Mississippi State Associate Professor Holli Seitz studies how health messages influence behavior, with research focused on campaigns promoting healthy eating, proper medication storage and vaccine-preventable diseases. A communication expert in MSU’s Department of Communication, Media and Theatre and a 2025 Grisham Master Teacher, Seitz collaborates widely across MSU as well as with researchers at institutions such as Oklahoma State University and Appalachian State University. Her work centers on health and science communication, message effects, and media effects—areas that have gained renewed attention in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing public health challenges.

“Choosing Mississippi State felt like a decision I never had to make––in all the best ways,” said Ellen Currie, a 2021 MSU graduate. “I grew up going to MSU games because of my dad’s passion for the Dawgs. Then I was able to watch my older sister thrive as a MSU student which was the icing on the cake for me. I knew I wanted to be a Bulldog. Starkville was home away from home! MSU was the only college I applied to.”

Mississippi State’s Institute for the Humanities announces its newest cohort of Faculty Fellows whose scholarship spans rhetorical practice, early modern French military history, and educational and workforce experiences of early married young adults in Mississippi.