MSU Social Science Research Center

Director Emeritus Arthur Cosby and SSRC Research Fellow Viswadeep Lebakula are coauthors of a new publication in the Journal of Public Health.

Read about their study on mortality rates at https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/advance-article/doi/10.1093/pubmed/fdaf036/8106840.

State-level su***de mortality insights: a comparative study of VHA veterans and the whole US population AbstractBackground. Su***de is a leading cause of death in the US Comparative State-level spatial analysis between Veterans Health Administration (VHA vete

SSRC Director Devon Brenner participated as a subject matter expert in a webinar hosted by the U.S. Department of Education called “The Importance of Participating in Education Research.”

The webinar explored the need for all schools, including rural and tribal schools, to be collaborating partners on research funded by the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grants program.

Our AFFIRM project participated in the Oktibbeha County Senior Picnic today. The project is working to share resources with older adults and make those resources more accessible.
Pictured are Dr. Sujan Anreddy (project PI), Colleen Stouffer, and Lauren Etheredge.

Congratulations to Dr. Colyer! Our staff works with William Carey University's PREPS to coordinate the Mississippi Rural Education Association - MSREA and support Mississippi's rural educators.

MSREA Celebration Honors Mississippi Rural Teachers of the Year… Highlighting the work of MS Rural Teacher of the Year Finalists: Dr. Lindsay Colyer, Terrance Thomas, Elizabeth White, and Lauren Haslauer

Check out the latest from Mississippi To***co Data on policies, trends, and health impacts in Mississippi!

mstobaccodata.org

Director Dr. Devon Brenner and Dr. Lourdes Cardozo Gaibisso coauthored a piece on the National School Board Association's website about the support needed for multilingual and non-English-speaking students.
Read below!

Equity: Rural Schools Need Multilingual Support - National School Boards Association Many rural communities are home to multilingual and non-English speaking families. In many parts of rural America, new residents from around the globe are helping offset population loss and contributing to growing economies. The recent “Why Rural Matters” report, published by the National Rural ...

Hill Day here we come! Mississippi Fellows visited Capitol Hill today to meet with staffers from Senator Hyde-Smith and Senator Wicker’s offices to learn more about federal policy as a part of the Washington Policy Seminar.

University President Mark E. Keenum announced today that MSU is annually impacting Mississippi with $3.9 billion in economic activity. Collectively, MSU’s operations and research—including its people—support billions in wages and sustain more than 80,000 jobs statewide, a new study shows. Full Story: https://tinyurl.com/59bz3n3z

Dr. Megan Stubbs-Richardson will participate in an International Women’s Day event at the University of Portsmouth on March 7.

#MeToo: Global and Regional, Past and Present UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2025 : Global and Regional, Past and Present

Bradley Long attended last week's Mississippi Rural Education Association's Teacher of the Year ceremony. The event, hosted by the Program of Research and Evaluation for Public Schools, honored educators across Mississippi, including the four finalists for the Rural Teacher of the Year award. Bradley served on the MSREA selection committee as part of the Mississippi Rural Education Association.

Congratulations to the overall MS RURAL TEACHER of the YEAR - Dr. Lindsay Colyer - MS School of the Arts! We will be posting more pics from our award ceremony soon!

February was a busy month for the Systems Change Lab! Check out some of their work in the new reports added to their website!

Projects & Products - Systems Change Lab - Mississippi State University % We offer technical assistance & research services that help our clients make transformational changes that address complex societal problems.

Check out this new article by Dr. Megan Stubbs-Richardson and colleagues!

From Private to Public: Narratives of Gender-Based Violence Among the Everyday Voices of the #MeToo Movement - Anna Gjika, Megan Stubbs-Richardson, MacKenzie Paul, 2025 In 2017, the movement garnered international attention when millions of people used the hashtag to share personal experiences of sexual violence. The pre...

This week, Melissa Luckett and Luci Leffler were in Washington, D.C., for the NAEYC 2025 Public Policy Forum. Both work on projects at the SSRC relating to early childhood education and policy.

🥳 SSRC Project Manager Callie Poole will be recognized today by Families as Allies during its Community Partnership Celebration. Read about the award and Callie's work below! 🏅⬇

MSU’s Poole recognized for family advocacy MSU’s Poole recognized for family advocacy Contact: Emile Pennington STARKVILLE, Miss.—Callie Poole, project manager at Mississippi State’s Social Science Research Center Systems Change Lab, will be honored by Families as Allies Monday [Feb. 24] during its Community Partnership Celebration. Ca...

Last week, SSRC Director Devon Brenner, currently president of the National Rural Education Association, participated in a Rural Education Roundtable, which featured a conversation about the importance of national data sets for rural education. The Center for Rural Education at Virginia Tech hosted the online discussion.

On February 11th, Dr. Heather Hanna (pictured), Heather Martin (pictured), and Lisa Long attended Early Childhood Capitol Day. Read about the day's activities at https://www.msearlylearning.org/2025-early-childhood-capitol-day/.

Recently, Tiara Love, Dr. Sheena Gardner, and Dr. Katerina Sergi presented the researchers and administrators of Project AWARE, or Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education, with the results of focus group discussions. The SSRC team conducted the focus groups as part of its continuing evaluation efforts of Project AWARE in Mississippi.

Learn more about all of our evaluators at evaluation.ssrc.msstate.edu/.