A $57,000 contribution by three brothers is endowing a Mississippi State scholarship fund in memory of their father, whose leadership helped bring national prominence to the universityÕs agronomy program.
Dr. Jack Hoover of Pascagoula; Don Hoover of Charlotte, N.C.; and Darrel Hoover of Kenner, La., have established the C. Dale Hoover Memorial Scholarship Fund in Agronomy in the department of plant and soil sciences. All three attended Mississippi State.
Their father, who joined the faculty in 1939, served as agronomy department head for 26 years. During his tenure, the universityÕs seed technology program was established and went on to receive national recognition. The program became the center for world seed certification in 1993.
Hoover also was instrumental in organizing the Mississippi Section of the American Society of Agronomy and received its Agronomist of the Year Award in 1972.
He was a graduate of Kansas State College and Iowa State University.
The Hoover Scholarship is available to full-time undergraduate agronomy majors who have completed at least one year of study at Mississippi State and earned at least 32 credit hours toward their degree.
Contributions by the Hoover family will be combined with funds in an existing scholarship established several years ago in Dale Hoover's memory.
Jack Hoover, a physician with Obstetrics-Gynecology-Infertility-Associates in Pascagoula, received a bachelorÕs degree in pre-medical studies from Mississippi State in 1955 and a medical degree from Tulane University in 1962 . Don Hoover, president of Sunrise Software Inc. in Charlotte, received bachelorÕs degrees in electrical engineering and in accounting, both in 1961.
Darrel Hoover, who is real estate manager for Latter & Blum Inc. Realtors in New Orleans, attended Mississippi State for two years before transferring to Oklahoma Baptist University, where he received a bachelorÕs degree in history in 1962. He also earned a bachelorÕs in church music from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1971 and a masterÕs in church music from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 1978.