New Endowment Aims to Encourage Art Students

Cochran, wife of the late U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, gave $50,000 to establish the Kay Webber and Thad Cochran Scholarship in Art Endowment. Her goal is to encourage students with financial need who want to pursue careers in art, whether that's painting, sculpture or other artistic mediums.

"I did that because I was a single mother who worked three jobs to take care of my daughters," Cochran said. "My girls had to have scholarships to pursue college degrees. We struggled, and I know there are many talented students who also struggle because of financial need.

"I've lived a very interesting life, enjoying the art galleries of Washington and all over the world. It's such a privilege to enjoy the arts and I want other people to enjoy them."

Cochran, who calls Oxford home and spends the winter months in Gulfport, said the arts were part of the common ground she shared with her husband.

"Thad was a promoter and supporter of the arts," she said. "He would purchase a Mississippi artist's painting or photograph, buy the rights to reproduce it for his annual Christmas card and hang it in a prominent place in his Washington office.

"Art is a universal language – whether it's music, painting, sculpture or something else. It's a language everyone understands. I can't imagine not having art in my life."

The donor chose to establish the scholarship at Ole Miss because of Sen. Cochran's great affection for the university.

"Through the years, Robert Khayat (chancellor emeritus), Gloria Kellum (vice chancellor emerita for university relations), Alice Clark (vice chancellor emerita for university relations), Amy Lewis (executive director of federal relations) and many others came to Washington to see Thad," she said. "Getting to know them made me realize what a wonderful university it is."

Sen. Cochran died in May 2019, after retiring in 2018, having served 45 years in Congress. He won election for the U.S. Senate in 1978, becoming the first Republican in more than a century to win a statewide election in Mississippi.

The university honored him with its Mississippi Humanitarian Award and inducted him into the Ole Miss Alumni Hall of Fame in 2018.

Sen. Cochran's political papers are stored in the university's Modern Political Archives, the Thad Cochran Research Center is named for the longtime public servant and the Thad Cochran Law Endowment provides scholarships to Ole Miss law students.

Michael Barnett, interim chair of the Department of Art and Art History, expressed appreciation for the new scholarship endowment.

"This gift will enable more students to pursue their passions and bring new perspectives to their art," he said. "Endowments such as this one have an enormous impact on our students and, by extension, our communities."

A native of Fulton, Kentucky, Cochran studied business at the University of Tennessee on a scholarship. Her parents promoted the fine arts, and both her daughters – Shawn Webber Kipfer, of Punta Gorda, Florida, and Gina Webber Wilde, of Blue Diamond, Nevada – are talented artists.

For years, Cochran has restored antique linens, and she views bringing old lace, silk and linen back to life as an art form.

To make a gift to the Kay Webber and Thad Cochran Scholarship in Art Endowment, contact Delia Childers, senior director of development for the College of Liberal Arts, at dgchilde@olemiss.edu or 662-915-3086.

Top: Ole Miss painting professor Philip Jackson (right) works with a student at a class at Greenfield Farm. Kay Webber Cochran has created the Kay Webber and Thad Cochran Scholarship in Art Endowment to encourage students who want to pursue careers in art. Webber and the late Cochran both promoted and supported the arts. Photo by Kevin Bain/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services