TROY – Former Mississippi Gov. William F. Winter will present the inaugural Kit Carson Carter Lecture Series in Southern History and Politics at 7 p.m. Feb. 28 in the Claudia Crosby Theater at Troy University.

The University’s Department of History established the lecture series in memory of Dr. Kit Carter, a former member of the TROY history faculty.

“For more than 50 years, Governor Winter has been on of the South’s most outstanding statesmen,” said Dr. Allen Dennis, professor of history and the lecture series’ coordinator. “He’s probably the finest governor Mississippi has ever had, and single-handedly brought Mississippi at least to the edge of the 20th century.”

Mr. Winter, 83, was Mississippi’s governor from 1980 until 1984. Prior to his election, Winter was lieutenant governor, state treasurer, state tax collector and a member of the Mississippi Legislature. In 1986, he lost a bid for the U.S. Senate to Thad Cochran.

A partner in the Jackson, Miss. law firm of Watkins Ludlam Winter & Stennis, Mr. Winter specializes in the practice of environmental law, international law, government relations and lobbying, legislative practice, state and municipal bonds and financing and state, local and municipal law.

He earned an undergraduate and juris doctorate from the University of Mississippi in 1949, and served as editor-in-chief of the Mississippi Law Journal from 1948-1948.

In addition to membership in various bar associations, Mr. Winter serves as chairman of the National Commission on State and Local Service, and is a member of the National Advisory Board on Race Relations. He is past chairman of the Kettering Foundation, the Commission on the Future of the South, the Foundation for the Mid South, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Southern Regional Education Board and the Southern Growth Policies Board.

Among his honors is an honorary degree from Troy State University, Tougaloo College, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Davidson College, Millsaps College, Mississippi University for Women and William Carey College.

Mr. Winter is a fellow of the Institute of Politics and Harvard University and a fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation. He is a recipient of the National Education Association’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Award.