Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The annual Mississippi State University Alumni Association awards banquet and leadership conference will be held Friday and Saturday [Feb. 1 and 2] in the campus' newly reopened Colvard Student Union.
During the Friday evening awards ceremony, the organization will announce the 2008 national alumnus of the year, as well as the alumnus or alumna of the year in each of the eight academic colleges, and an overall young alumnus/alumna of the year. Additionally, distinguished service and chapter leadership awards will be presented and former national alumni association presidents honored.
The daylong leadership program Saturday is expected to draw more than 200 officers and volunteers from around the country. MSU President Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong, athletic director Larry Templeton and special guest John Fuedo, associate vice president for alumni relations at Boston College and former Council for Alumni Association Executives president, will be among the speakers.
In addition to hearing the presentations, participating chapter officers will be sharing ideas for strengthening membership, recruiting students and better serving the institution's graduates. Joining them will be various university administrators and representatives.
Forty-nine alumni chapters were represented at the 2007 conference. "We always have so much to share and discuss, and we need the thoughts and input of our alumni as we continue to build on our already great association," said association executive director Jimmy Abraham, who also is associate vice president for development and alumni.
The conference is being held in conjunction with the MSU men's Southeastern Conference basketball game Saturday in Humphrey Coliseum. The Bulldogs welcome the University of Tennessee Volunteers for an SEC-TV broadcast game to tip off at 6 p.m.
For more information or to register for the conference, telephone 662-325-7000 or visit www.alumni.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.