Contact: Sammy McDavid
John P. Rush
A Mississippi State alumnus and fund-raising veteran is the university's new director of major gifts.
John P. Rush now will lead efforts to obtain non-public funds, including constituency-based major fund raising, planned giving, and corporate and foundation support.
The Leakesville native most recently was director of development for the Bagley College of Engineering.
The MSU Foundation was established in 1962 to help attract support from private sources and now administers most campus fund-raising activities and endowment funds, which currently exceed $180 million. Over the past five years, the foundation has averaged nearly $52 million annually in gifts from individual donors, corporations, foundations, trusts, and estates.
Rush, who officially assumes the new position Jan. 1, is a 1994 political science graduate who also completed a master's in public policy and administration at his alma mater. He became the engineering college's development director in 2002 after four years as assistant director.
"We have great confidence in John Rush's ability to lead our fund-raising staff at the MSU Foundation and move the university's State of the Future campaign forward," said Dennis A. Prescott, vice president for external affairs. "He has established a great relationship with donors, friends of the university and board members."
In October, MSU announced its most ambitious major gifts campaign in the institution's 126-year history. State of the Future: The Mississippi State Campaign seeks $400 million in private support for student scholarships and fellowships, endowed faculty positions, new and renovated facilities, and program enhancements.
Over the last three years, the campaign's "silent" phase raised $200 million--the halfway mark. State of the Future runs through December 2008.
Rush's wife Jennifer is assistant general counsel at MSU.