A former employee who turned 100 in February has donated $30,000 to the university.
The contribution made by Ouida Midkiff Burrus of Winona will support students in the department of home economics and the department of landscape architecture. Burrus made an additional $1,000 donation to start the scholarship fund in the fall.
A 20-year employee of the Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service at the university, Burrus named the scholarships in memory of two former colleagues. The Burrus-Key Endowed Scholarship in Home Economics honors the late Ida Morgan Key, a former MCES associate. The Burrus-Pittman Endowed Scholarship in Landscape Architecture honors the late Myrtis Gill Pittman, a former MCES secretary.
Timothy Curry, a senior food nutrition and dietetics major from Biloxi, is the first recipient of the Burrus-Key Scholarship. The Burrus-Pittman Scholarship recipient is Robert Kelly Trussell of Vicksburg, a senior landscape contracting and landscape architecture major.
Burrus scholarships will be available for full-time Mississippi State students in one of the two disciplines who maintain a minimum 3.0 grade-point average, or high school students who study in one of the areas and have attained a B average.
From 1927 to 1947, Burrus worked for the MCES, first as a home demonstration agent in Lowndes County and later as a campus extension specialist in clothing. She has long been a financial supporter of the university's scholarship program.
"Mrs. Burrus had an outstanding record of dedication, loyalty, integrity, and service while she worked with the extension service," said Charlie Weatherly, development officer for the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine. "She spent many days traveling across Mississippi promoting the aims and objectives of the extension service and improving the lives of many Mississippians."
Burrus received birthday congratulations from President Bill Clinton, Gov. Kirk Fordice, and gifts and letters from Mississippi State President Donald Zacharias and from students and faculty of the College of Agriculture and Home Economics.
This World Wide Web version of MSU Memo was modified and updated by Chris Brown.
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Last modified: Friday, 14-Jun-2002 15:59:05 CDT.
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