Happy New Year! I hope the recent break provided you with opportunities to recharge after a busy fall semester. By all accounts, we had a very successful fall, and that’s due in such a large part to your incredible work and commitment to our students — thank you! Before we begin spring classes next week, I wanted to give you a brief update from the Division of Academic Affairs.

Updated COVID-19 Guidance

As you would imagine, we have been closely watching the recent surge in COVID cases caused by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. Currently, students, faculty, staff, and visitors are required to wear a mask inside any university building. I’d also urge you to get vaccinated if you haven’t already done so, and get a booster if you are eligible. You can find specific details about the current mask requirement, vaccination, and other information at https://www.msstate.edu/covid19. While the next few weeks are going to be challenging, I’m confident that we have a strategy in place to weather this surge. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me at david.shaw@msstate.edu.

MSU Again Leads Mississippi’s Research Universities

Congratulations to Vice President for Research and Economic Development Julie Jordan, the Office of Research and Economic Development team, and all of our faculty, staff, and student researchers who have contributed once again to the university’s high rankings in the latest National Science Foundation Higher Education Research and Development Survey. Our R&D expenditures in FY20 climbed to a record $280 million, which accounts for 55 percent of Mississippi’s total R&D expenditures. Well done! Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=6445

MLK Jr. Unity Day Virtual Celebration

Like many of you, I was sad to see that because of the current COVID surge, the university’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Day will be a virtual celebration this year rather than our traditional breakfast and program at The Mill. However, Vice President Ra’Sheda Forbes, her team in the Division of Access, Diversity and Inclusion, and the MSU Television Center have put together an outstanding program that will be available online and on MSTV on Monday, January 17th. I hope you’ll tune in and watch this year’s program featuring keynote speaker Senator Angela Turner Ford, who represents District 16 in the Mississippi Senate and leads the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=6449

Willard Named MAFES Director and CALS Dean

I was pleased to join with DAFVM Vice President Keith Coble last week to announce that Scott Willard is our new director of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences after a nationwide search chaired by Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Brent Fountain. Dr. Willard has been an exceptional member of our faculty, an effective administrator, and a leader on our campus, and I am excited about his vision for the future that he brings to this new role. I appreciate the members who served on the search committee, and thank Dr. Fountain for leading this successful effort. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=6446

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 Keith Coble, the vice president of the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine, who has been named a fellow by the international Agricultural and Applied Economics Association. Dr. Coble is one of only six fellows selected for 2022. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=6457

* Congratulations to the winners of the university’s fourth-annual Community Engagement Awards. Two awards — winner and honorable mention — are given in four categories. These include community-engaged research; community-engaged teaching and learning; community-engaged service; and scholarship of engagement. The Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President was very pleased to join with the Center for Community-Engaged Learning, Office of Research and Economic Development, and the Division of Student Affairs to recognize and honor these outstanding outreach projects. Read more about them at https://www.msstate.edu/newsroom/article/2022/01/msu-announces-excellence-community-engagement-award-recipients

* Kudos to Janice Nicholson, who has been named head of the College of Education’s Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Special Education after leading the unit on an interim basis since March 2021. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=6447

* Congratulations to Johna Rudzin, a new assistant professor in the Department of Geosciences with a joint appointment to the Northern Gulf Institute, who has earned a postdoctoral research publication award from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine for her paper, “The Air‐Sea Response During Hurricane Irma’s (2017) Rapid Intensification Over the Amazon‐Orinoco River Plume as Measured by Atmospheric and Oceanic Observations.” Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=6442

* And a welcome to Mike Mulvaney, who is the new Edgar E. and Winifred B. Hartwig Endowed Chair in Soybean Agronomy. Dr. Mulvaney joins us from the University of Florida. Read more at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=6448

Final Words

Thank you for taking the time to read this month’s letter. I look forward to providing an additional update at the spring meeting of the General Faculty on February 1 at 2 p.m. in Colvard Student Union’s Foster Ballroom, Section U. For those of you unable to join us in person, the MSU Television Center will provide a livestream. Additional information about the meeting is available at https://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=6453

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.