The College of Arts & Sciences is committed to the success of all faculty, staff, and students by creating opportunities for inclusion and collaboration that take advantage of our diverse backgrounds, skill sets, and aspirations. In all of this, we seek to promote the civic good. We support and promote teaching, scholarship, and service that uncovers contemporary challenges to these ideals and design novel solutions to the persistence of disparities and discrimination in our state and beyond. We strive to ensure mutual respect for all members of our academic community of faculty, staff, and students, and foster an environment in which their well-being is promoted and their work toward improving society can thrive.
The College recognizes that this commitment presents challenges that are dynamic and that require innovative approaches to solve. We are dedicated to advancing research that deepens our understanding of the root causes and potential solutions for disparities in areas such as education, economics, and health.
We are committed to developing deeper understandings of the challenges that all our students face as we help them to develop their abilities to think deeply about difficult problems so they can become problem solvers dedicated to improving our society. In that quest, we must continue to reflect on ourselves as well, on our programs, and on the human condition as we examine our current limitations and imagine a better tomorrow.
One of the meanings of the “&” in Arts & Sciences is about bridging differences for the common good—for the good of our students, for the good of our faculty, for the good of our staff and for the good of our communities. As Dean, I take the logic of this “&” seriously as a marker of the collaborative efforts we must engage in to find solutions to complex problems. That is why we have formed an IDEA committee designed to generate ideas for helping us to meet various challenges we face as a college. Among the highlights of their work are:
The development of an Inclusive Excellence Teaching grant program to support faculty in the creation of dynamic activities that lead to a critical discussion of issues related to inclusive excellence in the undergraduate or graduate classroom;
The founding of a Staff Mentoring Program designed to assist our staff as they develop their skills and career knowledge so that they can grow in their professions while also contributing to a culture of belongingness and impact employee satisfaction and retention;
Efforts to understand the challenges and barriers to success for our international students as a way of increasing their success in our college as we strive to help them make Mississippi and Mississippi State University their home away from home.
The A&S IDEA Committee will lead the college as we continue to build an inclusive learning environment through education, scholarship, and professional development.
Rick Travis, PhD
Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
Professor, Political Science and Public Administration
Mississippi State University
