Another successful fall semester is nearing its end, and we have a full calendar the next few weeks with a brief break for Thanksgiving followed by final exams, commencement, and many other special activities across campus and throughout the community. Please let me take a few minutes of your time for a very quick update from the Division of Academic Affairs.

New Role to Elevate Faculty Recognition

I hope you all saw the announcement earlier this week from the Office of Faculty Affairs about a new position dedicated to supporting and celebrating faculty achievements. This role reflects our commitment to fostering a culture of excellence and ensuring that faculty contributions in teaching, research, and service receive the visibility they deserve. The new director of faculty recognition will strengthen recognition of faculty accomplishments across campus and beyond, including university-wide programs as well as prestigious external awards and fellowships.

This is a 25% administrative appointment, open to associate and full professors at MSU, with preference given to those who have achieved the rank of professor and demonstrated a strong record of scholarly distinction and institutional engagement. If interested, I encourage you to consider applying by Dec. 5. Additional information and the application are available at https://www.provost.msstate.edu/announcements/2025/11/position-announcement-director-faculty-recognition-internal-search. 

Encourage Graduating Students to Complete First Destination Survey

For any of you with students graduating in December, please encourage them to complete the MSU Career Center’s First Destination Survey at https://www.career.msstate.edu/fds-survey-selection/. While the Career Center is currently collecting information from August and December 2025 graduates, this link may be shared with any student who is nearing graduation or has recently graduated as we rotate through our continuous survey collection.

To learn more about how you can assist the Career Center in collecting First Destination Survey data to give back to your department, please visit https://www.career.msstate.edu/career-outcomes/ or contact Payton Burns at pburns@career.msstate.edu.

An Update on Advising

When I became provost and executive vice president, one of my top priorities was to further enhance our university’s strong commitment to student success. Our Student Success Task Force offered a number of recommendations for how we could better meet the needs of our students. We have initiated most of their recommendations, and among them was a charge to “deliver effective and consistent advising experiences across all student populations.”

I appreciate the feedback we’ve received from advisors, students, faculty, departments, and colleges. I also appreciate the discussions and debate about advising we’ve had in the Robert Holland Faculty Senate. All of this information has been very valuable, and it’s helped us make important adjustments, including our timeline for implementation. As we go about implementation, we will be continually evaluating what works and what could be done better, as this will be an iterative process that continually keeps our students’ success as the paramount goal. 

I would welcome your thoughts, questions, concerns, suggestions, and ideas about advising at david.shaw@msstate.edu as we continue to move forward in this process and continue the conversation.

Kudos and Congratulations

Every month, I look forward to sharing faculty and staff success stories with you, and here are a few that have crossed my desk recently:

* Congratulations to Amy Dapper, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, who has been selected as a Kavli Frontier, a distinction awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences that connects outstanding scientists in an international forum to develop new solutions to global challenges. Read more at https://www.memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=8328. 

* Kudos to the Social Science Research Center as it celebrates its 75^th anniversary and to the Research and Curriculum Unit as it celebrates its 60^th anniversary. These are incredible milestones to reach, and I appreciate the many contributions the SSRC and the RCU faculty, staff and students make to our state and our university. Well done! Read more at https://www.memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=8338 and https://www.memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=8341.

* Congratulations to Thalia Vrantsidis, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, who has received the Psychonomic Society’s 2025 Best Article Award for her paper exploring why people often favor simpler explanations, even when more complex explanations may be more accurate. Read more at https://www.memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=8340. 

* Kudos to Lara Dodds, professor and head of the Department of English, who received the Collaborative Project Award from the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender for her recent book, “Early Modern Women’s Writing and the Future of Literary History.” Read more at https://www.memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=8330.

* Congratulations to our faculty, staff, and students who have contributed to MSU’s No. 1 ranking in aquaculture in the ScholarGPS global institutional rankings. ScholarGPS evaluates institutions by publication productivity, research quality and meaningful impact. Read more at https://www.memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=8331. 

Final Words

One of my greatest blessings is being part of the Mississippi State family and working with such outstanding colleagues. Happy Thanksgiving — and Hail State!

David

Dr. David R. Shaw is Provost and Executive Vice President at Mississippi State University. His email address is david.shaw@msstate.edu.