Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A Mississippi State alumnus who has played a major role in the university's current $400 million "State of the Future" fundraising effort is being named the preferred candidate for vice president of development and alumni.
John P. Rush, who has led MSU's major gifts effort since 2004, was selected by President Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong following a national search headed by Bill Kibler, vice president for student affairs. Kibler led a committee of faculty, staff, alumni, and students who identified candidates forwarded for consideration.
Pending approval by the Board of Trustees, State Institutions of Higher Learning, Rush will succeed Texas native Dennis A. Prescott, who departed in January for a similar position at Baylor University in Waco. Jimmy Abraham, associate vice president and executive director of the Alumni Association, has served in an interim capacity since January.
Over the next two weeks, Rush will meet with campus constituency groups and representatives of the MSU Foundation and Alumni Association boards of directors, Kibler said.
"The committee felt that John has a deep knowledge of Mississippi State and its donor base and will be able to make significant contributions in taking the alumni association and foundation to the next level," Foglesong said.
"We are very appreciative of Jimmy Abraham's leadership during this time of transition, and we think there is a strong team in place," he added.
A Leakesville native and 1994 political science graduate, Rush began his fundraising career in 1997 as assistant director of development for MSU's James Worth Bagley College of Engineering. He was named director in 2000 and held that position until becoming major gifts director with the MSU Foundation, where he led efforts to obtain non-public funds, including constituency-based major fundraising, planned giving and corporate and foundation support.
The MSU Foundation was established in 1962 to help attract support from private sources and now administers most campus fundraising activities and endowment funds, which currently exceed $240 million. Over the past five years, the foundation has averaged nearly $52 million annually in gifts from individual donors, corporations, foundations, trusts, and estates.
"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.
A separate $100 million "Reach for Excellence" campaign is working to raise $25 million in each of four categories: scholarships, student growth and development; faculty development; and campus appearance and preservation.
State of the Future, which concludes at the end of December 2008, currently has exceeded the $355 million mark.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.