Alumni Office week 4/5

Alumni Office Week 4/5

The Alumni Office has been crazy busy with events. A couple weeks ago I attended a lunch at the Starkville Country Club with board members from the Starkville Alumni Chapter. During the meeting they discussed new ways to raise money for scholarships and upcoming events. I was able to interact with Higher Administration on campus and observe how a board meeting, is ran.

This past week I also attended breakfast with the Provost and the Alumni Office. The Provost Dr. Jerome Gilbert spoke about current updates involving the Department of Student Affairs and the Department of Academic Affairs. He touched base on service-learning and the difference between extracurricular activities and co-curricular activities. He also addressed concern about the lack of African American professors. Stating that Mississippi State has the highest percentage of African Americans in the SEC. The African American student population is at 20% however, the percentage for African American professors is 4.3%, the Provost along with his leadership team wants to increase this number to 7.5%. I asked Dr. Gilbert, what efforts is his staff taking in order to increase these numbers. He stated it is very challenging to recruit African American professors. He said this summer he along with others attend conferences and presentations to learn how to recruit African American professors and retain them. He’s also working with the Alumni Office as well as the Office of Diversity and Equity to come up with solutions and ways to promote Mississippi State to African American professors. Dr. Gilbert also stated that students learn better when they are in a conducive, learning environment and sometimes when they are able to relate to someone who looks like them.  

Attending the breakfast was very informative and I look forward to seeing these improvements. This week in the Alumni Office I have been visiting with Jackie Hudson who is the Coordinator of Scholarships for the Alumni Office. Jackie works close with Alumni Chapters in creating Scholarships and endowments. Jackie is very passionate about her job. Listening to her, speak about the Alumni Office and having the privilege to award scholarships was intriguing.  I enjoyed my conversation with her and learning about the process of awarding scholarships.