Chapters: Where Service to the W Begins

By Jane Dearing Dennis

The gift of service — time, talent, energy and expertise — is one of the most significant contributions alumni make to our alma mater. Members of Mississippi’s First Alumnae Association chapters continue to discover new and exciting ways to “give back” to our much-loved Mississippi University for Women.

Hundreds of prospective students were introduced to the W thanks to a group of Arkansas alumnae who gave of their time and staffed a table at a college fair for high school students in Little Rock in October. When it was learned that the university’s Office of Admissions was unable to send a representative to the event, Pat Parish Acklin ’78, Sarah Beeler Golden ’02 and Jane Dearing Dennis ’80 — all members of the MFAeA’s Arkansas Chapter —†offered their services. Working in cooperation with the Admissions office, the alums greeted students and parents, distributed printed materials, answered questions and secured the names and contact information of more than a dozen prospective students, including two W legacy students.

“As a former recruiter for the W, I was happy to go to the College Night,” said Acklin, a preschool teacher. “Our university offers a unique college environment, predominately educating women, that I wanted to let current high school students and their parents know about and be able to talk with someone representing MUW. So if the admissions office was unable to send a recruiter from campus, then who better to talk with than alumnae?”

Golden said she was excited to participate “because the W is a very special place for me. Not only did I receive a superior education, but also the W provided an atmosphere for me to grow as a person and as a woman.†So I get excited to potentially expose other women (and smart men, too) to the fabulous opportunities available at the W.”

The Arkansas alumnae were pleased to lend a hand to the Admissions Office and enable the W to have a presence at an event teeming with prospective students.

Members of the Lowndes County MFAeA Chapter organized and provided major funding for a Jan. 11 bus trip from Columbus to Jackson for “W Day at the Capitol.” More than 100 students, faculty, alums, community and business leaders met with legislators at the state Capitol and later at a reception hosted by Friends of the W. Acclaimed MUW alumna Toni Seawright gave dazzling vocal performances at both events. Seawright, who was Miss MUW, Miss Mississippi and fourth runner-up to Miss America, is currently a singer and entertainer in New York City. The events garnered extensive news coverage and turned the spotlight on the W and its loyal alums.

Fund raising is certainly an important gift to the university. A host of MFAeA chapters hold fund raisers and other events in order to provide much-needed scholarships and financial aid for W students.

The Atlanta Mag Chain Chapter in Georgia is proving distance is no object when it comes to showing support of the W. Members have selected as their project of choice the Oral History project of the MUW Center for Women’s Research and Public Policy. The chapter is raising money in order to fund travel of student interviewers so more histories and stories from the W’s Golden Girls can be documented.

“This kind of support is invaluable, because sometimes just being able to pay for a tank of gas will allow students to interview alumnae who might not otherwise be reached,” said center director Bridget Smith Pieschel ’79. “With their donations, the Atlanta alums are helping us preserve invaluable memories of MUW and Mississippi history.”

So it seems that whether singing a song, speaking to high school students or organizing a bus trip, W alumnae and MFAeA’s chapters serve our beloved MUW with boundless energy, enthusiasm and creativity.

Jane Dearing Dennis, a member of the MUW Class of 1980, lives in Little Rock, AR, and is a freelance writer and antique dealer.