STARKVILLE, Miss.–A seasoned Mississippi State administrator is moving up in the university’s Division of Student Affairs.

Pending formal approval by the Board of Trustees, State Institutions of Higher Learning, Thomas Bourgeois is MSU’s new dean of students. The MSU alumnus has served since 2002 as associate dean and succeeds Mike White, who recently retired after a nearly 40-year student affairs career.

“Dr. Bourgeois was selected after a national search that drew extensive interest from a highly qualified and diverse candidate pool,” said Bill Kibler, vice president for student affairs. “He has excellent experience and skills, and he is uniquely qualified to fill this position.”

Bourgeois began his campus career in 1999 as assistant dean of students. As associate dean, he was heavily involved in developing the land-grant institution’s crisis response program and recently formed a behavioral intervention team. He also has served as student ombudsman and been responsible for judicial hearings and investigations of student misconduct.

Administratively, he has overseen several divisional units, including, among others, the Richard Holmes Cultural Diversity Center; Center for America’s Veterans; and offices of Parent Services, Student Judicial Services, Leadership Programs, Risk Management, and Student Support Services/Student Disability Services.

As dean, he also will supervise the university police, Crisis Action and Behavioral Intervention teams, and the Honor Code office.

“The dean of students plays a significant role in serving as a voice for our most important constituency, as well as determining appropriate response to issues of their behavior while enrolled here,” Kibler said. “It is a position of significant responsibility.”

Kibler said MSU “has been blessed over the past five decades with two legendary student deans in Dr. Harold Hall and Mike White. We fully expect Thomas Bourgeois to carry on that history and tradition of highest quality service to future generations of students.”

Bourgeois holds a master’s degree in counselor education and a doctorate in educational leadership, both from MSU. He also is a biology graduate of Louisiana State University.

A Louisiana native who grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Bourgeois began his student affairs career at Loyola University in New Orleans, where he was assistant director for residential life/special projects 1996-99.

For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.