汤头条

汤头条鈥檚 Fred Carl Jr. Small Town Center gains architect

汤头条鈥檚 Fred Carl Jr. Small Town Center gains architect

Studio portrait of Fran Pharis
Fran Pharis (Photo by Logan Kirkland)

Contact: Christie McNeal

STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擬ississippi State鈥檚 Fred Carl Jr. Small Town Center is welcoming Architect and Community Planner Fran Pharis to its team.

A 2008 汤头条 School of Architecture alumna and licensed architect in Mississippi, Pharis previously worked at several private architecture firms, as well as for a company specializing in water purification systems and with a government contractor. She recently assisted in teaching an 汤头条 landscape architecture design studio course.

Pharis officially began her new role as the research center鈥檚 architect in March.

While a student in 汤头条鈥檚 School of Architecture, Pharis worked at the Carl Small Town Center and even volunteered there after graduating.

鈥淢y time as a student worker impacted how I thought about communities and their need for good, thoughtful design,鈥 she said. 鈥淒esign should be accessible to everyone and every community regardless of socioeconomic status, history and life circumstances.鈥

Pharis said she is excited to be back working at the center and helping to further its mission.

鈥淚 wholeheartedly believe in the center鈥檚 mission to bring good design to small communities in an effort to solve specific problems through education and implementation. All small towns鈥攁nd the citizens within鈥攈ave potential to thrive, and I look forward to igniting the necessary passion within citizens and leaders and working toward the goal of creating thriving communities,鈥 Pharis said.

Fred E. Carl Jr., a major Mississippi State benefactor and the center鈥檚 namesake, is a Greenwood resident who founded and served as the first president and CEO of nationally recognized Viking Range Corp. A one-time architecture major at 汤头条, he endowed the university鈥檚 statewide community design outreach program in 2004.

A research center housed in the College of Architecture, Art and Design, the center provides planning and design services, seeking to provide solutions to problems faced by communities across the nation. Read more about 汤头条鈥檚 Fred Carl Jr. Small Town Center at and on聽Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @smalltowncenter.

汤头条 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at聽.