Twelve graduate students from different departments in Southern Miss were selected to be featured in the graduate school Hall of Fame. The portraits of the featured students will be featured next year in the J.B. George building.
Every year, the University of Southern Mississippi selects graduate students with outstanding research work to feature in the graduate school Hall of Fame. This year, 12 students from across the 4 colleges were selected to be featured.
The ceremony took place in Joe Paul Theater in Thad Cochran Building on April 1 at 2:00 p.m. and was moderated by Dr. Katie Anthony, the dean of the graduate college. The ceremony also featured a speech by USM President Dr. Joe Paul and University Provost Dr. Lance Nail, the provost. In their speeches, they acknowledged the contributions of the featured graduate students, and all the graduate students, in helping Southern Miss retain the Carnegie R1 status.
The students featured in the Hall of Fame were Azdeh Razavi Arab, Ujunwa Florence Madububa Mbachu, Anthony Griffin, and Penelope Jankowski from the College of Arts and Sciences. The students featured from the College of Business & Economic Development were Owen Nordan and Peter Oluwadare Kalejaiya. The students featured from the College of Education and Human Sciences were Abby Taylor Compton, Shiza Shahid, Lilian Hammer, and Sydney Helen Swafford. Finally, the students who were featured from the College of Nursing and Health Professionals were Hayden Slater and Sam B. Sherill III.
The students were picked by the deans of their colleges. The students showed a diverse range of research across different fields.
Shiza Shahid, a student from experimental Psychology, shared her experience on being featured.
“With the thousands of data that I got from my research, I really think that my research is really good and I deserve this award,” Shahid said. “I want to thank the graduate school for recognizing my work and effort, and I am really proud of myself.”
Dr. Austin Graybeal, the advisor of two students who were featured, also voiced his pride in his students and research.
“I feel overjoyed and really proud of what my students accomplished,” Graybeal said. “What we do in the lab requires a lot of effort and requires people who can out in long hours. Nothing would be possible without the work that they do so it really brings a lot of joy to me to see that finally pay off.”
