Dean's Message on the Campaign for Engineering

The vision of the Ole Miss School of Engineering is that it will be, and be recognized as, among the best engineering schools in the South. This follows naturally from The University of Mississippi's continued commitment to be one of the great American public universities. In order to realize the economic potential of the state of Mississippi, more quality engineers are needed. Engineering education is also an excellent background for the study of law, business, and medicine, as well as those who wish to go into public service.

Our School has many strengths - talented faculty, high quality students, national reputation in a number of research areas, and highly successful and supportive alumni.

Many of our alumni have held leadership positions in the engineering profession. They considered their Ole Miss engineering education a key to their success - the firm grounding in engineering fundamentals, principles, and design; the personal interaction with professors made effective by the low student-to-faculty ratio; and the high quality broad-based education drawing on the Ole Miss liberal arts tradition.

We are committed to continuing a heritage of educating leaders in engineering and to moving to the next level of excellence as expressed in the school's vision, mission, and goal statements. This commitment presents a major challenge, especially in view of recent cutback in state funding for higher education.

As part of the School's plan to achieve its goals and objectives, the School of Engineering has embarked on a campaign to raise $25 million to strengthen its education, research, and service operations in ways that will have a far-reaching impact on the school, the university, the state, and the mid-south. The impact include:
   · substantially increasing enrollment and faculty in the next 10 years
   · enhancing the school's status and reputation
   · expanding distance learning capabilities for business and industry
   · increasing research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students
   · dramatically enhancing the ability to attract research grants and contracts
   · creating an infrastructure for an Engineering Research Center to focus of technology transfer
   · attracting high-tech businesses to Mississippi.

The Campaign has the full support of Chancellor Robert Khayat, Provost Carolyn Staton, Vice Chancellor for University Relations Dr. Gloria Kellum, and Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs Dr. Alice Clark, who have made the Campaign for Engineering one of the top priorities of the University. With the support of our alumni and friends, we are confident of its success.

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