weeklyreports_02_01

Mississippi Leaders Choose Secrecy and Iron Fisted Control The Sun Herald ran a report by Donna Harris on January 29, 2013 entitled "Mississippi gets low grades for transparency on state and local websites." "Mississippi ranked in the bottom five states in the nation in a report released Tuesday by a nonprofit organization dedicated to state and local government transparency...".

Holiday Predictions for 2013 5) Frances Lucas [daughter of current interim President and former President Aubrey Lucas] will be named [by the IHL] as their preferred candidate for the presidency of Southern Miss. (Editor's note: This prediction seems to be gaining traction around the water coolers at USM.)

. . . breaking news . . UGA’s Bennett Leader for USM Presidency HATTIESBURG – Rodney Bennett, the vice president for student affairs at the University of Georgia, has been named by the Mississippi IHL as the preferred candidate to replace Martha Saunders as president of the University of Southern Mississippi.

Dr. Bennett, IHL's "Preferred Candidate" We have all watched the various blogs, news reports and commentary about Dr. Rodney Bennett's status as the IHL's "preferred candidate" to become president of The University of Southern Mississippi. The question is Dr. Rodney Bennett qualified to be president of the University of Southern Mississippi?

Will 2012-13 be a Banner Year? During the 2011-12 academic year, USMNEWS.net staff followed the progress of USM's athletics.

The IHL Really Needs Advice A local online chat-site announced Dr. Rodney Bennett as the IHL "preferred candidate" for president at USM several hours before the IHL made its announcement. Until the IHL confirmed it, "preferred candidate" Dr. Bennett was merely a rumor.

Dear usmnews.net Except for the laudatory, if vague, statements by Dr. Bounds [Commissioner of the IHL], Mr. Blakeslee [President of the IHL], and Lou Ann Poynter [alumni, contributor, and member of the committee selecting the "preferred candidate"], we haven't seen any details about Dr. Bennett.

College and University Endowments USM Needs More Than A "Helper" USM needs more than wishful thinking to improve its woefully funded Endowment. The IHL's solution? Rodney Bennett. The IHL carefully characterizes the "preferred candidate's" fund raising experience as: "He [Bennett] has helped raise funds to enhance student life on campus

Dear usmnews.net, Did you see the WDAM TV interview with Dr. Rodney Bennett [the IHL's "preferred candidate" for the presidency of USM]? According to the [written] report and the video of the interview, Dr. Bennett's announced "[o]ne of the first items of business will be to hire a chief financial officer. "

. . breaking news . . Bennett Visiting USM Campus Today HATTIES- BURG – The Mississippi IHL Board’s preferred candidate to replace Martha Saunders as USM’s next president, Rodney Bennett of the University of Georgia, is visiting USM’s Hattiesburg campus today. As Bennett visits USM officials and other constituents, a number of items related to Bennett’s candidacy have surfaced since last week.

Editorial USM's "Well-Informed" But Anonymous Anti-Blogger Blogger Blogs that We Shouldn't "Listen To Bloggers" by Hal Greene "Don't listen to bloggers." That's what an anonymous blogger advised his fellow bloggers-sports bloggers-as s/he insisted that Dr. Bennett "was a great hire." Let's refer to him/her as the anti-blogger blogger. Let's see if s/he makes better sense with the details that Dr. Bennett "was a great hire."

President Bennett: "A first task ... get Southern Miss' finances under control." On Thursday, February 7, 2013, the IHL named Dr. Rodney Bennett president of USM. Bennett has been reported several times over the past few days as saying his first task at hand is to get USM's finances under control. We have to assume he has said this in front of his IHL bosses. Finances need to be brought under control? When did the IHL or anyone else admit that USM's finances were not under control?

updated HELP WANTED A Look at Business Dean Openings from Around the Country With four current/former CoB deans moving around in the academic world, some USMNEWS.net readers have requested an ongoing report that tracks current b-school dean openings.

Doty and Niroomand Joined Again See the visitor from McKees Rocks, below. Whoever is looking for information about Harold Doty and Farhang Niroomand. We know who Harold and Farhang are. Harold was the dean at USM's business college and is better known as "Booze Account" Doty.

What We Know about the New Prez? by Duane Cobb That's all we know. We can't find any other vita or academic record. (Don't believe me? Run a Google® search.) Right now, Dr. Bennett is an unknown quantity. Let's hope that when we get to know something about him, he's an improvement over Martha Dunigan Saunders.

USM Chief Financial Officers Come and Go As Often As USM Presidents USM's new President, Rodney Bennett, has made it his paramount task: finding a new CFO. Why is the selection of another new CFO so important? Let's take a look at an example of USM's recent history of unexpected departures of CFOs. Of course, there were no financial problems officially reported.

Updated HELP WANTED A Look at Business Dean Openings from Around the Country With four current/former CoB deans moving around in the academic world, some USMNEWS.net readers have requested an ongoing report that tracks current b-school dean openings.

USM Chief Financial Officers Come and Go As Often As USM Presidents The University of The Banana Republic? USM's new President, Rodney Bennett, has named his paramount task to find a new CFO. Why is the selection of another new CFO so important? Last week we took a look at an example of USM's recent history of unexpected departures of CFOs: 'The Morgan Resignation'--Does Something Smell?. The next CFO, Russ Willis, lasted for a shorter time than did Morgan.

. . breaking news . . Slavery Officially Over in Mississippi!! New York - The New York Post's Michael Blaustein is reporting that 148 years later, slavery officially over in Mississippi. According to the report, "The landmark event happened earlier this month when Mississippi became the final state to officially ratify the amendment, which ended slavery."

