MEDIA ADVISORY: MSU to announce named academic unit

Contact: Sammy McDavid

During a Thursday [Aug. 30] program at Mississippi State, President Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong will announce the naming of an academic unit in recognition of a major gift designated for the university's College of Business and Industry.

The brief ceremony begins at 2 p.m. in the lobby of the Hunter Henry Center. Foglesong and other campus leaders formally will accept the financial commitment of a prominent alumnus and former Mississippi resident to create a significant endowment in the college. The School of Accountancy is being named in appreciation of the donor's contributions.

Established in 1915, the business college is the oldest of its kind in the state and one of the oldest in the South. The approximately 2,500-student academic unit and its accounting school--which expanded in 1979 from its longtime departmental status--have occupied McCool Hall since the early 1970s. (The building is in the final phase of a major renovation and expansion, with work scheduled for completion in October.)

The Hunter Henry Center is located on the western edge of campus, just west of the Bost Extension Center. It houses offices of the MSU Foundation and Alumni Association.

Reserved media parking will be available at the Henry Center lot.

For more information on the program, contact Kristy Riley, director of marketing and communication for the MSU Foundation, at 662-325-4214 or kriley@advservices.msstate.edu.

For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.