Millsaps News Release
May 17, 1999

Millsaps receives $1 million gift to enhance premedical studies

Millsaps has received a $1 million gift from Dr. and Mrs. Raymond S. Martin to establish the Raymond and Margery Martin Endowment for the Enhancement of Premedical Education. This endowment will be used to enhance mentoring relationships for premedical students through improvements in equipment and faculty development.

"The Martins’ gift will serve as the cornerstone of a broader initiative to allow Millsaps to maintain its position as the premier liberal arts program in the South for premedical and other health care professions," says Millsaps President George M. Harmon.

The initial endowment will be used to provide state-of-the-art equipment for lab assignments and scientific research, to recruit and support outstanding new faculty oriented toward undergraduate, biomedical teaching and to offer research and programmatic support for senior faculty who have demonstrated excellence in recruiting, mentoring and teaching premedical students.

"Our goal is to provide the very best educational experience students can have prior to going into the health-care professions, and particularly medical school," says Dr. Ed Schrader, Associate Dean of Sciences at Millsaps. Last year, 27 percent of Millsaps graduates went directly on to graduate programs in medicine and other health-related fields.

Dr. Raymond S. Martin graduated from Millsaps in 1942 and completed his medical studies at Vanderbilt University. After serving as a captain in the U.S. Air Force from 1946 to 1948, he returned to Jackson where he entered the practice of general and pediatric surgery. He was a founding member of the Jackson Surgical Group and was on the staff at St. Dominic and Baptist hospitals and on the visiting staff at University Hospital. He also taught at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. After a long and successful medical career, he retired in 1990.

Dr. Martin served Millsaps as president of the Alumni Association in 1966-1967 and as a founding member of the Millsaps Arts and Lecture Series. He has continued his support as an Advisory Board member to the Arts and Lecture Series, as National Chair of the Millsaps Annual Fund and as an ex-officio member of the Annual Fund Executive Committee. He was recently selected as Alumnus of the Year for 1999.

June 4, 1999

Wahrle awarded Founders’ Medal at Millsaps commencement

Suzanne Wahrle, a native of Denver, Colo., was awarded the Founders’ Medal at recent commencement ceremonies for Millsaps College. The Founders’ Medal, the highest honor bestowed upon a student, is awarded annually to the graduating senior with the highest quality index for the entire college course.

Wahrle, a biology major, hopes to pursue a career as a physician researcher, working to find a cure for Alzheimer’s and helping patients combat the disease. "Alzheimer’s Disease is one of the most pressing problems in America and will become an even larger issue as our population ages," she says. "I hope that my past and future research will contribute to making better treatments, and even a cure, for patients with the disease."

Wahrle now works as a lab technician at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., as she prepares to enter a M.D./Ph.D program in molecular neuroscience. "I not only want to practice medicine; I want to improve the practice of medicine," she explains. "Through my research, I could potentially help thousands or millions of people."

She spent the last two summers performing research at the Mayo Clinic and at the National Institutes of Health in Baltimore, Md., studying possible causes of the disease and testing the effects of experimental drugs. She also held an internship at NASA-Kennedy Space Center, where she studied the effects of spaceflight on humans and other organisms. While at Millsaps, she performed research on cell growth and division and became a certified emergency medical technician.

Suzanne served as president of the Millsaps chapter of Habitat for Humanity for two years, during which time the group co-sponsored the building of two houses. She was also instrumental in the formation of an astronomy club and in the repair and scheduling of events for Millsaps’ James Observatory. In addition, she served as secretary of Circle K community service club, as an audiovisual specialist and show presenter for the Davis Planeterium and as a volunteer for several health care facilities. She also participated in a week-long mission trip to deliver food, clothing and medicine to the needy in Saltillo, Mexico.

This spring, Wahrle was one of 20 college students nationwide to be named to USA Today’s 1999 All-USA College Academic First Team. She was also selected for membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Among her other academic honors are a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for Excellence in Science; selection for Who’s Who Among American College Students; the Janet Lynne Sims Premedical Award and Scholarship; departmental awards in biology, chemistry, physics and philosophy; and awards for the best research presentation at the 1997 and 1998 Millsaps Student Science Research Symposiums. She is also a member of several academic and leadership honoraries, including Beta Beta Beta, Sigma Xi, Alpha Epsilon Delta, Omicron Delta Kappa and Sigma Lambda.

Suzanne is the daughter of Bruce and Barbara Hogue of Lakewood, Colo.

Millsaps College is a privately supported college founded in 1890 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Millsaps is one of only four liberal arts colleges in the United States to hold both a Phi Beta Kappa chapter and accreditation by AACSB - The International Association for Management Education of the undergraduate (BBA) and graduate (MBA) programs in business. The only national liberal arts college in Mississippi, Millsaps ranks in the top half of all national liberal arts colleges in the U.S. and rates 6^th in value among national liberal arts institutions according to U.S. News and World Report, Aug. 1998). The College also ranks 67^th in the nation among national colleges and universities and 11^th among traditional liberal arts colleges with enrollments of less than 1,600 students on Money Magazine’s Best College Buy list (Sept. 1997).