. . breaking news . . . Tornado Slams USM Campus HATTIESBURG – The turbulent weather that is hammering the eastern half of the United States struck the USM campus in the form of a tornado on 10-Feb-2013. A photo of the tornado taken by USM student Jordan Holliman, shown below at left, is now a viral sensation. Many news organizations, such as WDAM-TV in Hattiesburg, are also posting photos of the damage caused by the storm.

Editorial "Drones Unleashed Against Al Qaeda Threat At Waterford Drive, Hattiesburg" That could have been the news headline in a local newspaper. I guess I'm lucky it wasn't. Several faculty at the School of Accountancy, University of Southern Mississippi, took years to concoct the "Virginia Tech Danger" to shut me up. They failed-obviously-but the "Virginia Tech Danger" ploy allowed me time to show that the accusations were pure nonsense.

Editorial Unexpected Resignations Jack-In-The-Box Surprises at USM A recent Chronicle of Higher Education report, entitled "Lost in Transition" by Gene C. Fant, Jr. resonates for us at the University of Southern Mississippi. Mr. Fant begins by noting: One of the most difficult things about the job search is the monkey wrench that appears out of nowhere, upending what had been a smooth process. There is no bigger monkey wrench than the unexpected resignation of a campus leader.

Dear usmnews.net, While I have to admit I was impressed by Dr. Bennett's "can do" attitude after the tornados, I have to wonder why the University didn't send Air Farce One to Atlanta to pick him up? It seems to me it would have been quicker than driving. Any ideas?

Dear usmnews.net, Your report about Mississippi ratifying the 13th Amendment [abolishing slavery] 148 years late should have embarrassed every citizen of Mississippi. Apparently, The Hattiesburg American was only embarrassed that someone reported on it. A few hours after your [breaking news] report, The Hattiesburg American proudly proclaimed, Mississippi ratified 13th Amendment in 1995 [instead of 2013].

Willis Now a Professor of Practice in the CoB Intra-Institution Movement Continues to Astound Responding to a tip from an anonymous source, USMNEWS.net has learned that former USM vice president for administrative affairs, Russ Willis, is now a professor of practice in USM’s College of Business. A visit to the USM directory reveals that Willis is indeed listed as a PoP, and he is so in the CoB’s department of management and international business.

From the Archives of Academic Administrative Yackety-Yak, Blather, Prattle, Jabber, and-for the Sophisticated Among You-Confabulation Part 2 Part 2 of our series that highlights academic administrative yackety-yak, blather, prattle, jabber, or confabulation continues with Past USM President, Martha Saunders' "Innovation (Creative, Bold, Determined)." (To catch up, see Part 1.)

In the category of still looking Lost Horizons In June 2008, Mary Morgan Anderson claimed an Accounting Horizons publication for her vita. Under the CoB journal rankings, Accounting Horizons is an A�-level pub... Did Anderson tell the “whole truth” about her academic research record in the testimony above? Reporters at USMNEWS.NET sought to investigate that very question as it relates to he illusory Accounting Horizon’s article. A diligent search of Accounting Horizons has not identified a single publication under Dr. Morgan’s name. (For more, click here.)

Will the Real USM Please Stand Up? A GUEST COLUMN As WDAM-7 reporter Karrie Leggett-Brown discovered when she interviewed new USM president Rodney Bennett on 7-Feb-2013, USM’s financial situation is not near the rosy picture painted in April-2012 by then-USM president Martha Saunders. Those in the USM family were surely surprised to see Bennett explain to Leggett-Brown ¯ “I’m not going to be hesitant at all to cut programs, or to do what we need to do to get the enterprise back on stable footing.”

From the Archives of Academic Administrative Yackety-Yak, Blather, Prattle, Jabber, and-for the Sophisticate Among You-Confabulation Part 4 Part 4 of our series that highlights academic administrative blather continues with former USM President Martha Saunders' "Innovation (Creative, Bold, Determined)." (To catch up, see Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.) In Part 3, we left readers with two questions: What, then, does Saunders mean by her discovered "five forces of innovation"

Is the CoB's SoA a Twilight Zone? As Guest Viewpoint (updated) The SoA has not bothered to update it's online research reports since 2010. Do you suppose there is nothing worth updating? Judging from the poor quality of reported 2008-2010 publications, that may be the unfortunate truth.

Several usmnews.net Visitors: Yesterday and the Day Before Without comment, we'll leave you with a few of our more curious visitors:

Dear usmnews.net, Like the folks at usmnews.net, the secrecy surrounding university activities has always troubled me. As [United States Supreme Court] Justice [Louis D.] Brandeis wrote "Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman." However, the University of Southern Mississippi has just named Rodney D. Bennett as its tenth president. What do we really know about Dr. Bennett? The answer is very little.

From the Archives of Academic Administrative Yackety-Yak, Blather, Prattle, Jabber, and-for the Sophisticate Among You-Confabulation Part 5 Part 5 of our series that highlights academic administrative blather continues with USM President Martha Saunders' "Innovation (Creative, Bold, Determined)." (To catch up, see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.) In Part 4, we ended with the hint of a particularly disgusting habit of public relations practitioners: rewriting history.

Dear usmnews.net, Gossip around the water cooler has it that Dr. Bennett has not signed a contract to become the next president at Southern Miss. Do you have any information whether that is true or whether it portends any glitches in his arrival?

Another Peculiar Behavior From the IHL and USM We, again, have several Mississippi Open Records Act requests with the Institutions of Higher Learning and the University of Southern Mississippi. As our policy at usmnews.net says, a goal is to reduce the ridiculous secrecy of tax supported educational institutions like USM.