Development names three to fund-raising staff

Smith

Trevathan

Vaughn

The Office of Development recently added three new members to its fund-raising staff.

Lori Smith of Starkville is the new director of the Fund for Excellence program. Elizabeth Trevathan of Knoxville, Tenn., and Deborah S. Vaughn of Pheba are new directors for development for the colleges of Arts and Sciences and Business and Industry, respectively.

Smith, who received a bachelor's degree in marketing in 1993 and a master's of business administration in 1997 from Mississippi State, most recently was interim director of annual giving at the university. Before that, she was coordinator of chapter activities for the MSU Alumni Association.

She has been a marketing instructor at East Mississippi Community College and, while in graduate school at MSU, was telemarketing supervisor for the alumni association.

In her new capacity, she is responsible for developing and implementing the Fund for Excellence alumni annual giving program, designed to carry financial support for the university to new levels.

Trevathan, originally of Starkville, comes to her current position from WBIR-TV in Knoxville, where she was an account executive. She previously was an account executive at WTOK-TV in Meridian.

While a student at Mississippi State, she was a Harry S. Truman Scholars national finalist, president of Mortar Board National Honor Society, and chief of staff for the Student Association. She graduated magna cum laude with a degree in economics in 1994. Trevathan has served as an officer for the Meridian Chapter of the MSU Alumni Association.

Vaughn originally joined development in March 1998 as director of the Patrons of Excellence program.

Graduating cum laude, she earned a bachelor's degree from Mississippi State in business education in 1986 and pursued postgraduate work at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. Before coming to MSU, Vaughn spent nine years at International Thomson Publishing Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio, serving as the company's national marketing services manager.