Dr. Travis is the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. He earned his B.A. from the University of Memphis (1985) in international relations and his M.A. and Ph.D. from The University of Georgia in political science (1988, 1993). Dr. Travis joined the faculty of Mississippi State University in 1993. Travis’s research interests include: examining the U.S. foreign assistance program, military spending in developing countries, and issues related to post-conflict governance and democratization.

He is also involved in projects examining the determinants of policy differences among the 50 American states in areas including the environment, reproduction rights and welfare policy. Dr. Travis’s work has been published in outlets such as International Studies Quarterly, Policy Studies Journal, Political Psychology, International Interactions, Journal of Developing Areas, and Social Science Quarterly. Dr. Travis teaches in the areas of international relations, comparative politics and research methods. He is the recipient of numerous teaching awards including the John Grisham Teaching Excellence Award, the Alumni Association’s Lower Level Teaching Award, and the Honors Program Professor of the Year. In 2010 he was honored by the Carnegie Foundation as Mississippi’s Professor of the Year. He has also served as undergraduate coordinator of the Political Science Program, the Interim Head of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, and the Interim Head of the Department of Sociology.