Millsaps College
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Millsaps College is a private liberal arts college in Jackson, Mississippi, supported by the United Methodist Church. The college was founded by a Confederate veteran, Major Reuben Webster Millsaps in 1889-90 by the donation of the college's land and $50,000. Dr. William B. Murrah was the college's first president, and Bishop Charles B. Galloway of the United Methodist Church organized the college's early fundraising efforts. Both men now have halls named after them. Major Millsaps and his wife are both interred in a tomb on campus. Dr. Frances Lucas, Millsaps' current President, was named to her position in 2000 and is the 10th person to hold the Millsaps position of President. She is the first female President of Millsaps in the college's history.
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| Motto: Ad Excellentiam” | |
| President | Frances Lucas |
| School type | Private |
| Religious affiliation | Methodist |
| Founded | 1890 |
| Location | Jackson, Mississippi |
| Enrollment | 1,086 undergraduate, 60 graduate, 1,146 total |
| Faculty | 92 full-time faculty |
| Campus surroundings | URBAN |
| Campus size | 103 acres (417,000 m²) |
| Mascot | The Millsaps Major |
Contents |
Academics
Despite its religious affiliation, the curriculum is secular. This has been a source of criticism among many Mississippians, who see Millsaps as an extremely liberal school. All students have a writing-intensive core curriculum they must complete to graduate which includes a writing portfolio that is to be completed before a student can finish their sophomore year. Millsaps offers B.S., B.A., B.B.A., and M.B.A. degrees and corresponding programs. Millsaps sends large numbers of graduates to graduate schools, law school, and medical school.
The current undergraduate population is around 1100 students on 103 acres (417,000 m²) of campus in downtown Jackson, Mississippi. The student to faculty ratio is 12:1 with the average class size being 15 students. Millsaps offers 28 academic majors and has 19 different academic departments. Approximately 99% of the professors on the tenure track have the highest degree in their field. The college offers research partnerships for undergraduate students along with a variety of Study Abroad programs. Millsaps reports that 45% of their student body comes from outside Mississippi; a large portion of the out-of-state students are from neighboring Louisiana. The college also offers the Continuing Education program and the Community Enrichment Series for adults in the Jackson area.
Campus
The Millsaps campus is situated close to downtown Jackson. It is bordered by Woodrow Wilson Avenue to the north, North State Street to the east, West Street to the west, and Marshall Street to the south.
Situated in the center of the campus is the Bowl, where many campus events take place throughout the year, including Homecoming activities, concerts, the Multicultural Festival, and Commencement activities. Adjacent to the Bowl is the Campbell College Center, renovated in 2000, which contains the campus bookstore, post office, cafeteria, and Student Life offices. Also in this central section of campus are the Gertrude C. Ford Academic Complex, Olin Science Hall, Sullivan-Harrell Hall, and the Millsaps-Wilson Library.
The north part of campus is dominated by the Hall Activities Center (commonly known as the HAC), the school's sports fields, and the freshman dormitories. On the far northwestern end of campus is the James Observatory, currently the oldest building on campus. Operational since 1901, the observatory underwent major renovations in 1980.
Upperclassmen dormitories are located on the south side of campus, which also includes Fraternity Row and the Christian Center. Originally constructed as a memorial to honor former students and graduates of Millsaps who died in service during World War II, the Christian Center currently houses the campus auditorium and departments of Performing Arts, History and Religious Studies.
Between the Christian Center and Murrah Hall, which houses the Else School of Management, is the tomb of Major Millsaps and the M Bench, erected by the classes of 1926, 1927, and 1928. The Nicholson Garden was recently put in place to improve the aesthetics of the M-Bench area.
Statistics (as of 2005)
Enrollment: 1,064
Average GPA: 3.52
Average SAT: 1183
Average ACT: 26
Student to Faculty Ratio: 12:1
Rankings and Distinctions
Millsaps is ranked as number 81 on U.S. News & World Report's list of Best Liberal Arts Colleges
In U.S. News, Millsaps was featured alongside Harvard, Amherst, and Duke among 17 schools that stress writing in all aspects of academics.
Princeton Review ranked Millsaps as number 14 in Class Discussions Encouraged and number 3 in Administration Under Best Bargains
Millsaps was one of 40 schools in Loren Pope's Colleges that Change Lives.
Athletics
The school's sports teams are known as the Majors, and their team colors are purple and white. They participate in the NCAA's Division III and the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. The Majors had a fierce football and basketball rivalry with rival Mississippi College in nearby Clinton through the 1950s before the rivalry ended due to an infamous brawl between students at a basketball game. Campus legend says that the rivalry was ended after the supposed theft of the body of Millsaps founder Major Millsaps by Mississippi College students. The rivalry was considered by many as the best in Mississippi, featuring a prank by Mississippi College students who painted "TO HELL WITH MILSAPS" (sic) on the Millsaps Observatory. The football rivalry resumed in 2000 as the "Backyard Brawl", with games at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium. The rivalry took a one-year hiatus in 2004 but will resume in 2005. There has also been an effort to develop a rivalry with NAIA Belhaven College, whose campus is less than a mile to the east of Millsaps.
Organizations
The school is home to six different fraternities: Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Order, Kappa Sigma, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Pi Kappa Alpha, and Lambda Chi Alpha; as well as six sororities: Delta Delta Delta, Kappa Delta, Phi Mu, Chi Omega, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and Delta Sigma Theta.
Notable Alumni
Distinguished alums include Claude Passeau, an All-Star pitcher in Major League Baseball during the 1940s, actor Michael Beck, author Ellen Gilchrist, noted historian David Herbert Donald and General Louis H. Wilson, a decorated war veteran who served as commandant of the Marine Corps.
Important Dates in Millsaps History
- 1902 - Mary Letitia Holloman becomes the first female graduate of Millsaps.
- 1908 - Sing-Ung Zung of Soochow, China, becomes the first international student to graduate from Millsaps.
- 1914 - Old Main, one of the first buildings on campus, burns and is replaced by Murrah Hall.
- 1916 - Major Millsaps dies and is buried on campus.
- 1931 - The first night football game in Mississippi is played on the Millsaps campus between the Majors and Mississippi A&M (now Mississippi State University).
- 1943 - Johnny Carson attends Millsaps for basic training, entertaining his comrades with a magic and humor act.
- 1953 - Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis judge a Millsaps beauty contest.
- 1965 - Millsaps becomes the first college in the South to voluntarily desegregate.
- 1988 - Millsaps initiates the first campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity in Mississippi.
- 1989 - Millsaps becomes the first school in Mississippi to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa honorary.
List of Presidents of Millsaps
- William Belton Murrah - 1890-1910
- David Carlisle Hull - 1910-1912
- Dr. Alexander Farrar Watkins - 1912-1923
- Dr. David Martin Key - 1923-1938
- Dr. Marion Lofton Smith - 1938-1952
- Dr. Homer Ellis Finger, Jr. - 1952-1964
- Dr. Benjamin Barnes Graves - 1965-1970
- Dr. Edward McDaniel Collins, Jr. - 1970-1978
- Dr. George Marion Harmon - 1978-2000
- Dr. Frances Lucas - 2000-current