Walter Becker, owner of Commercial Real Estate Services in Canton, earned a bachelor's degree from Mississippi State in 1966 and was national president of the Mississippi State Alumni Association in 1994. He was the Central Mississippi Chapter Alumnus of the Year in 1995. He also holds an MBA from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Mississippi State would receive about $14.6 million of the increase in state funding for education and general support requested of the Legislature by the Institutions of Higher Learning for 1999-2000. Of that amount, $3.5 million would be used to create new faculty positions, about $3.3 million would be used for general salary increases, and another $4 million would help move faculty and staff salaries toward regional averages for peer institutions. The increase would provide another $1 million budget boost for the library, which is working to become the first Mississippi library recognized by the Association of Research Libraries. The Meridian Campus would be in line for a funding increase of just over $1 million. Other new funds would improve operating budgets, provide up-front money for the Engineering Research Center to increase its external research funding, and cover the increased costs associated with bringing new or renovated buildings into use. Increased funding also would be sought for separately budgeted units such as the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and the Mississippi State University Extension Service. Overall, IHL this year requested an 18 percent funding increase of $99.8 million, including funds for the separately budgeted units, Ayers implementation, and state financial aid programs. The Legislative Budget Committee has recommended that the full Legislature approve about $45 million of the request. Mississippi State also is seeking $11.25 million for capital improvements including funds for a Landscape Architecture Building and renovations to Lee Hall and Bowen Hall, among other projects. The MSU needs are part of an IHL capital improvements request totaling $71.5 million.

Alumni of state universities know value of higher education

by Walter Becker ('66)
President, Inter-Alumni Council

There's a saying going around these days that most of us have heard more times than we care to remember, but it seems to fit those of us who are graduates of a public university in Mississippi. "Been there, done that, got the T-shirt."

No one knows the benefits of higher education better than those who have been to a Mississippi university, experienced the education, and got the T-shirt-and the diploma. Many of us who are state university alumni attribute our career success largely to our educational experience at one of the eight public universities.

We can enumerate the ways we matured socially and culturally as well as educationally while attending one of the universities. Because we have been there and benefit daily from our experience, alumni constitute the perfect group to support the efforts of the university system of the Institutions of Higher Learning.

For more than 10 years, I have been privileged to serve on the Inter-Alumni Council, and I am the current president. In this role, I am challenging the Inter-Alumni Council to become leaders in supporting IHL needs and programs.

The most pressing concern right now is approval of the 1999-2000 legislative budget request. The monies requested as we enter the 21st century are anything but frivolous. The request includes funds for basic operations, salary increases, Ayers implementation, the base adjustment for the three comprehensive universities, new and expanded educational programs, and technology.

To be sure our citizens understand the details of the FY 2000 budget request, the Inter-Alumni Council held a series of informative receptions around the state last fall. Our leaders need and want to know the opinions and concerns of the people they serve. It is vital that the needs of higher education are clear to state decision makers.

Recruitment of students is another area in which alumni can help our universities. After all, those of us who have been there can speak from experience. I am proposing that the Inter-Alumni Council take the lead in sponsoring recruitment events involving our universities and the IHL. This will be a new way to share information with the public about the programs and services available to Mississippians of all ages.

Higher education for every Mississippian is an issue of vital importance to all of us. Our state is in need of educated people who can fill myriad roles in the workforce of today and the 21st century. Our investment of money and time pales in comparison to the tremendous returns we will experience when everyone in our state has as much education as possible.

I challenge alumni and others who know the value of higher education all over this state to become informed, not only about an individual university, but about the work of higher education as a unit in our state. Alumni also need to speak up-to let their support be known to the Legislature and their higher education experiences known to prospective students.

We alums have been there. We know personally the benefits of higher education. Each individual who pursues higher education opens his or her avenue to a better quality of life. The state's overall quality of life improves immeasurably with each citizen who has "been there, done that" and become an alumnus of a Mississippi university. Public higher education is worth our support.