Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Four Mississippi State administrators and faculty members are among 52 selected as 2016-17 Southeastern Conference Academic Leadership Development Program Fellows.

Since its inception in 2008, the professional development program has worked to identify, prepare and professionally advance academic leaders for key roles at each of the 14 SEC-member universities.

MSU will host an SEC ALDP workshop Feb. 22-24, 2017, on the Starkville campus.

The MSU honorees include:

—Angi Bourgeois, head of the College of Architecture, Art and Design’s Department of Art;

—Teresa Jayroe, associate dean of the College of Education;

—Melissa Moore, head of the College of Business’ Department of Marketing, Quantitative Analysis and Business Law; and

—Scott Willard, associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Through this academic initiative, the SEC works to sponsor, support and promote collaborative higher education programs and activities involving administrators, faculty and students. Providing an online platform to showcase achievements of these individuals on regional, national and international levels is among its primary missions.

“The opportunity to network with academic leaders across the 14 SEC universities has proven to be an excellent experience for all who have participated,” said MSU Provost and Executive Vice President Judy Bonner. “We look forward to hosting the conference for the faculty fellows on our campus in February.”

Designated by provosts at the respective institutions, ALDP liaisons serve as the conference’s primary point of academic contact.

“It is our strong belief that helping to prepare administrators for the next phase of their careers has the potential to impact all of higher education, both now and in the future,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “Our universities make a significant investment in these individuals, and we are proud to work with them through this program.”

Bourgeois, who has headed the Magnolia State’s largest undergraduate studio art program on an interim basis since 2014, began her permanent appointment this past July. Since joining the Mississippi State faculty in 2002, the Rhodes College and Emory University graduate has taught a variety of art history courses and has climbed the academic ranks with a promotion to professor coinciding with her new appointment. Earlier this year, she was elected to a two-year term as secretary for the Italian Arts Society, an international scholarly organization where she has been a member since 2004.

Jayroe, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in elementary education from MSU, always wanted to become a teacher. After teaching for 12 years at Philadelphia and Winston county public schools, she returned to her alma mater to begin work on an education specialist degree in educational leadership and also completed a doctorate in curriculum and instruction. Jayroe first joined the MSU faculty as a classroom instructor and worked her way up the ranks, eventually becoming part of the College of Education’s administration.

An MSU College of Business faculty member since 1999, Moore now is leading the Department of Marketing, Quantitative Analysis and Business Law. In addition to serving on the MSU Entrepreneurship Center’s advisory board, the Kathy M. St. John Fellow and professor of marketing has served on the last two MSU presidential search committees. She was recognized as an MSU John Grisham Master Teacher in 2005, and also was named Outstanding Faculty Woman in 2010 by the MSU President’s Commission on the Status of Women.

Prior to becoming associate dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Willard served as head of the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology. A 17-year MSU faculty member, he first served as professor of reproductive and environmental physiology in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences. Along with a bachelor’s in animal, veterinary and fisheries science from the University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Willard earned a master’s and doctorate in physiology of reproduction from Texas A&M University.

For more about the SEC Academic Leadership Development Program, visit www.thesecu.com/sec-academic-leadership-development-program.php.

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