Shannon Campbell - “Continuing Life's Work”
Shannon Campbell
When one young alumna was called upon to support Mississippi State financially, she took full advantage of all resources available to her and made a lasting impact on her alma mater.
Shannon Campbell recently made a generous pledge to the Bagley College of Engineering's ExxonMobil Alumni Endowed Professorship. Campbell, an employee of ExxonMobil, took advantage of the company's three-to-one matching gift program and tripled the size of her original commitment, making a total pledge of $20,000.
"I'm excited to be able to give back to Mississippi State and the Bagley College of Engineering this soon in my career," said Campbell. "I was taught from an early age the importance of giving back. It's great to be able to now put it into action."
Campbell earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Mississippi State in 2004. She has been with ExxonMobil since then and is currently an alkylation process engineer in Baton Rouge, La.
"One of the perks of my job with ExxonMobil is the company's matching gift program," Campbell said. "I would not have been able to make a commitment of this size without it. I'll pay out my portion over the next five years, knowing that I'm making an even greater impact on my college in the process."
Campbell not only learned the importance of charitable giving at an early age, but she also came to appreciate the value of higher education many years ago. Her parents are both professors of accounting, and her mother a department chair, at the University of North Alabama.
"Both of my parents have made higher education their life passion. From them I've learned the importance of a college education, as well as the impact that great faculty members can have on the lives of students," Campbell remarked.
Campbell is one of six alumni employed by ExxonMobil who have contributed to establish the endowed professorship. To date, their commitments, including the three-to-one match by ExxonMobil, total more than $250,000 toward the $500,000 goal.
The Bagley College of Engineering plans to announce the recipient of the ExxonMobil Alumni Endowed Professorship later this year.
For Campbell, she says this is just the beginning of a lifetime of loyal support to her treasured alma mater.
