Mention college recruiting and most folks think about young athletes being courted by big time football and basketball programs.

Attracting quality students to Millsaps College isn't much different. The level of competition for top students is one of the few surprises that have greeted Dr. Frances Lucas-Tauchar, who will be inaugurated as the school's 10th president on April 6.

Lucas-Tauchar was chosen in January 2000 to succeed Dr. George Harmon and took office July 1. She is the first woman president of the liberal arts college located in Jackson and affiliated with the United Methodist Church.

"I'm alarmed at the incredible competition for students," Lucas-Tauchar said. "Millsaps wants the top students in the country and so does everyone else. I was unprepared for the enormous amount of competition."

However, Lucas-Tauchar said Millsaps won't back off its high academic requirements simply to attract a larger number of students. In fact, she said the college would like to hold steady at its current enrollment of 1,314 students.

Other than the battle for top students, Lucas-Taucar says she has spent the last nine months meeting with students, faculty and alumni developing a vision for the college.

"We're still defining the vision. At a college it takes a long time to define a vision because it's best to include many, many voices in that definition. We're going to start next fall with a strategic planning process to help us come up with a crystal clear, very focused, very deliberate set of strategies that will, of course, have the backdrop of a very clear vision," she said. "What is clear already is that we have a wonderful academic product and we need to further define our distinctive strengths."

When named president of Millsaps, Lucas-Tauchar made clear she wants to strengthen the college's solid connection with The United Methodist Church and the Mississippi Conference. Parts of that are her own feelings for the church, she admits. Lucas-Tauchar is a life-long United Methodist. Her father, former president of the University of Southern Mississippi Dr. Aubrey Lucas, has long been active on the local, district, conference and national levels of the church. He was a delegate to the 2000 General Conference and Jurisdictional Conference and has been invovled in the development of Africa University. Lucas-Tauchar was active in youth groups growing up and has continued to be invovled in the church as an adult.

"The college and the conference gain great strength from each other," she said. "I think we have a lot to offer in terms of support, resources and sharing. We are both here to better the world. That's the point of college and the church."

Friday's inauguration ceremonies will highlight a busy week of celebration. Activities began April 1 with a worship service and blessing. Included in the event was a laying-on of hands for Lucas-Tauchar involving clergy, students, faculty and staff. Lucas-Tauchar said she was looking forward to the service. "That will perhaps be the most powerful moment for me."

The actual inauguration is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. April 6 in the Millsaps Bowl or the Christian Center in case of bad weather.

Once installed, Lucas-Tauchar said her main priority will be upholding and building on the academic reputation Millsaps College has attained.

"My main priority is to continue to climb in academic prestige," she said. "You do that by continuing to attract the best and brightest students and faculty."

Longer term, Lucas-Tauchar said the college's physical plant is in good shape thanks to Harmon. "Dr. Harmon did a wonderful job of master planning the campus and renovating and growing the physical plant. This is an absolutely fabulous learning environment," she said. "We need to renovate some of our residence halls. We'd love to build a performing arts center that we've already designed. We'd love a new library and a new chapel. We don't think we're going to add residence halls."

Since Lucas-Tauchar's arrival, the campus has carried a sense of excitement and anticipation. "I can feel the energy and excitement," she said. "I feel a wave of excitement building about what we're going to do, about our future."