Ole Miss Alumni Review - Winter 2009

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School of Rocks

Winter 2009

Rebelettes make it to the big leagues

Former quarterback leads national marketing team

A geological discovery in the Bahamas teaches UM researchers some surprising lessons on how rock is formed—and how appearances can be deceiving

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

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

Winter 2009 Vol. 58 No. 1Vol. 58 No. 1

On the cover: Exuma Cay in the Bahamas has become a geological hotspot for an Ole Miss researcher. Photo by Nathan Snyder

On Their Toes These former Rebelettes have kept on dancingby Rebecca lauck cleaRy

Calling the Plays Former quarterback uses his leadership skills to rebrand a restaurant chainby Tom Speed

6 FRom The ciRcle

The latest on ole miss students, faculty, staff and friends

13 calendaR

34 SpoRTSole miss students organize donation of shoes to kenyan athletes

41 aRTS and culTuRe

42 TRavel

46 alumni newSnew alumni association board members dedicate their time to helping ole miss

on the cover

features

18

24

30

departmentsSchool of Rocks a geological discovery in the bahamas teaches um researchers some surprising lessons on how rock is formed—and how appearances can be deceivingby Rick hynum

Chancellorfrom the Ole Miss AluMni Review

Publisher

Warner Alford (60)

editor

Jim Urbanek II (02)[email protected]

Creative direCtor

Sabrina Brown

designers

?

editorial assistant

Macaulay Knight

CorresPondents

?

advertising rePresentative

Cristen Hemmins (MA 96)662-236-1700

offiCers of the university of MississiPPi aluMni assoCiation

Chance Laws (63), president

David McCormick (77), president-elect

Rose Jackson Flenorl (79), vice president

John T. Cossar (61), athletics committee member

Roger Friou (56), athletics committee member

aluMni affairs staff, oxford

Warner Alford (60), executive directorWendy Chambers Carmean (97),

assistant director for marketingClay Cavett (86), associate directorJosh Davis (99), assistant director

Martha Dollarhide, systems programmer IISheila Dossett (75), assistant director

Annette Kelly (79), accountantDavid Gilmore, systems analyst I

Robert Radice, manager, The Inn at Ole Miss

Scott Thompson (97), alumni assistant, club coordinator

Jim Urbanek II (02), assistant director for communications

Tim Walsh (83), senior associate directorRusty Woods (01),

assistant director for information servicesJames Butler (60), director emeritus

Herbert E. Dewees Jr. (65), executive director emeritus

aluMni affairs staff, JaCkson

Geoffrey Mitchell (70), alumni directorGinger Roby Daniels (77), assistant director

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, Room 172, University, MS 38677. Telephone

662-915-7375.2451T

2 AluMni Review

Ole Miss AluMni Review

Publisher

Timothy L. Walsh (83)

editor

Jim Urbanek II (97)[email protected]

assoCiate editor and advertising direCtor

Tom Speed (91)[email protected]

Creative direCtor

Sabrina Brown

designer

Rachael Davis

editorial assistants

Lauren Smith

CorresPondents

Andrew Abernathy (08), Kevin Bain (98), Tobie Baker (96), Rebecca Lauck

Cleary (97), Bruce Coleman (88), Mitchell Diggs (82), Jennifer Farish (01), Jay Ferchaud, Patrice Sawyer Guilfoyle,

Rick Hynum, Robert Jordan (82), Barbara Lago (82), Nathan Latil, Jennifer

Southall (92), Lee Eric Smith (92), Lajuan Tallo, Kathleen Williams

offiCers of the university of MississiPPi aluMni assoCiation

Rose Jackson Flenorl (79), president

Charles Clark (72), president-elect

Bill May (79), vice president

John T. Cossar (61), athletics committee member

Karen Lee (73), athletics committee member

aluMni affairs staff, oxford

Timothy L. Walsh (83), executive director

Joseph Baumbaugh, systems analyst I

Wendy Chambers Carmean (97), assistant director for marketing

Clay Cavett (86), associate director

Josh Davis (99), assistant director

Martha Dollarhide, systems programmer II

Sheila Dossett (75), senior associate director

Annette Kelly (79), accountant

Tom Speed (91), publications editor

Scott Thompson (97), assistant director

Jim Urbanek II (97), assistant director for communications

Rusty Woods (01), assistant director for information services

James 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, Room 172, University, MS 38677. Telephone 662-

915-7375.2451Z

For many years now, The University of Mississippi has strived to be a great public university. The national and international press coverage of the presidential debate hosted on our cam-pus revealed to the world that we are exactly that. The week of the presidential debate at Ole Miss was a defining moment for our university that set the tone for an outstanding fall semes-ter—one that will go down in history as one of our finest.

Just a day after the presidential debate our football team beat the Florida Gators on their home field, and we would remain the only team to beat the Gators as they went on to win the national championship.

The excitement that began that Saturday in “the swamp” under the new leadership of Head Coach Houston Nutt cul-minated in our football team’s victory in the Cotton Bowl. In 1995, we adopted seven goals, and one of those was to

maintain and operate an integrity-based, competitive athletics program. During the past 14 years, we have worked to upgrade our facilities and to employ the finest coaching staff avail-able to us. We are now nationally competitive in all our sports programs. In October, Rose Jackson Flenorl, a 1979 graduate from Clarksdale (now Memphis), was inaugurated as the first African-American president of our national Alumni Association, and, on Nov. 29, Shadrack “Shad” White was named The University of Mississippi’s 25th Rho-des Scholar and the first to receive prestigious Rhodes and Truman scholarships. The Rho-des academic distinction is shared by some of the world’s great leaders and intellectuals of the past century. Despite the successes of fall 2008, the university is not exempt from the economic chal-lenges being faced across the world. However, our finance administrators have been planning for the kinds of issues that we now face, and it is important for us to take stock of how we dif-fer from other organizations and society at large. More than ever, we must place our faith in the potential of higher education to create the opportunity for a better future. As we look forward to the next few years, we should be inspired by what we have accom-plished through the years with limited resources. With prudent and careful fiscal decision making, we will be able to manage our financial challenges while providing the high-quality educational experience we are known for. We are committed to being good stewards of our resources and to maintaining affordability and access. We are extremely fortunate that our alumni, parents and friends are generous and support-ive, and we are grateful that you trust us to meet these responsibilities.

Warmest Regards,

Robert C. Khayat

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4 AluMni Review

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Remember the scene in “Peter Pan” when Tinker Bell drinks the poison left by Cap-tain Hook for Peter? It’s one of those childhood stories I will never forget. Tinker

Bell is about to die. Then Peter Pan asks the question, “Do you believe?”

“If you believe,” he says, “clap your hands. Don’t let Tin-ker Bell die.”

I remember clapping as loud as I could. We all clapped to save Tinker Bell. We believed.

Sometimes when I need to be reminded of how to believe, I read Romans 10:10: “For it is with your heart that you believe… .”

Lately I’ve been believing a lot. We beat Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, LSU and Mississippi State before topping the season off

with a win over Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl. I read in the Memphis Commercial Appeal that Coach Houston Nutt asked his team at the beginning of the season what bowl game they wanted to play in. Based on the previous season, why would he ask? He believed. He wanted his team to believe, too. This year an Ole Miss student, Shadrack “Shad” White, was named The Univer-sity of Mississippi’s 25th Rhodes Scholar. He is the first to receive both Rhodes and Truman scholarships. When asked about his son’s success, Shad’s father, Charles White, said, “He would not be here, I believe, without Ole Miss.” I believe. I believe in our university’s ability to attract the best and brightest students in our country. Students like Shad. I also believe in the opportunity we have to educate the children of Mississippi and raise the level of education in our state. Without good leadership and a committed faculty and staff, believing wouldn’t be so easy. I’ve decided my mantra as president of The University of Mississippi Alumni Association will be, “Ole Miss Believes.” And, if you believe, I’m going to ask you to do a little more than clap your hands. First, we need your help recruiting students. One way to help our university weather these challenging economic times is to identify prospective students and to assist admissions counselors at college fairs and recruiting parties. Tuition is an important component of our university’s budget. In this issue of the Alumni Review, we provide you the information you need to help in recruiting students from your community. Second, the economy is impacting the value of our investments, which impacts our ability to grant scholarships. We need you to continue to support scholarship funds established by your local alumni chapters, the Alumni Association and the university. Third, we need all graduates, former students and fans to become active members of the Alumni Association. Your dues support Ole Miss. Gratitude is defined as a feeling of thankfulness and appreciation. I am thankful for the support you have already provided your university. I am grateful for the many blessings we have received, and I am looking forward to more good things to come. Believe.

Sincerely,

Rose Jackson Flenorl (BAEd 79)

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winteR 2009 5

6 Alumni Review

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

The state’s largest Osage orange tree is at Ole Miss. Photo by Kevin Bain

Scores of journalists from around the world began their reports on the presidential debate by mentioning the natural beauty of the Ole Miss campus.

That beauty was recognized recently by the Mississippi Urban Forest Council, which selected the university for its annual Scenic Communities of Mississippi award. The award recognizes the university’s commitment to a range of activi-ties to protect the environment, as well as planting and main-taining trees on its 1,000-acre campus. Donna Yowell, executive director of the Mississippi Urban Forest Council, presented the award Oct. 1 to UM Landscape Services Director Jeff McManus and Chancellor Robert Khayat (BAEd 61, JD 66) in a ceremony on the Quad near Paris-Yates Chapel. “I think it is a great honor for the Ole Miss family and landscaping team,” McManus says. “It is great recognition for the campus, and it shows our commitment to the contin-ued enhancement of our facilities and grounds.” The Oxford campus is home to some of the state’s larg-est and oldest trees, including a northern catalpa with a cir-cumference of nearly 21 feet, and Mississippi’s largest Osage orange tree. “This past year alone, another 754 trees were planted, pushing the university’s inventory to well over 6,000 trees,” McManus says. Other factors that were considered include efforts to com-bat litter on campus, protect water quality and control storm runoff, Yowell says. The Landscape Services Department has received other awards in recent years, including the 2002 Grand Award from the Professional Grounds Management Society for hav-ing the nation’s best-maintained campus. AR

Branch CampuscaMpus landscapers honored for care, planTing of Trees

winteR 2009 7

Shadrack “Shad” Tucker White (BA 08) was named The University of Mississippi’s 25th Rhodes Scholar

in November and is the first UM stu-dent to receive both the prestigious Rhodes and Truman scholarships. The UM honors g raduate wa s selected following rigorous interviews in Kansas City. The academic distinc-tion is shared by some of the world’s great leaders and intellectuals of the past century. The scholarship provides an all-expenses-paid opportunity to study for two years at Oxford University in Eng-land, one of the world’s oldest univer-sities. It is the most coveted academic award for American undergraduates. “We have not had a more capable student than Shad White,” says UM Chancellor Robert C. Khayat. “Shad had already been selected as a Tru-man Scholar, so we knew he had the intellectual, personal and leadership skills needed to be selected as a Rhodes Scholar. Plus, he is multitalented and keenly interested in enhancing the qual-ity of life in our society.” Since graduating summa cum laude from UM in May, White has been in

Washington, D.C., working to improve early childhood education in both Mis-sissippi and the rest of the nation.

A Sandersville native, White gradu-

ated as a fellow of UM’s Sally McDonnell Barksdale Hon-ors College with a bachelor’s degree in economics and polit-ical science. Before doing so, he spent a summer working at an impoverished orphanage in San Salvador, El Salvador.

He also organized students to help with voter-registration drives in the Mississippi Delta, provided edgy political com-mentary in the campus news-paper and helped with various political campaigns, includ-ing that of State Auditor Stacy Pickering.

A t O l e M i s s , W h i t e received Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Beta Kappa honors, and was named a Taylor Medalist and Truman Scholar. Recog-nized as “change agents” with the potential to improve how public entities serve the pub-lic good, Truman Scholars receive up to $30,000 for grad-uate school. White plans to f inish his work in D.C., then join the

postgraduate Enfield program in com-parative social policy at Oxford Uni-versity and study social programs in the United Kingdom.

UM’s 24th Rhodes Scholar was Cal-vin Thigpen, who received the honor in 1998. Since then, the university has pro-duced several Rhodes Scholarship final-ists, as well as five Truman, eight Gold-water and six Fulbright scholars, plus one Marshall and one Udall scholar. Rhodes Scholarships were started after the death of Cecil Rhodes in 1902 and bring accomplished students from around the world to the University of Oxford. The f irst American scholars were elected in 1904, according to the scholarship’s Web site, <www.rhodes scholar.org>. Regiona l committees select 32 American Rhodes Scholars annually from nominees in each state. AR

With Honorssandersville naTive wins rhodes scholarship

Shad White, 2008 Rhodes Scholar. Photo by Robert Jordan

We have not had a more capable student than Shad White. ... We knew he had the intellectual, personal and leadership skills needed to be selected as a Rhodes Scholar.

“”—chancellor roberT khayaT

projecT’s lessons for fuTure Teachers are “all naTural”

The day began with an apple, a s ymbo l o f t he ea r t h . i t s resources—peel, fruit and seed—

are limited, much like Mother nature’s assets. The apple wasn’t left on a teach-er’s desk by a student; instead, it was a teaching aid in the recent project learning Tree workshop at The univer-sity of Mississippi field station. some 150 uM education majors were taught interesting ways for teachers to incor-porate the environment into their les-son plans. harold anderson, a retiree of the Mississippi forestry commission, has worked for 10 years as the state’s plT coordinator. The program instructs pre-ser vice and in-ser vice teach-ers in 97 lesson plans across multi-ple courses of study, all of which are aimed at fostering better environmen-tal understanding, he says. “project learning Tree is good, unbiased, scientific material that’s both fun and interesting,” anderson says. it is sponsored by the Missis-sippi forestry commission, Missis-sippi forestry association and the usda forest service. since 1987, nearly 15,000 Missis-sippi teachers have participated in plT training, anderson says. AR

8 Alumni Review

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W hat began months ago as a discussion around a kitchen table in Oxford ended in October with a dinner at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College students Erin Callahan, Claire Graves and Kent Ford were together one night last spring, wondering how to select a topic for their senior honors theses, a requirement for their graduation in 2010. “We seemed to agree that if we could just go talk to people who are actively engaged in—and shaping the futures of—our fields of interest, our task would be much easier,” says Ford, an international studies major from Hattiesburg. As a result, the three students were among 40 Honors College juniors who traveled to Washington last month on the college’s first Junior Quest to conduct preliminary thesis research interviews, explore career and internship opportuni-ties, and soak up culture and history. They also enjoyed dinner at the Kennedy Center with Honors College alumni in the D.C. area. The occasion was an opportunity for the alums to reconnect with the Honors College and for the students to network and to see where SMBHC grads go and the career paths they follow. The entire trip proved to be an incredible experience for the students. Calla-han, an international studies major from Ocean Springs, says she hopes Junior Quest becomes a permanent part of the Honors College experience.

“I felt it went amazingly well and really showed entrepreneurship and leader-ship among the honors students. I was so impressed by some of the interviews, and I really enjoyed reconnecting with honors alums,” she says. AR

Capitol Ideahonors college sTudenTs visiT washingTon

Madison Halbrook (left), Jitin Chatlani and Sederia Gray attend an Honors College alum-ni dinner at the Kennedy Center. Courtesy photo

Harold Anderson, state coordinator for Miss-issippi Project Learning Tree, points out the distinctions in foliage to UM elementary edu-cation students. Photo by Tobie Baker

winteR 2009 9

Some 50 years ago at The University of Mississippi, journalism was taught in a small building that no longer exists.

Among the faculty were three professors who would distinguish themselves as they helped mold the minds of a generation of reporters and editors. In the process, those men—Jere Hoar (MA 54), S. Gale Denley (BSJ 57) and Samuel S. Talbert—helped establish a legacy of excellence in journalism education that lives on in the newly renovated Farley Hall, home of the Department of Journalism. In November, the journalism depart-ment and the university rededicated Farley Hall and named three classrooms in honor of those professors: the J.R. Hoar Center for Excellence in Writing, the S. Gale Denley Digital Photo Lab and the Samuel S. Talbert Reading Room. “Without question, they are the founda-tion of journalism at Ole Miss,” says Samir Husni, journalism chair and Hederman Lec-turer. “They’ve touched countless lives and helped literally hundreds of journalists in their careers.” Among those journa l ist s i s Ronnie Agnew (BA 84), who received the 50th anniversary Samuel S. Talbert Silver Em Award on Nov. 6 during Journalism Week. Agnew, executive editor of The Clarion- Ledger in Jackson, beamed with pride about the award. “To be nurtured the way I was at Ole Miss, I’m just so proud of my university,” Agnew says. AR

A fter using his bionic hand for a month, Kevin Hollingshead still admires its lifelike appearance. But it’s the way that his prosthetic hand functions that truly amazes him.

With a contraction of muscles in his forearm, he can open and close his hand, extending each finger to form a variety of grasping patterns, from reaching for car keys to curling around a coffee cup. The movement is even more striking when a cosmetic glove that has the same skin tone and appearance of his real hand is used. Even the name of the device sounds like science fiction: i-LIMB, a pros-thetic hand with individually powered digits. That’s what makes this pros-thetic system different from the limited pinching motion of other pros-theses. For Hollingshead, the cutting-edge technology has allowed him to work, go to school and enjoy hobbies, all of which require two-handed, multitasking skills. “It’s a complete 180 from what my life could have been without this new technology,” says Hollingshead of Millry, Ala. The University of Missi s sippi Medica l Center’s Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation is the first i-LIMB Hand-accredited facility in the state, and the sur-geons and prosthetists here worked as a team to return Hollingshead to his normal routine. A c c o r d i n g t o i-LIMB Hand manu-facturer Touch Bion-ics, the prosthetic hand is controlled by a sys-tem that uses myoelec-tric signals generated by the remnant muscles. The same muscles that under normal circum-stances would open and close the anatomical hand now are used to initiate the opening and closing of the i-LIMB hand. The prosthetic hand can be replaced with other devices that allow Hol-lingshead to, among other things, play golf, one of his favorite pastimes. AR

Bionic MansTaTe’s firsT i-liMb faciliTy offers The nexT generaTion of proTheses

Kevin Hollingshead demonstrates the flexibility and grasping patterns of his state-of-the-art i-LIMB pros-thetic hand. Photo by Jay Ferchaud

Farley Hall. Photo by Harry Briscoe

Good Pressfarley hall rededicaTedafTer renovaTion

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10 Alumni Review

F rom civil wars to international terrorism, religion’s impact on the world is undeniable.

To help alleviate the tensions of faith, Mary Thurlkill, assistant pro-fessor of philosophy and religion at uM, believes more college-bound students should consider religion as an academic major. now uM stu-dents have that opportunity. “in business and culture, the global world is a part of everyday life,” says Thurlkill, who specializes in christianity and islam. “under-standing the various religions could be the key to maintaining stability

in today’s diverse world.” The new degree program

requires 30 core hours of reli-gion-based course work. stu-

dents are excited, says wil-l iam lawhead, chai r o f philosophy and religion.

“w i t h t he g r ow ing popular i t y of our reli -

g ion courses, there has been quite a demand for this for some t ime,”

he says. “ There are few disciplines in

the university whose subject matter is not affected by religious issues.” c las ses o f fe red in the new degree program are numerous and include asian religions, abraha-mic Traditions, saints and sexual-ity, religion and politics, and philos-ophy of religion. future courses are expected in religion and film, reli-gious implications of the holocaust and comparative religious ethics. according to the american acad-emy of religion, fewer than 100 american universities and colleges offer a bachelor’s degree in religious studies. AR

new prograM opens in religious sTudies

standing the various religions could be the key to maintaining stability

in today’s diverse world.” The new degree program

requires 30 core hours of religion-based course work.

dents are excited, says l iam lawhead, chai r o f philosophy and religion.

“wpopular i t y of our reli

g ion courses, there

Three brothers growing up together must have gotten into all kinds of mis-chief as children, right?

Wrong. When asked about daredevil antics or brotherly pranks, Stephen, Christopher and Andrew Weeks look at one another and shake their heads. There are no sordid details to share. Their mother, Beverly Weeks, laughingly agrees. “Oh yes, we had our moments, but the three boys were best friends,” she says. “They really did not get into trouble. As their parents, Steve and I feel that our won-derful sons have been such a blessing to us.” The Jackson Preparatory School graduates attribute their beginning desire for education excellence to their parents and grandparents. Early in their paths, the value of education was nurtured by family, educators and mentors. Their naturally inquis-itive minds, coupled with a fascination for the human body, led all three to choose careers in medicine. The University of Mississippi Medical Center was each one’s first choice to study medicine, and all three majored in biology for their undergraduate degrees, Stephen and Christopher at Mississippi College and Andrew (BS 08) at UM. Currently, Dr. Stephen Weeks, 28, is a third-year internal medicine resident who recently matched for a three-year gastroenterology fellowship at UMMC starting July 2009. Christopher, 24, is a second-year medical student, and Andrew, 23, is in his first year of medical school. The brothers say their parents respected their different talents, interests and abil-ities. As Stephen says, “Our parents expected our best, and I believe all three of us tried to give just that. Early in life, we learned good morals, high work ethics and the value of satisfaction in a job well done.” Although their common thread is medicine, each has different personal inter-ests. Stephen enjoys weightlifting and the outdoors, including hunting and fishing. Christopher, the creative one, is an accomplished artist, photographer and drummer/percussionist. Andrew was the athlete while growing up, but now spends any free time playing golf and keeping track of politics. The Medical Center was a logical choice for the brothers to complete their med-ical training. They enjoy being close to home and occasionally still have the benefit of a home-cooked meal. They also noted UMMC’s upgraded facilities and hospital additions are on the cutting edge of medical care and education. AR

Going My Way?one afTer The oTher, Three broThers Major in biology Then head To uMMc’s school of Medicine

The Weeks brothers: Christopher (left), Stephen and Andrew. Photo by Jay Ferchaud

winteR 2009 11

Share the Wealthoxford couple leave More Than $1 Million To various ole Miss iniTiaTives

A longtime UM faculty member and his wife have left a f inal, transformative gift to the insti-

tution they supported for decades. More than $1 million was recently received from the estates of Carl (BBA 52, MBA 53) and Oliv ia (BA 51) Nabors to support several areas of the university: J.D. Williams Library, Uni-versity Museum, Basketball Practice Facility, Ole Miss First Scholarship Ini-tiative and Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy. “When I think of Carl and Olivia Nabors, I think of quiet, kind, generous people,” said Chancellor Robert Khayat (BAEd 61, JD 66) at a recent reception honoring the late couple and their fam-ily. “Everyone at Ole Miss is profoundly grateful for the generous gifts made by Carl and Olivia, and we wanted to cel-ebrate the fact that they’ve designated funds to areas that need help.” Longtime Oxford residents, Olivia Nabors received a bachelor’s degree in home economics from Ole Miss in 1951, and Carl, a World War II veteran, followed with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting in 1952 and 1953, respectively.

Will Lewis (BA 68, LLB 62) of Oxford, brother of Olivia, and Billy Bratton (BBA 72, MBA 75) of Chat-tanooga, Tenn., nephew of Carl, over-saw the recent settlement of the couple’s

estates (Olivia died in 2001 and Carl five years later). While the Nabors had designated funds specifically to the J.D. Williams Library and the University Museum, funds designated generally to the UM Athletics Association went to the Basketball Practice Facility.

Additionally, funds designated to the UM Foundation are supporting Ole Miss First and the Ole Miss Women’s Council. As a result, the Carl W. Nabors Ole Miss First Scholarship Endowment

will provide four years of undergrad-uate education for deserving students for generations to come. The Olivia L. Nabors Ole Miss Women’s Coun-cil Endowment will provide permanent funding for the leadership-mentorship program that offers guidance and train-ing in leadership skills, career develop-ment and personal growth to recipients of Women’s Council scholarships. A f ter work ing for the account-ing firm Peat, Marwick, Mitchell and Co., in Memphis for several years, Carl returned to his alma mater to teach. In 1961, he embarked on a 30-plus-year career with the university, serv-ing as associate professor of account-ing, chair of the accounting department and acting dean of the School of Busi-ness Administration, and on the univer-sity’s athletics committee. Most impor-tantly, the move to Oxford allowed him to meet Olivia. They married in 1965 and lived in Oxford for the rest of their lives—lives spent actively supporting Ole Miss. AR

When I think of Carl and Olivia Nabors, I think of quiet, kind, generous people. Everyone at Ole Miss is profoundly grateful for the generous gifts made by Carl and Olivia ....

“”—chancellor roberT khayaT

Gathering to honor the generosity of Olivia and Carl Nabors are Chancellor Robert Khayat (left); Billy Bratton; Beatrice Bratton, sister of Carl Nabors; Patricia Lewis; and Will Lewis. Photo by Nathan Latil

Circlefrom the

12 Alumni Review

law school launches aluMni hall of faMe

Officials and alumni of the uM school of law have created a law alumni hall of fame, with

the inaugural induction scheduled for late 2009. nominations for the first group of honorees should be submit-ted by july 1, 2009. “The hall of fame grew out of a need to recognize outstanding alumni of the law school who have, through their professional achievements, brought honor to the law school,” says al povall (ba 63, jd 77), outgo-ing president of the uM law alumni chapter. “The general alumni asso-ciation already has an alumni hall of fame, but because the practice of law is unique, determining what con-stitutes outstanding achievement in the legal profession is difficult, if not impossible, for laymen.” The only requirement is that the nominee is a graduate of the uM law school; however, graduates cannot be nominated if they are politicians or judges who are elected or appointed and currently holding office, current law school faculty and staff, univer-sity employees who were employed during the fiscal year the nomina-tions are submitted, or current alumni association and law alumni chapter officers. The hall of fame is an appropriate way to honor law graduates who are outstanding in their profession, says Tim walsh (bpa 83, Med 91), execu-tive director of alumni affairs. “we have many dist inguished and respected graduates of our law school,” he says. “This new hall of fame gives us an oppor tunity to honor their success and their positive reflection not only on the law school but the university as a whole.” AR

Wearing a yellow embroidered sweater, Nell Cochran addressed the ball. With a solid whack, the 79-year-old University of Mississippi Golf Course legend was the first player to tee off at the newly renovated facility.

“This means a whole lot,” says Cochran, who has played the game for more than 40 years. “I’m excited about the reopening, and to tee off first has been a pleasure.” The course was closed for nearly a year, and renovation efforts include green com-plexes rebuilt to USGA specifications, fairways sprigged with 419 Bermuda grass, new cart paths, a fleet of 60 new electric golf carts, a state-of-the-art 900 sprinkler head irrigation system capable of pumping out more than 850,000 gallons of water a night, rebuilt sand bunkers and the addition of back tees on several holes, pushing the course to more than 7,000 yards in length. Also, the driving range has been dou-bled in size. More improvements, including a new pro shop and putting area, are to be com-pleted soon. UM men’s golf coach Ernest Ross (BBA 74) says that before the reno-vation, his team—ranked No. 11 nationally—couldn’t even practice, much less play the old course. “The course was too short, only 6,670 yards,” he says. “Now it’s over 7,000 yards. A top-level, modern course.” Watermark Golf LLC/Nathan Crace Design was responsible for the $3.5 million renovation project. For more information, visit <www.olemiss.edu/depts/golf>, or call 662-234-4816. AR

Tee TimeuM golf course open following $3.5 Million renovaTion

Judy Trott (left), Roy Sheffield, Nell Cochran and Eddie Crawford tee off at The University of Mis-sissippi Golf Course. Photo by Robert Jordan

winteR 2009 13

W hile Hurricane Gustav was bearing down on the Lou-isiana-Missi s sippi Gulf

Coast, staff and volunteers at the Uni-versity of Mississippi Medical Center were poised to take action. “We learned from Katrina of the dire need for services to manage com-mon chronic diseases,” says Dr. Deb-bie Minor, executive vice chair of the Department of Medicine and associate professor of medicine. “Although some evacuees needed acute medical care, the greatest need was for maintenance medications and management of com-mon illnesses, such as hypertension and diabetes. “Many people lacked transportation to seek care and also did not need to use emergency departments for less severe conditions. We collaborated with the

Red Cross and worked closely with the Department of Health to help meet the needs of the citizens of our state and of the Louisiana evacuees.” According to Travis W. Schmitz, project manager in the Department of Medicine, approximately 130 individu-als received assistance during the three days the clinic was open. “The major difference between this clinic and [the one opened after Hurri-cane] Katrina was that we had 100-plus volunteers ready to be called upon dur-ing the Labor Day holiday,” Schmitz says. “By Tuesday, the clinic was staffed right away.” The decision was made Labor Day morning to open the clinic; that after-noon, Hurricane Gustav made landfall. “A s w i t h K a t r i n a , mo s t p e o -ple just needed to have their prescrip-

tions refilled,” Minor says. “They had left home without their medications. Our pharmacy students and residents were very helpful in helping our medi-cal staff identify medications and write prescriptions.” Clinic administrators worked with local pharmacies that had set up tables in the Trademart building to fill pre-scriptions on a same-day basis. Most of the prescriptions were for hypertension and diabetes, but some were for chronic pain. “This event helped us further refine how we can treat patients in this type of clinic,” Minor says. “It also has allowed us to examine and develop better track-ing mechanisms so we can know who we’ve seen and what to expect in the future.” AR

What Katrina Taught UsdisasTer clinic up and running before gusTav Makes landfall

Dr. Debbie Minor (center), executive vice chair of the Department of Medicine, cradles one of the youngest evacuees of Hurricane Gustav while Dr. Jameika Stuckey (left) pharmacy resident, and Carly Blevens, pharmacy student, look on. The UMHC Disaster Relief Clinic provided care for approximately 130 hurricane evacuees in just three days. Photo by Jay Ferchaud

February

26-27 Blues Today Symposium. Various

campus locations. Call 662-915-5129, or e-mail [email protected].

27-28 Leadership Ole Miss Conference.

The Inn at Ole Miss. Call 662-915-7375.

28 Rebelette for a Day: Girls age 4 and

up can perform Ole Miss Rebelette cheers and dances during halftime of the Ole Miss vs. Alabama basketball game. Indoor Practice Facil-ity, noon-2 p.m. Register online at <www.olemiss alumni.com/event/>. Call 662-915-7375.

28 Red and Blue Pre-view Day. Martin-

dale Student Services Cen- ter, 8:30 a.m. Register online at <www.olemiss.edu/admissions/redblue.html>, or call 662-915-7226.

March

5-6 2009 Porter L. Fortune Jr. History

Symposium: Strategic Bombing and the Civilian Experience of World War. Oxford-Ole Miss Depot. Keynote Address: “Aban-doning Restraint: The Air Attack on Dresden, February 1945,” Johnson Commons Ballroom, 7:30 p.m. March 5. Sponsored by the Depart-ment of History. E-mail [email protected], or visit

<www.olemiss.edu/depts/history/symposium/Events_Symposium_current.htm>.

6-7 Alumni Pharmacy Weekend. Triplett

Alumni Center. Call 662-915-7375, or e-mail [email protected].

6-8 Black Alumni and Friends Weekend. The

Inn at Ole Miss. Call 662-915-7375, or visit <http://olemissalumni.com/events/blackalumnireunion2009.pdf>.

9 Ole Miss Luncheon Series: Memphis, Tenn.

The University Club,11:30

a.m.-1 p.m. Call 662-915-7375.

23 Be an Ole Miss Stu-dent for a Day. Stu-

dent Union Room 404, 9 a.m. Call 662-915-7226, or e-mail [email protected].

23 Concert: National Symphony Orches-

tra. Gertrude C. Ford Cen-ter, 8 p.m. Call 662-915-2787, or e-mail [email protected].

24 Ole Miss Luncheon Series: Tupelo. Ban-

corpSouth Conference Cen-ter, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Call 662-915-7375.

14 Alumni Review

Calendar

Be an Ole Miss Student for a Day

March 23

Porter L. Fortune Jr. History Symposium

March 5-6

And the Civilian Experience of World War

Strategic

And the Civilian Experience

StrategicStrategiciBomBing

25-26 Ole Miss Insur-ance Symposium.

Call 662-915-1869.

26-28 Oxford Confer-ence for the Book.

Various campus locations. Call 662-915-5993, or e-mail [email protected].

26 Ole Miss Luncheon Series: Vicksburg.

The BB Club, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Call 662-915-7375.

26 Concert: Mississippi Rocks the Ryman,

featuring 3 Doors Down. Ryman Auditorium in Nash-ville, Tenn., 7:30 p.m. Call 615-889-3060.

27-28 Winter Institute for Racial Recon-

ciliation Annual Meeting. Johnson Commons Ball-room, 9 a.m. Call 662-915-6734, or e-mail wwirr@ole miss.edu.

