A Giving Day pledge of $250,000 brought the University of Mississippi’s Patterson School of Accountancy one step closer to construction of its planned 110,000-square-foot building overlooking the Grove in heart of campus.
Doug Self, a 1985 UM accountancy graduate, made the gift as part of Giving Day, a social media-heavy fundraising event. Hundreds of gifts were made as part of the annual fundraiser.
Giving Day continued for one day, eight hours and 48 minutes in honor of UM’s founding in 1848. The first Giving Day at UM, which was held in 2019, secured almost $550,000, and the event has grown in the years since.
This year, Self said he recognized a call to contribute to the Patterson School of Accountancy because his experiences at Ole Miss provided him with opportunities to achieve.
“I feel a sense of responsibility to contribute in any way that I can to create opportunities for others,” Self said. “Since my time there, the School of Accountancy has become more and more renowned and respected nationwide. The progress has been incredible.
“I’m especially interested in making sure there’s no ceiling for what the school can become.”
Self is the founder and president of JDouglas, a luxury home furnishings to-the-trade showroom and sales agency based in Atlanta servicing interior designers and boutique retailers across the country. Even as an accountancy student, he planned for a life of entrepreneurship, not working for a top accounting firm.
“I went to Ole Miss to study accounting in order to build a successful business,” Self said. “In my career, never a day goes by that I don’t tap into something I learned at the School of Accountancy or working my way through school in Oxford.”
Charlotte Parks, vice chancellor of university development at Ole Miss, said the PSOA’s new building will provide a home that matches the program’s reputation for national excellence.
“Our School of Accountancy is ranked No. 8 in the nation and No. 1 in the SEC, and support from friends and alumni helped build that reputation,” Parks said. “Doug’s gift will have an impact on our entire campus that will continue decades into the future.”
Self encourages everyone to help strengthen Ole Miss.
“It doesn’t matter how much you can give, it’s getting involved that matters,” Self said. “We can do so much more together!”
To make a gift in support of the Patterson School of Accountancy, contact Jason McCormick, director of development, at jason@olemiss.edu or 662-915-1757 or visit give.olemiss.edu.
By Jon Scott