Dear Alumni and Friends,
As we look forward to a new academic year at Ole Miss and to welcoming the newest members of the Ole Miss family with the Class of 2023, it’s a good time to catch up on developments around campus and on recent achievements. I must express the sorrow I know you share with two recent losses. Dr. David Sansing was a legendary historian on our campus and throughout the state of Mississippi. His work continues to reach hundreds of thousands of Mississippi students. In addition, we mourn the loss of Ole Miss student Ally Kostial. Ally was an engaged member of our community with a bright future ahead of her. We send our love and support to the Kostial family and Ally’s friends on campus, and hope they find some solace in the wake of this tragedy.
I know we all look forward to welcoming a new chancellor soon. To identify the best leader for our university, the Board of Trustees of the State Institutions of Higher Learning needs your input. Please plan to attend the Campus Listening Session on Thursday, September 5, at The Inn at Ole Miss. While sessions throughout the day are open to anyone, the session at 3 p.m. will focus on the needs of alumni and the community. For more details, visit http://www.mississippi.edu/ieo/um/
We are thrilled to welcome, among the Class of 2023, 13 new Stamps Scholars who earned the highly competitive merit scholarship program. We now have 41 Stamps Scholars, making us the fourth-largest in the nation in this program.
For 30 years, the Mississippi Teacher Corps, housed in our School of Education has tackled the challenge of finding and producing certified teachers for Mississippi’s high-need public schools. The anniversary this year included a celebration of Andy Mullins, founder of the Teacher Corps and a name familiar to many of you. Andy, who is retiring from Teacher Corps, helped train and place more than 750 teachers across the Delta and north Mississippi. We salute Andy and thank him for a lifetime of service to the university and the state.
The School of Pharmacy rose to sixth in the nation in external research funding for 2018, according to the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. This places us second in the SEC and among the top five percent of pharmacy schools nationwide. The results of the research funding span from botanical research with international impacts to inquiries into how to deliver necessary pharmacy services more effectively for underserved Mississippians.
Our campus gains two major upgrades this fall with completion of the $60 million renovation and expansion of the Student Union, and the grand opening of the new $32 million South Campus Recreation Center. The 98,000-square-foot recreational facility is key to our expanded focus on well-being, including home to the new William Magee Center for Wellness Education. With several innovative elements (including one of the nation’s only collegiate recreation indoor high-ropes course), it will contribute to our premier collegiate experience. We’ve also recently marked the construction midpoint of the Medical Center’s $180 million Children’s Hospital expansion project to enhance our ability to treat Mississippi’s children.
On a final note, congratulations to this year’s eight recipients of the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Awards! We can’t wait to honor them for their service and accomplishments later this fall.
