Mark E. Keenum | |
---|---|
19th President of Mississippi State University | |
Assumed office January 5, 2009 | |
Preceded by | Robert Foglesong Vance Watson (interim) Roy Ruby (interim) |
Chair of Board for International Food and Agricultural Development | |
Assumed office 2018 | |
Preceded by | Brady Deaton |
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services | |
In office 2007–2009 | |
Preceded by | J.B. Penn |
Succeeded by | James W. Miller |
Personal details | |
Born | Starkville,Mississippi | January 28,1961
Spouse | Rhonda Keenum |
Children | 4 |
Alma mater | Mississippi State University |
Website | Official website |
Mark Everett Keenum (born January 28,1961) is an agricultural economist who is the 19th university president of Mississippi State University. He served as a professor at Mississippi State University from 1988 to 1989 and 1997 to 2009,congressional staff of U.S. Senator Thad Cochran from 1989 to 2006,and Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services in the United States Department of Agriculture from 2007 to 2009. He became the chair of Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) since 2018.
Keenum was born in Starkville,Mississippi on January 28,1961. [1] He graduated from Corinth High School in Corinth,MS and was a lineman for the CHS Warriors football team. He also earned an Associate of Arts degree from Northeast Mississippi Community College in Booneville and played on Northeast Tigers football team. He holds a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics (1983),a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics (1984),and a Ph.D in Agricultural Economics (1988) from Mississippi State University. [2]
After completing his bachelor's and master's degrees,Keenum joined the MSU faculty as a marketing specialist with the Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service at Mississippi State University (MSU) in 1984. Two years later,he accepted a position as a Research Associate with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES) at MSU. After receiving his Ph.D in agricultural economics in 1988,Keenum joined the faculty as an assistant professor/economist in Mississippi State's Department of Agricultural Economics. [3] Keenum served on the staff of U.S. Senator Thad Cochran in Washington,DC from 1989–2006,first as a legislative assistant for agriculture and natural resources and then as chief of staff.
From 1997 to 2006,Keenum served Mississippi State as an adjunct professor in agricultural economics.
In 2006 Keenum was named the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services for the United States Department of Agriculture. [4] In this role Keenum provided leadership and oversight for the Farm Service Agency,the Risk Management Agency,and the Foreign Agricultural Service.
Keenum was named as the 19th president of Mississippi State University in November 2008 and began his term in January 2009. [5]
Keenum serves as chairman of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' Commission on Colleges' Executive Council.
He formerly served as a member of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities board of directors. [6]
Keenum was elected vice-president of the Southeastern Conference Executive Committee in 2015 and serves on the SEC’s Content Committee that oversees the SEC Network. He also represents the SEC as a member of the College Football Playoff's (CFP) Board of Managers. [7] In 2016,he was elected to serve a two-year term as the president of the Southeastern Conference. [8]
In 2018 Keenum was appointed as chair of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) by U.S. President Donald Trump. [9]
Keenum was born in Starkville,Mississippi and grew up in Corinth,Mississippi. Keenum is married to the former Rhonda Newman of Booneville,Mississippi,also an MSU graduate. They have four children:Rett,Mary Phillips,Katie,and Torie. [10]
Starkville is a city in,and the county seat of,Oktibbeha County,Mississippi,United States. Mississippi State University is a land-grant institution and is located partially in Starkville but primarily in an adjacent unincorporated area designated by the United States Census Bureau as Mississippi State,Mississippi. The population was 25,653 in 2019. Starkville is the most populous city of the Golden Triangle region of Mississippi. The Starkville micropolitan statistical area includes all of Oktibbeha County.
Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science,commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU),is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville,Mississippi. It is classified among "R1:Doctoral Universities –Very High Research Activity" and has a total research and development budget of $239.4 million,the largest in Mississippi. It enrolls more students than any other college or university in the state.
Amy Tuck is an American attorney and politician who served as the 30th Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi from 2000 to 2008. A member of the Republican Party,she was previously a member of the Mississippi State Senate. She is the second woman to be elected to statewide office in Mississippi,and the first to have been reelected. Tuck later served as the Vice President of Campus Services at Mississippi State University from 2008 to 2019.
