Jim Barksdale Delivers May 12UM Commencement Address
UNIVERSITY, Miss. -- A University of Mississippi graduate who has played a significant role in the success stories of several high-profile companies and now is investing in his home state through a $100 million reading institute gives UM's 2001 commencement address May 12.
Jim Barksdale speaks to graduates and their families at a 9:30 a.m. program in The Grove on the UM-Oxford campus. Some 1,328 candidates for degrees are expected to participate in graduation exercises throughout the day, and master's and doctoral degrees are granted after Barksdale's address.
Barksdale continues to work for the success of innovative companies as a founding partner and president of The Barksdale Group, a venture capital firm focusing on Internet business. His experience with the Internet business world was shaped at Netscape Communications Corp., where he served as president and chief executive officer (CEO) from 1995 to 1999. Under his leadership, the company's revenues grew to nearly $600 million. His efforts there culminated in a 1999 merger with America Online, and Barksdale became a member of AOL's board of directors.
Barksdale joined Netscape after serving as CEO for AT&T Wireless Services. Previously, he served in leadership positions at Federal Express Corp. from 1983 to 1992, starting as chief information officer and advancing to executive vice president and chief operating officer. While Barksdale was COO, FedEx revenues grew to $8 billion, expanding business to 129 countries around the globe.
In January 2000, Barksdale and his wife, Sally McDonnell Barksdale -- also an Ole Miss graduate -- gave $100 million to create a statewide reading institute to improve the reading skills of children in Mississippi. The Barksdale Reading Institute is a joint venture with the Mississippi Department of Education, UM School of Education and the state's seven other public university schools of education.
Also at Ole Miss, the Barksdales gave $5.4 million to establish the McDonnell-Barksdale Honors College. The gift expanded the existing honors program by providing funds to purchase and renovate a building, funding scholarships to attract new students, and providing stipends for travel and study abroad. The Honors College enriches the entire UM community by setting high standards to attract, engage and support the most academically versatile and highly motivated students.
The Barksdales also funded three full scholarships for African-American medical students at The University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, beginning with the class that entered in the fall of 2000. Each receives $22,000 annually for the four years of medical school.
Jim Barksdale has been recognized with a number of awards; most recently, he was a 2001 inductee in the Mississippi Business Hall of Fame. In 1997, Netscape received the "Entrepreneurial Company of the Year" award from both Stanford and Harvard business schools. Computer Reseller News named Barksdale the No. 1 "Executive of the Year," and PC Magazine named him "Person of the Year." At the 1997 ETRE Conference in Budapest, he received the "Executive of the Year" award.
A graduate of the Ole Miss School of Business Administration, Barksdale sits on several boards, some of which are AOL Time Warner, FedEx, Mayo Clinic Foundation, Sun Microsystems Inc., TechNet and Webvan Group.
Graduation ceremonies for undergraduates and law students slated for later in the day include: liberal arts at 3:30 p.m. in C.M. "Tad" Smith Coliseum, accountancy at 1:30 p.m. in Fulton Chapel, business administration at 1 p.m. in the coliseum, education at 1 p.m. in The Grove, engineering at 1:30 p.m. in the Lyceum Circle, law at 11 a.m. in The Grove, pharmacy at 1:30 p.m. in the Turner Center and court reporting at 1:30 p.m. in the Lamar Law Center's Ethridge Moot Courtroom.
In case of rain, the 9:30 a.m. ceremony and law graduation move to the coliseum. School of Education graduation moves to the Turner Center at 4 p.m, and engineering to Fulton Chapel at 3:30 p.m. For more information, call (662) 915-7792 for details.
-30-tina hahn
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