Contact: Robbie Ward
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A leading educational institution in the United Kingdom is presenting a high honor to a Mississippi State engineering administrator and researcher.
Roger L. King, associate dean for research and graduate studies in the university's Bagley College of Engineering, recently was awarded an honorary professorship by Cardiff University.
In the island nation's system of higher education, few educators who earn doctorates are promoted to professor level. That King was selected for the designation signifies a rare occurrence--even more so for a non-U.K. scholar, officials there said.
King, an electrical engineer, has for some time held MSU's highest academic rank as a Giles Distinguished Professor.
Nigel Palastanga, Cardiff's vice chancellor, praised King's scholarship, research and other contributions to his field.
"We believe that honorary professors play an important part in contributing to our research and scholarship activities and in ensuring that our students learn from scholars, scientists and practitioners working at the leading edge of their discipline," Palastanga said.
King's professional relationship with Cardiff began in the late 1980s as he completed a doctoral degree from the institution. Nearly two decades later, his alumni connection helped create a research partnership between Cardiff's School of Engineering and MSU's Bagley College.
"We're living in an era where 'globalization of engineering' is of utmost importance," King said. "For instance, the Welsh economic position is similar to ours here in Mississippi."
Like their counterparts at Cardiff, MSU engineering researches are focusing on numerous disciplines that contribute to economic development projects and add to state, regional and national economies, King explained.
Cardiff University--whose formal name is University of Wales, Cardiff--was established in 1883, five years after then-Mississippi Agricultural & Mechanical College was created. Rated among the 10 leading U.K. research universities, it is included with Cambridge and Oxford among the top seven of 106 higher education institutions.
King, a member of the MSU faculty for some two decades, holds a bachelor's degree from West Virginia University and a master's from the University of Pittsburgh.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact Dr. King at 662-325-2189 or rking@bagley.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.