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Southern Foodways Alliance

Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill is among volunteers giving Cathead hand sanitizer to citizens during the community's first distribution.

Cathead Makes Major Gift to SFA

Gift Honors SFA’s Efforts During Pandemic and Beyond APRIL 23, 2020 BY BILL DABNEY The Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) at the University of Mississippi received a major gift from the founders of Mississippi-based Cathead Distillery, whose efforts during the COVID-19 crisis are making statewide impact. The $75,000 gift from Cathead owners Austin Evans and Richard […]

UM journalism graduate Will Jacks kicks off the SouthTalks spring series Jan. 29 with a talk about his photographs of Po’ Monkey’s Lounge outside Merigold.

Spring SouthTalks Begin January 29

January 23, 2020 by Rebecca Lauck Cleary The SouthTalks series, sponsored by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, is offering a wide variety of events this spring, including five lectures focused on movement and migration in the South. SouthTalks explore the interdisciplinary nature of Southern studies and includes […]

Artist Lina Puerta’s From Field to Table: Seven Tapestries Honoring Latino Farm Laborers from the American South was underwritten by 21c for the SFA Fall Symposium in 2017. Puerta’s exhibit focused on overlooked and under-recognized Latino women and men who labor on farms.

21c Museum Hotel Gift Helps Feature Works at SFA Symposiums

Thought-Provoking Art JULY 1, 2019 BY MARY STANTON KNIGHT When giving a dinner party, the host often installs a centerpiece that ties together the theme of the evening. Thanks to a major gift from the 21c Museum Hotels, the Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) will continue to showcase Contemporary artists as the centerpiece of its annual […]

Steve Palmer leads a presentation.

An Appetite for Excellence

Restaurateur’s gift will help ensure longevity of UM Southern Foodways Alliance MARCH 26, 2019 BY BILL DABNEY When restaurateur Steve Palmer overheard one of his servers say she’d like to buy a home if only she had the down payment, he started a company-wide home loan program. “We loan our employees their down-payment interest-free,” said […]

The University of Mississippi is included in the elite group of R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity released Monday in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the definitive list of the top doctoral research universities in the United States. Photo by Robert Jordan

University Endowment Builds to All-time High of $715 Million

Strong investment returns, generosity of alumni and friends spurs growth AUGUST 29, 2018 BY TINA H. HAHN The University of Mississippi’s permanent endowment grew in its latest fiscal year to an all-time high of $715 million, thanks in part to the seventh consecutive year of new gifts of $100 million or more. Private support totaled […]

California couple Lynne Ann DeSpelder and Albert Lee Strickland are including in their estate plans support for two UM endowments.

Couple’s Planned Gift to Support Two UM Endowments

GIVING IN PERPETUITY JULY 20, 2018  By BILL DABNEY Lynne Ann DeSpelder and Albert Lee Strickland of Capitola, California, have partnered on many projects throughout their lives and someday, even in death, their collaboration will continue when their planned estate gift will support two programs at the University of Mississippi. The husband and wife will […]

Ava Lowrey’s film ‘Johnny’s Greek and Three,’ looks at Chef Tim Hontzas and the role of Greek-southern families in shaping Birmingham, Alabama dining.

Foodways Studies Come of Age as a Respected Discipline

Work at UM Center for the Study of Southern Culture includes conferences, books and films JUNE 25, 2018 BY REBECCA LAUCK CLEARY In the conclusion of “The Larder: Food Studies Methods from the American South,” co-editor Ted Ownby writes that it seems likely it will be the last collection of food studies scholarship that must justify […]

Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Honors UM Center

Southern studies staff lauded for work on Mississippi Encyclopedia, foodways studies JUNE 15, 2018 BY REBECCA LAUCK CLEARY The University of Mississippi Center for the Study of Southern Culture garnered two awards at this year’s Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters awards banquet, held June 2 at Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson. MIAL presented Ted […]

Professor Receives Fulbright Award

Catarina Passidomo to spend four months in 2019 in Peru MARCH 16, 2018 BY REBECCA LAUCK CLEARY University of Mississippi professor Catarina Passidomo is looking forward to traveling to Lima, Peru, to teach and conduct research in 2019 as the recipient of a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award. While in Lima, the UM assistant professor of […]

John T. Edge (center) spends time with (from left) UM development officer Nikki Neely, Sharon Vitter, Nick Pihakis and UM Chancellor Jeff Vitter. The university has matched a $1 million pledge by Pihakis to support the work of the Southern Foodways Alliance and honor Edge’s leadership. Submitted photo

University Accepts Challenge of Alabama Restaurateur

Major gift supports future of Southern Foodways Alliance, honors longtime director FEBRUARY 10, 2018 BY BILL DABNEY The University of Mississippi has matched a recent $1 million pledge from Alabama restaurateur Nick Pihakis to the Southern Foodways Alliance as a way to demonstrate mutual appreciation of the alliance’s work and the leadership of longtime director […]