Faculty Spotlight
Greg Thorn

Greg Thorn is in his first semester of teaching at Mississippi State as Theatre MSU’s lighting and audio designer. From Burlington, South Carolina, Thorn graduated with a BA in theater from Davidson College before moving on to receive his BFA from the University of Idaho. 

Prior to teaching at MSU, Thorn worked at Elon University for 10 years as an assistant technical director and professor of lighting design. Although he loved his time at Elon, Thorn said he applied for the job at Mississippi State because he was looking for a fresh start. 

“I vibed with everybody here immediately,” said Thorn, “and I genuinely love it.”

When asked what is the best piece of advice for communication students, Thorn said to keep an open mind and try a bunch of different things.

“Communication here is really, really, deep,” said Thorn with a smile, “and there’s a lot of different opportunities to study a lot of stuff you wouldn’t imagine.”

If you didn’t work in communications where else would you work?

I think I would try and be a freelance lighting designer. I love working with lighting. But I like working with students too much to want to do that.

If you had to watch one movie for the rest of your life what would it be and why?

How To Train Your Dragon. I love that movie with every part of me. It toes a line between being appropriate for kids and being appropriate for adults. I would love to have a Toothless in real life.

What has been your favorite place in Starkville so far?

Weirdly enough, the Starkville Public library. My wife and I take our almost two year old daughter, Sydney, on the weekends and she has a blast.