Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss--Veteran Mississippi State professors of biological sciences, political science and sociology now hold major administrative roles in the university's College of Arts and Sciences.
David Breaux of political science and Walter Diehl of biological sciences are new associate deans in MSU's largest academic unit. Breaux formerly headed the department of political science and public administration.
Greg Dunaway, former interim associate dean for academic and student affairs, is heading the newly designated department of sociology.
"These are outstanding professionals and scholars, and we're pleased each of them has assumed these leadership roles," said college Dean Gary Myers.
Breaux, associate dean for academic and student affairs, joined the MSU faculty in 1989. He was department head for six years and coordinator of the political science master's degree program for a decade.
An authority in state politics and policy, Breaux has published widely in peer-reviewed publications, including the Legislative Studies Quarterly, American Politics Quarterly, American Review of Politics, and Public Administration Review.
Diehl, associate dean for research and graduate studies, came to MSU in 1986. His research and teaching areas include evolutionary biology and comparative genomics, especially detecting natural selection in protein-coding genes.
Diehl's research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service and National Science Foundation, among others. He has published in the journals Genetics, Heredity, Virology, and Marine Biology.
He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society for Microbiology, Association of Southeastern Biologists, and Society for the Study of Evolution.
Dunaway also is a research fellow at MSU's Social Science Research Center, where he coordinates the Mississippi Crime and Justice Research Unit.
His research includes criminological theory, rural crime and justice, inequality crime and justice, corrections, and criminal justice policy. Currently, he is conducting an evaluation of Mississippi's drug court program, a survey of the state's juvenile detention facilities and a study of rural crime and justice.
Dunaway's journal publications include Criminology, Justice Quarterly, American Journal of Criminal Justice, and Research in Crime and Delinquency, among others.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.