Tuesday, February 5, 2019   
 
C Spire, Mississippi State partner on coding academies
Former Mississippi Gov. William Winter has often repeated this simple but cogent observation: "The only road out of poverty and economic dependency runs past the schoolhouse door." Winter understood the important role that the educational system plays in the jobs pipeline. In recent years, our state has witnessed substantive change as technological advancements and economic globalization have placed increased importance on innovation, creativity and new educational approaches at all levels in our state. The path to economic growth and enhanced opportunity in Mississippi's private sector must begin in elementary and secondary education and continue seamlessly through the workforce training capabilities of our stellar community college system and on to the research and development expertise of our higher education system. Seizing on this opportunity, C Spire and the Mississippi State University Research and Curriculum Unit's new Center for Cyber Education have formed a public-private partnership called the C Spire Software Development Pathway.
 
US DOL Partners with Contractor to Promote Workplace Safety during Construction of Tire Plant in Mississippi
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has signed a strategic partnership with Mississippi State University's Center for Continuing Education Industrial Health & Safety Program and Brasfield & Gorrie LLC to promote worker safety and health at the Continental Tire Main Plant project in Clinton, Mississippi. The partnership seeks to prevent injuries and exposure to hazards during the construction of the 750,000 square-foot facility. Under the agreement, the partners will encourage contractors to develop and implement safety and health programs, and provide safety and health training to employees, employers, and supervisors.
 
Aldermen to decide on annexation Tuesday
On Tuesday, Starkville's board of aldermen will decide whether to press ahead with drafting an annexation ordinance to add new territory to the city's east. Consultant Mike Slaughter, of the Oxford-based urban planning firm Slaughter and Associates, presented updated annexation study results at a Friday work session for a modified area east of Starkville. Starkville has been considering annexation for more than a year. The process, which started in October 2017, began with three study areas -- a large area along the city's entire east side and to the south; an area on the southwestern side that would bring in the Sunset subdivision; and a small area to the north that would bring all of Collier Road within the city. In October 2018, the board voted to narrow the scope to one area, split into two separate study areas. The area extends east along the Highway 12 and 182 corridor to Highway 82 and Clayton Village. It also extends south on the far side of Mississippi State University's campus to San Marcos Drive.
 
Tate Reeves: A look at fundraising for the Republican frontrunner for governor
Some of Mississippi's wealthiest and most powerful people stood in a long line outside Bravo, an Italian restaurant in northeast Jackson, on the evening of Sept. 10, 2018, waiting for the chance to speak with Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves. Reeves, who is running for governor, holds court at the restaurant one night every fall to fundraise for his campaigns. Last fall's event, a little more than a year from the 2019 general election, featured a who's who of Mississippi business and politics. Reeves' campaign finance reports provide a glimpse into the most successful and sophisticated fundraising effort for state office in modern Mississippi history. Reeves raised $1.7 million in 2018, giving him $6.7 million to spend going into 2019. In 2003, when Republican lobbyist Haley Barbour defeated incumbent Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, Barbour raised $10.9 million and spent $11.3 million.
 
Mississippi lawmakers reject move to let farmers grow hemp
Mississippi lawmakers are turning back an attempt to legalize growing industrial hemp in the state. The House Drug Policy Committee, on a tie vote Monday, rejected an amendment that would have changed state law to allow farmers to grow hemp. Changes to the state list of illegal drugs were proposed as House Bill 1547. The U.S. Congress last year approved allowing production of non-intoxicating hemp in heavily regulated pilot programs. Committee Chairwoman Patricia Willis, a Diamondhead Republican, opposes the change. She says Mississippi's law shouldn't change before federal changes take effect later this year.
 
Sexual orientation, gender identity, disability could be covered by Mississippi hate crime law
Key committee chairs are not ruling out the possibility of taking up a bill on Tuesday -- a key deadline day -- to expand Mississippi's hate crimes law to cover crimes committed against people because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. Under current Mississippi law, the penalties can be enhanced -- as much as doubled -- if it can be determined by a jury that the crime was committed against someone because of his or her race, ethnicity, nationality, religion or gender. On Monday, the Human Rights Campaign and others held a news conference at the state Capitol to say the penalty also should be enhanced if committed because of a person's sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. In the House, Judiciary B Chair Angela Cockerham, D-Magnolia, said she has not decided yet whether to bring the bill up for consideration this year. In the Senate, the bill is doubled referred to Judiciary A and to Corrections. Judiciary A Chair Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg, said he hopes to pass the bill out of his committee Tuesday. It is not clear whether it would pass Corrections.
 
Claude Brunson to be first African American head of state medical association
Dr. Claude Brunson has been appointed executive director of the Mississippi State Medical Association, making him the first African American in that role and the only African American currently running a state medical association. The 160-year-old Mississippi State Medical Association is arguably the most powerful lobbying group for physicians in the state, with more than 5,000 members. Brunson replaces the previous executive director Charmaine Kanosky, who left in December after nearly 25 years with the organization. Since 2010, Brunson had been Senior Advisor to the Vice Chancellor at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He previously served UMMC as director of the Office of Government and as chair of the Anesthesiology department.
 
Act would draw in more rural doctors
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., recently addressed the shortage of physicians in rural areas with the introduction of the Rural Physician Workforce Production Act, a measure intended to ramp up the next generation of rural doctors. Hyde-Smith is a cosponsor of the legislation introduced by Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., to expand the Graduate Medical Education program to improve the recruitment and retention of physicians serving in rural and underserved communities. The legislation would encourage the expansion or creation of new rural training track programs that encourage more doctors to perform their residencies in rural areas. It would establish a national per resident payment amount in order to make accepting residents a financially viable option for rural hospitals.
 
Not included in Capitol Hill's friendly border negotiations: Trump
Capitol Hill negotiators are toiling away on a deal Republicans and Democrats can support to fund border security -- without the input of President Donald Trump. While the government could once again shut down if Trump rejects their deal, congressional negotiators are betting they will get Trump's signature on a border compromise even if they don't secure his blessing beforehand. "The goal here is to actually wind up with a bill the president will sign. That doesn't mean that you have to have the president's commitment before you put it on his desk," said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, a day before Trump makes his State of the Union address Tuesday. Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar's proposal, for example, calls for $675 million for "non-intrusive inspection technology" at land ports of entry -- something Texas Republicans also like. Cuellar, part of the close-knit group of negotiators, hosted three Republicans on the committee in his south Texas congressional district Monday to lobby them against Trump's ideas. "They keep talking about the wall, the wall, the wall, which we don't want," Cuellar said of the gathering with Reps. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tennessee, Kay Granger, R-Texas, and Steven Palazzo, R-Mississippi.
 
Bipartisan Support Builds For Limits On Surprise Medical Bills
Surrounded by patients who told horror stories of being stuck with hefty bills, President Trump recently waded into a widespread health care problem for which almost all people -- even those with insurance -- are at risk: surprise medical billing. Trump's declaration that taming unexpected bills would be a top priority for his administration echoed through the halls of Congress, where a handful of Republican and Democratic lawmakers had already been studying the problem. The sudden presidential interest has lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressing optimism about attacking a problem that has affected 57 percent of American adults, according to a University of Chicago survey conducted in August 2018. Sen. Lamar Alexander, the Tennessee Republican who chairs the influential Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, recently told reporters that he expects to see surprise-billing legislation "in the next several months."
 
