Connect with us

Featured

Distinguished Alumni to Share Insights at UM Honors Convocation

Published

on

By Edwin B. Smith

University of Mississippi

Patrick Woodyard. Submitted photo

A trio of successful Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College alumni are returning to the University of Mississippi on Thursday (Oct. 13) for the fall Honors Convocation.

The theme for the convocation is “The Transformational Power of Honors Education at the University of Mississippi.” Former NASA engineer Markeeva Morgan, Nisolo founder-CEO Patrick Woodyard, and poet and teacher Sarah Barch-Gill are featured speakers for the event, which is part of the college’s 25th anniversary celebration.

The convocation begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts. Admission is free and open to the public, and tickets are not required.

“The Honors College has helped us recruit some of the brightest minds from across the world,” said Ethel Scurlock, the college’s dean. “We have been able to provide a space for students to advance their critical thinking skills, learn in small classrooms that encourage creativity and independent thought, and financially support student research and travel.

“The Honors College is helping our students gain the experiences they need to be accepted into top graduate and professional programs.”

Several student leaders are also slated to speak. They include Edrei Peña and Deshauna Lee Vaughn, co-presidents of the Honors College Minority Engagement Council; Andy Flores, a 2022 Truman Scholar and president of the First-Generation Student Network; Sepp Cecil, director of the Honors Senate; and Lila Osman, Associated Student Body president.

A member of the first class of SMBHC graduates, Morgan has earned a reputation as an innovative leader in the U.S. Navy, at NASA and at Boeing, where he leads two divisions. 

Inducted into the Ole Miss Student Hall of Fame his senior year and honored with the 2007 Outstanding Young Alumni award, Morgan earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from UM, master’s in engineering management from the Catholic University of America and doctorate in systems engineering from George Washington University.

He serves on the boards for the UM Center for Manufacturing Excellence and the University Research Foundation. Morgan was selected as the inaugural Emerging Young Philanthropist by the Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy in 2018. He is an executive sponsor for the Dallas-Fort Worth and Oklahoma City chapters of the Boeing Black Employees Association.

Morgan is a PMI-certified project management professional and was awarded the 2010 Modern Day Technology Award and 2021 Science Spectrum Trailblazer Award at the annual Black Engineer of the Year Awards.

An innovative entrepreneur, Woodyard is committed to issues that Ole Miss students care about: environmental sustainability, global impact, entrepreneurship and service to others. 

After studying global economics, business and Spanish, he moved to Peru to work in microfinance. There, he met shoemakers whose reality of low wages and unsafe working conditions reflected much of what the fashion industry experiences.

Dedicated to demonstrating 100% living wages and 0% net carbon, he founded Nisolo with the vision to offer customers comfortable, functional, high-quality products while manufacturing them in a manner that champions the well-being of people and the planet. Nisolo supports the livelihoods of more than 1,500 individuals in Peru, Mexico, Brazil, the U.S. and Kenya.

At Ole Miss, Woodyard co-founded and led several organizations, and was inducted into the UM Hall of Fame. Among other accolades, he has received the university’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award and has been named a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, an “Innovator Changing the South” and a Global Accelerator Entrepreneur by the United Nations.

A 2020 graduate with a bachelor’s in English and minors in art and classics, Barch-Gill is making a name for herself as a poet and teacher. 

A second-year MFA candidate in poetry at the University of Arkansas, she is working on a collection of revised fairy tales that explore absurdity as a vehicle for thinking about gender and trauma.

Jim and Sally Barksdale worked with Chancellor Emeritus Robert Khayat and late Provost Carolyn Stanton to establish the Honors College in 1997 with their largest philanthropic gift ever to the university. When Sally died in 2003, the Honors College was renamed in her memory. 

Jim Barksdale’s gifts to the Honors College total more than $36 million. He also has provided support for numerous other programs on campus and at the UM Medical Center.

The college houses more than 1,600 undergraduate students from all of the university’s schools and College of Liberal Arts. The Honors College program features an increasing number of in-depth courses, opportunities for experiential learning in the U.S. and abroad, and avenues for effective engagement with community concerns.


Sports Editor

2024 Ole Miss Football

Sat, Aug 31Furman Logovs Furman W, 76-0
Sat, Sep 7Middle Tennessee Logovs Middle TennesseeW, 52-3
Sat, Sep 14Wake Forest Logo@ Wake ForestW, 40-6
Sat, Sep 21Georgia Southern Logovs Georgia SouthernW, 52-13
Sat, Sep 28Kentucky Logovs KentuckyL, 20-17
Sat, Oct 5South Carolina Logo@ South CarolinaW, 27-3
Sat, Oct 12LSU Logovs LSUL, 29-26 (2 OT)
Sat, Oct 26Oklahoma Logovs OklahomaW, 26-14
Sat, Nov 2Arkansas Logo@ ArkansasW, 63-35
Sat, Nov 16Georgia Logovs GeorgiaW, 28-10
Sat, Nov 23Florida Logo@ FloridaL, 24-17
Sat, Nov 30Mississippi State Logovs Mississippi StateW, 26-14
Thu, Jan 2Duke Logovs Duke (Gator Bowl)W, 52-20

Ole Miss Men’s Basketball

Mon, Nov 4Long Island University Logovs Long Island University W, 90-60
Fri, Nov 8Grambling Logovs GramblingW, 66-64
Tue, Nov 12South Alabama Logovs South AlabamaW, 64-54
Sat, Nov 16Colorado State Logovs Colorado StateW, 84-69
Thu, Nov 21Oral Roberts Logovs Oral RobertsL, 100-68
Thu, Nov 28BYU Logovs BYUW, 96-85 OT
Fri, Nov 29Purdue Logovs 13 PurdueL, 80-78
Tue, Dec 3Louisville Logo@ LouisvilleW, 86-63
Sat, Dec 7Lindenwood Logovs LindenwoodW, 86-53
Sat, Dec 14Georgia Logovs Southern MissW, 77-46
Tue, Dec 17Southern Logovs SouthernW, 74-61
Sat, Dec 21Queens University Logovs Queens UniversityW, 80-62
Sat, Dec 28Memphis Logo@ MemphisL, 87-70
Sat, Jan 4Georgia Logovs Georgia11:00 AM
SECN
Wed, Jan 8Arkansas Logo@ 23 Arkansas6:00 PM
TBA
Sat, Jan 11LSU Logovs LSU5:00 PM
SECN
Tue, Jan 14Alabama Logo@ 5 Alabama6:00 PM
TBA
Sat, Jan 18Mississippi State Logo@ 17 Mississippi State5:00 PM
TBA
Wed, Jan 22Texas A&M State Logovs 13 Texas A&M8:00 PM
TBA
Sat, Jan 25Missouri Logo@ Missouri5:00 PM
SECN
Wed, Jan 29Texas Logovs Texas8:00 PM
ESPN2
Sat, Feb 1Auburn Logovs 2 Auburn3:00 PM
TBA
Tue, Feb 4Kentucky Logovs 10 Kentucky6:00 PM
ESPN
Sat, Feb 8LSU Logo@ LSU7:30 PM
SECN
Wed, Feb 12South Carolina Logo@ South Carolina6:00 PM
SECN
Sat, Feb 15Mississippi State Logovs 17 Mississippi State5:00 PM
TBA
Sat, Feb 22Auburn Logo@ Vanderbilt2:30 PM
SECN
Wed, Feb 26Auburn Logo@ 2 Auburn6:00 PM
TBA
Sat, Mar 1Oklahoma Logovs 12 Oklahoma1:00 PM
TBA
Wed, Mar 5Tennessee Logovs 1 Tennessee8:00 PM
TBA
Sat, Mar 8Florida Logo@ 6 Florida5:00 PM
SECN

@ COPYRIGHT 2024 BY HT MEDIA LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. HOTTYTODDY.COM IS AN INDEPENT DIGITAL ENTITY NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI.