MSU faculty members named SEC Academic Leadership Development Program Fellows

Contact: Mary Pollitz

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Four Mississippi State professors are serving as 2026-27 Southeastern Conference Academic Leadership Development Program Fellows, a designation recognizing emerging leaders in higher education.

Established in 2008, the SEC ALDP identifies, prepares and promotes academic leaders across the conference. Fellows holding leadership positions and academic specializations are selected through a competitive process. They participate in customized university development programs and attend two conferencewide workshops per year, with an upcoming fall workshop hosted at Louisiana State University.

MSU’s 2026-27 SEC ALDP cohort includes:

—Steve Elder, professor, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, James Worth Bagley College of Engineering and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

—Dominic Lippillo, associate dean and professor, College of Architecture, Art and Design

—Kelly Moser, professor, Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures, College of Arts and Sciences

—Christian Wolf, department head and professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, College of Arts and Sciences

“The SEC Academic Leadership Development program is one of the most impactful faculty leadership-facing programs sponsored by the SEC,” Executive Vice Provost Peter Ryan said. “The intent of the program is to help SEC institutions identify junior administrators with aspirations of senior academic leadership positions to engage with university leaders over two specially designed workshops. They hear first-hand the experiences, trials, tribulations, successes and rewarding aspects of being a senior university administrator.”

A pioneer in orthopedic health, Elder has spent more than 20 years with MSU, advancing his research and teaching the next generation of impactful scholars. Throughout his career, his work has focused on novel drug delivery systems and tissue engineering solutions to treat conditions like osteoarthritis. Additionally, he serves as the graduate coordinator for biomedical engineering and biological engineering.

Lippillo, an MSU Department of Art faculty member since 2010, now serves as associate dean for the College of Architecture, Art and Design. His fine art photography is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Photographic Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the University of Alabama, the University of North Dakota and several national publications.

Moser, a professor of Spanish and world language education, focuses her research on language teacher identity, teacher cognition and instructional practice. She serves as the graduate coordinator in CMML, director of teaching initiatives for the College of Arts and Sciences and was named a 2025-26 Grisham Master Teacher.

With more than two decades of teaching, research and leadership experience, Wolf joined MSU in 2025 as head of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. A native of Munich, Germany, he is an accomplished scholar whose research focuses on dynamical systems, computational theory, statistical physics and mathematical biology. His work has been widely published in prominent international journals, including Advances in Mathematics, Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems, and Transactions of the American Mathematical Society.

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