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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Chapter to Honor Two with NFF Awards
10/7/2015 | Football
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame will honor Dr. Alan Partin of Baltimore, Md., with its Distinguished American Award and Mr. Hu Meena of Jackson, Miss., with the Contribution to Amateur Football Award here Saturday, Oct. 10, when Ole Miss hosts New Mexico State. Kickoff for the SEC Network telecast is set for 11 a.m. CT at Vaught Hemingway Stadium/Hollingsworth Field.
The Distinguished American Award is presented by the Ole Miss Chapter to individuals who have set the standards for excellence in a life of service to the community, while the Contribution to Amateur Football Award is given in honor of those who have made numerous contributions to the college athletics world through service to their fellow man.
"We are pleased to honor these two individuals for their contributions to Ole Miss athletics," said Richard Noble of Indianola, Miss., president of the Ole Miss Chapter. "They are most deserving of this recognition, and having an on-campus salute provides an excellent opportunity to express our sincere appreciation for all they have done for Ole Miss."
Dr. Alan Partin, who will also be honored this week with his induction into the Ole Miss Alumni Hall of Fame, is a professor of urology, oncology and pathology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. His areas of clinical expertise include prognosis prediction and surgical treatment for men with prostate cancer. He has served as the Jakurski Family Director of The Brady Urological Institute and urologist-in-chief for the Department of Urology since 2005.
While earning his undergraduate degree in chemistry at the University of Mississippi, Partin was an offensive lineman on the Ole Miss football team from 1979-82, playing for Steve Sloan and Billy Brewer and earning two varsity letters. He achieved Academic All-SEC honors, received the National Football Foundation Ole Miss Chapter Scholar-Athlete Award and graduated Summa Cum Laude.
Dr. Partin earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in pharmacology and molecular systems from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He also completed his residency in urology and surgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
His research focuses on development and testing of new and existing methods for predicting the aggressiveness of prostate cancers. Dr. Partin is credited with creating a set of tables widely known as the PartinTables, which help physicians and patients choose the most appropriate treatments for prostate cancer.
Dr. Partin has been recognized with the Ambrose Monell Research Award, David Koch Prostate Cancer Research Award and the 2002 AUA/ACMI Gold Cystoscope Award, and the AUA Distinguished Contribution award (2015) among others. He is a member of the American Medical Association and the American Urological Association.
Dr. Partin is the editor of Campbell-Walsh Urology Textbook, editor or co-editor of three Journals and has published over 600 scholarly articles.
He is married to Vicky Partin and the have four children, Topper, David, Dane and Michael. They presently live in Baltimore, Md.
Hu Meena serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of C Spire, formerly known as Cellular South, which provides wireless and other communications services to all of Mississippi and parts of four southeastern states. He is responsible for the strategic direction of the brand and setting the vision for the company.
Meena's contribution to college athletics is reflected in the way C Spire lends corporate support to nearly all Mississippi sports at almost all levels. The company sponsors the collegiate player of the year awards for the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, which include the Conerly Trophy in football, the Ferriss Trophy in baseball and the Howell/Gillom Trophy in men's and women's basketball. C Spire also sponsors the State high school basketball championship tournament.
Under Meena's leadership, C Spire also has been a major player in the Sanderson Farms Classic, Mississippi's only PGA Tour stop, and the Gulf Coast Resorts Classic, the PGA Champions Tour tourney played annually in Biloxi.
Prior to joining Cellular South, Meena served as the general manager of Southland Systems of Mississippi, Inc., a long distance telecommunications service provider. In 1987, he became the general manager for Cellular South's first market on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and was responsible for the company's start up in February of 1988. After serving in that capacity until 1990, Meena was promoted to vice president of operations and development. In 1997, he was named president of Cellular South, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Telapex, Inc. During this time the company has grown to become the largest privately held wireless carrier and the sixth largest carrier in the nation. Mr. Meena was also responsible for the start-up of the operations of Telepak Networks, Inc., a fiber optic based broadband networking company that has been operating for more than a decade and now operates under the name C Spire Fiber.
C Spire and Mr. Meena have received numerous awards recently. In 2013, the Mississippi Business Journal named C Spire the Business of the Year and Meena the Business Person of the Year for the company's cloud services and Internet technology initiatives in Mississippi. Meena received the 2014 "Mississippian of the Year" award from the Jackson chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals for technology leadership and advocacy in his home state.
In 2014 C Spire received the PRISM award, the top honor among public relations professionals in Mississippi, for its game-changing 1 Gbps Fiber to the Home initiative from the Public Relations Association of Mississippi. C Spire was recently honored with top award from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency for its quick response to help restore and provide internet and voice service after an EF-4 tornado devastated the city of Louisville, causing widespread damage and loss of life. The company also received the 2014 Marketing Analytics National Leadership Award and a $50,000 cash prize from the Association of National Advertisers for its innovation, scientific rigor and overall impact of marketing analytics on its operations. PERCS, C Spire's customer rewards program, was honored as one of the world's best loyalty rewards programs by the Loyalty Marketer's Association and was recognized by Information Week as one of the top 500 innovative thought leaders worldwide on business analytics
Also in 2014, C Spire was selected for the Cornerstone Award for innovative public-private partnership by Broadband Communities for its next-generation FTTH initiative in Mississippi and received the Business Analytics Excellence Award from IBM for its leadership, innovation and advocacy in sharing best practices and expanding the business analytics footprint. C Spire received the 2014 Best Places to Work award from the Madison County, Mississippi Chamber of Commerce as part of its Best of Madison County awards program.
In addition to his duties at C Spire, Mr. Meena currently serves as a member of the Board of directors of Telapex, Inc. and Reformed Theological Seminary. Mr. Meena is the past chairman of the board of the Associated Carrier Group, a wireless device purchasing cooperative made up of more than 35 wireless carriers and past Chairman of the Board of the Competitive Carriers Association. CCA is the largest trade association by membership representing the wireless telecommunications industry in the U.S.
He is married to Ashley Creekmore Meena and they have three sons, Victor Matthew, Wade Albert and Lee Creekmore. Lee, the youngest, is in high school at Jackson Prep. The Meena family is active in First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, MS where Mr. Meena serves on the session.