Rookies lead the way on House science panel
A major perk of being the majority party in the U.S. Congress is getting to fill the leadership slots on every committee. For several new Democratic legislators, however, having their party regain control of the House of Representatives also creates an unprecedented opportunity to shape U.S. science policy. On Wednesday, the newly configured House science committee will convene for the first time to adopt its rules and structure. To no one's surprise, the 39-member committee will choose Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) as its chairwoman. A 14-term legislator and former nurse administrator, Johnson has spent the past 6 years aggressively leading the Democratic charge against any number of Republican proposals seen as threats to the U.S. research enterprise. Now, her party will be setting the agenda. But her new lieutenants -- the chairs of the panel's five subcommittees -- are rookies unschooled in the ways of Congress and, for the most part, in the challenges facing the community.
 
Effects of US government shutdown reverberate through science community
The longest government shutdown in US history might be over, at least for now, but agencies like the National Science Foundation are scrambling to catch up from the 35-day closure, and research universities are speaking out about the damage caused. Before Christmas, the partial shutdown went into effect because of a standoff between Congress and President Trump over his demands for $5 billion to build a wall along the US's southern border with Mexico. As a result, about 90% of the NSF's total workforce of 2100, was put on leave, including 1400 agency employees, 200 scientists on temporary duty from research institutions and 450 contract workers. When the NSF finally reopened on 28 January, along with other agencies, its first priority was to ensure that the researchers it supports had access to their funds. 'On a typical day, our grant payments are on the order of about $20 million,' said Erwin Gianchandani, who manages the NSF's computer information science and engineering directorate, during an NSF telephone briefing with the media on 2 February. That first day back in business, researchers requested approximately $220 million from the agency.
 
'Man of the institution': An interview with Interim Chancellor Larry Sparks
Larry Sparks is an insider, and he thinks that's just what the university needs right now. He became the school's interim chancellor on Jan. 2, departing from the Office of Administration and Finance to replace Jeffrey Vitter, the university's shortest-tenured chancellor. "What's needed most is consistency," Sparks said last week. "There's not a lot of time to learn and to get up to speed about relationships and priorities in an interim role to someone coming in from the outside." To be successful, a chancellor should form a relationship with the state. Interim Chancellor Sparks is conscious of the money and power at play in the state college board, and he exudes an understanding of how exactly it all works. He spent 10 years as an employee of the Institutions of Higher Learning, and he quite literally wrote the institution's funding formula.
 
UM establishes safety committee after hit-and-run
The University Police Department has established a Campus Safety Committee with the Associated Student Body in response to vehicle-pedestrian accidents that occurred on campus last semester. UPD Chief Ray Hawkins said the idea behind the Campus Safety Committee is to partner with student government and create a direct line for students to talk about the issues that concern them when it comes to safety on campus. Darby Todd, the founder of the Campus Safety Committee, said "there's a lot more that needs to be done" about pedestrian safety on campus. According to Hawkins, it's important for both pedestrians and motorists to obey all traffic laws in order to minimize traffic incidents. According to the UPD crime log, there was one pedestrian reported injured by a motor vehicle during the last academic year. This academic year, five pedestrians have been struck by vehicles.
 
New EMCC president sees community colleges as path to success
New East Mississippi Community College President Scott Alsobrooks took an academic journey that could benefit current students as they determine their future. Members of the community and the staff at EMCC had a chance to meet Alsobrooks during an event Monday morning at F.R. Young Student Union Dining Room in Scooba. A similar event is planned from 8:30-10 a.m. Tuesday at EMCC'S Golden Triangle Campus in the Student Union private dining room. Because he pursued an industrial engineering degree, he said early in his student years he never thought he would be a college president. While attending Mississippi State University in Starkville, the chair of the industrial engineering department encouraged him to explore other options in industrial engineering besides working at a company. He was told someday he could maybe be a CEO or a college president, which helped him see possibilities for his future.
 
