By Staff
NEW JOB Kathy Brookshire says she looks forward to enhancing the role of Meridian Community College in the community as head of its fund-raising and institutional advancement activities. Photo by Paula Merritt / The Meridian Star
By Chris Allen Baker/staff writer
Jan. 21, 2002
Kathy Brookshire grew up just six blocks from Meridian Community College and credits MCC with giving her a solid foundation for life.
The award-winning elementary school teacher now heads the college's fund-raising and institutional advancement activities as director of the MCC foundation.
Brookshire replaces longtime MCC advocate Ann Dowdle, who retired in December.
Brookshire's first goals as director are improving community support and getting more alumni involved.
The campus has changed a lot since she was a student, and one of Brookshire's first tasks was to tour the campus.
Brookshire recently attended a conference of community college leaders in Washington, where she talked about the MCC Foundation's tuition guarantee program which pays the tuition of any student who graduates from a high school in Lauderdale County. More than $1 million has been invested in the program since its inception in 1996, she said.
Brookshire earned an associate's degree at MCC and a bachelor's degree at Mississippi State University. During the course of her career, she has taught at Lamar School, Northeast Lauderdale and, most recently, Poplar Springs Elementary School.
Brookshire and her husband, Brian, have two sons, Brian Jr., 24, and Wilson, 16.