Ole Miss alumna Frances Permenter Smith leaves planned gift for college

Oxford resident Frances Permenter Smith has added the University of Mississippi to her estate plans, creating a planned gift that will send new support to the College of Liberal Arts and, by extension, to the faculty and graduate students who keep the college running.

The gift establishes two endowments, the Frances Permenter Smith Faculty Support Endowment and the Permenter Family Legacy Graduate Support Endowment. Ole Miss said the funds are designed to be flexible, so the College of Liberal Arts dean can direct them where they are needed most rather than locking the money into one department or one narrow purpose. That kind of unrestricted support can matter quickly in a college where research, teaching and student opportunities often depend on whether money is available when a need arises.

Smith earned a B.A. in sociology from Ole Miss in 1974, with minors in psychology and English. She spent 31 years in telecommunications and retired in 2013 as director of external affairs for Comcast. Ole Miss inducted her into the College of Liberal Arts Hall of Fame in 2023. Her involvement on the College of Liberal Arts Alumni Advisory Board and as co-chair of the Now and Ever Campaign Committee appears to have sharpened her view of how much difference flexible giving can make for faculty research, creative work and student experience.

Ole Miss said Smith’s family ties run deep across the university. She described her gift as part of a multigenerational Rebel legacy, with 26 Ole Miss Rebels in her extended family across four generations. Portions of the planned gift will also support programs connected to that history, including the Pride of the South marching band, Ole Miss baseball and women’s athletics.

The planned gift comes as private giving continues to reshape the university’s academic base. Now and Ever: The Campaign for Ole Miss passed its $1.5 billion goal in June 2024, a year early, after nearly 80,000 donors made more than 471,000 contributions. By then, the campaign had produced 57 faculty support endowments and 374 scholarship endowments, and Ole Miss reported in August 2025 that its endowment had topped $1 billion, with most endowed dollars directed by donor choices such as scholarships, faculty support and facilities.

Smith’s giving has already shown up in student research. In July 2025, she gave $6,000 to fund summer projects for two first-year biology doctoral students, Gianna Mitchell and Nicholas Nighswander, through the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation Research. Mitchell’s work focused on coral reefs and coral bleaching. That earlier gift showed how a relatively modest contribution can pay for research that might otherwise struggle to get off the ground, and her planned gift is set to extend that impact for years inside classrooms, labs and graduate programs that matter to Oxford’s academic life and economy.