Alabama and Auburn more like partners than rivals in economic development
There is one playing field where Alabama and Auburn are on the same side. Leaders of both institutions shared time recently at the Economic Development Association of Alabama's 2019 Winter Conference. "We are different universities with different assets and together we can pull our state forward," said Dr. Steven Leath, president of Auburn University. Leath said Auburn is not a rival but a collaborator with UA when it comes to boosting the state's economy. It was a sentiment shared by Finis St. John, interim chancellor of the University of Alabama System. In fact, St. John said the entire education system from pre-K to post-graduate training and other workforce development initiatives needs to be aligned to a greater degree today than ever before. "We must also work together to have students better prepared from pre-K through high school," St. John said. "If all are better, the universities are better, and the state is better." Why are we seeing this degree of cooperation? Because we must, St. John said. With state at essentially full employment and population growth flat, St. John said it is crucial the universities do what they can to contribute to the solution.
 
U. of Florida faculty hiring push remains on track
As an assistant dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Florida, Brian Harfe said he conducted close to 170 interviews in the last year. UF is in the midst of its Faculty 500 campaign, which aims to hire 500 new faculty across all 16 colleges to reduce its student to faculty ratio to 16-to-1. That metric, UF officials hope, will push it from its current standing of eight into the top five public universities in the U.S. News and World Report rankings. Harfe said one of the drawbacks he heard from spouses of faculty when he was first hired 16 years ago was the lack of shopping. But as Gainesville has grown, that's changed. "The candidates actually surprisingly appreciate knowing all that Gainesville as a city has done in the last decade or so," Harfe said. "We're not in the middle of nowhere anymore." Selling a smaller college town is one of the challenges that UF faces when trying to attract faculty from more urban areas. But there are positives, including competitive salaries and working with high-caliber students.
 
U. of Tennessee faculty senate discusses diversity, approves tenure track language
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, faculty senate heard from two newly hired vice chancellors and continued discussion about tenure track language at their first meeting of the spring semester on Monday afternoon. Tisha Benton, vice chancellor for communications, and Tyvi Small, interim vice chancellor for diversity and engagement, addressed the senate and asked for feedback as they start in their roles. Benton was named the vice chancellor for communications in November. Small was named the interim vice chancellor in December, in a newly created position that will focus on student success and diversity initiatives. This came a month after the faculty senate approved a resolution asking Interim Chancellor Wayne Davis and Interim UT System President Randy Boyd to instate a full-time interim Chief Diversity Officer. Misty Anderson, faculty senate president, thanked Davis and Boyd for appointing Small soon after the senate made their request, which came after two incidents of anti-Semitic paintings at The Rock on campus.
 
LSU vet school given $11.5M grant for lung disease research
Louisiana State University's veterinary school is getting an $11.5 million federal health grant to start a center aimed at finding ways to treat and prevent lung disease in people. The National Institutes of Health will provide the money to the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine over five years. NIH could renew the grant for two additional five-year terms, for a total of more than $32 million. LSU says the money will launch the Center for Lung Biology and Disease, which will augment university research on pulmonary diseases. A news release says it will investigate how lung diseases start and develop, thus guiding treatment and prevention. The NIH grant comes from a program aimed at promoting research in states that historically receive low levels of support from the federal health agency.
 
U. of Arkansas student dies after hit by car; teen driver cited
A University of Arkansas, Fayetteville student died Monday afternoon two days after being hit by a car while walking in a crosswalk on campus. Andrea Torres, 18, died at Washington Regional Medical Center, said Roger Morris, Washington County coroner. She was from Clarksville, Morris said. University police on Saturday said a UA student was struck by a car driven by a 17-year-old girl who was issued a citation for using a cellphone while driving. State law prohibits drivers younger than 18 from using cellphones for "talking, typing, emailing, or accessing information on the Internet." The driver also was cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian, police said. Torres was struck Saturday afternoon while trying to cross Garland Avenue west of Garland Avenue Center, site of a parking deck and some shops. She was walking west in the crosswalk when she was struck by a BMW passenger car traveling south, police said.
 
