Ļć½¶Ö±²„announces Qualls as 2018 National Alumnus
Contact: Amy Cagle
STARKVILLE, Miss.āĻć½¶Ö±²„ will recognize Burnsville native and alumnus R.L. Qualls as the universityās 2018 national alumnus of the year in campus ceremoniesĀ early next year.
A Little Rock, Arkansas, resident, Qualls is the retired president and CEO of Baldor Electric Company (an NYSE Company). He presently serves as co-chairman of Taylor Companies of Washington, D.C., and he recently retired as presiding independent director of Bank of the Ozarks Inc. Qualls also was a cabinet member during Bill Clintonās first gubernatorial administration in Arkansas.
In addition to a career in both the public and private business sectors, Qualls served as a faculty member of the Stonier School of Banking at Rutgers University, course coordinator of the Graduate School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University, and he was a faculty member of Southwestern School of Banking at Southern Methodist University. Additionally, Qualls has been a Ford Foundation Faculty Research Fellow at Vanderbilt University.
Qualls received his bachelorās and masterās degrees in agricultural economics from Ļć½¶Ö±²„, and his doctoral work was done at LSU.
Qualls has published a number of books and articles, including āEntrepreneurial Wit and Wisdomā (UCA Press) and āStrategic Planning for Colleges and Universities:Ā A Systems Approach to Planning and Resource Allocationā (Trinity Press).
Along with the national alumnus recognition during a Feb. 2 banquet, each of MSUās eight academic colleges will honor a graduate for outstanding personal, professional and community achievements. In addition to individual college honorees, four others will be presented awards for distinguished service to the Ļć½¶Ö±²„Alumni Association. Rounding out the banquet recognition is the associationās annual outstanding young alumnus recipient.
The Ļć½¶Ö±²„Alumni Association includes 101 chapters and clubs worldwide and nearly 140,000 living graduates. For more, see .
Ļć½¶Ö±²„is Mississippiās leading university, available online at .