Tri-State Establishes Pharmacy Scholarship

From left: David D. Allen, Jackson Haines, Sarah Catherine Haines and D.D. Walker-Haines Lambert / Photo Courtesy of University Communications

From University Communications

Donation honors the memory of alumnus Jim Haines

The Tri-State Educational Foundation has established the James Robert Haines Memorial Scholarship at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy.

TSEF has pledged $5,000 per year to the scholarship, starting with the 2013-14 school year. The scholarship will be awarded to pharmacy students in good standing who demonstrate financial needs, with first consideration going to Iuka and Tishomingo County residents.

“I’m very thankful to TSEF for their gift to the School of Pharmacy,” said David D. Allen, the school’s dean. “They have demonstrated time and time again that they are committed to the students at the University of Mississippi. I’m so pleased that our pharmacy students will be able to benefit from their generosity.”

An Iuka native, James “Jim” Robert Haines graduated from the pharmacy school in 1985. He practiced pharmacy at St. Joseph Hospital in Memphis and Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital in Florence, Ala. Pharmacy was a large part of Haines’ life and he was dedicated to finding the best treatments for his patients, said his wife and TSEF board member D.D. Walker-Haines Lambert

“As Jim finished school and moved to Memphis to work at St. Joseph’s, he found he had a true passion for hospital pharmacy,” Lambert said. “He loved compounding and working with doctors on ‘concocting’ certain treatments. He loved the puzzles that cropped up from time to time and figuring them out. Jim was truly talented in that area. I think that brought him joy.”

Haines died in 2001, leaving behind two children, Sarah Catherine and Jackson.

“I wanted to donate to the pharmacy school in memory of Jim because when I was given the opportunity to choose a place to give a scholarship, my mind kept coming back to the UM School of Pharmacy,” Lambert said. “My family has deep roots in the pharmacy school; beyond Jim, his brother Carter Haines (PharmD 95), his uncle Frank Burns (BSPh 53), his sister-in-law Jackie Haines (BSPh 81), his brother-in-law Jerry S. Walker (BSPh 00) and his cousin Ben Burns (BSPh 94) all went through the pharmacy school. It just seemed natural to choose the school as my recipient.”

Retired school superintendent Bob Ferguson and his wife, retired schoolteacher Sylvia Ferguson, both of New Albany, established TSEF in 1999. Combined, they have served the school districts of Corinth, Columbia, Marion County, Long Beach, Pass Christian, Picayune and Tishomingo County in Mississippi, and the Kansas City School District in Kansas.

TSEF provides financial support to those who seek ways to better themselves through educational measures. The foundation’s goal is to reach people who have a desire to continue their education but do not have the financial means to do so. The foundation supports 18 counties in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee, all within a 50-mile radius of Iuka. To date, TSEF has contributed $1,225,075 to Ole Miss in the form of student scholarships. –– ERIN GARRETT