At commencement ceremonies on May 10, Millsaps awarded honorary degrees to James Barksdale, Internet pioneer; Sally McDonnell Barksdale, community leader and philanthropist; and acclaimed author and poet Turner Cassity.

James Barksdale received an honorary doctor of laws degree. A Jackson native who began his career as a salesman at IBM, Barksdale is known for pioneering Internet technology. He is a special adviser to General Atlantic Partners and is president and CEO of Barksdale Management Corp., a philanthropic investment company. He is also a partner and co-founder of The Barksdale Group, an investment and advisory group committed to emerging Internet companies.

Sally McDonnell Barksdale received an honorary doctor of public service degree. Barksdale is a board member of the University of Mississippi Women's Council for Philanthropy and the University of Mississippi Foundation. She is also a member of the Jackson State University Development Board. Barksdale and her husband, James, established the Barksdale Reading Institute, a statewide organization devoted to literacy. The effort is a joint venture with the Mississippi Department of Education and the state university schools of education. The Barksdales have also created full scholarships for African-American medical students and endowed the McDonnell-Barksdale Honors College at the University of Mississippi.

Turner Cassity received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree. Cassity has written illuminating and inspiring verse for the past 40 years. His body of work, which includes 10 collections of poetry, has been celebrated for its classicism and satire. Cassity's most recent published works include Hurricane Lamp, Between the Chains, The Destructive Element and No Second Eden. His writings have garnered many prizes and awards, including the Blumenthal-Leviton-Blonder Prize for Poetry, the Oscar Blumenthal-Charles Leviton Prize for Poetry, the Michael Braude Award for Light Verse and the Levinson Prize for Poetry. Cassity has also been honored with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Cassity recently completed a reading series of formalist poets at Huntington Library in California.