Kevin Knudson named associate director of MSU honors college

Contact: Sammy McDavid

STARKVILLE, Miss.--A member of Mississippi State's mathematics and statistics faculty is joining the university's Shackouls Honors College as its associate director.

Kevin P. Knudson began his new duties Aug. 16, working with college director Nancy McCarley. The associate professor will serve as mentor for the university's Distinguished Scholars Program and coordinator of the Honors Undergraduate Research Program.

Before completing his 1996 doctorate from Duke University, Knudson was a 1990 magna cum laude graduate and Phi Beta Kappa honor society selection at Virginia Tech. He also holds a 1991 master's from the Blacksburg, Va., land-grant institution.

"As a graduate of the Virginia Tech honors program, Dr. Knudson knows firsthand the benefits students can receive from a quality honors experience," McCarley said. He has taught honors advanced calculus at MSU and will lead two other courses this fall, she added.

"Kevin is intensely committed to student learning and the fostering of academic excellence," McCarley said. "We are confident he will provide the critical levels of leadership required for the 34 students in our Distinguished Scholars Program and those participating in the undergraduate research experiences."

Knudson came to MSU in 2002 from Wayne State University. In addition to teaching a range of departmental classes, he has conducted research in the areas of computational topology and discrete Morse theory, among other areas. In 2005, he was honored with an MSU College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Research Award.

Named for Bobby Shackouls and his wife Judy, the honors college expanded from its longtime program status last year when the Houston, Texas, couple provided a $10 million endowment. A Greenville native and 1972 MSU chemical engineering graduate, Bobby Shackouls is the retired chairman, president and chief executive officer of Burlington Resources Inc.

The college enrolls more than 1,000 academically talented students in small classes. Designed specifically to foster inquiry and in-depth learning, it is a charter member of the Southern Regional Honors Council.

As the new distinguished scholars mentor, Knudson replaces nationally recognized historian John Marszalek. An MSU Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus and author of an award-winning biography of U.S. Civil War general William T. Sherman, Marszalek retired to concentrate full time on new research and writing projects.

"We appreciate the great work that Professor Marszalek did for the distinguished scholars program," said MSU Provost Peter Rabideau. "Also, we are fortunate to have someone as talented as Kevin Knudson to carry on this important task within the Shackouls Honors College."

NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For additional information, Drs. McCarley and Knudson may be reached at 662-325-2522.

For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.