Leila Wynn provides challenge grant matched by university
OXFORD, Miss. – A new $200,000 fund at the University of Mississippi’s
Center for the Study of Southern Culture is the result of one woman’s
belief that faculty members must have resources to pursue a wealth of
research and scholarship.
Philanthropist Leila Wynn of Greenville recently provided a $100,000
challenge grant that has been matched with $100,000 in funds from
several sources, including a final push from members of the CSSC
Advisory Committee. Center officials said the fund will enhance
research on the American South, as well as impact faculty recruitment
and retention.
“Leila Wynn has been a great supporter of the
Center for the Study of Southern Culture and the University of
Mississippi for some years,” said Ted Ownby, CSSC director. “She
studied Faulkner here, and she knows the needs of scholars from her
work with UM and other colleges and universities. She knows that
scholars need time to research, think and write, and this gift will be
a wonderful way to allow our faculty the freedom to do that.”
Southern Studies faculty members have ongoing research projects
on such topics as religious history, literature and globalization, race
and museums, the blues and the devil, the contemporary small-town
South, and African-American identity in the contemporary urban South.
“Mrs. Wynn’s gift represents a significant improvement in the
center’s support for faculty scholarship,” Ownby said. “Over the next
few years, it will be exciting to see the results.”
Wynn, who has supported the CSSC since its founding in 1977,
said she believes in the study of Southern culture and the center’s
work.
“History gives people an insight into the region’s potential
and its problems,” she said. “It also gives us a sense of pride and a
belonging to a place.”
After helping organize the Friends of the Center organization
and serving for many years on the CSSC Advisory Committee, Wynn said
she turned her attention to faculty support when her grandson, Charlie
Weissinger of Rolling Fork, was earning a degree in Southern studies at
UM.
“Faculty members are absolutely essential to a strong program,”
Wynn said. “I feel that really worthy faculty members should be
supported in order for them to more actively pursue their work. I was
very impressed with the education my grandson received.”
Wynn also has made significant contributions to the William
Faulkner Collection and other Southern studies sources at the
University Libraries, including many first- and limited-edition
manuscripts.
“Mrs. Wynn has been a wonderful longtime supporter of the
Department of Archives and Special Collections in the J.D. Williams
Library,” said Jennifer Ford, head of the archives. “Through her help,
we have been able to complete several projects and add significant
holdings to the department.”
Wynn supports an array of religious, educational, environmental and
cultural institutions throughout the state of Mississippi and on the
national level. A native of Austin, Texas, she settled in Mississippi
more than five decades ago after earning an undergraduate degree from
Smith College and a master’s degree in English literature from the
University of Texas. She also studied at Ole Miss and Delta State
University. In recent years, Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in
Austin presented Wynn with an honorary doctor of humane letters degree,
and Millsaps College recognized her with an honorary doctor of public
service degree.
Named Philanthropist of the Year in 2000 by the Mississippi Chapter of
the National Society of Fund Raising Executives, Wynn is a life trustee
of Millsaps College, where three of her four children graduated, and
has served as board chair of the Straddleford Foundation, a private
family foundation. Among her many leadership commitments, she served on
the boards of the National Wildflower Research Center in Austin,
University of Texas’ Humanities Research Center, Garden Club of
America, and King’s Daughters Hospital and Community Counseling Center,
both of Greenville. She continues to serve on the board of the
Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation and is an active, longtime
parishioner of St. James’ Episcopal Church in Greenville, where she has
been a vestry person and warden.
Wynn has served as board chair of First National Bank of San Augustine,
Texas, as well as vice president and director of Weissinger and Wynn in
Greenville, a cotton, soybean and corn farming operation. She also is
active in management of family timber holdings in Texas and Louisiana.