Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Advising, research and teaching efforts recently were recognized during the 17th annual Graduate Student Association Awards Banquet at Mississippi State University.

As part of the awards program, attendees had the opportunity to hear from featured speaker T. Randy Galloway, an MSU 1983 engineering bachelor’s graduate and current deputy director of NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center.

MSU Associate Professor of Sociology Stacey Haynes received the Outstanding Graduate Student Mentor of the Year Award. She joined the MSU faculty in 2008 after receiving her Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology and Crime, Law and Justice at Pennsylvania State University. Her research focuses on issues related to victimization, sentencing, juvenile justice and criminal justice policy.

In addition to Haynes, this year’s honorees included (alphabetically):

—Ashley W. Aderholt of McGehee, Arkansas, a mathematics master’s student receiving the Donald Zacharias Master’s Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year Award. She also is an MSU cum laude mathematics bachelor’s graduate.

—Russell Carr, associate professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Basic Sciences receiving the Graduate Student Outstanding Advisor Award.

—Tyler D. Hancock of Hattiesburg, a business administration/marketing doctoral student receiving the Donald Zacharias Ph.D. Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year Award.

—Swati Shrestha of Nepal, a plant and soil sciences/weed science master’s graduate receiving the Master’s Graduate Research Assistant of the Year Award.

—Laura Marler Templeton, associate professor of management and information systems in the College of Business receiving the Graduate Student Outstanding Advisor Award.

—Ismail H. Yigit of Turkey, a sociology doctoral student receiving the Ph.D. Graduate Research Assistant of the Year Award.

Winners of the Three Minute Thesis Competition and the university’s newest Graduate School Student Hall of Fame Scholars also were recognized at the banquet. Information on these individuals was released earlier at https://www.msstate.edu/newsroom/article/2018/11/real-deal-research-graduate-students-show-presentation-prowess-msu-s-three and https://www.msstate.edu/newsroom/article/2019/04/msu-announces-newest-graduate-school-student-hall-fame-scholars.

For more on the MSU Graduate School and Graduate Student Association, visit www.grad.msstate.edu.

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