Contact: Dale Dombrowski
A $1 million gift from a state furniture executive will help Mississippi State build a new center for furniture manufacturing and management.
The gift from Hassell H. Franklin of Houston, founder, president and chief executive officer of Chickasaw County-based Franklin Corp., will supplement $3 million in state funding appropriated last year for the building.
Franklin Corp. is a national leader in producing reclining chairs and motion furniture. It is one of the nation's largest independently owned furniture manufacturing companies.
Hassell Franklin is a 1959 industrial management graduate and was Mississippi State's 1995 Alumnus of the Year.
"We now have a unique opportunity to create a focal point for the outstanding work being done on our campus in the field of furniture manufacturing and management," said President Malcolm Portera.
Currently, more than 50,000 Mississippi workers are producing about 70 percent of the nation's upholstered furniture. Research conducted by MSU's Furniture Research Unit is estimated to save the state's manufacturers more than $3 million annually.
"We are very grateful for Mr. Franklin's gift that will allow us to move forward with this important and much-needed project," said Dennis Prescott, vice president for external affairs. "The university will propose to the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning that the building be named the Franklin Center for Furniture Manufacturing and Management."
The center will house an interdisciplinary program that will draw on the strengths of the colleges of Business and Industry, Engineering, and Forest Resources.
The planned 25,000 square-foot facility will contain a research laboratory, classrooms, an auditorium, office space, and a quality testing lab.
Franklin is a former president of the American Furniture Manufacturers Association and a past director of the Home Furnishings Manufacturers Association, Southern Furniture Manufacturers Association, Mississippi Manufacturers Association, and Mississippi Economic Council.
He is past president and currently serves on the board of directors of the Bulldog Club and is a former member of the MSU Foundation board of directors. He also serves on MSU's Furniture Advisory Board and the College of Business and Industry's Senior Executive Advisory Board.