Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The Wal-Mart Foundation is saluting Mississippi State for success of the G. V. "Sonny" Montgomery Center for America's Veterans and its various programs.
The university is among 10 colleges and universities receiving $100,000 grants to support the efforts of returning servicemen and women to pursue their higher educations.
"Mississippi State University is recognized nationally as a strong military- and veteran-friendly university," said MSU President Mark E. Keenum. "With the aid of this generous Wal-Mart Foundation grant, the university will have the necessary dollars for school-related financial assistance for veterans and service members returning from active duty."
Keenum, former top aide to U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, said the Montgomery Center is known for its work with military and veterans organizations at the local, state and federal levels. "The hard work of our staff keeps us very much in tune with the educational needs and requirements of the growing number of today's veterans and service members," he added.
Created by the legislature in 1878, then-Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College opened its doors in 1880 as a military school to 354 cadets. Today, the 131-year-old land-grant institution continues its long heritage of supporting U.S. armed forces and veterans.
Currently, the state's largest university enrolls more than 800 student veterans, service members, dependents, and survivors.
"The men and women who serve our country are our nation's heroes," said foundation president Margaret McKenna. "Wal-Mart is proud to support programs that help our veterans get the resources they need to succeed in their education and their transition back to civilian life."
A part of MSU's Division of Student Affairs, the Montgomery Center was established in 2006 to provide higher education opportunities largely unavailable at many other institutions. It is named for the late G. V. "Sonny" Montgomery, the 1943 alumnus and 15-term congressman from Meridian credited with passage of the federal veteran benefits package that bears his name.
The center's primary missions include academic and career goal support through mentorships and related activities, career counseling and guidance, and job placement assistance. A vigorous recruiting program is another of its major activities.
"We are grateful to the Wal-Mart Foundation for its generosity and support of veteran education at Mississippi State," said center director Andrew Rendon. "Being a 2009 grant recipient marks a key point in the history of both MSU and the Montgomery Center.
"The selection further validates the legitimacy of our program and, hopefully, challenges other universities and colleges across the country to establish similar programs," he added.
Rendon, also an assistant student affairs dean, said the grant will help "further promote our story to others as we continue to seek support for the scholarship program in anticipation of an influx of those returning from active duty."
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and its Arkansas-based foundation are major benefactors of charitable causes important to customers and Wal-Mart associates in their neighborhoods. Through philanthropic programs and partnerships, the foundation works to further local initiatives that enhance opportunities in education, job-skills training, sustainability, and health.
For more on MSU's Montgomery Center, contact Rendon at 662-325-6720 or arendon@saffairs.msstate.edu.
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Detailed information on the Wal-Mart Foundation is available at www.walmartfoundation.org.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.