Mississippi State University welcomed its first Black graduate back to campus this week, almost 60 years after becoming a university alumnus.

Mississippi State spring summa cum laude communication graduate Rileigh Campbell of Caledonia is the Public Relations Association of Mississippi’s Student of the Year.

Mississippi State faculty member Joseph Thompson continues to earn widespread recognition for his groundbreaking work on the intersection of music and military history, earning an international award for his acclaimed book “Cold War Country: How Nashville’s Music Row and the Pentagon Created the Sound of American Patriotism.”