Mississippi State University observes Memorial Day Monday [May 25] along with the rest of America and honors the men and women who have died while serving in the U.S. military. Originally known as Decoration Day, it began after the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. In tribute, university offices are closed on this day. PHOTO: Megan Bean | Public Affairs
Lippillo, Morzuch up for Manifest Grand Jury Prize
Mississippi State University Associate Professor of Photography Dominic Lippillo and Assistant Professor of Painting Joe Morzuch are both in the running for the $2,500 Season 15 Manifest Grand Jury Prize. Their art -- "Pond" and “7/2, Evening” -- is in the finals along with 47 other works that were exhibited at Manifest from late September 2018 through mid-September 2019. Lippillo’s solo and collaborative work addresses ideas pertaining to memory, space and place, and vernacular photographic images. Morzuch is an observational painter working primarily with the still life, landscape, and self-portraits. All 49 works represent the highest ranking pieces out of roughly 8,200 separate works of art submitted for consideration across 23 group and nine solo exhibitions from Manifest's season 15.
Lee named new head of Bagley’s K-12 outreach
A four-time Mississippi State alumna has been selected as the new director of educational outreach and student programs for the Bagley College of Engineering. Shana Lee transitions into the role on a full-time basis after having served as the interim director since November 2019. In her new position, she will direct Mississippi BEST Robotics, coordinate Mississippi State’s High School Engineering Day and plan Bagley’s annual summer Engineering Academies. “Shana has done an excellent job leading the K-12 outreach office as the interim director and I look forward to continuing to work with her as the permanent director,” said Jason Keith, Bagley's dean.
Fred Carl Jr. Small Town Center offers COVID-19 resources for communities
A Mississippi State University research center is reaching out and providing resources to help small towns respond to the unprecedented challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Rural communities are often the most vulnerable to challenges,” said Fred Carl Jr. Small Town Center Director Leah Kemp. “Often, what works in a large-scale city is not applicable to a smaller community. Yet, small towns have the advantage of being more nimble and responsive to crisis due to less regulation and more opportunity to creatively problem solve.”
Extension assists in food distribution, education
More than 19% of Mississippians were food insecure before COVID-19 prevention measures shut down much of the state’s commerce. Now, layoffs and missing paychecks make it even more difficult for many to access proper nutrition. This situation is one reason why the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency has a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) with 16 Emergency Support Functions, or ESFs. ESF 6 covers mass care, emergency assistance and human services -- including sheltering and feeding disaster survivors. Any of the ESFs can be activated when a state of emergency is declared. The Mississippi State University Extension Service is one of the supporting agencies written into the emergency management plan, and several Extension agents have participated in food drives in the last month to help people in need.
Bulldogs exceed APR benchmark in all sports
Once again, Mississippi State exceeded the benchmark Academic Progress Rate (APR) multiyear rate of 930 in all 16 of its intercollegiate sport programs. All programs surpassed the benchmark by at least 33 points with 13 teams scoring at least 974 or better. "The latest APR report reflects that Mississippi State student-athletes continue to raise the bar academically on their way to graduation," MSU Director of Athletics John Cohen said. "I want to credit and thank our coaches, academic support staff and most importantly our student-athletes for their commitment to academic progress. We are proud of these achievements and the progress we have made. We will continue to strive each day to provide our young men and women with the resources and opportunities to succeed in all aspects of their student-athlete experience."
Looking for a way to help? Give to the MSU Student Relief Fund
The Mississippi State University community continually exhibits a great sense of responsibility and caring for enrolled students that make the land-grant institution such a special place. The MSU Student Relief Fund, built with private gifts, helps those members of the student body affected with day-to-day crises or like now, the impact to their daily lives posed by COVID-19. The Dean of Students' Office assesses needs and administers the fund for acute crises that may impact students’ ability to succeed academically. The funds have a direct impact on students in extenuating circumstances in order to help them achieve their academic success. The MSU Foundation accepts gifts year-round for the MSU Student Relief Fund. Contributions for this effort can be made online or by contacting the Annual Giving office at (662) 325-2466.
MSU Extension Service offers professional development courses free online
The Mississippi State University Extension Service is offering 10 of its online professional development courses free of charge through June 30. The courses are Personal Finance, Individual Excellence, Managing Customer Service, Creating Web Pages, Creating WordPress Websites, Keys to Effective Communication, Marketing Your Business on the Internet, Twelve Steps to a Successful Job Search, Small Business Marketing on a Shoestring Budget, and Fundamentals of Supervision and Management. Those who enroll in any of the self-paced classes will have three months to complete all course materials from the time they start the course.
University joins COVID-19 Technology Access Framework
Mississippi State University is joining the COVID-19 Technology Access Framework alongside universities across the nation to provide fast and royalty free access to technologies that can be used to fight the pandemic. As part of this commitment, we will follow the framework set forth by the network that are outlined below. If any MSU researcher has a technology that could contribute to relief of the pandemic or has received interest from industry to license a technology for this purpose, please contact the MSU Office of Technology Management at otm@msstate.edu.
Qualtrics and Stata software now available for MSU personnel
Over the course of this school year, the Office of Research and Economic Development worked through various channels to listen to the needs of faculty and researchers. Based on this feedback, the Office of Research and Economic Development has purchased a university-wide license for both Qualtrics and Stata. Qualtrics is a powerful online survey tool to create surveys, polls, and collect feedback using a wide variety of features and question types. Stata is a complete, integrated software package that provides data science needs -- data manipulation, visualization, statistics, and automated reporting.
SMART route changes in effect during COVID-19 pandemic to protect riders and staff
As Starkville-MSU Area Rapid Transit continues to evaluate the best ways to protect transit riders and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, service is being limited (one bus per route) to the following routes: Boardtown North, Boardtown South, Old Main, Highway 12, Sportsplex and Paratransit. Routes will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and will be limited to nine passengers per bus. Routes will stop from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for cleaning and spraying of all buses.
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.
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