miscellaneous28

(February 26, 2009) “a personnel issue” Documenting the Return to the Relationship Between Adams & Reese and USM The relationship between Mississippi law firm Adams & Reese and the University of Southern Mississippi dates at least as far back as to the Shelby F. Thames administration of USM (2002-07). The Thames administration often used the firm to supplement the legal work being done for the University by USM legal counsel Lee Gore and then-USM risk manager Jack Hanbury. The relationship has continued well into the Martha D. Saunders administration (2007-present), and it has dealt primarily with an anonymous “personnel issue” since Aug-07, if not before. The payments submitted to Adams & Reese from USM (through Mississippi’s IHL Board) since that time (Aug-07) are shown in Table 1 below.

(March 3, 2009) Hook 'Em Home Add Deniz Gevrek to the Mix of Long Distance CoBers The recent run of USMNEWS.net reports showing how more and more CoB faculty are choosing to maintain residences outside of Mississippi is not showing any signs of slowing at present. That run continues this week with the revelation that newly-hired untenured assistant professor of economics Deniz Gevrek has joined the mix, as indicated by the top portion of Gevrek's curriculum vitae (inserted below).

(March 11, 2009) Checking on the Harvest A Look at the Latest Crop in the CoB Faculty Farm System The practice of sending favored CoB undergraduate and graduate students off to get PhDs so that they can return to USM to serve as b-school faculty is an old one. Numerous CoB faculty are believed to have been part of this program (e.g., Gwen Pate, George Carter, etc.), with the latest potential one being soon-to-be newly-minted PhD Katie Pounders.

(March 12, 2009) Breaking News CoB Interviews Reidenbach for MKT Chair Opening HATTIESBURG – Reports have reached USMNEWS.net offices indicating that current CoB administrators and faculty have interviewed finalist Eric Reidenbach for the opening in the chair’s position of the CoB’s marketing department. Reidenbach, the author of 15 books, is currently a private marketing consultant, and has been for several years. Before initiating a private consulting practice, Reidenbach was a full professor of marketing in USM’s College of Business Administration. Prior to that, Reidenbach (PhD, Michigan State University) held the Phil B. Hardin Chair of Marketing at the University of Mississippi.

(March 16, 2009) 31st & Pearl Why We Write In a play on the words constituting the title of Frank Capra's famous video series about America's participation in World War II, the USMNEWS.net readers whose words are printed in Wag the Dog Redux? show just why USMNEWS.net's reporting and editorial staffers are so dedicated to their respective jobs. We write because by doing so we have opened up both USM's b-school, and USM as a whole, like never before.

(April 12, 2009) Special Report Smith Takes Home 2009 AT&T Award CoB assistant professor of marketing William Smith has taken home the 2009 AT&T Outstanding Faculty Award. According to sources, this was well-deserved, as Smith showed up as a Gold Star classroom performer in USMNEWS.net's recent report, The Good, the Bad, and the U-g-l-y. Smith, a stellar service performer, particularly at the University level, was also shown to be no worse than the CoB median in terms of research by the recent "Our Most Talented Colleagues" series.