Mississippi State University

Mississippi State University is the back-to-back national champion of collegiate debate after winning top honors at the April 2025 International Public Debate Association National Tournament at Lee College in Baytown, Texas. The International Public Debate Association is the largest intercollegiate debating association in the U.S., with more than 200 colleges and universities from across the country competing in its tournaments in 2024-25. IPDA debating emphasizes a mix of logic, rhetorical skill and adaptability, as students debate a new topic each round, with only 30 minutes to prepare. The MSU team squared off over four days of competition against hundreds of top competitors from programs across the country, including the University of Arkansas, Boise State University, UC-San Diego, the University of Tennessee, Texas Christian University, Union University, Dallas Baptist University and Abilene Christian University. While winning the national tournament for the second consecutive year, the Bulldogs also added a new title, winning the IPDA Season Long Championship for the first time ever and uniting both titles as the undisputed champions of IPDA college debate. Individual MSU debaters also advanced far into the tournament, winning numerous accolades in every division. In the Team Debate division, sophomore Ben Harvey was the national champion speaker, while freshman Brevia Kibet was the champion speaker in the Novice division. Freshman Sam Harvey took second place in the Professional division, while sophomores Nicholas Neal and George Utz and senior Devin Hutchins were named second-, third- and fourth-place speakers respectively. For the overall season rankings, MSU fared equally well, with Sam Harvey being named season-long national champion in the Pro division, while freshman Kamron Hitson was national champion speaker in the Junior Varsity division. Neal and Hutchins also ranked in the top five for the season in the Professional division, while senior Hannah Daniels finished the season in fourth place in Varsity. For both the national tournament and the season rankings, numerous other MSU debaters placed in the top 10 and advanced to elimination rounds. For the season, MSU took first place overall in eight of the 10 tournaments the team entered. The MSU Debate Team was founded 10 years ago as part of the university's Speech and Debate Council, coached by Brett Harvey and Jake Reed. "It's a huge challenge to win your first national championship, but I'd argue that repeating is even harder. You have the weight of expectations and you're getting every opponent's best effort," Brett Harvey said. "For these kids to not only repeat but improve on last year's performance is just astounding. Jake and I could not be prouder of them, and how they represent our university. Civil, intelligent debate is more critical than ever right now, and MSU students really are leading the way. "And, as always, this season is the end result of many people, not just the debaters and coaches. It's also our alumni, administrators-including MSU President Mark E. Keenum and Provost David Shaw-parents and even students who never debated but volunteered to serve as judges," he added. "We could not be more grateful to the university for allowing this activity to thrive."

Students from each major in Mississippi State University's College of Architecture, Art and Design launched their fall semester with an interdisciplinary student design competition. Seniors majoring in architecture, art, building construction science and interior design have been competing in the Brasfield & Gorrie Student Design Competition for top honors, including a cash prize, since its inception in 2011. The competition sponsor, Brasfield & Gorrie General Contractors, is one of the nation's largest privately held construction firms based in Birmingham, Alabama. This year, 10 collaborative teams-each comprised of nine to 10 students-were tasked with developing an overall design and construction plan for a satellite wellness center on the south side of campus. Students had to work together to develop a cohesive, constructible design that included branding as well as aspects of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-LEED-in line with the university's initiatives. The goal of the interdisciplinary competition is to simulate real-world design processes and help students in MSU's College of Architecture, Art and Design understand the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration. Learn more about CAAD and its academic programs at www.caad.msstate.edu and on Facebook and Instagram @CAADatMSU.

Mississippi State University student-journalists won 38 awards at the 2024 Southeast Journalism Conference at Troy University this spring. MSU received more awards than any other university. Nearly two dozen MSU students walked away with top honors-including first place overall in the Onsite and Best of the South competitions-for their work in broadcast, print and online journalism. MSU competed against students from the University of Kentucky, University of Alabama, University of Tennessee, University of Mississippi and approximately 20 other universities from across the Southeast. For the Best of the South competition, students entered the work they produced throughout the previous year. The Onsite competition required students to compete head-to-head during the three days of the conference. MSU also won the overall Onsite competition in 2023. Students also learned from professionals such as CNN's Tom Foreman and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Ashley Remkus. MSU will host the 2025 Southeast Journalism Conference next spring. Founded in 1986, the Southeast Journalism Conference exists for the advancement of journalism education and is open to any university or four-year college in the region with courses in journalism or mass communication.

Mississippi State's Graduate School is recognizing nine students for their superb research presentations given during the university's 11th annual Three Minute Thesis competition. The 3MT event challenged graduate students to present their thesis/dissertation topics in three minutes or less. Student presentations were judged by a panel of academic and non-academic professionals with a wide range of expertise. This year, 32 graduate students competed for the title of MSU Grand Champion, and a total of 10 judges reviewed the presentations.

Almost 50 Mississippi State students are award recipients for their research efforts at the 2023 Spring Graduate Research Symposium. Held at the Old Main Academic Center, the Feb. 25 conference featured the work of more than 100 MSU graduate students. Forty-two faculty judges evaluated entrants' oral and poster presentations in four categories: Agriculture and Life Sciences; Education, Arts and Sciences, and Business; Engineering; and Forest Resources and Veterinary Medicine.

More than a dozen Mississippi State students won top journalism awards at the 2023 Southeast Journalism Conference for their work in broadcast, print and online journalism. Held at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana, the February conference included 25 regional schools. MSU students won 23 total awards in the annual "Best of the South" and "On-Site" journalism competitions. The SEJC is comprised of nearly 50 member colleges and universities in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee, and was created to encourage greater interest in student journalism and form ties among regional journalism schools.