The Ole Miss Alumni Association: A Legacy of Connection and Progress

The Ole Miss Alumni Association stands as a vital link between the University of Mississippi and its extensive network of former students. From its humble beginnings to its modern-day initiatives, the Association has played a crucial role in fostering a sense of community, supporting the University's mission, and promoting a lifelong connection among Ole Miss graduates.

Early Origins and Enduring Purpose

The Ole Miss Alumni Association traces its roots back to the early days of the University. For almost 75 years, Ole Miss alumni have found a home at the Alumni House overlooking the iconic Grove. This space has served as a hub for connection, celebration and memories. The Alumni House was originally built in 1950, a time when Ole Miss had just over 11,000 alumni. It quickly became a beloved space where alumni returned to reminisce and reconnect.

The Association's mission is to unite the Ole Miss Family through services and programs that strengthen the University of Mississippi and promote a sense of community. It sponsors many programs, which serve to keep the University in the forefront of modern higher education. The Ole Miss Alumni Association has developed THE REBEL WAY, a comprehensive Strategic Plan, to guide its efforts over the next three years.

Enhancing Facilities: The Triplett Alumni Center

To better serve the growing needs of its alumni, the Association has undertaken significant facility enhancements. The Triplett Alumni Center, named for late past president Dr. Faser Triplett (BA ‘55), was completed in 1997 to meet some of these needs.

Recognizing the increasing demands for meeting and event spaces that exceed the current Triplett Alumni Center’s capacity, the Association has embarked on a $51 million-plus project to construct a new, state-of-the-art facility. "Our current building has served us well for decades, but it’s simply past time for a new facility,” said Alumni Association President Jeff Hubbard (BBA ‘80, JD ‘83). Architectural plans call for a classic red-brick building that will ultimately welcome visitors and enhance the great beauty of the Oxford campus. A lead gift of $4 million from the Dr. and Mrs. R.

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Ole Miss Alumni Association CEO Kirk Purdom (BA ‘93) says the Association plays a crucial role in maintaining lifelong connections between the university and its former students. Through programs, events and initiatives, he says the association fosters a sense of belonging that extends well beyond graduation. “Enhanced facilities are not only essential in achieving this mission but also contribute to expanding services and engagement opportunities,” said Purdom.

A Welcoming Hub

A primary function of the new facility will be to serve as a welcome center, extending hospitality to alumni, prospective students, university guests and others. “Interest in Ole Miss and the demand to visit campus is at an all-time high,” said Martin Fisher (BA ‘11, MA ‘14, EdD ‘21), Director of Campus Visits and Orientation Programs. “My siblings and I are thrilled that the alumni center will welcome a whole new generation of students, alumni and families,” said Holloway. “We know that the new building will continue to anchor our community, just as the old building has for decades.

The ground floor will also house a ballroom with seating for 150, the alumni records office, a catering kitchen and a large gathering space in the lobby. “With the new construction being one of the first places for new students and their parents to visit on campus right across the Grove, we felt that it would make a great first impression,” said Chip Triplett. “It will also be one of the last places they go when they graduate from school. An expansive balcony will offer a one-of-a-kind view of the Grove, making it an ideal setting for receptions, reunions and other special events. “Bruce and I believe the new ballroom and event spaces are desperately needed and will create a warm and inviting atmosphere for both alumni and students with weddings and many other events,” said Karen Moore.

Honoring Athletic Legacy

A significant aspect of the new Triplett Alumni Center is the integration of the athletic legacy of Ole Miss. To kickstart this project, the M-Club Alumni Chapter is committing a $1.5 million gift toward the design and construction of the new space. Currently, the M-Club Museum is housed in the Starnes Athletic Training Center, where it has long preserved the history and memorabilia of the past. This will include interactive exhibits as well as a broader representation of all sports. “I am excited to see the investment in the new M-Club room,” said Jones. “Because of the efforts Jessica Lynch has made to grow our M-Club alumni base, the current space has limited capacity.

Empowering Staff and Alumni

The fourth floor will accommodate Alumni Association staff, with offices, a boardroom, an additional conference room, a workroom, and roof decks on the north and south sides. “Having a state-of-the-art facility will empower our staff to better serve our growing alumni community,” she said. Skelton added that the new center will be much more than a building of brick and mortar. “The University of Mississippi is home to one of the most beautiful and thriving campuses in America, and the new Triplett Alumni Center will reflect that same spirit of excellence.

