Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The Leo W. Seal Family Business Complex officially is part of Mississippi State's College of Business and Industry.
During Saturday [Oct. 6] ceremonies held as part of the 2007 Homecoming celebration, university leaders and Seal family members formally dedicated the 52,000-square-foot addition to McCool Hall. Three Seal generations have attended the 129-year-old land-grant institution.
A cornerstone contribution several years ago by the Bay St. Louis family, along with other private contributions, funded the project begun in early 2005. The recently opened complex makes up the new west end of the 30-year-old, three-story building that serves some 2,500 business and accounting majors each school year.
"Leo Seal and his family have their fingerprints all over this campus," said MSU President Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong. "We will be standing on the legacy established by the Seal family not just for years, but for decades. The university certainly acknowledges the support of Leo Seal Jr., who has brought much progress to the university through his work on advisory boards and with other areas."
In addition to Leo Seal Jr.--a 1949 banking and finance graduate and longtime Hancock Holding Co. president--other alumni in the family include: his father, the late Leo W. Seal Sr., a 1911 graduate of then-Mississippi A&M College; and his sons, Leo W. Seal III and Lee Seal, both 2000 geosciences graduates. Also, Clay Wagner, grandson of Leo Sr., is a 1982 marketing graduate.
"It is most pleasing to our Seal family to enhance the facilities of the College of Business and Industry for its impact on both students and faculty," said Leo W. Seal Jr., who was honored by MSU in 1999 with an honorary doctorate in public service.
Beyond academics, the family has been a major supporter of MSU athletics. Leo Jr., a former Bulldog football player, provided funding for the M-Club building named in honor of his father, a two-year football letterman.
Other family support has been provided for the business college's Leo Seal Jr. Distinguished Speaker Series and Seal Electronic Classroom, along with the Seal Vice President's Suite in the Hunter Henry Center, home of the MSU Foundation and Alumni Association, and a variety of academic scholarships in business, engineering and forestry.
Leo Jr. also supports the university's Distinguished Scholarship's Program.
The new business complex includes:
--Additional central-campus classrooms and conference rooms,
--Additional business faculty offices and student project "team rooms,"
--A three-story atrium to serve as a public gathering and special events locale, and
--The W.A. "Bill" Taylor Jr. Auditorium, a 300-seat, high-technology teaching and general assembly facility endowed through an excellence fund gift honoring the longtime chairman of the board of Louisville-based Taylor Group of Cos.
"We are definitely pleased that the expansion of McCool Hall is enabling us to better serve the needs of our business students as well as other MSU students who use our facility in the heart of the MSU campus," said business Dean Lynne Richardson.
"Overall, the new complex has allowed us to greatly enhance the capabilities of the college in delivering undergraduate and graduate education," she added.
MSU's business college--one of the Southeast's oldest--is accredited by AACSB International, the world's foremost accrediting organization for business schools. Graduates may be found at the top levels of Fortune 500 businesses, as well as throughout state and regional commercial and industrial firms.
The college's academic programs also include the recently endowed Richard C. Adkerson School of Accountancy, which honors another prominent alumnus.
For additional information on the Seal Complex or assistance in contributing to business endowments, contact Jack McCarty, the college's development director, at 662-325-9580 or jmccarty@foundation.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.