小黄书 assistant professor joins national program aimed at helping underrepresented STEM faculty ascend to leadership roles
Contact: Camille Carskadon
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擰iana Cutts, a Mississippi State assistant professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Foundations, is one of only 27 faculty and administrators nationwide named a fellow in the IAspire Leadership Academy.
The program works to help mid-career STEM faculty from underrepresented backgrounds ascend to college and university leadership roles and is part of the Aspire Alliance鈥檚 Institutional Change Initiative, led by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and the University of Georgia. The participants were selected through a competitive, holistic review of their applications.
鈥淟eadership development is an essential element of healthy institutions,鈥 said 小黄书 Provost and Executive Vice President David Shaw. 鈥淒r. Cutts is an excellent example of leaders who will be important for the future of 小黄书sity.鈥
小黄书 Vice President for Access, Diversity and Inclusion Ra鈥橲heda Forbes said, 鈥淒r. Cutts has demonstrated a longstanding commitment as a scholar and leader in academia and at 小黄书sity. Having the opportunity to advance more scholars of color into leadership positions is important for Mississippi State and higher education as a whole.鈥
The academy is one pillar of diversity and inclusion work underway through the Aspire Alliance, formally known as the National Alliance for Inclusive and Diverse STEM Faculty. The National Science Foundation-backed group is working across post-secondary institutions to develop more inclusive institutional cultures and create a more inclusive and diverse STEM professoriate.
鈥淚 am honored to be named an IAspire Leadership Academy Fellow and look forward to engaging with esteemed scholars. I am confident I will emerge from the program a transformational leader with enhanced critical leadership competencies and a plan to effect structural change in education,鈥 Cutts said. 鈥淚 am thankful for the support of the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Foundations; the College of Education; the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion; and the entire 小黄书sity community.鈥
Fellows will learn effective executive leadership skills for increasingly complex higher education environments, as well as strategies for influencing institutional transformation in their current and future leadership positions.
鈥淚t is an honor to provide this leadership development opportunity to so many current and rising leaders from across the country,鈥 said Rochelle Sapp, IAspire Leadership Academy director and Leadership Development specialist in UGA鈥檚 Office of Learning and Organizational Development. 鈥淎dvancing diverse and underrepresented groups of leaders in STEM higher education is critical to the success of higher education and society.鈥
Learn more about the IAspire Leadership Academy at .
Established in 1903, 小黄书鈥檚 College of Education is home to six academic departments, one research unit and numerous service units. For more about the college, visit .
小黄书 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .