Center for the Performing Arts, 7 p.m. Call 662-915-2787.

Photo by Joan Marcus

RAIN, A Tribute to the Beatles

OCT. 27

18 Alumni Review

Summer 2011 19

UM alumnus adapts lifelong friend’s best-seller for the big screen

directing

Heartthe

from the

By Rick Hynum

20 Alumni Review

Tate Taylor with Emma Stone, who plays Skeeter in ‘The Help.’ Brunson Green, Taylor's producing partner, is in the background.

Summer 2011 21

If success depends largely on being in the right place at the right time,

University of Mississippi alumnus Tate Taylor (BBA 91) couldn’t have picked a more unlikely combination of era and locale to find his niche as a director of Hollywood blockbuster movies—Jack-son, Miss., in the 1970s.

That’s where and when Taylor met one of his closest lifelong friends, novelist Kathryn Stockett. They were both 5 years old, a pair of high-spirited kindergarteners being raised in Jackson by single mothers and their African-American housekeepers. Little could they have known that their shared experiences eventually would lead them to collaborate on one of the most hotly anticipated movies of 2011: Taylor’s big-screen adaptation of Stockett’s wildly popular debut novel, The Help.

“We became really good friends from the start,” recalls Taylor, 42, who wrote the script for and directed the upcoming movie that opens Aug. 12 nationwide. “We had a unique relationship. We always supported each other creatively, and she has been one of my best friends ever since.”

Stockett, a University of Alabama graduate, had struggled for years to find a publisher for The Help, a sometimes serious, sometimes comic tale addressing the complex, bittersweet relations between black domestic workers and their white employers during 1960s Mississippi. She has said she received about 60 rejection let-ters before landing a deal with Putnam that propelled her to best-seller status in 2010.

But, even as publishers were turning up their noses at The Help, Taylor, then a mostly unknown actor/director in Los Angeles, knew a good thing when he read it. He believed in his friend’s authorial gifts—and the powerful message and uni-versal appeal of her book—so passionately that, upon reading the manuscript, he immediately phoned his friend and asked for the film rights.

“It was great, and I knew someone would eventually publish it,” Taylor says. “I told her I wanted to make it into a movie. She said, ‘Well, if anybody can do it right, you can.’ We’d both been raised

22 Alumni Review

by single mothers in Jackson who had to work, and we both had domestic workers who’d helped raise us. And we both knew how Hollywood often gets the South wrong. So I adapted and wrote the screen-play before the book was even in print.”

Hollywood’s Siren CallTaylor is proud of his Southern roots,

but, as a teenager at Jackson Preparatory School in the 1980s, he says, “I was anxious to get out of Mississippi and go far away.”

Required by his father to attend

an in-state university for one semester before trucking off to more glamorous environs, Taylor chose to major in busi-ness at Ole Miss.

“After a week I never wanted to leave,” he says. “I loved it. It was far enough away from Jackson that I felt free there, yet the people made it comfortable.”

Confident and gregarious, Taylor took full advantage of the college experience and became a leader of his fraternity, but his career track at the time was fairly conventional.

“Looking back, I should have been majoring in something in the arts, but I didn’t know any better,” he says. “I was active around campus, though, and I was being creative as my fraternity’s social chairman and in my hobbies without realizing it.”

Ole Miss alumnus Charles Greenlee (BBA 92), Taylor’s close friend and fraternity brother, remembers him as a merry prankster.

“Tate was always the life of the party with his humor and dry wit,” Greenlee

Summer 2011 23

says. “He had an insatiable appetite for practical jokes, so you always wanted to stay on his good side.

“I had no idea he’d become a major film director, but, without a doubt, I knew he would make a profound impact on people’s lives as a result of his creativity and personality,” Greenlee adds.

Upon graduating, Taylor landed a sales position with Mapco Inc. in Mem-phis, hawking jet fuel to clients such as Federal Express. But the work left him unfulfilled and restless.

Despite doing very well at the company, Taylor says after two years he was both bored and lost. “I kept going into my boss’s office and asking, ‘What are we doing here? What are we accomplishing?’ I felt like we weren’t doing anything worthwhile,” he says.

In the midst of this existential crisis, fate intervened, marking the first time—but obviously not the last—that a best-seller-turned-blockbuster movie would alter the course of Taylor’s career.

A film crew had moved into his neigh-borhood to shoot scenes for “The Firm,”

an adaptation of John Grisham’s novel, and the process captivated him.

“They were filming in a house that was on the same street where I lived,” he says. “I’d come home from work, take off my suit, run outside and hide in the bushes to watch them making the movie. I knew then that I didn’t want to sell jet fuel anymore.”

Spurred by this epiphany, Taylor quit his sales job and moved to New York for a stint as a production assistant with media giant Viacom. He eventually returned to Mississippi, where he designed and built homes for awhile.

“But I didn’t really want to be in the spec-building business, either,” he says.

Again, Hollywood came along in the mid-1990s and gave him a second nudge toward show business, this time in the form of another Grisham-inspired movie, “A Time to Kill,” which was being shot in Canton. Unable to resist its siren call, Taylor secured a production assistant job on the set, then followed his crew buddies west to forge a new life in Tinseltown.

Creating New WorldsOnce in Hollywood, Taylor landed

a few bit parts and the occasional fea-tured role, most prominently as the bail bondsman Satterfield in 2010’s “Winter’s Bone,” the acclaimed indie film that made a star of Jennifer Lawrence. In addition to a recurring role on the Logo network’s series, “Sordid Lives,” he paid his dues as a member of the legendary comedy troupe, The Groundlings, whose alumni include Will Ferrell, Lisa Kudrow, Phil Hartman and Kristin Wiig.

As a Groundling, Taylor discovered a new passion.

“You go through four levels of the Groundlings, and, at the third level, you have to start writing sketches,” he says. “I almost didn’t do it. I didn’t want to write but went ahead and tried it. My first sketch was 40 pages long. I’d created this entire world and loved it. You were supposed to showcase yourself in the skits, but I was cast-ing everybody else. I was barely in it because I preferred being the writer and director. That’s when I discovered I loved writing and creating and bringing these worlds to life.”

In 2003, Taylor wrote and directed “Chicken Party,” a short film starring Octavia Spencer and Allison Janney. It earned top honors at various film festivals and caught the attention of director-pro-

Emma Stone (left), Taylor and Viola Davis, who plays Aibileen, work on a scene in ‘The Help.’

24 Alumni Review

ducer Chris Columbus, who’d directed “Home Alone,” “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” and other hit films.

More importantly, “Chicken Party” served as a springboard for Taylor’s first full-length feature, “Pretty Ugly People,” also starring Spencer and Janney as well as Missi Pyle. With two indie flicks under his belt and Columbus eager to partner with him, Taylor was now ready to tackle a major project. His timing couldn’t have been better, when his old pal Stockett’s novel began climbing the best-seller charts.

Honoring Unsung HeroesAfter years of struggling in obscurity,

Stockett had suddenly rocketed to literary celebrity, and everyone in Hollywood wanted to be her best friend—and Tay-lor’s, too.

“I had the rights, I had the script, and everybody wanted to know who the hell Tate Taylor was and what he intended

to do with these rights,” Taylor chuckles. “All these people I’d been trying to get on the phone for 15 years suddenly started calling me.”

With Columbus’ backing, Taylor inked a deal with DreamWorks, Steven Spielberg’s production company. Rising star Emma Stone signed on for the lead role, along with Janney, Spencer, Viola Davis and Bryce Dallas Howard. Putting the relatively inexperienced Taylor at the helm of a big-budget production seemed a big risk to some industry insiders, especially since readers around the world felt a strong personal connection with the novel’s vividly drawn characters, such as the dignified but oft-maligned Aibileen, the sharp-tongued Minny and Skeeter, the privileged, white Ole Miss grad who seeks to give these domestic workers a voice through a groundbreaking book she’s writing.

But Taylor never doubted he was the man for the job.

“I understood this material so well,” he says. “I knew these women, these great unsung heroes. One of them raised me. When you’re telling a personal story that you know inside out, it alleviates the pressure. If I’d conned my way into doing a robot movie or some kind of political thriller, I would have been a wreck. But I knew this story and how to tell it.”

Taylor and his mother, a federal bank-ruptcy trustee, remain close to Carol Lee, the African-American housekeeper who helped raise him. With assistance from Taylor’s mom, Lee earned her GED after Taylor became a teenager and currently works as a bankruptcy secretary for the U.S. Justice Department.

“Carol and my mom take care of each other; they love each other,” Taylor says. “Yes, she worked for my mom, but she had a son of her own, and my mom would do things to help out with her son. They had a unique partnership, taking care of

each other’s children. Their relationship is much like Celia’s and Minny’s in the book. It’s not about race.”

Taylor wanted to pay tribute to that enduring friendship in his movie just as Stockett’s novel honored the housekeeper who’d helped raise her.

“It was wonderful to have this African-American woman that I loved so much raising me,” he says. “She was so much a part of my childhood. But then to hear disparaging remarks (about African Americans) around Jackson, it was odd. I would think, ‘What are they talking about?’ That’s what I loved about this book. It’s about the love, the bonds and the friendships that transcend race.”

Taylor insisted on filming the movie in Mississippi, mostly in Greenwood, for added credibility and atmosphere.

“I just thought that was important,” he says. “To tell the story of underprivileged people in our state in the 1960s, it made

sense to bring the movie here for economic reasons—to give back to my home state—and because Mississippi itself is a huge character in the novel and the movie. I wanted to use these great locations and let people see how beautiful our state is. I also knew it’d be good for the actors to feel the heat and the bugs and experience what it would be like to live in Mississippi. I think it especially took the African-American actors to a deeper level, and they liked it.”

Greenlee and his family, who live in Jackson, worked as extras during the film’s shooting in Greenwood.

“It was surreal to me, watching Tate directing on set,” Greenlee says. “On the first day of shooting, I was incredibly nervous for him, but it didn’t take long for me to realize that he had everything under control. An amazing group of talent had been assembled to create this film.”

“The Help” may be considered one of this summer’s must-see movies, but Taylor

downplays all the buzz, preferring to focus on the story itself.

“What makes it universal is that it’s not about racism and bigotry in the South,” he says. “That is a backdrop, yes, but the novel and the film are both about courage and integrity, taking a chance and having a voice and being heard. These characters are not just turning the other cheek and accepting their situation. They know things have to change.

“If you look at the climate of the world right now, the Middle East, regimes being toppled, people are making their voice heard on Facebook and Twitter,” Taylor notes. “These are normal people working for change. And that’s what ‘The Help’ is about. It’s not about mean white people in Mississippi. It’s about the positive bonds and relationships between blacks and whites.” AR

Photos courtesy of Walt Disney Studios

“If I’d conned my way into doing a robot movie or some kind of political thriller,

I would have been a wreck. But I knew this story and how to tell it.”

Tate Taylor

Summer 2011 25

26 Alumni ReviewSports marketer tasked with bringing new energy to football stadium

Summer 2011 27Sports marketer tasked with bringing new energy to football stadium By Tom Speed

Michael Thompson, Ole Miss’ new senior associate athletics director for communications and marketing, is working to improve fans’

game-day experience at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

Photo by Robert Jordan

28 Alumni Review

Throughout the South, anticipation is particularly high for the first game of the football season.

Last year, enthusiasm was higher than normal for the Ole Miss Rebels as the team was coming off back-to-back Cotton Bowl wins and looking toward continu-

ing its newfound winning ways. Season tickets were sold out. Record crowds were expected. In the off-season, the Rebels landed a highly touted, if controversial, transfer quarterback. The words “Heis-man contender” were bandied about.

The season started with Jacksonville State, a school most Rebel fans would have a hard time finding on a map. The team was in the Football Bowl Subdivision—formerly Division I-AA. It was one of those

games fans feel pretty good about scrawling a “W” beside in their pocket schedules.

It was a sweltering September after-noon, but the football-starved crowds showed up. The Rebels took a command-ing and expected 31-10 halftime lead. So many fans, thinking a winning outcome was secure, left the stadium to return to the Grove, where shade and cold beverages would protect them from the heat as they watched the rest of the game, and perhaps some others, on their satellite TVs.

But Jacksonville State fought back. The Rebels slowly lost their grasp. Suddenly, the game was tied and headed to overtime. After one overtime period, it was still tied. Then the unthinkable happened. Coach Jack Crowe, a former mentor to Ole Miss Coach Houston Nutt, rolled the dice by going for a two-point conversion rather than the safe extra point. His team followed through, and Ole Miss lost the game.

The optimism of an entire fan base was squashed in one brief second. The fans who remained in the stands were in

shock. Some sportswriters called the game one of the worst losses in the history of the football program. The loss hung like a cloud over the rest of the season, set-ting the stage for a disappointing year in football and in other sports.

It was an inauspicious beginning to what was a dream job for Michael Thomp-son (BA 01), the new senior associate athletics director for communications and marketing. Thompson, a lifelong Rebel

fan with a background in sports market-ing, had been on the job for just a few short weeks and knew his job had quickly become much more difficult.

“It was a bizarre way to start,” says Thompson, a Memphis native with more than a decade of sports-marketing experience.

The Survey Says …But Thompson was undeterred.“I can’t do anything on that field, as

much as I wish I could make a tackle or throw a pass or catch a ball,” Thompson says. “I can’t do that, but I can do what I do best and what I think God gave me the ability to do, and that’s [to] manage the brand and help build it with every bit of passion and energy I have.”

Thompson’s goal is to energize the fan base and improve the fan game-day expe-rience. To that end, one of his first orders of business was to gauge the temperature of the constituency. This was easy enough

to ascertain when it came to results on the playing field this particular year—nobody likes losing. But Thompson wanted to know how he could get people to enjoy their time at the games so they would want to come back more often. After the Fresno State game, he distributed an extensive survey to season-ticket holders.

The feedback was overwhelming. Nearly 4,000 people responded to the survey, which took an average of 18 minutes to complete.

I can do what I do best and what I think God gave me the ability to do, and that ’s [to] manage the brand and help build it with every bit of passion and energy I have.” —Michael Thompson

Summer 2011 29

By survey standards, that’s a long time. The response rate was almost 25 percent. For surveys like this, marketers typically consider just 5 percent to be a really good response rate. At 25 percent, Thompson says the response rate was “astronomical.”

The online survey was broken down into several sections, which included first impres-sions, pregame, concessions, restrooms, merchandise sales, band, video board and sound, cheers and crowd participation.

Some of the response was expected.

Thompson knew, for example, that the sound system was lacking. He knew that there needed to be some consistency in sig-nage, logos and colors. Stadium signs var-ied in size and color. Some used outdated logos. Restroom signs on one side of the stadium did not look like restroom signs on the other side of the stadium. Some were just old and worn. This, he knew.

But he was surprised by some of the feedback, as well.

“I was blown away by how important

the band is to the whole experience—97 percent said it was very important, and 67 percent said extremely important,” he says. “I told the band they hold an amazing amount of power. If just they improved, 97 percent of our fans would have a better game-day experience.”