'It's not much, but it's home': Missouri engineering students worry about their library
The University of Missouri's engineering dean met Monday with students anxious about the potential closing of the college's library in order to use the space differently. The forum followed a week of growing student concern about the future of the Engineering Library in Lafferre Hall, home to the College of Engineering on the southwest side of Francis Quadrangle. Dean Elizabeth Loboa closed the meeting in Ketcham Auditorium to news media, saying she wanted students to be able to speak candidly. Students leaving the forum said they were mainly concerned about the availability of study space and a lack of clarity in the overall conversation. They said Loboa wanted to clear up rumors. "One of the big things I'm concerned about is transparency and who's in the loop," engineering student Martha Gahl said. "It doesn't feel like we have a voice." Brock Gibson, an engineering student who works at the library, agreed there is a sense of vagueness about the process. "If we have a guarantee of an equivalent sort of space, it'll be all right," Gibson said. "But I don't know if we'll get that anytime soon or if it'll happen."
 
Could Congress Pass a New Higher-Education Law Before 2020?
Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican of Tennessee, confirmed on Monday that he hopes to get the Higher Education Act reauthorized within the next year. Doing so could cement his legacy as a bipartisan dealmaker as chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Speaking in a panel discussion at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, and later on the floor of the Senate, the former college president and U.S. secretary of education laid out three broad strokes of a proposed bill. At the top of Alexander's list is his long-term goal of simplifying the Free Application for Federal Student Aid by paring the number of questions a student must answer from 108 to 25 or fewer. The news of Alexander's plans, by itself, does little to increase the likelihood that a divided Congress could come to an agreement on legislation. This time, however, Alexander's plans are accompanied by pledges of bipartisan cooperation. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the committee, will begin negotiations on legislation in the coming weeks.
 
Senator Lamar Alexander lays out vision for new higher ed law
Senator Lamar Alexander, the chairman of the Senate education committee, chose one of the most prominent conservative think tanks in the nation's capital to lay out his vision for overhauling the Higher Education Act. But much of the Tennessee Republican's speech appeared designed to win over Democrats skeptical that they could work with the GOP on a comprehensive higher ed bill. Alexander said his top priorities for a bill to renew the massive higher education law are streamlining the application for federal student aid, simplifying student loan repayment and holding colleges accountable for student loan repayment rates -- each one reflecting established principles for the senator. He rattled off 10 different bills already introduced in the Senate with bipartisan support that address those priorities and could be incorporated into broader higher ed legislation.
 
80 Clemson students put in hotels after floor crack, sewage problems at apartments
A student apartment building which opened in August 2017 has had to move students to hotel rooms due to issues with part of the building foundation. At least 80 students had to leave their units after the foundation in the building settled 2 inches, causing a crack in the floor and leading to sewer problems, Todd Steadman, director of planning and codes for the city, said. On Monday, an engineer for the city visited the building and deemed it structurally safe. Most students who were told to leave will be allowed to return, with the exception of 11 students who live on the bottom floor. Steadman said the cracked floor there remains a tripping hazard. Caroline Ryan, a graphic communications major, said a representative from Campus Apartments LLC, the national company that manages 114 Earle, has been on site and helping resolve problems, but she said the situation remains "sketchy."
 
Weakest students more likely to take online college classes but do worse in them
Online college classes and degrees give working adults a lot of flexibility in furthering their educations but there's a big policy debate over whether students are learning much. According to the most recent federal statistics from 2016, roughly one out of every three or 6.3 million college students learned online. That number is growing even as fewer people are going to college. About half of them were enrolled in online degree programs and take all of their classes on the internet. The other half took one or more of their college classes online as they were also studying in traditional classrooms on a campus. A new January 2019 paper from two researchers, one of whom served in the Obama Administration, documents the rise of online learning and reviews a large body of academic research on it.
 
