The Mississippi State University Alumni Association recognized a Longest Student Health Center doctor as the 2006 Alumnus of the Year this month.
The alumnus, Dr. Richard Holmes, the first African-American student to ever enroll at MSU, said he is deeply humbled and proud to receive the Alumnus of the Year Award.
“When Dr. Holmes entered MSU in July of 1965, he did so humbly. His career as a student was distinguished by his academic achievement and his desire for self-improvement, not by his desire to make a statement about racial equality,” Jimmy Abraham, director of the Alumni Association, said.
Holmes said his years as a student at MSU confirmed what he always believed about the state and college, which had been segregated for 87 years before he enrolled. There was minimal confrontation with the white students, he said. “I feel that they did all they could to treat me as a human being. They exceeded my expectations,” Holmes said.
Holmes, who grew up in Starkville, said that he transferred to MSU his sophomore year from a community college in Marshall. After he graduated, he left Starkville and did not return for more than 40 years, he said.
He was in the Army for two years, received a masters degree in nutrition and microbiology, attended medical school at Michigan State University and worked in Ohio, California and Birmingham, Ala., he said.
He was commissioned as a captain in the U.S. Army and went to Saudi Arabia, where he treated Iraqi soldiers for two months, he said. Holmes then returned to MSU to work as a physician at the Longest Student Health Center, where he still works.
“Dr. Holmes is an excellent role model for everyone. He has been extremely successful in his career as a physician, yet he is a very kind and caring person. Dr. Holmes is also a person with high morals and an admirable character,” Abraham said.
“The Alumnus of the Year Award is given to someone who is outstanding in their career field,” said Joe Bryan, president of the Alumni Association.
The Alumni Association looks for an alumnus who has significantly improved an organization, program or institution. Abraham said Holmes definitely deserved to receive this award. “There have been a handful of people that we can argue literally changed the course of history of MSU. Dr. Holmes is one of those people,” Abraham said.
Holmes said he is very passionate about recruiting students to attend MSU. “This university has academic excellence, character and a commitment to diversity. If you’re looking for a school that grades easy, this is not the place to come,” he said.
Receiving the award exceeds the honor of the building of the Holmes Center, which was built in his honor, he said. “There’s probably a more deserving alumnus out there, but I am thankful to receive this award. It inspires me to do even more for the university,” he said.
The recipient of the award is determined by a nomination process, Abraham said. Candidates for the Alumnus of the Year must be alumni of MSU and must have been enrolled more than ten years ago, said he.
Past Alumnus of the Year recipients include John Stennis (1958), Hunter Henry Jr. (1988), Dave Swalm (1992) and John Grisham (1994), according to the alumni association’s list of National Alumni of the Year.