As a result of the survey, many changes will be noticeable this season. In June, Thompson released a list of them in an ambitious report titled “100 in 100: One Hundred Improvements in One Hundred

I was blown away by how important the band is to the whole experience—97 percent said it was very important.” —Michael Thompson

 

 

2  

2.4  

2.8  

3.2  

3.6  

3.13  

2.97  

3.19  2.95

 

3.12  

3  

2.93  

2.86  

2.3  

2.77  

2.78  

2.82  

2.82  

3.03  

3.09  

3.27  

Importance  

Satisfact

ion  

Overall  Outside  Appearance  of  Stadium

Very

dissatisfie

d

6%

Somewhat

dissatisfie

d

20%

Satisfied

48%

Very

satisfied

26%

Overall  O

utside  Appeara

nce  of  Stadium  

Overall  In

side  Appearance

 of  Stadium  

Professionali

sm  of  Security

 Personnel

Speed  of  Ticke

t  Takers

Section,  R

ow  and  Seat  Marki

ngs

Friendliness  

of  Ticket  Take

rs

Display  of  Program

 Accomplishments

Directional  S

ignage  Around  the  Stadium

First  Impressions  Importance  and  Satisfactions  

 (4-­‐Point  Scale  and  Ranked  by  Order  of  Importance)  

Very

dissatisfie

d

5% Somewhat

dissatisfie

d

24%

Satisfied

50%

Very

satisfied

21%

1

First  im

pressions  ar

e  a  larg

e  factor  in  

setting  the  ex

pectations  fo

r  what  our  

fans  will  experie

nce  in  other  p

arts  of  th

e  

gameday  enviro

nment.    In  this  se

ction,  

we  asked

 questions  ab

out  ticket  

taker  

2

staff,  se

curity  sta

ff,  overa

ll  appeara

nce  

of  the  st

adium,  as  well  a

s  display  of  

program  acc

omplishments.    

 Next  yea

r,  

the  survey

 will  include  ques

tions  about  

parking  and  The  Grove.  

Because

 of  the  

3

type  of  questions  as

ked  in  this  se

ction,  

we  were  

also  able  to

 compare  the  

importance  o

f  each  ele

ment  with  the  

satisfac

tion  of  that  s

ame  element.  

Gameday  Element:  First  Impressions    

Overall  Inside  Appearance  of  Stadium

 

 

 

 

Gameday  Element:  Concessions  

 

Cash  only  at  conc

essions  can  be  dif

ficult  in  

this  day  and  age  a

s  a  large  percenta

ge  of  

people  do  not  car

ry  cash.  Waiting  in  

long  lines  

at  the  ATMs  is  very  i

nconvenient.  Alm

ost  

every  other  sports

 venue  I  have  been

 too  

accepts  credit  or  d

ebit  cards  at  their

 

concession  stand

.    -­‐  Peggy  (

Canton,  MS)  

 

   Losing  Corky's  was  a  big  blow  to  the  

concessions.    I  like  the  addition  of  the  sweet  

tea.    I  think  the  more  you  can  play  to  the  

Mississippi  food  the  better.    Maybe  add  a  

catfish  place  or  something  along  those  lines.    

-­‐  Kyle  (Oxford,  MS)  

 All  I  ever  get  to  eat  when  I  go  to  the  games  are  BBQ  

nachos.    It  helps  define  the  game  day  experience  for  me.    

It's  almost  as  much  of  a  tradition  as  being  in  the  Grove.

   

 -­‐Jay  (Carthage,  MS)  

 

There  is  a  distinct  lack  of  originality  in  

the  food  selections.    Typical  high  

school  stadium  fare.  Does  not  match  

up  with  local  cuisine  and  culture.  

-­‐  Anonymous  

   At  the  Vandy  game  we  ran  out  of  water  

before  the  half.  When  we  finally  got  some  

more  it  was  hot.  There  were  no  cold  drinks  on  

a  very  hot  day.  Also  we  don't  have  many  

items  available  in  other  concession  stands.  

   

-­‐  Warren  (Jackson,  MS)  

Verbatim  comments  sampled  from  open-­‐ended  comment  box  in  section  

 

The  condiment  table

 areas  are  filthy  

by  halftime  and  are

 not  cleaned  

during  the  game.  Napkin

s  are  

usually  found  on  th

e  ground  or  in  a  

pile  on  the  table.    C

ondiments  are  

not  filled  after  they

 have  been  

emptied.  Someone  nee

ds  to  

monitor  these  areas  b

etter.  

      -­‐  Anonymous  

We  need  a  wider  selec

tion  of  food  at  

the  games.  Hot  dogs,  popco

rn,  and  

candy  are  not  really

 options.  Maybe  

incorporate  local  fo

od  like  catfish,  

crawfish,  BBQ,  and  othe

rs.  I  very  

rarely  purchase  foo

d  because  of  lack  

of  selection.  

      -­‐  Anonymous  

 

Gameday  Element:  Band    

2.53

2.55

2.61

3.11

2 2.5 3 3.5

Volume

Music Selection - Overall Songs

Music Selection - Right Music at Pivotal Times

Uniforms and Appearance

Not Important 3%

Somewhat Important

30%

Extremely Important

67%

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Playing the Halftime Show

Playing the Pre-game Show

Playing During the Game

1 (Least Important)

2

3 (Most Important)

1

The  band  is  obviously  a  very  important  part  of  any  gameday  experience.  We  have  begun  work  with  the  band  to  increase  the  participation  of  the  band  before  the  game,  during  the  game,  and  

2

after  the  game.  Some  areas  that  will  have  an  immediate  impact  are  the  new  uniforms  that  the  band  will  wear  this  season.  They  will  also  move  from  section  A  over  to  Section  6.  Other  areas  

3

of  improvement  are  entrance  to  the  stadium,  exit  and  march  from  Grove  to  stadium,  pre-­‐game  and  updated  stand  songs/cheers  which  will  move  in  line  with  fans  expectations  and  desires.  

Band  Satisfaction    (4-­‐Point  Scale  by  Category)  

Band  Importance    (Importance  of  Band  to  Overall  Stadium  Experience)  

Importance  of  Time  the  Band  Plays    

 

 

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Student Section Other Audio or Public Address Band

Video Board Cheerleaders

5 (Most Effective) 4

3

2

1 (Least Effective)

Current  Effectiveness  of  Each  Element  to  Maximize  Crowd  Participation  

0%

25%

50%

75%

Other

Other Public Address or Audio

Cheerleaders

Student Section

Band

Video Board

5%

18%

21%

41%

46%

66%

Most  Important  Elements  to  Introducing  a  New  Cheer  with  Maximum  Crowd  Participation  

(Respondents  Could  Select  up  to  3)  

 

Gameday  Element:  Crowd  Participation    

30 Alumni Review

Days.” The report outlines the results of the survey and includes quotes from some of the comments. The 100 changes are to be com-pleted by opening day of the 2011 season.

Distracting ads on the video board? Gone. Improved concessions and rest-room facilities? Done. Thompson and

his team are moving quickly to make the changes the fans want.

The Pride of the South Marching Band—the element of the game-day experience that almost every fan said was important—will be revamped, too. The band will be sporting new uniforms, and a pep band—a scaled-down version of the full band—will trek to every away game except Fresno State. A team of acoustic experts was brought in by Thompson to help improve the PA system, and it advised moving the

band so that more fans can hear the music.Starting this year, the band will be

placed in the south end zone, underneath the upper deck. Planners expect the overhang to provide a megaphone effect so that the band will be more integrated into the game experience.

“It’s going to allow the band to be heard better by the entire stadium,” says Bill DeJournett, associate director of bands at Ole Miss and director of the Pride of the South since fall 2010. “It’s going to be a better thing for all involved.”

DeJournett also tells fans to expect “some exciting additions to the pregame show.”

Another unexpected concern of survey respondents was the helmet logo on the side of the press box, which will be replaced after an overwhelming sentiment against it. It

was not specifically mentioned in the survey but was included in many comments. That attention to detail shows how passionate Ole Miss fans are, Thompson says.

“The helmet was a major thing,” he says. “I couldn’t believe how many times that was mentioned specifically. They said

it looked bush league or high schoolish. It did look old, but for people to recognize that and isolate it by name and recall it unaided and mention it in the survey, that’s something else.”

Thompson had crafted the survey to include an open-ended space at the end of each section for comments.

“I had a sense of unloading,” Thomp-son says. “People baring their soul and saying what they’ve been wanting to say for a long time.”

By the NumbersSome numbers revealed in the Game-day Experience Survey:

15,221 The number of surveys sent to student and nonstudent season-ticket holders.

3,718 The number of responses to the survey.

58% The percentage of survey respondents who are Ole Miss graduates.

48% Those who were “satisfied” with the outside appearance of the stadium. Six percent were “very dissatisfied.”

50% Those who were “satisfied” with the inside appearance of the stadium. Five percent were “very dissatisfied.”

78% Those who selected the “Celebrity Hotty Toddy” as their favorite pregame element.

67% Those who said the band was an “extremely important” ele-ment to the overall game experience. Three percent said the band was “not important.”

92% Those who said that crowd noise has an effect on an opponent.

100 The number of improvements the athletics department plans to make to the game-day experience at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

“I had a sense of unloading—people baring their soul and saying what they’ve been wanting to say for a long time.” —Michael Thompson

Summer 2011 31

The Pride of the South Marching Band will sport new uniforms this football season and will move to the south end zone. The band’s director says to expect more “exciting additions” to the band’s performance this season.

Photo by Kevin Bain

32 Alumni Review

What You SaidA sampling of comments left by Ole Miss fans who took the Game-day Experience Survey:

“We have entirely too many shades of blue. The blue in the end zone should be the only color blue used ANYWHERE in the stadium. …” —Kirk (Ridgeland)

“The outside and inside appearance of the south end zone is great. The outside appearance of the rest of the stadium needs work. … I would propose getting rid of the painted helmets and having some banners of past players or accomplishments.” —John (Jackson)

“… It is time to remove the silly football helmet on the west side of the stadium. Replace it with a painted Ole Miss script or The University of Mississippi.” —Anonymous (Jackson)

“Too many sponsors on the video board. If I wanted to watch commercials, [I’d] stay at home and watch the game on television.” —Eli (Birmingham)

“The band’s entrance should be more energetic and crowd-involved.” —Anonymous

“We need a wider selection of food at the games. … I very rarely purchase food because of a lack of selection.” —Anonymous

“I like the addition of the sweet tea. I think the more you can play to the Mississippi food the better. Maybe add a catfish place or something along those lines.” —Kyle (Oxford)

“The condiment areas are filthy by halftime and are not cleaned during the game. … Someone needs to monitor these areas better.” —Anonymous

“Restrooms are the same as when I was a freshman in 1966, despite the many improvements to the rest of the stadium. My wife is more negative in her feeling about this than am I.” —Dewey (Oxford)

“My section has a difficult time hearing the band when they play during the game. I would like to see them in the section next to the student section on the other side of the field.” —Cheryl (Clinton)

Pressbox — start to finish

Summer 2011 33

Getting out of the GroveSports fans nationwide know about

the splendor of the Grove. Sports writers wax nostalgic about it. Every year it’s on those inevitable lists of great college tradi-tions. Fans everywhere put a visit to the Grove on their “bucket list.” What they

might not know is that experience doesn’t always translate into an equally elegant experience in Vaught-Hemingway.

“The Grove is a double-edged sword,” Thompson says. “It makes Ole Miss argu-ably the greatest college football game-day experience in the United States. People talk about it nationally. But to get our fans away from there is a challenge, even on big games for just three hours.”

In today’s advanced technological age of high-definition television and broad-casts of every SEC game, Thompson says his first level of competition is people’s living rooms. With their own chairs, bath-rooms, food and drinks, people can watch every game at home in true comfort. Then when fans come to Oxford, they have a sometimes equally luxurious environment in the Grove.

“We have to make sure that when you come to the stadium, it’s going to be just as great of an experience,” he says. “It’s not going to be the same, but it has to be as good.”

To that end, Thompson has some tricks up his sleeve that he won’t reveal until the time comes. But some of them will involve special video content and experiences that aren’t available on televi-sion or even the Internet.

In fact, the video board will become a more integral part of the game-day experi-ence. Commercial messages are being

eliminated, and a creative team has been assembled to mine historical footage and create new content. The sound system will be more in sync with the band, too.

“When I got here last August, one of the first things people told me was that we had the band playing over the music, the music playing over the band,” Thompson says.

Some efforts were made to remedy that on the fly last season, but now the team is more prepared, he adds.

With so many variables at work, Thompson will appoint one person to coordinate all game-day efforts.

“Having a game-day director that can keep all these moving parts in sync is key,” he says. “You have to have one person where the buck stops. Then, on top of that, you have to have a killer communi-cation system in place so that the director can talk to the people leading the band, the cheerleaders, the Rebelettes and the video boards.”

Building the BrandMaking sure bathroom signs are all

the same color may seem like a minute and inconsequential detail, but it’s all part of maintaining and building a brand. Thompson is tasked with helping protect and build that brand. That means making sure logos match, but he’s also taken the initiative to ensure that Ole Miss as a brand name develops and deepens across media outlets. That means appealing to the NCAA to change its media guidebooks so that broadcasters and media writers refer to “Ole Miss” instead of “Mississippi.”

“We’re out there talking to every partner we can,” says Thompson, who adds that the name Ole Miss is one of the

strongest brands in the nation.Recently, Thompson was watching

an Ole Miss baseball game on ESPN. It was one of the first games of the year. He noticed that on the score overlay, the team was listed as “Mississippi.” So he snapped a photo of his TV with his phone and emailed the picture to ESPN’s Southeast-

ern Conference representative and asked that the name be changed. It was “Ole Miss” for the rest of the year.

“There will be times when it’s not right the first time,” Thompson says.

But in terms of identifying what those problems are and fixing them, Thompson is getting there.

As the anticipation and hopeful prognostication builds toward this year’s first football game, changes are underway to improve the brand and the experience for fans at the game. And if winning helps everything, fans can play a part in that, too.

“We should absolutely have an advan-tage playing at home in terms of being loud, being crazy, getting there early and staying until the very end,” Thompson says. “We need to make our opponents have to prepare extra to play in our sta-dium. We’ll get there.” AR

On the WebGAME-DAY SURVEY: Download the survey at Ole Miss’ athletics website, www.olemisssports.com. Click on the Men’s Football link.

We need to make our opponents have to prepare extra to play in our stadium.” —Michael Thompson

34 Alumni Review

?namewhat’s in a

by tina hahn

Summer 2011 35

Brevard Hall reflects longtime commitment of family

Photo by Robert Jordan

The Brevard family has created a legacy of giving to Ole Miss through their generous contributions. Pictured are David Brevard (left); his parents, Henry and Elizabeth Brevard; Henry and Elizabeth’s daughter and son-in-law, Elise Brevard Smith and Mike Smith; and David’s daughter, Stewart, and wife, Shawn.

