Three Mississippi State University employees are in the running to fill the vacant seat on the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Board of Trustees.
Sumner Davis, Lisa Lyn Long and Debra Lindsey Prince have all filed the necessary paperwork and will be interviewed by the Starkville Board of Aldermen.
The aldermen will then vote to select the most qualified candidate.
The selected candidate will fill the seat left empty after the resignation of Anne Stricklin on June 28.
The seat is one of three appointed by the aldermen, with the remaining two elected by residents of Oktibbeha County.
Prince has applied for the past two vacancies on the school board, with Stricklin being chosen over her in 2015 and Melissa Luckett being chosen over her earlier this year. Prince is an associate professor in the MSU College of Education. She is an alumna of Starkville High School and MSU.
Davis is the the department head and a Governmental Training Specialist with the Center for Government and Community Development (GCD). He has held public office before, representing Ward 2 on the Starkville Board of Aldermen from 2001 to 2009. He holds a bachelor's in history and a master's in public policy and administration from MSU.
Long is an educational researcher at the MSU Science Research Center. She holds a bachelor's in anthropology/sociology from Rhodes College and a master's in international educational development with an emphasis in early childhood education from Columbia University. Prior to working at MSU, Long has taught, served as an educational consultant and supervised student teachers.
For more on each candidate, read Friday's Starkville Daily News.