weeklyreports_04_01

Again! USM Is Still Squandering Millions on Airplane N777AQ, Part 13 On February 7, 2013, Mississippi taxpayers and USM students paid another small fortune to fly USM "president" Rodney Bennett from Oxford, MS, to Hattiesburg, back to Oxford, then to Athens, GA, back to Meridian, then Gulf Port and on to Hattiesburg.

more Questions from usmnews.net's readers Lately usmnews.net has been receiving a number of questions from its readers. From time to time, usmnews.net will publish some of the questions and provide answers. Question 4

Yet Again! USM Is Still Squandering Millions on Airplane N777AQ Part 14 Bennett's not done yet! On February 11, 2013, Mississippi taxpayers and USM students paid another small fortune to fly USM "president" Rodney Bennett from Athens, GA to Hattiesburg. The number of flight hours was 3.3. The cost of this flight was $22,905.

Fujun Lai Wins 2013 Brandt Award LONG BEACH - Professor of Management and McCarty Distinguished Professor of MIS/DS Fujun Lai, has again been named the winner of the CoB's 2013 Louis K. Brandt Award. The LKBA is a biennial award recognizing the CoB faculty with the most significant contributions to scholarship over the previous two years.

Is Rodney Bennett Qualified to be President of USM? We finally received President Rodney Bennett's curriculum vita from USM. It took several reminders and many weeks for USM to come up with it. That's okay. We're patient. We'll introduce this series about Dr. Bennett's qualifications by reviewing USM's and University of Georgia's organizational charts. Tomorrow, we'll commence review of his CV.

Is Rodney Bennett Qualified to be President of USM? Part 2 President Rodney Bennett's Curriculum Vita Yesterday, we introduced this series about the qualifications of Dr. Bennett by way of reviewing USM's and University of Georgia's organizational charts. Today, we begin the review of his CV. Here's the top part of page 1:

31st & Pearl Ghosts of Southern Mississippi With the university administration hiring season quickly coming to a close, one has to wonder how two former CoB administrators – Harold Doty and Farhang Niroomand – have been faring in that realm of late. Thanks to one of USMNEWS.net’s more popular additions in recent months, the Help Wanted series, we know that neither has so far reached the finalists level on any of the numerous searches for b-school dean that have been underway during 2012-13. That’s probably not surprising, given the implosion USM’s CoB experienced during their 2003-07 reign as dean and associate dean, respectively. Still, we do know, thanks to numerous e-mails, that both remain active job seekers in that arena.

Is Rodney Bennett Qualified to be President of USM? Part 3 President Rodney Bennett's Curriculum Vita Compare his "SUMMARY OF HIGHER EDUCATION SUPERVISORY EXPERIENCE" with his "HIGHER EDUCATION EXPERIENCE' for yourself. What have you learned about Dr. Bennett's qualifications? Does the scope of his experience encompass the duties required of a university president?

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. Long-time readers of USMNEWS.net are aware that Joseph Peyrefitte is the current interim dean of the CoB, having replaced Lance Nail, who is now the business dean at Texas Tech University.

Imagine USM with $80 Million Less Funding We'll return to a study of President Bennett's CV in the near future. Breaking news takes precedence. Fear not, curriculum vita play a role in today's usmnews.net's report, too. In this report, we follow up on an April 6, 2013 story from Ed Kemp at the Hattiesburg American, "USM faces $80M funding cut from state." usmnews.net will provide some factual context and sources that were omitted by Mr. Kemp and HA.

World Class? The numbers concerning average faculty salaries at USM as published in The Chronicle of Higher Education [see table copied below] are troubling in and of themselves. However, what does a potential $80 million reduction in state funding signify for a University with already woefully underpaid faculty? Will it be enough to persuade anyone in authority to take a hard look at the waste of resources?

An Emergency Email to all Faculty and Staff? Today (April, 8, 2013) , Dr. Rodney Bennett sent an email to all faculty and staff stating that the Hattiesburg American erroneously reported a potential $80 million shortfall in state funding to USM. According to Dr. Bennett, Hattiesburg American has issued a correction. What was actually corrected? Not much. The title of the article now reads "USM officials discuss possible state funding cuts" and adds an "Editor's note: The original headline to this story was incorrect and has been changed." However, the text of the article remains exactly the same, including a discussion of a potential $80 million dollar shortfall. So, Dr. Bennett, did a change in title but not in substance of the Hattiesburg American report really change anything or it is just more of the usual PR?

