As Vice Chancellor for University Relations, Dr. Gloria Kellum is the chief advancement officer with overall responsibility for communications and fund raising on behalf of the university.

A member of the UM faculty since 1966, she earned a bachelor’s degree in speech language pathology and audiology from LSU, followed by a master’s degree in speech pathology two years later–returning to LSU to earn a doctorate in 1981. Dr. Kellum helped launch the speech and hearing program at Ole Miss that has grown into the Department of Communicative Disorders, a nationally accredited educational and clinical program whose graduates serve as speech-language pathologists and audiologists, improving the lives of countless children and adults throughout the nation.

At age 32, she was the first woman and the youngest person to receive the university’s Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teaching Award. Her professional accomplishments include 20 referred articles, 15 indexes, reviews and state publications, 44 national presentations and workshops, four book chapters, and 28 research and teaching grants totaling more than $900,000, with significant funding from the National Institutes of Health. As a faculty member, she served five terms on the Faculty Senate, chaired many university-wide committees and initiatives, and mentored more than 2,000 students.

In 1996 Dr. Kellum was asked by Chancellor Khayat to join the leadership team and direct the university’s sesquicentennial celebration and its capital gifts campaign. She was named Vice Chancellor for University Relations in 1998 and directed the Commitment to Excellence Campaign that raised $525.9 million in private gifts. The university’s endowment has nearly tripled under her leadership.

Dr. Kellum helped establish and now oversees the operations of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts, and the Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy.

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