Delta Scholars

The Delta Scholars Program is a two-part academic and community engagement program for talented and socially conscious college students interested in moving Mississippi and the Multi-State Delta region towards a brighter, more just tomorrow. Delta Scholars is led through the Mississippi State University Shackouls Honors College, with additional partners including the Southern Rural Development Center, Harvard University, University of Mississippi Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, and Brandeis University.

Delta Scholars are selected for their academic achievements and commitment to public service to participate in a twelve-day intensive Summer Institute in the Multi-State Delta Region and engaged in scholarly sessions at Mississippi State University. By the close of the summer session, scholars will have identified an issue of inequality, injustice, or further asset development and proposed a project that will promote dialogue and change around that issue in an identified partner community or more broadly. A project connecting with issues in the Mississippi or broader multi-state Delta Region is encouraged, but not required.

Scholars successfully completing the summer intensive are invited to present at the five-day fall Boston Conference in the Boston, Massachusetts region in partnership with our partner institutions.

Both experiences form a cohort of young leaders thinking critically about systemic injustices to cultivate change. This is a nationally competitive program aimed at sophomores and above, with a connection to Mississippi and committed to social issues. Open to all majors, DS mentors engage in research focused on a wide array of scholarship, including public health and wellness, food policy, criminology, and demography.