Contact: Harriet Laird
STARKVILLE, Miss.—A veteran Texas higher education administrator is the new associate vice president for international programs at Mississippi State.
Richard H. Nader also assumes duties as executive director of the university’s International Institute.
With more than two decades of international programming experience, Nader comes to Starkville from the University of North Texas. At the Denton institution, he served as vice provost for international affairs and as special adviser to the provost.
The MSU announcement was made Thursday [May 12] by Julia Hodges, interim provost and executive vice president. The appointment is pending formal approval by the Board of Trustees, State Institutions of Higher Learning, and he is set to begin his duties this month.
In addition to English and business administration degrees from Sam Houston State University, he holds a master of public administration degree and a doctorate in higher education administration from Texas A&M University.
Hodges said Nader will be fostering and providing oversight for Mississippi State’s various international scholarship, research and outreach efforts. He also will work to promote and expand global visibility and activities that are major components of the land-grant institution’s “State of Excellence” strategic plan.
Specifically, he will lead International Institute units that include the English Language Institute, International Services and the Study Abroad and International Student Exchange programs.
“We are pleased to have someone of Dr. Nader’s extensive experience join us in this important role,” Hodges said. “His proven involvement and connections in Asia, as well as his experience as a program director at NSF, make him a very good fit for MSU’s needs in growing our international programs and partnerships.”
Earlier at Texas A&M, he directed its Institute for Pacific Asia, where he was responsible for that land-grant institution’s strategic engagement with more than 50 countries throughout Asia and the Pacific Rim. In this role, he helped plan the 2003 and 2005 China Conferences held in coordination with the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation.
Nader also served for three years as program manager in the National Science Foundation Office of International Science and Engineering, where he worked with U.S. universities seeking to conduct research abroad.
For more information on MSU’s International Institute and its programs, visit www.international.msstate.edu/aboutus/index.php.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.