Messages from the Provost

  • May 2013
    Dear Faculty and Staff:

    As always, our Commencement ceremony is a great time of excitement and joy for our graduates, their families, and our faculty. It is a great way to start the first part of May.

    The searches for the Deans of the College of Arts & Sciences, the Graduate School, and the Bagley College of Engineering are all now complete with the following people being named to the respective positions: Dr. Greg Dunaway, Dr. Lori Bruce, and Dr. Achille Messac. In case you missed our campus announcements, you can read about them at the following links: http://www.msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=6003,
    http://www.msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=6043, and http://www.msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=6046. I am confident that all three will provide outstanding leadership at MSU.

    The week after Commencement signaled the start of Maymester and the annual Staff Appreciation Day at the Junction. Congratulations to the 12 staff members who received the Zacharias Distinguished Staff Awards in recognition for their service to the university and to the other nominees for the award. My appreciation goes to Staff Council for organizing this fun event that highlights our outstanding, hard-working staff.

    Congratulations to Dr. Mark Novotny for being named the most recent Giles Distinguished Professor, a very high honor for MSU faculty members.

    Best wishes for a great summer,


    Jerry Gilbert
    Provost and Executive Vice President
  • April 2013
    Dear Faculty and Staff,

    I was recently addressing a group and spoke about what makes MSU unique: the unique campus environment where everyone can find their place. I think the environment on the MSU campus is a direct consequence of our land-grant heritage and the core values that have been in place for many years. We have expressed these core values in our current Strategic Plan, State of Excellence, and would urge you to review them: http://www.msstate.edu/web/excellence/

    As I mentioned in my January Message, we are revising the way that we conduct our three year reviews of administrators and, appropriately, this is reflective of our core value of integrity/accountability. These reviews are prescribed in AOP 10.02 http://www.msstate.edu/dept/audit/PDF/1002.pdf and serve as a partial basis for the decision to reappoint an administrator. I would urge all faculty and staff to participate in the three year reviews of the administrators to which you report. I would very much like to see close to a 100% response rate (because non-responses on question 14 will be viewed as positive responses). All of the reviews will be coordinated through my office beginning in the fall of 2013. This fall we are evaluating 0 deans, 5 associate deans, and about 20 department heads. This is across 7 colleges. Although not called for in the policy, I am asking that Dr. Keenum conduct a three review of the Provost and Executive Vice President in the fall before we conduct the review of the other administrators. Please feel free to review a description of the new draft process on our website: http://www.provost.msstate.edu/pdf/ThreeYearReview.pdf

    I am pleased to announce that Dr. James Newman, Jr. has been named the SEC Faculty Achievement Award recipient for MSU for 2013. The SEC recognizes one faculty member from each SEC university each year and states that they are to be faculty members who exhibit “extraordinary teaching and a record of scholarship that is recognized nationally and/or internationally.” We are proud to have Dr. Newman representing MSU.

    We also received word recently that Mr. Matthew Berk, a junior in Aerospace Engineering, has been named a Goldwater Scholar http://www.act.org/goldwater/. This is a great honor for Matthew and for MSU. In addition, Mr. Andrew Lewis, a junior Biomedical Engineer, was named as an honorable mention recipient in the Goldwater competition. Thanks go to Dr. Tommy Anderson for his leadership as the External Fellowship Advisor.

    Searches continue and are on schedule for the positions of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Associate VP and Dean of the Graduate School, and the Dean of the Bagley College of Engineering. I will be keeping you posted on the progress.

    The month of April will be busy and exciting as we finish out the semester. We have just announced the Maroon Edition book for next year “Physics for Future Presidents,” and I hope you all will get a copy and start reading. After we enjoy the festivities of Super Bulldog Weekend on April 18-21, the last day of classes will occur on April 24 and then final exams start on April 29.

    With warm regards,


    Jerry Gilbert
    Provost and Executive Vice President
  • March 2013
    Dear Faculty and Staff:

    March is always a welcome month as our students get a well-deserved break and the campus slows down for a week. This month also marks the completion of my third year as Provost and Executive Vice President, and I want to again express my appreciation for your continuing support as I serve you in this capacity. It is truly an honor and a privilege for me.

    I am pleased to announce that after a national search, Dr. Steve Taylor has been selected to be the next Executive Director of the Center for Distance Education. I look forward to the progress of the CDE under his leadership as we continue to look for new opportunities to serve distance students. My thanks go to Mr. Scott Maynard and the search committee for their work during the search process.

    During the month of March, we released a new website that features programs that students can select in order to complete a bachelor’s degree within three years: www.threeyeardegree.msstate.edu High achieving students can go to school throughout the year by taking classes over the summer in addition to fall and spring. At MSU, we believe in trying to meet the needs of our students and giving them different options in achieving their educational goals.

