Jimmy A. Payne Foundation Continues to Impact USM Students
Fri, 09/02/2022 - 12:51pm | By: Hayley Taylor
Continuing the support that began more than 30 years ago, the Jimmy A. Payne Foundation recently made grants totaling $476,903 through the USM Foundation to support nine unique areas at The University of Southern Mississippi. From entrepreneurship to healthcare, Jim Payne’s generosity has touched thousands of lives across USM.
Established in 1989, the Jimmy A. Payne Foundation has generously provided $2.3 million to benefit Southern Miss. Since his passing in 2015, Jim’s children, Jonathan Payne and April Payne Nall, have continued their father’s philanthropic legacy by overseeing the Foundation.
The support of each program listed below allows important and impactful programs to bolster the already exceptional reputation of USM, while enabling students to navigate their pathways to earning a college degree.
Areas most recently impacted by the Jimmy A. Payne Foundations generosity include:
- School of Sociology Academic Peer Mentoring
- Jimmy A. Payne Foundation RN to BSN Annual Scholarship
- The Hatchery Inspiration Lab
- Jimmy A. Payne Foundation Gap Annual Scholarship
- Kennard Scholars Program
- The Children’s Center Augmentative and Alternative Communication Training Program
- Oseola McCarty Scholars Program
- Advancement of Women in Natural Sciences
- Soar into STEMed: Future Teachers and Community Partners
“The Jimmy A. Payne Foundation and the Payne family are extraordinarily generous to our beloved University. Jim Payne’s love for USM lives on through each student, faculty and staff member whose lives have been and will be changed by his philanthropy,” said Stace Mercier, executive director of the USM Foundation.
A Newton, Miss., native, Payne served in the U.S. Army National Guard before attending Southern Miss, where he was a member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity, eventually serving as vice president. After graduating in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science in business administration, he began working for Proctor & Gamble. He later earned a Master of Business Administration from Mississippi College and went on to become a pioneer in the pharmaceutical industry by founding UAD Laboratories, where he served as president and CEO until its merger with Forest Laboratories in 1989. Payne was inducted into the Southern Miss Alumni Hall of Fame in 1990 and was also a member of the Mississippi Business Journal’s Business Hall of Fame.
Founded in 1959, the USM Foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to serving the University community by overseeing fundraising efforts to raise private support for scholarships and other academic needs at Southern Miss.
For more information on supporting The University of Southern Mississippi, call the USM Foundation at 601.266.5210 or visit usmfoundation.com.