Contact: Sarah Nicholas

STARKVILLE, Miss.–Mississippi State’s College of Arts and Sciences recently recognized eight faculty members with awards during a ceremony honoring research and scholarly commitments to the university.

The annual College of Arts and Sciences awards are given to faculty who contribute significantly to MSU’s mission of research and increase awareness of the university’s programs and capabilities. The teaching awards recognize faculty for outstanding teaching service.

Faculty receiving research awards include:

─Rachel Allison, assistant professor in the Department of Sociology. Allison received an award for the social and behavioral sciences. Her research focuses on gender and intersectionality across societal institutions.

─Bonnie O’Neill, associate professor in the Department of English, receiving an award in the humanities. She is a nationally recognized scholar of 19th-century American literature and culture.

─Adam Skarke, assistant professor in the Department of Geosciences, receiving an award in the natural and physical sciences and mathematics and statistics. His research focuses on marine geology and geophysics, helping place MSU at the forefront of Gulf of Mexico research and marine exploration initiatives.

Faculty receiving teaching awards include:

─Kenya M. Cistrunk, assistant professor in the Department of Sociology, receiving the award for the social and behavioral sciences. She focuses on service provisions for marginalized and/or oppressed populations, faith-based organizations and community organizing and planning.

─Brian Davisson, assistant professor in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures, receiving the award for the humanities. He specializes in Spanish and Central American literature from the 19th and 20th centuries, specifically on space theory, nationalism, exile, modernism and the avant-garde, and travel writing.

─Andrew Mercer, associate professor in the Department of Geosciences, receiving the award in natural and physical science and mathematics and statistics. He is a meteorologist/climatologist whose primary focus areas include statistical and artificial intelligence (AI) applications to large-scale meteorological and climatological problems.

Created in 2014 in honor of Robert E. Wolverton, a professor of classics at MSU for nearly four decades, his legacy award recognizes faculty who have made long-term contributions to the College of Arts and Sciences and have advocated the ideals of liberal arts education.

The 2018 Robert E. Wolverton Legacy Award honorees include:

─Frances McDavid, a Department of Communication instructor for 30 years. McDavid serves as the coordinator for the journalism concentration, works with her department’s scholarship program and has served as the adviser to The Reflector for 20 years. She has received national recognition for her work with students in academic and pre-career planning. She is retiring at the end of this academic year.

─Charles U. Pittman Jr., professor emeritus in the Department of Chemistry. Pittman’s MSU career, spanning nearly four decades, has included work as the research director of the University/Industry Chemical Research Center. With more than 750 published research papers, he also spent 10 years as editor of the Journal of Molecular Catalysis. He is a contributing editor to numerous prolific scientific publications.

MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 5,200 students, 300 full-time faculty members, nine doctoral programs and 25 academic majors offered in 14 departments. Complete details about the College of Arts and Sciences may be found at www.cas.msstate.edu. 

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.