MSU Names Commencement Speaker

STARKVILLE, Miss.–Mississippi State alumnus and university benefactor Thomas B. “Tommy” Nusz will deliver the university’s spring commencement addresses May 8 and 9 at Humphrey Coliseum.

Co-founder and head of Texas-based Oasis Petroleum, Nusz is featured speaker both for the 7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday ceremonies.

Approximately 2,600 students are candidates for May degrees.

Also at the respective ceremonies, Charles W. “Tex” Ritter of Kosciusko–MSU’s 2002 National Alumnus of the Year–and leading Meridian businessman Tommy E. Dulaney will receive honorary doctorates in public service for lifetime achievements and longtime major support of university programs.

A 1982 MSU petroleum engineering graduate, Nusz is president, CEO and chairman of the board of the independent Houston exploration and production company he helped launch in 2007. Over more than three decades in the industry, he worked as an engineer for Superior Oil, Mobil Oil and Meridian Oil before being named vice president for several divisions of Burlington Resources prior to its acquisition by Conoco Phillips. He also is a member of the National Petroleum Council, an advisory committee to the U.S. energy secretary. Nusz and wife Terri met while students at MSU and have remained ardent supporters of university programs.

Ritter is a 1956 agriculture graduate also honored in 1995 as alumnus of the year by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He was longtime president and CEO of Attala Mills, a Kosciusko manufacturer of flour and pet food, before stepping down in 2002 to become a management consultant to the company.

While building a successful business career, Ritter simultaneously devoted nearly 60 years of almost uninterrupted service to the university. He has served as president of the MSU Foundation and the Alumni Foundation and is an active member of the athletics-focused Bulldog Club. He will be honored during Friday’s ceremony.

Dulaney, who will be honored during the Saturday ceremony, founded Structural Steel Services Inc. in Meridian in 1975. The company now employs more than 300 and provides thousands of tons of fabricated steel to customers throughout the United States and several other countries.

A Meridian Community College trustee for more than three decades, the Louisville native also is a member of the MSU-Meridian Dean’s Advisory Council and MSU Foundation board of directors. Beyond his board service, he has endowed a scholarship in engineering at MSU.

The May 8 evening program will involve graduates of the colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences and its School of Human Sciences; Bagley College of Engineering and its Swalm School of Chemical Engineering; Education; Forest Resources; and Veterinary Medicine.

The May 9 morning program includes the colleges of Architecture, Art and Design; Arts and Sciences; and Business and its Adkerson School of Accountancy.