Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The award-winning manager of the University Florist at Mississippi State travels to the nation's capital early next month to be inducted formally into the American Institute of Floral Designers.
Lynette McDougald, floristry business manager and design instructor for the past eight years, successfully completed requirements for the professional ranking late last year. Because membership in the organization is highly selective, she joins only about a dozen others in Mississippi holding the honor.
The induction ceremony will be among numerous activities at AIFD's 2006 Symposium July 4-8 at the Hilton Washington Hotel.
A Eupora native, McDougald is an MSU ornamental horticulture graduate. She currently is working toward a graduate degree in the major.
Mississippi State is among only a very few U.S. universities offering degrees in floristry retail management. While a full-service commercial enterprise, the MSU Florist primarily serves as a hands-on instructional laboratory for department of plant and soil sciences majors seeking the specialized training.
In 2000, McDougald was named Mississippi's floral designer of the year after taking top honors in all six competitive categories. Three years later, she was selected for a nationally prominent floral design team preparing New York's Rockefeller Center for the HBO Network's 3,000-person gala launching "The Sopranos" crime drama series.
In addition to coordinating floral design displays for most major campus events, McDougald serves as coordinator for the state Future Farmers of America's floriculture competition and co-coordinator for the Garden Clubs of Mississippi's summer horticulture seminar.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For additional information, contact McDougald at 662-325-3585 or lmcdougald@pss.msstate.edu.