First female public safety commissioner to speak at MSU

Contact: Maridith Geuder

The first woman to serve as commissioner of public safety for Mississippi will speak Oct. 15 at Mississippi State University.

Louisa Dixon, who headed the public safety agency 1988-92, will present a public lecture in the John Grisham Room of Mitchell Memorial Library. Her visit is sponsored by the MSU Faculty and Professional Women's Association.

Her MSU topic will be "Serving Criminal Justice in Mississippi--Fact and Fiction." Following her noon presentation, the MSU Bookstore will have Dixon's first two books, "Next to Last Chance" and "Outside Chance," available for sale and signing.

In Mississippi, the public safety commissioner oversees units that include the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol, the state crime lab, the medical examiner, and the Bureau of Narcotics. Prior to her appointment to that position, Dixon directed investigative audits for the State Auditor's Office.

Raised in New Canaan, Conn., she is a graduate of Ohio State University and Creighton Law School. She is the author of two published Laura Owen mysteries based loosely on her experiences as head of the state's police agency, a third unpublished novel about a Vietnam veteran, and a sequel to her mystery series.

Now a resident of Jackson, Dixon currently serves as chair of the Greater Belhaven Neighborhood Foundation, an economic development effort to revitalize an urban neighborhood. She also continues to manage her family timber operation in Natchez.

For more information about the presentation, telephone 662-325-7454.