How can we understand terrorists and terrorism? Dr. Janet St. Lawrence, a psychology professor at Mississippi State University-Meridian Campus and a former senior scientist with the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is exploring this question during a course offered in the spring semester. Over the course of the semester, students will begin to understand the psychological, social, economic and political conditions which foster such intense and generalized hatred toward an enemy nation, including the United States, that young people are willing to sacrifice their lives in order to murder other human beings.

The Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Arts (BSIS) degree is highly suitable for non-traditional students who wish to design their own programs of study to suit their future professions. Recent MSU-Meridian BSIS graduates include current law school students, a U.S. Marshal, a newspaper manager, a computer security graduate student, and several graduates who are now pursuing the alternate route in teaching.