Contact: James Carskadon
STARKVILLE, Miss.—A recent expansion of Mississippi State’s Division of Finance and Administration positions Jeremiah Dumas in the university’s newly created role of executive director of transportation.
Dumas, who has led MSU’s Parking and Transit Services as director since 2014, will now lead efforts related to transportation infrastructure in his expanded duties. In collaboration with the executive director of Campus Services, Dumas will broaden long-term planning and capital improvements in the context of a holistic multimodal transportation network to include bicycle, pedestrian, and various vehicle infrastructures of current and future types and sizes.
“We have identified this area is in need of our enhanced effort and attention due to increases in traffic volume and parking needs, pedestrian and bike safety, and ADA accessibility as it pertains to all multipath, sidewalk and street connectivity on the campus,” said MSU Associate Vice President of Administration Les Potts. “Jeremiah will be the person responsible for identifying issues, developing a plan of action, and broadening 10-year maintenance planning.”
At MSU, Dumas has overseen the 2014 launch of Starkville-MSU Area Rapid Transit and its subsequent growth in ridership. In addition to enhancing connections to and from campus and the city of Starkville, the free transportation service connects Starkville citizens and visitors to grocery stores, medical facilities, the downtown area, numerous businesses and Golden Triangle Regional Airport. Systemwide ridership has topped 4.5 million since SMART’s launch.
Dumas also has worked to improve the university’s infrastructure for cars, bicyclists and pedestrians. Over 1,000 new parking spaces are either planned or have been opened in the last 12 months. Parking and Transit services has kept its student parking permit prices among the lowest in the SEC.
While leading Parking and Transit Services, Dumas has been honored with the Charles Carr Leadership Award from the Mississippi Public Transit Association and was twice named the Bill Broyles Friend of the MSU Student Association by the Student Association Senate.
“It is a great honor to be able to continue to serve the people and leadership of this university in a position that focuses on the mobility of all people, via all means,” Dumas said. “We’ve had great success implementing SMART and still have a lot of work to do to make it even better, and I look forward to working with our new team to provide the same level of focus and dedication to all transportation networks both on campus and in the community.”
Dumas will also continue his leadership role in seeking applicable sources of transportation and related infrastructure grant funding, as well as facilitation of regional transportation project planning and implementation.
For more on MSU Parking and Transit Services, visit www.parkingservices.msstate.edu. For more on Campus Services, visit www.campusservices.msstate.edu.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.