(February 24, 2009) Missing & Musical Professorships What Happened to the Williams & Parham-Bridges, and Who
Should Hold Them? The CoB has a few professorships. The list includes (1) the Morgan Distinguished Professorship in
Accounting, (2) the Draughn Distinguished Professorship in Healthcare Marketing, (3) the McCarty Distinguished
Professorship in Information Systems, and (4) the Kaetsu Distinguished Professorship in International Business. Not
included among this list are the Williams Distinguished Professorship in Minority Entrepreneurship and the
Parham-Bridges Distinguished Professorship in Real Estate. These two are omitted from the list of four above not
because they aren't funded. No, they have been funded, and in the case of the Parham-Bridges, the funding is
substantial and it has been around (i.e., in the USM Foundation) for quite some time.
MICHAEL WITTMANN, ASSISTANT
PROFESSOR OF MARKETING
(May 13, 2009) Five CoB Faculty Awarded Tenure for 2009-10 JACKSON – At the May-09 IHL Board meeting, set to
occur tomorrow (13-May) and Thursday (14-May), five CoB faculty will be awarded tenure, which will begin in the
2009-10 academic year. These individuals are John Clark (FIN), Fujun Lai (DS), Farooq Malik (FIN), Lance Nail (FIN),
and Michael Wittmann (MKT).
(May 19, 2009) GH Chatter The 2008-09 tenure class was certainly a motley bunch. About the only one not surrounded
by controversy is Fujun Lai of decision sciences. Chatter has it that John Clark's (FIN) tenure faced some
behind-the-scenes opposition from the first floor (of JAG) of all places. Clark is known for maintaining a "relaxed" work
schedule, to put it mildly. His relatively new FIN colleague, the newly tenured Farooq Malik, has also developed the
reputation of coming in to teach and then leaving (the JAG). Chatter has it that Malik is as much "the ghost" as anyone
else in the CoB. As for the remaining non-administrative member of the 2008-09 tenure class, some are surprised to see
that Michael Wittmann is teaching a full load this summer. Chatter has it that those who hold distinguished
professorships, like Wittmann, should instead be engaged in research during the summers.
(May 28, 2009) Promotions to h4 It's nearly impossible to have studied the CoB of the last few years and not have noticed
how administrators there have perfected use of the "early promotion" to guarantee tenure later.