"One Voice In Unison" What One Voice Might Mean for Taxpayers And Students In this report, we follow up on another angle of the April 6, 2013 story from Ed Kemp at the Hattiesburg American, "USM faces $80M funding cut from state." At the end of the article, Kemp reports that Bennett responded [to faculty Senator Conville] that all strategies are on the table. He urged faculty members to give suggestions, channeled through Faculty Senate President Mary Ann Adams, to bolster Southern Miss's funding case.

Is Rodney Bennett Qualified to be President of USM Part 4 President Rodney Bennett's Curriculum Vita How do we confirm claims like "Providing leadership for�," "Providing oversight for�," "Successfully collaborating with�," etc? How do we even know what Dr. Bennett's claims actually mean? It's not like confirming publicly available information such as publications or course schedules.

31st & Pearl Henthorne’s Failure Telling Recent news that former CoB marketing chair Tony Henthorne failed to secure the dean’s position at the University of New Orleans tells those back at USM and elsewhere that former Thamesians – a common description for former members of the Shelby Thames administration (2002-07) of USM – may have run out of luck when it comes to moving up administrative ranks

The Curious Behavior of Rodney Bennett ... Why didn't Bennett consult Bounds before meeting with the Faculty Senate on April 5, 2013? If the Hattiesburg American report was inaccurate, why didn't Bennett insist that the article itself in detail be retracted or corrected? In fact, the article in detail was exactly the same. Does President Bennett know what he's doing? Anyone in higher education for as short a period as one year knows that talking about a significant reduction in appropriations had better accurate.

Has Grade Inflation Peaked, Yet? Dear Colleagues, Do you have the feeling you have just been strong-armed to give grades -- note the key word "give" -- that will retain students and "creat[e] pathways" for their graduation?

Is Rodney Bennett Qualified to be President of USM? Part 5 President Rodney Bennett's Curriculum Vita ... While you're thinking about the paucity of research, note the date of his one and only item of "Research for Publication" -- 2005. Maybe you are thinking (or want to believe) this is an out of date vita and that he has vast numbers of publications by now.

Dear usmnews.net, I looked at WorldCat's Dissertations and found this: The impact of selective factors related to completing the Doctor of Arts degree at Middle Tennessee State University / Rodney D Bennett 1996 English Book : Thesis/dissertation /manuscript Archival Material xi, 113 leaves ; 28 cm. The only copy is owned by the TSU library. You might want to look at Cook Library's Dissertations and Theses ...

"Smokin Dope" School of Accountancy Research Standard Skip Hughes, Director of the School of Accountancy, USM, presented his ideas on IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) in his article, "When it comes to IFRS adoption, the slower, the better:

Is Rodney Bennett Qualified to be President of USM? Part 6 President Rodney Bennett's Curriculum Vita ... Note his one and only research project has not been published. It is merely "Research for Publication." The authors are still, since 2005, in the "data collection in progress" phase of their research. Now let's take a look at the courses Dr. Bennett lists as having taught:

Dear usmnews.net, There is obviously a lot of history behind "Smokin Dope", School of Accountancy Research Standard. Would you provide some of the background reports? Name withheld

When will administrative sympathy extend to student tuition and fees? The administrative sympathy for administrators’ comfort is offered in a story published by USM’s public relations writers. Here’s the latest:

update to Will 2012-13 be a Banner Year? During the 2011-12 academic year, USMNEWS.net staff followed the progress of USM's athletics. As you can see, the Golden Eagles sports units won only 42.0% of their contests (i.e., 194.5 wins, incl. ties, in 463 contests) during 2011-12, a result representing anything but a “banner year.”

Dr. Rodney Bennett, President of USM Curriculum Vita Attached is Dr. Rodney Bennett's CV. It took several reminders and many weeks for USM to come up with it. That's okay. We're patient. Now it's yours, without the hassle. We've discussed some of its details in the series, "Is Rodney Bennett Qualified to be President of USM?" So far comments from readers seem to fall into two categories:

Guess how USM faculty will assure their school's funding? Who's going to test the baccalaureate graduates? Except future employers? Associate Press, April 17, 2013, reported that "College funding set for full [IHL] board vote." "Trustee Aubrey Patterson said he liked the system [the new formula meant to more fairly distribute state aid among the schools] because it was "performance driven" paying universities for moving students through classes and achieving other goals...".

