Mississippi College and Madison-Ridgeland Academy Form Partnership

Mississippi College President Lee Royce and Termie Land, who heads Madison-Ridgeland Academy, signed papers to forge a new partnership between the two institutions on February 4, 2016.

Mississippi College and Madison-Ridgeland Academy leaders signed a dual-enrollment partnership that becomes effective in August.

President Lee Royce said he’s happy to reach the agreement with MRA headmaster Termie Land.

“We’ve long admired MRA as an excellent school in metro Jackson with a Christ-centered mission that fits well with our Christian university,” Royce said. “This partnership will benefit students at both institutions for many years to come.”

At a February 4 meeting at his Nelson Hall office, Royce and Land signed documents spelling out the new agreement.

Under its terms, MC math professors will offer instruction to MRA students beginning with the Fall 2015 semester. The first series of classes will include introductory probability and statistics. In addition, MRA instructor Donna Allen will serve as one of the adjunct professors on the Clinton campus.

“We are more than delighted to partner with MC,” Land said during his visit Thursday on the Clinton campus. “I hope this is a positive move for them. For MRA, this is a huge positive move.”

Land remains pretty familiar with the 5,152-student Baptist-affiliated university. His daughter, Mary Kendall Land, is a 2007 Mississippi College graduate.

Opened in 1969, MRA serves 1,066 students, from kindergarten through the 12^th grade on its Madison campus at 7601 Old Canton Road. Madison-Ridgeland Academy is a member of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools.

Jim Turcotte, MC’s vice president for enrollment management and dean of students, believes the agreement represents a win-win for both sides. “This is another strategic partnership with a local school that will be beneficial to everyone,” he said. “MRA students who attend Mississippi College are a great fit for our college and are very successful here.”

Mississippi College Math Department chairman John Travis says the partnership gives MRA students “an opportunity to not only receive university credit, but to also get this small taste of a uniquely MC experience.”

Typically, about three to eight MRA graduates enroll at Mississippi College every year, says Michael Wright, the university’s assistant admissions director. “This will be great exposure to MC to the MRA students, and we hope they will continue on to MC as freshmen.”