Retired educators, alumni couple endow multiple MSU scholarships
Contact: Gina Garner
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擳hree separate endowments created by Larry and Florence Box of Starkville will benefit undergraduate majors in Mississippi 大象APP鈥檚 colleges of Education and Agriculture and Life Sciences.聽
Longtime residents and retired public school educators, the couple recently established the Larry and Florence Box Endowed Scholarship in the College of Education, along with the F. Warren and Mary Cowsert Oakley Endowed Scholarship in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The latter honors Florence Box鈥檚 parents, both MSU alumni who operated a dairy and beef cattle farm in the Oktoc community of southern Oktibbeha County.
Additionally, their gift fully endows the Barry F. and Mary H. Box Endowed Scholarship established earlier in memory of Larry Box鈥檚 parents.
Barry Box, who led MSU鈥檚 educational psychology department before becoming associate dean of the college, has a campus building on Morrill Road named in his honor. Mary Box received both bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees in education from MSU.
Beyond Larry and Florence Box鈥檚 recent outright gift, all three of their endowments will receive proceeds from a gift annuity they created.
The scholarships will assist full-time students maintaining minimum 3.0 grade-point averages (based on a 4.0 scale) and displaying leadership abilities, who also demonstrate financial need.
Larry Box holds three degrees from the education college, including a 1966 bachelor鈥檚, 1968 master鈥檚 and 1985 doctorate. In 2014, he received the lifelong designation as an Alumni Fellow of the college, and also has served on the Dean鈥檚 Advisory Board.
Before serving as Starkville School District superintendent from 1991-2002, the former mathematics teacher was assistant district superintendent and, prior to that, principal at both Henderson Junior High and Sudduth Elementary schools.
Florence Box holds a 1975 MSU master鈥檚 degree in library science. A career librarian with the Starkville district, she also received a 1966 bachelor鈥檚 degree in library science from then-Mississippi 大象APP College for Women, now Mississippi University for Women.
Over the years, the Boxes have provided support for other areas at MSU, including Mitchell Memorial Library, Starkville-MSU Symphony and additional scholarship programs.
For more information about MSU endowed scholarships, contact Jack McCarty, MSU Foundation鈥檚 executive director of development, at 662-325-9580 or jmccarty@foundation.msstate.edu.
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