special to the star

Cora Norman, former director of the Mississippi Humanities Council, will be the keynote speaker at the second annual Women in Leadership Symposium at Mississippi State University-Meridian on Nov. 13.

The symposium, which will raise funds for MSU-Meridian’s Women in Leadership Scholarship Fund, will be held from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. in Kahlmus Auditorium. Students and the public are invited to attend. Deadline to register is Friday, Nov. 6.

The purpose of the symposium is to provide a forum for discussion on issues, concepts and the practical skills necessary to challenge and inspire women to become leaders. The focus of this year’s event is diversity and women’s health issues.

Admission to the symposium is a donation to the Women in Leadership Scholarship Fund, which provides financial scholarships to female students at MSU-Meridian. This year’s Women in Leadership Scholarship recipients include Kimberly Brown, of Brandon; Cynthia Martin, of Stonewall; and Katie McAlister, of Collinsville.

“We invite all students, working professionals and senior adults to attend the symposium and learn how to become more effective leaders in their careers and in the community,” said Sandra Vaughn, event coordinator and director of MSU-Meridian’s social work program.

A panel discussion will be held during the morning session, featuring newly elected Meridian Mayor Cheri Barry; Veldore F. Young, circuit court judge of the 10th judicial district drug court; Linda Farmer, a co-founder and facilitator of the breast cancer support group CAREousel; Doris Ann Thompson, the Bogue Chitto tribal council representative to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, who serves as chairperson for the Community and Family Services Committee; and Evadna Lyons, a nursing instructor and director of the National League for Nursing Accreditation Committee at East Central Community College.

In addition to these outstanding women leading the panel discussion, Vaughn said MSU-Meridian is honored to have Norman to deliver the symposium luncheon’s keynote address, titled “Women as agents of change in Mississippi during the 20th Century.”

An educator and an author, Norman has focused on women’s issues throughout her professional career.

She received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Texas Western College, now The University of Texas at El Paso. She earned her master’s degree in chemical science and doctorate in administration of higher education at the University of Mississippi.

Under her leadership as founding executive director of the Mississippi Humanities Council, the humanities program in Mississippi was established. This involved the development and supervision of programs that addressed human concerns affecting the citizens, the family, the contemporary woman, education, race relations, business ethics, cultural heritage and judiciary and historical preservation.

 “Dr. Norman certainly addressed diversity in 1972 when she became the founding executive director of the Mississippi Humanities Council,” Vaughn said. “Just five years after segregation ended in Mississippi, she applied for federal monies to educate all Mississippi citizens, regardless of race, in the humanities, which includes art, music and theater.”

Also during the luncheon, the symposium’s Honorary Steel Magnolia award will be presented to Beth Clay, an attorney and founder of The Clay Firm.

A native of Kemper County and resident of Meridian, Clay attended East Mississippi Community College before graduating magna cum laude from MSU. She became an award-winning English teacher in the Jackson area schools before deciding to go to law school and graduated with special distinction from Mississippi College of Law.

Before establishing her own firm focusing on governmental relations, Clay served as assistant secretary of state for the Corporate Division of the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office. She also served as executive director of the State Capitol Commission and was a partner in a Jackson defense firm.

A veteran of Mississippi’s governmental arena, she has structured her practice toward providing her clients with a “hands on” approach to legislative, regulatory, political, procurement and public policy issues.

Consistently named “Mississippi’s top Lobbyist” by The Clarion Ledger and the Mississippi Business Journal, Clay is the only attorney in Mississippi recognized in the prestigious Martindale-Hubbell Bar Registrar of Preeminent Lawyers in the area of government relations.

“Beth Clay was selected as Honorary Steel Magnolia because of her service to the state, community and MSU through her life-long interest in Mississippi’s governmental and political landscape,” Vaughn said.

  “She is an avid supporter of Mississippi State University, a member of the University’s Patrons of Excellence and Bulldog Club Board of Directors,” Vaughn noted. “Recently, she was selected to serve on the MSU Foundation Board.”

To register for the Women in Leadership Symposium, call (601) 484-0140 by Nov. 6.