The Hunter Henry Center, a 41,000-square-foot facility completed last fall, will be showcased Saturday in ceremonies coinciding with the university’s annual spring Super Bulldog Weekend activities.
The facility is located at the intersection of Hunter Henry Boulevard and Barr Avenue along the west central edge of campus.
Designed by Foil Wyatt Architects of Jackson and constructed by JESCO Inc. of Fulton, Miss., the Center houses offices, a 300-seat capacity ballroom, 14 meeting areas and a unique mezzanine area known as Legacy Hall. A towering 80-foot spire tops the building.
Construction for the Henry Center was held in conjunction with Super Bulldog Weekend festivities in March 2001 and is being dedicated as a part of Super Bulldog Weekend 2003. The staff of the Alumni Association, the MSU Foundation and the vice president for external affairs moved into the facility and began work in November 2002.
A 10 a.m. formal dedication program will be held on April 12 in the garden area of the Center and will feature the building’s lead donor, its architect and the construction engineer, as well as university administrators. Hunter Henry, a Canton native and the retired president of Dow Chemical USA, is officially scheduled to help dedicate the facility. Dr. Charles Lee, Dennis Prescott (vice president for external affairs), Skip Wyatt of Foil Wyatt Architects and Jerry Maxie with JESCO, Inc. will also help dedicate the building.
The public ceremony is open to anyone associated with the university. All contributors to the facility received a special invitation to the event.
According to Amy Cagle, coordinator of communications for the MSU Foundation, the new facility was needed to allow for growth of operations for the Alumni Association and Foundation. She said it was difficult for both organizations to provide services for the growing number of alumni and donors while occupying the Butler-Williams Alumni Center building.
Hunter W. Henry Jr. was the lead donor for the construction of the Center. In 2001, the 1950 MSU chemical engineering graduate made a commitment of $3 million toward the facility.
Dennis Prescott, vice president for external affairs, said in a press release:
“It was Hunter Henry’s wish that every single alumnus of Mississippi State University be given an opportunity to contribute to the building, which resulted in more than $9 million in private gifts designated for the Hunter Henry Center.”
Cagle added that as a member of the MSU Foundation Board of Directors and a supporter of the university, Hunter Henry realized how beneficial a new alumni and foundation center would be for Mississippi State University. Hunter Henry made a commitment of $3 million to the facility to challenge other alumni and friends to assist with financing the
building. In fact, his original commitment was for $2.5 million, with another $500,000 to match contributions from other prospects. At a later date, he gave another $100,000 to name a room in the facility that would honor recipients of scholarships he supports in the areas of arts and sciences, business and industry and engineering.
Cagle outlined some of the benefits and advantages the Center has brought to MSU.
“Student organizations can schedule the center for their events and programs as well,” she said. “It is very fitting that this facility is being dedicated this year, as part of MSU’s 125th anniversary,”
Cagle added, “It is a testimony of what private support is currently doing for the university and a tribute to what private support has enabled MSU to accomplish.”