Millsaps College boasts a history of striving to improve the world for future generations and championing a new state flag would do that, President Frances Lucas-Tauchar said.

At the inauguration ceremony Friday, she added her name to the list of those endorsing the new design over the 1894 version with its Confederate battle emblem. Voters will decide between the two on April 17.

New design supporters such as Millsaps trustees and faculty, university presidents and former Gov. William Winter join the "swelling chorus of those who know that keeping the old flag will hurt the people and economy of our state," Lucas-Tauchar said, drawing applause from hundreds of members of the Millsaps family.

"We need to show the rest of the nation the other Mississippi, the one many of us gathered here know well," said Lucas-Tauchar, a Jackson native who was formally installed as Millsaps' 10th president.

Lucas-Tauchar's comments of the controversial state flag issue were welcomed by students, who speak highly of the first woman president in the school's 111-year history.

"It's a hot issue that's important for her to address, regardless of how many toes she steps on," said freshman Oria Dafe, 18, of Jackson, who listened to the speech outside the Boyd Campbell College Center. "I plan to vote to change (the flag) to improve the state's image."

Millsaps junior Travis Clay, 22, of Eupora said he believed it was important for Lucas-Tauchar, who began work as president of the liberal arts school nine months ago, to bring up the flag issue. "She is not afraid to stand up for what she feels is right," he said.

Her decision to bring up the state flag also received the belssing of her father, retired University of Southern Mississippi President Aubrey Lucas, now a USM professor. "I support a new flag much for the same reasons as Frances. We love our past, but not everything about it. This is a new Mississippi."

Looking at the school's past and plans for the future at 1,250-student Millsaps, Lucas-Tauchar said it "will continue to be one of the most academically challenging and rigorous national liberal arts colleges in the South. With a 50 percent out-of-state student population, we are and hope to become an even bigger talent magnet to Mississippi."

During the speech that highlighted the 90-minute inaugural program and capped a week of activities, including student-led community service projects, Lucas-Tauchar said the core beliefs of Millsaps have not changed since its founding by the United Methodist Church in 1890.

"This is a college historically committed to the unrelenting pursuit of truth, courage regarding social justice and academic rigor," she said.

Lucas-Tauchar is a 1978 Mississippi State University graduate with a master's and doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Alabama. Succeeding retired 22-year President George Harmon, Lucas-Tauchar arrived at Millsaps last July 1 after serving seven years as senior vice president for student life at Emory University in Atlanta. She began her career with a student affairs post at Mississippi State.

The mother of two children, Michael, 9, and Anna Catherine, 7, Lucas-Tauchar inherited her father's good sense of humor. During her speech she thanked members of Galloway United Methodist Church in Jackson for helping guide her path to Millsaps.

"My Aunt Louise Ginn has reminded me on many occasions that during the interview process, her Galloway friends prayed me into the job," Lucas-Tauchar said. "And if I don't perform to their liking, they can pray me out of the job, as well."