Hugh Critz was the President of the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College from 1930–1934. It was during his tenure that the Mississippi Legislature renamed the school Mississippi State University. Prior to that he had served as president of Arkansas Tech University.
Northeast Mississippi Community College (NEMCC) is a public community college in Booneville,Mississippi.
The Reflector is the student newspaper of Mississippi State University. The Reflector was established in 1884 as The Dialective Reflector,and its name was changed to The Reflector in 1889. During World War II,the newspaper was published under the name Maroon and White and operated only by the faculty between 1944 to 1945. The newspaper continues to remain today as the oldest college newspaper in the SEC.
Area code 662 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the northern half of the U.S. state of Mississippi,including the six counties that are part of the Memphis metro area. It also includes the cities that are home to the state's two largest universities,Oxford and Starkville.
Mississippi State Bulldogs is the name given to the athletic teams of Mississippi State University,in Mississippi State,Mississippi. The university is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA Division I.
Dean Wallace Colvard was a president of Mississippi State University,notable for his role in a 1963 controversy surrounding the participation of the university's basketball team in the NCAA Tournament.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs football program represents Mississippi State University in the sport of American football. The Bulldogs compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They also have won one SEC championship in 1941 and a division championship in 1998. The Bulldogs have 25 postseason bowl appearances. The program has produced 38 All-Americans,171 All-SEC selections,and 124 NFL players. The Bulldogs’home stadium,Davis Wade Stadium,is the second oldest in the NCAA Division I FBS.
Richard E. Holmes is an American medical doctor who specialized in emergency department medicine. As a third-year college student,in 1965 he enrolled in the previously segregated Mississippi State University. He was one of five black Mississippians who pioneered the effort to desegregate the major state universities of Mississippi as part of the Civil Rights Movement. Following passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,his enrollment was the most peaceful of these efforts to that point.
Brady J. Deaton,is an American educator and the former chancellor of the University of Missouri in Columbia,Missouri.
Bully is the official mascot of the Mississippi State University Bulldogs in Starkville,Mississippi,and the name is given to both the costumed mascot and the live bulldog that appears at State games. The live mascot Bully is an American Kennel Club registered English Bulldog,and each dog is given the inherited title of "Bully". The name "Bully" is traditionally considered a title and not the official name of the specific dog that holds it.
William Lincoln Giles was president of Mississippi State University from 1966–1976.
Donald W. Zacharias was the 15th President of Mississippi State University from 1985 to 1997. He died of complications of multiple sclerosis on March 3,2013,at 77 years of age. Previously he served as the 6th president of Western Kentucky University from 1979 until 1985.
The Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) advises the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on issues concerning agriculture,Higher Education in developing countries,and food insecurity. BIFAD was established by Title XII of the Foreign Assistance Act,and both the BIFAD board and Title XII recognize the critical role of U.S. land-grant institutions in food and agricultural security,domestically and abroad. BIFAD consists of seven board members appointed by the White House,four of which must come from the US Academic community. The board's mission is to draw on higher educations's expertise and scientific knowledge to advise the U.S. international assistance efforts along with domestic efforts to end food insecurity.
Thomas Brent Funderburk is an awarded visual artist and W. L. Giles Distinguished Professor of Art at Mississippi State University where he has worked for several decades. He is known for his illustrated-lecture performances and workshops,as well as for exhibiting his watercolors and other visual artwork in the United States. Funderburk acknowledges influences by watercolor painters such as Edward Reep,Charles E. Burchfield and Walter Inglis Anderson. His art has been featured in specialized art magazines.
John J. Green is an American professor of sociology. Since August 2021,he has served as the director of the Southern Rural Development Center,housed at Mississippi State University.
Starkville–MSU Area Rapid Transit operates fixed-route and an ADA paratransit demand response service throughout Mississippi State University and the City of Starkville,Mississippi,United States. As of April 2021,the entire S.M.A.R.T. system is free to use. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult to ride on the system.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)