Dr. Robert West is the Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a specialist in post-1900 American and British literature and serves as associate editor of Mississippi Quarterly: The Journal of Southern Cultures. His writing has appeared in publications including Poetry, The Christian Science Monitor, Appalachian Journal, Southern Quarterly and Alabama Literary Review.

West has led MSU’s Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures since 2021 and guided the university’s successful 2018 effort establishing a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. He also served as interim director of the Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College and completed the Southeastern Conference Academic Leadership Development program and MSU Faculty Leadership Program.

A North Carolina native, West earned his bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.