The W’s Legislative and Advocacy Network: Alumni Leading the Way

President Nora Miller (’83), and W alums throughout the state carry their advocacy to the Capitol

ALUMNI VOICES HAVE ALWAYS MATTERED
For more than 135 years, Mississippi University for Women has relied on the strength of its alumni and community to preserve, protect and promote the institution. Time and again, when challenges arose— whether legislative threats of merger, closure or reduced funding—The W alumni stepped up. Their voices reminded Mississippi lawmakers that The W is not only the nation’s first public college for women but also a vital part of the state’s higher education system and economic future.

Today, that legacy of advocacy continues in powerful new ways. The W’s legislative engagement and advocacy framework now stands on two coordinated pillars: LEAP (Legislative Engagement + Advocacy Partners) and the Key Person Network. Together, these initiatives ensure that The W’s story is heard, understood and supported in Jackson and beyond.

LEAP: RAISING AWARENESS, BUILDING UNDERSTANDING
LEAP was created as a dedicated channel to inform alumni and friends about the issues facing higher education and The W’s unique position within Mississippi. Through newsletters, briefings and alerts, LEAP provides context, background and analysis so that alumni understand not only what is at stake, but why it matters.

Rather than just reacting to legislative proposals, LEAP equips alumni with the knowledge to anticipate policy debates, interpret developments and engage meaningfully in conversations with neighbors, community leaders and decision makers.

W alums Stephanie Floyd (’80) and Kristi Mosley (’99) spearheaded the Key Person Network program. Their vision and persistence turned alumni passion into a structured advocacy network. Their work inspired hundreds of others to join.

THE KEY PERSON NETWORK: ALUMNI IN ACTION
Where LEAP raises awareness, the Key Person Network (KPN) is a call to action. Delivered through the KP Dashboard, an advocacy management platform that organizes and tracks grassroots engagement, KPN connects key stakeholders with legislators, assigns responsibilities and monitors outreach efforts in real time. By coordinating both direct contacts and rapid-response advocates, the Dashboard ensures messages are delivered strategically and consistently where they will have the greatest impact. There are two roles for involvement in the KPN:

Key Person – Serves as the direct link to a legislator. A Key Person identifies a personal or professional relationship with a lawmaker and takes responsibility for delivering specific messages and updates to that legislator through the Key Person Network.
Advocate – Stands ready to act when needed. Advocates quickly mobilize to send emails, letters or make phone calls to committees and legislators whenever the Network issues an alert.

Together, these roles ensure that every legislator hears from someone they know and trust, while also generating a strong, unified response when broader action is needed.

GRATITUDE TO ALUMNI LEADERS
The Key Person Network would not exist without the extraordinary efforts of Kristi Mosley (’99) and Stephanie Floyd (’80). These two alumnae spent hours with KP Dashboard staff customizing the platform—The W is the first university to use the platform— and turned it into a dynamic tool for a university. They created surveys, recruited participants, populated the framework, worked out inevitable kinks and demonstrated the effectiveness of alumni driven advocacy.

“While the LEAP program was developed to create advocacy, engage and invite alumni to support the university in its legislative advocacy efforts, it was important for us to find a tool that could help us easily connect our alumni with our legislators with focused messaging and that is where the Key Person Network came into play,” Mosley said. “It has been a great honor to work alongside of Stephanie Floyd, other key leaders and our university to develop and maintain a database of volunteer advocates—alumni and friends—and help connect them to legislators by way of our Key Person Network tool. It is my belief that the KPN will be an integral tool in any ongoing efforts to support and build strong legislative advocacy while maintaining a healthy dialogue around our university’s key initiatives and issues. I look forward to seeing it continue to grow and develop.”

Floyd echoes Mosely in the same spirit and emphasizes that the LEAP program and the KPN were designed to provide the structure and tools needed to make getting involved streamlined, and focusing and ensuring individual efforts are effective and lasting. “I can’t give a lot of ways, but I can give back by advocating,” Floyd said. “KPN makes it easy to deliver a message. Click a few buttons and they have the message. However, I want to see us take this grassroots movement to a personal one-on-one conversation with our own representative and senator. It is easy to stay involved. You don’t have to come to Jackson during the session for your voice to be heard. Make phone calls. Have coffee with your senator or representative at home. That way when you reach out in the session, they are more likely to respond to you.”

Thanks to their leadership, alumni across Mississippi—and across the nation—now have an organized, impactful way to ensure The W’s interests are heard.

GROWING MOMENTUM AND INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT
The success of these initiatives has been so great that the University has formally assumed management of both LEAP and the Key Person Network. Alumni interest is expanding, community allies are joining and legislative leaders increasingly recognize The W as an institution with both a proud history and a committed network of advocates.

LOOKING AHEAD: A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY FOR ACTION
Understanding of the issues surrounding The W matters now more than ever. As the Mississippi Legislature prepares for its upcoming session, The W will once again be at the center of key discussions that impact our students, our programs and our future. The more we know, the stronger we are.

As The W faces new opportunities and challenges, alumni voices remain the institution’s strongest asset. LEAP will keep alumni informed. The KPN will ensure legislators hear directly from people they know and trust.

BE A VOICE FOR THE W!
The W’s strength is in its people—and that means you. The Key Person Network is a tool to make sure our alumni are heard at the capitol and in home districts.