2000

WEEK OF _ _::S:..____..:.,'-_ -_ _ ....::____

Outgoing ECCC president to be honored

By Austin Bishop I The Meridian Star May 4, 2000 Email this story.

DECATUR- Dr. Eddie Smith, outgoing president of East Central Community College, will be honored with a spectal celebration at 2 p.m. Saturday on the campus of the two-year school. The convocation will begin in Huff Auditorium and conclude with special ceremonies at the college's new student union building, earlier named in Smith's honor. "The time has really gone by fast," said Dr. Smith, who is retiring after 15 years as president of East Central Community College. "It has been a lot of fun and I really don't know where the time went." Smith, who graduated from East Central in 1963, became president of the school in the fall of 1985. Since that time the school's enrollment has soared from 819 to 2,233 and the school's budget has swelled from $3 .9 million to $19 million. The Noxapater High School graduate went on to receive degrees from East Central, Mississippi State University and the University of Southern Mississippi. Before returning to ECCC to take over the school's leadership role, Smith served as either an instructor or administrator at the University of Southern Mississippi-Natchez, the Natchez campus of Copiah-Lincoln Junior College and the main Wesson campus of Copiah-Lincoln, where he was dean of instruction from 1980-85. Saturday's ceremonies are open to the public and food will be provided. Scheduled to perform are the Ac'cents, the college's show choir; several faculty members; and the ECCC Brass Ensemble. Among the speakers on the program are State Sen. T~rry C. Burton, ECCC president-elect Dr. Phil Sutphin ; ECCC Board of Trustees member Dr. Jack Winstead, former ECCC board chairman Bubba Hudspeth of Louisville and former ECCC instructors Ovid S. Vickers and Richard C. Ethridge.

Austin Bishop is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at abishop@meridianstar,com.

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