Mississippi State University-Meridian welcomed the fifth group of students to its physicians assistant program as students from the third cohort prepare to graduate in commencement exercises Wednesday, Interim Head of Campus David Buys told local officials Monday at a Council of Governments meeting.

 

Although it doesn’t seem like five years have passed, the program is quickly gaining a reputation for quality and seeing more and more highly qualified applicants looking to attend. The university is also seeing applications from Mississippians increase, which is a key part of its mission of increasing healthcare accessibility in the state, Buys said.

 

“We’ve both increased the competitiveness and the local nature of our applications,” he said. “Our mission is to increase primary care resources in the state, and so to do that we need people from Mississippi applying to our program, and we’ve been successful in that.”

 

MSU-Meridian has also expanded its health science offerings with a new nursing program launching earlier this year and a professional doctoral program in psychology, Buys said. While MSU’s Starkville Campus, University of Mississippi and University of Southern Mississippi offer doctorates in clinical psychology, the Meridian program is the only professional track program in the state, he said.

 

“We’re in our second year of that. It’s a 5-year program, so we’ve got a little way left before we’re ready to send those students out into the workforce, but we’re real proud of that,” he said.

 

In addition to growing its programs, MSU-Meridian is also looking to grow its downtown Meridian campus, Buys said. The campus is working with a consulting group from Boston to develop a growth plan and help prepare the university for its future needs, he said.

 

As it continues to grow, MSU-Meridian will eventually need student housing in the downtown area, Buys said, and while the university will likely be involved, he sees encouraging private development as a better solution. As a government entity, MSU-Meridian is exempt from property tax, and the college rehabilitating or constructing housing would not bring the same benefit to the community as projects done by a private developer.

 

“In my mind, this is just David Buys speaking not on behalf of the university, but the best situation is for us to own and manage our classrooms, and for the private sector to have enough housing downtown that meets our students’ needs,” he said.

 

State Rep. Gregory Elliott, who was recently elected to represent House District 82, said he fully supports MSU-Meridian and its plans to grow downtown. In expanding, however, he said he wants to make sure the city’s historic African American Business District does not get lost and the history of the district is preserved for future generations.

 

“What we don’t want is for any entity to come down there and wipe all that out,” he said. “So we have some definite ideas about how we can coexist down there, and I would love for Mississippi State to be on board or anybody else that’s coming down there to develop to be on board.”

 

Elliott said he wants to work with the university and the city’s Black community to continue Meridian’s downtown growth while preserving its rich heritage.