36 Alumni Review

Photo by Robert Jordan

Henry Brevard speaks at the dedication of the newly renamed Brevard Hall.

Summer 2011 37

revered academic leader once observed that “a university’s greatest treasure is its names.”

A wa lk a round The University of Mississippi’s Oxford campus, then, is

like a visit with both distinguished scholars and devoted sup-porters. The names of buildings, facilities, programs and streets offer a who’s who list of difference makers in the life of Ole Miss—such as Barnard, Cochran, Day, Galtney, Hemingway, Holman, Khayat, Lewis, Lott, Manning, Martindale, Overby, Paris, Triplett, Williams, Vaught, Ventress and Yates.

A new name on the Circle has joined this roster and reflects the Henry Brevard family’s deeply held affection for and transformative support of Ole Miss.

During the School of Engineering’s 110th anniversary festivities this spring, Old Chemistry—the central building of UM’s Engineering Complex—was renamed Brevard Hall. Believing in stu-dents through scholarships, giving critical support to engineering education and providing alumni leadership are defining elements of the legacy Brevard and fam-ily members continue to build. To date, around 500 students have pursued their dreams of higher education at Ole Miss, thanks to Brevard Family Scholarships, and more certainly will follow.

The Brevard Family Chair in Civil Engineering has been established with a portion of the family’s gift and will be used to recruit an additional distinguished scholar to the faculty. Another portion will be directed to the scholarship endow-ment, which was established in 1991, and the remainder will provide operational funds for Brevard Hall.

The Engineering Complex now includes Brevard, Carrier and Anderson halls; the Charles E. Smith Engineering Science Building; part of Weir Hall, where the Department of Computer and Information Science is housed; and the new Center for Manufacturing Excellence.

“We feel the Ole Miss School of Engi-neering has made excellent progress over the past few decades and is poised to make even greater progress in the coming years,” says Brevard (BSCE 43) of Tupelo. “About 20 years ago we decided we wanted to give credit to the university that we believe has had a major degree of responsibility for

our personal and professional growth. I am grateful for my engineering education at Ole Miss. Among others, former dean of engineering Dr. Lee H. Johnson was a teacher of great merit and strong influ-ence. Our family believes that no financial donation can repay adequately the mentoring and experience received here.”

Involved AlumniSchool of Engineering Dean Alex

Cheng says Brevard has been known for playing an active role on campus since his student days. Brevard has served as presi-dent of the Engineering Alumni Chapter and as chair of The University of Missis-sippi Foundation, School of Engineering advisory board and the Woods Order. He was inducted into the Ole Miss Alumni Hall of Fame in 1988.

David Brevard (BA 78) has shared his father’s devotion to Ole Miss, frequently becoming involved in the life of his alma mater. His contributions were recognized with the Alumni Association’s 2009 Alumni Service Award. He has led the Ole Miss Alumni Association as president and has worked in several major capital campaigns that successfully attracted private gifts to help secure the university’s future. He now is active on the University Foundation board of directors.

Tim Walsh (BPA 83, MEd 91), execu-tive director of Alumni Affairs, believes the building dedication is a fitting tribute to the family.

“I was excited to learn that the Old Chemistry building was being renovated and would become part of our Engineer-ing Complex as Brevard Hall,” he says. “Situated right next to the Lyceum at the very center of campus, it is appropriate for that building to be named Brevard Hall, as the Brevard family has touched almost every part of our university through their generous gifts of time and resources. The renovated building is more spectacular than I imagined it could be, and it does my heart good to walk by and see the Brevard Hall sign.”

Henry Brevard agrees, saying, “The university and the architect have done a remarkable job of preserving the stately nature of this grand old building. It pro-vides utility as well as historical continuity. When I saw the Brevard Hall sign, my first thought was ‘Wow—how about that!’ A slightly more considered thought was

a hope that some future family member benefiting from the Ole Miss experience would be reminded that he or she would be walking in the family tradition.”

Chancellor Dan Jones (MD 75) says he believes the building that has played such a pivotal role in the lives of genera-tions of students will continue to have a great impact.

“Brevard Hall will provide constant inspiration to the university community, standing as a testament to the remarkable service of Henry Brevard and his family, all of whom are deeply devoted to their community, their state and to engineer-ing education and Ole Miss,” Jones says. “We are profoundly grateful to Beth and Henry Brevard and their family for their generosity and involvement that continue

to significantly strengthen our university. This new gift focuses on our engineering students and faculty, whose careers will make important contributions on state, national and global fronts.”

Devotion to Engineering“I would like to shake Mr. Henry

Brevard’s hand and say, ‘Thank you for believing in me,’” says Matthew Herring of Oxford, a Brevard Scholar and rising senior electrical engineering major.

Students such as Herring are what the family had in mind for its support.

AIt is appropriate for

that building to be

named Brevard Hall,

as the Brevard family

has touched almost

every part of our

university through their

generous gifts of time

and resources.” —Tim Walsh

“

38 Alumni Review

“We have always thought that our scholarship endowment was important to help the school increase the caliber of our already gifted student body and help

increase enrollment to a point of more effi-ciency per student, considering the funding available,” says Henry Brevard. “Our second purpose has been to make engineer-ing education possible for deserving and talented students who might otherwise not have the means necessary for that pursuit.”

Cheng says that Brevard is generous with his financial donations, but he also continues to have an interest and desire to stay involved with what is taking place here on campus.

“In particular, he seems to enjoy hearing and seeing those things that affect students of today’s generation,” he says. “He takes the time and effort to follow up on his gifts to ensure funds are used wisely for the benefit of the school and especially for the students. It would be difficult to put into words the far-reaching impact Henry Brevard has had and continues to have on the School of Engineering.”

Brevard first used his civil engineering degree as a Mississippi State Highway Department bridge designer. In 1949, he and his father-in-law, Riley Boozer, became convinced that ready-mix concrete was the wave of the future, offering more labor efficiency than the standard of the day: job-site mixed concrete. The two men founded B&B Concrete Co. of Tupelo, the first transit-mixed concrete plant in North Mississippi. The business has expanded to include 12 other locations in the state.

Brevard’s son, David, earned an undergraduate degree in political science from Ole Miss, where he was a Carrier Scholar. He went on to receive an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. After a few years of business experience in New York, he joined B&B Concrete, where he serves as president and chief executive officer.

“Although David did not choose to

When Old Chemistry was ‘new’

In 1920, the Mississippi Legislature appropriated $750,000 for capital construction and $300,000 in support funds for The Uni-versity of Mississippi, launching a construction program that would transform the campus.

The six buildings constructed were the 50,000-square-foot science building, four men’s residence halls and one women’s residence hall. Of course, when classes first began in the “new” science building during spring semester 1923, it wasn’t called “Old Chemistry.” Although the recently dedicated Brevard Hall now serves as the heart of the Engineering Complex, the building first housed the departments of Chemistry and Pharmacy.

A brochure printed at the time stated, “No finer provision for instruction in these fields exists in the South.” The building was designed by architects Trueblood and Link of St. Louis, Mo. The building freed up classroom space in the Lyceum, which received ren-ovations and the addition of the west portico.

The year 1923 was an interesting time on our campus and in our country. What was happening on our campus and elsewhere when the building opened?

� Dr. Joseph Neely Powers was UM’s ninth chancellor.

� Engineering dean was Dr. John Hazard Dorah.

� Enrollment at Ole Miss numbered fewer than 1,000 students.

� The UM School of Medicine was located on the Oxford campus.

� For the 21st time, the Ole Miss football team played the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Starkville. Tickets to the game in Jackson were $2.50 each.

� A copy of The Mississippian, the school’s official newspaper, could be purchased for 10 cents.

� The acting campus postmaster for the U.S. Post Office was future Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner William Faulkner.

� Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as U.S. president after the death of President Warren G. Harding.

� The first baseball game was played at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

� Insulin was introduced as a treatment for diabetes.

� The portable radio was developed in the United States.

� Walt Disney Studios was formed by Walt and Roy Disney.

Henry Brevard. Photo courtesy of Ole Miss 1940, Archives and Special Collections, UM Libraries

Summer 2011 39

pursue an engineering degree, he has had a continuing interest in the profession and in the Ole Miss School of Engineering because our long-range business success depends on engineering talent,” the elder Brevard says.

Engineering TrainingHenry Brevard was first attracted to

Ole Miss by a relative who had recently earned a law degree here and another who was a rising senior in chemical engineering. The engineering school then occupied the Lyceum’s north wing.

“When I was a student, the engineer-ing school was very small and the faculty was correspondingly small, but the indi-vidual faculty members were very able and professional,” the alumnus says. “I was particularly impressed by Dr. Johnson, the dean, who also taught a number of classes. He continuously worked on his students to improve their ability to think logically. Dr. Johnson knew engineers needed broad knowledge with some lib-eral arts education in making appropriate use of the technical.”

Brevard, an Amory native and fifth-generation Mississippian, was selected as a student instructor—with little faculty oversight—for the plane surveying course. Brevard also was asked to return after graduation as an instructor but chose to serve his country. The U.S. Army second lieutenant was a navigation instructor who flew training missions and later completed training on a B-29 combat crew. When he completed his service in 1946, he married Beth Boozer of Shannon, initiating a part-nership he describes as his “best-ever move.”

Beth Boozer Brevard holds a degree from the Mississippi University for Women and a lifetime membership in the Ole Miss Alumni Association. She was honored in 2001, when daughter, Elise Brevard Smith of Ridgeland, joined Henry and David in endowing the Elizabeth Brevard Council Scholarship through the Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy.

Natural Leaders and Givers“The Brevard family and Ole Miss are

synonymous,” says Chancellor Emeritus Robert Khayat (BAEd 61, JD 66). “My earliest memories of engineering at this university include Henry Brevard. In his quiet, dignified manner, he has thoughtfully and consistently supported our School of Engineering. In addition, Henry, Beth and their family have par-ticipated in many university events and have been quite supportive of chancellors, deans, faculty members and students.”

The Brevards also have played an instrumental role in UM’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture, where the Elizabeth Brevard Council Scholarship is awarded to undergraduates.

“The Brevards have been active on our advisory committee and have provided thoughtful guidance to our programs,” says Ann Abadie (MA 62, PhD 73), CSSC associate director. “They are deeply interested in the larger community and how the center’s work can help preserve and promote understanding of the South’s rich history, literature and culture. They recognize the importance of an academic center addressing issues that will help

move our society forward.”Service to one’s community is a

cornerstone of the Brevard family. Both Henry and David have provided leader-ship on boards of institutions focusing on health care, senior citizens and young people. Both have chaired the Methodist Senior Services, a statewide retirement and elderly health-care system. Henry has chaired the North Mississippi Health Services board of directors, while David chaired the Health Care Foundation of North Mississippi. They also have devoted time and energy to the Yocona Council of the Boy Scouts of America and served in leadership positions at Tupelo’s First United Methodist Church.

“My parents have always been involved in working together with others and in financially supporting worthy endeavors to improve the quality of life here in our community of Tupelo,” David Brevard says. “My parents love and support Ole Miss. I am motivated to support and participate in the life of the university because of their example, but, more importantly, because of my own recognition of the positive influence Ole Miss has had on my life. The University of Mississippi is a stronger school now than when I graduated in 1978. Its reputation as a great public university has grown and spread. For this to continue, private support from me and other mem-bers of the Ole Miss family is essential.” AR

Tina H. Hahn is the communications specialist in the Office of University Devel-opment. Joshua Waggoner, former associate director of development for the School of Engineering, contributed to this story.

Photo by Kevin Bain

Henry Brevard and his son, David, take care of business at their company, B&B Concrete in Tupelo.

40 Alumni Review

SportsPhoto by N

athan Latil

Leaps and BoundsEight REBELS EARN tRACK-AND-FiELD hONORS

Eight Ole Miss Rebels earned Out-door All-America distinction from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross

Country Coaches Association. The organization announced the hon-

ors in June, following the 2011 NCAA Division I Track & Field Championships.

Receiving first-team All-America were sophomore high jumper Ricky Robertson, senior hurdler Lee Ellis Moore and sophomore sprinter Mike Granger. Second-team distinction went to junior hurdler Carson Blanks, senior sprinter Jonathan Juin, sophomore triple jumper Morris Kersh, junior long jumper Caleb Lee and sophomore women’s triple jumper Marci Morman. All seven men that Ole Miss sent to the championships earned All-America recognition.

“The large group of Ole Miss athletes selected as All-Americans just caps off a very fine year for our 2011 team,” head Coach Joe Walker (67) says. “They have

represented themselves and Ole Miss in exemplary fashion.”

First-team All-America honors were awarded to those who earned any portion of a team point or reached an eight-entrant final at the national champion-ships in Des Moines, Iowa. Second-team All-America honors were handed out to those whose final placing in the national meet ranged from ninth to 16th place.

Robertson capped off a sensational sophomore season by finishing runner-up in the high jump to archrival Erik Kynard of Kansas State. The Hernando native received his fourth-straight first-team All-America honor in four tries (two indoor, two outdoor) and recently earned his fourth-straight Southeastern Conference title in the high jump (two indoor, two outdoor).

Moore claimed a sixth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles in Des Moines, while Granger placed seventh in the 100-meter dash. Moore was also an Outdoor

All-American in 2009. Granger had earned All-America status in each of his two indoor seasons as a collegian.

Blanks finished 12th in the 400-meter hurdles, Juin was 11th in the 200 meters, Kersh was 14th in the triple jump, Lee was 14th in the long jump, and Morman was 16th in the women’s triple jump. Lee was a repeat All-American (2011 Indoor), while Blanks, Juin, Kersh and Morman earned the honors for the first time.

Ole Miss capped off the 2011 track-and-field season with the Rebel men placing 19th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and finishing fourth among SEC schools.

The Ole Miss men put the final touches on a 2011 season that also included an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March. The women had a school-record nine participants in the outdoor championships and finished 23rd at the indoor championships this year. AR

Sophomore high jumper Ricky Robertson

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With Liberty Mutual, Ole Miss alumni can get more from their auto and home insurance.

Savings of up to $327.96 or more a year on auto insurance*with a special group discount and other discounts**

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Monday-Friday, 7a.m. to 12:30a.m.; Saturday 7a.m. to 11p.m.; Sunday 9a.m to 10p.m. (ET)

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• Or visit a Liberty Mutual office near you

• Call (888) 798-5644 and mention client #113966

This organization receives financial support for allowing Liberty Mutual to offer this auto and home insurance program. *Figure based on a February 2008 sample of auto policyholder savings when comparing their former premium with those of Liberty Mutual’s group auto and home program. Individual premiums and savings will vary. **Discounts and credits are available where state laws and regulations allow, and may vary by state. To the extent permitted by law, applicants are individually underwritten; except in Massachusetts, not all applicants may qualify. †Accident Forgiveness coverage subject to terms and conditions of Liberty Mutual’s underwriting guidelines and is not available in all states. Coverage provided and underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and its affiliates, 175 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA. A consumer report from a consumer reporting agency and/or a motor vehicle report, on all drivers listed on your policy, may be obtained where state laws and regulations allow. Please consult a Liberty Mutual specialist for specific details. © 2008 Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. All Rights Reserved.

