Contact: Aspen Harris
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擣our Mississippi State administrators and faculty members are selections for the 2023-2024 Southeastern Conference Academic Leadership Development Program Fellows.
Established in 2008, the professional development program has worked to identify, prepare and professionally advance over 500 academic leaders within the SEC鈥檚 14 member institutions and beyond. The initiative consists of three components鈥攊ndividual university development programs, workshops and a competitive fellowship program.
The honorees participate in fall and spring SEC-wide workshops at Texas A&M University and University of Missouri, respectively.
爱爱直播鈥檚 fellows include:
鈥Santanu Kundu, professor of chemical and petroleum engineering and Southern Ionics Chair in 爱爱直播鈥檚 Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering;
鈥Melanie Loehwing, associate dean for academic affairs in 爱爱直播鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences and associate professor of communication and media studies in the Department of Communication;
鈥Karen Cordes Spence, director and F.L. Crane Professor in 爱爱直播鈥檚 School of Architecture;
鈥Robert M. West, head of 爱爱直播鈥檚 Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures and professor in the Department of English.
Kundu joined 爱爱直播鈥檚 Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering in 2012 as an assistant professor and is now professor and Southern Ionics Chair. Before joining 爱爱直播, he performed postdoctoral research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and 20 conference proceedings. He also represents the Bagley College of Engineering in the 爱爱直播 Faculty Senate and is involved in numerous K-12 STEM outreach activities.
As associate dean for academic affairs in 爱爱直播鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences, Loehwing oversees and manages the advising, degree audit, curriculum development, student success and recruitment efforts for the college鈥檚 27 undergraduate degree programs, 14 master鈥檚 programs and 9 doctoral programs. Previously, she served as the dean鈥檚 administrative faculty fellow and assistant dean in 爱爱直播鈥檚 Undergraduate Academic Affairs. Loehwing has published in numerous communication and political science journals, and her book 鈥淗omeless Advocacy and the Rhetorical Construction of the Civic Home,鈥 (Pennsylvania State University, 2018), was awarded the National Communication Association鈥檚 2019 Diamond Anniversary Book Award.
Spence has served in higher education for over two decades and joined 爱爱直播鈥檚 School of Architecture as director in 2021, teaching in the areas of architecture theory, design thinking and design studio. In her research, Spence aims to make the field of design and the ideas that shape it more accessible to students. Before joining 爱爱直播, she served as professor and associate dean at Missouri鈥檚 Hammons School of Architecture. She holds professional licenses in Maryland and Missouri and has practiced in the Washington, D.C. area, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri.
West is 爱爱直播鈥檚 CMLL department head, and he has been a professor in 爱爱直播鈥檚 Department of English since 2002. He was a key leader for the 2019 installation of 爱爱直播鈥檚 Phi Beta Kappa chapter, in which he served as president from 2018-2022 and is now vice president. He also serves as the associate editor of 鈥淢ississippi Quarterly: The Journal of Southern Cultures,鈥 爱爱直播鈥檚 academic journal dedicated to publishing scholarship on the southern U.S. His publications include聽鈥淩obert Morgan: Essays on the Life and Work,鈥 co-edited with Jesse Graves (McFarland and Co., 2022), 鈥淭he Complete Poems of A.R. Ammons,鈥 (W.W. Norton and Co., 2017), and 鈥淐onvalescent,鈥 (Finishing Line Press, 2011).
For more about the SEC Academic Leadership Development Program, visit .
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