Bill Dabney

OXFORD, Miss. – Entrepreneur Russell French has pledged $25,000 to seed The 512 Ole Miss First Scholarship at the University of Mississippi. French, a New Albany native, is an alumnus of UM’s hotel restaurant management program. He owns 208 restaurant in Oxford, which he opened in 2002. He also recently purchased the Oliver-Britt House, one…

            OXFORD, Miss. – John Hodges, a published fiction writer enrolled in the University of Mississippi’s acclaimed master of fine arts in creative writing program, has been awarded a $3,000 scholarship by the university’s MFA committee.             Philanthropist Jim Barksdale funded the scholarship as part of his support for the creative writing program.             “I…

OXFORD, Miss. – Thirteen top students from across the country have been chosen as 2007 Croft Scholars by the Croft Institute for International Studies at the University of Mississippi. The scholars each receive $32,000 for four years of undergraduate study. The Croft Institute was created in 1997 through a $60 million gift by the Joseph…

OXFORD, Miss. – Cellular South, one of Mississippi’s largest companies, continues its legacy of giving with a $30,000 contribution to the University of Mississippi School of Business Administration. The gift is part of the Jackson-based wireless communications company’s commitment to providing annual scholarships to all public universities. Half the $30,000 goes toward the Cellular South…

OXFORD, Miss. – Two distinguished Mississippians with national reputations – one a journalist, the other a lawyer – have been named inaugural fellows at the new Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics at the University of Mississippi. The honorees are Curtis Wilkie, holder of the Kelly G. Cook Chair of Journalism at UM, and…

OXFORD, Miss. – A University of Mississippi business alumnus has donated $100,000 to his alma mater to create the B. Stirling Tighe Memorial Scholarship Endowment. Bowman "Bo" Stirling Tighe Jr. and his wife, Sylvia, of Ridgeland created the scholarship in memory of Bo’s father, who also was an Ole Miss alumnus. "My father loved Ole…

OXFORD, Miss. – Since its founding in 1848, the University of Mississippi has nurtured state and national leaders, and that tradition continues including special training opportunities through the Trent Lott Leadership Institute. Six freshmen have entered UM this fall as recipients of $40,000 Lott Leadership Scholarships, which includes association with the institute. The exceptional students…