A Mississippi State political scientist is serving as interim deputy director of the university's strategic studies center.
Paul J. Kaiser will assist the daily operation of the Center for International Security and Strategic Studies. For the past year, he has served as a senior faculty fellow with the center.
Clayborne D. Taylor, former associate dean of engineering for research and graduate studies, has been serving as interim center director since the recent resignation of Ronald Aqua to enter the private sector in Texas. Taylor's duties there are in addition to his responsibilities as interim dean of MSU's Division of Continuing Education.
An assistant professor who joined the MSU faculty in 1994, Kaiser is an authority on African, Latin American and Third World politics. He also is co-director of the Mississippi Model Security Council Program, the two-decade-old MSU-based education program in international relations for junior high, high school and college students.
Established in 1980 by history professor Janos Radvanyi and others, the Center for International Security provides interdisciplinary teaching, research and public service programs throughout the state and world. In recent years, its staff and researchers have dealt with such issues as technology and the environment, political and economic development in East-Central Europe and the U.S.-Japan security relationship.
