Rome Center to be temporary home in Eternal City for MSU students
Contact: Kevin Tate
ROME, Italy—Mississippi State University students studying abroad will benefit from a generous gift from Mike and Laura McDaniel, of Houston, Texas, which makes possible a new center in Rome to house students traveling in Italy.
MSU is renovating a building to house its students after signing an agreement this summer with Pontifical University Antonianum, an Italian school headquartered in Rome. Work on the space is in its earliest stages, but the facility is expected to be ready for use by the spring of 2027, when it will become a temporary home for about 40. The property is owned by the Vatican through PUA, which has similar relationships with other universities around the world. By entering this agreement, MSU will support a key element of its own rapidly growing study abroad program. The work is made possible by the McDaniels’ gift.
“Mississippi State University has been finding solutions and creating opportunity here at home and around the world for nearly 150 years. The generous support of alumni and friends makes so much of our work possible, and we are grateful for this gift from Mike and Laura and all of the other ways they support our university,” MSU President Mark E. Keenum said. “The McDaniels’ gift will help us create a home away from home for our students as they meet new people, broaden their perspectives and gain new insights into their fields of study. The new center in Rome will also enable us to grow our highly successful academic and research partnerships in the city and well beyond.”
The center in Rome will be MSU’s first venture into providing such an international facility for students, and it’s meant to help grow the variety of majors to which study abroad is promoted. Presently, nearly 600 MSU students take part in study abroad arrangements every year, a figure that has doubled in the past decade.
“I think studying abroad enhances the education for students of any major,” Mike McDaniel said. “It opens them up to art and culture they might well not become aware of otherwise.”
The McDaniels love to travel and Italy is one of their favorite countries. They have fallen in love with the people, food, art and architecture. The Rome Center is expected to help share that experience with many upcoming generations of Bulldogs.
“I wanted to give back to MSU, and I thought the Rome Center opportunity was ideal,” Mike said. “Just a fantastic idea on the university’s part. Laura and I are thrilled to help make it happen.”
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