Alcorn Co. student at MSU selected for Mockbee/Hall/Drake honor

Contact: Sammy McDavid

Senior Brandon C. Gowen of Corinth is the first Mockbee, Hall and Drake Scholar in Architecture at Mississippi State University.

The annual award will be given each fall semester to a talented and promising student in the College of Architecture's fifth-year program, which is housed in the university's newly renovated Stuart C. Irby Jr. Studios in downtown Jackson. The $2,000 scholarship is one of six offered specifically to architecture majors in the final year of study.

David Mockbee, principle partner of the Jackson-based firm, recently presented the gift on behalf of the firm. He also is an adjunct instructor for the fifth-year program.

Gowen, the son of John E. Gowen and Diana A. Gowen, is an assistant project director with the college's Educational Design Institute and a former student director of the annual summer Architecture Design Discovery Camp.

A graduate of Cornerstone Christian Academy, he has served as president of the MSU chapter of Tau Sigma Delta national architecture honor society and is a member of Golden Key and Alpha Theta Chi honor societies.

Last year, Gowen received the William L. Giles Award for Excellence in Architecture.