Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.—A 1967 Mississippi State mathematics honors graduate and accomplished U.S. District Judge is returning to his alma mater as the newest guest in the Lamar Conerly Governance Lecture Series, part of February’s Black History Month events.

Judge William Alsup, a Provine High School graduate, will discuss his forthcoming memoir “Won Over” Feb. 28 during a 2 p.m. presentation in Colvard Student Union’s Foster Ballroom. The free Thursday event is organized by the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President, College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Political Science and Public Administration, and the student Pre-Law Society.

Set for an early March release by NewSouth Books, “Won Over” follows Alsup’s journey as a Jackson, Mississippi, boy with parents who believed in segregation, but taught their son fairness and decency. In the book, Alsup reflects on how his experiences in navigating events of the Civil Rights Movement opened his eyes to the cruelty of racism. For more, visit www.newsouthbooks.com/bkpgs/detailtitle.php?isbn_solid=1588383423.

After earning his MSU bachelor’s degree, Alsup went on to graduate with honors from Harvard Law School. A year later, he completed a master’s degree in public policy from the Cambridge, Massachusetts, institution before moving to Washington, D.C., to serve as law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas.

Alsup completed five years of private practice in San Francisco before returning to Washington, D.C., with a Justice Department appointment as assistant to the U.S. Solicitor General. After two years in the nation’s capital, he re-entered private practice in his adopted state of California.

In 1997, the administration of President Bill Clinton asked Alsup to serve as special trial counsel for a major government case brought to block the merger of two leading defense contractors. This federal service immediately preceded his nomination to the district court bench. In 1999, Clinton appointed Alsup to a seat on the U.S. District Court from the Northern District of California.

The lecture series is made possible by major support from Conerly, a 1971 MSU accounting/pre-law graduate and longtime partner in the Destin, Florida, law firm of Conerly, Bowman and Dykes LLP. He is both a former national MSU Alumni Association president and College of Business Alumni Fellow.

For more on Alsup’s lecture, contact Quintara Miller, PSPA business coordinator, at 662-325-7851 or QMiller@pspa.msstate.edu.

MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 5,300 students, 300 full-time faculty members, nine doctoral programs and 25 academic majors offered in 14 departments. Complete details about the College of Arts and Sciences or the political science and public administration department can be found at www.cas.msstate.edu or www.pspa.msstate.edu.

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