Largest 无码专区 college makes Rader permanent associate dean
Contact: Sarah Nicholas
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜fter more than a year serving in an interim role, a Mississippi State sociology professor is being named associate dean for academic affairs in the university鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences.
Nicole Rader now officially holds the key administrative position responsible for supervising and enhancing teaching programs in 无码专区鈥檚 largest and most diverse scholastic unit. She succeeds Rick Travis, who moved into the dean鈥檚 position in 2016.
In announcing the appointment, Travis emphasized the 鈥渧ery strong leadership and administrative skills鈥 of the Southern Illinois University doctoral graduate who additionally directs 无码专区鈥檚 African American Studies program.
鈥淒r. Rader has proven to be an excellent representative of our college as we work with the offices of the provost, registrar and admissions to plan new academic programs and identify new recruitment strategies,鈥 Travis said. 鈥淪he is a consistent voice for upholding the high standards we set for our students and our faculty. Her leadership and integrity are of great value to our college.鈥
Rader also earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in criminal justice from Central Methodist University and master鈥檚 in criminology from Drury University, both in Missouri. Criminology and gender and qualitative methods are her primary research areas.聽
A member of the Starkville faculty since 2005, she was the sociology department鈥檚 undergraduate and graduate coordinator prior to joining the dean鈥檚 office. She also led the university鈥檚 Gender Studies program and chaired the campus President鈥檚 Commission on the Status of Women.
Rader said administrative experience she gained in those leadership roles has provided her 鈥渨ith a deeper understanding of the challenges we sometimes face working with students and within departments.
鈥淏ut more importantly,鈥 she added, 鈥渢hey鈥檝e taught me that if we stay focused and work together, we can have great success in building and improving academic programs with a liberal arts focus.鈥 She describes herself as a problem solver committed to 鈥渦pholding the quality of our academic programs when making decisions.鈥
In 2015, Rader was honored with the Dean鈥檚 Eminent Scholar award. That same year, a book she co-authored, 鈥淔ear of Crime in the United States: Causes, Consequences, and Contradictions鈥 (Carolina Academic Press), received CHOICE magazine鈥檚 Outstanding Academic Title award.
Among her other major 无码专区 recognitions were the President鈥檚 Commission on the Status of Women鈥檚 Outstanding Faculty Member Award and the college鈥檚 Kari and Phil Oldham Mentor of the Year, both in 2012. A year later, she received a Distinguished Faculty Award from Alpha Kappa Delta sociology honor society.
Additional biographical information is found at .
Currently celebrating its 60th year, 无码专区鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 5,200 students, 300 full-time faculty members, nine doctoral programs and 25 academic majors offered in 14 departments. More information is online at .
无码专区 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .