Contact: Maridith Geuder
The vice president for research at Mississippi State University is continuing his appointment as a director of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Council.
Ralph E. Powe recently was re-elected to a two-year term that begins in January.
Composed of 230 members from 12 states, the council was established in 1984 to represent public and private interests in the commercial and recreational uses of the waterway and its potential economic impacts.
Built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at a cost of $2 billion, the 234-mile-long waterway connects major rivers in Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
The board of directors helps oversee activities and programs for the inland watercourse, which opened to commercial traffic in 1985. Waterway officials say 1996 commerce is expected to reach 10 million tons--a 1 million ton increase from last year.
Powe has been Mississippi State's research vice president since 1986. He also serves as a director of Oak Ridge Associated Universities, the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium and the Southeastern Universities Research Association, among others.