NORTH MISSISSIPPI 467 College is widely recognized as one of the best in the nation. In recent years, research funding has surpassed $100 million. The university was named one of four Truman Foundation Honor Institutions. The number of National Merit Finalists in the incoming freshman classes have more than doubled. Numerous agencies have rated Ole Miss as one of the best values in American education. The university has taken its place as a leading research institution, dedicated to serving the needs of Oxford, of Mississippi, of the nation, and of the global community. The administration honored the anniversary of the Meredith riot with a program entitled “Open Doors: Forty Years of Opportunity.” With Meredith and other participants invited, hundreds took the symbolic walk through the central hallway of the Lyceum. On October 1, 2006, a crowd of 1,500 gathered together to dedicate Ole Miss’ first public monument to the Civil Rights Movement. After decades of consecrating symbols of the Old South, the university officially honored James Meredith and the activists who brought down the walls of Jim Crow. An impressive panel faced the assembly: James Meredith and his son, Dr. Joseph Meredith, who earned his Ph.D. at the University, Former Governor William Winter, Morgan Freeman, and keynote speaker Georgia Congressman John Lewis. A hero of the movement, Lewis proclaimed, “with the unveiling of this monument, we free ourselves from the chains of a difficult past. Lewis celebrated the dawn of a “New South,” of a “New America” freer, fairer, and more just than ever before. INTUITIVE SURGICAL, SOUTHAVEN Intuitive Surgical was founded in 1995 and launched the da Vinci Surgical System in 1999. Intuitive Surgical is a worldwide leader in growing field of robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery. Their headquarters are located in California and Intuitive Surgical provides technology all over the world in cardia, thoracic, urology, gynecologic, colorectal, pediatric, and general surgical disciplines. The Southaven branch opened in 2016 and employs forty people. Intuitive Surgical chose to open a facility in Southaven because of its close proximity to FedEx. The Southaven location is a repair center for the da Vinci surgical robot system. © [2017] INTUITIVE SURGICAL, INC. USED WITH PERMISSION