Weighing in on Duke case, experts discuss discrimination against international students and pressures to assimilate
The email was ostensibly offering advice. Yet it was incredibly offensive to many. You probably know the story by now. In short, a Duke University faculty member and the director of graduate studies for a master's program in biostatistics wrote to students last Friday advising them not to speak Chinese in the student lounge. The email was swiftly and widely condemned. But newsworthy as it was, what may have been most notable about this incident was the way in which these attitudes were explicitly laid out in an email sent to all students. The Duke email follows closely on a case at the University of Houston in which a professor sent a message to students about personal hygiene and body odor, singling out particular cultural groups and their eating habits, and another at the University of Liverpool in which the British university's international advising office sent an email to international students about academic integrity singling out Chinese students. The emails raise the question of how widespread these kinds of attitudes are.
 
Ralph Northam Could Lose His Governorship Over a Racist Yearbook Photo. For His Alma Mater, the Risks are Dire, Too.
Thrust into the national spotlight over racist images found in a decades-old yearbook, Eastern Virginia Medical School officials scrambled on Monday to respond to a crisis that had been hiding in plain sight. The public institution in Norfolk, Va., has been reeling since last week, when a reporter unearthed a photo on Ralph S. Northam's 1984 yearbook page that appeared to show the Virginia governor in either blackface or a Ku Klux Klan uniform. Reversing an initial admission of guilt, Northam, a Democrat, now disputes that he appears in the photo. That has done little to stem calls for his resignation, which have ratcheted up in recent days. The political scandal for Northam has unfolded in tandem with a reputational crisis for the medical school, where officials have condemned the photo as antithetical to its values and have pledged to investigate whether other yearbooks contain similar images.
 
Colleges grapple with racism after Gov. Ralph Northam controversy
When Eastern Virginia Medical School published a statement on Saturday about racist photos in the institution's 1984 yearbook, purportedly of the state's governor, Ralph Northam, many asked: How could this have been going on? How could the yearbook's editor allow such blatantly bigoted photo to be published? How could this happen in the 1980s? The photo, on a page in the yearbook devoted to Northam, depicts two people, one in Ku Klux Klan garb, the other in blackface. While Northam initially took responsibility and said he was one of the two people in the photo, he later backtracked and said he believed it was mistakenly attributed to him. The scandal has resulted in widespread calls for Northam's resignation from lawmakers and pundits of all political stripes, a harsh rebuke of a lawmaker who ran on a platform of racial justice. But the incident has also prompted those questions to Northam's alma mater about how it handles racism, both presently and historically, and whether officials there skated over the prejudice that was apparent on campus during Northam's time. It's a question more broadly posed to universities -- especially in Virginia, a state steeped in the Confederacy.


SPORTS
 
Super Bulldog Weekend schedule announced
The 34th annual Super Bulldog Weekend, a Mississippi State spring homecoming tradition, will be held April 12-14 on the MSU campus. Fans will get a glimpse of Joe Moorhead's 2019 football team as the squad closes spring ball with the Maroon and White Game on Saturday, April 13 in Davis Wade Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. and admission is free. MSU's clear bag and metal detector policies will be in place at Davis Wade Stadium. Coach Chris Lemonis' nationally-ranked Diamond Dawgs welcome Alabama to the new Dudy Noble Field for a three-game SEC series with game times at 6:30 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. There will be two chances to view Daryl Greenan's women's tennis team in SEC action during Super Bulldog Weekend. The squad hosts Texas A&M at 3 p.m. Friday and LSU at 1 p.m. Sunday. Saturday's slate begins with the MSU soccer team, fresh off its first NCAA Tournament appearance, taking on Auburn in an 11 a.m. spring exhibition at the MSU Soccer Field. Additional details on Super Bulldog Weekend will be announced at a later date.
 
Super Bulldog Weekend schedule set
The schedule for Super Bulldog Weekend has been set. Mississippi State's annual spring homecoming will be held April 12-14 featuring a baseball series against Alabama, Joe Moorhead's second spring football game and women's tennis matches against Texas A&M and LSU. The Diamond Dogs take on the Crimson Tide at 6:30 p.m. that Friday and 3 p.m. games on Saturday and Sunday. The spring football game will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The women's tennis team starts off the festivities against the Aggies on Friday at 3 p.m. and hosts LSU on Sunday at 1 p.m. There will also be a spring soccer exhibition against Auburn on Saturday at 11 a.m. for first-year coach James Armstrong.
 
