Maroon MEMO: Employee News (Mississippi State University)

Campus Transit Bus Operator Ossie James smiles for the camera before departing from the shuttle stop near Montgomery Hall. The Starkville-MSU Area Rapid Transit, or SMART system, provides easy and free transit for the campus of Mississippi State University and City of Starkville. PHOTO: Megan Bean | Public Affairs

Mechanical Engineering receives gift from GTI
A gift from GTI, a leading independent research, development, and training organization addressing global energy and environmental challenges, will soon support student leaders and an undergraduate seminar series in Mississippi State University’s mechanical engineering department. The $250,000 donation is in memory of former Bagley College of Engineering student Eddie Johnston and will support the Edward “Eddie” Johnston Student Leadership Suite. Additionally, the gift will create an endowment to help fund the Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Seminar Series, which was established in 2016.

Phi Beta Kappa in focus for Association of Retired Faculty's spring meeting
Mississippi State University's recently awarded chapter of the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa honor society will be the focus of the spring meeting of the MSU Association of Retired Faculty at 2 p.m. on Tuesday in Parker Ballroom of the Hunter Henry Center on campus. English Professor Robert West, who has led the PBK application process since 2007, will discuss the long effort to secure a chapter and the current status of its establishment.

USDA Deputy Under Secretary to give lecture on women and minorities in science and agriculture
Mindy M. Brashears, United States Department of Agriculture Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety, will give a free lecture at Mississippi State on Friday. The 9:30 a.m. address will take place in McCool Hall’s Taylor Auditorium and is open to all. Brashears will share her experiences as a woman in science and her vision for the future of women and minorities in science and agriculture. Brashears’ visit is supported by the MSU Office of Research and Economic Development and the university’s Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine as part of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Women and Minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics program.

Center for Distance Education announces inaugural Online Teaching Award
The Center for Distance Education at Mississippi State will recognize an exceptional online teacher with its inaugural Center for Distance Education Online Teaching Award. “We created this award as a way to identify and recognize an outstanding online teacher who exemplifies excellence and innovation in online teaching and course development,” said Susan Seal, executive director for MSU’s Center of Distance Education.

Local Habitat for Humanity accepting applications for future homeowners
The Starkville Habitat for Humanity is accepting applications through March 30 for future homeowners. Basic requirements for homeowners include: Be a current resident of Oktibbeha County. Have a need for better housing. Be willing to partner for a new home. Be able to manage mortgage payments. Meet income requirements. Example: For a family of four, maximum income of $43,900 per year; must have minimum total income of $1,500 per month.

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Dodds to lead Department of Plant and Soil Sciences
A Mississippi State cotton agronomist is the new head of the university’s Department of Plant and Soil Sciences. Darrin Dodds, a 12-year veteran of the department, takes the helm April 1. An MSU alumnus, Dodds has garnered nearly $6 million in research funding and mentored a dozen graduate students. The professor performs more than 100 cotton extension and research trials each year. As a cotton specialist with the MSU Extension Service, Dodds has been a featured presenter at more than 100 producer meetings. He co-organizes the Row-Crop Short Course which brought nearly 800 agricultural professionals to campus in 2018.

Music, fashion and fun await at MSU Libraries’ 13th annual Charles H. Templeton Ragtime and Jazz Festival, Gatsby Gala
For the 13th consecutive year, the Charles H. Templeton Ragtime and Jazz Festival is bringing the spirit and sounds of the late 19th and early 20th centuries to Mississippi State University’s Mitchell Memorial Library this week. The 2019 festival kicks off at 6 p.m. Thursday in the library’s main lobby with the sixth annual Gatsby Gala. The fashion show features 1920s apparel designed by MSU School of Human Sciences fashion design and merchandising students and modeled by MSU Fashion Board members. Internationally renowned pianist and six-year festival artistic director Jeff Barnhart of Mystic, Connecticut, will provide music.

Mississippi State kicks off unmanned aircraft systems Delta Region Initiative
Mississippi State University is once again using unmanned aircraft systems expertise and resources to benefit the Magnolia State. The university’s Raspet Flight Research Laboratory recently launched its Delta Region Initiative in Greenwood. MSU is partnering with eight Mississippi Delta counties to determine areas where unmanned aircraft systems can support local functions such as fire and disaster response, as well as other uses like monitoring dams and levees. “This will be an incremental, step-by-step process of us working into the fabric of everyday operations in the Delta aviation environment,” said Raspet Flight Research Lab Director Dallas Brooks.

Hinds Community College joins Mississippi Library Partnership
Hinds Community College’s library system is joining the Mississippi Library Partnership this month, adding its approximately 130,000 titles to the consortium that now includes 60 members. Originally established in 1993, the partnership offers member institutions cost efficiencies and shared resources. MLP provides a library automation system, administered by Mississippi State University Libraries, which also lends technical expertise, support and training to members. “The Mississippi Library Partnership is a very successful example of what our state’s universities, community colleges and local libraries can achieve by working together,” said MSU President Mark E. Keenum.