May & June 2025 Chronicles

Personnel

Dr. Holli Seitz, director of the SSRC's Message Laboratory, was a recipient of the 2025 John Grisham Master Teacher Award––the most prestigious teaching honor awarded at MSU. Read more at https://www.cas.msstate.edu/news/2025/04/moser-and-seitz-join-elite-group-msu-grisham-master-teachers. 

Dr. Katerina Sergi has been nominated to serve as the secretary starting the fall semester of 2025 in the Faculty Research Advisory Council, an initiative supported by MSU ORED.

Colleen Stouffer retired after nearly 20 years with the SSRC. Stouffer worked in many project areas; most recently, she was part of the Mississippi Tobacco Data team. The SSRC wishes her all the best in this new chapter! 

In the News

Dr. Sujan Anreddy published two blogs as part of the American Evaluation Association's 365 Week. One focuses on developing chatbots for recommending community resources, and the second discusses the instruments used for evaluating learning outcomes in virtual reality.

Mississippi Alcohol Safety Education Program

From May 14 to 16, Dr. Blythe McCance, Chuck Dawkins, and Billy Brister from the MASEP Operations unit attended the Mississippi Justice Court Clerks training held in Ridgeland. During the event, Billy Brister, along with Tina Morrow, the justice court clerk of Monroe County and a MASEP assistant facilitator, delivered a presentation to the clerks. This training was sponsored by the Mississippi Judicial College.

On May 28-30, Dr. Blythe McCance, Chuck Dawkins, and Billy Brister of the MASEP Operations unit attended the Mississippi Municipal Court Judges training held in Biloxi. The MS Judicial College sponsored this training.

Chuck Dawkins attended the Mississippi Sheriffs Association conference in Biloxi, June 4-5.

From June 18 to 20, Dr. Blythe McCance, Chuck Dawkins, and Billy Brister attended the Mississippi Municipal Court Judges' conference in Biloxi. This conference is sponsored by the Mississippi Judicial College.

Wolfgang Frese Survey Research Laboratory

The Survey Research Laboratory is administering the Black Bears Survey on behalf of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks. This telephone-based survey of the general public includes a representative sample of 1,066 adults residing in the state of Mississippi. The goal of this research is to gain a deeper understanding of public awareness and attitudes toward the growing black bear population in Mississippi. The frequency and type of human-bear interaction are also being investigated. This research is led by faculty from the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Aquaculture at Mississippi State University.

Presentations & Conference Participation

Dr. Sujan Anreddy attended the Mississippi Healthy Aging Summit.

Madeline Burdine was invited as a guest speaker for the University of Mississippi's 2025 Lavender Graduation. The ceremony took place on April 30.

Emily McClelland, Dr. Robert McMillen, Colleen Stouffer, and Dr. Sujan Anreddy attended the Empowering Communities for a Healthy Mississippi conference in Flowood from June 4 to 5, 2025.

Dr. Katerina Sergi attended the Society of Research for Child Development Biennial Meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Long, B., Sergi, K. (2025, May 2) Transforming early childhood professional development: The ECHO model’s impact". Society for Research in Child Development Conference, Minneapolis, MN.

McMillen, R., Johnson, T., Young, C. (2025). Reducing the Burden of Tobacco in Mississippi over the Past 25 Years. Oral Presentation at the 2025 Empowering Communities for a Health¥ Mississippi Conference. Flowood, MS.

McMillen, R., Johnson, T., Young, C. (2025). Reducing the Burden of Tobacco in Mississippi over the Past 25 Years. Oral Presentation at the 2025 Empowering Communities for a Healthy Mississippi Conference. Flowood, MS.

Poole, C., Elliott, L., Jones, M. (2025, May 29). Family-driven practice in the Mississippi Early Childhood Development Coalition. Mississippi Peer Conference. Jackson, MS.

Sergi, K., Long, L., Gaither, M., Brenner, R., Long, B., (May 2025). Transforming early childhood professional development: The ECHO model’s impact. Poster presentation in the SRCD 2025 Biennial Meeting in Minneapolis, MN.

Publications

Sergi, K., McCown, J. S., Rebecca, M., Yigit, I. H., Poole, C., & Hanna, H. (2025). Compensation challenges in early childhood education: An analysis of Mississippi’s child care workforce. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, 19(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40723-025-00145-2
 

Sinclair, H. C., Nelson, S., Ziogas, I., Stubbs-Richardson, M., Burns, A. R., & May, D. C. (2025). What’s the Chatter? Developing an Integrated Theory-Grounded Psycholinguistic Threat Assessment for the Evaluation of Online Extremist Chatter. Justice Quarterly, 1-32.

Stubbs-Richardson, M., Etheredge, L. E., Hemphill, T., Ahonle, Z. J., Nadorff, D. (2025). State of the states: blueprints for building age-friendly futures.