March & April 2025 Chronicles

Awards & Recognition

Tockie Hemphill won the Three-Minute Thesis challenge during the American Heart Association's Epi Lifestyles Scientific Sessions in New Orleans, March 6- 9th. Hemphill presented “The Association Between Internalized and Expressed Anger and Restless Sleep in African Americans in The Jackson Heart Study,” which is research she developed during her time in the Jackson Heart Study Graduate Training and Education Center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center program. 

Katie Roman placed 3rd in the Public Health Research Competition held in conjunction with MSU's 2025 Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium. Roman presented "Evaluating Acceptability of Four Flavors of Dried Fish Powder-Fortified ComFA+Fish Instant Porridge to Address Stunting Among At-Risk Children in Rural Zambia." Dr. Kathleen Ragsdale mentors Roman. 

Avery Tate, an undergraduate research assistant mentored by Dr. Holli Seitz, recently placed 1st in the Public Health Research Competition held in conjunction with the Spring 2025 Undergraduate Research Symposium. Avery will graduate in May with a bachelor's degree in Psychology and will pursue graduate study at MSU.

Personnel & Project Updates

Dr. Sujan Anreddy, Colleen Stouffer, and Lauren Ethridge attended the Oktibbeha County Triad Senior Picnic event on April 4th, to present AFFIRM resource maps.

Dr. Sujan Anreddy attended the Veterans Resource Fair on April 26th, organized by the G.V. ”Sonny” Montgomery Center for America's Veterans, to present resource maps.

Dr. Devon Brenner and Amanda Tullos guided this year's Educational Policy Fellowship Program cohort through a visit to Washington, D.C., to meet with policymakers and attend the Institute for Educational Leadership's Policy Seminar. 

Dr. Heather Hanna, Melissa Luckett, Heather Martin, Luci Leffler, Callie Poole, and Nell Valentine attended the Children's Health Awareness Capitol Day. The team represented the MS Early Childhood Development Coalition. 

Katie Roman has been competitively accepted into the Master of Public Health Program at Tulane University and awarded a $50,000 scholarship. SSRC Research Professor Dr. Kathleen Ragsdale mentors Roman. She placed 3rd in the Public Health Research Competition held in conjunction with MSU's 2025 Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium. Roman's SSRC Internship is supported through the CALS/MAFES Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. Her poster and 3-minute Research Pitch were based on work supported by the USAID-funded Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish (FIL) project, Scaling ComFA+Fish in Rural Zambia, which she contributed to during the team’s fieldwork at Lake Kariba in the summer of 2024.

Mississippi Alcohol Safety Education Program

On April 2nd, Dr. Angela Robertson and Billy Brister presented on MASEP to the Mississippi Justice Court Judges at a conference in Philadelphia, Ms., sponsored by the Mississippi Judicial College.

On April 29, Dr. Devon Brenner, Dr. Blythe McCance, Dr. Sujan Anreddy, Chuck Dawkins, Daniel Shawl, and Billy Brister attended a virtual meeting of the Mississippi Traffic Records Coordinating Committee sponsored by the Mississippi Office of Highway Safety/Public Safety Planning. Daniel Shawl and Billy Brister made a presentation concerning MASEP at this meeting.

Presentations & Conference Participation

Hanna, H., Poole, C. (2024, April 12). Systems Change Lab Methodology. Mississippi Early Childhood Development Coalition Meeting. Virtual, statewide.

Hemphill, T. V. (March 7, 2025). The Association Between Internalized and Expressed Anger and Restless Sleep in African Americans in The Jackson Heart Study. American Heart Association - Epi Lifestyles Scientific Session. New Orleans, Louisiana. March 6-9th.

Lebakula, V.,  Cunningham, A. R.,  Cosby, A., Kapadia, A., Trafton, J., & Peluso, A., State-level suicide mortality insights: a comparative study of VHA veterans and the whole US population, Journal of Public Health, 2025;, fdaf036, https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdaf036

Maroak, H.K., Ragsdale, K., Tolar-Peterson, T., Banda, S., Byrd, K., Burdine, M., Roman, K., & Rios, S.(2025). Macronutrient Evaluation Results: Complementary Food for Africa+Dried Fish Powder (ComFA+Fish) Instant Porridge – A Novel Complementary Food Targeting Childhood Stunting in Zambia. Oral Presentation. 14th Annual ‘Meeting of the Minds’ Graduate Student Research Symposium. California State University, San Bernardino, CA. April 10, 2025. Award, Best in Section - Oral Presentations.

McMillen, R. (April 15, 2025). MS Tobacco Control Advisory Council.

Rios, S., Tolar-Peterson, T., Ragsdale, K., Nuntah, J.N., Ene-Obong, H.N., Pincus, L., Pasqualino, M., & Byrd, K. (2025). Surveying Rural Fish Processors in Nigeria to Inform Training to Improve Hygienic Fish Handling and Processing. Oral Presentation. 14th Annual ‘Meeting of the Minds’ Graduate Student Research Symposium. California State University, San Bernardino, CA. April 10, 2025.

