 |
 |
   Suzanne Marrs is a member of the
Department of English and is the Stewart Family Professor of Language and Literature at
Millsaps. Her book Eudora Welty and Politics, co-edited with Harriet Pollack, has
just been published by Louisiana State University Press. |
by Dr.
Suzanne Marrs Whether she is discussing student diversity or the core curriculum, donor relations or her own management style, President Frances Lucas-Tauchar likes to stress the importance of “widening the circle.” “Our differences do not separate us, but actually bring us together. True learning comes from listening to those who hold points of view different from our own; by challenging our preconceived notions, we grow personally and professionally. The wider our community is, the closer it will be,” she explains. This philosophy fits well with the Millsaps tradition of freedom of inquiry and expression. From its outset in 1890 as a Methodist-affiliated college, Millsaps refused to be narrowly defined as a “church” school. The very first chairman of the Millsaps Board of Trustees, Bishop Charles Betts Galloway, his contemporaries report, opposed “a policy of demanding scholarship with a denominational stamp.” Today under the leadership of President Lucas-Tauchar, Millsaps continues to emphasize the importance of building religious, geographic, and cultural diversity, and the Millsaps core curriculum stresses interdisciplinary courses and the development of skills that enable students to deal with the rapid change and globalization that characterize contemporary life. A graduate of Mississippi State University and the University of Alabama, Frances Lucas-Tauchar extolls the important advantages a diverse liberal arts college can bring to its students. “At a national liberal arts college, there are many opportunities for faculty-student or professional-student interaction,” she asserts. “I was at a large university, and thankfully I connected with somebody special. But there are many more opportunities to find a mentor, or several mentors, at a small liberal arts college.” Those mentor-student relationships have produced loyal and supportive Millsaps alumni. Lucas-Tauchar reports that her visits with former Millsaps students have taught her that “Millsaps alumni faced some of the biggest challenges of their lives in our classrooms, but they were braced by kind and loving support.” The support and direction that students receive at Millsaps is evident in the varied and vital careers they go on to pursue in their respective and far-flung communities. “I am amazed at how Millsaps graduates reflect on not just one, but four or five faculty who have changed their lives. This kind of interaction can only happen at colleges like Millsaps.” The unbroken circle of the Millsaps community is what Lucas-Tauchar vows to maintain and extend. She seeks to ensure that the intellectual community within the gates on State and West Streets will continue to develop and prosper, and she seeks to inspire Millsaps students with a sense that community extends beyond the college gates. She and her family have already become involved in the Jackson Stewpot ministry and in building Habitat for Humanity homes. By providing such a model, Lucas-Tauchar hopes to imbue Millsaps students with an ethic of service and to imbue Millsaps graduates with the concept that leaving the realm of their alma mater should mean, to make liberal use of John Donne’s words, not “A breach, but an expansion,/Like gold to airy thinness beat.” LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT | PAGE 1 OF 1 | NEXT ARTICLE |