Ole Miss Family Leadership Council gifts $149,000 to Student Affairs
Published 10:30 am Friday, August 3, 2018
The University of Mississippi Division of Student Affairs will soon have funding for more programs and initiatives, thanks to a $149,000 donation from the Ole Miss Family Leadership Council.
The Office of Admissions, Department of Campus Recreation, Career Center, Office of Student Disability Services, University Counseling Center and the University Police Department are all included under the student affairs umbrella. According to a news release from the University, these contributions allow campus groups to continue fostering a healthy student environment.
Brett Barefoot, director of development at the University, said the resources provided by the Family Leadership Council will continue to help turn goals for better serving students into realities.
“All 15 departments within the Division of Student Affairs work extremely hard to ensure Ole Miss students are successful and have an incredible collegiate experience,” Barefoot said in a recent news release. “However, a lot of people don’t realize that funding is limited. These departments always have a goal of better serving our students. The resources provided by the Family Leadership Council continue to help… the Ole Miss experience [grow] stronger for our students.”
Campus Recreation will develop wellness programming for students, including alcohol and drug education; wellness workshops on sleep, stress, exercise and anxiety and the process of making healthy lifestyle choices.
The funding will help the Career Center on campus upgrade its facilities with equipment that will allow students to engage in remote video interviews with potential employers.
The center will also introduce the “Am I Job Ready?” software program, which is designed to prepare students for job interviews and provide them with career preparation resources. The program, which will launch this fall, evaluates students on transferable job skills and helps suggest careers and majors based on their interests and personalities.
“We want to make sure students understand the professional competencies that employers look for, including soft skills that are applicable across all industries,” Toni Avant, Career Center director, said in a recent news release. “This software will help students be able to articulate those skills they have gained at the university in and out of the classroom in interviews.”
Several other departments on campus will benefit from FLC funding, including the Office of Admissions, which will introduce new recruitment tools; Student Disability Services, which will purchase adaptive technology such as iPads; the University Counseling Center, which will develop programs to promote awareness of the importance of good mental health and UPD, which will purchase body cameras for officers and other personal safety training supplies.
The FLC is comprised of 54 families in 18 states, all of whom have children who are enrolled in the University. According to a statement from the University, these families feel a call to donate their time and money to benefit programs that will better Ole Miss.
For more information about the Ole Miss Family Leadership Council, visit http://omflc.olemiss.edu.