News Filed Under About Extension

STARKVILLE, Miss. – The Mississippi State University Extension Service has a familiar face directing its outreach efforts in the coastal region.

LaTawnya Holliman has been named regional Extension coordinator for the coastal region’s 21 counties effective April 1. She began the role on an interim basis in April 2020.

Theresa Hand has been selected to lead the efforts of the Mississippi State University Extension Service in the central region. Hand assumes the regional Extension coordinator position on April 1. She has served as interim in the position since April 2020.

A beef cattle specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service has been recognized for her service and research with one of the most prestigious honors in the field of animal science. 

Brandi Karisch, associate Extension and research professor in the MSU Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, received the 2022 Southern Section of the American Society of Animal Science award during the organization’s annual meeting.

STARKVILLE, Miss. – The Mississippi State University Extension Service has been awarded a grant that will help educate, recruit and retain tribal students from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (MBCI) to succeed in college and in a career. 

MSU and the Choctaw Division of Education signed a memorandum of understanding designed to strengthen partnerships between the university and the Choctaw tribe. The memorandum is associated with the grant, “New Beginning for Tribal Students,” awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Mississippi State University Extension Service is modifying its administrative structure to commit more resources for county level staffing.

Upon Steve Martin’s return to his primary role as MSU Extension associate director Nov. 16, his title changed to Associate Director for County Operations.

STONEVILLE, Miss. -- Jeff Gore, a long-time Mississippi State University entomologist and researcher, has been named interim head of the MSU Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville.

Gore, an entomologist with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and the MSU Extension Service, will begin this position Nov. 16, 2021, serving up to one year in a management and supervisory capacity at the center. He has been stationed at the Delta center since 2007.

Like sea levels, expenses related to flooding in communities and businesses along the Gulf Coast are rising.

One student spent last summer investigating ways to mitigate these costs while enhancing approaches to shoreline protection during her time in the Mississippi State University Extension Undergraduate Apprenticeship program. The program is targeted toward high-achieving undergraduates from across the country to give them firsthand experiences in research and extension to understand how research can be applied.

POPLARVILLE, Miss. — The Mississippi State University Extension Service in Pearl River County has a new temporary location after the building housing its office sustained irreparable damage from an overnight fire.

Located at 204 South Julia Street in Poplarville behind the county courthouse, the facility is scheduled to be operational by April 16. The main office number, 601-403-2280, is still active for clients in need of assistance. MSU Extension operations in Pearl River County will take place at this location indefinitely.

The Mississippi State University Extension Service is launching a new Extension Center for 4-H Youth Development to grow the next generation of leaders. This name change leverages current funding and restructuring of existing positions to allow for greater support and service to Mississippi’s young people. 4-H provides nonformal youth development education across the state for 8- to 18-year-olds through programs delivered locally by Extension agents and registered 4-H adult volunteers.

Longtime Mississippi State University Extension Service administrator and MSU Extension professor Paula Threadgill announced her retirement effective Dec. 31, 2020.

Many of Mississippi’s annual traditions were interrupted this year due to COVID-19, but the Mississippi State Fair Livestock Show will go on.

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Staff members in Mississippi State’s Office of Agricultural Communications and Office of Public Affairs are bringing prestige to the university with two Grand Awards and other honors from the College Public Relations Association of Mississippi’s annual competition.

A Mississippi State University research professor is a newly appointed member to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Committee. U.S. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler and U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) announced today [June 17] the appointment of Jeffrey Gore, one of 33 new committee members.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Mississippi State University Extension Service is offering 10 of its online professional development courses free of charge through June 30.

Those who enroll in any of the self-paced classes will have three months to complete all course materials from the time they start the course. Course descriptions are available at https://bit.ly/2SVJPpQ.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Mississippi State University Extension Service’s cancellation of in-person educational meetings and events through August 1 does not affect events hosted by other organizations, which Extension personnel and clients may participate in.

All scheduled Extension face-to-face educational events and meetings through that date have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Mississippi State University Extension Service will continue operations as it has through the statewide shelter-in-place order, but has canceled all face-to-face events, meetings and trainings through August 1 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The cancellation includes all scheduled Extension in-person conferences as well as 4-H youth programs on and off campus.

The Mississippi State University Extension Service has a new cotton specialist.

Brian Pieralisi was appointed to that role on April 1. He replaced Darrin Dodds, who took the helm of the university’s Department of Plant and Soil Sciences.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Necessary restrictions on travel and gatherings are affecting how the Mississippi State University Extension Service operates, but its ability to respond to the needs of its clients, the public and state agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic continues uninterrupted.

Extension’s roles during crises are many: emergency management, local level assistance, support for the state’s agricultural industry, and dissemination of public information and education.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Mississippi State University Extension Service has postponed all of its in-person events, trainings and meetings across the state through May 10 amid public health concerns surrounding COVID-19.

All Extension offices and units will remain open, and basic operations will continue as normal until further notice. This includes the Bost Extension Center on the main campus in Starkville, the four regional Research and Extension Centers and each of Extension’s 82 county offices. Online educational programming will also proceed as scheduled.

2020 marked Bill Fitts’ 27th consecutive appearance at the annual North Mississippi Producer Advisory Council meeting.