27-28 Law Weekend. Call 662-915-7375.

30 Ole Miss Luncheon Series: Madison.

Annandale Golf Club, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Call 662-915-7375.

april

4 Jean Jones Walk/Run. Ole Miss Stu-

dent Union, 7:45 a.m. Call 662-915-3784, or e-mail [email protected].

14 Ole Miss Club Sea-son: North Delta Ole

Miss Club meeting with bas-ketball Head Coach Andy Kennedy. Location in Clarks-dale TBA, time TBA. Call 662-624-5471.

15 Ole Miss Luncheon Series: Greenwood.

Greenwood Country Club, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Call 662-915-7375.

17 Scholarship Bene-fit Concert: Music

City Comes to Ole Miss, fea-

turing Vince Gill. Ford Cen-ter for the Performing Arts, 8 p.m. For tickets, call 662-915-7411.

20 Ole Miss Lun-cheon Series: De-

Soto County. Location TBA, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Call 662-915-7375.

20 Ole Miss Club Sea-son: Rebel Club of

Memphis Spring Golf Tour-nament and Meeting. Loca-tion TBA, time TBA. Call 901-268-7850.

winteR 2009 15

Jean Jones Walk/Runapril 4

Following a successful concert in 2008 that featured Missis-sippi and Nashville singers and songwriters, the Ole Miss-Nashville connection brings Music City to Ole Miss for an evening of entertainment featuring Vince Gill. Proceeds from the event will go toward the Ole Miss First scholarship fund. Tickets range from $30-$40. Sponsorship and special patron opportunities include benefits such as special VIP seating, and pre- and post-concert hospitality. For concert tickets, call 662-915-7411 or visit <www.olemiss.edu/depts/tickets/order.htm>. For information about becoming a sponsor or a patron, call Debbie Vaughn at 662-915-3937.

Scholarship Benefit ConcertFeaturing Vince Gillfriday, april 17, 2009 • 8 p.m.

Ford center For the perForMing arts

16 Alumni Review

Calendar21 Ole Miss Club Sea-

son: DeSoto County Rebel Club meeting with football Head Coach Hous-ton Nutt. Location in Olive Branch TBA, time TBA. Call 662-893-0994.

22 10th Annual World-Fest. Grove Stage on

the Oxford campus, 4 p.m. Call 662-915-7404.

27 Ole Miss Club Sea-son: Lee County

Ole Miss Club meeting with football Head Coach Hous-ton Nutt. Location in Tupelo TBA, time TBA. Call 662-844-1787.

28 Ole Miss Luncheon Series: Gulfport.

Great Southern Club, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Call 662-915-7375.

28 Ole Miss Club Sea-son: Tippah County

Ole Miss Club meeting with football Head Coach Hous-ton Nutt. Location in Ripley TBA, time TBA. Call 662-837-9893.

30 Central Missis-sippi Ole Miss Club

Scholarship Luncheon. Location in Jackson TBA, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Call 601-914-2116, or e-mail [email protected].

10th Annual WorldFestapril 22

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18 Alumni Review18 Alumni Review

Brittany Evans was one of 36 Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders to start the regular season in 2008, after first auditioning in the spring along with 1,000 other hopefuls.

ontheirtoes

these foRmeR Rebelettes ARe hAppy to hAve jobs thAt keep them

| b y R e b e c c A l A u c k c l e A R y |

20 Alumni Review

Most little girls love dancing, twirling and l eap ing on make-believe stages in their bedrooms. They usu-ally give up the fan-

tasy of becoming a dancer as they grow up, but for a lucky few the dream survives and becomes a reality. Just ask anyone who has been an Ole Miss Rebelette. As part of the Pride of the South Marching Band and Ole Miss Athletics, the Rebelettes are the official dance team asso-ciated with many university functions. On a typical football game day, the 15 Rebelettes perform at the pre-game Grove pep rally, cheer on the sidelines and perform with the band at half-time. Each January, the team travels to Orlando, Fla., to com-pete against the top dance teams in the nation at the UDA Col-lege Dance Team Championship. They also perform at basketball games and travel to post-season events such as bowl games and conference tournaments. Throughout the year, the Rebelettes also perform at other univer-sity events such as volleyball games, charity events and parades. They practice approximately 12 hours a week on top of perfor-mances and morning workouts, and receive a $1,000 scholarship for the year. Several Rebelettes have gone on to pursue dancing at the pro-fessional level, including with the Rockettes, cruise lines, and NBA and NFL teams.

Making the teaMBrittany Evans (08), a Pearl native, is one of those little girls who didn’t give up the dream. She never questioned what she wanted to do with her life. She recalls a photo of herself at age 4 in her Halloween costume—a miniature version of the iconic blue-and-white, star-spangled Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders uniform. That photo turned into reality this year when she tried out for the team—and made it. “Dance is my true passion,” the exercise science major says. “I always loved dancing and performing.” This spring, Evans arrived in Dallas for open call with 1,000 other hopefuls. She says she was grateful to have the opportunity to try out at Texas Stadium because future tryouts will be at the new stadium in Arlington. The field of hopefuls was reduced from 1,000 to 300 to 75 to the approximately 45 who started boot camp and finally to the 36 who made it to the first game. The women have to prove themselves in a range of categories that include athleticism, dance, football knowledge (including passing a written test), per-sonality and overall style. “The solo portion was my favorite because all the solos were

creative and different,” Evans says. Even more nerve-racking than the audition process was hav-ing cable television network CMT there. They were taping it all for their eight-episode “Making the Team” series. The show is promoted as “bringing you the inside story of selecting this year’s Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders squad with all the emotion and drama as thousands of women hope to fill the 36-member team. It is an intense, grueling four-month process that begins in April … and ends in August as the final team greets the players at the first pre-season home game in front of 50,000 fans.” Despite being away from her family and having a knee injury, Evans says she danced her heart out. “My knee hurt so bad, but I didn’t notice it. I just got through the dance and performed the best I could. I knew I wasn’t per-forming to the best of my ability, but I danced my hardest.” Evans says her years as a Rebelette helped her work her way up to the professional dancing world. “Being a Rebelette was actually my first experience of walk-ing into a stadium filled with people. My freshman year we prac-ticed with the band, and they taught us how to march and find the yard lines. We created a whole show with the band and were part of their formations. “I’ve always cheered and danced and found so much joy in it. After being a Rebelette, I felt like that was the next step because I wasn’t ready to quit dancing. After college people usu-ally stopped, but I wasn’t ready.”

far froM homeKatie Martin’s love of dance has taken her all the way to New York City. Martin, a senior in exercise science, is kicking it up as a legendary Radio City Rockette, dividing her time between dancing in New York in the fall and taking classes at Ole Miss in the spring.

Since the Rockettes formed in 1932, more than 3,000 women have danced with the group. There are two casts, four shows a day and little time to rest—the quickest costume change

“It takes hard work, dedication

and teamwork to be a Rebelette and a

Rockette.”— k A t i e m A R t i n

winteR 2009 21

is 78 seconds. Martin says the Rockette rehearsals are long, ardu-ous and taxing on the body but worth it in the end. “It’s hard being away from family and friends because they mean so much. It’s hard to put your life on hold while you pur-sue a dream, but nothing is better than dancing on the stage at Radio City Music Hall. It’s the most beautiful dancing stage in America.” In 2004, Martin arrived in New York for two days of stren-uous auditions with thousands of other young women. The line of hopefuls stretched all the way around the block at Radio City Music Hall, but, at the end of it all, Martin, then 19, became one of the youngest Rockettes while she was still on the Rebelettes team. She says the Rebelettes and the Rockettes are similar because neither group has a “star” and everyone works together.

“It takes hard work, dedication and teamwork to be a Rebelette and a Rockette,” says Martin, a Mobile, Ala., native who has been dancing since the age of 3. “It’s fun to be in New York, but I’m ready to come home at the end of it and be back in the South,” Martin says. “I came home for a wedding last weekend. I got to the airport in Mem-phis, and I stepped off the plane, and the sound of a Southern accent and the smell of fried food made me happy. I’m away enough to be able to really enjoy the South when I come back.”

staying in shapeThis was a sentiment echoed by Carmen Keys (BSFCS 03), who kept right on dancing after college on the NBA Memphis Griz-zlies Dance Team.

Katie Martin (far right) became one of the youngest members of the Rockettes when she joined the group in 2004 while still on the Rebelettes team.

22 Alumni Review

Unlike the other women featured in this story, Keys did not begin her dancing career at a very early age. “I did baton when I was little but really didn’t get into it until later,” says the Jackson resident. She was co-captain of her high-school dance team, and decided to come to Ole Miss because she knew the Rebelettes went to nationals each year.

“My first year in 1999 I was a JV Rebelette, and then I made varsity in April. We competed for two years at nationals in Day-tona and placed fifth. We were on CBS against some awesome schools,” Keys says. She says her experience as a Rebelette gave her the tools needed to be a Grizzlies dancer. “If I had tried to be a Grizzly straight from high school, I wouldn’t have made it. I was def-initely a better dancer because of Rebelettes,” says Keys, who danced for the Grizzlies from 2005-07. She now lives in Jackson and works as a sales representative

for the Madison County Journal. One of the things she misses most about her days as a dancer is the instant camaraderie she felt with the other women. “I knew when I moved to Memphis I would have 22 instant girlfriends, and I do miss it. But it’s good to know you can keep dancing after school is over. It’s a good post-college job to have.” For girls interested in pursuing dance as a profession, Keys says to keep training and stay in shape. “Go try out because you never know what can happen. Don’t let a lack of training intim-idate you. If you love dance, go for it.”

reunitedCasey Franco (BBA 04) is a former Rebelette who also coached the team for three years. She knows being a Rebelette is an important foundation for the young women who want to con-tinue dancing. “I’m so excited about Brittany and Katie because I coached them both,” Franco says. “I was there when we transitioned from band to athletics. Now each semester the girls get a scholarship, and there is an actual place on campus to practice. Things have really come a long way.” Franco helped coordinate the Rebelette reunion held at the Ole Miss-University of Louisiana Monroe football game. “We try to get together every year in the spring for a basket-ball game and in the fall at a football game,” she says. One of the girls who came back for that reunion was Maggie Holland Rosamond (BA 01). She continues her dancing career by providing inspiration to the young girls in the Memphis area who are interested in dance. As owner of Studio 413 in Collier-ville, she has been in dance classes herself since she was just 3 years old. At Ole Miss, she was captain of the Rebelettes and led the team to its first national ranking in school history. “My senior year in April 2001, we got the highest ranking at nationals, and it was a really big accomplishment for me,” Rosa-mond says. “We trained outside of practice, raised all the money and had a really good group of girls who were willing to commit. That experience helped me in terms of what I was going to do later in life because it was a huge responsibility and I loved doing it. It helped me more than I knew at the time.” After graduation, she kept dancing as part of the Memphis Grizzlies Dance Team from 2001-02, and encouraged Carmen Keys to try out for the team. At Studio 413, which opened in September of 2004, Rosa-mond balances business and family while instilling a love of dance in young people. The studio recently expanded to 5,000 square feet of space, with nine instructors and 250 students. She travels to Los Angeles yearly to keep up with trends in the dance world, which are constantly changing. “Any sport or activity helps build confidence, especially with young girls. Having a group to belong to helps you feel good about yourself,” Rosamond says. “Not every kid will grow up to be a professional dancer, but I care and encourage and believe in them. If they’re good at it, they will excel even more.” AR

Carmen Keys danced with the Memphis Grizzlies dance team from 2005-07 and attributes her success there to her experience dancing as a Rebelette.

24 Alumni Review

A geological discovery in the Bahamas teaches UM

researchers some surprising lessons on how rock is formed—

and how appearances can be deceiving

by rick hynum

The existence of stramatolites in Exuma Cay is one of the main reasons professional geologists in the petroleum industry visit the Bahamas.

26 Alumni Review

T he average junior-high student knows it typically takes thousands of years for sediment to evolve and solidify into rock. The secrets

of the Earth’s 4.6-billion-year history lie concealed in these vast and far-flung lay-ers, revealing a gradually unfolding saga of mighty forces—wind, water, gravity and the ocean’s tides—perpetually at work, shaping and re-shaping the physical world around us over countless millennia.

But University of Mississippi research-ers, particularly geology graduate student Nathan Snyder (BA, BS 08), are learn-

ing that, for all its mysterious ways, the Earth also can move pretty fast when it wants to.

In a master’s thesis project developed for him by Ole Miss geology professor Dr. Rick Major, Snyder has uncovered an astonishing rarity in the Earth’s geolog-ical history: deposits of freshwater sedi-ment in the Bahamas that cemented into rock over less than the span of an average human lifetime.

The discovery may not rewrite geol-ogy textbooks, Snyder says, but “it will be worth a mention in a lot of textbooks, I think.” And how it was discovered is a story in itself because the seemingly ancient but very modern deposit has been fooling geological experts worldwide for years. For all of Snyder’s arduous chipping and chiseling beneath a hot Caribbean sun, it took a casual conversation between Snyder’s wife and an elderly local restau-rant manager to dig up the real truth.

Snyder can give at least partial credit to the U.S. Navy for his breakthrough research. During World War II, American troops dredged the channel between some of the Bahamian islands to build a naval base on Exuma Island. (The U.S. needed

a safe route for its aircraft carriers bound from the U.S. to Europe.) The spoils were dumped into an inlet on Lee Stocking Island and then practically forgotten—except, luckily for Snyder, by some of the older locals.

The Bahamas chain of islands, rela-tively isolated from any continent, has long been a point of interest—a sort of “school of rocks”— to geologists like Major and Snyder.

“All the areas that produce oil used to look like the Bahamas thousands of years ago,” Snyder says. “It’s a modern ana-

log for oil reservoirs. Oil industry work-ers from all over the world come there because it’s an isolated carbonate plat-form, a type of island chain made of rock containing carbonate grains as opposed to silica. Everything that’s there was pro-duced there, without contamination.”

Larry Baria, president and chief geo-scientist of Jura-Search, Inc., in Flowood, specializes in locating and analyzing potential hidden reservoirs of oil and gas in the Gulf Coast region.

“For several years now, I have been taking numerous geologists to the Baha-mas to study the modern analogs of the reefs, shoals, tidal flats and beaches that they encounter in ancient outcrops and well bores [where oil is found],” Baria says. “It helps immensely to have visited these places and swum or walked over the modern deposits when one is trying to visualize a similar rock body as the reser-voir in the subsurface of some oil well.”

Baria, in fact, proposed the seemingly ancient deposit at Lee Stocking Island as a subject of research to Ole Miss’ Rick Major, who teaches sedimentology, stra-tigraphy and sedimentary diagenesis, and supervises M.S. and Ph.D. students.

Major, in turn, recommended the project to Snyder, a 35-year-old graduate student from Morris Chapel, Tenn. Accompanied by his wife and working with colleague and Ph.D. student Faith Amadi, Snyder began his research about a year and a half ago, describing and sampling pieces of rock from the Exuma deposit.

Snyder says he has always had a pas-sion for rocks. “I love the outdoors, and I enjoy the realization of how old the Earth is and how this particular formation may be millions of years old and took thou-sands of years to create. As humans, we’re really just a speck in time.”

Rocks and minerals are our friends in ways that most people don’t appreci-ate, he adds.

“Construction materials for build-ings and bridges, our drywall and spackle, even the clay on your paper, all come from rocks,” Snyder says. “So many of our resources are derived from geology. Most people drive through a place like the Smokey Mountains and take it all for granted.”

But, for all of nature’s beauty, the life of a geologist isn’t an easy one. Digging for samples of rock can be hard, misera-ble work even in the Edenlike environs of the Bahamas. Mosquitoes are abundant, the heat is fierce, and thunderstorms often dump an inch of wet stuff per hour during the rainy season.

“It’s not like staying at the Atlantis in Nassau when you’re out there in the field,” Snyder says. “You can’t find a better view, but it doesn’t feel like paradise.”

It was one of those sudden Caribbean

Here was [what they believed to be] this obvious classic natural storm deposit, and we just find out that it is a man-made spoil pile. Well, to say the least, Nathan was crushed. What self-respecting geology student could research and publish on a dump?”

