FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 3, 2003

Pope, Stark to be awarded MUW honorary doctorates
 

COLUMBUS, Miss. -- Mississippi University for Women will award honorary doctorates to alumnae Mary Ellen Weathersby Pope of Columbus and Marie Charlotte Stark of Washington, D.C., at its May 2004 commencement exercises.

“Both Ms. Pope and Ms. Stark are what MUW is all about,” said Dr.  Claudia A. Limbert, president. “They are very intelligent women who have worked hard and cheerfully all their lives to not only do their  day-to-day work but also to help others and to advance higher education.

“They have been tireless in their support of their alma mater and serve as strong role models for all women. We are so very pleased to be able to find a small way to honor all that they mean to MUW.”

The honorary doctorate is the university’s highest honor. Each of the eight public universities in Mississippi are allowed to award two honorary doctorates a year, and the selections must be approved by the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning.

“I am overwhelmed,” Pope said about her honor. “In my wildest  imagination, I never thought I would received a doctorate. I have loved  The W since I came here in 1922. I really appreciate what it did for me,  and I hope I can continue to help it in some small way.”

A 1926 graduate, Pope retired from MUW after teaching from 1959 to 1973.  She holds the title of assistant professor emerita of home economics.

She has been awarded a MUW Medal of Excellence, an Alumni Achievement Award and a Lowndes County Alumni Chapter’s Celebration of Service  Award. At the age of 98, she continues to be active in the Alumnae
Association and serves as a director emerita of the MUW Foundation Board  of Directors.

Pope also has been recognized as one of Mississippi’s Ageless Heroes for  her volunteer work in the community.

“I feel it is entirely unexpected,” Stark said of the honor. “It is very  kind of the university and Dr. Limbert to do this for me.”  A leading archivist, Stark, a 1933 graduate, began her career with the Brooklyn Public Library in 1936. From 1937 to 1943, she was the  assistant archivist with the Cataloging and War Department Archives
Division and served from 1943 to 1947 as associate archivist with the  War Production Board and assistant chief of the historical records section of the Civilian Production Administration.

In 1947, Stark joined the International Monetary Fund where she held the  position of chief archivist from 1952 until her retirement in 1979. She  also served as an adjunct instructor at American University and as a
consultant for the African Development Bank, the World Bank, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Stark has received a MUW Medal of Excellence and an Alumni Achievement  Award.

MUW’s commencement exercises will be held May 15, 2004. The traditional Magnolia Chain Ceremony is set for 9 a.m. on Shattuck Lawn, and two  graduation ceremonies will be held at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. in Rent
Auditorium of Whitfield Hall.



 

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