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Strategic Initiatives: THE REBEL WAY

The Ole Miss Alumni Association’s strategic plan is a blueprint for driving growth, enhancing engagement, and fostering a vibrant community of alumni and supporters. By focusing on enriching membership experiences, sustaining revenue growth, and creating meaningful engagement opportunities, we are poised to strengthen our ties with the University of Mississippi and its extended family. The strategic initiatives outlined herein aim to leverage the new alumni center as a hub for connection and collaboration, support diverse affinity groups, and optimize our resources for maximum impact. Through innovation, dedication, and a commitment to our mission, we will build a resilient and dynamic Alumni Association that supports the university’s vision and elevates the alumni experience.

Connecting Through Travel and Tradition

The Association offers various programs and opportunities for alumni to connect with each other and the University.

World Travel WWII Trips

The Ole Miss Alumni Association sponsors opportunities such as WWII trips. Alumni can step into history with an actor from the Band of Brothers miniseries on the Easy Company WWII Tour that follows the path of heroes from England to the Eagle’s Nest. They can relive D-Day on Normandy’s beaches, exploring Omaha and Utah Beaches and the Falaise Gap.

Personalized Bricks: A Lasting Legacy

The Association offers alumni the chance to leave a lasting mark on campus through personalized bricks. Seniors and parents can order their Class of 2026 personalized brick. Bricks are available with Alumni Association membership. These bricks are placed in the Circle and serve as a lasting tribute to their time at Ole Miss.

A Look Back: Ole Miss Through the Years

For 175 years, Ole Miss has served as Mississippi’s flagship university, producing leaders in public service, business, academics and the professions.

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1848: The university opens its doors to 80 students and for 23 years is Mississippi's only public institution of higher learning. George F. Holmes becomes the university’s 1st president.
1849: Augustus Baldwin Longstreet becomes the 2nd president.
1854: The university establishes the School of Law, which is the fourth state-supported law school in the United States.
1856: Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard becomes the 3rd president. The title is hereafter changed to chancellor.
1865: John Newton Waddell becomes the 4th chancellor.
1874: Alexander P. Stewart becomes the 5th chancellor.
1882: The university becomes one of the first coeducational schools in the South.
1885: Sarah Isom, as chair of elocution, is the first female faculty member at a coeducational institution of higher learning in the Southeast.
1886: Edward Mayes becomes the 6th chancellor.
1892: Robert Burwell Fulton becomes the 7th chancellor.
1900: The School of Engineering, the first of its kind in Mississippi, is established.
1903: The School of Education and a two-year School of Medicine are established on the Oxford campus.
1906: Richard Capel Beckett, Jr., is the first UM student to become a Rhodes Scholar. A total of 27 UM students have received this prestigious, international scholarship.
1907: Andrew Armstrong Kincannon becomes the 8th chancellor.
1908: The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy is founded.
1914: Joseph Neely Powers becomes the 9th chancellor.
1916: The “College of Liberal Arts” becomes the administrative designation for the programs in science, literature and arts that have constituted the university’s original disciplines since 1848.
1917: The School of Business Administration is founded (as the “School of Commerce”).
1924: Alfred Hume becomes the 10th chancellor.
1935: Alfred Benjamin Butts becomes the 11th chancellor.
1946: John Davis Williams becomes the 12th chancellor.
1948: The School of Nursing is founded.
1955: The University of Mississippi Medical Center opens in Jackson, and the university’s prior two-year program is transformed to a full degree program.
1959: The University of Mississippi chapter of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is established.
1962: The university admits its first African-American student, James Meredith, in October 1962, in circumstances of unrest and violence.
1967: The School of Pharmacy’s Medicinal Plant Garden becomes home to an NIH-funded venture to grow standardized marijuana for researchers. The marijuana project exists through the present day.
1968: Porter Lee Fortune, Jr. becomes the 13th chancellor.
1970: In pursuit of advocating the administration for twenty- seven demands related to the quality of life on campus for minorities, students from the Black Student Union staged a nonviolent protest by marching to Fulton Chapel.
1971: The School of Health Related Professions is established.
1974: The University of Mississippi becomes the proprietor of Rowan Oak, the historic home of Nobel Laureate William Faulkner. The home becomes part of the university’s Museums & Historic Houses.
1975: The UMMC School of Dentistry admits its first class.
1977: The Center for the Study of Southern Culture opens, dedicated to strengthening humanities teaching and scholarship through studies of the American South.
1979: To address a growing number of career options in accounting, the university elevates its accounting program to a distinct School of Accountancy, which becomes the first in the state to receive accreditation.
1984: Gerald Turner becomes the 14th chancellor. The McLean Institute for Community Development is founded to foster volunteerism, service-learning, community-based research, and community development and social entrepreneurship projects.
1986: The Jamie L. Whitten National Center for Physical Acoustics is launched, providing a home for world-class acousticians working on projects at the forefront of science and technology.
1989: Congress establishes the Institute of Child Nutrition, administered through the School of Applied Sciences, as the only federally funded national center dedicated to applied research, education and training, and technical assistance for child nutrition programs.
1995: Robert C. Khayat becomes the 15th chancellor. The National Center for Natural Products Research, located within the Thad Cochran Research Center, becomes the only university-affiliated research center devoted to studying natural products to improve human health and agriculture.
1996: The University of Mississippi Medical Center opens Children’s of Mississippi Hospital (originally known as Batson), the only children’s hospital in the state.
1997: Academic excellence grows with the founding of both the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College and the Croft Institute for International Studies.
2000: The Trent Lott Leadership Institute is founded with a primary mission to prepare young people to assume positions of leadership.
2001: Phi Beta Kappa selects the university to shelter a chapter of the nation's oldest and most prestigious undergraduate honor society. UM is the first public institution of higher education in Mississippi chosen for this honor. The School of Applied Sciences is founded. The School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences is established at UMMC.
2003: The newly constructed Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts embarks on a mission to enrich the intellectual and cultural environment of the university and region. The Chinese Language Flagship Program is established by a grant from the National Security Education Program. It will later be joined by an Arabic Flagship Program in 2018. The UM Creed is established as part of the university’s dedication to nurturing excellence in intellectual inquiry and personal character in an open and diverse environment.
2009: The School of Journalism and New Media is created as an outgrowth of the former Department of Journalism. Daniel W. Jones becomes the 16th chancellor.
2011: The university establishes the Common Reading Experience. The Multi-Disciplinary Studies program is established.
2014: The Department of Biomolecular Sciences is founded, comprising a “super department” of Environmental Toxicology, Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacognosy and Pharmacology.
2016: Jeffrey S. Vitter becomes the 17th chancellor. The John D. Bower School of Population Health is established at UMMC.
2018: UM is included in the elite group of R1: Doctoral Universities - Very High Research Activity released by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the definitive list of the top doctoral research universities in the United States.
2019: Glenn F. Boyce becomes the 18th chancellor.
2020: The seven-story Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower at Children’s of Mississippi opens at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, which more than doubles the square footage of the state’s only children’s hospital.
2021: Ole Miss Women’s Golf wins the NCAA national championship. The university breaks ground on the Jim and Thomas Duff Center for Science and Technology, a new facility that will be the largest building on campus and will boost STEM education and support growth in the state and region. The university launches the largest comprehensive campaign in the history of Mississippi universities, Now & Ever, to generate at least $1.5 billion in private support.
2022: Ole Miss Baseball wins the NCAA Men’s College World Series.