—LArry BAriA

“

(top) His wife’s chance encounter with a local at a beachside restaurant helped facilitate Snyder’s discovery. (bottom, left) Coral growing in the stramatolites. (bottom, right) Partial footprint left by Naval workers in 1942.

winteR 2009 27

28 Alumni Review

winteR 2009 29

storms, in fact, that led to Snyder’s discov-ery of the truth behind the Exuma site, which he, like all the other experts, had mistaken for an ancient deposit.

“It had started raining again, and my wife … went to the nearby Conch Shack to get out of the rain and started talk-ing to the lady who ran the restaurant,” he recalls.

His wife’s conversation with the elderly native, Dora, soon took a surpris-ing turn. Accustomed, no doubt, to the curious ways of geologists and their pas-sion for seemingly ordinary rocks, Dora was nevertheless a little mystified by Sny-der’s research.

“Why is your husband digging around in that old spoil pile left over from World War II?” she asked, casually.

Once his wife passed on the true story about the deposit to Snyder, it initially seemed that all his research and hard work had been for naught.

Fortunately, just the opposite was true.

“You can imagine the expressions on the faces of all the experts,” Baria says. “Here was [what they believed to be] this obvious classic natural storm deposit, and we just find out that it is a man-made spoil pile. Well, to say the least, Nathan was crushed. What self-respecting geol-ogy student could research and publish on a dump?”

But it was more than a mere dump. Snyder, with the help of his wife and Dora, had stumbled upon a geologi-cal anomaly that may enhance scientists’

understanding of how rocks form. The deposit may have only dated back to the 1940s, but it had all the appearance and the sedimentological properties of some-thing much, much older.

“The No. 1 question is, why did it happen so fast?” Snyder says. “You can have beach rock that is approximately less than a hundred years old, but this is a

freshwater area. This is such a completely different animal than beach rock.”

To understand the rock’s secrets, Sny-der is now studying the specific minerals growing inside it.

“It turns out that this spoil pile is likely cemented up by some rather unusual car-bonate minerals that normally take hun-dreds and thousands of years to form,” Baria says.

But there seems to be no question that the rock is quite young. In fact, some areas of the deposit actually preserved the foot-prints of the workers walking around on top of it in the early 1940s. Naval records confirm that the deposit originated with the dredging of the channel, and locals remember playing around the spoils in their childhood years, Snyder says.

Hard science backs up the circum-stantial and anecdotal evidence. “In the microscope photographs, you can see the crystalline elements that bind the grains together to form rock,” Major says. “The mineralogy and geometry of these cements indicate they formed after the sediment was removed from the harbor. This demonstrates that modern carbon-ate sediment can be transformed to rock at near-surface conditions in a period of less than a lifetime.”

Snyder believes that the Bahamas’ climate—specifically, the high humid-ity, heavy rain and warm temperatures—played a major role in the speed with which the sediment turned into rock.

“This rock has a calcite cement, and you have to have water. There is a high

amount of fresh water that’s coming into this system. As the rain pours down on the spoils, it cements them from the top down. In only 65 years you have a very solid, very hard rock.”

Snyder hopes to be able to provide a solution to the mystery and is work-ing on an article to be submitted to the Journal of Sedimentology Research. Even if

his research doesn’t reach any definitive answers, he plans to finish his master’s degree in 2010, get a job in the oil indus-try and “go look for oil somewhere.”

Wherever he goes next, Snyder’s research in the Bahamas could have a major impact in his field of study, Baria says. “Nathan’s documentation of this early cement history may turn out to be one of the more exciting contributions to limestone research made in the last sev-eral years.”

But Snyder has no delusions about what led to his breakthrough discovery. “All the credit goes to my wife for talking to that lady at the Conch Shack,” he says, with a laugh. “If not for her, I would have published on the work I’d been doing there and been wrong. All the credit goes to her for not wanting to stand out in the rain—and for being more sociable than most geologists.”

Meanwhile, Baria plans to continue bringing his fellow scientists to the Exuma site and looks forward to testing their expertise.

“We will still take visiting geologists to examine the deposit, and we will con-tinue to ask their opinions as to its ori-gin. Unless they have read Nathan’s the-sis, I bet, to a man, they will still conclude that the ‘dump’ is a natural consequence of some hurricane washing over the island eons ago. But now, when we congregate back at the hotel in the evening, we can tell them the real story and cap it off with the results of Nathan’s research.” AR

(top, left) A pick axe is one of many tools used to examine the spoils pile that led to Nathan Snyder’s discoveries. (top, right) An up-close view of a stramatolite. The small black animal to the right is a sea urchin. (bottom) The beach at Exuma Cay, Bahamas.

The No. 1 question is, why did it happen so fast? ... This is such a different animal than beach rock.”

—NATHAN sNyder

“

30 Alumni Review30 Alumni Review

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Former quarterback uses his leadership skills to rebrand a restaurant chain

winteR 2009 31wintewintew R 2009 31R 2009 31R

the

Former Ole Miss quarterback Mark Young now leads the marketing team for the Ruby Tuesday chain of restaurants.

32 Alumni Review

s quarterback of the Ole Miss Rebel football team in the mid-1980s, Mark Young (BBA 89) chalked up an impressive array of pass-ing records and led his team to a victory over Texas Tech in the 1986 Independence Bowl. More than 20 years later, Young is using those

same leadership skills and competitive spirit to reinvigorate an international restaurant chain. Young went to work for Ruby Tuesday restaurants 14 years ago and worked his way up to exec-utive vice president of marketing. He is now leading an ambi-tious rebranding effort that has revamped the company’s menus, its marketing and its message.

Building for the FutureFounded 35 years ago in Knoxville, Tenn., Ruby Tues-day has grown to include more than 900 restaurants throughout the United States and 16 foreign countries.

They’ve long been a mainstay in the bar and grill segment of the casual dining industry. But in recent years, they’d lost ground to competitors like Chili’s and Applebee’s. So Young was called on to lead the charge.

“We were in fourth place, and that’s not a very good place to be,” Young says in the same tone he might use when speaking of a rival football team with a better record.

Not only was Ruby Tuesday slipping within the segment, Young says the entire casual dining concept had grown stale, with many of the restaurants being too similar to distinguish them-selves. “We all looked and felt the same,” he says. “Everybody had stuff nailed to the walls—roller skates or baseball gloves or

whatever. We had grown into this sea of sameness, and Ruby’s [needed to] break away.”

To be able to ensure the longevity of the brand and take charge of their market segment again, Young led his team to upgrade the company logo, the menu options and everything in between. They redesigned the buildings and the décor of the restaurant and refitted the wait-staff attire. Young even carefully crafted the music diners hear when they eat. The move was bol-stered by an aggressive advertising campaign.

“We felt that to make this brand viable for the future we needed to make some changes to the brand and freshen it up some,” Young says.

“We wanted to improve our food quality and improve the freshness of our brand. We wanted to change our service struc-ture and upgrade our service. This is the first major overhaul that we’ve done. We really needed to make it a more contemporary and comfortable place to be.”

Creating A BuzzThose goals were at the forefront when Ruby’s set out to distinguish themselves, and they did it with a bang. To kick off the campaign, the company sponsored a

humorous viral marketing campaign. Their Web site featured video footage of a marketing exec (actually an actor) holding a press conference to symbolically demolish the old brand image of the company by staging a demolition of an old Ruby Tues-day restaurant—complete with explosions, smoke and crum-bling concrete.

AAAAAAAAAAA

We had grown into thissea of sameness

andRuby’s“

“

break away.[needed to]


andRuby’s“

“

break away.[needed to]—Mark young

Young’s rebranding of Ruby Tuesday included all aspects of the customer experience, right down to the design of the menus.

winteR 2009 33

The event was promoted on the company’s Web site for weeks prior to the event. The punch line came when a neigh-boring restaurant, presumably a competitor, was “accidentally” blown up instead. The video spread through Web sites, blogs and e-mail chain letters with many apparently taking the faux footage for reality. News outlets picked the event up, generating news-casts and newspaper reports. It was just the kind of attention Young hoped such a viral marketing campaign would generate.

“What we tried to do with it was generate some buzz and some talk value around the changes that had happened,” Young says.

“The whole reason we did it virally was so that it would feel like a live event, and so that we could get people to engage into it and get on our Web. It was a way that we felt would get the most buzz.”

Ole Miss Associate Professor of Marketing Charlie Noble says Ruby Tuesday has followed a time-tested model for rebranding.

“Rebranding is all about changing perceptions,” Noble says. “Firms most often rebrand to try to convey a different image, such as going more upscale or to appeal to a different customer market.”

The rebuilding of the Ruby Tuesday brand covered all aspects of the customer experience, with no detail left unaddressed.

Young led the charge in fine-tuning the music heard in each Ruby Tuesday restaurant via a satellite service that can be tweaked daily. Originally, the musical selections focused mainly on jazz, in an effort to convey a more upscale atmosphere. But there was not enough energy and “casualness” to it, says Young. So they altered that to feature well-known classic rock hits.

Every aspect of the menu was studied and analyzed, too, with every fold, every font and every color carefully scrutinized to make sure it was consistent with the image.

Even the photography featured on the menu was fine-tuned. “These are all indicators that can add to what can make the brand feel more casual or make the brand feel a little more upscale,” says Young. For the food photography, Young says he wanted to make “the food the hero,” and less art-directed.

Such minutiae may seem trivial, but Noble says it is all-important. “There is lots of research to show that we tend to mentally process an experience holistically rather than as a sum of parts,” he says.

“So, after leaving a restaurant, you might not be able to answer a question about what it looked, smelled or sounded like, but you will have an overall impression and all of those things will likely have had an influence on that impression.”

With the rebranding effort in place, Young says his company now has a jump on their competitors.

“We are basically done with all the remodels and all the re-imaging we needed to do. We’ve already rolled out fresh prod-ucts. Our competition is working on those things, but we’re already done with it. We just have to deliver on the experience every time and the value equation every time.”

Competitive drive and the ability to call the right play at the right time are qualities that can help winning efforts in football

and in business. And just as his football teams strived to be the best, so, too, the new rebranding campaign of Ruby Tuesday seeks to capture victory in their market segment.

“Our overarching goal,” says Young, “is to be the best in the bar and grill segment, while providing a high-quality din-ing experience that you would get at a much more expensive place.” AR

Mark Young first came to Ole Miss from Florida as a highly recruited football star. But it didn’t take long for him to feel right

at home at Ole Miss. In fact, even though he gradu-ated more than 20 years ago, he still considers Ole Miss to be home. Working at Ruby Tuesday headquarters just out-side of Knoxville, Young might be embedded in Volun-teer territory, but he still finds time to visit Ole Miss. Through his travels as an athlete and a marketing exec, he has seen how unique the Ole Miss experi-ence is time and time again. “Ole Miss is a destination,” Young says. “When you arrive on campus, when you reach the entrance and the Grove is on the right and the circle is in front of you and the Lyceum is back in the trees there, you feel like you’ve arrived. [Other campuses] are just part of the city. Ole Miss is the destination.” Like many Ole Miss alums, he points to the hos-pitable nature of Ole Miss that provides and sense of community and family as the quality that sets Ole Miss apart. “Ole Miss is the people and the environment. My best friends are the guys that I met at Ole Miss. Some of the best people I’ve ever met in the world are from my days at Ole Miss. It’s where I’m glad I went, and, if I had it to do all over again, I’d go back tomorrow.” That sense of family and hospitality has helped to inform Young’s approach to creating a new identity for Ruby Tuesday—an inviting and hospitable, casual atmosphere.

Destination:Destination:Destination:OLE MISSOLE MISSOLE MISSOLE MISSOLE MISS



34 Alumni Review

Sports

Ole Miss offensive tackle Michael Oher had every reason to leave Ole Miss and start his profes-

sional career after the 2007 season. The 6-foot-5 Memphis, Tenn., native had racked up the accolades, being

named a consensus First Team All-SEC selection and Fourth Team All-Ameri-can. He was projected by some to be a top 10 pick in the 2008 NFL draft. After suffering through three-straight losing seasons and just three Southeast-ern Conference wins in as many sea-sons, the decision seemed easy. Soon after Houston Nutt was hired as the new head coach, Oher announced he was declaring

for the draft and would forgo his senior season. However, less than 24 hours later, Oher released a statement that would end up being valuable to both himself and his team: He was staying.

The season worked out better than Oher imagined. Not only did Oher play a critical role in the Rebels’ Cotton Bowl victory and No. 14 national ranking, his NFL stock continues to soar. Among the numerous NFL

Draft Web sites, Oher is com-monly a top-five choice for next year, and some have predicted the tackle to be the No. 1 overall pick. “I’m pleased that I stayed at Ole Miss,” Oher says. “I’ve got-ten a lot better as a player. I’ve had the chance to spend more time with my teammates and friends.

I’ve also been able to be around my fam-ily a lot more. Just getting an opportu-nity to play with a great staff has made it worthwhile.” His progress hasn’t gone unnoticed by his teammates, as fellow senior and team captain Jason Cook has seen Oher make major strides. “He’s changed a lot in being more selfless and more for the team,” Cook

says. “His talk is a lot more positive than it has been in the past, and that does a lot for the team.” The team not only got a talented player for another season but a depend-able one, too. Oher started more than 40 straight games and ranks third in the SEC among active players. “Mike is a vocal guy, but he leads more by his actions and his play on the field,” Cook says. “I think I’ve seen him miss maybe one or two practices in his four years here. He’s never missed a

game. So you have a guy that is depend-able to play week in and week out, and that’s big for the football team.” Oher has grown as a football player both mentally and physically, but he understands there are still areas that he can improve on before he gets to the next level. “I have to work on sticking in my technique, finishing and being more of a leader.” Oher, who is the subject of The New York Times best-seller The Blind Side: The Evolution of a Game, did much more than just write another chapter in his story by returning to Ole Miss for his senior sea-son: He improved it from cover to cover. —Thomas McKee AR

One More Time Aroundall-sec offensive tackle sees benefits for himself, team

in returning for senior season

Michael Oher

I’m pleased that I stayed at Ole Miss. I’ve gotten a lot better as a player. ... Just getting an opportunity to play with a great staff has made it worthwhile.

“”—michael oher

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36 Alumni Review

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SportsAccepting the Challenge

sophomore from holland leads tennis team into new season

Wh e n s o p h o m o re K a re n Nijssen, a native of Hol-land, decided to continue

her education and tennis career in the United States, she could have taken an easier road to success.

Most freshmen come into college tennis and work their way up the lineup as the years go by. Not Nijssen. She jumped right in, playing No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles, which meant she faced the other team’s best players every match.

She accepted the challenge and excelled, earning All-SEC second team honors and a trip to the NCAA Champion-ships in doubles. Nijssen was one of the top freshmen in the conference, mak-ing the All-Freshman team after going 6-5 in league play in singles and 8-3 in doubles. “I didn’t know what to expect because I didn’t know how good the team was going to be or where I would fit in,” Nijssen says. “It was a lot of fun. It was exciting to go to the NCAAs because all the best players in the nation were there. It’s good to see the top play-ers and see how good you have to be to reach that goal.” Now the focus is on a new season.

I don’t feel extra pressure. I just try to do my best. If I play No. 1 or No. 6, I don’t care as long as I can win and help the team.

“”—karen nijssen

winteR 2009 37

“We want to make the NCAAs,” she says. “We ended on a good note last season, and hope-fully we can carry that over to this season. I am working hard every day to improve. I want to make the NCAAs in sin-gles as well as with the team. It was fun to go with just the two of us, but it will be more fun to go with the entire team. That’s my biggest goal.” There is plenty of rea-son for excitement this season with the addition of talented freshmen Kristi Boxx and Gabri-ela Rangel, and transfers Connor Vogel and Pippa Reakes.

“Everyone has a great personality and adds something different to the team, whether it is on or off the courts,” Nijs-sen says. “We have a whole new team this year, and everyone has their own style of game, but we all connect.” With senior Mimi Renaudin and junior Soledad Podlipnik as the only returning upperclassmen on this year’s team, Nijssen knows she will be counted on to provide leadership even as a soph-omore. Whether that’s at No. 1 singles or anywhere else in the lineup, Nijssen says she’ll be ready. “I played No. 1 [singles] two times last year, and it was fine. I don’t feel extra pressure. I just try to do my best. If I play No.1 or No. 6, I don’t care as long as I can win and help the team.” With Nijssen leading the way, the Lady Rebels are looking forward to extending their season into the month of May. —Kim Ling ARKaren Nijssen

38 Alumni Review

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SportsWhere the Rubber Meets the Roadole miss students organize donation of shoes to kenyan athletes

Athletes, students and fans of Ole Miss are hoping to help less for-tunate athletes in Kenya race

for their dreams. The Ole Miss Stu-dent-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) has established the “Rebel Reruns” shoe project, which will annually assist under-privileged Kenyan athletes in preparing for their athletic careers. SAAC members collected shoes prior to the Ole Miss-West Virginia men’s bas-ketball game in December. Fans were asked to bring new and slightly used shoes to donate. Kenya native Barnabas Kirui, a senior on the Rebel track team, serves as co-project manager for the program. Kirui has captured five career SEC titles and won the 2007 NCAA championship in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. “This is a great project and a worth-while cause,” says Kirui, the 2006-07 SEC Runner of the Year. “I understand the importance of proper equipment and how it can assist with your athletics train-ing. This project will make a difference in the lives of young Kenyan athletes.”

