Contact: Kay Jones
In conjunction with Mississippi State's observance of Black History Month, the university's first African-American student officially donates personal and professional papers to his alma mater in a Tuesday [Feb. 17] ceremony.
Dr. Richard E. Holmes will be thanked and honored by the MSU Libraries in a 3 p.m. public program at Mitchell Memorial Library's John Grisham Room. A reception follows.
Holmes, a former Starkville resident who enrolled at the land-grant university in 1965, returned to campus last year as a member of the Longest Student Health Center medical staff. Prior to that, the physician practiced emergency room medicine for many years in Birmingham, Ala.
Holmes also completed work on a master's degree and additional graduate-level courses at MSU before entering medical school at Michigan State University, from which he graduated in 1977.
In 1991, Mississippi State recognized his campus achievements and medical career by naming the cultural diversity center in his honor. Holmes and his wife Judy later endowed a minority scholarship fund that also carries his name.
The couple now resides in Columbus, Judy Holmes' hometown.
For more information on the program, telephone (662) 325-8542.