A historical timeline of the Ole Miss Alumni Association

1844 – First Board of Trustees formed.

1846 – Cornerstone for the Lyceum Building laid.

1851 – First year of graduation.   

1852 – First Alumni Association called Alumni Society organized.

1860 – Last commencement before the Civil War. Jefferson Davis makes visit to Oxford.

1862 – First wave of Union troops invade the University.

1873 – Chancellor John N. Waddel wrote the first history of the University.

1879 – Master John Henry Miller Wells won the prize of oldest male descendent of the class of 1869.

1881 – Annie Corinne Baker (Wingfield-married name) was the first woman student.

1884 – Colonel James Lufkin McCaskill was elected president of the Alumni Association.

1885 – Sarah McGehee was appointed first woman faculty member. Oxford was selected as the name for the city over Mississippi City by one vote from the Legislature. Sallie Vick Hill became first woman graduate from the University and first woman elected to a position of responsibility (essayist) in the Alumni Association.

1893 – Football introduced to the University by Professor Alexander Bondurant.

1896 – The first student yearbook named The Ole Miss published.

1904 – Essayist, V. Otis Robertson, advocated publication of alumni magazine to “bind closer together the alumni”.

1909 – First comprehensive list of alumni published compiled by Vice Chancellor Dr. Alfred Hume.

1913 – The dedication of Peabody Hall.

1917 – No commencement exercises due to World War. Student government program established.

1924 – Dr. Alfred Hume elected chancellor of the University.

Jeff K. Hamm is elected the first Alumni secretary.

1927 – Memorial of Seth Thomas clock on front of Lyceum presented. 

1944 – World War II memorial plaque placed on the wall of the lobby of the Alumni House.

1947 – John H. Vaught selected head coach for the University.

1951 – Dedication of the Alumni House.

1953 – Alumni clubs formed in 33 Mississippi towns.

1960 – David M. Robinson Collection left to Ole Miss.

1961 – Membership of the Alumni Association reaches 7,000 members. William Faulkner died.

1971 – C.M. “Tad” Smith and Johnny Vaught retired

First notion that a joint dues plan be made for husbands and wives who were alumni.

1976 – Ole Miss Union opened.

1980 – Committee on Black Student Concerns formed. Anonymous gift of $250,000 given to restore Barnard Observatory.

1986 – Board of Directors voted to approve the publication of A History of the Alumni Association.

1998 – University Sesquicentennial Celebration.

1991 – First Alumni Directory published.
Alumni Records transferred to electronic format.

2002 – Alumni Association celebrates 150th birthday. First Alumni Service Award.

2008 – The Inn at Ole Miss expansion is completed.
Tim Walsh named Executive Director of Alumni Affairs.