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SEPTEMBER 6, 2013
FRIDAY
REFLECTOR-ONLINE.COM
Renowned chemical engineering professor dies Tuesday BY KRISTEN SPINK Managing Editor
On Tuesday, longtime Mississippi State University professor Rebecca Toghiani passed away after serving the university for 24 years as a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering.
Jason Keith, professor and director of the Department of Chemical Engineering, said in an email that Toghiani mentored students both in chemical engineering and in life. “Becky’s class was never the easiest, yet it was highly rated among our students,” Keith said. “She served the department,
college and the university with passion.” Toghiani’s accomplishments include the Bagley College of Engineering Career Award, being named Professor of the Year, the Outstanding Faculty Woman Award and the John Grisham Master Teacher Award. Keith said Toghiani’s research
greatly furthered the mission of the School of Chemical Engineering. “Her research grants spanned a range of chemical engineering subjects. These include the thermodynamics of mixtures, where she developed a state of the art facility for VLE measurement,” he said. “She expanded our col-
lective expertise in solubilities in inorganic systems, including double-salt chemistry, high ionic strength solution chemis- Toghiani try, computational chemistry, density functional
theory and legacy nuclear waste remediation.” Leon Carrubba, senior chemical engineering major, took two of Toghiani’s classes and said “Dr. R,” as her students called her, took an early retirement due to illness about a year and a half ago but still guest lectured occasionally. SEE TOGHIANI, 2
Honor code violations decreased in 2012-2013 BY ZACK ORSBORN Multimedia Editor
When Karyn Brown, instructor of communication, caught a student copying another student’s work and violating Mississippi State University’s Student Honor Code, not only did she feel like she was being taken advantage of, she felt disappointment. “You feel that they are insulting your intelligence,” Brown said. “Once you calm down, you realize that you know they didn’t do it with the intention to hurt you. They found themselves in a bad situation and made a bad choice.” Through recent years, a rising trend occurred as more cases of academic misconduct were reported. However, new statistics show in 2012 and 2013, the trend decreased by 9.8 percent.
Before the honor code was implemented in 2007, only 50 cases of academic misconduct were reported per year. James Orr, director of the Student Honor Code Office, said a centralized location to report academic misconduct caused the previous increasing trend. “When we implemented an honor code, every year the number of cases reported increased. That didn’t increase because more cheating was occurring,” he said. To explain the trend change, Orr said within a six or seven-year period, reports will increase, but once the period ends, reports start to decrease. “At some point, you’ll hit a leveling off point where we’ll have a consistent amount of cases reported,” Orr said. He said students who violate
the honor code do not try to cheat the system, they are just not aware they break the honor code. Bill Kibler, vice president for Student Affairs, researched academic integrity and honor codes for 20 years before supervising the Student Honor Code Office. He said he wants to expand the test proctoring program the office has implemented in the past to reduce cheating. “Slowly that has grown where we are having more and more faculty that are asked for trained proctors to come and help,” he said. “That reduces the temptation in the classroom.” Orr gave a presentation to stress the importance of following the honor code on August 20, giving examples of types of academic misconduct like plagiarism, cheating, complicity and data or source fabrication. SEE CHEATERS, 2
ZACK ORSBORN | THE REFLECTOR
Exotic animals found in Starkville house BY MARY KATE MCGOWAN Staff Writer
Starkville Police Department received an off-campus noise complaint on Aug. 28, but the police did not find a party or rowdy college students. They found exotic animals. The animals lived with a Mississippi State University senior veterinary student at 203 Park Avenue in Starkville. The student’s name has not been released because no charges have been filed against him. Among these animals were exotic and rare birds, snakes, frogs and two servals — African cats. One of the snakes was reported to be blue and appear velvety. Stephanie Perkins, a Starkville Police Department detective, said the house was obviously being used as a breeding facility. “He (the student) even told us that he breeds the species together,” Perkins said. “You
can’t have a commercial business in a residential area. That was one of the main things that we were looking at.” Perkins estimated the off-campus residence housed around 150 to 200 animals. She also said there were two animals of each species — a male and a female. Because the student lived and housed the animals off-campus, MSU does not have jurisdiction over the incident. Sid Salter, director of University Relations, said the university is working with the local authorities to make sure the matter is resolved appropriately. “The Starkville police have asked for the help of some of our CVM (College of Veterinary Medicine) faculty to make sure that they were doing the appropriate things for the safety of the public and the animals,” Salter said. “Our CVM faculty is not in the position to take responsibility for moving the animals. They are
-Police found 50 - 75 snakes at an MSU’s student’s house.
assisting law enforcement.” There is no evidence of foul treatment of the animals. “They were very well taken care of,” Perkins said. “The cages were clean. The aquariums were clean. They had lots of food.” Perkins also said the animals do not pose a threat to the Starkville or MSU communities. Starkville police assisted animal control while responding to the initial noise complaint. They also contacted the Wildlife and Fisheries’ state and federal bureaus. “We pretty much turned it over to them, and they haven’t done really anything with it,” Perkins said. “I’m assuming they aren’t going to press any charges.” Officials did ask the student to relocate the animals due to their potential risk to the area. The student has moved the animals that lived outside, the ones who caused the noise complaint, to different facilities around the state.
-One species was blue. -Rare frogs, lizards and birds were also found. - Total animals valued at $100,000. -Police were unable to seize the animals. -Male and female of each species were present.
-Police found two African cats.
SEE JUNGLE, 2
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