I hope you all had an opportunity to take some time to enjoy Spring Break last week. I want to begin this month’s letter by thanking everyone who contributed to our incredibly successful Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) site visit the last week of February. This in-person review is a critical part of the reaffirmation process for our SACSCOC accreditation, and it really could not have gone any better. The site team members were very complimentary of the work we are doing and were also impressed with the new Bulldog Experience Quality Enhancement Plan. We look forward to good news when the SACSCOC Board of Trustees meets in December. Kudos to Associate Vice President for Institutional Strategy and Effectiveness Tracey Baham, our accreditation liaison, for leading us through this process!

First Destination Survey Continues to Show Success for MSU Graduates

Our SACSCOC accreditation is one of the ways prospective students and their families know we are committed to providing a great education and a great college experience. They can also take a look at how our graduates are doing, and thanks to the MSU Career Center’s latest First Destination Survey, we know our 2022-23 graduates are doing great. Ninety-three percent of these graduates reported career success. The survey showed that nearly 90% of respondents agreed their employment aligned with their degree. Of those pursuing advanced degrees, 70% were attending colleges and universities in Mississippi. Kudos to Executive Director Bethany Mills and the Career Center team for helping our students prepare for what comes next after they graduate and to all of you who contribute to their success as teachers and mentors while they’re earning their degrees. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7450.

IHL Approves Next Steps in Master of Science in Nursing Program

I hope you saw the great news about the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees approving Stage II of our Master of Science in Nursing program application during its monthly meeting in February. This approval gives us permission to admit students, and it is a major milestone in the development of the university’s first-ever nursing degree. This is an extraordinary achievement and illustrates Mississippi State’s commitment to serving the people of our state by meeting a critical health care need. I applaud MSU-Meridian Head of Campus Terry Dale Cruse, Dean of Nursing Mary Stewart, our nursing faculty, and Interim Associate Vice Provost for Health Sciences Harold Jones for their leadership and commitment to creating this new academic program. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7441.

All Department Heads Meeting This Week

As I shared in my February letter, I convened a meeting of our department heads, associate deans, deans, and members of our Academic Affairs leadership team about this time last year, and we had a very productive discussion about the recognition and promotion of excellence in teaching here at Mississippi State. The additional conversations we’ve had and the changes we’ve implemented since that meeting have enhanced teaching excellence on our campus. We will continue to focus attention in this area. Of course, there are many other issues driving unprecedented change in higher education, and so this Friday afternoon [March 22] from 2-4 p.m., I’ll meet again with these academic leaders to discuss the importance of faculty evaluation.

During our discussion, we’ll be exploring a range of questions, including: Why are faculty evaluations essential to the university, and why should department heads prioritize them? How can the faculty evaluation form effectively assess a faculty member’s contributions in teaching, research, and service? What obstacles exist in evaluating each area and how can we overcome them? What works and what doesn’t? How can we transition towards direct measures of student learning to evaluate teaching? How do we evaluate the new IHL criteria (collegiality, communication, etc.)? In what ways can we support our department heads? I look forward to a robust conversation about these issues and more Friday afternoon. If you are unable to join us in person in Taylor Auditorium (McCool Hall 124) and can only attend virtually, please contact Jessica Northcutt at jessica.northcutt@msstate.edu.

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 William L. Giles Distinguished Professor Mark Lawrence, who is the university’s 2024 SEC Faculty Achievement Award winner. Dr. Lawrence is one of 14 faculty members from SEC universities to receive the prestigious annual award. Recipients are SEC professors recognized for their outstanding teaching accomplishments and nationally or internationally recognized scholarship. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7462.

* Kudos to Chris Snyder, a professor in the Department of History and inaugural dean of the Shackouls Honors College, who has been named the university’s 2024 Mississippi Humanities Council Teacher of the Year. Dr. Snyder will be delivering the College of Arts and Sciences annual humanities lecture this Thursday [March 21] at 3:30 p.m. in Mitchell Memorial Library’s Grisham Room. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7479.

* Congratulations to Hossein Karimi, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, who has received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. It’s the first CAREER award for the department. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7458.

* And staying with the NSF CAREER trend, congratulations to Ryan Folk, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, who was also recently awarded a CAREER Award. He joins four fellow Biological Sciences faculty members who together have secured almost $4 million in the past few years through the prestigious and highly competitive NSF program. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7433.

* Kudos to William L. Giles Distinguished Professor Raja Reddy, who was recently awarded the Mississippi Academy of Sciences 2024 Dudley Peeler Service Award for his leadership and service to the academy. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7485.

* Congratulations to Darrin Dodds, interim associate director of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and professor and head of the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, who has been recognized with the Weed Science Society of America’s Outstanding Teacher Award. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7487.

* Kudos to Architecture Professor Hans Herrmann, Landscape Architecture Assistant Professor Abbey Franovich, and Interior Design Assistant Professor Ashley Studdard-Hughes, who were recently honored with an Architectural Education Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and the American Institute of Architects. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7488.

* Congratulations to Prakash Kumar Jha, an assistant professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences and MAFES scientist, who was recently recognized with the foreign fellow award from the Society for Science of Climate Change and Sustainable Environment. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7486.

* Kudos to Samee Khan, professor and head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who has been honored with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Region 3 Outstanding Engineer Award. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7473.

* Congratulations to Shawn Lambert, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, who represented the university as the 2024 William Winter Scholar at the 35th Annual Natchez Trace Literary and Cinema Conference in Natchez. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7457.

* And a welcome to Mary Graham, the new MSU center director for the Mississippi Small Business Development Center. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7484.

Final Words

Thank you for reading this month’s letter. As always, your thoughts, suggestions, questions, and concerns are welcome at david.shaw@msstate.edu.

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.