Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A Mississippi State alumnus and retired industry executive is being recognized by a national education support organization for his extensive volunteer efforts on behalf of the university.
Canton native Hunter W. Henry Jr. recently received the Bill Franklin Volunteer of the Year Award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. A 1950 chemical engineering graduate now residing in Texas, he is the retired president of Dow Chemical USA.
Henry currently serves as vice chairman of the steering committee for State of the Future: The Mississippi State Campaign, which seeks to raise $400 million in private support for the university by 2009. He also is a member of the MSU Foundation board of directors and Bagley College of Engineering Advisory Board.
Based in Washington, D.C., CASE is the professional organization for education advancement professionals at all levels of alumni relations, communications and development.
Recognizing "the vital role of volunteers in institutional advancement including fund-raising, alumni relations and student recruiting," the Franklin Award is named for a member from the organization's District III, which includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Nominees for the prestigious honor are considered both for their overall involvement and the long-term effects of their contributions to the institution and education in general.
Henry also has been honored extensively by his alma mater over the years. He was named MSU National Alumnus of the Year in 1988 and a Distinguished Engineering Fellow of the Bagley College in 1991.
In 2001, he received the institution's highest tribute, an honorary doctorate approved by the Board of Trustees, State Institutions of Higher Learning and presented during commencement.
Dennis Prescott, MSU vice president for external affairs, said Henry "possesses a spirit of giving to Mississippi State University that now touches every corner of the campus, benefiting students, faculty and the university as a whole."
Henry's generosity has made possible various faculty enhancements, an endowed professorship in chemical engineering, a lecture series, and a new alumni and foundation building that bears his name. He also supports student scholarships in the engineering college, and in the colleges of Arts and Sciences, and Business and Industry, Prescott added.
"With this award, people throughout the Southeast now know what we've known at Mississippi State for some time, that Hunter Henry is an exceptional person." Prescott said. "He is very deserving of this recognition as volunteer of the year for CASE's District III."