Points of Pride

Quick Facts

  1. Fall 2009 enrollment was 18,601, a 4.4 percent increase over 2008 and the highest in the university's history.

  2. MSU has a graduation rate [six-year] of 60 percent, the highest in the state. That's up from about 50 percent 10 years ago, when MSU's Pathfinders program was implemented. It seeks to encourage students to attend class, a proven indicator of boosting academic success.

  3. The College of Arts and Sciences continues to be the university\'s largest, with more than 4,000 students, followed by the colleges of education, business and engineering. The College of Arts and Sciences continues to be the university's largest, with more than 4,000 students, followed by the colleges of education, business and engineering. MSU President Mark Keenum is placing an emphasis on seeking a Phi Beta Kappa chapter, a three-year process, to give the kind of prestige and recognition that he feels the university's students deserve.

  4. The fall 2008 student population is 20 percent African-American.

  5. The 2008 Nobel Laureate for Literature, JMG LeClezio [prounounced La Clay-zee-oh], made his only U.S. appearance at Mississippi State March 30. The 2008 Nobel Laureate for Literature, JMG LeClezio [prounounced La Clay-zee-oh], made his only U.S. appearance at Mississippi State March 30. He spoke in Lee Hall to a packed audience on the topic of "what is literature?" Born in France, he now maintains a home in the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.

  6. As of fall 2008, some 51 percent of MSU students are male, and 49 percent are female.

  7. Fall 2008 enrollment included a record freshman class of 2,489, an increase of 9 percent from the previous year, and a Meridian Campus enrollment of 782.

  8. Seventy-six percent of MSU students are from Mississippi.

  9. As of the 2008 fall semester, MSU's freshman ACT average was 23.6.

  10. MSU's retention rate of freshman-to-sophomore students is the state's highest, having risen to 85 percent from 76 percent in 1997. This is due, in large part, to the Pathfinders program.

  11. The veterinary diagnostic laboratory systems at MSU received 70,000 submissions in 2008 and conducted 350,000 individual tests.

  12. According to a survey by the Mississippi Business Journal, Mississippi State, with 4,638 employees, in 2009 was No. 7 in the state's list of largest employers.

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