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Mississippi College Welcomes Faculty and Staff at 2015 Convocation


MC Student Government Association leaders were out in full force at Friday's convocation on the Clinton campus.

Retired professors Shelton Hand, Jr., Kirk Ford and Ted Snazelle logged more than a century working at Mississippi College.

Hundreds of MC faculty and staff applauded their splendid service spanning 114 years to the Baptist-affiliated university.

“They were amazing,” Graduate School Dean Debbie Norris said of the distinguished trio of educators. All three men were honored at Friday’s Fall Convocation by being granted professor emeritus status.

Hand retired from teaching at the Mississippi College School of Law in 2013 after 38 years of service to the law school. He devoted a total of 44 years to MC. Hand joined Mississippi College in 1969 as general counsel. At the law school in Jackson, he mentored many aspiring young lawyers

Ceremonies at Swor Auditorium coincided with Hand’s 50th wedding anniversary.

Ford joined the MC faculty in 1980. The former Department of History and Political Science chairman became the first president of the Faculty Council in 1993. In 2012, Ford was chosen the recipient of the Carol West Faculty Advocacy Award.

Snazelle also arrived as an MC professor in 1980 and served as chairman of the Department of Biological Sciences from 1996 to 2002. The Hederman Science microbiology lab was named in his honor following extensive renovations. A member of First Baptist Church Clinton for 35 years, Snazelle serves as a deacon and teaches a Sunday School Class.

In addition to saluting three longtime MC family members, university leaders welcomed more than 500 employees.

With fall classes to open on August 26, Mississippi College President Lee Royce spoke of a growing institution that added 42 new academic programs since he arrived in 2002. The list includes the Physician Assistant program, doctorates in educational leadership and professional counseling, plus more on-line classes.

As America’s second oldest Baptist university gets ready to mark its 190th anniversary in January 2016, MC has been blessed by a construction renaissance.

Costing $16 million, University Place residence halls opened at ribbon-cutting ceremonies on August 14. The eight units will have room for 189 students and come equipped with French balconies and the latest high-tech amenities. The brick facilities on the East Campus are the first new residence halls at MC in nearly two decades.

Mississippi College has spent $73 million on renovations of its campus facilities during the Royce era.

The final head count on Mississippi College’s fall enrollment will be announced on September 1. There were 5,050 students attending classes last fall.

With new residence halls, and MC in the second year of its transition to NCAA Division II sports, officials are delighted to see enrollment on the upswing.

“We are experiencing tremendous momentum with our enrollment growth,” says Mark Hughes, dean of enrollment services. “The word is out in the student market that we are an affordable option.”

Mississippi College ranked 8th in a survey of America’s 50 most affordable Christian colleges by Christian Universities Online.

New freshman like Liz Skirkey, 18, of Merrimack, New Hampshire wanted to attend a Christian college where she could study interior design. She did a Google search, discovered Mississippi College and convinced her parents to let her visit the Clinton campus. Liz quickly fell in love with MC.

 Although the New England resident is moving more than 1,000 miles from her home, “I knew that MC was an answer to prayer for me and my family.”