Roman, K., Ragsdale, K., Tolar-Peterson, T., Byrd, K., Burdine, M., Rios, S., Maroak, H.K., & Rutherford, J. (2025). Evaluating Acceptability of Four ComFA-Fish Instant Porridge: Research to Address Stunting in At-Risk Infants and Young Children in Rural Zambia. 3 Minute Research Pitch – Competitive Oral Presentation. Mississippi State University 2025 Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium. Mississippi State, MS. April 9, 2025.

Roman, K., Ragsdale, K., Tolar-Peterson, T., Banda, S., Mudege, N., Burdine, M., Muzungaire, L., Rios, S., Maroak, H.K., & Rutherford, J. (2025). Evaluating Acceptability of Four Flavors of Dried Fish Powder-Fortified Instant Porridge to Address Stunting Among Infants and Young Children in Rural Zambia. Poster Presentation. Mississippi State University 2025 Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium. Mississippi State, MS. April 10, 2025. Third Place Award, Public Health Research.

Roman, K., Ragsdale, K., Tolar-Peterson, T., Banda, S., Mudege, N., Burdine, M., Muzungaire, L., Rios, S., Maroak, H.K., & Rutherford, J. (2025). Evaluating Acceptability of Four Flavors of Dried Fish Powder-Fortified Instant Porridge to Address Stunting Among Infants and Young Children in Rural Zambia. Poster Presentation. 2025 Symposium–Food Science and Industry in Mississippi: Adding Value and Feeding the World. Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS. April 22, 2025.

Rutherford, J. Ragsdale, K., Tolar-Peterson, T., Burdine, M., Rios, S., Maroak, H.K., & Roman, K. (2025). Food Safety and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Training Targeting Traditional Fish Processors in Rural Zambia. 3Minute Research Pitch – Competitive Oral Presentation. Mississippi State University 2025 Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium. Mississippi State, MS. April 9, 2025.

Rutherford, J. Tolar-Peterson, T., Ragsdale, K., Burdine, M., Rios, S., Maroak, H.K., & Roman, K. (2025). Food Safety and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Curriculum Targeting Low-Literate Fishers, Processors, and End-Consumers in Rural Zambia: Evaluation Results. Poster Presentation. Mississippi State University 2025 Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium. Mississippi State, MS. April 10, 2025.

Seitz, H. H. & Harris-Speight, J. (2025, April 29). Integrating adult immunization education into the Junior Master Wellness Volunteer Program in Mississippi. EXCITE Preconference of the National Health Outreach & Engagement Conference 2025, Omaha, NE, United States.

Stouffer C. (2025, April 2). MSU evaluator conducted a three-hour training (afternoon session) on the TRAPS (Tobacco Reporting and Progress System) data reporting system.

Stouffer C.  (2025, April 3). MSU evaluator conducted a virtual three-hour training on the TRAPS (Tobacco Reporting and Progress System) data reporting system.

Stouffer C., & McClelland, E.  (2025, April 2). MSU evaluators conducted a three-hour Train the Trainer training (morning session) on the TRAPS (Tobacco Reporting and Progress System) data reporting system. 

Tate, A. & Seitz, H. H. (2025, April 10). From image to influence: Examining the impact of image type, source, and disease on social media vaccine messages [Poster presentation]. Mississippi State University Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mississippi State, MS, United States.

Valentine, N., Hanna, H., McClelland, E., Burdine, M., and Baird-Thomas, C. (April 2025). Mississippi Lift Preschool Development Grant Birth to Five. MS Lift Summit, Long Beach, MS.

Publications

Crudden, A., Steverson Carter, A., & Sergi, K. (2025). Mentoring and self-employment: Potential strategies to promote labor force participation. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, in press. DOI: 10.1177/10522263251326404

Mississippi Child Care Salary Scale Working Group, including Hanna, H. & Poole, C. (April 2024). Mississippi Early Childhood Education Salary Scale. https://scl.ssrc.msstate.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MS-Early-Childh…

Seitz, H. H. (2025). Using communication science to inform responsible crisis communication. In K. E. Moloney, G. J. Billingsley, B. G. Jeong, P. Sanabria-Pulido, T. E. Thornton, & E. Zeemering (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook on Crisis, Polycrisis, and Public Administration (pp. 333-336). Routledge.

Steen, J. S., Seitz, H. H., Robertson, M. N., & Buys, D. R. (2025). Explanations for failure to detect effects of a prescription medication disposal intervention for rural adults [Article commentary]. Journal of Health Communication, 30(sup1), 68–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2024.2446998

Valentine, N. & Reid, A. (March 2025) Investing in Connections with MS Lift: An informative series regarding the Preschool Development Grant Birth-Five: Session 2

Whitfield, J. G., Brenner, D., Outlaw, D., & Pomykal Franz, D. (2025). Process and Preliminary Results in Developing a Rural Teacher Intention Survey. The Rural Educator, 46(2), 15-34. https://doi.org/10.55533/2643-9662.1483