Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Two juniors at Mississippi State are receiving major recognitions by the university's chapter of a national business honor society.
Beta Gamma Sigma members Judy Lynn Shackelford of Columbus and Lauren K. Johnson of Birmingham, Ala., recently were honored with $1,000 scholarships.
Shackelford, an accounting major, was selected for the 2007-08 BGS Chapter Award on the basis of academic achievements and leadership activities, among other criteria.
Johnson was named this year's John Mitchell Memorial Scholar on the basis of similar criteria while pursuing a degree in international business.
Both are President's Scholars at Mississippi State with grade-point averages between 3.8 and a top 4.0. As BGS members, they additionally rank among the top 10 percent of majors pursuing bachelor's degrees in the university's College of Business and Industry.
Shackelford is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, MSU Symphonic Band and Mississippi Baptist Symphony Orchestra, among other activities.
Johnson also is a member and former secretary of the campus chapter of Phi Delta Phi French honor society, as well as co-founder, vice president and historian of the MSU French Club, among other achievements.
Johnson's award is a tribute to the late Starkville banking executive who had been honored by chapter members for his numerous community service and leadership activities.
Organized in 1913, Beta Gamma Sigma now has more than 560,000 members spread among five continents. Professor Carol Lehman of the management and information systems department is adviser for the MSU chapter, which was chartered in 1961.
LOCAL EDITORS: Shackelford is the daughter of Lee and Rebecca Shackelford; Johnson, the daughter of William Johnson and Vanessa Johnson.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.