    If you did not get a chance to witness the tree planting in memory of Dr. Wangari Maathai on March 4th, you can see the tree near the statue of Congressman Sonny Montgomery on the Drill Field. We were very honored to have Kenyan Ambassador Elkanah Odembo here to help us dedicate the tree which was one of many activities associated with the reading of Maathai’s book “Unbowed” as part of the Maroon Edition.

    Sadness also marked the month as we paid tribute to one of MSU’s great leaders, Dr. Donald Zacharias. He will be long remembered for his leadership and dedication to MSU and for the accomplishments during his tenure as president.

    Here’s wishing you much success for the remainder of the semester.

    With warm regards,


    Jerry Gilbert
    Provost and Executive Vice President
  • February 2013
    Dear Faculty and Staff:

    Much recent national attention is being paid to accountability in higher education, and this is a good trend from my perspective. We strive at MSU to help students achieve their greatest potential, and we do so with world-class faculty and staff.

    At MSU, we are aware of the unique perspectives of some of our students. In February, we held the Women of Color Summit at which hundreds of MSU students and alumni came together to talk about success and opportunities for women of color. It was a great tribute to the achievement of our alumni and an inspiration to our current students to aim high and strive for excellence. Thanks go to the staff of the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion for planning and hosting this event.

    Momentum continues to build in MSU's international outreach activities. MSU is establishing a growing relationship with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, centered in Rome. In early February, the International Institute announced volunteer internship opportunities for MSU students to work with FAO at selected mission sites (Chile, Cuba (2), Paraguay, and Peru). These internships were developed in coordination with FAO's Washington D.C. office and carry with them $4,000 in travel and board support. It is our desire to have many MSU students and faculty members assist FAO in its mission to eliminate hunger and poverty around the globe.

    Plans for the reaffirmation of the university's accreditation through SACS are progressing according to schedule, and we are now entering the planning stage of the required Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). The planning effort is being led by co-directors Connie Forde and Rich Raymond with the focus being to improve the overall writing abilities of our students through a campus-wide program as part of the QEP.

    As we continue to make progress as a world-class institution of higher learning with outstanding students, faculty, and staff, the commitment to excellence in all that we do remains an overriding pledge and core value.

    With warm regards,


    Jerry Gilbert
    Provost and Executive Vice President
  • January 2013
    Dear Faculty and Staff:

    I extend my best wishes for your success and that of the university for the new year. With the new year, we welcome Dr. John Dickerson who returns this month to begin his new assignment as University Registrar.

    Also with the new year, there are a number of administrative searches underway or about to begin. We are now accepting applications for the position of Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences (Dr. Sharon Oswald search chair) and the position of Executive Director of the Center for Distance Education (Mr. Scott Maynard search chair). We are soon to be accepting applications for the position of Associate Vice President and Dean of the Graduate School (Dr. Bill Herndon search chair), and soon to start the search for the position of Dean of the Bagley College of Engineering (Mr. Don Zant search chair). I thank Dean Sarah Rajala for her service and wish her much success in her new role as the Dean of Engineering at Iowa State, starting April 1, 2013.

    Due to the generous support of the Phil Hardin Foundation of Meridian, we are renovating space to be used as a library in the main building on College Park campus of MSU Meridian. This library facility will augment the library services our students have access to on the Meridian Community College campus. I am proud of the leadership being displayed by Dean Steve Brown and his team in Meridian in this and other projects aimed at expanding and enhancing our Meridian campus.

    I would like to point out to you the upcoming Women of Color Summit on Feb. 8, 2013, in the Colvard Student Union (https://www.odep.msstate.edu/woc/). This will be an opportunity to hear about the careers of selected graduates of MSU and discuss methods to encourage academic achievement by women of color. Everyone is welcome.

    During the year, we will be looking at the process for three-year reviews of department heads, associate deans, and deans and investigating an on-line version for these processes. With this initiative, I will phase out the online administrator reviews that had come exclusively to my office. It is my understanding that the Faculty Senate will continue their on-line review of university administration.

    In closing, I want to share with you a teaching opportunity I had in December. I had the privilege to make a presentation to a class in the Shackouls Honors College, Honors Forum. While there, I spoke about great leaders, and I challenged the Honors students to discover and nurture the leadership qualities within them. We discussed many behaviors that are characteristic of successful leaders including exhibiting honesty and integrity, leading by example, selfless service to an organization and its people, inspiring others to fight for what is right, and summoning courage to defend justice. I told them to look for opportunities to step up and lead here at Mississippi State and in their communities. I think this is good advice for all of us as we start 2013.

    Here's to a great 2013.

    With warm regards,

    Jerry Gilbert
    Provost and Executive Vice President


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