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Ļć½¶Ö±²„receives national recognition for grounds maintenance

Ļć½¶Ö±²„receives national recognition for grounds maintenance

Contact: Georgia Clarke

Ļć½¶Ö±²„Campus Landscape staff are pictured with administrators congratulating them for national recognition by the Professional Grounds Management Society. Ļć½¶Ö±²„President Keenum (front left) receives a plaque from Bart Prather, associate director of campus landscape. Also pictured are (second row) Amy Tuck, vice president for campus services and George Davis, executive director for campus services; (third row) Victor Fulton, Randolph Calmes, Jimmy Colvin, Melvin Turnipseed, Dashun Blair, Alex Miller; (fourth row) John Rice, James Blair, Willie Neely, Shawn Higgins, Sammy Vaughn, Brandon Hardin; (fifth row) Johnnie Turnipseed, Jimmy Rice, Ivan Harris, Will Lawrence, John Copeland, Dan Whatley; (sixth row) Robert Sawyer, Zeb Rice, Edwin Lindsey, Anthony Johnson, Frank Fulton, Jerry Outlaw and Joey Boutwell. Not pictured are Scott Bolton and Perry Sellars. (Photo by Russ Houston)

STARKVILLE, Miss.ā€”Mississippi State is celebrating a national award for outstanding groundskeeping.

The Professional Grounds Management Society, a Baltimore, Maryland-based organization, recently selected the land-grant institution for an Honor Award in the university and college grounds category of its 2015 Green Star Awards competition.

Ļć½¶Ö±²„is among 19 U.S. institutions of higher learning being praised for exceptional grounds maintenance. The complete list is found at .

Speaking for the university administration, Vice President for Campus Services Amy Tuck expressed pride in the campus landscape teamā€™s achievement.

ā€œThey work diligently to keep Ļć½¶Ö±²„beautiful,ā€ she said. ā€œIt is an honor for Ļć½¶Ö±²„ to be recognized nationally for excellence in grounds maintenance,ā€ Tuck added.

Bart Prather accepted Mississippi Stateā€™s award during the societyā€™s annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. Associate director of campus landscape, he is an agronomy graduate of the university.

ā€œThis award goes to those who work for Ļć½¶Ö±²„Campus Landscape, and the Campus Services division as a whole,ā€ Prather said. ā€œIt is through their hard work and dedication that this award was even possible.ā€

Each year, Ļć½¶Ö±²„plants 80-100 new trees and more than 50,000 daffodils and other color plants. The Campus Landscape staff maintains nearly 1,500 acres of the Starkville campus.

Information on MSUā€™s Campus Services is found at .

Ļć½¶Ö±²„is Mississippiā€™s leading university, available online at .