Warmest of greetings everyone, from your University of Mississippi Museum and William Faulkner’s Rowan Oak. With summer in the rear view mirror our thoughts turn to Fall, with all of its colorful and exciting manifestations. Among them is my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, and as a result I’m going to embrace the theme of gratitude in this month’s communication.
But where to start – the Museum and Rowan Oak are the beneficiaries of so much goodwill, warmth of spirit, participation, and sustaining support. Let the record show how much each of these mean to the professional staff and I in uplifting our spirits, and keeping us on the high-energy track that every museum and historic house requires to thrive and to serve their diverse audiences and stakeholder communities.
Thank you very fundamentally and throughout each year to our Friends of the Museum Board, eighteen in number and tireless in their dedication to us as our ambassadors and our fundraising champions. Yet again their many months of dedicated, detail-driven planning have resulted in a hugely successful 10th annual Harvest Supper evening gala on October 13th at Rowan Oak, and event that continues to combine friend-raising with fundraising in equally transformative degrees.
Thank you to the utterly exceptional Professional Staff and the student workers, grad assistants, and interns who are my daily companions in this endeavor we know as public service and University mission-aligned programming. I have said this often but it entirely bears repeating, that the thriving status of our Museum and Rowan Oak are due in full to this highly talented and deeply-skilled team who buttress each other with collegiality, collaborative spirits, and professionalism. It is nothing short of an honor to be their colleague.
Thank you to University leadership and our many amazing colleagues across the beautiful campus of this world-class research institution. From Chancellor Dr. Glenn Boyce and Provost Dr. Noel Wilkin, to every Dean, Director, and Department Chair, faculty member, and University staff member, our two museums exist in an ecosystem of support, thoughtfulness, and creative partnerships.
Thank you to the remarkable fundraisers of the University of Mississippi Development team and the UM Foundation staff, who serve so notably under the leadership of Vice Chancellor Charlotte Parks on the Development side, and Wendell Weakley in the Foundation’s Memory House. We extend this month a very heartfelt thanks and salute of recognition to our recent Major Gifts Officer and development colleague Rob Jolly, who has moved across campus to take a new position overseeing all modes of University Contracts and their associated processes. Rob excelled across many dimensions of support and effort on our behalf, working with a wide spectrum of donors and prospects. Thank you, Rob, always and ever!
Also and assuredly, thank you to all of you: Members, attendees, program participants, donors, parents and families, University faculty and students, townsfolk and fellow citizens, City and County leaders. Each of you has inspired us to strive to be our best, and to sustain the traditions of service of this 83-years-in-existence museum, and a literary heritage site owned by the University for five decades now.
And a closing, more than deeply-felt thank you to James Meredith, who sixty years ago brought boundless courage and dignity to the steps of the Lyceum, and to every day of his life as a student and a profoundly admired alumnus. Mr. Meredith, the Museum and Rowan Oak join the entire extended University of Mississippi community in expressing our depth of gratitude to you for the integration of the University and for your life of public service, wisdom, and leadership. You have been a beacon to Mississippi and the nation, and we honor you.
Robert Saarnio
Museum Director
Hear Our Latest News First!