Tours galore: MSU Welcome Center resuming campus visits for individuals, groups

As pandemic restrictions are eased, Mississippi State University’s Welcome Center is resuming personalized individual and group tours of the Starkville campus this summer.

Tours are open to all age groups and should be scheduled two weeks in advance. Guided campus tours, as well as historical and children’s tours and self-guided walking tours, are among those available. Each tour is led by a trained student volunteer with MSU’S Maroon VIP program.

Tours are conducted Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. To view tour options or schedule a visit, go to visit.msstate.edu, call 662-3255198 or email visit@pres.msstate.edu.

“While the MSU admissions office takes care of scheduling prospective student tours, the Welcome Center is here to enlighten visitors on the historical and visual aspects of our beautiful campus,” said Cristi Stevens, coordinator of MSU’S Welcome Center.

Summer visitors can explore MSU’S Chapel of Memories, Charles H. Templeton Sr. Music Museum, Lois Dowdle Cobb Museum of Archaeology, Cullis and Gladys Wade Clock Museum and Depot Art Gallery, Extension Arthropod (Bug) Zoo and Mississippi Entomological Museum, H.H. Leveck Animal Research Center (South Farm), Joe Frank Sanderson Center and John Grisham Room.

In the fall, additional tour sites include the Dunn-seiler Geology Museum and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station’s Custer Dairy Processing Plant.

Specific timeframes might apply for the individual museum or area being toured, including visits to the R.R. Foil Plant Science Research Center (North Farm); Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park; Veteran’s Memorial Rose Garden; and the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library and the Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana, both at Mitchell Memorial Library.

Academic tours for prospective students can be organized through MSU’S Office of Admissions and Scholarships. Visit admissions.msstate.edu/visit, call 662-325-2224 or email admit@msstate.edu for scheduling information and assistance.