Alan (left) and Debra Spurgeon have made a $100,000 gift to the University of Mississippi Department of Music, establishing a scholarship endowment specifically for choral music students. Photo by Amy Howell/UM Development
Spurgeons hope gift will attract top vocal performers and future choral educators to Ole Miss
Debra and Alan Spurgeon, of Oxford, met in their college choir, and choral music has been the focus of their life together for more than 50 years.
The retired University of Mississippi music professors have made a $100,000 gift to the university’s Department of Music, establishing a scholarship endowment specifically for choral music students.
Alan Spurgeon, who was the department’s graduate coordinator for 20 years and was instrumental in establishing its doctoral music program, explained that he and his wife want to continue the legacy they’ve loved for so long while helping Ole Miss attract the state’s most outstanding vocal performers.
“There’s just a real struggle to get the very best ones without being able to offer them scholarship resources, and it’s that way across the board in music,” agreed Debra Spurgeon, who taught music teacher education courses at Ole Miss for 18 years and was director of Women’s Glee. “It’s just like sports. You know, if someone’s good at what they do, everybody wants that person.
“Hopefully, this money will help provide a little more leverage with some of the students we’d really like to have.”
Nancy Maria Balach, chair of the department, expressed her appreciation for the Spurgeons’ gift.
“I greatly appreciate their vision to strengthen our choral music education program and help us attract and support the best students possible,” Balach said. “When I learned of their gift, it was music to my ears.”
Before joining the UM music faculty in 2001, the Missouri natives taught at Southwestern Oklahoma State University for almost 20 years. Previously, she taught high school choir for seven years and he taught junior high music.
“We’ve always been in choir,” Debra Spurgeon said. “Choir was the biggest influence on me. I went to college because of choir and wanted to be choir teacher. I’ve had very influential people in my life with respect to choir and music in general.”
The Spurgeons hope their gift will help provide a similar influence to future UM vocal music education majors.
“The idea is that maybe this money will encourage a few really good students and maybe that will encourage others to consider Ole Miss for their education,” Debra Spurgeon said, adding that other state universities have recruited top performers with similar offers. “We hope that being able to provide a scholarship will kind of sweeten our university’s offer a little bit.”
The Spurgeons said they miss the camaraderie of the Ole Miss faculty but have remained connected to the profession by serving on editorial boards for music-related publications. Both sing in the choir at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Oxford, and Alan Spurgeon is writing a book on British ballads, having conducted research for it in the Ozarks with two former UM graduate students.
The Drs. Alan and Debra Spurgeon Choral Music Education Scholarship Endowment is open to gifts from individuals and organizations by mailing a check, with the endowment’s name noted in the memo line, to the University of Mississippi Foundation, 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655; or by clicking here.
By Bill Dabney
