Maroon MEMO: Employee News (Mississippi State University)

A 3-D printer makes a "Welcome to Starkvegas" emblem in the new MaxxSouth Digital Media Center at MSU's Mitchell Memorial Library. The 3-D printer is part of the makerspace and multi-media lab inside the center, which also includes die cut machines, a heat press, two sewing machines, and supplies for crafts, hand sewing, knitting, cross stitching, building, modeling and more. MaxxSouth and MSU officials opened the new space with a ribbon cutting earlier this month. PHOTO: Logan Kirkland | Public Affairs

Akers earns advanced certification from FEMA
Ryan Akers recently graduated from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Emergency Management Executive Academy at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland. As an associate Extension professor with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, Akers manages the organization’s youth preparedness programs, including Ready in the Middle and the Mississippi Youth Preparedness Initiative, or MyPI. These programs teach preteens and teens how to help their communities before, during and after disasters.

Photographs by art, communication faculty featured in international exhibition
Professor Marita Gootee of the Department of Art in the College of Architecture, Art and Design and Associate Professor Wendy Roussin from the Communication Department in the College of Arts and Sciences at Mississippi State University have selected works on display at the 13th JMCA & 13th Pollux Exhibition in the FotoNostrum Gallery in Barcelona. This year's juror was Elisabeth Biondi, who was the visuals editor for The New Yorker from 1996-2011 and now is an independent curator, writer and teacher in New York.

NSPARC partners with Cybercrime Support Network to expand victim hotline
Each year, millions of Americans are victims of cybercrime and online fraud with no clear path of reporting or recovery. Individuals and small and medium businesses then experience substantial losses, for which no true rate or cost is known. Mississippi State University’s National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center has partnered with the public-private nonprofit Cybercrime Support Network to provide technical and analytical support to the network’s 211 cybercrime reporting hotline. “With cybercrimes becoming a rising epidemic across the country, NSPARC is pleased to be a part of the solution to get victims the help they need,” Steven Grice, deputy executive director of NSPARC, said.

Smoke-free policy enhances healthy environment
Mississippi State University is a smoke-free campus. Official policy prohibits the use of any combustible or vapor products anywhere on campus property including university buildings, university grounds, university vehicles, parking areas and sidewalks. The smoke-free campus policy is part of the university's commitment to creating a healthy environment for all members of the campus community. Use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars, pipes, hookah or other similar devices are prohibited by this policy.

Policy addresses employee political activity
With political campaigning for local and statewide 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.

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Faculty encouraged to attend information sessions on writing for The Conversation
Faculty at Mississippi State University are encouraged to attend upcoming information sessions this week on The Conversation, an independent source for informed commentary and news analysis, written by academic researchers and edited for the general public. In the first year of MSU’s partnership with The Conversation, articles by MSU authors have been read more than 2 million times.

Keenum joins other agricultural leaders at World Food Prize Week
Mississippi State University President Mark E. Keenum was among agricultural leaders from around the world taking part in World Food Prize events last week in Des Moines, Iowa. Keenum serves as chairman of the presidentially appointed Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD), an advisory board to United States Agency for International Development. At World Food Prize Week, BIFAD released a study that shows the many domestic benefits of international U.S. aid.

Hay at Princeton for Garwood Visiting Fellowship
A Mississippi State University faculty member is spending the 2019-2020 academic year as a fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University in New Jersey, where he is researching and writing his third historical publication. William Anthony Hay, a professor in MSU’s Department of History, is participating in the Garwood Visiting Fellowship, with a focus on statesmanship. “My current project on British strategy and policy during the American Revolution with its emphasis on wartime decision-making is a good fit for this specific fellowship,” he said.

Likes receives international journalism award
The head of Mississippi State University’s Department of Communication has added another award to his list of journalistic accomplishments. Terrence D. “Terry” Likes received the Award of Excellence in the Faculty Audio Competition for his radio report, “Fake News Blues: A Credibility Crisis for Journalism. The impact of fake news allegations on media organizations and audience trust.” Judged by a panel of peers and experts in the field, Likes’ submission investigates the impact of fake news on media organizations and audience trust.