The Instructional Design team works like theatre. You are our audience, and the instructional designers and support staff are the actors. However, what you don’t see is our crew — two students who are vital in allowing us to provide support to you.
Meet Walker Barnes and Emma Dotson:
Walker Barnes is a Jackson, Mississippi, native and current junior aerospace engineering major with a minor in mathematics and a passion to shoot for the stars.
"As a kid, I was always fascinated with space. Once I was in college, I was reading which majors were offered and I saw astronautics as a concentration under this major and I thought rocket science, why not?” Walker said.
Walker is our lead transcript and caption creator and has been with us since August 2022. Since his first day, he has worked to optimize and expedite the process to get these resources back to our online faculty members.
“Everyone at CDE is very welcoming and flexible in making school the priority. I really enjoy having a space like this to come to in between classes.”
Outside of Memorial Hall, Walker is a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, Xipiter UAS Integrated Products Team, and CubeSat MSU organization. He enjoys watching Netflix, video games, and hanging out with friends.
He hopes to develop spacecrafts or aircrafts in the future and continue advancing technology in the South.
Emma Dotson is from Madison, Mississippi, and is a Master of Business Administration candidate. She also obtained a Bachelor of Arts in communication with a concentration in public relations from MSU.
Emma has been a graduate assistant for us since June 2022. She has been pivotal in growing the Online Faculty Success Facebook group, designing content for the group, and creating our monthly newsletter, “The Connection.”
“Basically, I revamped the Online Faculty Success brand,” Emma said. “Branding is one of those things that sets you apart from other organizations in environments that constantly demand attention. We didn’t want to stray too far away from MSU’s identity, but still wanted a unique look.”
Her design and communication background were key in growing our team’s reach and in maintaining consistent interaction with our audiences.
“I’m the unofficial Canva representative for our team,” Emma joked.
In her free time, she enjoys thrift shopping, hiking, gardening, and watching movies. She aims to create a communication agency in the future to help other organizations find their identity.
