Alumni Association announces Jeanie Morgan as Parade Grand Marshal for Homecoming 2024

MURRAY, Ky. –  The Murray State University Alumni Association (MSUAA) has announced retired long-time Murray State University Student Government Advisor and Center for Student Involvement Director Jeanie Morgan will serve as Parade Grand Marshal for Murray State Homecoming 2024.

Morgan retired from Murray State in the spring after 48 years of service to the University. 

“For Jeanie, her time working for Murray State was far more than a job,” said Murray State University Director of Alumni Relations Carrie McGinnis. “It was a calling.” 

“Over the years Jeanie has had an unbelievable impact on a countless number of students, whom she often referred to as her ‘Murray kids’, during some of their most formative and transformational seasons of life,” McGinnis said. “For many legacy families, it is not an overstatement to say that Jeanie’s love and influence threaded through two or even three generations.”

Morgan’s Racer roots run deeper than most.  

"I love Murray State,” Morgan said. “I always have. I started out as a little girl living on Waldrop Drive, where Clark Residential College is now. My blood has always been blue and gold.” 

She began her Murray State career working in the Housing Office on campus in 1976. For her, it was just like coming home, literally. The Housing Office was actually housed in her childhood home on Waldrop Drive.

"There are precious few Racers who can boast the type of lifelong relationship with Murray State that Jeanie has experienced,” McGinnis added. 

Eventually, Morgan moved from the Housing Office to Student Activities. She planned her first Homecoming parade in 1984. However, 2024 will be much different. She will be the guest of honor. 

“I’m extremely honored and excited to serve as 2024 Homecoming Grand Marshal,” Morgan said. “After 40 years organizing the parade I will get to lead it!” 

Anyone who knows Morgan knows of her favorite exclamation, “Homecoming is better than Christmas.”

"I love Homecoming,” said Morgan. “It is better than Christmas because you get to visit with all the people who come back, and you don't have to buy any presents." 

In further recognition of Morgan’s legacy, the Student Government Association selected “It’s a Racer Holiday” as this year's parade theme.

The parade will begin making its way down Main St. on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 9:30 a.m.

Following the parade, Morgan plans to attend Tent City, where she will spend time greeting friends, family, alumni, former colleagues and students under the MSUAA Alumni Tent toward the center of the action. Anyone who would like to stop by and visit is encouraged to do so. Tent City will open at 10 a.m. inside the walls of Stewart Stadium. 

The Jeanie Morgan SGA Scholarship has been created at Murray State University in her honor, with a goal of raising $100,000. Nearly 75 percent of that total has been raised thus far. Gifts can be made online at murraystate.edu/giving. More information on Homecoming 2024 can be found at murraystate.edu/homecoming or by calling the Office of Alumni Relations at 270-809-5600.