The fall semester will soon be coming to an end, and we have a full calendar the next few weeks with a brief break for Thanksgiving followed by final exams, commencement, the Winter Express session, and many other activities on campus and in the community. Please let me take a few minutes of your time from what I know is a busy schedule for an update from the Division of Academic Affairs.

Enrollment Reaches New All-Time High

I hope all of you have seen the news about our official fall enrollment, which we announced earlier this month. We’ve set a new record with 23,150 students enrolled this fall. We are recruiting many high achievers with this year’s freshman class average ACT score at 25.1 and GPA at 3.75. More than 62% of our students are from Mississippi, along with students from all 50 states and 94 countries. The Bagley College of Engineering is now our largest college with a record enrollment of 5,021. We also saw impressive growth in the College of Architecture, Art and Design; College of Forest Resources; and College of Veterinary Medicine. It’s clear students and their families value the academic programs we offer and the college experience we provide. It is critical for us to maintain this strong momentum and continue to grow as the higher education landscape continues to rapidly change, and all of us have a role to play in this effort. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7866.

Encourage Graduating Students to Complete First Destination Survey

For any of you with students graduating in December, I’d remind you to encourage them to complete the MSU Career Center’s First Destination Survey. Understanding the next steps our graduates are taking related to their employment and continuing education is an important component of the Transforming MSU strategic plan. This information gives us insight into what our students are doing after graduation, identifies underserved populations, directs programming, and is essential to gauging our institution's contributions to the state, region, and country. The Career Center is deploying the First Destination Survey to all Fall 2024 graduates through this link: https://msstate-csm.symplicity.com/surveys/fds25. If you have questions or would like additional information, please contact Payton Burns at pburns@career.msstate.edu.

Final Report from Staff Performance Evaluation Task Force

The Staff Performance Evaluation Task Force recently concluded its work and shared its final report with me. My thanks to chair Dallas Breen for his leadership and the members of the task force – Joey Bailey, Nicole Cobb, Susan Heath, Jamie Larson, Jack McCarty, Jamie Perry, Andrew Rendon, Julie Rester, Susan Seal, Delaney Vampran-Foster, and Anna Webb – for their many contributions to this important effort. Effective and meaningful evaluations are essential to our staff members’ success, as well as the university’s overall success. I appreciate the task force for identifying ways we can improve and enhance our evaluation processes and policies. I would invite you to review their findings and recommendations at https://www.provost.msstate.edu/initiatives/task-forces. As always, your comments are welcome at david.shaw@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:

* Kudos to Interim Dean Robert Green and the faculty, staff, and students in the Bagley College of Engineering for attaining reaccreditation of 12 undergraduate degree programs from ABET, the quality-assurance group focused on college and university programs in science, technology, engineering and math disciplines. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7871. 

* Congratulations to Extension Professor Daryl Jones, who is the recipient of the 2024 National Excellence in Extension Award for an Individual from the Cooperative Extension System’s Extension Committee on Organization and Policy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Dr. Jones is the first recipient of the award from MSU. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7859.

* Kudos to Mark Lawrence, a William L. Giles Professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine and director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, who has been elected to serve a one-year term as vice chair of the Innovation Lab Council, followed by a one-year term as chair. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7877.

* Congratulations to Candace Lukasik, an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion, who has been named one of the Young Scholars in American Religion by the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture for its 2024-2026 cohort. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7878.

* Kudos to Luis De Avila, an associate professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences and Dr. Glover B. Triplett Endowed Chair of Weed Science, as well as a MAFES scientist, who has received the Outstanding Scientist Award from the Brazilian Weed Science Society. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7869.

* Congratulations to Katie Echols, who has been promoted to assistant vice president of research/associate director of government relations. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7867.

* Kudos to Jason Barrett, interim director of the Mississippi Water Resources Research Institute, who has been honored with the UCOWR Institute Mid-Career Award for Extension, Outreach and Engagement. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7841.

* Congratulations to Kristin Javorsky, an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Leadership, who is the inaugural recipient of the Dr. Susan McLaren Brooks Endowed Elementary Education Professorship. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7842.

* Kudos to Rachel Allison, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, who has been awarded a Fulbright Specialist position at the University of Lucerne in Switzerland. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7834.

* Congratulations to Nick Pashos, who has joined the College of Business as director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach (E-Center). Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7832.

* Kudos to Shreyas Narsipur, as assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, who is leading a project funded by the U.S. Department of Defense to better understand the challenges of transitioning propeller-based aircraft from vertical to horizontal flight. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7837.

* Congratulations to Morgan Dudley, who has been named director of the MSU Riley Center in downtown Meridian. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=7833.

Final Words

I feel extraordinarily blessed and thankful to be a part of the Mississippi State family this time of year, and I hope all of you enjoy a very happy Thanksgiving next week.

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.