Reggie Perry selected SEC Freshman of the Week
After establishing new career-highs in back-to-back games last week, Mississippi State's Reggie Perry was picked as the SEC Freshman of the Week. Perry scored 18 points at Alabama and followed that up with 21 points and 11 rebounds at Ole Miss. The 6-foot-10, 245-pound forward also added four blocks and shot 15 of 27 from the field for the week and 2 of 3 from 3-point range. Perry is the first Bulldog to be named SEC Freshman of the Week since teammate Nick Weatherspoon claimed the honor this week last season.
 
Teaira McCowan makes Wooden Award late-season watch list
Teaira McCowan still has the attention of the women's basketball world, and that's not going to change any time soon. McCowan was named to the late-season watch list for the Wooden Award on Monday night. She is one of 20 girls across the country to still be in the running for one of the sport's most prestigious player of the year awards. McCowan, No. 6 Mississippi State's senior center, is averaging 16.9 points and 13.7 rebounds per game this season. Both figures are team-highs for the Bulldogs. She recently notched her 18th double-double of the season in MSU's win over Alabama.
 
Teaira McCowan shows maturity in No. 6 Mississippi State's victory against Alabama
Teaira McCowan recognizes how much she has developed since her freshman season. At 6-foot-7, McCowan didn't grasp the physical nature of the Southeastern Conference when she arrived from Brenham, Texas. As a result, she grappled with how to use her quickness, strength, and athleticism and how to remain poised when opponents tried anything they could to limit her effectiveness. Sunday provided possibly the best example of how far McCowan has come in her time as a Bulldog. Despite taking only three shots in each half, McCowan played a key role in the No. 6 Mississippi State women's basketball team's 65-49 victory against Alabama in a Southeastern Conference game before a crowd of 3,769 at Coleman Coliseum.
 
Anriel Howard has bounce-back game in No. 6 Mississippi State's road win
Turn the page. Forgetting one game and moving on to the next one seems like a simple proposition. But when you're energized for excellence like graduate student Anriel Howard, sometimes you can get ahead of yourself and go too quickly or try to do too much. Mississippi State women's basketball coach Vic Schaefer alluded to that fact Sunday after No. 6 MSU's 65-49 victory against Alabama in a Southeastern Conference game before a crowd of 3,769 at Coleman Coliseum. Schaefer scanned the box score and saw Howard had a game-high 24 points on 9-for-12 shooting from the field and grabbed seven rebounds in 32 minutes. When you have a coach who is striving for the "perfect game," it's easy to find areas to address for the next practice or the next game. "She is 9 out of 12 and probably the three shots she missed probably didn't need to take them, but that is her trying to make something happen, and there is nothing wrong with that," Schaefer said. "It's a learning process -- a new offense -- that kind of thing, but again, I was pleased with her, especially early."
 
What Mississippi State's infield will look like during opening weekend
Mississippi State baseball season is less than two weeks away. When the Bulldogs run out of the dugout on Feb. 15 at the new Dudy Noble Field to take on Youngstown State in the first game of a three-game series, junior pitcher Ethan Small will take the mound. But who will surround Small in the infield? And who is going to catch his pitches? Here's what Mississippi State's infield and catching situation will look like opening weekend.
 
Peyton Plumlee learns from his past
While the 2018 Mississippi State baseball team was celebrating the program's 10th trip to the College World Series, Peyton Plumlee was in Amsterdam, New York, preparing to play in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League in an effort to resurrect his pitching career. Plumlee didn't pitch for the Diamond Dogs during their run to Omaha due to a one-year suspension from the NCAA after failing a drug test during the 2017 Baton Rouge Super Regional. "Patience is obviously something that I learned having to sit out for a full year," Plumlee said. "But other than that, I learned adversity. I learned a lot of life decisions that will help me down the road ... The biggest thing that I learned is having a clear mind, not dwelling on the past and always looking to move forward." Plumlee stayed in shape last year by throwing bullpens three to four times a week and working out on a schedule opposite those of his MSU teammates. Plumlee credits his new pitching coach, Scott Foxhall, for helping him develop during his return to the mound.
 
