Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.—A leading Mississippi State student and faculty member bring their Bulldog spirit to Jackson this month as they represent MSU at the 32nd Annual Higher Education Appreciation Day—Working for Academic Excellence (HEADWAE) program.

MSU Student Association President Mayah J. Emerson of Meridian and Interim Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Jim Dunne will interact Tuesday [Feb. 26] with legislative officials and other higher education supporters during a tour of the State Capitol and a recognition and awards luncheon at the Jackson Marriott Hotel.

Emerson is a senior educational psychology major in the College of Education’s Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Foundations. In addition to his role in the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President, Dunne serves as a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Physics and Astronomy.

The HEADWAE program was established by the Mississippi Legislature to annually honor top students and faculty members of Mississippi’s higher education institutions for their academic and civic contributions. Along with support from Mississippi’s corporate community, the program is coordinated by the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning’s Office of Academic and Student Affairs, and the Mississippi Community College Board.

Emerson and Dunne both said they are delighted and humbled to be representing MSU as HEADWAE student and faculty honorees.

“It is an honor to be recognized by a state with such immensely talented young people,” Emerson said. “It is even more of an honor to be representing Mississippi State, the institution that has called me its own over the past four years and continues to be a safe haven of learning and growth for the students of Mississippi and beyond.”

For more on the HEADWAE program, visit http://www.mississippi.edu/headwae.

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