Gov. Phil Bryant and Dr. Jim Futral Address 2012 Mississippi College Convocation

Gov. Phil Bryant

Gov. Phil Bryant and Dr. Jim Futral, executive director of the Mississippi Baptist Convention, will be the guest speakers at a program to open Mississippi College’s 187^th academic year.

Both Mississippi College graduates, Bryant and Futral will address the 2012 Faculty and Staff Convocation August 17 at MC’s Swor Auditorium. The event on Friday begins at 10 a.m. on the Clinton campus.

Sworn in as Mississippi’s 64^th governor on January 10, 2012, Bryant was elected in November 2011 after the Republican captured 62 percent of the vote. He previously served as Mississippi’s lieutenant governor and as state auditor.

A former MC political science instructor, Bryant and Futral will return to their alma mater on a special occasion. They will be here as part of the Christian university’s tribute to President Lee Royce, who recently completed a decade as MC’s leader after serving as president of Anderson University in South Carolina.

It’s an event to celebrate Dr. Royce’s ten years of leadership, dedication and commitment to Mississippi College.

Under Royce’s leadership, MC raised $87.4 million for its Growing the Vision campaign, saw soaring enrollments reach a record of nearly 5,300 students last August, and experienced a construction boom.

Expected to attract a number of alumni, student leaders, trustees, and other MC supporters, the program Friday morning will be followed by lunch for faculty and staff compliments of Campus Dining, Inc., the university’s food service provider.

Look for Saturday to be another busy day at Mississippi College as hundreds of students begin moving into residence halls. Christian humorist Dennis Swanberg will speak to entering freshmen, transfers and their parents that afternoon at 3 p.m. in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church, Clinton.