FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12, 2005
Contact: Anika Mitchell Perkins
(662) 329-7124

MUW to award five Medals of Excellence Friday

COLUMBUS, Miss. -- Mississippi University for Women will award the Medal of Excellence to five individuals as part of commencement weekend Friday.

Awarded since 1979, the Medal of Excellence is the university’s highest non-degree honor.

This year’s recipients are Dr. Barbara Garrett, Elizabeth Gwin, Bobby Harper, Dr. Bridget Pieschel and Rep. Jeff Smith.

MUW President Claudia A. Limbert said, “Every so often special people enter others’ lives and leave a trail of blessings behind them. This year's five Medal of Excellence award winners have done exactly that for MUW. They are role models of excellence for us as an institution and for us as individuals.”

Garrett, professor emeritus of health and kinesiology, retired from MUW in 1991 where she taught for 24 years and served as tennis coach for 13 years. She has received numerous awards from MUW and is author of the book, “ Nonverbal Interaction with Adult Clients: Strategies for Caregivers.” MUW recently announced the current tennis facility would be named after Garrett, who received her undergraduate degree from MUW in 1956. She earned both her master’s and doctorate from Mississippi State University and physical therapy certificate from Duke University.

A resident of Starkville, Gwin was honored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield as one of Mississippi’s Ageless Heroes. She won a regional vitality award for her efforts to help others in the Starkville community. Gwin serves as a Girl Scout leader and as a volunteer for Meals on Wheels, delivering food to people in need. She earned her degree from MUW in 1930 and has served as the national president of the MUW Alumnae Association.

Harper serves as National Bank of Commerce’s regional bank president and chairman of the executive committee. He is president of Columbus Air Force Base’s Community Council and a board member of the Frank Phillips YMCA, Columbus-Lowndes Development Link, Golden Triangle Regional Airport Authority, MUW Foundation, Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle, Main Street Columbus, Inc., and Happy Christmas Fund. Harper also is a member of the Rotary Club and Town & Tower Club. He earned degrees from Delta State College and the Banking School of the South LSU.

Dr. Pieschel currently heads the Division of Humanities at MUW. She has been an instructor of English since 1981. Pieschel also chairs the annual Eudora Welty Writers’ Symposium. She and her husband, Steve, a retired MUW English instructor, co-authored “Loyal Daughters: A Centennial History of Mississippi University for Women.” A 1979 summa cum laude graduate of MUW, Pieschel received a master’s from MUW and doctorate from the University of Alabama.

Mississippi Rep. Jeff Smith represents North Lowndes County and is an attorney. He is chairman of the Judiciary B committee and also serves on the Apportionment & Elections, Ethics, Fees & Salaries of Public Officers, Select Committee on Accessible & Affordable Medical Malpractice Insurance, Public Health & Human Services and Ways & Means committees. He served as Lowndes County prosecutor from 1980-1989. Rep. Smith has an undergraduate degree from MSU and a law degree from the University of Mississippi.

A dinner in celebration of the Medal of Excellence and honorary doctorate recipients, Nancy Fancher Yates ’63 and Eugenia Summer‘45, will be held Friday, May 13 in Pope Banquet Room at 7 p.m.