Contact: Sammy McDavid
MSU President Charles Lee, Sid Salter, and MSU Alumni Association President Gary Blair
The Perspective Editor of the Clarion-Ledger is this year's Mississippi State University Alumnus of the Year.
Sidney L. "Sid" Salter of Forest received the MSU Alumni Association's highest honor Friday night [Jan. 23] at the organization's annual winter leadership conference on campus.
Salter, a 1988 political science graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, also is a longtime syndicated columnist who published and edited the Scott County Times in Forest before joining the Clarion-Ledger staff several years ago.
A Philadelphia High School graduate who enrolled at Mississippi State as a John C. Stennis Scholar, he was designated in 2002 as one of the university's Alumni Fellows, another lifetime honor recognizing career and personal achievements.
"Sid Salter is considered by his peers to be among the premier journalists in Mississippi," said MSU President Charles Lee. "He has won every major honor given by the Mississippi Press Association, including the J. Oliver Emmerich Editorial Excellence Award on two occasions."
The Emmerich Award, which recognizes the top editorial writer among Mississippi's two dozen dailies and nearly 90 weeklies, is named for the late Mississippi State alumnus who was editor and publisher of the McComb Enterprise-Journal. Salter received the award while at the Forest weekly and remains the only weekly editor to have won the honor more than once.
Salter was among a group of graduates recognized at the annual alumni conference ceremony. Each of the 126-year-old land-grant institution's colleges also honored its alumnus or alumna of the year.
The 2004 group included Jerry B. Slocum of Coldwater, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; Thomas S. "Steve" Davis of Jackson, College of Architecture; Mark C. Rohr of Richmond, Va., College of Arts and Sciences; Albert C. Clark of Starkville, College of Business and Industry; Robert D. "Dan" Camp of Starkville, College of Education; Fred P. Burke of Atlanta, Ga., College of Engineering; J.L. "Jim" Tisdale of Starkville, College of Forest Resources; and Dr. Sharon F. Grace of Starkville, College of Veterinary Medicine.