When Betsy Bradley, B.A. 1984, was a Millsaps student, she discussed the International Ballet Competition with the dancers who were living on campus. Eudora Welty and Cleanth Brooks stepped out of textbooks and onto campus when the College hosted the Southern Literary Festival.

"Millsaps exposed me to the arts in an immediate way I'd never known before," says Bradley. "I fell in love with poetry and literature and the power of the mind to create beautiful things. I don't think I'll ever wander away from that."

This love for the arts has become a vocation for Bradley, who serves as Executive Director of the Mississippi Arts Commission, an independent state agency. The Arts Commission serves the state by stimulating public participation in the arts, Mississippi heritage, and community development.

"The Mississippi Arts Commission is vital to higher education in the state, and we are especially proud to have alumna Betsy Bradley leading the agency," states Richard A. Smith, Vice President and Dean of the College. "Millsaps was able to bring Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky to this year's Southern Literary Festival because of grant support from the Arts Commission."

Under Bradley's leadership, the Arts Commission has supported countless artists, writers, musicians, and craftspeople and has initiated programs to share the benefits of art with communities throughout the state. Books are in libraries, quilts in museums, and musical recordings in stores as a direct result of support from the Arts Commission.

An example of the Arts Commission's innovative programs is New Eyes, New Images, which provides art lessons to at-risk youth in the Lowndes County Juvenile Detention Center. The results have been amazing - reducing violence and recidivism.

"I really believe in the democratic values of this country, and I've had a very fortunate life in which I was able to have art lessons or go to museums or do whatever I wanted to do," says Bradley. "But every kid in this state doesn't have those opportunities, and I really feel committed to seeing that those opportunities are there for everyone."

She backs up her speech with actions. Her list of volunteer activities reads longer than a Faulkner sentence. Bradley is or has been involved with: Mississippi Center for Nonprofits, Millsaps Alumni Council, The Crosby Arboretum, Jackson Servant Leadership Corps, Operation Shoestring, Millsaps Leadership in the Humanities, St. Andrew's Cathedral, Meals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity, Sims House, Grace House, Mississippi Museum of Art, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, National Assembly of Local Art Agencies, Millsaps Arts and Lecture Series, Louisiana Division of the Arts, Southeastern Museums Conference, and the Livable Communities Southern Conference.

She is particularly proud of the Servant Leadership Corps, a program which she helped found and served as the first Board of Directors president. The program brings Mississippi's college graduates of different faiths and backgrounds together for a year of leadership training and service.

Also of note is her work with Operation Shoestring, which focuses on children's education and learning. Regretfully, she had to resign from the board when she married its president, Robert Langford. Last year she and Lang- ford had their first child, Martha. "You meet a lot of wonderful people in non-profits!" she says, laughing. Though she loves her work for the state, it was not her original plan. Fresh out of Millsaps, Bradley wanted a life of writing and teaching in academia. She earned an M.A. in literature from Vanderbilt and completed the course work for a Ph.D. She taught at Millsaps for a year, filling in for Dr. Judith Page on sabbatical. Though she enjoyed teaching, she "kept feeling the pull more and more toward public works." So Bradley accepted a position with the Mississippi Museum of Art and has been involved with non-profit work ever since.

Her Millsaps education has definitely made a difference in her life. Bradley believes it taught her how to analyze, evaluate, and think creatively. In particular, she remembers Catherine Freis's "Myth and Man" course, which began by examining creation stories. "I saw the story I had been taught lined up as one myth among many. It was good for me to have some way of thinking about things comparatively, objectively, and I figured out I could make decisions about what I believed on my own."

"The Millsaps faculty members are just unbelievable," she adds. "They're so committed and you get to have real relationships with them. They want to teach. And they are important role models. Millsaps was a critical time for me. I sure was at the right place."

And, as anyone involved in the arts in Mississippi can attest, she is still at the right place.

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