"Professor Joseph Thompson’s exploration of the longstanding ties between the U.S. military and country music doesn’t just help you rethink country music, but the ways in which America uses popular music to its own ends."

A Mississippi State faculty member with more than two decades of experience in anthropology and Near Eastern archeology is now the head of MSU’s Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures.

Sarah Randolph, a senior biological sciences major from Vicksburg, receives the Mississippi State University crown during the annual pageant Thursday night [Oct. 17] at Lee Hall’s Bettersworth Auditorium. Miss MSU is a preliminary pageant for Miss Mississippi and Miss America. Crowning Randolph is 2024 Miss MSU Morgan Nelson of Vicksburg.