usmnews.net
Reports for September 12 - 16, 2011
Over the past several years, usmnews.net has published literally thousands of reports from current and former faculty who share my belief that USM has ineffectively and inefficiently employed far too much of its resources, both in terms of money and people. The purpose of usmnews.net is not to provide a public relations view. That is amply supplied by The University of Southern Mississippi's public relations department.

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Chauncey M. DePree, Jr., Editor
marcdepree@gmail.com


Welcome to usmnews.net
Click here for reports and editorials for September 5 - 9, 2011
. . . breaking news . . . Admin Bloat Marches On at USM HATTIESBURG – According to a 9-Sept-2011 presser from USM, Bay St. Louis native Lauren Benvenutti, shown below, has been named the USM Alumni Association’s Manager for Constituent Relations.
September 12, 2011
‘Lurking About’ USM Fans React to ‘Meltdown at Marshall, 2011’ In what some are now referring to as “Meltdown at Marshall, 2011,” head coach Larry Fedora’s USM Golden Eagles blew a 17-3 lead at Marshall on 10-September-2011, losing in the final moments to the Thundering Herd by a score of 20-26. With the loss, the Eagles fell to 1-1 on the young 2011 season, and are now #81 in the Sagarin ratings, just one spot better than FCS-level University of Richmond
Special Report Martha Saunders and Race A Look at an Issue that Continues to Pop Up These Days Early in his 2-Sept-2011 address to the USM faculty senate, new faculty senate president Timothy Rehner recounted some issues that he had recently discussed with USM president Martha Saunders. As Rehner recounted:
September 13, 2011
Saunders Unveils New 10 for ’12 Program Near the end of her presentation at the Fall 2011 Convocation on 8-Sept-2011, USM president Martha Saunders unveiled the details of what she called her 10 for ’12 program. The 10 basic elements of that program are:
Party in the C-o-B Identifying the B-School’s Easiest Profs A recent trip to ratemyprofessors.com yielded a list of the easiest professors in USM’s College of Business. Students who visit the website are asked to rate their professors, with one option being to rate the “ease” of each professor’s course(s). With 5 being “easiest” and 1 being “most difficult,” the five easiest faculty in the CoB are presented in Table 1 below.
September 14, 2011
Saunders Admits to Failing Retention Efforts MISSISSIPPI TAX DOLLARS GETTING LITTLE RETURN "Q: How are we doing on retention? A lot of effort has been spent there." The question you see just above was put to USM president Martha Saunders during the Q&A session at the 2-Sept-2011 USM faculty senate meeting. Saunders’ answer was quite remarkable: "A: We won’t have these numbers for a few weeks. I don’t think it’s real good news. I’m not sure all of these efforts are paying off."
Niroomand’s New Web Documents from UH-Victoria Indicate that Former USM AD Hasn’t Changed A report published months ago by USMNEWS.net entitled “June Travel Bug” analyzes some of the university travels of Farhang Niroomand, the dean of business at the University of Houston-Victoria and the former associate dean of business at USM (1998-2007).
September 15, 2011
September 16, 2011
Are You Paying Attention? An Editorial by Susan Green-Lewis This is the month – September-2011 – when the faculty/staff raises that are being financed by monies found by the University Priorities Committee (UPC) will go out to their recipients. With all of the talk around campus about responsibility centered management and resource re-allocations, now is the time to be extra vigilant about how the university’s resources are being allocated. With a $330,000 renovation of the master bedroom suite in the presidential mansion on Jamestown, and a $2 million Beechcraft King Air lease, USM president Martha Saunders has clearly shown that she’s more than willing to direct university funds for her personal benefit.
Lance Nail + Gwen Pate = Regression Analysis? Interesting Fall 2011 Course Offering A recent check of the USM Class Schedule Guide for fall 2011 revealed an interesting business administration course offering. That offering is contained in the insert below:
31st & Pearl Is Saunders Paranoid? During her 8-Sept-2011 Fall Convocation presentation, USM president Martha Saunders addressed a so-called “undercurrent of doubt” surrounding the USM cheer, “To the Top!” According to Saunders, there are doubters on the Southern Miss campus regarding the veracity of the cheer.