University of Mississippi Newsdesk - Time Line of Khayat's Tenure as Chancellor

Time Line of Khayat's Tenure as Chancellor

June 1995 - Robert C. Khayat is named UM's 15th chancellor

April 1996 - The Honors College is created with a gift from Jim and Sally Barksdale

March 1997 - UM touted as "Best Buy" in higher education

May 1997 - Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children opens at the Medical Center

October 1997 - Holman Hall is dedicated, anchors new Business-Accountancy complex; renovated Alumni Center is dedicated and named for Faser Triplett

September 1997 - Croft Institute for International Studies is created with help from the Bancroft Charitable and Education Fund

January 1998 - Health clinics open in Jackson Medical Mall to serve low-income citizens

March 1998 - Campus hosts President Clinton's Initiative on Race

October 1998 - Renovated Old Gym reopens as Martindale Student Services Center; UM makes Chronicle of Higher Education's list of 30 universities with largest endowment per student

November 1998 - Ole Miss celebrates its sesquicentennial

December 1998 - Calvin Thigpen becomes university's 24th Rhodes Scholar

1999 - The Jackson Heart Study, a partnership among Jackson State University, Tougaloo College and the UM Medical Center, is launched to study heart disease in blacks

February 1999 - $30 million gift supplements liberal arts faculty salaries

May 1999 - A black-tie gala at the Kennedy Center in Washington funds the Trent Lott Leadership Institute; National Center for Natural Products Research is named for U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran

August 1999 - Norman C. Nelson Student Union opens at Medical Center

December 1999 - Renovated and expanded J.D. Williams Library receives its millionth volume

January 2000 - $100 million gift from Barksdale family creates the Barksdale Reading Institute

April 2000 - New women's sports facility is named for basketball legends Peggy and Jennifer Gillom; the Women's Council for Philanthropy is created

September 2000 - UM Advanced Education Center in Tupelo opens

October 2000 - Phi Beta Kappa grants a chapter to Ole Miss faculty

November 2000 - Center for Justice and the Rule of Law is created to provide cybercrime training

February 2001 - UM-Desoto Center accepts applications for graduate study in four fields

April 2001 - Celebration Weekend concludes the $525.9 million Commitment to Excellence Campaign and dedication of renovated Lyceum and new Paris-Yates Chapel and Peddle Bell Tower

June 2001 - School of Applied Sciences is created with five departments focused on preparing allied health and human services professionals

July 2001 - Research funding tops $100 million for the first time

August 2001 - The Freedom Forum creates the Overby Center for the Study of Southern Politics and Journalism; the national library of the accountancy profession moves to UM

September 2002 - Expanded Vaught-Hemingway Stadium opens with 60,000 seats

October 2002 - Open Doors commemorates the 40th anniversary of James Meredith's enrollment

November 2002 - Landscape Services wins national award for beautifully maintained campus

January 2003 - Renovated Weir Hall and Galtney Center for Academic Computing open

February 2003 - Institute for Racial Reconciliation is named in honor of former Gov. William Winter

March 2003 - Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts opens with gala performance

August 2003 - UM ranks among country's top 100 universities for doctoral degrees earned by minorities

October 2003 - UM Medical Center designated a National Center of Excellence in women's health

January 2004 - A mutual fund summit brings the industry's most influential authorities to campus

February 2004 - UM ranks first in Mississippi in attracting National Merit Scholars

May 2004 - UM is named one of four national Truman Foundation Honor Institutions

August 2004 - Nation's first student-run converged newsroom opens for print and broadcast journalism majors; Indoor Practice Facility opens

October 2004 - Renovated Guyton Hall dedicated as School of Education's home

December 2004 - UM expands computer support to state with new supercomputer

February 2005 - Blues Archive's new collection cements status as world-class resource center

April 2005 - FedEx gives $2.5 million for student-athlete Academic Support Center

May 2005 - Restored Rowan Oak, home of William Faulkner, dedicated; Reader's Digest touts Honors College among nation's three best

June 2005 - University endowment reaches $397.8 million; alumnus J. Edward Hill becomes president of the American Medical Association

October 2005 - "Mississippi Rising," a three-hour, star-studded national broadcast from the Ole Miss campus, helps raise $15 million for the Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund

March 2006 - NSF ranks UM 20th in R&D expenditures for physics

August 2006 - Installation of Meredith statue caps construction of civil rights monument

October 2006 - New University Hospital opens

January 2007 - Alcohol Task Force recommends stricter enforcement, two-strike rule

October 2007 - $200 million MomentUM Campaign is launched; Oxford couple provides $5.3 million to create School of Journalism

January 2008 - UM begins offering education classes in Grenada

March 2008 - Officials break ground for new law building

June 2008 - New academic center to focus on manufacturing excellence

August 2008 - Combined enrollment from all campuses hits record with 17,601 students; Inn at Ole Miss opens with a grand celebration; Forbes.com ranks UM among Top 25 of the nation's best public universities

September 2008 - UM hosts the first debate between presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain; Arthur E. Guyton Research Building opens at Medical Center

October 2008 - Rose Flenorl becomes first black president of the Alumni Association; topping off ceremony marks milestone in Residential College construction

November 2008 - Shad White becomes UM's 25th Rhodes Scholar