An Academic Medical Center is not like an ordinary hospital.When the unexpected happens, it’s where we turn.A place where miraculous advances are nurturedthrough research, teamwork and innovation.A place where second chances are born.

This is not ordinary health care. This is University of Mississippi Health Care.

Learn more at umhc.com or call 888.815.2005.

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42 Alumni Review

SportsSportsPhoto courtesy of U

M Sports Inform

ationPhoto courtesy of U

M Sports Inform

ation

Near ‘Par’-fectionthREE REBEL gOLFERS EARN tOP 10 FiNiSh At tOuRNEy

Three members of the Ole Miss men’s golf team finished in the top 10 at the Mississippi State

Amateur in June at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point.

Rising senior Billy Brozovich of Greenville held the first-round lead and was tied for the lead after two rounds, but he ended up seventh with a 294.

Thomas Watkins of Madison carded a 292 and tied for fifth, his second top-five finish in the last three

years. He was runner-up in 2009 to Jonathan Randolph. Chad Bounds of Meridian tied for 10th with a 299.

Randolph missed the West Point tourney to compete in the prestigious Sunnehanna Amateur in Johnstown, Pa. The All-American shot a 285 to finish 37th at the par-70, 6,868-yard Sunnehanna Country Club. After a first-round 75, Randolph shot 68-67 to get back in the tournament but con-cluded the 72-hole event with a 75. AR

Watch ThisCENtER NAMED CANDiDAtE FOR RiMiNgtON tROPhy

Ole Miss’ A.J. Hawkins was named to the 2011 Spring Watch List for the Rimington Trophy, which honors college football’s top center.

A junior from Lithonia, Ga., Hawkins started 11 games at center last year and helped Ole Miss lead the Southeastern Con-ference in fewest sacks allowed and rank third in rushing offense. Behind Hawkins’ line, the Rebels notched eight individual 100-yard rushing performances by four different runners.

Hawkins is among six SEC players on the Rimington Trophy Watch List, which ties the Big Ten for the most candidates by a conference. In all, 42 players are on the list, including 14 return-ing players from the 2010 Watch List.

The winner will be honored at the Rimington Trophy Presentation banquet at the Rococo Theater in Lincoln, Neb., on Jan. 14.

A member of the National College Football Awards Asso-ciation, the Rimington Trophy committee uses four prestigious teams to determine a winner: the American Football Coaches Association, Walter Camp Foundation, Sporting News and Football Writers Association of America.

Because the selectors of these four All-America teams can place centers in a “mix” of offensive linemen that includes guards and tackles, their 11-man first teams often can have two centers. The policy is to count all players that primarily play the center position for their respective teams as centers, even though they may be listed as guards or tackles on the four All-America teams.

The center with the most first-team votes will be determined

the winner. If there is a tie with first-team votes, then the center with most second-team votes will win. If there is still a tie, the winner will be determined by the Rimington Trophy committee.

The annual Rimington Trophy is overseen by the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which is committed to finding a cure for cystic fibrosis and has raised more than $86 million for cystic fibrosis research. Dave Rimington, the award’s namesake, was a consensus first-team All-America center at the University of Nebraska in 1981 and 1982. For more on the Rimington Trophy and a list of past recipients, visit www.rimingtontrophy.com. AR

A.J. Hawkins is among six SEC players on the Rimington Trophy Watch List.

Jonathan Randolph

Summer 2011 43

Six Rebels Taken in MLB Draft REBELS BOASt MOSt PLAyERS DRAFtED OF ANy MiSSiSSiPPi SChOOL iN 2011

Matt Snyder became the sixth member of the Ole Miss baseball team to be selected in the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft, when he was taken by the Washington

Nationals in the 44th round.Snyder joins teammates David Goforth (seventh—Milwau-

kee), Austin Wright (eighth—Philadelphia), Miles Hamblin (12th—Houston), Matt Crouse (24th—Detroit) and Matt Tracy (24th—New York Yankees) as Rebels taken in the 2011 edition of the draft.

Ole Miss had more players selected in the 2011 MLB Draft than any other program in the state of Mississippi.

This season, Snyder hit .301 with a team-leading nine home runs and 39 RBIs to go along with 14 doubles and 25 runs scored. The junior caught fire late in the season, hitting at an almost .400 clip through the final 17 games of the season with seven home runs and 21 RBIs. ARDavid Goforth was one of six Rebels taken in the 2011 MLB Draft.

Photo courtesy of UM

Sports Information

44 Alumni Review

Culturearts &

The Confession: A Novel by John Grisham, 432 pages, $28.95 (Hardcover), ISBN: 0385528043

For every innocent man sent to prison, a guilty one is left on the outside. Travis Boyette is such a man. In 1998, in the small East Texas city of Sloan, he abducted, raped and strangled a popular high school cheerleader. He buried her body so that it would never be found, then watched in amazement as police and prosecutors arrested and convicted Donté Drumm, a local football star, and marched him off to death row.

Now, nine years have passed, and Drumm is four days away from his execution. Boyette has just been paroled in Kansas for a different crime and suffers from an inoperable brain tumor. For the first time in his miserable life, he decides to do what’s right and confess. But how can a guilty man convince lawyers, judges and politicians that they’re about to execute an innocent man?

When he’s not writing, John Grisham (JD 81) devotes time to charitable causes, including his Rebuild the Coast Fund, which raised $8.8 million for Gulf Coast relief in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He also

keeps up with his greatest passion: baseball. He lives in Virginia and Mississippi.

The Telegrapher by Thomas L. Wiley, 243 pages, $23.95 (Hardcover), ISBN: 0979786118

The Telegrapher is based on a true story. A young boy’s world suddenly turns upside down when he loses his arm in a teenage prank gone awry in the 1890s. His hopes and dreams give way to uselessness and despair until he is introduced to a fas-cinating device that changes his life forever—the telegraph key.

T h o m a s L . Wiley (MD 77) tells the story of telegrapher Ollie Pa r k e r. Fr o m e x p e r i e n c i n g the taunts of the school bully to the envy that engulfs him as he watches his best friend go off to war, Parker sees life passing him by. But through the loving wisdom of his grandmother and the capti-vating dots and dashes of the telegraph, he finds room for hope and fulfillment.

Wiley, a lifelong resident of Mississippi, lives in Jackson, where he is a practicing gynecologist. He and his wife, Merrie, have four children and six grandchildren. He also is the author of The Angels of Lockhart.

Mississippi: State of Blues by Ken Mur-phy and Scott Barretta, 119 pages, $22 (Hardcover), ISBN: 0615376916

Mississippi: State of Blues is the latest book from acclaimed photographer Ken Murphy, whose work was previously collected in the coffee-table books Mississippi and My South Coast Home. The result of three years

of collaboration between Murphy a n d O x f o r d -based blues writer Scott Barretta, the book portrays in both images and prose the

blues in the 21st century.Barretta is the former editor of Living

Blues, published by UM’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture, and is a UM adjunct instructor in sociology and anthropology. He is the host of the radio show “Highway 61” on Mississippi Public Broadcasting, writes a blues column for The Clarion-Ledger, conducts folklore research for the Mississippi Arts Commis-sion, and has served as a researcher and writer for the Mississippi Blues Trail and the B.B. King Museum & Delta Interpre-tive Center.

The Little House Songs by Caroline Her-ring, CD, $15

For a decade, Caroline Herring (BA 92) has produced emotional folk songs deeply rooted in narrative tradition and mined Southern themes evocative of her native Mississippi. One song, “Tales of the Islander,” is about artist Walter Anderson. Another, “Fay,” is about her favorite Larry

Brown character.For her fifth

album, Herring took a different approach. Rather than draw inspi-ration from her

literary leanings, she crafted songs based on her children’s favorite book—The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. Herring finds in this simple children’s book the same type of yearning and detail that she evokes in her other work and in the process produces a recording fit for chil-dren and adults alike. “The Little House Songs” is available via her website, www.carolineherring.com.

Information presented in this section is com-piled from material provided by the publisher and/or author and does not necessarily repre-sent the view of the Alumni Review or the Ole Miss Alumni Association. To present a recently published book or CD for consideration, please mail a copy with any descriptions and publishing information to: Ole Miss Alumni Review, Ole Miss Alumni Association, P.O. Box 1848, University, MS 38677. AR

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Travel2011-12

planner

46 Alumni Review

The Ole Miss Alumni Association is offering a number of spectacu-lar trips for 2011 and 2012.

Alumni and friends obtain group rates and discounts. All prices are per person, based on double occupancy and subject to change until booking. Airfare is not included unless noted. For a brochure or more information, contact the Alumni office at 662-915-7375. The most current listing of trips and prices is on the Ole Miss Alumni Association’s website at www.alumni.olemiss.edu.

ALASKAN DISCOVERY CRUISEAUG. 24-31, 2011Set sail on the elegant Oceania Cruises’ Regatta to some of Alaska’s most cap-tivating attractions. This deluxe vessel comes complete with upscale amenities, exceptionally attentive service, lavish staterooms and the finest cuisine at sea. Explore some of the last frontier’s most stunning sights, and revel in the rugged splendor of an unspoiled land as you visit the historic towns of Wrangell, Skagway, Kodiak, Sitka and Ketchikan, and savor the majestic beauty of ancient glaciers, icy-blue fjords, soaring granite cliffs and unique wildlife. Let Alaska’s unrivaled landscapes enchant you.—From $9,998, including airfare

CHICAGO—AN INSIDER’S PERSPECTIVEAUG. 30-SEPT. 4, 2011Once a small settlement and a military base, today Chicago is one of the world’s leading cities in business and the arts. From the fashionable department stores of Michigan Avenue to the impressive exhib-its at world-renowned museums, from the history at Jackson Park to the dazzling modern architecture at Millennium Park, Chicago has something for everyone. Planned excursions include visits to the famed Art Institute to view its stunning works and Hyde Park to see the impressive architecture of the University of Chicago and the home of President Barack Obama.

An exclusive series of discussions with Chicago insiders highlights the city’s famous politics, architecture, art and liv-ing in Chicago today. Best of all, ample leisure time gives you the freedom to explore other sites at your own pace from your city-center hotel.—From $2,245

PROVENCE AND CRUISING THE LIGURIAN SEASEPT. 13-24, 2011Join us for a unique journey that com-bines a delightful sojourn in Provence with a spectacular cruise on the four-star tall ship S.Y. Star Flyer along the French and Italian Rivieras. Spend three nights in deluxe accommodations in Avignon; see Provence’s inspiring landscapes, palaces,

monuments and ruins; walk in the foot-steps of Paul Cézanne and Vincent van Gogh; and enjoy specially arranged wine tastings. From Cannes, sail to the seldom-visited islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Giglio and on to the stunning coast of the Italian and French Riviera. During the cruise, choose from a program of attractively priced shore excursions, such as a visit to Florence to marvel at Michel-angelo’s iconic “David.”—From $5,295 ISLAND LIFE IN ANCIENT GREECE AND TURKEYSEPT. 19-27, 2011Cruise aboard the exclusively chartered, deluxe M.S. L’Austral, a state-of-the-art vessel launching in 2011, from the

Chicago

Summer 2011 47

mythical relics of Athens, Delos and Troy, across the glistening waters of the Aegean, to the bustling bazaars and spar-kling mosques of Istanbul. Visit Greece’s history-rich islands—Pátmos, Rhodes, Delos and Santorini. Along Turkey’s enchanting coast, stroll the marble-paved boulevards of Greco-Roman Ephesus, and visit the site of fabled Troy. Extend your journey with a pre-cruise option in Athens and a post-cruise option in Istanbul or Cappadocia.—From $4,195

CANADA & NEW ENGLAND, FALL FOLIAGE—OCEANIA CRUISES (NEW YORK TO MONTREAL)SEPT. 30-OCT. 12, 2011Experience the vibrant fall colors of New England and Canada on the beautifully appointed Oceania Cruises’ Regatta. Lose yourself at sea in the comfort and luxuries of fine cuisine, upscale amenities, staff devoted to your every need and lavishly appointed staterooms. Visit historic cities and picturesque ports in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Quebec. This memorable cruise offers colorful landscapes, historic attrac-tions and renowned landmarks.—From $7,598, including airfare

FRENCH ALPS AND PROVENCEOCT. 20-29, 2011Experience the joie de vivre in provincial France in the Rhône River valley on this unique 10-day journey from the tranquil beauty of the French Alps through the timeless allure of Burgundy and Provence. Enjoy deluxe lakeside accommodations for three nights in charming Annecy, the gem of the French Alps, and view snowcapped Mont Blanc. Cruise for five nights aboard the intimate M.S. Rembrandt past rolling hills and lush family-owned vineyards. Enjoy a private wine tasting in a medieval castle; savor the world-renowned cuisine of Lyon, the gas-tronomic capital of France; visit medieval Avignon; and explore ancient Arles. Join the exclusive two-night Aix-en-Provence post-program option.—From $4,795

CRADLE OF HISTORY CRUISENOV. 1-14, 2011Sail through thousands of years of history as you cruise the Mediterranean on Ocea-nia Cruises’ newest ship, Marina. Lose

yourself at sea in the comfort and luxuries of fine cuisine, upscale amenities and lavishly appointed staterooms. Immerse yourself in the ancient legends, traditions and cultures of Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Israel and Egypt, each destination with a different story to tell. From pyramids to palaces, discover the cradle of history.—From $4,299, including airfare

TAHITI AND THE FRENCH POLYNESIANOV. 3-13, 2011The evolution of ancient volcanic activ-ity beneath the sea, sculpted by waves and wind over millennia, created the idyllic islands of Tahiti, Raiatea, Taha’a, Bora Bora and Moorea. Authentically preserved, they have beckoned travelers to their shores for centuries. This earthly paradise is yours to discover during this nine-night land/sea sojourn with two nights in Papeete, Tahiti, and seven nights aboard the five-star M.S. Paul Gauguin, specially designed to cruise the crystalline waters of the South Pacific. Cultural enrichment abounds here in

this natural environment populated by the lovely Gauguines. During your stay on Tahiti, an exclusive Paul Gauguin excur-sion to the west coast of the island explores the artist’s sites, including the grotto where he swam and the museum dedicated to his original engravings, gouaches and even sketches and block prints unseen in years. An onboard naturalist will provide a variety of talks and demonstrations about the islands’ history and cultural heritage throughout the cruise. You can observe—and even snorkel and swim with—extraordinary bird and marine life, and breathe in the fresh fragrances of vanilla, gardenia and jasmine that perme-ate the island air.—From $5,995

MEDITERRANEAN SPLENDORS CRUISENOV. 4-12, 2011The splendor of the Mediterranean comes to life on this exciting one-week cruise. Depart from Rome on a captivating adventure to historic ports of call in Italy, Greece and Croatia. Delight in the charms and scenic panoramas of Amalfi or Positano, explore

