Distinguished Alumni
ZonaDale Lyons Taylor
School of Human Sciences
After earning a Master of Education in Counseling from McNeese State University, Mrs. Taylor joined the home economics department at MSU as an assistant professor. She then worked as an assistant professor and later as head of the Department of Home Economics at McNeese State University. After moving to Pittsburgh, she became manager of consumer and public affairs with GlaxoSmith-Kline.
She also worked at Mississippi Power Company and then joined The Progressive Farmer magazine as an editor. While there, she became one of the founding editors of Southern Living magazine. She is a past president of American Association of University Women and has been alumna of the year at Northeast Mississippi Community College. In 2014, she received one of MSU's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Alumni Achievement awards. She is a life member of the Mississippi 4-H Advisory Council and has served on the MSU Foundation Board of Directors.
Taylor and her husband Charles (Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering'66 and MBA '71) provide numerous scholarships to Mississippi State University, Northeast Mississippi Community College, the University of Memphis and the 4-H Club Foundation of Mississippi. They were major contributors to the Mississippi 4-H Learning Center and Museum having a wing of the facility bearing their name.
