Lipsey Lecture Series Set for March 27

Ted Atkinson

Mississippi College alumni with successful publishing ventures in the academic, popular and online press will speak about writing and their careers.

They’re coming to the Clinton campus as part of a panel discussion for the 41^st annual Lipsey Lecture series March 27. The 90-minute event Tuesday evening in the President’s Board Room in the B.C. Rogers Student Center begins at 7 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

The Sue Price Lipsey Lectureship promotes scholarship in the field of humanities.

Speakers include Ted Atkinson, an English professor at Mississippi State University whose areas of research interest include Southern studies, American literature and culture, post 1900. His books include one on William Faulkner and the Great Depression.

Other speakers include Kelly Foster, an educator at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Ridgeland, where she teaches 9^th grade Ancient World Literature. Foster received a Master of Arts in English degree from Mississippi College in 2001. She’s a regular contributor to Image Journal online and is working on a book on personal essays.

Also joining the panel will be Dayn Perry, a writer for CBSSports.com. In the past, he’s been a full-time contributor to ESPN.com and FoxSports.com and was a freelance writer for publications such as the “Miami Herald,” the “Washington Monthly” and “ESPN the Magazine,” among others. He received a bachelor’s degree in English from MC in 1994 and a master’s in the field from the Christian university in 1999.

A Gulfport native who lives in Chicago, Perry is the author of two books on baseball, including one on New York Yankees great Reggie Jackson. The MC alumnus is presently at work on a book about Chicago street gangs.

The topic for the panel will be “On Writing: The Pleasures and Perils of Publishing.” The group will field questions from the audience.

MC English Department Chairman Jonathan Randle says people on the Clinton campus are excited to learn about the experience of the three graduates since they left the department. “We’re confident that our students will benefit from hearing about those experiences as well.”

The lecture series was established in 1971. The English Department named the program in honor of Sue Price Lipsey for her many years of service to the university. She joined the faculty in 1946 and retired in May 1974.

Last year’s guest speaker was Warren J. Carson, an author and professor at South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg.

For more information, contact Jonathan Randle at 601.925.3269 or randle@mc.edu.