By Staff
Special to The Star
Aug. 24, 2001
Dr. Bev. R. Norment, dean of Mississippi State University-Meridian Campus since 1998, has a new full-time assignment related to the construction and start-up of the planned Riley Education and Performing Arts Center, it was announced Thursday.
Norment will focus on fund-raising, program planning, and construction-related matters as the $26 million downtown revitalization project picks up speed. He will be a special assistant to MSU President Malcolm Portera.
Dr. Dennis J. Mitchell, chair of the Division of Arts and Sciences on the Meridian Campus, has been appointed interim dean to serve until a permanent replacement is named. The changes are effective immediately, said MSU Provost David Cole, who oversees the Meridian Campus in his role as the university's chief academic officer.
Cole made the announcement Thursday during a campus-wide meeting of MSU-Meridian faculty and staff.
Interim dean Mitchell came to MSU-Meridian in 1999 from Jackson State University, where he was acting chair of the history department and professor of history. Previously, he served on the faculty at Hinds Community College, Northwest Mississippi Junior College, and was a graduate instructor at the University of Mississippi. From 1977-1980, he was assistant director of the Mississippi Humanities Council.
Mitchell holds an undergraduate degree from Florence State University (now the University of North Alabama) in the areas of English and history, while his Ph.D. and master's in history were awarded from the University of Mississippi in Oxford.
Cole said that a search for a permanent dean will be conducted this academic year in accordance with Mississippi State's governance document, which provides for faculty participation in the process.