FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2005

Four MUW alumnae to receive achievement awards

By Jill D. O’Bryant
  
COLUMBUS, Miss. -- Four Mississippi University for Women alumnae will receive Alumni Achievement Awards during the university’s Homecoming convocation on Saturday, April 16.
   
Recipients are P. Sanders McNeal of Jackson, Barbara B. Travis of Flowood and Dr. Anne Brantley Wright of Bethesda, Md. Tatia Long Kiser of Winter Springs, Fla., will receive the Young Alumni Achievement Award.
   
McNeal, a 1971 graduate of MUW, has been painting professionally for more than 30 years. Her portraits, landscapes and still lifes are included in many prestigious public and private collections and have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States, including New York, Dallas and New Orleans, and in France and Ireland.
   
She has received many honors for her work, including the 1999 Governor’s Artist Achievement Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts, and she was selected as a Power of One honoree for the Mississippi Woman `99 Conference.
   
In 2004, she was commissioned to do a painting for the 60th anniversary of the Jackson Symphony Orchestra, and in 2002 she did a commissioned mural in the Union Station in Jackson. She was the first commissioned artist for the Jackson Arts and Music Festival’s 10 painting series with her painting “The Rehearsal,” which now hangs in Thalia Mara Hall.
   
In addition to receiving a bachelor of fine arts from MUW, she also has studied in New York, France, Italy and Ireland. She also is a recognized scenic designer and muralist.
   
A 1970 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in English, Travis currently serves as the executive director of the Mississippi World Trade Center, a position she has held since 2001. She also is the president of MarketLynx Consulting, which focuses on corporate and community marketing, public relations, economic and community development and organizational effectiveness.
   
Previous positions she has held is corporate training and development at WorldCom, executive director of Rankin First Economic Development Authority and community assistance manager of the Mississippi Department of Economic and Community Development.
   
Travis, who also earned a master’s degree in English from Mississippi State University, is very involved in her community including being the 2002 mayoral appointee to the Flowood Public Library Advisory Board, serving as president and on committees for the Rankin County Rotary Club and being a member of the Mississippi Manufacturers Association, the Professional Women’s Association and the Metro Jackson Salvation Army Advisory Board.
   
She was named by the Mississippi Business Journal as one of the 50 Leading Businesswomen in Mississippi for 1999.
   
Wright is the special assistant for language testing in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness on behalf of the National Security Agency (NSA), an agency within the U.S. Intelligence Community.
   
She also has served as a NSA visiting professor at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., NSA’s director of professional development, director of training evaluation, technical director of the National Cryptologic School and an NSA Legislative Fellow for Foreign Relations on Senior Robert Dole’s Republican Leadership Staff.
   
Prior to beginning her government service in 1981, she was the academic provost at the University of LaVerne (California) Residence Center in the Republic of the Philippines, taught on the secondary and university levels in California, Mississippi and Virginia, and founded a classical concert series in Monterey, Calif.
   
In addition to receiving a bachelor of music degree from MUW in 1965, she earned a master of music degree and a doctorate in adult education from the University of Southern Mississippi.
   
Kiser, who is currently a stay-at-home mom for two small children, earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from MUW in 1994. She also has a master’s degree in business administration from Millsaps College.
   
Her career experience includes being the senior accountant at AT&T Wireless in Jackson, accounting manager for Ewing Irrigation Products in Phoenix, Ariz., and other accounting positions in Arizona and Florida.
   
She was very involved in campus activities when she was a student at The W, such as serving as the Student Government Association president and being a member of many campus organizations.
   
This MUW student involvement has carried over to alumni involvement. She has held several positions on the National Alumni Board, was active in the Jackson Metro Chapter and has participated in many recruitment activities.
   
To be given for the 24th year, the purpose of the Alumni Achievement Awards is to recognize alumni who have made significant contributions in time, effort and loyalty to their country, their state and/or MUW with special consideration given to those who have served the university through the MUW Alumni Association, a local MUW alumni chapter, the MUW Foundation or all three.
   
For more information about MUW’s Homecoming, please contact the Office of Alumni Relations at (662) 329-7295.