91传媒

24 91传媒 professors complete Faculty Leadership Development Institute

24 91传媒 professors complete Faculty Leadership Development Institute

Mark and Julie Jordan stand with faculty that completed the 91传媒 Spring Faculty Leadership Development Institute
91传媒 President Mark E. Keenum, front left, and Vice President for Research and Economic Development Julie Jordan, front right, congratulate the 24 faculty members that have completed the spring 2021 91传媒 Faculty Leadership Development Institute. Pictured, front row from left, is Keenum, Sorina Popescu, Tonya Stone, Qian 鈥淛enny鈥 Du, LaDonne Delgado, Heidi Renniger, Alisha Hardman, Kimberly Hall and Jordan; middle row: Beth Baker, Angelle Tanner, Lyndsey Miller, Alexis Gregory, Ginger Pizer, Kristine Evans, Kathleen Sherman-Morris, Leslie Burger and Julie Jessop; back row: Amelia Woolums, Mary Love Tagert, Bindu Nanduri, Anne Marshall, Amy Crumpton, Suzanne Powney, and Beth Stokes. (Photo by Megan Bean)

Contact: James Carskadon

STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擬ississippi State leaders recognized 24 graduates of the university鈥檚 Spring 2021 Faculty Leadership Development Institute during a ceremony Friday [May 7].

The group represents the largest cohort in the history of the leadership program, which is sponsored by the Office of Research and Economic Development and the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President. The program includes lessons on leadership styles, organizational change, diversity, building winning research teams, and organizational evaluation and assessment. 91传媒 President Mark E. Keenum commended the faculty on completing the program and shared several of his own leadership lessons, including those he learned while working as chief of staff to U.S. Senator Thad Cochran.

鈥淕ood leaders have to be courageous,鈥 Keenum told the graduates. 鈥淭he mere fact that you are stepping up and saying 鈥業 want to be a leader,鈥 or you want to be the next administrator, director, associate provost, provost, or president is courageous. Whatever it is that you decide you want to pursue, or whatever responsibility you decide you want to take on, you have to have some courage to do that.鈥

Ra'Sheda Boddie-Forbes speaks during a panel at 91传媒.
91传媒 Vice President for Access, Diversity and Inclusion Ra鈥橲heda Boddie-Forbes speaks during a panel on underrepresented persons in academic leadership. (Photo by Megan Bean)

As part of the graduation ceremony, leaders from four different universities held a panel on underrepresented person in academic leadership. The panelists included Margaret Amstutz, associate provost for academic programs and chief of staff at the University of Georgia; Ra鈥橲heda Boddie-Forbes, 91传媒 vice president for access, diversity and inclusion; Jane Cassidy, Louisiana State University interim vice president for the Division of Equity and Title IX; and Karen Coats, dean of the graduate school at the University of Southern Mississippi.

鈥淲e have to educate ourselves on how biases manifest themselves,鈥 Boddie-Forbes said. 鈥淎s leaders, it鈥檚 important to understand people鈥檚 perspectives, their challenges and to be supportive.鈥

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Faculty Leadership Development Institute was adapted into a virtual format for the spring. During meetings throughout the spring semester, the group focused on women鈥檚 leadership and professional career paths as they progress from faculty to administrative positions. Leadership training was provided by Claudia Fernandez, a University of North Carolina associate professor and director of multiple leadership institutes, and her husband Ruben, president of FastTrack Leadership, Inc.

91传媒鈥檚 Spring 2021 Faculty Leadership Development Institute class includes:

  • Beth Baker, Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture
  • Leslie Burger, Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture
  • Amy Crumpton, Interior Design Program
  • LaDonne Delgado, 91传媒 Libraries
  • Qian 鈥淛enny鈥 Du, Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Kristine Evans, Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture
  • Alexis Gregory, School of Architecture
  • Kimberly Hall, Meridian Division of Education
  • Alisha Hardman, School of Human Sciences
  • Julie Jessop, Swalm School of Chemical Engineering
  • Anne Marshall, Department of History
  • Lyndsey Miller, Interior Design Program
  • Bindu Nanduri, Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences
  • Ginger Pizer, Department of English
  • Sorina Popescu, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Plant Pathology, and Entomology
  • Suzanne Powney, Department of Art
  • Heidi Renniger, Department of Forestry
  • Kathleen Sherman-Morris, Department of Geosciences
  • Beth Stokes, Department of Sustainable Bioproducts
  • Tonya Stone, Department of Mechanical Engineering
  • Mary Love Tagert, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
  • Angelle Tanner, Department of Physics and Astronomy
  • Carrie Vance, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Plant Pathology, and Entomology
  • Amelia Woolums, Department of Pathobiology and Population Medicine

For more on the Faculty Leadership Development Program, visit . 聽

91传媒 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .