James McMullan of Lake Forest, Ill., embraced his Southern roots, even when his career took him to Chicago for most of his adult life. The legacy he built at the University of Mississippi reflected the value he placed on his vision for the study of the South within liberal arts and higher education. McMullan passed…
A newly established endowment to secure the future of the Oxford Conference for the Book (OCB) – an annual event bringing together authors, publishers, editors, agents, scholars, book retailers and readers – and honor its founder has grown to more than $130,000. Past and present advisory committee members of the University of Mississippi Center for…
As a professor of biology at the University of Mississippi from 1976 to 2005, Edmund Keiser loved the traditional classroom setting – with its blackboards, books and attentive students at their desks – as much as he enjoyed his field research, trudging through bayou swamps and hiking verdant forests in search of unique specimens of…
A retiring University of Mississippi leader who dedicated his career to helping students find the resources to attend college and embrace a well-rounded college experience will continue to assist students through a scholarship created in his honor. Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Larry D. Ridgeway will have a long-lasting impact in students' lives through…
An anonymous planned gift to the Meek School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi will help prepare the next generation of journalists for the rigors of in-depth reporting, as the newsgathering profession evolves rapidly due to the Internet and the soaring popularity of mobile devices. The majority of the gift is…
As children growing up in Pascagoula, Miss., Kenny Clark and his sister Rhonda Clark experienced first-hand the golden age of the small-town drugstore – those idyllic days of cherry Cokes served from soda fountains, milkshakes in tall, curved glasses and a kindly, wise pharmacist who knew every customer by name. For Rhonda and Kenny, that…
Before his death in 2009, Charles Lynn Costner found himself posing the question: "How do you leave something behind to make the world better than you found it?" His widow, Sara, has answered that question by donating $50,000 to benefit the University of Mississippi School of Engineering. Half her donation is designated for an endowment…
Judith and Jay Travis III of Jackson found each other, grew intellectually, became leaders and nurtured many friendships during their student days at the University of Mississippi. Now the couple is continuing a tradition of giving back to strengthen their alma mater. The Travises have joined the Chancellor's Trust with a $25,000 gift to…
Since his early days in the 1960s as a teacher, coach and elementary school principal, University of Mississippi alumnus Hobson Waits has always believed in – and staunchly supported – America's youth. Even after he left the education field in 1969 to become a lobbyist for the Electric Power Associations of Mississippi (EPAM),…
University of Mississippi alumni Larry and Emily (Caldwell) Furlong spent much of their adult lives helping students in Florida's Seminole County pursue college education through academic scholarships. Now, with the establishment of the Furlong Family Scholarship Endowment at Ole Miss, the Furlongs of Maitland, Fla., have widened their reach, providing an opportunity for undergraduate students…