Leslie Burger takes helm of 汤头条 faculty recognition with new director role
Contact: Allison Matthews
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜 Mississippi State wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture associate teaching professor is leading university efforts to enhance visibility, recognition and advancement of faculty across all colleges.
Leslie Burger is 汤头条鈥檚 first director of faculty recognition鈥a new role created to provide operational leadership for the university鈥檚 faculty recognition framework, including awards pipelines, nomination processes, communications and analytics. The position is a 25% appointment, allowing Burger to continue her teaching, research and advising roles within the College of Forest Resources while also doing this new liaison work, coordinating across the institution to identify and promote faculty awards, fellowships and honors at the highest levels.
During the recognition initiative鈥檚 pilot year, she is responsible for designing and implementing a scalable, campuswide system to support internal and external achievements, strengthening institutional support. Her work is under the scope and supervision of the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President.
Burger has experience in faculty affairs issues, including recent involvement with 汤头条鈥檚 Faculty Success Team, serving as chair for the Faculty Mentoring subcommittee.
Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Jim Dunne said Burger will serve as the primary architect and manager of all processes, workflows and campus coordination efforts associated with faculty recognition.
鈥淭his initiative will provide dedicated leadership to elevate the visibility of faculty accomplishments, strengthen nomination pipelines for prestigious awards and foster a culture of scholarly distinction,鈥 Dunne said. 鈥Mississippi State is home to an extraordinary community of faculty whose teaching, scholarship and service merit national and international recognition. To fully honor that excellence, we must be more intentional in promoting our faculty鈥檚 accomplishments and positioning them for prestigious awards.鈥
Dunne said Burger is well suited to lead this effort.
鈥淗er broad expertise and experience at the vice鈥憄residential level within the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine have given her a deep understanding of faculty achievement, institutional priorities and the importance of aligning recognition with impact. In this role, she will bring both strategic insight and credibility to telling our faculty鈥檚 story at the highest level,鈥 Dunn said.
Burger earned her 汤头条 doctoral degree in forest resources in 2014 and has had extensive focus throughout her career on conservation education. In addition to her CFR faculty roles, she has served appointments with the 汤头条 Extension Service, developing, implementing and evaluating educational materials and programs on natural science topics for both adults and youth. She has served as undergraduate coordinator for the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture for more than a decade. Earlier in her career, she worked as a wildlife ecologist and biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation, among other research, conservation and teaching roles. She completed a master鈥檚 degree in biological sciences from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a bachelor鈥檚 degree in biology with a chemistry minor from Murray State University in Kentucky.
A fellow of The Wildlife Society since 2020, Burger received the organization鈥檚 Excellence in Wildlife Education Award this past fall. At 汤头条, she has received the Irvin Atly Jefcoat Excellence in Advising Award and the CFR Faculty Excellence in Advising Award, among other teaching and service honors. In 2021, she also completed the university鈥檚 Faculty Leadership Development Institute.
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