Other project managers include Lindsay Doucett (women’s track), Rachel Kieckhaefer (volleyball), Emily Kvitle (volleyball) and Juliana Smith (women’s track). Senior Associate Ath-

letics Director Derek Horne serves as the adviser. Ole Miss SAAC has partnered with FedEx to assist with shipping the shoes to Nairobi, Kenya. AR

Barnabas Kirui (left), co-manager of the “Rebel Reruns” project

winteR 2009 39

Let’s Hear it for the Boysbaseball team ranked sixth in preseason

by baseball america

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and Viking KitchensBaseball America ranked the Ole Miss baseball team sixth nation-ally in its preseason rankings

announced in January. The ranking represents the third straight poll to feature the Rebels in the preseason top 25 this year. (Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Base-

ball Writer’s Association also named the Rebels to their preseason rankings earlier this year.) 2009 marks the sixth straight season that Ole Miss has been ranked in the preseason.

Ole Miss is coming off a sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance in 2008, when the Rebels traveled to the NCAA Coral Gables Regional and defeated 12th-ranked Missouri to earn a berth in the Regional Championship game, then lost to No. 1 Miami to end the season. It was the fourth straight season the Reb-

els advanced to compete for at least a Regional Championship, making the Rebels one of only six schools to achieve that feat over the past four seasons. The Rebels posted a 39-26 record in 2008 and advanced to the championship game of the SEC Tournament for the second time in three seasons. Returning for the Reb-els this season is a bevy of players , including three who were drafted in the 2008 MLB Draft but opted to return to Ole Miss for their senior season. Among those r e tu rn ing a r e r i gh t -handed pitcher Scott Bit-tle, catcher Brett Basham and outfielder Logan Power. Bittle is a pre-season All-America selec-tion and candidate for the Brooks Wallace Award, while Basham was the top defensive catcher in the SEC last season

and Power is the top returning hitter on the team. The Rebels open the home portion of their schedule on Tuesday, Feb. 24, against Central Arkansas. AR

Coach Mike Bianco

40 Alumni Review

Culturearts &

Larry Brown and the Blue-Collar Southedited by Jean W. Cash and Keith Perry, foreword by Rick Bass, 240 pages, $50 (Hardcover), ISBN: 1934110752

Larry Brown is widely regarded as one of the foremost authors of modern Southern literature. This novel is a col-lection of essays that consider the writer’s entire oeuvre, placing it in the contexts of Southern literature, Mississippi writ-ing and literary work about the working class. Author Rick Bass contributes an introduction that pays homage to his

contemporar y and friend. Bass writes, “I have always found a great affinity with Larry’s keen regard for a certain rightness of things, his respect for the fitted elegance and sophistication and just plain mystery of a wilder, farther nature so much older than our own.”

Jean W. Cash (PhD 83) is professor of English at James Madison University and author of Flannery O’Connor: A Life. Fresh Frozen by Darden North, MD, 312 pages, $26.95 (Hardcover), ISBN 0977112632

In this third medical thriller by award-winning author and practicing physician Darden North (BA 78, MD 82), human reproductive tissue becomes a fatal commodity. In Fresh Frozen, a young policeman and his tormented wife fail miserably to produce a family, finding themselves outcasts in the renewed baby boom sweeping the United States. However, there is one last hope for them: a catalog of human embryo and egg donors peddled by a woman whose standards are easily dismissed for the right price.

Pursuing their futile attempts to become parents has nearly cost the wife her life and pushed the couple to the brink of bankruptcy. This purported last chance for Wesley and Carrie Sar-beck to satisfy their place as parents in Middle America unknowingly tosses them in the midst of a grisly murder plot, the world of Hollywood celebrities and a heist of freshly frozen human embryos.

North is a board-certified obstetri-cian/gynecologist who lives in Jackson, where he practices medicine at Jackson Healthcare for Women, PA. He and his wife, Sarah “Sally” Buckner Fortenberry (BA 79), have two children.

Lantana by Caroline Herring, CD, Sig-nature Sounds Records, $17.98.

Caroline Herring (BA 92, MA 98) confidently returns to the forefront of the American roots music scene with her new album “Lantana,” released on Sig-nature Sounds Records. The Mississippi-born, Atlanta-based singer/songwriter took the producing helm for the first time on the new record, co-producing with longtime collaborator Rich Broth-erton (Robert Earl Keen).

After making a name for herself in Mississippi as band member and co-founder of the now renowned “Thacker Mountain Radio” music series, Herring moved to Austin, Texas.

She won Best New Artist at both the 2002 South by Southwest Austin Music Awards and also from the Austin American-Statesman.

Though Herring had established herself as an authen-tic, original voice, she paused to focus on marriage and mother-hood as she continued to tour and play fes-tivals nationally and internationally.

Mourning Sarah: A Case for Testing Group B Strep by Theresa Huttlinger Vigour, 148 pages, $29.95 ( Pa p e r b a c k ) , I S B N : 1846192641

“A tragic story, clearly told,” writes Jane Plumb, cha i rman of Group B Strep Support, UK. “Hut-

tlinger Vigour shares the confusion, pain and devastation she and her fam-ily experienced around the time of her daughter, Sarah’s, birth and early death from potentially preventable group B strep infection. Many who have suffered similar losses will draw comfort from this book, knowing that they aren’t alone. Thankfully, as she outlines, measures are now in place in the U.S. that ensure most group B strep infections in babies are prevented there. In the UK, we’re yet to achieve this, though we con-tinue to campaign for such measures to be introduced. Perhaps were the decision makers to read this book, it would happen sooner.” Theresa Hut-t l i n g e r V i g o u r (87) is a freelance writer, adjunct instructor of English and a creative writing teacher. She has a bach-elor’s degree in journalism, a master’s degree in English, and a Master of Fine Arts in creative nonfiction writing.

Information presented in this section is compiled from material provided by the publisher and/or author and does not nec-essarily represent the view of the Alumni Review or the Ole Miss Alumni Associa-tion. To present a recently published book or CD for consideration, please mail a copy with any descriptions and publishing infor-mation to Ole Miss Alumni Review, Ole Miss Alumni Association, P.O. Box 1848, University, MS 38677-1848. AR

Culturearts &

Travel2009

planner

42 Alumni Review

a lumni and friends of the uni-versity enjoy traveling together. For 2009, the Alumni Asso-

ciation is offering some spectacular trips. Alumni and friends obtain group rates and discounts.

All prices are per person, based on double occupancy. Airfare is not includ-ed. For a brochure or more information, contact the Alumni office at 662-915-7375. You also can find these trips listed on the Ole Miss Alumni Association’s Web site at <www.olemissalumni.com>.

Voyage of DiscoVery: galapagos islanDsfeb. 27-March 7, 2009Join in the journey of a lifetime to the Galápagos Islands aboard the M.V. Santa Cruz and discover a region unmatched in its beauty and its role in the history of natural science. Here, you can walk among 400-pound tortoises, nearly touch spiny-backed iguanas, and snor-kel in crystal clear waters alongside sea lions, dolphins and tropical penguins. This unique itinerary also includes time in mainland Ecuador. Also offered is a six-night Post-Program Option to Peru’s

legendary “lost city” of Machu Picchu and the historic cities of Lima and Cuzco. —$3,195

cruising the canary islanDsapril 7-15, 2009Journey along sea routes once plied by Phoenician triremes and Roman gal-leys to the sun-washed Canary Islands. Discover the exotic allure of cosmo-politan Casablanca, stroll through the lanes of imperia l Rabat and explore the storied British Crown Colony of Gibraltar, “Gateway to the Mediterra-nean.” Throughout your voyage, travel

Gibraltar Rock

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aboard the exclusively chartered M.S. Le Diamant, a deluxe vessel that provides a memorable small ship experience. You may enhance your travel experience with an exclusive Madrid Pre-Program Option and a post-program option featuring the Moorish monuments of Granada and Seville.—$2,795

riVer life along the WaterWays of hollanD anD belgiuM-MV heiDelbergapril 10-18, 2009Celebrate the spirit and beauty of spring-time on this spectacular journey along the waterways of Holland and Belgium aboard the deluxe M.V. Heidelberg. Cruise past centuries-old windmills and charming canal-lined villages as Hol-land’s tulips burst into full spring bloom. Discover picturesque Old Dutch towns like Volendam, Middelburg and Delft; explore the well-preserved medieval Flemish cities of Bruges and Antwerp; and visit Holland’s most famous wind-mills at Kinderdijk. Throughout the program, enjoy specially arranged educa-tional presentations and cultural activi-ties. Travelers are also invited to join a special two-day Amsterdam pre-program option.—$2,495

tuscany/cortonaMay 6-14, 2009Tuscany is celebrated for breathtaking natural beauty, magnificent Renaissance art and architecture, superb cuisine and some of Italy’s most charming people. Its historic hilltop towns are living postcards where ancient ramparts encircle color-ful piazzas, elegant Etruscan fountains, stately pa lazzos and bust ling cafés. Explore the myriad fascinations and f lavors of this spectacular region from medieval Cortona. Travel past Etruscan tombs and through the gorgeous hill country while indulging your senses in the beauty and simplicity of the land, dense with olive groves and vineyards, cypress and pine.—$2,495

cruising the baltic sea anD norWegian fjorDsMay 26-june 7, 2009In the tradition of ancient Viking mari-ners, sail across the Baltic Sea under sunlit northern skies to experience the magnif-icent beauty of Norway’s fjords, the cul-

tural rebirth of the Baltic States and the imperial riches of St. Petersburg on this special voyage. From the medieval trea-sures of Riga, Tallinn and Gdansk, to the unrivaled artistic heritage of St. Peters-burg, Russia, delve into the region’s fasci-nating historical legacy. This customized itinerary encompasses numerous cultural enhancements, including a special early opening tour of the world-acclaimed Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and features accommodations aboard the deluxe M.S. Le Diamant, one of the world’s most celebrated small cruise ships. A pre-program option in the Hanseatic city of Bergen, Norway, and a two-night Stockholm post-program option also are offered.—$6,295

Village life in the italian lake Districtjune 6-14, 2009Savor “la dolce vita”—the sweet life—in Italy’s legendary Lake District for one week while discovering the renowned art, magnificent architecture and storied history of a region whose beautiful and romantic alpine setting has inspired some of Western civilization’s greatest creative minds from Virgil to Heming-way. While spending seven nights in the lakeside village of Cernobbio in the charming Hotel Regina Olga, explore the rich historical and cultural heritage of Lombardy and the Lake District through educational lectures, meetings with local citizens and specially arranged guided tours. You will also learn the secrets to preparing authentic Italian cuisine dur-

Dutch Amsterdam

44 Alumni Review

ing a hands-on culinary class and meal at the Centro Studi Alberghiero Casnati cooking school.—$2,795

ukraine anD roManiajune 23-july 6, 2009On this journey, you’ll gain a full under-standing of the historical and political events that led to Ukraine’s independence while immersing yourself in the lifestyle and landscapes unique to the region. The voyage will take you from Kiev—where you’ll walk alongside locals, see the lush landscapes that inspired Alexander Push-kin, taste local cuisine, hear renowned musicians, visit two UNESCO World Heritage List sites and be entertained by native Cossacks—to Bucharest. It’s a trip overflowing with education, exploration and enjoyment.

Accommodations include 10 nights aboard the M.S. Dnieper Princess and a two-night stay at the Athenee Palace Hilton in Bucharest, Romania. Enter-tainment includes performances by the Ukrainian National Choir, Black Sea

Naval Fleet Ensemble and a folklore group.—$2,295

great journey through europejune 26-july 6, 2009Immerse yourself in the cultural and sce-nic treasures of Europe’s heartland on this unique cruise and rail itinerary trac-ing the Rhine River from the North Sea to the Swiss Alps. Board the deluxe M.S. Amadeus Princess in Amsterdam and travel upstream for five nights through Holland, Germany and France.

Disembark in Basel, Switzerland, and travel overland by road and rail to the pristine alpine resort of Zermatt, nes-tled beneath the craggy peak of the Mat-terhorn, and the beautiful lakeside town of Lucerne. During your stay in Switzer-land, experience the soaring majesty of the Alps on three of Europe’s most spectacu-lar rail journeys—the Gornergrat Bahn, the Glacier Express and the Mt. Pilatus Railway—and enjoy two nights in Zer-matt in a chalet-style hotel and two nights in Lucerne in a deluxe hotel. A special

Amsterdam pre-program option is also available.—$3,195

irelanD/ennisaug. 21-29, 2009Set on Europe’s outskirts against the waves of the Atlantic Ocean is a rare land—the legendary Emerald Isle. Begin your explo-ration in Ennis, County Clare, and travel to the ancient Burren and windswept Cliffs of Moher. Visit Bunratty Castle, the most complete and authentic medieval castle in Ireland, then continue to Bun-ratty Folk Park, whose recreated 19th-century village provides insight into the life of bygone days. Cruise to the Aran Island of Inishmore and marvel at the cliff-side fortress of Dún Aengus. Appre-ciate the country’s epic literary heritage at Coole Park in County Galway, with its beech tree bearing W.B. Yeats’ initials and the 16th-century tower of Thoor Ballylee, where he resided. Don’t miss this oppor-tunity to explore Ireland, a captivating island of legend and history, lively villages and peaceful countryside.—$2,395

celtic lanDsaug. 22-sept. 2, 2009Embrace four millennia of Celtic history on this remarkable 12-day voyage aboard the deluxe, exclusively chartered M.S. Le Diamant. Cruise around the misty, legend-haunted islands of Scotland and along the verdant coasts of southern England and northern France. Experi-ence the stark beauty of Scotland’s Heb-rides; admire the elegant architecture of Edinburgh; observe the enduring Celtic heritage of Northern Ireland and Wales; and revel in the historical charms of the Cornish port of Penzance. In Normandy, France, admire the soaring grace of Mont-St-Michel and stroll along the historic beaches where Allied forces landed on D-Day. We also invite you to enhance your travel experience with an exclusive pre-program option in Dublin and/or a post-program option in Paris, the roman-tic “City of Light.” —$5,195

ancient WonDers of the Western MeDiterraneansept. 11-21, 2009Join in an expedition to the heart of the Mediterranean, and experience the grand colosseums, spectacular temples and ruined cities of the classical world

Mont-St-Michel

winteR 2009 45

Nancy Kimball Mellon, Vice President – Wealth Management 100 North Tampa Street, Suite 3000 Tampa, FL 33602 (813) 227-2030 www.fa.smithbarney.com/nancymellon [email protected]

04

INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: NOT FDIC INSURED. NO BANK GUARANTEE. MAY LOSE VALUE© 2008 Citigroup Global Markets Inc. Member SIPC. Securities are offered through Citigroup Global Markets Inc. Smith Barney is a division and service mark of Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and its affiliates and is used and registered throughout the world. Citi and Citi with Arc Design are trademarks and service marks of Citigroup Inc. and its affiliates, and are used and registered throughout the world. Working WealthSM is a service mark of Citigroup Global Markets Inc. Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Citibank are affiliated companies under the common control of Citigroup Inc.

