Although the weather still seems to think it’s summertime, I hope you all were able to enjoy our recent Fall Break. I thought I’d begin this month’s letter with a final reminder encouraging faculty, staff, and students to apply for a 2023 Mississippi State University Excellence in Community Engagement Award on behalf of a project in the following categories: Community-Engaged Service, Community-Engaged Research, Community-Engaged Teaching & Learning, and Scholarship of Engagement. A $3,000 award will be given in each of these areas to recognize outstanding work and support its continuation. Projects that achieve honorable mention will receive $750. To get started, please visit https://www.ccel.msstate.edu/about/excellence to see previous winners and https://bit.ly/MSUCEAwards to access the application. Please note that the MSU CE Awards are not a grant proposal process but a recognition of existing projects. Project submissions are due by this Friday – October 27 – at 11:59 p.m. Community Partner feedback forms are due by November 3 at 5 p.m. Please contact Michelle Garraway at michelle.garraway@msstate.edu with any questions you may have.

MSU Joins Age-Friendly University Global Network

As we continue to meet the needs of students wherever they are in their lives, it was gratifying to receive word recently that we have attained membership in the Age-Friendly University Global Network through 2028. Member institutions are committed to promoting positive, healthy aging and enhancing the lives of older people through innovative educational programming, research agendas, curriculum development, online education, well-being activities, arts and culture programs, and civic engagement opportunities. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7261.

University Again Wins National HEED Award for Advancing Student Access and Success

It was also very special to see that Insight Into Diversity magazine has again awarded Mississippi State a Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award. We are among a select group of just 108 colleges and universities across the U.S. achieving this status from the oldest and largest diversity magazine in higher education. The HEED Award recognizes our commitment to provide all of our students with innovative academic programming, memorable campus experiences, and student well-being resources and support. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7290.

MSU Champions Student Success as Part of Transforming the Foundational Postsecondary Experience

In addition to this recent recognition to enhance access and success, we have also joined a national effort to look critically at the first two years of college so all students can graduate. We are one of only 11 universities and colleges selected for the Transforming the Foundational Postsecondary Experience initiative that will help institutions focus on inequitable performance gaps and improve student learning and success. We will be working with the Gardner Institute and other participating universities over a five-year period to develop innovative strategies, enhance teaching and learning practices, and promote student success and retention. Read more at https://www.msstate.edu/newsroom/article/2023/10/mississippi-state-champions-student-success-part-inaugural-transforming.

Arts and Sciences Elevates Student Success with New Directors

Student success is also a cornerstone of our new Transforming MSU strategic plan, and I was pleased to see the College of Arts and Sciences promote two staff members this fall who will further enhance efforts to help students in CAS make academic progress and earn their degrees. Emily Cain is now serving as director of academic relations for curriculum and advising, and Kasondra Harris is now director of academic relations for the Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies degree program. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7301.

Save the Date: ‘Dialogue Matters: A Conversation with President Mark E. Keenum’ in November

And speaking of the Transforming MSU strategic plan, I’d invite you to mark your calendars and save the date for “Dialogue Matters: A Conversation with President Mark E. Keenum” on November 17. This informal, online forum begins at 10:30 a.m., and you can participate virtually via the livestream available at www.msstate.edu/transformation. This event is the first in a series of conversations between faculty, staff, students, and friends of MSU and various campus leaders, and questions may be submitted to www.msstate.edu/transformation or sent electronically during the event. Hosted by MSU’s Transformation Management Team, these events will provide insight as the Transforming MSU strategic plan moves forward in charting a new vision for the university as we redefine our role in solving some of the world’s most critical challenges, starting locally, or “in our own backyard.”

Buys Selected for Academic Affairs Administrative Fellowship

I hope you saw the recent announcement about David Buys joining my office as a new administrative fellow. During his one-year appointment, Dr. Buys will be assisting Harold Jones, the interim associate vice provost for health sciences, and Terry Dale Cruse, associate vice president and MSU-Meridian head of campus, to enhance development and coordination of the university’s health sciences programs. As an associate professor in the Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion and state health specialist with the MSU Extension Service, he is well qualified to help us make existing programs better and create new ones. In case you missed the news release, you can read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7264.

Kudos and Congratulations

Every month, I look forward to sharing faculty and staff success stories with you, and here are a few that have crossed my desk recently:

* Congratulations to our 2023-2024 Southeastern Conference Academic Leadership Development Program Fellows: Santanu Kundu, professor of chemical and petroleum engineering and Southern Ionics Chair in the Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering; Melanie Loehwing, associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Arts and Sciences and associate professor of communication and media studies in the Department of Communication; Karen Cordes Spence, director and F.L. Crane Professor in the School of Architecture; and Robert M. West, head of the Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures and professor in the Department of English. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7276.

* Kudos to Shane Miller, an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, and Kelly Moser, an associate professor in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures, who have been named faculty fellows in the College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Miller will be working to expand the college’s international focus, including study abroad. He will also provide insight on data science issues. Dr. Moser will focus on student learning outcomes and faculty teaching practices in order to improve learning and retention. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7288.

* Congratulations to this year’s Institute for the Humanities Fellows: Associate Professor of History Jim Giesen, Associate Professor of History Peter Messer, and Associate Professor of English Bonnie O’Neill. This program includes a $1,000 stipend and one course release in the spring to allow dedicated time for humanities-related research and writing. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7278.

* Kudos to John Bickle, a professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion, who organized the 6th Annual Philosophy and Neuroscience at the Gulf in Pensacola Beach, Florida. The three-day event included 14 sessions with 60 presenters. It was sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and Religion and the Presidential Scholars in Neuroscience and Society Program at Columbia University.

* Congratulations to Candace Lukasik, an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion, who has been awarded a 2023-2024 American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship by the American Association of University Women to pursue her research project, “Martyrs and Migrants.”

* Kudos to Jacob Tschume, an instructor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, who is the university’s newest Luckyday Scholars Program Faculty Fellow. He joins the program to help facilitate its growth on campus, including the addition of sections of the Luckyday Seminar course open to the incoming freshman class of scholars. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7302.

* Congratulations to Zack Gillen, an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology, who has been selected as a member of the 2023-24 cohort of the Mississippi Center for Clinical and Translational Research’s Mentoring Academy. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7298.

Final Words

Thank you for reading this month’s letter. As always, I welcome your thoughts, questions, concerns, and ideas about these topics or anything else on your mind.

Hail State!

David

Dr. David R. Shaw is Provost and Executive Vice President at Mississippi State University. His email address is david.shaw@msstate.edu.