Jackson Free Press

Mississippi State University wants to increase diversity in its faculty, students and alumni. While the school has added more blacks and more women leaders, at least one administrator recognizes that the university has room for more.

Jimmy Abraham, executive director of the MSU Alumni Association, answered questions about "the people's university" this morning during Friday Forum at Koinonia Coffee House.

"We don't have as many black alumni as we would like," Abraham said. Among the school's vice presidents, none are blacks or women, although former Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck is executive director of campus operations and Tommy Stevenson Jr., an African American, is director of diversity and equity at MSU.

Historically, MSU, based out of Starkville, has had more men than women students, but this fall, a slight shift of 1 percent brought the balance on campus to 50-50, Abraham said. About 20 percent of students enrolled now at Mississippi State are black.

"More black students means more black alumni," Abraham said.

Abraham didn't have particulars about how the university is looking to improve diversity in its leadership, but he does know a lot about recruiting students. For 24 years, he worked in student recruiting at MSU.

"Many of our students are on financial aid. We need to reward students academically, like we do athletically," he said. "Our scholarship program is better now."

He is predicting a bumper crop of freshman this fall based on early applications and other indicators such as campus visits and requests for information. He expects 21,000 applications to come in.

Abraham advised that students approach a meeting with a college recruiter like a job interview and own up to any problems--such as a bad grade. He encourages to have an explanation for it that tells a story about that student.

"You are looking at a dropout," he told the crowd this morning. He went to college, but he didn't do well because, as he puts it, he was too busy playing around. His mom and dad decided he needed to get a job instead. For eight months, he worked in a men's clothing store with a MSU alum who insisted that Abraham should not only go back to school, but should become a Bulldog. "You'll love it," Abraham said the man told him.

He did go back to school, enrolling at MSU and graduating in 1975. He credits the former co-worker with pushing him on his path. He said surveys of students and alumni at MSU show that people remember when others take time to help them. An example he gave is when a student goes in a professor's office and she puts the phone down and treats the student as more important than the call.

"It's the little things," Abraham said. Those good feelings can add up to more alumni donations to the school. About 19 percent of MSU alumni donate money to the school, he said, while the national average is closer to 12 percent.

In private support, MSU raised $80 million last year, Abraham said. "Our athletic department was a big part of that--$37 million."

The campus has a master plan to renovate historic buildings and construct new ones. The projects in the plan total $529 million. One of the new buildings is a 60,000-square-foot classroom hall that would include 200 parking spaces underneath it, Abraham said. He also mentioned an $80 million stadium expansion that should be completed in time for the 2014 season opener against the University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles.

MSU has 92 alumni chapters in the United States and one in Seoul, South Korea. Abraham recently visited the Korean chapter. "They were wearing maroon caps, and they were ringing cow bells," he said. The alumni had collected $7,000 in $100 bills and gave it to Abraham to cover his travel expenses. "And if there was any left over, they said 'We want to start a student scholarship for a Korean student,'" he said.

MSU is about to open its 93rd stateside chapter in Tuscaloosa, Ala., home of the University of Alabama. "You'd be surprised how many bulldogs we have there," Abraham said.