Nancy Kimball Mellon, Vice President – Wealth Management 100 North Tampa Street, Suite 3000 Tampa, FL 33602 (813) 227-2030 www.fa.smithbarney.com/nancymellon [email protected]

04

INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: NOT FDIC INSURED. NO BANK GUARANTEE. MAY LOSE VALUE© 2008 Citigroup Global Markets Inc. Member SIPC. Securities are offered through Citigroup Global Markets Inc. Smith Barney is a division and service mark of Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and its affiliates and is used and registered throughout the world. Citi and Citi with Arc Design are trademarks and service marks of Citigroup Inc. and its affiliates, and are used and registered throughout the world. Working WealthSM is a service mark of Citigroup Global Markets Inc. Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Citibank are affiliated companies under the common control of Citigroup Inc.

on this 11-day voyage aboard the exclu-sively chartered deluxe M.S. Le Diamant. Cruise along the stunning coasts of the French and Italian Riviera, and marvel at Michelangelo’s David in Florence, “Cra-dle of the Renaissance.” Sail in the wake of Roman galleys, medieval mariners and the sleek triremes of Phoenician sea trad-ers to the ancient port of Sicily. You will also tour the fabled Oracle of Delphi, one of the most sacred sites in ancient Greece, and walk the hallowed grounds of Gallipoli.—$3,995

Village life in englanD’s cotsWolDssept. 20-28, 2009Time has passed with an unusually gentle hand over the rolling hills and small vil-lages of England’s Cotswolds, a delightful region of lush pastoral landscapes, medi-eval castles and deep-rooted cultural tradi-tions. On this exclusive sojourn, immerse yourself in the heart of the English coun-tryside and discover this region’s enchant-ing natural beauty and priceless historic treasures. Throughout your stay, enjoy charming accommodations at the Queen’s Hotel; a splendid 150-year-old exam-ple of Regency-style architecture situated

amidst immaculately groomed gardens of Cheltenham. Also, to further enhance your enjoyment and understanding of the Cotswolds region, this carefully planned itinerary features a full program of lec-tures and presentations about regional art, history and culture.—$2,795

islanD life in ancient greecesept. 27-oct. 5, 2009Discover a region acclaimed for its fasci-nating history, stunning natural beauty and deep-rooted cultures on this distinc-tive weeklong voyage across the Aegean Sea through the Greek Isles and to Tur-key’s historic coast. Explore Greece’s most fabled islands, including Santorini, renowned for its pristine beaches. Stroll through the ruins of Ephesus, and sail in the wake of Achilles, Odysseus and Agamemnon to legendary Troy aboard the exclusively chartered M.S. Le Diamant, one of the finest ships to cruise the east-ern Mediterranean. Enhance your under-standing of the region’s history and cul-tures through educational lectures and a comprehensive series of excursions. You are also invited to join a two-night pre-program option in the ancient Greek cap-

ital of Athens and/or a two-night post-program option in Istanbul, crossroads of East and West.—$2,995

seine riVeroct. 2-10, 2009Explore the tranquil beauty, fascinat-ing history and rich artistic heritage of the French province of Normandy while cruising on the Seine River aboard the intimate, five-star M.V. Cezanne from the historic port of Rouen to the splen-did French capital of Paris. Enjoy excur-sions to the provincial capital of Rouen, renowned for its exquisite cathedral; Claude Monet’s house and studios in Giverny; and Auvers-sur-Oise, where Vincent van Gogh spent his final days. Also visit the Normandy Beaches where Allied Forces landed on D-Day in June 1944, and savor regional specialties like Camembert and Calvados. Conclude in Paris, one of the world’s most roman-tic cities, and stroll through the streets of the legendary bohemian neighborhood of Montmartre, where artists and musicians like Pablo Picasso and Django Reinhardt once lived and worked. —$2,695 A R

46 Alumni Review

Newsalumni

Leading the Waynew alumni association board members dedicate their time to helping ole miss

Jimmy Brown (BBA 70) over-s e e s b a n k i n g operations in the North Miss i s -sippi region for Regions Finan-c i a l Corpora -t i o n . H e h a s served 33 years

with Regions, a top bank-holding com-pany headquartered in Birmingham with $144 billion in assets, operating more than 2,000 branches in 16 states. Brown joined Regions in 1975, serv-ing as a community bank president and commercial lender. He then became regional executive for North Mississippi before assuming his current duties in 1995. Brown serves on the Rust College Board of Trustees and has previously served on the Ole Miss Alumni Asso-ciation board of directors and the Mis-sissippi Bankers Association executive committee.

Kimsey o’neal Cooper (BSPh 94) of Carthage is district pharmacy supervi-sor for Walgreens in Flowood. She is vice president of the Mississippi Pharmacists

Association and legislative chair for the Magno-lia Professional Society. O ’ N e a l Cooper also is a m e m b e r o f the East Cen-tral Community

College Board of Trustees, the Leake County Chapter of the Boys and Girls Club board of directors and the Ole Miss School of Pharmacy board. She was inducted into the M-Club Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003 and named an SEC

Great in 2005. While at Ole Miss, she was an All-SEC basketball player and a member of Alpha Kappa Sorority. She was named Miss Ole Miss in 1990.

mayo Flynt (BBA 87) is president of AT&T Mississippi. He serves on the boards of directors for Momentum Mis-sissippi, the Mississippi Technology Alliance, the Mississippi Partnership

for Economic Development, t h e G r e a t e r Jackson Cham-ber Partnership, United Way of the Capital Area and the Missis-sippi Museum of Art. Flynt is also

a member of the Jackson Downtown Rotary Club and the board of direc-tors and the board of governors of the Mississippi Economic Council. While at Ole Miss, he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. Mayo and his wife, Renee, reside in Jackson with their daughters, Sarah and Olivia.

mary elizaBeth Ford (BAEd 60) has been a full-time volunteer with the city of Pascagoula’s Community Develop-ment Office since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. At that time, she retired as vice president for tanker oper-a t i o n s f r o m GAC, a world-wide shipping company. She serves as a board mem-ber of the Gulf C o a s t S y m -phony and the Mississippi Her-itage Trust, and is the commissioner for

the Mississippi Gulf Coast Heritage Area. Ford’s community activities include service as chairman of the Pascagoula Historic Preservations Commission, Pas-cagoula Main Street board, Pascagoula Strategic Plan steering committee, Jack-son County Historical Society board, Pascagoula Port Advisory Group, Propel-ler Club and Pilgrimage Garden Club.

mary donnelly hasKell (BM 81) met h e r hu sband , Sam Haskell, at Ole Miss, where she majored in music and was ac t ive in the-ater. The couple moved to Los Angeles, where he became the Worldwide Head of Television for the William Morris Agency and Mary devel-oped a successful film and television career. She has appeared in more than 20 television movies and has had recur-ring and guest starring roles on shows such as “Sisters,” “Touched By an Angel” and “7th Heaven.” She also co-founded My Songs, a children’s music company, and has recently recorded two Christian albums: “Inspired: Standards—Good for the Soul” and “Power of the Cross.”

GeorGe hilliard (BBA 77) is the pres-ident of and a partner in the Mem-phis independent insurance agency Pete Mi t c h e l l a n d Associates, Inc. Hilliard is also past president of the Profes-sional Insurance A g e n t s ( PI A ) Association of Tennessee. The

winteR 2009 47

Last Name: ________________________First:_______________________Middle Name: __________________Maiden Name: ___________________Address: ______________________________________________________City, State, Zip, Country: ________________________________________E-mail: ________________________Phone:_________________________Window Decal Preference: Inside _____ Outside _____

Only you can help your Ole Miss Alumni Association reach this important milestone!

Make your Alumni Association the strongest in the SEC and the

nation by renewing your alumni membership each year and

encouraging classmates, friends, neighbors, fans and Ole Miss

supporters to also join and remain active.

Even fans who didn’t graduate from Ole Miss can join as Associate Members with full benefits.

GOAL: 24,000 ACTIVE MEMBERS

Single Membership

__$40 Annual

__$800 Life

__$850 Life Plan

($170 x 5 years)

Joint Memberships

__$50 Annual

__$995 Life

__$1,050 Life Plan

($210 x 5 years)

Go online to renew your membership and update your contact information at <www.ole-missalumni.com> or fill out this form and mail to Membership, Alumni Association, P.O.Box 1848, University, MS 38677. Phone 662-915-7375 CODE: REV

GOAL: 24,000 ACTIVE MEMBERS

association recognized him as their 2008 Agent of the Year, the association’s high-est recognition of a member, acknowl-edging both professional and personal accomplishments. While at Ole Miss, he was a mem-ber of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. Hilliard and his wife, Malinda, have three children. They attend South Ger-mantown Road Church of Christ in Memphis.

Jetson G. hollinGsworth (BA 98) is an attorney with Butler, Snow, O’Mara,

Stevens & Can-n a d a , P L L C , w h e r e h e h a s practiced since 2001. While at Ole Miss, he was a member of the Sigma Chi Fra-te rn i ty. He i s

currently a member of several profes-sional organizations and committees, including the Hinds County Bar and the National Association of Bond Lawyers. Hollingsworth serves on the boards of directors of Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Mustard Seed, Inc., and the Central Mis-sissippi Ole Miss Alumni board. He and his wife, Mamie (BA 98), have three children and live in Jackson. They are active members of First Presby-terian Church.

dr. Gene nor-r i s h o w e l l (BS 75) is a den-tist in the Ripley Fa m i l y D e n -tal Clinic. He is past president of the Mississippi Dis-trict One Dental Association and former member of the Board of Trustees for the

Mississippi Dental Association, a posi-tion he held for eight years. He currently serves on the Ole Miss College of Liberal Arts alumni board. Howell is also past president of the Rotary Club, president of the Tippah Country Hospital board and local chair of the American Cancer Society, where he received two Lifesaver awards. Howell is married to Lynne Thomas Howell (BA 74, MBA 76).

larry leo Johnson (BBA 63, MS 64) is a retired public affairs vice president o f Be l lSouth . A Vietnam vet-e r a n , h e h a s served as chair of the advisory board for the School of Busi-ness Adminis-tration and has

48 Alumni Review

Newsalumni

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been a guest lecturer under the Otho Smith Fellows program. He served on UM’s Commitment to Excellence Cam-paign committee and on The Inn at Ole Miss campaign steering committee. He and his wife, the former Rita Parks, are members of the First Baptist Church of Jackson. Johnson was president of the student M-Club and vice president of Sigma Chi. He has two sons, Rick (BBA 90) and Scott (BE 93).

e d i t h K e l ly -G r e e n ( B B A 73) is founder of Kelly Green E n t e r p r i s e s , L L C , w h i c h invests in real estate and food a n d b e v e r a g e

franchises. In 2003, she retired from FedEx Express, where she was vice presi-

dent and chief sourcing officer. She is on the boards of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc., the Uni-versity of Tennessee Medical Group and Paragon National Bank. She was the founding chair of the Ole Miss Wom-en’s Council for Philanthropy and was inducted into the Ole Miss Alumni Hall of Fame. A native of Oxford, Kelly-Green holds an MBA from Vanderbilt Univer-sity and is a Certified Public Accoun-tant. She is married and has three chil-dren and one grandson.

randy lonG (BBA 80, JD 83) is the president of Long Distribution-Corinth, a supplier of grocery, snacks and related products to convenience stores in Missis-sippi, Tennessee and Alabama. He serves on the boards of directors for Commerce National Bank in Corinth, the Boy Scouts of America-Yocona Area Council,

the Mississippi Wholesale Dis-tributors Asso-ciation and the Pierce Founda-tion. Also active in Rotary, he is a Paul Harris Fel-low. While at Ole Miss, he was

a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity. He is married to the former Penny Palmer (BAEd 82, MEd 83). They have three children and one grandson.

alwyn h. luCKey (BA 82, JD 85) of Ocean Springs is the senior partner in the law firm Luckey & Mullins, PLLC, and CEO of the Marsh Island Compa-nies, a privately held real estate invest-ment company. Luckey serves on the executive board of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Carnival Association and the lead-

winteR 2009 49

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ership board of the Boys & Girls Club of the Gulf Coast. He serves as an elder of the First Presbyte-rian Church of Ocean Springs. Whi l e a t Ole Miss, he was a

member of the Kappa Alpha Order and served in the Student Body Senate. He is married to the former Jeanne Carter (BAEd 83), and they have two children, Laurel and Taylor.

susan mCClure mays (BAccy 81) is a program management adviser for FedEx Global Travel in Memphis. Mays began her career at FedEx in 1986 after work-ing in public accounting for three years and earning her CPA certification. Mays, a native of Sardis, is a third-

generation graduate of Ole Miss and a third-generation member of the Alumni Association board of directors. While at Ole Miss, she was a member of Kappa

Kappa Gamma So ro r i t y a n d numerous aca-demic honor-ar y soc ie t i e s . She received her master’s degree from Vander-b i l t Un i v e r -sity. She is mar-

ried to William T. “Tad” Mays Jr. (BBA 81), and they have two sons, Will and Taylor.

ViCtor h. “hu” meena (BSHPE 80) serves as president of Cellular South, Inc., which provides wireless service to all of Mississippi and parts of four Southeastern states.

Prior to join-i n g C e l l u l a r South, Meena s e r v ed a s t h e general manager o f Sou th l and Systems of Mis-sissippi, Inc., a long-di s tance telecommunica-tions service provider. Meena serves as chairman of the board of the Associated Carrier Group, a wireless device purchas-ing cooperative made up of more than 20 wireless carriers. Meena is married to Ashley Creek-more Meena, and they have three sons: Victor Matthew, Wade Albert and Lee Creekmore. The Meena family is active in First Presbyterian Church of Jackson.

dennis w. miller (BBA 78) is chief executive officer, director and share-

50 Alumni Review

Newsalumni

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holder in the Jackson-based law firm of Watkins Lud-lam Winter and Stennis, PA. He s e r ve s on the b o a r d o f t h e St a t e Cap i t a l Group, a world-w ide a s soc i a -tion of indepen-dent bus ines s

law firms, and as an officer and direc-tor of the Mississippi Tennis Association and the Tri-County Community Tennis Association. A native of Gulfport, Miller is married to the former Cheryl Stew-art (BBA 80). They have two children, Montgomery and Madeleine, and live in Madison.

marKeeVa morGan (BSEE 01) man-ages the Con-t i n u o u s R i s k M a n a g e m e n t and Indepen-d e n t Te c h n i -cal Assessments Team at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

While at Ole Miss, Morgan was a

member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, the university Judicial Council and Ole Miss Ambassadors. He also was inducted into the Ole Miss Student Hall of Fame. Morgan received the 2007 Outstand-ing Young Alumni award. He and his wife, Shaquinta, also an Ole Miss engi-neering alum, reside in Madison, Ala., and are members of First Missionary Baptist Church of Huntsville. They have one daughter, Mallory, and are expecting their second child in March 2009.

roBert s. shaw Jr. (BAccy 81, MAccy 8 2 ) , a c o -founder of Par-agon National Bank in Mem-phis, serves as i t s p re s i d en t and CEO. He currently serves on the boards of directors for the Memphis chapter of the March of Dimes and the Woodland Presbyterian School. He is an elder of Woodland Presbyte-rian Church. Shaw, a certified public accountant, previously served on the faculty of the

Mid-South School of Banking and is a graduate of the American Bankers Asso-ciation National Commercial Lending School. He and his wife, Vickie Wills (BSHPE 82), have three daughters, Mar-tha, Sarah and Rachel.

dr. ralph B. VanCe (BA 68, MD 72) is professor of m e d i c i n e i n the division of medical oncol-ogy at the UM School of Med-icine, where he served as chief of staff of the University Med-ical Center and president of the Clinical Associates of the university. He is a long-time American Cancer Society volunteer, having served as Mis-sissippi Division president and the first president of the merged six-state Mid-South Division. At Ole Miss, Vance was vice presi-dent of the Associated Student Body and inducted into the Student Hall of Fame. Vance is married to the former Mary Douglas Allen and has a son, Brooks, and a daughter, Barrett. AR

Winter 2009 51

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Alumni and friends of the last 15 graduating classes (1993-2008) of Ole Miss are invited to the

2009 Young Alumni Weekend set for March 20-21, 2009.

The weekend provides an excel-lent occasion to return to Ole Miss and Oxford, as the Rebel baseball team will be hosting a three-game series with the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Other weekend festivities include an off-campus party on Friday night and a Saturday night bash in the ballroom at the new Inn at Ole Miss featuring live music by ’80s tribute band The Break-fast Club. Registration includes tickets to the

ballroom bash and the off-cam-pus party. A package deal will be available that also includes a two-night stay in the newly remodeled Inn at Ole Miss (more information about the weekend is available at <www.olemissalumni.com>). Many great changes have taken place on the Ole Miss campus in the past 15 years, and optional campus tours will be available on Saturday.

