In beautiful Columbus, Miss., about four and a half hours northeast of Natchez, sits one of the most architecturally noted college campuses in the nation. It is beautiful Mississippi University for Women, a public university that feels like a private college.

Founded in 1884 as the first public college for women in the United States, MUW is a tradition-rich university that has also educated men for more than 30 years.

U.S.News & World Report has consistently ranked MUW among the top Southern public master’s universities. MUW also has been prominently ranked in other leading publications, such as Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and Washington Monthly magazines as well as The Chronicle of Higher Education and Online College Database for Best Return on Investment.

MUW has also been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for three years in a row.

The university offers four colleges that feature more than 50 majors and concentrations.

They include the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Business & Professional Studies, the College of Education & Human Sciences and the College of Nursing & Speech-Language Pathology.

With a 14-to-one student-faculty ratio, dedicated instructors and staff, as well as talented alumni and friends, MUW exists to help students excel.

If you are an alum, if you are related to an alum, if you want to become a student at MUW or if you simply want to know about this outstanding Mississippi institution, you are invited to a free, public reception honoring MUW’s president, Dr. Jim Borsig, who took office in 2012.

This informal party is from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Routhland, 131 Winchester Road in Natchez, the home of MUW alumna Catherine Ratcliffe and her husband, Everette.

Refreshments will be served from 5 to 6 p.m. Dr. Borsig will make remarks and take questions at 6 p.m.

We are proud of fellow MUW alums who have made big names for themselves, such as Eudora Welty, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author; Dorothy Bush, secretary for 45 years of the National Democrat Party; Evelyn McPhail, co-chairman of the Republican National Committee; Dr. Elizabeth Hayes, co-discoverer of the world’s leading anti-fungal medication; the mothers of the authors William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams; Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Kay Beevers Cobb; Liza Cirlot Looser, CEO of Cirlot Agency, one of the nation’s leading marketing agencies; and Chef David Crews, who recently won the King of American Seafood title in New Orleans at the 10th annual Great American Seafood Cookoff.

There are hundreds of MUW alums in the Miss-Lou. Your life is most likely better off because of them.

To learn more about MUW and to meet Dr. Borsig, join us at Routhland on Oct. 3. See you there.

 

Linda Bailey is president of the Southwest Mississippi Chapter of the Mississippi University for Women Alumni Association.