Tahiti

48 Alumni Review

historic sites in legendary Sicily, and dis-cover a kaleidoscope of color in the coastal city of Corfu. Stroll medieval lanes in the old quarter of Bari, and wander the winding streets of Dubrovnik, a walled city laden with Venetian monuments. Complete your adventure with a day in Venice, the roman-tic city of winding canals, majestic buildings and hidden piazzas.—From $5,598

ROME—AN INSIDER’S PERSPECTIVENOV. 7-15, 2011 AND NOV. 14-22, 2011Travel back in time with a walk through the Coliseum and Roman Forum, marvel at the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, and examine the amazing network of the catacombs. Travel to Orvieto for a cooking class and the chance to explore this vibrant hill town. Delve into unexpected Rome with a special visit to Studio Cassio, which has restored ancient mosaics for more than 100 years. In addition, travel to the ancient port of Ostia to view its impressive shrines and temples, all remarkably well-preserved. A unique program of planned excursions and free time, plus centrally located accommodations for a seven-night stay, gives you the opportunity to discover the Eternal City’s treasure trove of must-see sights at a relaxed pace.—From $2,495

AROUND THE WORLD BY PRIVATE JETJAN. 7-29, 2012 AND JAN. 29-FEB. 20, 2012Climb the terraced steps, and touch the seamless walls of the ancient Inca citadel Machu Picchu. Feel the protective gaze of the Easter Island moai statues. Bask in the radiant beauty of lush tropical Samoa. Immerse yourself in the underwater splen-dor of the Great Barrier Reef. Welcome the sun among Angkor Wat’s astoundingly beautiful temples, and watch it set amid Africa’s greatest concentration of wildlife in Tanzania. Stand enthralled before the majesty of the Taj Mahal. Come face-to-face with the mysterious Sphinx in the company of the ancient Pyramids. Explore the colorful souks and treasures of Berber kings in the celebrated medina of Fez. To learn more about this extraordinary expedition or to make a reservation, please call our tour operator, TCS & Starquest Expeditions, at 800-454-4149 or 206-254-0228.—From $64,950

CRUISE TO THE LESSER ANTILLESJAN. 27-FEB. 3, 2012Explore the most beautiful natural features of the Caribbean’s Lesser Antil-les aboard the six-star Silversea Small Ship M.V. Silver Cloud. Cruise from San Juan to the coral reefs of Jost Van Dyke,

British Virgin Islands, to Philipsburg, St. Maarten, the newly independent Dutch side of the smallest island in the world shared by two countries. Call at Gustavia, St. Barts, where street signs appear in French and Swedish, and be on deck as you approach St. Lucia for a picturesque glimpse of its twin mountain peaks, the Gros and Petit Pitons. You will find picturesque stone and wooden Victorian townhouses as well as fascinating volcanic geology in Roseau, Dominica, and dis-cover elegant 18th-century sugar planta-tion estates near Basseterre, St. Kitts. If your schedule permits, plan to join the two-night, attractively priced pre-cruise option in San Juan, a vibrant and historic city.—From $3,508, including airfare from 23 major cities

AMAZON RIVER EXPEDITIONFEB. 3-12, 2012Join us for this unforgettable 10-day journey featuring six nights cruising the mysterious Amazon River Basin aboard one of the Jewels of the Amazon. These impeccably crafted riverboats evoke the 19th century’s great age of discovery while providing 21st-century comforts. This custom-designed itinerary also includes two nights in historic Lima, Peru, a

Machu Picchu

Summer 2011 49

UNESCO World Heritage site, and the choice of an overnight stay in a tented camp. Cruise into one of the Earth’s most exotic natural realms and our planet’s largest rainforest ecosystem, where the number of butterfly species climbs into the thousands, and other species have yet to be classified or even discovered. Led by expert Peruvian naturalists, seek rare indigenous flora and fauna—delicate orchids, tower-ing ceiba trees, pink river dolphins and slow-moving sloths. Visit local villages to observe the traditional way of life of the ribereños (river people), and see a shaman perform an ancient ritual of purification. Continue with the special post-program option to legendary Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley. This unique program is an exceptional value, and space is extremely limited.—From $3,895 if booked by Aug. 9.

VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY: WONDERS OF THE GALÁPAGOS ISLANDSFEB. 24-MARCH 3, 2012This incredible nine-day journey intro-duces you to the remarkable Galápagos Archipelago, a nature lover’s dream des-tination and UNESCO World Heritage site, with a four-night cruise aboard the state-of-the-art M.V. Santa Cruz. This exploration vessel is fully equipped with everything necessary to make your Galápagos experience complete, from a fleet of Zodiacs and a glass-bottom boat to a highly qualified team of certified naturalists and complimentary snorkeling gear. Visit seven islands and see the exotic birds, animals and plants that inspired Charles Darwin, including species unknown elsewhere in the world. With few natural predators on the islands, the

abundant wildlife is nearly fearless and accepts human company up close. You can almost touch spiny-backed iguanas and snorkel alongside tropical penguins and playful seals. On mainland Ecuador, enjoy deluxe hotel accommodations in Quito and Guayaquil. See the mag-nificent colonial churches of Quito, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and visit the colorful Andean market of Otavalo. The six-night post-program option fea-tures Peru’s legendary “lost city” of Machu Picchu, the Sacred Valley and the historic cities of Lima and Cuzco.—From $3,595

SAMBA RHYTHMSFEB. 25-MARCH 9, 2012Travel where pulsating rhythms, natural beauty and colorful traditions thrive along South America’s east coast while cruising on the elegant Oceania Cruises’ Insignia , a haven of superb accom-modations, exceptional service and the finest cuisine at sea. Enjoy spectacular views of Sugarloaf Mountain or Rio de Janeiro’s famed beaches before setting sail for Buzios, the St. Tropez of Brazil, and the beautiful island of Ilha Grande. Stroll past charming Portuguese colonial architecture in Parati, visit vibrant São Paulo, savor the beautiful Emerald Coast of Porto Belo, and wander the gracious old squares in lovely Rio Grande. Leav-ing Brazil behind, spend a day in the chic beach resort of Punta del Este, and explore charming Montevideo before concluding your voyage in the elegant city of Buenos Aires. Immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, each with something distinc-tive to experience.—From $3,299

Galápagos sea lion

50 Alumni Review

Newsalumni

Sustaining Life Membership ProgramThe Sustaining Life Membership Program is a voluntary way for current Life Members to provide additional annual support

to the Ole Miss Alumni Association at one of several tax-deductible levels: Platinum, Gold, Silver, Blue and Red. These contributions are used to support necessary programs to engage Ole Miss alumni and friends and to help create future alumni leaders through student involvement, scholarship and leadership programs.

— 2010 Members —Platinum $1,000+Mr. and Mrs. David E. BrevardMr. and Mrs. Charles C. ClarkMr. and Mrs. J. Stacy DavidsonMr. W.M. ElliottDr. Dewey D. Garner Jr.Mr. Charles G. GatesMr. and Mrs. Alfred D. GreenMr. and Mrs. David O. McCormickDr. and Mrs. Paul H. Moore Sr.Mr. and Mrs. Knox Ridley Jr.Mr. and Mrs. Sean A. Tuohy

Gold $500-$999Mr. and Mrs. Olen S. AkersMrs. Kay D. AllenDr. Antrece Lynette BaggettMrs. Callie S. BrandonDr. Fred G. Corley Jr.Dr. James W. DavisMrs. Georgia M. EllisonMr. and Mrs. S. Lawrence FarringtonMr. and Mrs. William Walton Gresham IIIMr. Joe D. Havens Jr.Dr. and Mrs. W. Briggs Hopson Jr.Mr. William H. Howard IIIMr. and Mrs. Donald D. JonesMr. and Mrs. William T. MayMr. and Mrs. John A. McKinneyMr. and Mrs. Robert B. Nance IIIDr. Blake D. NealMr. John Douglas Self Jr.Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. WalmanDr. and Mrs. Lynn K. WhittingtonMr. and Mrs. H.L. Williams Jr.

Silver $250-$499Mr. Aubrey L. BooneMrs. Marvine M. BrandMs. Angela D. CarneyMr. Robert D. Church Jr.Dr. and Mrs. Eric C. ClarkMr. and Mrs. William D. ColemanMr. and Mrs. Charles D. GaleyMr. and Mrs. John H. GearyDr. Donna Clay Gerhardstein

Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey R. Godwin Jr.Mr. Hardy M. HillMr. and Mrs. Charles V. ImblerMr. Aaron C. Lambert Jr.Mr. and Mrs. Samuel M. LaneMr. M. Leonard LurieMr. and Mrs. William T. Mays Jr.Dr. and Mrs. Lee D. MorrisMr. and Mrs. Richard G. NobleMr. Donald B. SamuelsMr. and Mrs. Robert Seibels IIIMrs. Lisa Puckett Sinders

Blue $100-$249Mr. A.G. Abide Jr.Mr. and Mrs. John Warner Alford Jr.Mr. and Mrs. Donald B. Bedell Mr. and Mrs. David K. BiddleMs. Kathryn B. BlackMr. Cornelius H. BlockMr. and Mrs. Kevin A. BrooksMr. William D. Brooks Jr.Mr. and Mrs. James N. ButlerDr. Gary D. CarrMr. Mark J. Chaney Sr.Mr. David H. ChapmanMrs. Mary Anne S. DayMr. C. Craig DearmanThe Hon. and Mrs. Robert W. Elliott Sr.Mr. Joe M. EnochMr. and Mrs. James M. Epting Jr.Dr. Charles Farris Jr.Mr. and Mrs. Brooke FerrisDr. Samuel E. Field Jr.Mr. and Mrs. Floyd W. FranksMr. Tyrus C. GibbsMr. Karl D. GottschalkMr. and Mrs. Douglas J. GunnMr. James C. Herbert Jr.Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. HerrinMr. and Mrs. George HilliardMr. Joseph M. Hinshaw IIIMr. R. Huston HollisterMr. and Mrs. W. Carter Hutchins Jr.Mr. and Mrs. William M. JamesMrs. Shirley Sneed Keith

Mr. and Mrs. Harold C. KellyMr. and Mrs. John B. Laney Jr.Mr. and Mrs. Preston H. Lee Jr.Mrs. Barbera H. LiddonMr. Prentiss C. McLaurin Jr.Dr. Fred L. McMillan Jr.Mrs. Georgia G. McPhersonDrs. Charles E. Moore Jr. and Judy T. MooreMr. and Mrs. G. Terrell MorganDr. Karl F. MorrisonMrs. Sue M. PearsonMr. James A. Peden Jr.Mrs. Martha A. PembrokeMrs. Anne Biles PonderDr. and Mrs. James W. RaynerCol. and Mrs. James W. Rice Jr.Mr. Ben B. SayleMrs. Mary Ann S. StefancikDr. Ancel C. Tipton Jr.Mr. and Mrs. Jon C. TurnerMs. Mary N. WatsonMr. and Mrs. R. Quentin Whitwell Jr.Mr. Michael W. Wright and

Ms. Vickie M. CookMr. and Mrs. Willis E. Young Jr.

Red $1-$99Mr. Jason V. CalvasinaMr. Daniel Conwill IVMr. Edward G. Covington IIIMr. Joseph W. Gex IIMr. Augustus R. JonesMr. J.T. Keeton Jr.Mr. Oswald B. MazzantiMrs. Nell S. McMullenMr. and Mrs. Lee NotestoneDr. Robert E. RingerMr. Eugene R. SchnierleCapt. Jack F. Speed Jr.Mr. and Mrs. Phineas StevensMr. William E. StittMrs. Anne J. WilbourneDr. and Mrs. Travis Wayne Yates

Summer 2011 51

Class Notes’60s John DaviD Blaylock (LLB

64) was inducted as a fellow into the American College of Bankruptcy in Washington, D.C. Blaylock is an attorney at Glankler Brown, PLLC, in Memphis, Tenn.

EDDiE Fritts (61), a native of Union City, received the National Association of Broad-casters Distinguished Service Award.

Paul W. klotz (BA 64, MCS 70) gained membership in the Academy of Fellows from the Society of American Military Engineers.

MichaEl J. MalouF sr. (BA 67, JD 70) was elected a fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foun-dation. He practices with his son, daughter and associates at Malouf & Malouf in Jackson.

’70s harris h. BarnEs iii (JD 72), a partner at Barnes, McGee and

Associates, P.A., was named one of the “Top 50 Lawyers in Mississippi” by the Mississippi Business Journal. Barnes also was named an “AV Preeminent Lawyer” by Martindale

Hubbel, a designation given only to 5 percent of U.S. lawyers.

r. MichaEl BolEn (BPA 74) retired as U.S. trustee for Louisiana and Mississippi and joined William Ryan Hood (BPA 74) in forming the law firm of Hood & Bolen, PLLC, in Jackson.

JaMEs EDWarD DonalD (BA 70) was elected to serve as chairman of the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles. Donald, a native of Jackson, also was chosen as the 2010 recipient of the Mississippi Trailblazer Award, honoring his outstanding achievement in the military and government.

DaviD E. Jackson Jr. (BBA 77) was named partner in The Jackson Group, P.C., CPAs in Atlanta.

JoE Frank lauDErDalE (BSCVE 71) was appointed to serve on the Mississippi Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Surveyors. Lauderdale also is a member of the Ole Miss Engineering School Advisory Board.

GrEG sParks (BA 78, JD 88) of Madison was named director of the Central Legal Staff by the Mississippi Supreme Court.

WilliaM D.r. WaFF (BM 76) assumed the duties of commanding general of the 99th Regional Support Command in 2010. Maj. Gen. Waff also holds a Master of Divin-ity degree from Seabury-Western Theologi-cal Seminary and a doctorate in medical eth-ics through a joint venture of the Graduate Theological Foundation and Georgetown University.

’80s JaMEs r. GorDon (BAccy 87) joined Horne, LLP, as partner in

charge of the firm’s Memphis, Tenn., office. Gordon was also named to the 2011 “Power Player” list by Memphis Business Quarterly.

kEnnEth craiG Johnston (BBA 88, JD 91) received the announcement that his firm, Kane Russell Coleman & Logan, PC, was named the 2010 Commercial Litigation Firm of the Year, USA by the readers of Finance Monthly.

52 Alumni Review

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hu MEEna (BSPHE 80), president and CEO of Cellular South, was elected chairman of the board of the Rural Cellular Association for a one-year term.

van ray (BBA 80, MBA 85) was named pres-ident of the Bank of Yazoo City.

John B. strouD (BSPHE 82, MEd 86) coached the New Albany girls basketball team to become the 2011 4A State Champions. As the state’s top-ranked squad all season and unbeaten in Mississippi, this is the Lady Bull-dogs’ first state title since 2002.

PhiliP c. WilliaMs (BBA 84, MBA 86) was named chairman of the board of the Bank of Yazoo City.

’90s WilliaM JoEl BEll (BE 98) joined Memphis-based Strategic

Financial Partners to anchor a new office in Oxford.