Ca l l 662-915-7375 to reserve your space today, and save the dates March 20-21. AR

Save the Datesyoung alumni weekend set for march 20-21

52 Alumni revieW

Newsalumni

While some incoming Ole Miss students have been anxiously wait ing their

entire lives to step onto campus, many others face tougher choices about where they will go to college. Throughout their junior and senior years of high school, they gather infor-mat ion. They cons ider academic options, location, housing, financing and other factors. For those students, the work of the Ole Miss recruiting team is especially important. The process begins in fall, says Max Miller, associate director of enrollment services. Recruiters begin their year by ensuring that high-school counselors throughout the state have the latest liter-ature—brochures, scholarship informa-tion and applications. That leads to college fairs, when the recruiting team travels from town to town to tout the benefits of Ole Miss. At these fairs, recruiters can be competing for attention with as many as two dozen other colleges and universities.

Each of the eight high-school recruit-ers is responsible for a geographic region, and covering the entire area can mean lots of travel. “It is quite a logistics operation,” Miller says. “They are gone for weeks at a time. It’s really a high-intensity semester.” Alexis Williams (BA 00) is responsi-ble for the Gulf Coast region of Missis-sippi, Alabama and Louisiana. She says that geography can sometimes be a chal-lenge—for some students the distance seems too great. But the real key, she says, is getting students on campus. “Once we get them here, we can sell them on it,” she says. “Once they come to campus, they fall in love with it.” One such instance occurred this year when Williams recruited Ocean Springs High School student Dan McAndrews. McAndrews had no ties to Ole Miss but, on his father’s urging, came to cam-pus for a visit. Unfamiliar with Ole Miss, he was under the mistaken impression that little regard was given to coastal

residents. But a chance encounter with Chancellor Robert Khayat—a Moss Point native—changed his mind. He now plans to enroll in the fall. Miller agrees that bringing students to campus is one of the recruiting team’s strongest tools because it reveals the unique and intangible quality that is the personality of Ole Miss. “There are so many reasons kids come here,” says Miller. “But when you talk to a parent or a student who steps on campus, there is something about our personality that is very attractive to them. That personality is made up of a lot of different things—the way they are treated when they arrive, the look of the campus, the variety of our academic programs. All of that is what makes the difference.” While recruiting in Mississippi is a top priority, the admissions counselors also travel to other parts of the country to find new students. Lately, Ole Miss has been attracting a lot of out-of-state students from Texas and Virginia.

Life is a Highwayfor regional admissions counselors, attracting the best students

to ole miss means hitting the road

Winter 2009 53

Associate Director Jody Lowe (BA 96) has spent a lot of time on the East Coast, while Rebecca Bertrand (BA 06, MA 08) covers Texas. “We try to focus where we think our opportunity is the greatest. It’s effi-ciency,” says Miller. “When we see these pockets of interest we try to provide a jump-start to the areas by visiting and making a relationship with the high schools.” Though recruiters play a crucial role, recruitment is a campuswide job, Miller

says. “It is important for our students to talk to our faculty, to our senior admin-istrators, to understand the facilities. So it’s not just our recruiters out there, it’s the whole campus that helps in that.” To assist the counselors with infor-mation on prospective students, con-tact the Office of Enrollment Services at 800-OLE MISS (toll-free in Mississippi) or 662-915-7226 or visit their Web site at <www.olemiss.edu/admissions/>. AR

Regional Admissions Counselors

Karinlee Bristersouthwest mississippi, baton rouge, la., and georgia

Rachael Shooknorthwest mississippi, west tenn-essee and boot heel of missouri

Alexis Williamssouth mississippi, florida, new orleans and mobile, ala.

Amiee Dickersonmississippi delta

Sovent Taylornortheast mississippi

Rebecca Bertrandtexas

Matthew Marksgreater Jackson area and central and north louisiana

Jason Welcheast central mississippi and central alabama

54 Alumni revieW

Newsalumni

Your Window toPast•Present•Future

• The Ole Miss Yearbook• Past yearbooks archived at e-yearbook.com• The Daily Mississippian• theDMonline.com• Rebel Radio 92.1 FM• Discover Oxford and Ole Miss at OleMissLiving.com• NewsWatch – Channel 99• UMobile text messaging Breaking news, scores & MORE!

662-915-5503 (Office)662-915-5703 (Fax)

201 Bishop HallUniversity, Mississippi 38677

olemiss.edu/depts/smc

Thomas D. Wallace (BAEd 78, MEd 79, PhD 02) demonstrates a profound love for college stu-

dents and col-l ege l i f e . He has spent the majority of his c a r e e r s e r v -ing students at The University of Mississippi, but he began to def ine his career when he was a student at Northwest M i s s i s s i p p i C o m m u n i t y College some

34 years ago. Wallace returned to his beloved alma mater on Oct. 18 as Northwest’s Alum-nus of the Year. He was honored during homecoming and alumni festivities that day. After leaving NMCC, Wallace trans-ferred to Ole Miss, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in elementary edu-cation and his master’s in education administration. He taught in Oxford City Schools for five years. He served as a public school administrator for four years in Oxford, then two years in New Albany City Schools. He was named Union County Educator of the Year by Phi Delta Kappa in 1989. Wallace returned to Ole Miss in March 1990 as assistant vice chancel-

lor for student affairs. He later served as associate vice chancellor, then as vice chancellor for student life. Since July 2007, he has been an assis-tant to the UM provost with the respon-sibility of developing academic programs to enhance student retention. He also has been an associate professor in the School of Education since 2001, teach-ing educational leadership. In 2002, Wallace earned his Ph.D. in educational leadership at UM. He recently completed classes from the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University and the Millen-nium Leadership Institute from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. AR

A Moment to Shineadministrator named northwest community college’s alumnus of the year

Thomas D. Wallace

Winter 2009 55

License to Investaffinity plates put money into scholarship endowments

In-state alumni looking for a way to give back to The University of Mis-sissippi while simultaneously dis-

playing their college spirit can purchase the official University of Mississippi affinity license plate. For an additional $50 a year—$32.50 of which returns to Ole Miss—alumni can show their pride in their alma mater.

Fifty-five percent of the funds UM receives from the affinity tags sold in Mississippi are invested in endowments that support Alumni Association Scholar-ships and Academic Excel-lence Scholarships.

The Alumni Associa-tion Scholarship was estab-lished in 1998 by the Ole Miss Alumni Association and renamed in 2007 in honor of the late Execu-tive Director Emeritus Herb Dewees. Recipients of the Herb Dewees Alumni Association Scholarship must be full-time students who are lineal descendants of alumni of Ole Miss. Scholarships are based on scholastic ability and leadership poten-tial. For more information about this scholarship, visit <www.olemissalumni.com/scholarships>.

The Academic Excellence Scholar-ships are awarded through the Office of Admissions and Enrollment Services. The scholarships are granted to entering freshmen based on academic merit and achievement.

For more information about Aca-demic Excellence Scholarships, call the Office of Financial Aid at 800-891-4596 or visit <www.olemiss.edu/depts/finan-cial_aid/scholarship types.html>.

The remaining 45 percent of the funds from affinity license plates are distributed to the “Preserve the Grove” fund. This fund is used to maintain the Grove and University Circle year-

round.Ole Miss alumni and friends who live

in Tennessee also have the opportunity to have an Ole Miss affinity license plate. However, none of the funds from the Tennessee tag is returned to the university.

“Mississippians who purchase the Ole Miss car tag not only show their love for the university, but they also provide much needed resources for Ole Miss, which are used for student

scholarships and campus beautifica-tion,” says Alumni Association Director Tim Walsh. “I encourage more alumni and friends to purchase the Ole Miss tag so that we can blanket the state with our specialty license plate.”

Alumni Association Vice President Bill May, along with his wife and daugh-ters, share Walsh’s enthusiasm about the license plate.

“Not only do we have an Ole Miss affinity license plate, we have five of them!” says May. “We want the world to know everywhere we drive that we are Ole Miss people … and very proud of it!”

Alumni interested in purchasing an Ole Miss affinity license plate for the upcoming year should contact their local tax collectors. AR

of the Herb Dewees Alumni Association

56 Alumni revieW

Newsalumni

Class NotesDue 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 [email protected] or Alumni Records Dept., Ole Miss Alumni Association, P.O. Box 1848, University, MS 38677-1848. Class notes may also be submitted through the association’s Web site at www.olemissalumni.com. The association relies on numerous sources for class notes and is unable to verify all notes with individual alumni.

W. Hinton AndReWs (BSPh 49) of Magno-lia retired from The Cor-

ner Drug Store and moved to Miramar Beach, Fla.

doRRAnCe AultmAn (LLB 56), president of the law firm of Aultman,

Tyner, Ruffin, Bell & Swetman, Ltd., in Hattiesburg, received an honorary Doc-tor of Laws at November 2008 grad-uation ceremonies at William Carey University.

JACk dunbAR (LLB 57) of Oxford was recognized for inclusion in the 2009 edition of Best Lawyers in America in the specialty of alternative dispute resolu-tion, municipal and personal injury law.

HubeRt H. mCAlex-AndeR (BA 61 , MA 66) released Strawberry

Plains Audubon Center: Four Centuries of a Mississippi Landscape through the Uni-versity Press of Mississippi. bARRy miCkey (BA 67) of Find-lay, Ohio, was elected secretary of Inter-national Child Care, which provides health care and educational services to the children of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. dottie Pennington (BA 65) of Johnson City is serving a yearlong term as president of the Medical Alli-ance of the Washington-Unicoi-Johnson County Medical Association. eugene C. “gene” tullos (JD 66), now practicing in Raleigh, was inducted into the Jones County Junior College Sports Hall of Fame.

JoHn s. bullARd (BA 75) spent 10 days cover-ing Hurricane Gustav in

Louisiana and Tropical Storm Hanna in South Carolina for Fox News Channel. He is president and director of photog-raphy for Lip Flap Productions, Inc., a television production company. mARk A. CHinn (JD 78) of Chinn & Associates in Jackson was selected for the third year in a row as one of only six Mis-sissippi family law lawyers for inclusion in “Mid-South Super Lawyers.” m. dAvid eAst (BSPh 78) of Coving-ton, La., accepted the position of medi-cal director of the Hospitalist Program at the Louisiana Medical Center and Heart Hospital in Lacombe. ellen HARtmAn (BA 73), head of Weber Shandwick’s Atlanta office, received the Paul M. Lund Public Ser-vice Award at the recent national con-

’60s

’50s

’40s ’70s

Winter 2009 57

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vention of the Public Relations Society of America.

JoHnny mAttox (BAEd 73, MCS 74) of Blue Mountain was recently named the Outstanding College Science Teacher by the Mississippi Science Teachers Association.

tReniA Reynolds (BAEd 75, MSP 78) was named the 2008 Outstand-ing School Clinician by the Mississippi Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

CARol bRoCk (BAccy 85) joined Pinnacle Trust as an operations specialist.

Before joining Pinnacle Trust, she worked in the financial industry in the Atlanta area. In 2005, Brock received the Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership.

J. PAtten bRoWn iii (BA 88) opened the law Offices of Pat Brown, in Hartford, Conn., and New York, N.Y.

mARk byRne (BA 81) was awarded the BASS Federation Nation of Wash-ington 2008 Media and Public Relations award in October 2008.

elizAbetH J. FutRell (JD 81) was selected as one of the 2008 Women of the Year by New Orleans CityBusiness.

sCott kimbRougH (BAccy 82) was promoted to first vice president at Trust-mark National Bank in Jackson. He previ-ously served in corporate accounting and strategic sourcing at Trustmark. ken monRoe (BA 87) of Lavaca, Ark., was elected to the board of directors of Associated Industries of Arkansas. kim obeRkRom nelson (BE 86) of Tullahoma, Tenn., retired as lieutenant colonel from the United States Air Force after 20 years of service. She now serves as deputy director for business development in Huntsville, Ala., for Delta Solutions and Strategies, a woman-owned small business.

leRoy d. PeRCy (JD 96) opened his own law office, Percy Law Firm, PLLC,

in Oxford.

JonAtHAn bAHm (BA 02) of Leland is a social studies teacher and assistant foot-

ball coach at Leland (Miss.) High School. Robyn A . CRAWFoRd (BA 02) joined Strategic Financial Partners’ Memphis office as a financial services

’90s

’00s

’80s

The Ole Miss Alumni Association has partnered with Harris Connect

to provide a print directory of Ole Miss alumni. University of Mississippi Alumni: Today 2010 will be the most complete and up-to-date reference available of more than 101,000 Ole Miss alumni worldwide. Harris Connect is the largest print directory publication company in America, specializing in alumni direc-tories and the data needs involved with a project of this sort. Working in part-nership with Harris, the Alumni Asso-ciation will begin sending out ques-tionnaires in April, giving you and your fellow alums the opportunity to update

and verify your profiles for inclusion in the directory. Residence and business information, as well as e-mail addresses, will be included to facilitate networking among alumni. You will also have the chance to vote on your favorite cover and to submit a photo and essay. When contacted, please take a few moments to verify that we have com-plete and accurate information. This new publication promises to be a com-prehensive reference guide to the Ole Miss family, and will be available as both a classic, library-quality book and as a CD-ROM. Thank you in advance for your help and cooperation. AR

On Paperalumni print directory announced

The World Wide Web is a constantly evolving medium. In an effort to keep up with that evolution, the Ole Miss Alumni

Association has launched a thoroughly redesigned Web site that provides members with the latest news, photos and information from the association. With a more user-friendly interface and a wide array of avail-able information, the revamped Web site allows you to eas-ily renew your membership, update your contact information, and learn about the goals and mission of the Alumni Association online. You’ll also find up-to-date information about club events, reunions and other alumni functions. An added feature of the site allows association members to sign up for an e-mail forwarding account that gives them an @olemissalumni.com account while keeping their existing e-mail account.

Video, photo galleries and a history section also highlight the site. Please visit the all-new site at <www.olemissalumni.com>. AR

Good Connectionalumni association unveils new web site

58 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.

Good Connectionalumni association unveils new web site

representative. JoHn l. FulleR (BA 04) joined the Corporate Securities Practice of Bass, Berry & Sims law firm in its Nashville office.

Weddingsmaureen Courtney burke (JD 87)

and Paul Davis Speyerer, Sept. 6, 2008.Frances Renee Hilton (BSHEC 91)

and John James, June 21, 2008.Lenaee Hope Kirk and Ricky Harold

Thompson, Sept. 2, 2008.Rebecca A. latil (BBA 06) and

Christopher J. Mills, Aug. 30, 2008.Amanda Jill murphy (BA 01) and

Matthew L. Black, Sept. 20, 2008.dawn diAnne owen (BBA 01) and

Christopher Lee Graham, Nov. 8, 2008.

Victoria Marie Thomas and brian Walker sanderson (BBA 95, JD 98), Nov. 8, 2008.

Randi dianne Wilkins (BBA 05) and tyler Woodrow Jones (BBA 04), Aug. 23, 2008.

biRtHsJohn Warner IV, son of Michelle

Allen Alford and John Warner Alford iii (BBA 88), Sept. 17, 2008.

Lindsey Claire, daughter of Heidi Austin and John stephen Austin (BBA

95), Feb. 22, 2008.Carter Remington, son of Jill emer-

son bell (BAEd 06) and William Joel bell (BE 98), Aug. 27, 2008.

Parker Elizabeth, daughter of Jenni-fer Lee Bolton and dewitt lamar “Chip” bolton iii (JD 03, MBA 04), Aug. 23, 2008.

Katherine Caswell, daughter of lacy bobo Carpenter (BBA 98) and Preston Caswell Carpenter Jr. (BAccy 98, MAccy 01), July 17, 2008.

Charles Hyde VI, son of Carolyn Butler Davidson and Charles Hyde davidson v (BA 97), Sept. 5, 2008.

Jack McNeil, son of Carole kloha elliott (BAEd 94) and Steven Elliott, Aug. 20, 2008.

Libby Kather ine , daughter o f Heather Hartfield Foster (BBA 05) and Robert dolton Foster (BBA 05), Aug. 27, 2008.

Meena Caroline, daughter of Cassie martin Fountain (BSFCS 02) and ste-phen W. Fountain (BBA 02), Aug. 2, 2008.

Ansley Grace, daughter of Johnna norman garner (BAccy 00, MAccy 02) and Andrew vernon garner (BAccy 97, MAccy 98), April 4, 2008.

Hugh William V, son of elizabeth minor gates (BSW 00, JD 05) and Hugh William gates iv (BBA 04, BA 04), April

Winter 2009 59

Where families live and memories

are made.

