Contact: Addie Mayfield

STARKVILLE, Miss.—A $250,000 gift from Artesia native Belle Wilburn Frink, along with her husband Clayton Frink, has established the Wilburn Family Promise Endowed Scholarship at Mississippi State University in memory of four MSU alumni.

Frink graduated from the Mississippi University for Women in 1970 before moving to Austin, Texas, where she met her husband. The couple divides their time between the cities of Austin and Madison, Wisconsin, where they relocated in 1987. Although Mississippi State is not her alma mater, Frink has always had significant Bulldog ties through her family.

“My father, brother and two uncles all graduated from Mississippi State,” said Frink. “With the recent passing of my brother and remaining uncle, I wanted to honor the four of them with a gift to MSU.”

The Wilburn Family Endowed Promise Scholarship will serve not only as a tribute to Frink’s late relatives--father Charles Wilburn, a 1936 business graduate; uncles Saunders Wilburn, a 1938 business graduate, and Tom Wilburn, a 1940 animal science graduate; and brother Smith Wilburn, a 1966 business graduate--but also as a legacy of opportunity. Through the MSU Promise Program, the gift will increase accessibility to higher education by assisting students in economically challenging situations.

“My father always marveled at the ability of his parents to be able to put three children through college during the Depression. I know it was a sense of pride for their family to have been able to acquire a college education,” said Frink. “I have also appreciated the advantages that I believe my college degree and experience have given me in work and life.”

Candidates for the Wilburn Family Endowed Promise Scholarship include entering freshmen with a 3.0 grade-point average and minimum composite ACT score of 19, or entering community college transfer students with a 2.50 GPA and at least 48 eligible transfer hours. Recipients also must be Mississippi residents demonstrating financial need, and may qualify for the award up to four years if they maintain a 2.5 GPA and full-time enrollment.

The MSU Promise Program was established in 2006 as a way to help bridge the gap between the cost of tuition and fees after financial aid. The program also provides academic counseling, course-progress monitoring, and networking opportunities to ensure students’ continued success.

“The Promise Program appealed to me because it gives students the chance to attend college who otherwise might not have the opportunity,” said Frink, who understands that institutional support and monetary assistance are critical links to a student’s participation and accomplishments.

For more information on how to support the MSU Promise Program or establish an endowed memorial gift, contact Jack McCarty, executive director of development for the MSU Foundation, at 662-325-9580 or jmccarty@foundation.msstate.edu.

The MSU Foundation is online at www.msufoundation.com.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.