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(August 15, 2007) 31st & Pearl Loftier Post, Easier Job It’s official. The CoB’s fundraiser, Mr. Emile Dieth, is no longer with the CoB. He is now the Interim Executive Director of the University of Southern Mississippi Foundation. That’s right. The Foundation that can’t decide if it’s private or public, or if it has $35 million or $2.3 million. There’s no doubt that ExecDir of the USM Foundation is a loftier post than is chief fundraiser for USM’s College of Business. Normally with such a move one would think that things just got a little tougher for Dieth. Not so.

(September 24, 2007) CoB News, 24 September 2007 CoB Fundraising Grinds to Halt If you've wandered by the CoB's Development Office in recent weeks, you've noticed that the door is locked and the lights are off. That's because the CoB's fundraising officer, Emile Dieth, is now serving as the Interim Executive Director of USM's Foundation. Dieth's replacement, if there is to be one, has not reached Joseph Greene Hall yet. That means that whatever fundraising programs were underway when Dieth departed the CoB over the summer of 2007 are no longer operating at full throttle.

(April 28, 2008) Breaking News "Floundering CoB" Making "Half-Hearted" Fundraising Effort HATTIESBURG -- On 25 April 2008, Interim CoB Dean, Alvin Williams, e-mailed members of the CoB's management team and informed them that Meredith Cothern, the CoB's new Development Officer, would be visiting the chairs in each of the CoB's three departments in order to assess the "development-related' situation in each area.

(October 23, 2008) CoB News, 23 October 2008 CoB Lands New Fundraiser According to Amy Martin’s 21-October-08 USM press release, Shannon Woodward has been selected to fill the fundraising void in USM’s business school. Woodward (shown below) comes to the CoB from Ole Miss, where she was the development officer for the UM College of Business.

(March 10, 2009) (March 11, 2009 reader responds and a 31st & Pearl Bonus!) Wag the Dog Redux? A Reader’s Take on President Saunders’ Major Announcement of March 10, 2009 On March 10, 2009, USM President Martha D. Saunders called the USM community together, press included, for a major announcement. That announcement turned out to be a donation to the University of $6 million, $5 million of which will be devoted to student scholarships, with, according to staffers at The Hattiesburg American, the remaining $1 million “. . . going to strategic initiatives.” Saunders told those same THA staffers that the gift, which came anonymously, is “. . . the single largest cash gift ever received by the university.” Finally, regarding the anonymity of the donor, Saunders remarked: “We cannot answer questions about the motivations or interests of the giver.”

(July 26, 2006) 31st & Pearl: BAC Equals BAd Charity "After examining usmpride.com's investigation of the USM Foundation, here's our question: If only 19.5 cents of every dollar that Gene Carlisle donates to the CoB's Business Advisory Council goes to support business students, how many Wendy's franchises would it take to put a business major through school at USM? That question comes from the fact that only $15,000 of the $77,029 raised last year through BAC dues (each member pays $1,250 annually in dues) went to support the academic pursuits of various students in the CoB...".