Kitchens by

Old Hwy 7 NorthOxford, MS

662-234-3211www.elliotlumberinc.com

Jaclyn Cannon (BBA 01) is co-founder and managing director of The Jaca-

bee Code, a new multimedia, histori- cally themed adventure series for children ages 6-12. Set to launch in 2009, Jacabee comprises a book series, television series and computer games. All elements of The Jaca-bee Code will integrate learning and play experiences while emphasizing adventure, art, positive values, literacy, reading and his-tory. The new company is based in Atlanta, where Cannon lives with her husband and son. AR

The Next Harry Potter?

Jaclyn Cannon

alum helps create a new adventure series

60 Alumni revieW

Newsalumni

12, 2008.Micah Joseph Jr., son of meta Poole

ginn (BA 02, JD 05) and micah J. ginn (BA 96), Oct. 13, 2008.

Mary Murphy, daughter of Julia Johnson Hudson (BAEd 95) and Robert R. Hudson (BSHPE 93), Aug. 1, 2008.

Howard Povall, son of Amanda lewis Hyneman (BPA 94) and brian Hyneman (BBA 94, JD 98), Oct. 18, 2008.

Luke Andrew Wayne, son of Heidi A. Love and Jeffrey l. love (BS 83), Oct. 1, 2008.

Caden Joseph , son o f Chr i s t y eubanks madden (BA 94) and Daniel Joseph Madden, Sept. 12, 2008.

Peter John, son of michele moll markow (BBA 02) and Peter J. markow iii (BBA 06), April 3, 2008.

Lynlee Merrill, daughter of bonnie morris nance (BSES 99, MS 01) and Rob Nance, Sept. 15, 2008.

Caroline Elizabeth, daughter of Beth Nickel and Jason P. nickel (BA 99), Oct. 1, 2008.

William “Liam” Strong and Phinizy “Phin” Davis, sons of mary Ann Connell Percy (MA 01, JD 07) and leRoy d.

Percy (JD 96), Oct. 6, 2008.Emery Ellen, daughter of margaret

biddle Pitcock (BSPh 98, PharmD 00) and James Jacob Pitcock (BSPh 97, PharmD 99), Sept. 24, 2007.

Edward Maxwell, son of krista n. sanders (BBA 91) and edward l. sand-ers (JD 90), June 24, 2008.

Meredith Ann, daughter of Christie Cammack slaton (BBA 93) and Jason M. Slaton, Oct. 3, 2008.

Carter Pearce “Tate” Jr., son of Cassie Anderson smith (BA 96) and Carter Pearce smith (BAccy 95), Oct. 2, 2008.

James Smith, son of ellen brinkley street (BBA 00) and stuart Pleasant street (BBA 98), Aug. 4, 2008.

Frances Claire, daughter of melissa kahlstorf sutherland (BA 00) and thomas mcCurry sutherland Jr. (BBA 01), Sept. 23, 2008.

Elise Patricia, daughter of Jennifer dudley tippett (BM 95) and Jerry P. Tip-pett Jr., May 22, 2008.

Reece Walters, son of Courtney Wages tomlinson (BSN 02, MSN 06) and scott matthew tomlinson (BA 03),

March 5, 2008.Holl is Margaret and Anderson

Corder, twins of sara l. trammell (BSFCS 02) and scott A. trammell (BBA 01), July 25, 2008.

Grayson James, son of Krissy A. Van-derburg and James brandon vanderburg (BA 99), Oct. 17, 2008.

in memoRiAm1920s

Audrey blockstrom kinzer (BA 29), Oct. 25, 2008

1930sRebecca mcCormick barbour (BSC

37), Oct. 31, 2008margaret sartor Cox (BSC 37), Oct.

11, 2008Christine murphree gates (38),

Sept. 26, 2008elizabeth mcgehee Watt (BA 35),

Sept. 16, 2008

1940sstephen ellis Allen Jr. (LLB 47),

Oct. 11, 2008John C. beard Jr. (MedCert 42),

Journalism instructor Robin Street (BA 75, MA 85) has com-pleted the national Accreditation in Public Relations exam,

earning the APR designation administered by the Public Relations Society of America. Street joins fewer than 30 public relations professionals in Mississippi and about 5,000 nationally who have earned the APR designation. Candidates for the APR designation must pre-pare a written portfolio and make a presentation to a panel of judges. If they pass the review, candidates then take a four-hour test. Less than half of those who go through the process earn accreditation. Street’s accomplishment “is yet another marker in our depart-ment’s journey to combine the professional world with the aca-demic world, which I believe is the best combination to prepare students for the marketplace,” says Samir Husni, chair of the Department of Journalism. Street joined the UM faculty in 1990. AR

Making the GradeJournalism faculty member

receives national accreditation

Robin Street

Winter 2009 61

62 Alumni revieW

Newsalumni

Gone Bowlingalumni and friends enJoy a variety of activities

revolving around the rebels’ victory in the 2009 cotton bowl

Nov. 23, 2007Curtis van breland (LLB 49), Oct.

21, 2008lampkin Herbert butts sr. (LLB 48),

Sept. 5, 2008michael byrnes iii (40), Sept. 21,

2008mary Cleland Carter (BSC 44), Oct.

14, 2008edward bradley Childress (BSC 40),

Sept. 27, 2008

James Robert Flautt Jr. (MedCert 42), March 3, 2008

Frazier earl Fyke Jr. (BS 44), Sept. 21, 2008

William Warren gillis (BS 42), Oct. 16, 2008

Clyde g. Huggins Jr. (BBA 49, JD 69), Oct. 29, 2008

Cecil Pellon morris (BSHPE 48, MA 50), Aug. 30, 2008

William H. newton Jr. (BSC 41),

Sept. 13, 2008William F. Riley (LLB 49), Nov. 2,

2008edna Avent shellabarger (40), Sept.

18, 2008Francis bigelow stevens (BA 42,

LLB 51), Sept. 2, 2008Juanita Rivers stevens (BA 44),

May 14, 2008Hugh Hudson thomasson (BA 49),

Oct. 11, 2008

Alumni and staff at the Cotton Bowl Classic Big Play luncheon

The Lexington Brothers perform at the New Year’s Eve party.

Chancellor Robert Khayat visits with Ole Miss coeds during the New Year’s Eve party.

Ole Miss alumni and friends pause for a photo during the Alumni Association’s New Year’s Eve celebration.

The new director of the Speech and Hearing Center at The

University of Mississippi is follow-ing in his father’s footsteps. Brad Crowe (BA 96, MS 98), son of longtime communicative disorders professor Thomas A. Crowe, who retired in 2002, took over the clinic in fall 2008 after six years of working in speech pathol-ogy in Georgia. “It was a goal of mine to eventu-ally end up at the UM Speech and Hearing Center. I wouldn’t trade my experiences in Athens for any-thing, but it is good to be home,” says the younger Crowe, who also is

teaching at the university in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

His goals for the future of the Speech and Hearing Center are many.

“I would like to see us have the capability to offer physi-cal therapy and occupational therapy to our clients, when needed,” he says. “I would also like to see us expand our services in the treatment of individuals with sensory needs.” AR

No Place Like Homenew speech and hearing clinic director follows in father’s footsteps

Winter 2009 63

234-8648Alumni Owned And OperAted

Brad Crowe

Joel P. Walker Jr. (BBA 48, LLB 50), Sept. 17, 2008

Charles Harry young (BSPh 49),

Oct. 30, 2008Joseph s. zuccaro (LLB 49), Sept.

12, 2008

1950smyron l. Arrington (BA 51), Nov. 1,

2008Charles barton barrack sr. (BBA

54, MBA 59), Oct. 2, 2008Jerry beaird barrier (BBA 54), Oct.

3, 2008Martha Stephens Cofield (BAEd

57), Sept. 29, 2008Colleen sylvia dean (MA 57), Aug.

1, 2008William Fields galtney sr. (50), Nov.

1, 2008James A. gibson (BS 50, MedCert

52), Sept. 15, 2008Ralph Wilborn gordon (BAEd 59),

Oct. 16, 2008Ann Crowson Henry (BBA 50), Aug.

4, 2008Robert gene Hickerson sr. (58),

Oct. 20, 2008Joseph ellis Joseph (BBA 58), Oct.

64 Alumni revieW

Newsalumni

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Morehouse Medical School Assistant Professor of Surgery L. Ray Matthews

(BA 85, MD 89) has co-authored a paper on trauma surgery, “Traumatic Diaphragmatic Rupture with Intrathoracic Liver Hernia-tion,” that was accepted for publication in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“The diaphragm is a muscle that sepa-rates the chest from the abdomen. Trauma patients can rupture this muscle, which results in abdominal organs being in the chest,” Mat-thews says of his paper. AR

Trauma Insight

Dr. L. Ray Matthews

Jama accepts paper for publication

Take an ambitious high-school grad-uate. Add a rigorous chemical engi-

neering degree program at The Univer-sity of Mississippi. Mix in more than three decades of outstanding profes-sional and research activity in the chem-ical process industry. Combine these elements and you have B.J. “Billie” Sanders (BSChE 60), the most recent recipient of the pres-tigious W.J. Kroll Zirconium Medal, established in 1975 by ASTM Interna-tional (originally known as the Ameri-can Society for Testing and Materials) to recognize outstanding achievement in the scientific, technological or com-mercial aspects of zirconium production and utilization.

The 26th person to be honored with the Kroll Medal, Sanders worked for 36 years at Monsanto Company and Ster-ling Chemicals prior to his retirement in 1996. He was recognized for his work in identifying and describing uses of zir-conium alloys in the chemical process industries.

“Zirconium alloys have evolved as the material of choice for containing the very corrosive process streams,” he says. “I was instrumental in developing corrosion performance data and fabrica-tion techniques for zirconium resulting in growth for its use from a few bolts in the first plant to about 350,000 pounds in the latest plant.” AR

Great Chemistrychemical engineering alum receives international award

Winter 2009 65

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Call Wil MatthewsOxford, MS662-832-1266www.cmrehomes.com

B.J. Sanders

22, 2008John s. logan Jr. (BBA 50), Oct. 5,

2008James b. lowe (51), Oct. 14, 2008eric donald malone (BBA 56), Sept.

12, 2008mary Wright marshall (BAEd 52),

Oct. 21, 2008martha biggs mcCoy (BAEd 50),

June 29, 2008Charles norris montgomery Jr. (BBA

50), Sept. 22, 2008

William o. moss (BSHPE 50), July 10, 2008

edmund berkeley nance (BBA 57), Oct. 20, 2007

John d. Quinley (BBA 50), May 14, 2008

gordon Arnold scoper (BSPh 58), Sept. 11, 2008

edwin demar shropshire Jr. (BA 52), Feb. 4, 2008

Catherine Huggins sitzes (BSHPE 51), March 13, 2008

buren steve smith (MD 59), Sept. 13, 2008

John day stewart Jr. (BSEA 51), Sept. 10, 2008

Howard W. stringfellow Jr. (BSCvE 51), Aug. 23, 2008

Walter m. turner (MA 59), July 30, 2008

William v. Westbrook Jr. (BBA 50), Sept. 2, 2008

samuel Carmon Woolvin ii (MedCert 52), Feb. 19, 2008

1960sJames Wheeler deese (BA 63, JD

65), March 3, 2008mae moore Frantz (MA 69), Sept.

12, 2008gerald l. Jones sr. (BA 65), Sept.

13, 2008dennis michael landry Jr. (BSPh

64), Oct. 25, 2008James Pan-shyong lee (MS 67), Jan.

16, 2008edward Whelan miller (MEd 64),

Sept. 23, 2008billy Wayne Ralph (BBA 60), June

24, 2008James Robert sims (BAEd 63, MEd

67), Oct. 4, 2008elzy Jonathan smith Jr. (LLB 60),

Sept. 28, 2008

66 Alumni revieW

Newsalumni

N. Channelle Johnson-Rodenberg (BPS 07) has joined MidSouth Busi-

ness Group in Germantown, Tenn., as a financial services representative. A former paralegal, she is a member of Memphis Bar Association, National Federation of Paralegal Associations and a board mem-ber of the Memphis Paralegal Association. MidSouth Business Group is an office of MetLife. AR

Business Is Good

N. Channelle Johnson-Rodenberg

’07 grad makes move to financial services

Winter 2009 67

Banquet Rooms for up to 100Wedding ReceptionsRehearsal Dinners

110 Courthouse Square • Oxford, MS662.234.2659

www.downtowngrill.netMon.-Wed. 11-9 • Thurs.-Sat. 11-10

Closed Sunday

Fine Dining Overlooking the Historic Oxford Square

edwin A. sory (BSHPE 67), Sept. 7, 2008

Coy Williams storey (BAEd 67), Nov. 3, 2008

Robert m. Wilson (MD 66), Oct. 8, 2008

1970skarol Winterrowd Canfield (BAEd

74), Feb. 10, 2008kimberly sturgis Cooper (BA 78),

Sept. 8, 2008gary Paul dickerson (BAEd 75),

Sept. 26, 2008george William ebeling Jr. (MCS

71), Nov. 8, 2007Paula Pitts evans (BA 74, MBA 75),

Oct. 18, 2008bradley Harold Fournier (BA 70),

Aug. 12, 2008melvin douglas green (MEd 77),

March 11, 2008george edward guerieri Jr. (BBA

78), Sept. 30, 2008edward tulon Holder (BSEE 77),

Sept. 30, 2008lavenia Allen Jarrard (BA 70), Oct.

15, 2008Rosa Hall kent (MA 71), Oct. 27,

2008barbara tackett mcneil (MBEd 75),

Feb. 18, 2008Henry lee savage (MCS 71), Sept.

3, 2008lester Adam shipley iii (BA 76),

Oct. 16, 2008gary Allen shute (BSCS 75), Oct.

3, 2008Alfred J. spencer (BBA 79), Oct. 5,

2008Richard louis theobald (BBA 75),

Feb. 6, 2008

1980smichael A. brumley (MD 89), Sept.

24, 2008

ernest eugene Hughes Jr. (BBA 88), Aug. 29, 2008

mary elizabeth lake (MD 88), Sept. 24, 2008

Charles kenneth medlin Jr. (JD 88), Aug. 28, 2008

Walter Avery mixon (82), Oct. 6, 2008

gretchen Welsch Pumphrey (JD 82), Sept. 22, 2008

1990sCharles thomas taylor (BA 95), Oct.

27, 2008

2000sAnthony Charles barnes (MEd 05),

June 26, 2008Jonathan scott duttweiler (07), May

20, 2008matthew van Hatcher (08), Nov. 2,

2008Jackie lamon Johnson (BAEd 04,

68 Alumni revieW

Hot Breakfast Plate Lunch Salad Sampler

Open Tuesday-Saturday 7:30 am-2pm

and Sunday 11am-2pm

Available for Private Parties

Taylor, MS236-7900

Come make a day of itTour the Southern Living House and have lunch!

MEd 06), Nov. 1, 2008

Faculty and Friendsbeverly Ferrell Alman, March 24,

2008Charles W. Arneson Jr., Sept. 1, 2008James edward boyd, Sept. 29, 2008irene Covington geiger, Sept. 9,

2008nina bunch goolsby, Oct. 7, 2008Forest b. greer, Nov. 1, 2008Pamela l. Heck, Oct. 3, 2008William Henry Holman Jr., Oct. 6,

2008lore schweizer kavyas, Sept. 12,

2008lyman A. magee, Sept. 24, 2008lois Hicks martin, Sept. 26, 2008Joe W. mcmullin, Oct. 21, 2008bobby steve moore, Sept. 29, 2008elaine Wilcox Phillips, Sept. 4, 2008mary Haney Windsor, Oct. 30, 2008William Henry Wright, June 26, 2008

Ed Grisham (BAEd 69, MEd 70, EdD 80) was honored in May

with the dedication of the Dr. Ed Grisham Physical Education Facility at Thompson High School in Thom-son, Ga., where Grisham served as the superintendant of schools of McDuffie County (Ga.) for 13 years. Grisham’s professional experience also includes stints as principal of Calhoun High School in Calhoun, Ga., principal of W.P. Daniel High School in New Albany and principal of Lafayette Elementary School. During his tenure in McDuffie County, his leadership resulted in sig-nificant school facility improvements, comprehensive strategic planning and systemwide reorganization.

Grisham and his wife, Linda, (BAEd 69, MEd 71) recently moved back to New Albany. They have two children, John and Beth, and two grandchildren. AR

Dedicatedalum honored with building name

Newsalumni

Ed Grisham

Documents

Ole Miss Alumni Review - Winter 2009