Alumni News

Anna Lauren Heavener, transfer admissions counselor at the University of Mississippi, is a Phi Theta Kappa Faculty Scholar for the organization’s 2020 Honors Institute. Photo by Kevin Bain

Admissions Counselor Named Phi Theta Kappa Faculty Scholar

Anna Lauren Heavener recognized for excellent service to transfer students JANUARY 9, 2020 BY EDWIN B. SMITH A transfer admissions counselor at the University of Mississippi has been selected by Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society to serve as a faculty scholar for the organization’s 2020 summer conference. Anna Lauren Heavener is among 30 PTK […]

Anne Twitty (left), associate professor of history, greets students during the Department of History’s undergraduate open house outside of Bishop Hall on the Oxford campus.

UM History Department Receives Major Gift

Preserving History DECEMBER 9, 2019 BY BILL DABNEY A $150,000 gift to the University of Mississippi’s Arch Dalrymple III Department of History has better positioned the department to embrace long-range opportunities, such as supporting faculty with their research and teaching goals. The unrestricted gift, for example, may be used to offset expenses associated with faculty […]

Wi-Fi for Warriors: UM Alumni Help Deployed Soldiers Stay in Touch

Nonprofit organization helps fund internet access, provide streaming for members of military NOVEMBER 12, 2019 BY EDWIN B. SMITH Members of the military make incredible sacrifices when deployed to serve their country, but a group of University of Mississippi alumni wants to make sure that staying in touch with their families doesn’t have to be […]

A Tale of Three Alumni

UM English majors connect the dots between classroom and career OCTOBER 31, 2019 BY ABIGAIL MEISEL It is the best of times for English majors. They are entering a job market that values clear communication in writing and speaking, critical analysis, editing, and sensitivity in understanding differing perspectives—among a host of skills students develop by […]

Donald Cole (left), former UM mathematics professor and special assistant to the chancellor, attends a research conference with UM McNair Scholars Latriece Johnson and Skylyn Irby, and Sandra Spiroff, an associate professor of mathematics at Ole Miss.

Within Their Reach: McNair Scholarships Help Disadvantaged Students

For almost 25 years, UM program has supported, empowered minorities seeking doctoral degrees OCTOBER 16, 2019 BY EDWIN B. SMITH Before Victoria Robinson became a student at the University of Mississippi, no one in her family had ever furthered their education beyond a bachelor’s degree. The idea of going to graduate school and pursuing a […]

Meet the Mississippi Department of Education's Teacher of the Year: UM alumna Hannah Gadd Ardrey, a teacher at Lafayette Middle School in Oxford.

Teacher of the Year Credits Scholarships for Success

Just Four Years Out of Ole Miss, Educator is Making a Difference OCTOBER 16, 2019 BY MARY STANTON KNIGHT Years before she was selected as the Mississippi Department of Education’s 2019-2020 Mississippi Teacher of the Year, Hannah Gadd Ardrey was a student with a dream of attending college. Gadd Ardrey has been teaching for five […]

The Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy has named Dr. Jane-Claire Williams (far left) as the 2019 Emerging Young Philanthropist. On hand to congratulate her were Judy Trott (center), former dean of students at the University of Mississippi, and Candie Simmons, an OMWC member.

Williams Honored as Emerging Philanthropist

Ole Miss Women’s Council Celebrates UM Alumna’s ‘Spirit of Giving’ OCTOBER 4, 2019 BY JONATHAN SCOTT One Christmas Eve afternoon when Dr. Jane-Claire Williams was 9 years old, her family piled into their car and drove from their home in Jackson to a neighborhood in another part of town where homes were smaller and the […]

Survival of the Weakest

Professor Brice Noonan Puts a New Spin on Evolutionary Biology SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 BY ABIGAIL MEISEL When he was a teenager in south Florida, Brice Noonan discovered a new love that ultimately shaped the course of his life. “I became enamored of frogs in high school,” said Noonan, an associate professor in the Department of […]

UM graduate J.P. Lawrence shows off clay models of dyeing poison frogs used in his work. He and a team of researchers began studying variations in color signals of the frogs in 2013 in French Guiana. The team has published its results in the Sept. 3 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Biology Alumnus Publishes Research in Prestigious Journal

National Academy of Sciences publication features article co-authored by J.P. Lawrence SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 BY EDWIN SMITH The biology research of a multinational team, led by a University of Mississippi alumnus, has been selected for publication in a prestigious international science journal. UM graduate J.P. Lawrence, a postdoctoral researcher of ecology and evolutionary biology at […]

Renvy Pittman (center) enjoys spending time with the Grove Scholars whenever she visits campus. Here, she’s pictured with alumni of the program — the 2018 seniors (from left) Jontae Warren, Devante Yates, Jessica Cole, Rashad Collier, Deshauntra Green, Bre O’Neal and Myrical Taylor. In back are Maura Scully Murry, director of the FASTrack Learning Community, and E. Gray Flora IV, director of Grove Scholars and senior academic mentor for FASTrack.

Pittman Gift Sparks George Hall Renovation

A Place to Thrive SEPTEMBER 9, 2019 BY BILL DABNEY Every time Renvy Pittman travels to the University of Mississippi she makes a point to visit her favorite students – the entering freshmen selected to participate in the Grove Scholars program. In 2014, support from Pittman – a Los Angeles, California, resident and UM alumna […]