Contact: Karyn Brown

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Having served as interim since 2014, a longtime Mississippi State faculty member and administrator officially is being named associate dean for research in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Giselle Thibaudeau holds a master’s degree in zoology from the university, along with a doctorate in developmental biology from the University of Kansas. She returned to MSU in 1994 as a faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences after completing a post-doctoral fellowship at Princeton University.

While campus administrative duties have involved associate directorship of the Shackouls Honors College and director of the Undergraduate Research Program, Thibaudeau is best known for her leadership since 2005 of MSU’s Institute for Imaging and Analytical Technologies, also known as I²AT. For more, see www.i2at.msstate.edu.

In making the announcement, interim college dean Rick Travis said Thibaudeau’s permanent duties to begin June 1 will enable the land-grant university’s largest academic unit to maintain administrative stability.

“Thibaudeau has a proven record of working with the Office of Research and Economic Development, other associate deans for research, research centers around campus and faculty within arts and sciences and other colleges,” he said. 

Travis said the college has seen a substantial increase in extramural funding during Thibaudeau’s time as interim associate dean. “Although Giselle will credit the faculty and Dr. Carly Cummings, the college’s assistant to the dean for research, the credit, in part, must go to her,” he emphasized.

David Shaw is MSU’s vice president for research and economic development. As the individual overseeing all aspects of the 138-year-old institution’s research compliance, he also expressed appreciation for Thibaudeau’s talents and achievements.

“Giselle has done a wonderful job as interim associate dean for research, especially given her responsibilities with the Institute for Imaging and Analytical Technologies,” Shaw said. “This move will allow her to devote full-time efforts in promoting the research capabilities of the College of Arts and Sciences, which is where she has demonstrated true talent and passion.”

Thibaudeau said she was “humbled” when asked to serve as interim associate dean by previous dean Gregory Dunaway and “honored when Interim Dean Travis asked me to accept the permanent position.

“As interim,” she continued, “I learned a tremendous amount about the faculty, staff and students, and the breadth and depth of research activity across the college. It has a fabulous administrative team and talented faculty and staff, all which position Arts and Sciences well to achieve unprecedented research growth and success.”

Thibaudeau said she “could not be more excited and proud” to continue serving the college and university communities.

The College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 5,000 students, 300 full-time faculty members, nine doctoral programs and 24 academic majors offered in 14 departments. It also is home to the most diverse units for research and scholarly activities, including natural and physical sciences, social and behavioral sciences, and the humanities.

Natural and physical science research projects have been supported over the decades by the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation.

Additionally, scholarly output in the humanities have helped place MSU in the National Science Foundation’s top 50. The NSF also ranked MSU among the top 25 for research expenditures in the social sciences.  For more on MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences, visit www.cas.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.