BEnJaMin DaviD BlossoM (BA 97, MD 03) of Kosciusko joined Cardiology Associates of North Mississippi, P.A., to practice interven-tional cardiology.

kEvin ray BroWn (PhD 96), associate pro-fessor of English at Lee University, won the Excellence in Advising Award for 2011.

kiMsEy o’nEal cooPEr (BSPH 94) of Car-thage was promoted to pharmacy supervi-sor at CVS.

Brian h. Glahn (BBA 96) was named pres-ident and CEO of Atlantix Global Systems.

John P. hEnson Jr. (BBA 92), a finan-cial adviser in Jackson with Northwestern Mutual and president of Fred Salvo Associ-ates, earned the Accredited Estate Planner designation from the Estate Planning Coun-cil of Mississippi.

aMy h. hErrinG (BS 95) was promoted to full professor of biostatistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

stEPhEn D. MilEs (BBA 99) was awarded one of the life insurance industry’s premier profes-sional credentials, Chartered Financial Consul-tant, from American College. Miles is a finan-cial adviser for Strategic Financial Partners.

John t. MosEs (BA 99, JD 03) joined Bass, Berry & Sims, PLC, in 2010. He works in the litigation and dispute resolution practice, with a focus on securities litigation and arbi-tration, as well as general business and con-tract litigation.

JosEPh rEiD (BA 92, JD 95), newly appointed partner with Lathrop & Gage, LLP, law firm, was selected as a “Rising Star” in 2010 by Mis-souri/Kansas Super Lawyers. Reid also was elected president of the board of directors of the Foundation for Springfield Public Schools.

JoEl sMith (BA 96, JD 99) is the district attorney-elect for Harrison, Hancock and Stone counties.

roGEr D. stEPhEns (BBA 93) was appointed technical fellow at FedEx Corp. in Collierville, Tenn. He works in the Office of the Chief Technical Architect in the Information Tech-nology division and resides in Olive Branch.

WilliaM E. stitt (BSHEC 91) opened Old 27 Grill, a restaurant in Fairhope, Ala.

Service HonoredPROFESSOR OF MEDICINE DEVOTES WORK

AND FREE TIME TO FIGHTING CANCER

Dr. Ralph Vance (BA 68, MD 72) was hon-ored by the Cancer League of Jackson at the

31st annual Seasons of Hope Gala, held late Feb-ruary at the Mississippi Arts Center in Jackson.

Vance is a professor of medicine, teaching medical oncology at The University of Mississippi School of Medicine, and a member of the board of directors of the Ole Miss Alumni Association.

He was honored for his 35 years of service volunteering with the American Cancer Society. He has served as president of the Mississippi Division and the Mid-South Division, and has been a member of the society’s national board of directors, as well as past national president.

The Seasons of Hope Gala is an annual event held by the Cancer League of Jackson to raise funds for the American Cancer Society. Over the past 30 years, the event has raised more than $4.5 million to support public awareness of cancer and research for a cure.

For more information on the American Can-cer Society, visit www.cancer.org. For more infor-mation on the Cancer League of Jackson, visit www.thecancerleague.net. AR Vance

Summer 2011 53

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’00s MatthEW richarD BailEy (BAccy 06, MAccy 07) was pro-

moted to senior accountant in the audit depart-ment at BKD, LLP, in the Jackson office.

JEssica kathErinE BrucE (BBA 05) accepted a position with the Bank of New York Mellon in Nashville, Tenn. She will serve as vice presi-dent of governance, risk and compliance.

ashlEy laurEn hEWEtt (BBA 08, MBA 09) accepted a position with the Oxford-Lafay-ette Humane Society as the new development director, coordinating events to help raise funds for the shelter and organizing volunteers.

c. allEn JusticE (MD 02) of Saltillo joined Digestive Health Specialists of Tupelo in 2010.

roBErt D. kinG Jr. (BAccy 08) was pro-moted to senior accountant at the Koerber Co., PA, in Hattiesburg.

JEFFrEy s. lohMEiEr (BBA 01) was pro-moted to first vice president of Bank Plus’ wealth management group.

Micah MccullouGh (BBA 08) was pro-moted to vice president at UCR Properties,

LLC, a commercial real estate firm in Jackson.

loGan EDWarD nEWsoME (BSCJ 08) made the captain’s promotion list for the summer. Currently serving in the 25th Infantry Divi-sion of the U.S. Army, Newsome is deployed in Afghanistan until 2012.

rosaMonD haWkins PosEy (BBA 00, JD 03) became a shareholder in the law firm of Mitchell, McNutt & Sams, P.A. Posey prac-tices in bankruptcy and creditor’s rights, business/commercial litigation and general litigation.

anDrEW Jason sakalarios (MAccy 06, JD 06) joined Glankler Brown, PLLC, as an asso-ciate. Sakalarios concentrates his practice in tax, trust and estate, and general business law. He also received his Master of Laws in Taxa-tion and certificate in estate planning from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2008 and his Bachelor of Business Administration from Texas Christian University in 2003.

WEs scott (BAccy 03, MTax 04) joined the Memphis group of Butler, Snow, O’Mara, Stevens & Cannada, PLLC.

McDaniEl D. WickEr (BA 09) was named Distinguished Graduate upon completing the Air Force intelligence course at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas.

richarD DErEk WooD (BBA 09) accepted a position with Marriott International as an at-your-service supervisor with the Memphis Marriott Downtown.

richarD WooDruFF (BAccy 07, MTax 08) was promoted to senior accountant in taxa-tion in the Jackson office of BKD.

’10s Monica ann DaniEl (BA 10) accepted a position as a campus

recruiting associate with Pricewaterhouse-Coopers in San Francisco.

EMMEtt JaMEs kElly (BBA 10) accepted a position as a database coordinator with Grubb & Ellis in Walnut Creek, Calif.

Due to space limitations, class notes are only published in the Alumni Review from active, dues-paying members of the Ole Miss Alumni Association.

54 Alumni Review

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WEDDINGScarol anne Marion (BAccy 04) and Warren neil Miconi (BA 10), Feb. 5, 2011.Whitney Erin Thomas and Drew F. McMullan (BBA 02), Feb. 26, 2011.Marianthi Janelle venetis (BBA 08) and Edward sheffield McGraw (07), April 16, 2011.

BIrthSCaroline Mae, daughter of Mary Elizabeth Justice Barnes (BAccy 01, MA 06, MBED 06) and David Coleman Barnes Jr., Aug. 21, 2010.Irvin Leon IV, son of virginia stearns Breckenridge (BAccy 05, MTax 06) and irvin l. Breckenridge iii (BAccy 98, MAccy 00), Dec. 31, 2010.Ann Farley, daughter of lacy Bobo carpenter (BBA 98) and Preston caswell carpenter Jr. (BAccy 98, MAccy 01), Dec. 10, 2010.Caroline Fair, daughter of Emily Fair Fisher (BAccy 02) and Andrew Clark Fisher, Aug. 25, 2010.William Russel, son of Meredith carlson Fleming (BBA 03) and William reno Fleming Jr. (BSFCS 03), May 6, 2011.Howard O’Keefe III, son of ann Morgan Brendle Graham (BA 04, BAEd 09) and howard o’keefe Graham ii (BBA 05), April 13, 2011.Lynnleigh Kate, daughter of sarah kathryn sprinkle hopkins (BAEd 99, MEd 00) and Brian W. hopkins (BS 01, PhD 06), March 1, 2011.Joseph William “Will” II, son of Jessica smith hudson (BSN 04) and Jason M. Hudson, Nov. 25, 2010.Madilyn Ruth, daughter of sherilyn temple huey (BBA 05) and charles Matthew huey (BBA 07), April 6, 2011.

Noah Young, son of Janelle Elaine Joe-Murphy (BSPhSc 05, PharmD 07) and Jesse Michael Murphy (BSPhSc 05, PharmD 07), Feb. 2, 2011.Arnold Ray, son of Emily Fabianke kadue (BSES 01, MS 02) and Bradley arnold kadue (BAccy 00, MAccy 01), Aug. 2, 2010.Baylor Mark, son of anna taylor lidbom (BA 00) and Paul David Lidbom, Dec. 16, 2010.Ava Frances, daughter of abby McGrew Manning (BSFCS 05) and Elisha nelson Manning (BBA 03), March 21, 2011.Lydia Lander, daughter of kimsey troxler Mccormick (BA 05) and alan Patrick Mccormick (BBA 03, MBA 04), Dec. 10, 2010.Payton Oxford, son of haley Phelps Montanaro (BSPh 03, PharmD 05) and Pasquale James Montanaro iv (BS 01, MS 04), Nov. 1, 2010.Zack Beers, son of suzanne F. nappier (BAccy 92) and herbert c. nappier iv (BAccy 96, MTax 97), March 12, 2011.Ann Marie, daughter of sandra taylor Penick (BBA 97) and William c. Penick iv (BAccy 97, MAccy 98, JD 01), Dec. 21, 2010.Grayson Cole, son of nikki Bender ramsey (BSPh 03, PharmD 05) and James Eugene ramsey (BSPh 03, PharmD 05), Jan. 19, 2011.Mary Louis, daughter of Wendy W. russ (BSJ 95) and W. Michael russ (BAccy 96, MTax 97, JD 03), April 19, 2011.Jack William, son of cara P. scott (BSPh 99, PharmD 01) and shea s. scott (BBA 99, JD 02), June 23, 2010.Stella Blair, daughter of Misti stevens sims (BA 97) and clint Davison sims (BBA 93), May 13, 2010.

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Newsalumni

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Prophetic GiftRESEARCH UNCOVERS 100-YEAR-OLD YEARBOOK FROM WHITWORTH FEMALE COLLEGE IN BROOKHAVEN

In his research for the Chickasaw Nation in February, Mitch Caver

(BBA 84) discovered a 1901 edition of The Whitworth Clionian, which included writings of the students of Whitworth Female College in Brookhaven. One of the included essays was “The Women of 2001,” written by Lily Wilkinson Thompson, on whom the Department of Archives and Special Collections in the J.D. Williams Library has a collec-tion of papers. Caver discovered the essay featured Thompson’s predictions of what women would be like in 100 years.

“This lady must have been a Nos-tradamus because almost every hopeful prediction she made in 1901 has come to be,” Caver says. “Her prophetic vision of today is worthy of remembrance.”

Thompson notes in her essay, “The woman of 2001 will be the physical superior of the woman of today. She will be taller, stronger, longer lived. She will possess a comprehensive knowledge of the laws of life and health, embracing much that is not known by us, and will live in a conscientious application of

those laws. … She will not marry before she is twenty-five, rarely before thirty, and will be young at fifty.”

Jennifer Ford (PhD 10), head of Archives and Special Collections, says the gift is histori-cally important to the department.

“This is a wonderful addition, especially as we house the papers of Lily Wilkinson Thompson. We are greatly indebted to the generosity of Mr. Caver,” Ford says.

The Lily Thompson Collect ion possesses material related to the Mi s s i s s ipp i Woman Suffrage Association and the Equity League of Jackson. Thompson held various offices in both organizations. The collection includes corre-spondence, manuscripts,

minutes, publications, broadsides, clip-pings, memorabilia and a scrapbook. AR

Mitch Caver and Jennifer Ford hold Caver’s donation of The Whitworth Clionian.

Photo by Robert Jordan

Summer 2011 57

Lucille Pannell, daughter of Mary sloan thompson (MEd 08) and Gerald scott thompson (BA 97, MA 08), April 11, 2011.

IN MEMOrIAM

1930sErnest Edward Morrison (BA 38) of Spanish Fort, Ala., May 16, 2010Winnie Busby norsworthy (BA 38) of Farmington, N.M., May 2, 2011arthur clifton rhyne (BSC 37) of Wilmette, Ill., April 28, 2011Grace Patterson ross (39) of Clarksdale, April 14, 2011Dan Monroe russell Jr. (BA 35, LLB 37) of Gulfport, April 16, 2011William thomas trusty (BSC 33) of Water Valley, March 9, 2011Mary Mellen Wehling (BA 38, MA 40) of Granger, Texas, April 15, 2011

1940sMax Whitworth akins (BBA 49) of Pontotoc, April 9, 2011richard Marion Bevis (BSC 43) of Houston, Texas, Feb. 22, 2011charles s. Boyd (BBA 48) of Walnut Creek, Calif., March 1, 2011charles Edward clark (LLB 48) of Madison, March 6, 2011James andrew clemmons Jr. (BA 49) of Alhambra, Ill., April 28, 2011

John king cornell (49) of Lakewood, Ohio, April 5, 2011audrey Mendez covington (BAEd 47) of Converse, Texas, March 14, 2011robert Joe Fuerst sr. (BSHPE 49, MEd 52) of Jackson, Feb. 21, 2011Melissa hathorn Gordon (BAEd 46) of Philadelphia, March 10, 2011ruth covington harris (48) of Marks, Feb. 4, 2011charles clark Jacobs Jr. (BA 42, LLB 47) of Cleveland, April 8, 2011Merrel Parker Johnson (44) of Greenwood, April 4, 2011samuel thames lloyd Jr. (LLB 48) of Madison, March 26, 2011ruth ray lutken (BA 43) of Dallas, April 14, 2011troy Watts Mashburn sr. (LLB 40) of Memphis, Tenn., Feb. 19, 2011George F. Maynard Jr. (42) of Tupelo, March 26, 2011s. Jay McDuffie (MedCert 47) of Nettleton, April 20, 2011William F. McGehee (41) of Vicksburg, Feb. 28, 2011Joseph Power Mckell (BS 49, MedCert 50) of Tampa, Fla., April 6, 2011Ervin Edward nelson Jr. (BSCvE 49) of Scottsdale, Ariz., Feb. 12, 2011Elaine hood randall (BAEd 47) of Indianola, May 14, 2011h.M. ray (LLB 49) of Tupelo, May 18, 2011John David ross sr. (BSChE 43, MS 47) of Senatobia, Feb. 18, 2011herbert carl sanders (BSCvE 41) of Covington, La., May 16, 2011William smylie shipman Jr. (BA 41) of Corpus Christi, Texas, Nov. 22, 2011Mary holliday simonton (46) of Collierville, Tenn., April 21, 2011katherine shipp steele (BAEd 49) of Jackson, April 28, 2011charles Maxwell sudduth (BSC 40) of Madison, Feb. 19, 2011Evelyn Pirtle Waldrup (BAEd 40) of Kingston, Tenn., April 21, 2011M.J. Williams Jr. (MBA 48) of Tallahassee, Fla., April 22, 2011Gus harmon yeager Jr. (49) of Hattiesburg, April 22, 2011Jimmy Boyd zachary (BA 48, MS 49, MedCert 51) of Baltimore, Md., Feb. 15, 2011

1950sharvey clinton aden Jr. (BSCvE 50) of Huntsville, Ala., April 7, 2011George Edward alexander Jr. (BSCvE 54) of Lake Village, Ark., Feb. 28, 2011howard M. Bishop Jr. (BBA 56) of Stevensville, Md., March 19, 2011Donald charles Bowen (BBA 50) of New Bern, N.C., March 7, 2011Benny houston Bush (BSPh 57) of Converse, Texas, July 18, 2010Mary Wroten caldwell (56) of Blytheville, Ark., March 14, 2011William oliver cleland (MedCert 53) of Austin, Texas, Oct. 19, 2010Don alden cranford (BSPh 54) of Seminary, April 2, 2011Joseph k. Davis (MA 55) of Mount Vernon, Wash., Dec. 22, 2010shirley Elkin Davis (BAEd 52) of Gainesville, Fla., March 26, 2011ruth Pidgeon Demere (52) of Memphis, Tenn., March 11, 2011George Edwin Denley (MEd 54) of Coffeeville, March 17, 2011George Ervin Estes Jr. (LLB 50) of Gulfport, April 23, 2011nona Gillis Fortenberry (MA 50) of Ackerman, March 31, 2011addie sue Fuller (BSC 57) of Huntsville, Ala., March 30, 2011William Quintard Glass Jr. (BBA 57) of Memphis, Tenn., March 10, 2011sarah knight Grantham (BA 51) of Jackson, Feb. 24, 2011John Marshal Grower (LLB 50) of Madison, March 23, 2011

The Association’s Newest Faces

Steve Mullen (BA 92) joined the Alumni Association staff in June as publications editor and director of advertising. In addition to serving as advertising director and associate editor for the Ole Miss Alumni Review, Mullen produces the Rebel Insider e-newsletter and other Alumni communications.

Prior to joining the Alumni team, Mullen’s positions included managing editor of The Bakersfield Californian in Bakersfield, Calif., managing editor of The Commercial Dispatch in Columbus, assistant metro editor at The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, and news editor and reporter at The Oxford Eagle. He holds various industry awards for writing, editing and page design.

Scott Thompson (BA 97, MA 08), assistant director of the Ole Miss Alumni Association, welcomed an addition to his family this spring. Lucille Pannell Thompson was born April 11 to Scott and his wife, Mary Sloan Thompson (MEd 08). Thompson joined the Alumni Association

staff in 2003 and directs alumni activities for the schools of Pharmacy and Law. AR

58 Alumni Review

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clarence lonzo hardin Jr. (BBA 52) of Pontotoc, May 24, 2011James kenneth harris (BAEd 53, MEd 54) of Poplar Bluff, Mo., Nov. 30, 2010clyde vernon hill (BBA 50, MBEd 51) of Grenada, March 8, 2011Jeryl taylor Johnson (BA 51) of Vicksburg, May 10, 2011arthur Francis keller (BBA 52) of Akron, Ohio, April 29, 2011albert M. kirk (BA 54, BSPh 60) of Belden, May 2, 2011rosemary stephens landon (BA 56) of Memphis, Tenn., May 14, 2011norma Garrison linton (BAEd 55) of Moss Point, Feb. 24, 2011lawrence Farnum Matulich sr. (MEd 56) of Slidell, La., Feb. 10, 2011Fred William McEwen Jr. (BSPh 51, MS 59, PhD 69) of Jackson, March 27, 2011Paul Wilson McMullan (BBA 54) of Hattiesburg, April 10, 2011George lamar Mitchell (BBA 58) of Knoxville, Tenn., March 4, 2011coy lee nicholson (MA 59) of Modesto, Calif., March 19, 2011John Miller Parker (MD 57) of D’Iberville, April 2, 2011richard albert Perkins (BBA 53) of Friendswood, Texas, Feb. 25, 2011David Pointer Jr. (BBA 54, MBA 57) of New Orleans, March 29, 2011Dorothy Malone richardson (BA 52) of Abbeville, Feb. 26, 2011W.B. Boots rives (MS 51) of Jackson, April 19, 2011Margaret catching robinson (BA 50) of Jackson, Feb. 7, 2011Bonnie Grove rodriguez (57) of Davenport, Iowa, April 15, 2011John hillman rogers (BA 50, LLB 52) of Brandon, April 2, 2011Emmitt Purnell rose (59) of Kosciusko, Feb. 24, 2011Gathel oliver runnels (MedCert 51) of Hattiesburg, Feb. 22, 2011Wilbur Woodson russell Jr. (BSME 57) of Oxford, May 12, 2011l. t. senter Jr. (LLB 59) of Gulfport, May 18, 2011ross l. shipman (BA 50) of San Antonio, Feb. 27, 2011howard sterling smithson Jr. (BA 50) of Goodman, April 23, 2011vera Wagner stevens (59) of Mount Olive, May 17, 2011

Elizabeth kramer sullivan (BSC 51) of Memphis, Tenn., March 31, 2011nancy sowell taylor (BAEd 52) of Memphis, Tenn., Oct. 19, 2010William r. trott (BA 52, MA 53) of Oxford, April 25, 2011John van Den Bosch Jr. (LLB 55) of Jackson, Tenn., May 10, 2011

1960schester Braswell adams (BA 66) of Charlotte, N.C., March 12, 2011carolyn hawks Ballard (BAEd 62) of Hernando, March 4, 2011leon Jackson Beck Jr. (BA 61) of Holly Springs, March 2, 2011Dorothy Phillips Bradley (EdD 68) of Delhi, La., March 28, 2011charles M. Bright (MA 65) of Guntersville, Ala., March 28, 2011John Frank chappell (BSPh 64) of Dyersburg, Tenn., March 23, 2011clois cheatham (MCS 64) of Preston, March 25, 2011charles P. chisholm (BSHPE 65) of Pontotoc, May 5, 2011

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Response codes, or QR codes, work much the same way. QR codes were created 15 years ago but are catching on with smart-phone users, who use

them to quickly access or download information. The codes can be read by free applications available on many phones. Scan the code here to visit the Ole Miss Alumni Association website, and look for more codes in future issues and other Alumni communications. AR

Summer 2011 59

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Inspiration for OthersSCHOOL OF PHARMACY RECOGNIZES OUTSTANDING ALUMNI

Three University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy alumni were

honored for their outstanding careers and contributions during Pharmacy Alumni Weekend in March. Phil Ayers (BSPh 84, PharmD 96) of Ridgeland and David Hudson (BSPh 93) of Kos-ciusko each received a 2011 Distin-guished Alumnus Award, and Bob Broadus (BSPh 74) of Madisonville, La., received the Dean’s Service Award.

A clinical pharmacy specialist, Ayers is chief of clinical pharmacy services with Baptist Health Systems in Jackson and a clinical associate professor at the pharmacy school. He is board-certified in nutrition support pharmacy.

Hudson owns Sullivan’s Discount Drugs in Kosciusko and co-owns How-ell and Heggie Drug Co. in Durant.

“These two remarkable profession-als join a list of professionally accom-plished alumni who have advanced the School of Pharmacy, our profession and their communities in countless ways,” says pharmacy dean Barbara G. Wells. “They inspire us and our students, and their example encour-ages us to do more and to do it better.”

Broadus is director of state govern-ment affairs with Allergan. He has served as president of the Mississippi Pharmacists Association and the pharmacy school’s Dean’s Advisory Committee.

Recipients of the Distinguished Alumnus Award are selected based on professional accomplishments and service to the School of Pharmacy, students, faculty, staff and alumni. The Dean’s Service Award is given to individuals who have exhibited extraordinary service and dedication to the School of Pharmacy. AR

From top: David Hudson, Phil Ayers and Bob Broadus with Barbara G. Wells.

Photos by Pablo Corona

60 Alumni Review

Newsalumni

HERE’SHERE’SYOURYOUR

LICENSELICENSETOTO

BRAG!BRAG!Now you can sport the officialUniversity of Mississippi license plate!For an additional $50 a year — $32.50 of which returns to Ole Miss for educationalenhancement — you can purchase this “license to brag” about your alma mater. When it’s timeto renew your license plate, simply tell your local tax collector you want the Ole Miss affinitylicense plate. It’s an easy way to help your University.

This particular tag is available to Mississippi drivers only. Some other states, however, offer anOle Miss affinity license plate. Check with your local tax collector for availability.

James kenan clinton (BBA 65) of New Albany, April 10, 2011Barbara hardin crespino (BAEd 61) of Jackson, May 21, 2011hugh kimbriel curry Jr. (BA 64, MA 65) of Bruce, May 7, 2011sarah hartzwell Darby (BAEd 61) of Courtland, April 1, 2011Martha Gamble Dulin (BAEd 60) of Byhalia, May 18, 2011George alexander Everett Jr. (BA 64) of Oxford, May 14, 2011louis E. Farris Jr. (BSEE 67) of Hot Springs National Park, Ark., Jan. 30, 2011George henry Garbark (BA 61) of Berkeley Springs, W. Va., March 5, 2011carlton homer Green (MEd 66) of Eureka, Mo., April 23, 2011arnold Fredrick Gwin (LLB 63) of Greenwood, April 11, 2011carolyn slade hill (BAEd 68) of Alpharetta, Ga., May 1, 2011John Franklin holmes (BBA 66) of Raleigh, N.C., April 22, 2011Patricia Mcraney hootsell (BFA 61) of Natchez, March 23, 2011thomas homer horton (MD 67) of Verona, March 4, 2011Donald ray Jobe (BSHPE 61) of Corinth, Feb. 23, 2011robert Eugene Johnson (MCS 63, PhD 72) of Waldron, Ark., May 29, 2010anne Finger kelly (BAEd 63) of Cincinnati, May 9, 2011alfred thaddeus leggett iii (LLB 61) of Magnolia, April 21, 2011Myrtle Frances livingston (BBA 69) of Batesville, April 8, 2011clarence lee lott Jr. (BBA 62) of Jackson, May 24, 2011George sidney Mcingvale (BBA 64, JD 67) of Coldwater, April 3, 2011

richard alvey Miller (MA 61) of Anchorage, Alaska, May 11, 2011virginia keesee Milwee (BA 61) of Little Rock, Ark., April 25, 2011David Paul Myers (BAEd 69) of Fort Myers, Fla., March 23, 2011Bob king Parks (BSPh 65) of Clinton, March 8, 2011Phyllis acree Pettey (BBA 65) of Meridian, Oct. 24, 2010thomas Wendell Prewitt sr. (LLB 60) of Madison, April 15, 2011James victor rackley (BA 65) of Pontotoc, April 13, 2011Jimmy P. roberts (BA 63) of North Las Vegas, Nev., March 2, 2011Judith cole roberts (MEd 67) of Lakeland, Fla., May 11, 2010Paul a. roell (MD 61) of Madison, May 7, 2011alvin curtis smith (BBA 61) of Brookhaven, Feb. 19, 2011Frederick loring smith (BSGE 61) of Vicksburg, April 3, 2011Joseph Joshua stevens Jr. (JD 66) of West Point, March 14, 2011Barbara robinson tillman (BA 63) of Hernando, April 25, 2011John herndon townsend (BS 68) of Memphis, Tenn., Feb. 23, 2011claire Blount underwood (BSPh 65) of Birmingham, Ala., March 8, 2011nell Mcneill Werkheiser (BSN 65) of Madison, March 6, 2011rosemary Quin Williams (MEd 60) of Summit, Aug. 2, 2010thomas Earl Willingham (BSPh 63) of Marianna, Ark., April 19, 2011ann stallings hutchinson Wilson (MCS 69) of Saraland, Ala., May 10, 2011Gwin Dale Winter (63) of Vardaman, May 6, 2011

Summer 2011 61

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And the Em Goes to …KITCO NEWS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RECEIVES SILVER EM JOURNALISM AWARD

Terry Wooten (65), editor-in-chief of Kitco News in Montreal, was honored this spring

as the 52nd recipient of the Samuel Talbert Sil-ver Em Award. The Silver Em is The University of Mississippi’s highest journalism award.

Wooten joined Kitco News as editor in 2009. A division of Kitco Metals, the unit develops global news coverage in metals, energy and other commodities for the company website and other global clients. From 2004 to 2009, Wooten was managing editor of the Americas for the commodi-ties service at Dow Jones Newswires.

“Terry Wooten is an outstanding graduate who has kept up with changes in the media and been a leader in adapting to new technologies while adhering to the core principles of good journalism,” says Charles Mitchell (JD 86), assistant dean of the Meek School of Journalism and New Media and chair of the Silver Em selection committee. The Silver Em has been awarded annually since 1958. AR

Photo by Kevin Bain

Wooten (right) with Provost Morris Stocks

62 Alumni Review

Newsalumni

Thank you to the 2011 Ole Miss Luncheon Series Sponsors

Without the continued support from these businesses and alumni, the luncheon series would not be a success. Please

help the Ole Miss Alumni Association in telling them thanks.

Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC

C.M. Treppendahl & Sons, Inc.

Sally and Tommy Cribbs

Don S. Davis, MDPA

Eric Herrington Periodontal Clinic

Dorothy and John Glass

Hardy P. GrahamHardy P. Graham

Hammack, Barry, Thaggard & May, LLP

Hennessy Automobile Companies

Horne, LLP

John O’Neil Johnson Motor Company

Leila and Sam Lane

Susan and Tad Mays

Meridian Ole Miss Club

Silas Simmons, LLP

Stephens & Hobdy InsuranceStephens & Hobdy Insurance

Truly Smith & Latham, PLLC

Wilson Hyundai

1970slewis Jones Barksdale iii (BBA 75) of Marks, March 19, 2011Billy h. Barnett (73) of Quitman, Texas, April 2, 2011Warner robert Berry Jr. (BSChE 73) of Pass Christian, April 13, 2011leda Graves Bloesch (MLS 74) of Batesville, Ark., Feb. 14, 2011sara Dillingham Blough (MEd 74) of Natchez, March 31, 2011cathy collins Bowles (BSPh 79) of Ridgeland, Feb. 28, 2011Mitchell Dale colburn (JD 79) of Tupelo, March 8, 2011Bentley Baker crawford (BS 78) of Oxford, March 25, 2011Michael Dickson (BBA 71) of Ocean Springs, March 16, 2011Mary thomas Fisher (BAEd 74, MLS 76) of Iuka, March 3, 2011ira Mae Ford (MEd 76) of Holly Springs, Feb. 16, 2011henry Frank howell ii (MD 71) of Brandon, Feb. 27, 2011robert n. Jones (BBA 71) of Oxford, April 30, 2011George thomas kelly Jr. (JD 74) of Greenville, April 16, 2011karen Elaine king (BSHPE 74) of Nettleton, April 24, 2011robert yuangfong lee (MS 78) of Tupelo, Feb. 4, 2011sherry stone Martin (BFA 74) of Memphis, Tenn., May 8, 2011G. Jenkins Maynard (BBA 74) of Oxford, March 3, 2011John Walker Montgomery (BBA 77) of Memphis, Tenn., May 8, 2011carl Burnes Parrish (BAEd 74, MEd 77) of Pontotoc, March 5, 2011

William chappell Pinkston (BA 70, MD 74) of Ridgeland, March 5, 2011thomas Mathews Plyler (73) of Olive Branch, May 21, 2011nathaniel l. rash (BPA 76) of Sunflower, May 23, 2010Bruce alfred richards (BA 78, MD 82) of Gainesville, Fla., April 23, 2011Biswanath shaw (EdD 71) of Clinton, April 20, 2011Gregg lyndsay spyridon (JD 77) of Mandeville, La., March 8, 2011Donald scott stone (MEd 79) of Ozark, Ark., March 23, 2011cecelia aron tackitt (BAEd 76, MEd 08) of Pontotoc, Feb. 23, 2011Billy rudolph thomas Jr. (BS 74) of Muscle Shoals, Ala., May 12, 2011carolyn hayes trayal (BA 76) of Germantown, Tenn., March 17, 2011

1980sGeorge t. Baggett (BSN 85) of Monroe, La., March 20, 2011Gustave B. Baldwin iv (BBA 88) of Mandeville, La., Feb. 27, 2011robert M. Barnett (BS 83) of Albertville, Ala., April 6, 2011James Gregory Davidson (BBA 83, MBA 85) of Corinth, March 31, 2011E.l. Easterwood (BBA 83) of Houston, Texas, Jan. 21, 2011Baird roscoe Faulkner (DMD 89) of Old Hickory, Tenn., May 21, 2011Bryan Frank Mccraw (MD 80) of Columbia, May 24, 2011thomas Wesley Park (BBA 83) of Corinth, April 15, 2011Monnie carroll singletary (BAEd 82) of Brandon, March 18, 2011Gary neil sneed (BSME 80) of Thaxton, May 5, 2011

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AND

MATTHEW DALY

Associated Press Writers

COVINGTON, La. — Oil giant BP said its internal investigation of the unchecked Gulf oil spill is largely focused on work done by other companies as a new government report today showed workers at the federal agency that oversees offshore drilling accepted sports tickets, lunches and other gifts from oil and gas companies.