The Inn at Ole Miss: A Home Away From Home

The site for The Alumni House was selected in 1948 to be a lasting gift to the University from the Ole Miss Alumni Association. The Alumni House was dedicated to the heroes who had left the University of Mississippi campus to sacrifice their lives in the Civil War and World War I and World War II. The official groundbreaking was November 4, 1949. On October 20, 1951, The Alumni House was presented to The University of Mississippi. The construction of the building marked the centennial of the founding of the university which was established in 1848. The Alumni House was created as a gathering place for those who wanted to join their fellow alumni in close comradeship to retell the stories of other days; to play the football games of another Saturday; to plan for the future of their University.

The Alumni House had its first renovation in 1968 adding an outdoor pool and increasing the guest room total to 91. In the mid-eighties, The Alumni House began to have guest rooms sponsored by individuals. This allowed alumni and friends the first right of refusal for their room during peak demand times (i.e. home football games, graduation). Most of the room sponsors have created a feeling of home in their rooms and suites. In the original hotel, many sponsors have had their room for years. Every time they visit they are likely to bring new items to update their space. Many are proud to show off family pictures, Ole Miss memorabilia and their own personal style in the décor they have chosen. Each room is a little different from the next, but all are comfortable and well-appointed. The alumni and room sponsors have really allowed the Hotel to grow.

Ultimately, the demand for room sponsorship and the need for luxury accommodations in Oxford led to the $21 million expansion finished in 2008. It was also during this time that The Alumni House was renamed The Inn at Ole Miss. The eight story all-suite hotel came complete with a new dining area, gift shop and over 10,000 square feet of meeting space. The newly-expanded The Inn at Ole Miss was dedicated on August 29, 2008. The success of the room sponsorship program enabled what was once a just a small bed and breakfast type hotel to become what it is today, a modern state of the art facility for all of our alumni and friends to use.

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