Alumnus pledges support to endow chair

Henry

Longtime Mississippi State supporter Hunter Henry has made a commitment to fully endow an academic chair in the Department of Chemical Engineering.

The 1950 chemical engineering graduate recently donated an initial $700,000 to the fund.

Dr. Glenn Steele, interim dean of the College of Engineering, said that a national search will begin this fall to find someone to occupy the chair.

Henry of Austin, Texas, is a retired executive and member of the board of directors of The Dow Chemical Co. In 1993, he and his wife, Lila, established the Henry Endowment Fund for Engineering. The fund makes possible eight Henry Scholarships currently amounting to $5,000 a year for students in mechanical and chemical engineering.

He is a member of the College of Engineering's Advisory Board, the Chemical Engineering Hall of Fame, and the board of directors of the Mississippi State University Foundation. In 1988, he was named Mississippi State's National Alumnus of the Year.