DIVISION OF GRADUATE STUDIES Jackson State University has joined U.S. and Canadian research institutions in the Council of Graduate Schools’ Ph.D. Completion Project, which seeks to create intervention strategies and pilot projects, and to evaluate the impact of these projects on doctoral completion rates and attrition patterns. Seventy-four students were inducted into the Mu chapter of Alpha Epsilon Lambda in November. Alpha Epsilon Lamda is an organization that seeks to promote leadership, scholarship and intellectual development among graduate students. Students must have a minimum 3.80 grade-point average. DIVISION OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES Jackson State University is now the only official site in central Mississippi to administer the computer-based Test of English as a Foreign Language, or TOEFL. This new offering allows JSU to recruit students from around the globe. The Islamic Studies Initiative was launched in the spring with the arrival of a Fulbright visiting specialist from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The initiative enables DIS to establish bridges of collaboration with faculty to incorporate the study of Islamic culture in various facets of the university curriculum. DIVISION OF STUDENT LIFE The Division of Student Life led efforts along with Mississippi Urban Research Center and Southern Institute for Mental Health Advocacy, Research and Training in an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign during Black History Month and National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day in February 2007. HIV/AIDS activist Marvelyn Brown was the featured speaker. Brown, who contracted HIV shortly after her 19th birthday, has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, BET and MTV. Through the Community Service/Service Learning Center in the Division of Student Life, 45 JSU students spent an Alternative Spring Break serving food to hungry and homeless citizens of Washington, D.C. Since June 2005, the university has documented more than 150,000 student-volunteer hours.
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DIVISION OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES The W.E.B. DuBois Honors College celebrates a 100 percent record of admission to graduate and professional schools and the job market and a 95 percent retention of honor students. It also hosts the “Honors Week @JSU” celebration, honoring the outstanding academic excellence of undergraduate students. The National Resource Center for the First Year Experience and Students in Transitions named Dr. Evelyn J. Leggette, division dean, as one of the semifinalists in the 2007 Outstanding First Year Student Advocates. DIVISION OF LIBRARY & INFORMATION RESOURCES Java & News @ JSU Cyber Café opened on the first floor of the H.T. Sampson Library in March. The only site on campus that offers wireless Internet connection, the 2,200-square-foot café boasts of cozy seating spots, gourmet brews and iced beverages, and deli-style food options. The H.T. Sampson Library launched its new Web site in February, featuring more online access to new databases and online journals. Using their university-assigned pass code, JSU students, faculty and staff also may access the resources at each of the four satellite libraries, including the Cleopatra D. Thompson Curriculum Center, Health Sciences Library, Information Services Library and the Jake Ayers Research Library. Visit the new site at http://sampson.jsums.edu/screens/OPAC.html. OFFICE OF RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND FEDERAL RELATIONS JSU’s National Center for Bio-defense Communications received more than $4 million in 2006–07 to develop a GIS-based system for emergency responders. The center will establish a common operating system guided by the need to improve situational awareness within a broad disaster response and management framework, and train local and state emergency responders. National Institutes of Health-National Center for Minority Health Disparities awarded more than $1 million to the Center for Excellence in Minority Health for research, education and training in minority health issues in Mississippi.