Contact: Kay Fike Jones
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The director of recreational sports at Mississippi State University is being honored for her work with an international recreational sports organization.
Laura E. Walling recently received one of six Regional Awards of Merit for Outstanding Contributions to Region II of the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association.
Composed of six regional groups, NIRSA is a non-profit organization serving more than 4,000 professionals, students and associate members throughout the United States, Canada and other countries.
A longtime member of the organization, Walling now is in her second term as Mississippi director. She also serves as the Region II historian.
She previously held a variety of other major roles. In addition to leading several committees and a national task force, she is in her third year as primary host for Magnolia Madness, an NIRSA-sponsored regional basketball tournament.
Citing her extensive work with NIRSA, one of her nominators for the merit award dubbed her the "glue gal" of Region II because "she holds everything together."
Walling, who has headed MSU's recreational sports office since 1993, holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas.