First-ever young alumnus award presented to 1988 grad

Prestigious Young Alumnus Jennifer Wicker received her award at the annual Alumni Awards Banquet on campus in January.

Jennifer Wicker looked surprised when her name was announced as the first recipient of Mississippi State's Prestigious Young Alumnus Award, but to most in attendance at the annual Alumni Awards Banquet in January, the announcement came as no surprise.

The Hattiesburg resident and Mississippi State communication graduate has been serving her alma mater since before her graduation in 1988, and currently is the young director for the association's Southern Region of Mississippi.

Wicker is marketing director for The Curiosity Shoppe and Ye Olde Book Shoppe in Hattiesburg.

As president of the Forrest-Lamar-Perry alumni chapter from 1994-96, Wicker established a board of directors for the chapter and put together the Bully's Bark newsletter to communicate the goings-on of the chapter to its members. She also organized a golf tournament with alumni from the University of Southern Mississippi, played the weekend of the MSU-USM baseball games in Hattiesburg, with proceeds of the tournament going to the United Way.

In 1995, she was honored as the chapter's Alumna of the Year, and in 1996 received the J. E. "Red" Ruffin Award from the Alumni Association for her contributions to the Annual Giving Program.

For more information about the award and about nominations, contact the Alumni Association at 662-325-2434.