From addressing details to awarding degrees, Margaret Lynne Murchison is a champion for the students of The University of Mississippi-DeSoto. Her commitment to academic excellence and outstanding student resources was recently honored with the 2007 University of Mississippi- DeSoto T.P. Vinson Outstanding Faculty Award.
"Dr. Murchison's job is to take care of academic programming, but she goes beyond that," said Dr. Bonnie Buntin, Dean of UM-DeSoto. "Her focus is on the students and the lost art of grammar and writing in the classroom."
As director of credit programs for The UM Division of Outreach and Continuing Education, Murchison works closely with UM-DeSoto to bring the same high integrity courses and curriculum as that of the Oxford campus. She has taught both live and online courses at UM-DeSoto, and attends to particulars such as student counseling, study abroad, and bookstore accessibility.
"The DeSoto campus is located near the students and every effort is made to ensure that any obstacle can be overcome, whether it be that a student is able to hold a full time job, arrange classes around their children's school day or access financial aid," said Murchison. "I feel like it is the University's arm reaching out to the community, and I think that is why I get excited about my job."
The T.P.Vinson Outstanding Faculty Award is presented annually to a faculty or staff member who exhibits exceptional dedication to student services on the satellite campuses of The University of Mississippi. A UM School of Education associate dean and faculty member, the Rev. Theopolis Vinson helped establish the foundation for the DeSoto Center curriculum and facilities. He died of a cancer related illness in 2003 and is remembered by many as a student advocate and steadfast supporter of the mission of the UM-DeSoto campus.
"He had a servant's heart," said Murchison of Vinson, whom she worked with for many years, both at UM and in the Mississippi public school system. "I don't think he ever thought of self, and he loved the students."
The award recipient is faculty nominated, and must be an employee of the UM-Oxford campus that also works at the DeSoto Center. According to Buntin, Murchison exemplifies the same qualities of dedication and service that Vinson made a benchmark. Murchison works primarily to increase the number of credit courses offered on the satellite campuses, but as the award recognizes, she also serves as a staunch supporter of accessibility to higher education for nontraditional students.
"Though her job may sound purely administrative, the complex mission of satisfying both Oxford requirements and Outreach objectives have made creating an effective delegation staff a formidable task, one with which she is continually carrying the ball," said Dr. Robert Cosenza, a UM marketing professor who teaches on the satellite campuses. "The knowledge that Lynne is at the helm of credit programs makes my job as clinical professor easier because I know that I can innovate and deliver programs particularly in Southaven, Tupelo, and Booneville that will be fully supported at all fronts."
Murchison was presented the award by Dr. Ann L. Canty, UM vice chancellor of academic affairs and interim assistant provost, at the April 24 Graduation Celebration at the DeSoto Center. Murchison is a graduate of Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, and obtained both a master's degree and a Ph.D. in renaissance English literature from The University of Mississippi.