Maroon MEMO: Employee News (Mississippi State University)

Mississippi State's Matt Roberts became last week the first Bulldog coach to be named SEC Coach of the Year since 2011. Roberts has led the Maroon and White to an incredible 20-2 mark thus far in 2018, including a program-best 11-1 finish in conference play. State earned the No. 6 national seed in the upcoming NCAA Team Championship, and will host 1st and 2nd round matches at Pitts Tennis Centre beginning Friday. PHOTO: Kelly Price | HailState.com

Applications sought for SEC Visiting Faculty Travel Grant Program
The Southeastern Conference Visiting Faculty Travel Grant Program is intended to enhance faculty collaboration that stimulates scholarly initiatives between SEC universities. Mississippi State University can select a maximum of eight faculty members to receive 2018-2019 travel grants of $1,250 each. Completed applications must be submitted by 5 p.m. on June 29.

Reminder: University policy addresses employee political activity
With political campaigning for Congress and other races currently underway, Mississippi State's Office of General Counsel offers the following reminder of the university’s policy on political activities. There are several guidelines that employees of the university should keep in mind when engaging in any form of political activity. The Office of General Counsel encourages each employee to review this policy in its entirety to make certain you are fully aware of your rights and responsibilities.

Extension Service offers local economic profiles
Massive quantities of local economic, community health and retail data gathered and organized help the Mississippi State University Extension Service fulfill its mission of extending knowledge and changing lives. Alan Barefield, Extension economic development specialist, oversees the process of gathering retail, health and economic data from sources that include the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis and several proprietary data sources. The team analyzes this data and provides information to Mississippi counties and towns.

Nomination deadline for Leadership Excellence for Accomplished Professionals nears
Nominations are now being accepted for Mississippi State’s premier staff leadership program, Leadership Excellence for Accomplished Professionals (LEAP). The mission of the LEAP program is to empower new supervisors and extremely high performing employees with a heightened self-awareness, advanced knowledge, and value-added leadership in a secure, but challenging environment. Since 2011, almost 60% of LEAP graduates have received a promotion and 70% of employees who participate in the LEAP program still work at MSU.

Maroon Goes Green: Raise your recycling awareness
Mississippi State University currently recycles an average of 60,400 pounds per month. The campus-wide sustainability initiative "Maroon Goes Green" is continuing its efforts to increase recycling awareness and participation among the campus community. Custodial staff members continue to be an integral part of this process and are committed to helping us increase our recycling numbers. To reduce contamination of recyclables, the Office of Sustainability is working to ensure all offices have bins with blue bags for recyclables only and to have convenient trash containers placed in buildings throughout campus.

This Week in Mississippi State Sports, 05/07/18
The SEC Softball Tournament starts Wednesday at the University of Missouri ... Baseball plays Troy at the Hoover Met on Tuesday at 6 p.m., and then travels to Lexington for an SEC series against Kentucky with games on Friday at 6:30 p.m., Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. ... The SEC Outdoor Championships for Track & Field begins Friday at the University of Tennessee ... Women's Tennis plays William & Mary at 9 a.m. on Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Team Championship at Chapel Hill, N.C. ... Men's Tennis hosts opening rounds of the NCAA Team Championship at Pitts Tennis Centre, facing Tennessee Tech on Friday afternoon after the conclusion of Memphis-South Alabama's morning match.

The Office of Public Affairs provides Maroon MEMO as a general information
resource for Mississippi State University employees.

Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.

Parisi to attend White House State-Federal STEM Summit in June
Mississippi will be well represented on June 25-26 at the State-Federal STEM Summit in Washington, D.C. Gov. Phil Bryant has nominated Domenico “Mimmo” Parisi, professor and executive director of Mississippi State University’s National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center (NSPARC), to attend the summit hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Smithsonian Institution are supporting the summit.

DAFVM Spotlight Employee: Emily Childers
When she was a child, Emily Childers filled a bathtub with spiders because she considered them her friends. It is no surprise, then, that she works as an Animal Health Technician for the Shelter Medicine program at Mississippi State University. “I think I was meant to work with animals,” Childers said. “I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.” She fulfills this goal by leaving campus at 7:30 a.m. every morning. With a team of doctors, technicians, and students, Emily travels on a mobile unit that will arrive at one of five different animal shelters in North Mississippi.

DAFVM Spotlight Employee: Carly Becker
The next time you reach for a glass of milk or enjoy a bowl of chocolate ice cream, you might think of Carly Becker. Becker, an assistant herder at the Joe Bearden Dairy Research Center at Mississippi State University, rises before the sun each morning to take care of cows. Also a master’s student in animal and dairy sciences, Becker, in study and in practice, works tirelessly for the betterment of animals. “Farmers are the hardest working people you will ever meet. It is a 24/7 job, because the cows have to be milked -- and unfortunately they don’t celebrate birthdays or Christmas,” Becker said, laughing.

University breaks ground for Famous Maroon Band’s new practice field
Mississippi State University broke ground last week on the southeast corner of campus for its new synthetic turf field that will enable improved practice conditions for the Famous Maroon Band. The field, adjacent to the current band hall, is slated for completion in early August prior to the start of a new academic and athletic year. Along with gifts from alumni, friends and parents, the lead gift for the project comes from Jim and Julia Rouse of Suwanee, Georgia. Contributions exceeding the project’s goal have become part of an endowment to maintain the field over time.