Southern Miss football set to interview former Baylor head coach Art Briles
After Hugh Freeze and Rich Rodriguez were recently awarded second chances in their coaching careers, Southern Miss may be on the verge of giving Art Briles his. The former Baylor football head coach was on the Hattiesburg campus Monday to interview for USM's vacant offensive coordinator position, a source has confirmed to the Sun Herald. Briles was fired by Baylor in May of 2016 after the university commissioned a third-party law firm to investigate the school's handling of misconduct within the athletic department, including allegations of violence against women. The investigation found that Baylor football coaches failed to report complaints against players. There is an ongoing NCAA investigation into the conduct of the Baylor athletic department. The school has settled five Title IX lawsuits over allegations from former students.
 
New Vanderbilt athletics director Malcolm Turner values listening
New Vanderbilt athletics director Malcolm Turner remembers names, craves face-to-face conversations and asks questions as if it's his job. That's because he believes it is. During his first weekend on the job, Turner displayed what he calls his personal "matter of style" in taking a non-stop tour of every touchpoint of Vanderbilt athletics he could reach. He spoke to every coach and student-athlete in person, talked to donors, toured facilities and met with university leadership without pausing to catch his breath. n between meetings, he fired off countless emails to people from previous meetings. He sent a thank you, a compliment and the most helpful parts about their face-to-face conversation. He's an admitted workaholic with additional addictions to walking, talking and especially listening. "Being present matters. Accessibility matters. You've got to get in front of people," Turner said, standing in his empty McGugin Center office, where he plans to place his personal items eventually once he's marked off a checklist of face-to-face meetings.
 
Georgia athletics profit grows in latest NCAA financial report
Georgia athletics brought in $42.758 million more in revenue than it spent in fiscal year 2018. The data comes from Georgia's annual NCAA financial report, which was obtained Monday by the Athens Banner-Herald in an open records request. The report encompasses the period from July 2017 through June 2018. Georgia reported $176,699,893 in operating revenue and $133,941,585 in operating expenses. Georgia said that $32.297 million of that $42.758 million difference went to fund capital projects for the west end zone side of Sanford Stadium---that included a new football home locker room---and the indoor practice facility. The Athletic Association also contributed $4.5 million to the university. Another $5.961 million is planned to be used for future athletic facility enhancements, the school said. Revenue exceeded expenses by $4.124 million more than fiscal year 2017.
 
South Carolina already reaping benefits of 'phenomenal' new football ops center
As South Carolina athletics director Ray Tanner welcomed media members to a tour of the Gamecocks new $50 million football operations building, he already was anticipating what some of the reaction to the building might be. "You are going to have cynics, you are going to have people saying, 'Is this really necessary?' " Tanner said Monday. Yes, it was, South Carolina coach Will Muschamp said. The Cyndi and Kenneth Long Family Football Operations Center brings everything Gamecock football under one roof for the first time in the program's history. The team's fractured facilities, with coaches' offices and the locker room on opposite ends of Williams-Brice Stadium and the practice fields a 10-minute walk from both, was a club used against the team in recruiting, Muschamp said. "It was a big obstacle," Muschamp said. In its place is a 110,000-square-foot building that the team moved into in stages starting in January.



The Office of Public Affairs provides the Daily News Digest as a general information resource for Mississippi State University stakeholders.
Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.
Mississippi State University  •  Mississippi State, MS 39762  •  Main Telephone: (662) 325-2323  •   Contact: The Editor  |  The Webmaster  •   Updated: February 5, 2019Facebook Twitter