Contact: Nicole Thomas
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State University has earned a top national honor this week during the Professional Grounds Management Society’s 2026 Green Star Awards ceremony. The university captured the Grand Award for large educational institutions in the University and College Grounds category at the organization’s annual conference in Tampa, Florida.
“Our campus shapes the Mississippi State experience, from the first visit to the everyday moments that make this place feel like home,” said Saunders Ramsey, associate vice president for administration. “That’s intentional, and it reflects the care and attention our Campus Landscape team brings to its work every day.”
Across approximately 1,000 acres of university grounds maintained by MSU’s 52-member team are new and enhanced landscapes at McCarthy Quad, Hardy Plaza, the Chapel of Memories garden and courtyards at Azalea Hall and the Randy Cleveland Engineering Student Center. The team manages a total of 29.2 million square feet of turf and 2.74 million square feet of planting beds.
Jim Bo Hearnsberger, MSU Campus Landscape associate director, said, “We’re here to create and care for spaces where people want to spend their time, and our team takes great pride in the work that goes into making that possible.”
The team’s work also reflects MSU’s commitment to environmental stewardship, including efforts to restore Chadwick Lake and strengthen the university’s tree canopy. MSU has maintained its Tree Campus Higher Education designation from the Arbor Day Foundation for 13 consecutive years, planting more than 2,000 trees across campus over the past five years.
“Maintaining a campus of this size and complexity takes an incredible amount of knowledge, planning and hard work,” Ramsey said. “To have that work recognized at the national level is a tremendous honor for our team and for Mississippi State.”
Earlier in the fall semester, MSU was recognized by Sixt magazine as the No. 8 Most Beautiful Campus in the U.S. and by the online college resource site Niche as the No. 12 Best College Campus in America.
PGMS is the oldest individual membership organization for grounds professionals, advancing skilled specialists through education and professional development. Representing over 1,000 industry members in the U.S., Canada and overseas, the majority are institutional grounds managers for colleges and universities, municipalities, park and recreation facilities, and businesses such as office, apartment and hotel complexes.
Mississippi State University is taking care of what matters.