BP PLC said in a release that an initial investigation found mul-tiple control mechanisms should have p revented the accident that started with an oil rig explosion April 20 off the coast of Louisiana that killed 11 workers.

Seeking the causeBP, the largest oil and

gas producer in the Gulf, listed seven areas of focus as it hunts for a cause. Four involve the blowout pre-venter, a massive piece of machinery that sits atop the wellhead and should have acted as a safety device of last resort but did not. That was manufactured by Cameron International Corp. and owned by Transocean LTD, which

also owned the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

The other three areas of focus for the investiga-tion involve the cementing and casing of the wellhead, which was Halliburton Inc.’s responsibility.

Assessing decisionsIn BP’s release, Chief

Executive Tony Hayward stopped short of assigning responsibility. President Barack Obama has blasted executives from the compa-nies for blaming each other during Congressional hear-ings this month.

“A number of companies are involved, including BP,

and it is sim-ply too early — and not up to us — to say who is at fault,” H a y w a r d said.

G e n e Beck, a petro leum e n g i n e e r

at Texas A&M at College Station who worked in the drilling industry for two decades, said the list of problems BP is investigating appears exhaustive. But he said the company also needs to look at decisions made by people on the rig.

“That needs to be inves-tigated: Why did they do what they did?” Beck said.

“They need to ask them-selves that very, very serious question: ‘Why did we make these choices?”’

Meanwhile, a new Interior Department report released today found that staffers in the Louisiana office of the Minerals Management Service violated a number of federal regulations and agency ethics rules, includ-ing accepting gifts from oil and gas companies and using government comput-ers to view pornography.

The report by the depart-ment’s acting inspector gen-eral follows up on a 2007 investigation that revealed what then-Inspector General Earl Devaney called a “cul-ture of ethical failure” and conflicts of interest at the minerals agency.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called the latest report “deeply disturbing” but stressed that it only cov-ered a period from 2000 to 2008. He said he wants the investigation expanded to include agency actions since he took office in January 2009.

BP filed its site-specific exploration plan for the Deepwater Horizon in February 2009.

The Obama adminis-tration has come under increasing pressure as frus-trations build, oil washes up in delicate Louisiana wet-lands, and efforts to cap the well prove unsuccessful.

Serving Oxford, Lafayette County and the University of MississippiTUESDAY, MAY 25, 2010 142ND Year, No. 169 — 50 CENTS

INSIDE

Classifieds 12-13Comics 14Editorial 4Education 6-7

Local 2-3Obituaries 2Sports 8-9Weather 2

INDEX

www.oxfordeagle.com

POMERANZ HONORED

Ole Miss left-handed pitcher Drew Pomeranz was named as the recipi-ent of the 2010 Cellular South Ferriss Trophy given to the top collegiate baseball player in the state of Mississippi. For more details on the honor, see Page 6.

BUSINESSMAN ARRESTED

A local businessman who has been on the lam from the law was arrested last week. Get the details on Page 2.

EDUCATION NEWS

Turn to Pages 6 and 7 of Education to find out what’s happening with local teachers and stu-dents.

UM GRADSMany of the students

graduating from the University of Mississippi earlier this month were from the Oxford area. Turn to Pages 5 and 10 to read the names of the locals who picked up a diploma.

Run-off solution soughtErosion problems wash away county officials’ patience

BY ALYSSA SCHNUGG

Staff Writer

The Lafayette County Planning Commission has ordered the own-ers of Williams Equipment Co. to

produce a plan of action on how it intends to solve erosion issues once and for all at its construction site located across from the Cumberland subdivision.

“I need a schedule of how this is going to progress with a time frame I can put my hands on by June 1,” County Engineer Larry Britt said at Monday’s Planning Commission meeting.

Williams Equipment started con-

struction in the summer of 2008 on its new home for the commercial busi-ness on 4.3 acres of land located on Highway 6 West. Since construction began, neighbors have complained the runoff from the graded prop-erty has caused silt to run onto their lawns, destroying grass and bushes, as well as cause local flooding.

A year ago, a cease and desist order was issued until erosion problems were handled.

“We have had some problems with erosion out there that we’ve been dealing with for a year and a half,” Britt said.

When 3 inches of rain fell in Oxford within 30 minutes last week, the issue resurfaced when silt and water caused erosion on some of the adjoining landowners’ property.

See SOLUTION on Page 2

Oxford schools set budget hearing

BY MELANIE ADDINGTON

Staff Writer

Members of the Oxford School Board set a public hearing for June 14 at 5 p.m. for the public to discuss the district’s 2010-2011 budget.

Despite continued budget cuts from the state during the past several months, the Oxford School District has put together a budget for the coming school year that ensures no jobs will be cut.

The school board has a proposed $29 million budget that, while not yet finalized, won’t cut jobs and won’t raise the tax rate.

On Monday, Gov. Haley Barbour signed the FY 2011 education funding bills, House Bill 1622 and House Bill 1059, Mississippi Department of Education Superintendent Tom Burnham said.

“HB 1622 is the primary funding bill that we recom-mend (districts) develop the FY 2011 budget around,” Burnham said. “HB 1059 is contingent upon the passage of federal legisla-tion that would extend the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage provided for in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.”

Worst-case scenarioCity school officials are bas-

ing their budget on the fund-ing equation that provides Oxford the lowest amount of state funds.

The board will not request any increase to the city’s tax rate, but the district still expects to experience an increase in revenue collec-tions due to the additional taxes it projects to increase from new homes.

Revenue is expected to be up about $420,000 from 2009-2010 for a total of $29.5 million. Mississippi Adequate Education Program funding is slightly down to $12.54 mil-lion from $12.56 million the year before. Ad valorem tax collections will go up from $14.1 million to $15.4 mil-lion. With athletic admission tickets expected to be down about $10,000, the district may have to dip deeper into its reserve funds.

After the hearing, the board will vote on the budget.

In other business, the school board:

— Approved salary scales for employees, teacher assis-tants and administrators.

— Approved a resolution in memory of the late Patricia Aschoff, SPED teacher at Oxford Learning Center. Marcia Cole accepted the plaque and resolution on behalf of the family.

—melanie@oxfordeagle.com

PATRICK SEMANSKY/AP

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar (center) speaks at a press conference in Galliano, La., Monday. Standing behind Salazar are Sen. David Vitter, R-La., and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Guinness finds Minn. man is tallest in US

ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) — Guinness World Records has recognized a Minnesota man as the tallest man in the United States.

The Guinness World Record Association measured Rochester’s Igor Vovkovinskiy (voh-kov-IN’-ski) at 7 feet, 8.33 inches tall during NBC’s “The Dr. Oz Show” on Monday. He edged out Norfolk, Va., sheriff’s deputy George Bell by a third of an inch.

The 27-year- old Vovkovinskiy is originally from Ukraine but moved to Minnesota with his mother when he was 7 years old for treatment at the Mayo Clinic for a pituitary disease that spurred his rapid growth.

Vovkovinskiy now attends the Minnesota School of Business and is pursuing a degree in paralegal studies.

Guinness says the world’s tallest man is Turkey’s Sultan Kosen. He measures in at 8 feet, 1 inch tall.

G R A D U A T I O N C E L E B R A T I O N

BRUCE NEWMAN

Brittney Deonna Jeffries (from left), Wesley Lane Carroll and Kimberly Annette Wilson throw their caps at the Scott Center’s graduation ceremony on Monday afternoon. Also graduating were Laura Leeann Brower and Dillon Lee Hopkins.

BP probe focuses on other companies’ workReport: Oversite workers accepted gifts from oil companies

“...it is simply too early — and not

up to us — to say who is at fault.”

— TONY HAYWARDChief Executive, BP

E-Edition booming

gas producer in the Gulf, Gulf, Gulflisted seven areas of focus as it hunts for a cause. Four involve the blowout pre-venter, venter, venter a massive piece of machinery that sits atop the wellhead and should have acted as a safety deviceof last resort but did not. That was manufacturedby Cameron InternationalCorp. and owned byTransocean LTD, which

problems BP is investigating appears exhaustive. But he said the company also needs to look at decisions made by people on the rig.

“That needs to be inves-tigated: Why did they do what they did?” Beck said.

“They need to ask them-selves that very, very serious selves that very, very serious selves that veryquestion: ‘Why did we make these choices?”’

ing accepting gifts from oil and gas companies andusing government comput-ers to view pornography.pornography.pornography

The report by the depart-ment’s acting inspector gen-eral follows up on a 2007 investigation that revealed what then-Inspector GeneralEarl Devaney called a “cul-ture of ethical failure” and conflicts of interest at the minerals agency.agency.agency

he took office in January 2009.

BP filed its site-specificexploration plan for theDeepwater Horizon inFebruary 2009.

The Obama adminis-tration has come under increasing pressure as frus-trations build, oil washes up in delicate Louisiana wet-lands, and efforts to cap the well prove unsuccessful.

www.oxfordeagle.comwww.oxfordeagle.com

In other business, school board:

— Approved for employees, tants and administrators.

— Approved in memory of the late PAschoff, Aschoff, Aschoff SPED Oxford Learning Marcia Cole accepted plaque and resolution behalf of the family

—melanie@oxfor

School ofpursuing a

paralegal studies.the world’s

urkey’s Sultan measures in at 8 www.oxfordeagle.com

662-234-2222

ONLINE The Oxford Eagle E-Edition helps youkeep up with your home away from home

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64 Alumni Review

Newsalumni

Danny Earl turman (BBA 82) of Olive Branch, March 30, 2011Janet hamilton Wood (BBA 80) of Biloxi, Feb. 21, 2011

1990sBenjamin Daniel arnold (PhD 91) of Pineville, La., March 19, 2011normand raymond chouinard Jr. (BA 97, DMD 01) of Gulfport, Feb. 26, 2011John clinton cummings (PhD 91) of Lakeland, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2011David Bronson kent (BSPh 96) of Brandon, March 10, 2011Michael W. kolesar (BBA 91, MBA 92) of Canton, Ga., May 12, 2011valerie childers Meredith (BAccy 95, MTax 96) of Myrtle, April 30, 2011chandler Brooks Mohamed (BS 94) of Belzoni, May 10, 2011David Daniel Quon (BS 94) of Canton, April 10, 2011richard raleigh White (BA 98) of Huntington Beach, Calif., April 15, 2011

2000sJoanne lee strayham (BSCJ 04) of Ocean Springs, April 26, 2011

2010srichard steven Brueckner (11) of Booneville, April 27, 2011

FAculty AND FrIENDSMalcolm Wesley arnold ii of Batesville, May 6, 2011opal James Bowles of Oxford, Feb. 26, 2011karl Brenkert Jr. of Sun City West, Ariz., May 19, 2011lorraine Mahaffey caldwell of Clinton, March 16, 2011Bryan D. cowan of Ridgeland, May 8, 2011huntley Gordon Davidson of Olive Branch, Dec. 18, 2010John Davidson Jr. of Corinth, April 26, 2011

hortense Gholson of Columbus, April 22, 2011carl Jack Gordon of Okolona, May 7, 2011nathan lee Gordon of Abbeville, April 28, 2011William kennedy Griffin Jr. of Gloster, May 25, 2011renee ryan hathorn of Prentiss, April 3, 2011rosemary shannon kerr of Oxford, May 11, 2011a.J. kilpatrick of Grenada, May 20, 2011Grover neal lipe Jr. of Germantown, Tenn., April 2, 2011tony Meeks of Bethel Springs, Tenn., March 13, 2011kenneth Boyd Mullin sr. of Oxford, April 28, 2011ronald ray Partridge of Oxford, April 18, 2011ann Williams Peacock of Clarksdale, April 1, 2011Patricia hapes roberts of Gulfport, April 21, 2011G.l. tatum of Oxford, March 17, 2011ken taylor of Cordova, Tenn., May 20, 2011Maurine christman twiss of Jackson, May 8, 2011

Due to space limitations, class notes are only published in the Alumni Review from active, dues-paying members of the Ole Miss Alumni Association. To submit a class note, send it to records@alumni.olemiss.edu or Alumni Records Dept., Ole Miss Alumni Association, P.O. Box 1848, University, MS 38677-1848. Class notes also may be submitted through the association’s website at www.olemissalumni.com. The association relies on numerous sources for class notes and is unable to verify all notes with individual alumni.

Rebels Abroad

OLE MISS ALUMNI TRAVEL THE WORLD

Ole Miss alumni and f r i e n d s e n j o y e d

the Alumni Association-sponsored Cradle of His-tory cruise on the Med-iterranean in May with stops in Greece, Egypt, Israel, Cyprus and Tur-key. For more information on upcoming trips, see the Travel Planner on page 46 of this issue, and visit the Alumni Association web-site at www.olemissalumni.com for a complete listing.

The University of MississippiAlumni AssociationP.O. Box 1848University, MS 38677-1848(662) 915-7375www.olemissalumni.com

A Legacy of Leadership...

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*Scott A. Trammell, CFP®

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Chief Operating OfficerOle Miss ‘97, ‘00, ‘01

*Walter Grant, ChFCFinancial Advisor

Ole Miss ‘97*Frederick C. Schaeffer Jr.

Financial AdvisorOle Miss ‘92

*Hampton A. HolcombExecutive Vice-President

Ole Miss parent*Webb Sabin, MBA

Financial AdvisorOle Miss ‘05

*W. Joel Bell, CFP®

Financial AdvisorOle Miss ‘98

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