Contact: Sammy McDavid
Sacky Holdiness displays her $500 check with the help of MSU Foundation Executive Director Richard Armstrong (l) and Dennis Prescott, vice president for external affairs.
A Meridian grandmother and doctoral student in counselor education at Mississippi State is the winner of a university contest to find the best name for the pending major gifts campaign.
Sacky H. Holdiness recently received a $500 award, a special luncheon and a plaque for her efforts. Her entry was among more than 600 submitted to the MSU Foundation from students, faculty and staff.
Holdiness' "State of the Future" will appear with an accompanying logo on all materials related to The Mississippi State Campaign.
"I was stunned when I was notified that I had won," Holdiness said. "In fact, I was just sitting at the computer one night and read about the contest on the Web and decided to give it a shot by sending in several entries."
A capital--or major gifts--campaign is a multi-year fund-raising and marketing effort designed to dramatically increase the level of private gift support for the university. MSU now is in the "silent" phase, during which the foundation is working with volunteers to secure large, leadership-level gifts that ensure campaign success.
Dennis Prescott, vice president for external affairs, said a formal launch of the campaign is anticipated next year.
"The 'State of the Future' theme helps us move the campaign forward," Prescott said "It was selected because we felt it conveyed to the campus community, as well as to alumni and friends of the institution, the progress we hope to afford MSU through this major gifts effort.
"The theme also will enable us to attract corporate and foundation focus on the university as well," he added.
Mississippi State's first-ever major gifts campaign concluded in 1997 with more than $143 million in private gifts, pledges, and deferred gifts for the university, most of which became part of the university's permanent endowment.
Although the new campaign goal has not been set, it will significantly exceed the amount raised in the university's initial effort, Prescott said.
"Goals for the campaign center around four key areas: scholarships and fellowships, chairs and other endowed faculty positions, facilities, and other academic programs," he explained. "Deans and other unit heads have played the key role in determining the priorities."