Zacharias to present commencemment speech

In one of the last major duties of his concluding 12-year tenure, President Donald Zacharias will give Mississippi State's Dec. 12 commencement address.

Some 1,150 university students are candidates for degrees at the conclusion of the 1997 fall semester. Graduation exercises will begin at 10 a.m. in Humphrey Coliseum.

Zacharias is the university's 15th-and second longest serving-chief executive. Only Stephen D. Lee, the institution's first president, served longer at 19 years.

An Indiana native, Zacharias came to the university in 1985 after serving for six years as president of Western Kentucky University. From the beginning of his time in Mississippi, he has been a leading spokesman for higher education.

During his presidency, the university's enrollment reached more than 15,000, a state record. In the area of private support, the university recently completed its first major gifts drive, a five-year effort that resulted in commitments of $143 million. As for construction of new or renovation of existing structures, $100 million in projects are either under way or about to begin.

Active in higher education leadership circles, Zacharias has been a member of the executive and steering committees of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. He also served as president of the Southeastern Conference for intercollegiate athletics.

In 1992, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Higher Education awarded him the Justin Smith Morrill Medal. The award is named for the 19th century congressman who fathered legislation that created the national land-grant education system. Zacharias currently is a member of the Commission on the Future of the South.

Zacharias holds a bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Georgetown (Ky.) College. He received master's and doctoral degrees in communication from Indiana University.