Maroon MEMO: Employee News (Mississippi State University)

Mississippi State University student entrepreneurs are thriving in downtown Starkville. Pictured touring new business conference space designated for the MSU CEO Downtown at the Greater Starkville Development Partnership are (from left to right) Jacob Miller, a freshman mechanical engineering major from Lucedale who has started a company called Black Creek Innovation; GSDP President and CEO Scott Maynard; Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill; MSU College of Business Dean Sharon Oswald; Jeffrey Rupp, outreach director for MSU’s College of Business; Jerry Toney, president of Cadence Bank for Mississippi and national treasurer for the MSU Alumni Association; Rahul Gopal, MSU graduate and founder and CEO of CampusKnot Inc. and Benjamin Jordon, an MSU senior finance major from Starkville who also is vice president of sales for CampusKnot Inc. PHOTO: Megan Bean | Public Affairs

Smith tapped as interim RCU leader
A 10-year veteran of Mississippi State University’s Research and Curriculum Unit now leads the organization on an interim basis. Betsey Smith, the RCU’s associate director, is serving in the role of Director Julie Jordan, who recently was named interim associate vice president for international programs and interim executive director of MSU’s International Institute. Founded in 1965, the RCU contributes to MSU’s mission as a land-grant institution bettering the lives of Mississippians through improving education.

College of Arts & Sciences faculty receive awards
The College of Arts and Sciences recently announced the recipients of four faculty member awards for the 2017 fall semester: Nicholas Fitzkee, Michael Nadorff, Clifford McKinney and Julia Osman. During the Arts and Sciences fall faculty meeting, Dean Rick Travis recognized each winner with a plaque.

MSU first university in state to offer campus-wide two-factor authentication service for students, employees
Mississippi State University is leading the way in protecting students, faculty and staff from malicious cyberattacks by becoming the first university in the state to offer a campus-wide two-factor authentication service. Earlier this summer, MSU Information Technology Services debuted its new two-factor authentication service, Duo, which allows students and employees to add an extra layer of security when logging into MSU systems such as Banner and myState.

New opportunities with the Maroon Volunteer Center
The Maroon Volunteer Center at Mississippi State details a number of volunteer opportunities for the campus community on its website and in its newsletter this week, including Boys & Girls Club, Project CLASS mentors, MSU Community Garden, Habitat for Humanity home build, Emerson's Fresh Start Garden, Old Main Art Gallery volunteers, and more.

Policy reminders from University Health Services
University Health Services at Mississippi State reminds the campus community of several important policies for its patients to keep in mind when seeking treatment, parking, refilling a prescription, privacy and more.

This Week in Mississippi State Sports, 12/04/17
Men's Basketball hosts North Georgia on Saturday at 4 p.m. ... Women's Basketball hosts Arkansas-Little Rock at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

The Office of Public Affairs provides Maroon MEMO as a general information
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Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.

University celebrates new home of Presidential Library and Williams Collection of Lincolniana
Mississippi State, statewide and national leaders heralded the opening last week of MSU’s $10-million addition to Mitchell Memorial Library, home of the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library and the prestigious Frank J. and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana. “The Frank J. and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana and our remarkable Ulysses S. Grant Collection have made Mississippi State and the Grant Presidential Library a truly national center for the study of the American Civil War,” MSU President Mark E. Keenum said.

Football ushers in the Joe Moorhead Era
Hundreds of fans greeted Joe Moorhead upon his arrival to Starkville last Wednesday, and a new era of Mississippi State football was ushered in at the 44-year-old's introductory press conference on Thursday at the Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex. "During our search, it became unequivocally clear who our next football coach was and that man was Joe Moorhead," AD John Cohen said. "Joe is a winner, a man of integrity with a blue-collar work ethic and an ability to motivate others that our student-athletes will gravitate to. His innovative offensive philosophy is a perfect fit for our program and will keep us on a path to competing for championships."

Moorhead tabs Charles Huff as first staff hire
New Mississippi State football head coach Joe Moorhead has made his first hire as Charles Huff has been named assistant head coach, run game coordinator and running backs coach for the Bulldogs, it was announced last Friday. Huff, currently ranked the No. 4 recruiter in America by 247Sports.com, spent the past four seasons (2014-17) as Penn State's running backs coach and special teams coordinator. He recruited and developed one of the game's most electrifying players in 2017 Heisman Trophy candidate Saquon Barkley.

Hopper honored with national leadership award
The Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station director and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences dean at Mississippi State University is receiving a national award for leadership excellence. The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ Experiment Station Section recognized George Hopper with a 2017 Southern Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors ESS Excellence in Leadership Award during the APLU’s recent annual meeting in Washington, D.C.