Students/Education

SPE Lifetime Member Honored With MSU Engineering Student Center

The newly renovated facility is named in honor of Randy J. Cleveland, SPE, who had a 35-year career with ExxonMobil before retiring in 2019.

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From left, junior biomedical engineering major Andrew Schroeder, Bagley College of Engineering Dean David Ford, MSU President Mark E. Keenum, Nina and Randy Cleveland, Provost and Executive Vice President David Shaw, MSU Foundation President and CEO John Rush, Senior Director of Development Bennett Evans and senior civil engineering major Matthew Wubben.
Source: MSU/Emily Grace McCall

Mississippi State University (MSU) has opened a new facility for its Bagley College of Engineering students. The newly renovated Randy J. Cleveland Engineering Student Center is named in honor of Randy J. Cleveland, SPE, an MSU alumnus who graduated magna cum laude with a degree in petroleum engineering in 1983.

Cleveland worked at ExxonMobil for 35 years before becoming president of XTO Energy Inc. following its merger with ExxonMobil in 2010. In 2019, he retired as vice president, Americas, ExxonMobil.  

He was named an Engineering Distinguished Fellow in 2008, Engineering Alumnus of the Year in 2019, and MSU’s National Alumnus of the Year in 2022

An SPE member since 1981, Cleveland is an SPE Lifetime Member.

“When I step back and think about my time on campus, I realize what I gained at MSU was so much more than just an education—it was the building blocks of how to be truly successful,” said Cleveland. “It’s always been important to us to give back in support and recognition of those things that helped us be successful.” 

Learn more about the Randy J. Cleveland Engineering Student Center here.