The President’s Commission on the Status of Women at Mississippi State University recently honored eight women from campus and the local community by naming them as the 2011 Outstanding Women.
The President’s Commission on the Status of Women is a group on campus whose main goal is to advise the MSU president on issues that affect the status and role of women on campus. The group was established in the late 1970s and has provided informational and educational programs that address the concerns of women on campus for more than three decades.
The group utilizes many techniques for promoting the interests and concerns of women. These techniques include studies, programs and organizations aimed at better understanding these concerns and interests. The commission also awards the annual Outstanding Women awards each spring.
The award is given to deserving women from ten different categories: community, Mississippi, faculty, professional (non-faculty), graduate student, undergraduate student, service/maintenance, executive/administrative/managerial, technical/paraprofessional and secretarial/clerical.
Rose Mary Dill, awards committee chair for the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, said the award is open to women across campus and throughout the community.
“The award picks out a woman from each group to be honored,” Dill said.
This year’s winners were honored at a reception held on April 5. They were Lori M. Bruce, Rachel W. Wheeler, Thelma J. Neal, M. Clare Mallory, Michele H. Anderson, Mary Celeste Reese, Kristin L. Williams and Joy C. Odom.
There are many women on campus, which means the women chosen for these once-a-year awards are very respectable.
Mary Celeste Reese, Outstanding Faculty Woman Award winner, said the success of her students is what inspires her to work harder at her job.
“I feel very honored to have received such a prestigious award. I am humbled to be nominated by my students, Brittany Dong and Jay Hogg, who appreciate the work that I do as an advisor,” Reese said. “Honestly, it is students like Brittany and Jay that inspire me to do a better job serving students. Their accomplishments become my accomplishments.”
People are nominated from each group by their peers. The nomination requires an application submitted online accompanied by two letters of recommendation and a resume. The winners are then chosen from the group of nominees by an awards selection committee. In determining the winners, aspects such as education, employment, professional organizations, community service and personal accomplishments are considered.
Anyone can nominate someone that they believe is deserving of the award, and anyone can be nominated. However, with so many women on campus, the awards are very competitive.
Joy Odom, Outstanding Secretarial/Clerical Woman Award winner, said the award is a great honor, especially in her category.
“It’s such an honor to get it in this category, because in the secretarial/clerical category, the competition is very stiff,” Odom said.
Rachel Wheeler, Outstanding Graduate Woman Award winner, said the award is a humbling honor, but it is also a challenge to preserve the label of an “Outstanding Woman.”
“The other recipients of this year’s Outstanding Woman awards are truly extraordinary, and I feel extremely honored and humbled to be included in this group,” Wheeler said. “I feel that receiving this award comes with a challenge to continue to prove yourself as an outstanding woman in the Mississippi State community, and I hope to do that.”