Newest MSU alumni chapter opens in Far East

Contact: Sammy McDavid

Welcoming the new MSU alumni chapter in South Korea were (l-r) Foglesong, Jones, Shim, and Abraham.
Welcoming the new MSU alumni chapter in South Korea were (l-r) Foglesong, Jones, Shim, and Abraham.

STARKVILLE, Miss.--The Mississippi State University Alumni Association is expanding its reach with the launch of the first official chapter outside the United States.

President Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong joined association president David Jones and other officials Friday [Oct. 12] at the Hunter Henry Center to welcome South Korea as the 88th chapter. More than 200 MSU alumni currently reside in the Indiana-sized East Asian republic.

"Mississippi State is home to students from more than 70 foreign countries, and it's important that we reach out to all of our international graduates," Foglesong said. "Since I have had the honor and privilege of living in South Korea for three years of my adult life, it is especially meaningful to formally welcome the Bulldogs in Korea into our alumni association."

For decades, South Koreans consistently have been counted among the 129-year-old land-grant institution's international student population. Currently, 30 are enrolled.

"The alumni association is committed to building relationships and creating a network among alumni and friends around the world," said association executive director Jimmy Abraham. "We hope to establish even more international relationships in the future."

Foglesong, Abraham--also associate vice president for development--and J.P. Shim, a longtime MSU professor of management information systems, travel to Shim's native country later this month to extend personal greetings to the new Korean chapter.

The campus welcoming ceremony was part of the association board of directors' fall meeting. The alumni organization was created in 1885, nine years after then-Mississippi A&M College was established and five years after the first class of 354 students had enrolled.

Earlier this year, a group of Mississippi State students and faculty members traveled to South Korea as part of the university's new Global Leadership Program.

For more information, visit www.alumni.msstate.edu.

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