COLLEGE OF BUSINESS Since the inception of its Ph.D. program in 1998, the College of Business has graduated 28 Ph.D. students. Each is employed in tenure track positions in higher education with salaries ranging from $68,000 to $90,000. The college celebrated its 25th Annual Awards Banquet in April 2008. Recognitions included: Dr. Cynthia Blackwell, Teacher of the Year; Dr. Alisa Mosley, Faculty Achievement in Research; Dr. Rameshwar Gupta, Faculty Achievement in Service; Dr. Patricia Freeman, Academic Advisor of the Year; Dr. Quinton Booker, Administrator of the Year; Montique Clark; Support Staff of the Year; and BankPlus, Corporate Partner of the Year. COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Faculty, graduates and undergraduates in the College of Education and Human Development have begun a coordinated research effort in dropout prevention, literacy, online programs, and health and wellness. The college will become a center for collection and disaggregation of data and will seek to improve learning for all students, especially those from underserved communities. Nearly 70 teachers became part of the New Teacher Induction Program in September 2008. Through a grant from the Teachers for a New Era and the Learning Network, the college provides three years of professional development including mentoring, computer software training and coaching.
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS Associate dean and professor of political science Dr. Mary DeLorse Coleman is the principal investigator for a $1.6 million civic education project in Morocco, Lebanon and the West Bank. The Middle East team consists of Jackson State retired aviation professor Col. Benjamin Wesley and faculty members Dr. Hussain Al-Fadhli and Mahmoud Nabulsi. The Department of Mass Communications has completed its first phase of reorganization, which addressed core values and competencies. The work included understanding the history and role of professionals, how the diversity of the global society affects communications, and tools and techniques of communications. COLLEGE OF LIFELONG LEARNING The college received $675,000 from Mississippi’s Department of Human Services to help 1,900 child care teachers better implement Mississippi’s Early Learning Guidelines. Through the College of Lifelong Learning, Jackson State has become one of two universities nationwide approved by the American Public Works Association to offer the Mississippi Public Works Leadership Institute – a non-credit certificate program that provides training to new and experienced public works leaders. COLLEGE OF PUBLIC SERVICE The Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Policy and Planning will celebrate its 10-year anniversary. With 16 new master and Ph.D. students, the department has recorded its largest enrollment of graduate students. The Council on Education for Public Health accredited three of the four degree programs in the School of Public Health: Health Policy and Management, which awards the bachelor’s degree in health care administration; and the departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Behavioral and Environmental Health, which award master and doctoral degrees. Jackson State is the only Mississippi institution of higher learning that offers the doctor of public health program. College of Science, Engineering and Technology The National Science Foundation Math and Science Partnership Program has granted more than $8.7 million to Dr. Mehri Fadavi, physics professor and director of the Mississippi Science Academy for Science Teachers at Jackson State. The first and only one of its kind, the partnership will focus on improving K-12 student achievement in mathematics and science in 41 Mississippi school districts.