Could USM Care Less about Women’s Athletics? DATA SUGGEST NOT The USM women’s tennis team bowed out of the first round of the 2013 C-USA tennis championships, losing 0-4 to Tulane. In doing so, the team, led by first-year head coach Dominic Modise, fell to 0-20 to close out the 2012-13 season. As reported by USMNEWS.net during the spring of 2012, former coach Raynie Theis seemed to be pushed out of the head coaching position in a very unusual way.

Are you a member of PERS? On April 8, 2013 The Meridian Star reported that the Governor and Legislature gave PERS permission to take higher risks "While you were sleeping the Governor and Legislature gave PERS authority to make higher risk investments with retirement funds..."

Questions from usmnews.net's readers Lately usmnews.net has been receiving a number of questions from its readers. From time to time, usmnews.net will publish some of the questions and provide answers. Question 6: Since you have been answering some personal questions, I have one. You sometimes mention going to the casinos in Biloxi. What games do you play?

Oops, passing everybody may have unintended consequences Who's going to test the baccalaureate graduates? Except future employers? Let's consider long term consequences of our recent article, Guess how USM faculty will assure their school's funding? A short review: Associate Press, April 17, 2013, reported that "College funding set for full [IHL] board vote."

Dear usmnews.net, Dr. Bennett's resume is the hot topic around faculty circles at Southern Miss. Here is the consensus. According to his resume, he has no research record and little teaching experience. Does the IHL really expect us to believe he was the "best" candidate? If he was, Southern Miss is in a lot more trouble than any of us thought.

Dr. Bennett's Contract of Employment Among the Mississippi Open Records Act requests usmnews.net made recently was for "�contracts and/or agreements relating to the employment of Dr. Rodney D. Bennett by the Institutions of Higher Learning and/or the University of Southern Mississippi ...

by reader request, what usmnews.net was publishing one year ago, Second Harassment Complaint Filed Against Hammond HATTIESBURG – Well into the evening of 24-Apr-2012 The Hattiesburg American is reporting that a second harassment complaint has been filed against USM interim athletics director Jeff Hammond.

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. Long-time reader s of USMNEWS.net are aware that Faye Gilbert is the current dean of the CoB, having replaced Lance Nail, who is now the business dean at Texas Tech University.

On April 27, 2012, usmnews.net reported the following: President Martha Saunders Resigned this Morning. What Happened? President Martha Saunders resigned this morning. The question on everybody's mind: What happened?

Dr. Bennett's Dissertation Why no article was published from it? Read on As noted in a recent report, President Bennett does not claim any published research. His CV doesn't reflect a single published article. To assess his research experience, we encourage readers to obtain a copy of his dissertation, the only research-to our knowledge-he has ever done.

Editorial MARTHA SAUNDERS' "SEPARATION" AGREEMENT We recalled the first anniversary of Martha Saunders' resignation last Friday. And it occurred to us that we have not published Saunders' "SEPARATION AGREEMENT AND GENERAL RELEASE" that we obtained through a Mississippi Open Records Act request.

WHAT CAN THE IHL BE THINKING? The audited financial statements of Mississippi's Institutions of Higher Learning say it all. "At June 30, 2012, the IHL System had $931.0 [million] in bonded debt, notes payable and capital lease obligations. This represented a 19.5% or $152.2 million increase over the prior year-end."

Amazeballs A Look at Bennett’s Feb-Mar 2013 Consulting Contract with IHL USMNEWS.net has obtained a copy of the consulting contractual agreement that then-incoming USM president Rodney Bennett negotiated with the Mississippi IHL.

SPECIAL REPORT SPEAKING OUT ABOUT THE RISING COST OF EDUCATION THE CONSTRUCTION BOOM Speaking out about the Rising Cost of Education is a updated series from usmnews.net. Its purpose is to investigate reasons the cost of a college education continues to climb, creating a massive, unsustainable burden for students and their families.