Board Member Spotlight: Jimmie Meese Moomaw ('58)

Jimmie Meese Moomaw, class of 1958, double major in speech and English, is a MFAEA Board member. While at MUW, she was President of Theatre Guild, and a member of Pi Kappa Delta, Sigma Tau Delta, Alpha Psi Omega, Student Government, Orchestra, and Annual staff. She was named Most Versatile, to Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities, and to the Hall of Fame. She also served on the President’s Council. 

Jimmie has had a long career in the education field. "After getting my bachelors and masters degree in 4 ½ years without going to summer school, and teaching high school for one year, I was hired at Mississippi State where I formed and coached an award-winning debate team. One of my proudest achievements was starting the first communication department at State. I designed the first curriculum for the speech major, wrote the course descriptions for the catalog and was instrumental in hiring the first chair of the department as well as the first two other faculty members for the department." After her time at State, Jimmie attended University of Missouri where she completed her Ph.D. while teaching classes and coaching the freshman debate team. Next, she taught in Kentucky where she also coached debate.

While in Kentucky, she married and subsequently moved to Atlanta. She had two daughters, Betsy and Amy. In Atlanta she taught at and chaired the department of speech and theatre at a local community college. She spent the last 21 years of her 41-year teaching career at Georgia State University until retiring from teaching in 2000.

For past 35 years Jimmie has been a communication consultant with a diverse client base. She does a lot of speaking and workshop presentations for corporations, organizations, and political clients, including writing the presentation script for a new product for CHANEL international. She also works with Democratic women on their political campaigns. 

Jimmie's involvement as a W alum began about 10 years ago when Donette Lee was President. "Donette asked me to serve on her Board and since then I have been on the Board every year," she says. "I was also chosen to represent the alumnae team in the first rounds of mediation arranged by the IHL Chancellor to try to resolve the issues between the Alumnae Association and Dr. Limbert."

She fronted the purchase of t-shirts that netted several thousand dollars for MFAeA, went online to issue a fund-raising challenge urging everyone to send money to support the association, and most recently planned and implemented a silent auction for the GDI e-chapter at Homecoming.

Jimmie says, "I am perhaps most notorious as a letter-to-the-editor writer. I do a lot of background writing for individual members who want to write letters or white papers on issues." Jimmie's efforts have been rewarded with an Alumnae Achievement Award.

As a member of the Board of Directors, Jimmie's goal for the MFAeA is to capitalize on our 501 status to raise money to support the work of the Association as well as money for scholarships. She would like to see the Association create and institute an annual fund-raising project to increase funding. She hopes to be able to send a mailer to all alums in order to increase Association membership.

Regarding the next president of MUW, Jimmie explains, "I feel strongly that the ideal candidate should be an alum of the institution. I prefer that the next president be a woman, but it is not a deal breaker." Jimmie further explains that she ideally wants someone who truly understands and values the strengths and mission of the W as it is; someone who is a savvy and articulate advocate for the institution, with well-developed communication skills who is comfortable in social and all political contexts. "The new president's academic credentials should include having attended an institution where traditions are understood and appreciated."

Jimmie would like to encourage all alums to join MFAeA so that you are counted among the numbers of those who support the institution. All alums, no matter how busy, or what their financial status, can identify students in their community who might be interested in and a good candidate for going to the W.

In ten years, Jimmie would like to see an MUW that is larger than it is now, but still a small liberal arts college with an emphasis on educating women with a nationally-ranked women’s studies program. She would also like to see the creation of a men’s unit under the umbrella of the existing name--with the proposed label "The Hogarth College for Men"--co-existing on the current Mississippi University for Women campus. As she explains, "Men and women would go there taking courses from either or both entities and graduating with a degree with the name of their choice."