(October 23, 2007) Special Report The EFIB’s “Quick-Strike Promotion & Raise” Program An Investigative Series on
the Use of the CoB for Personal Gain Usmnews.net has received tips indicating that a high-ranking member of the
CoB has gone on record in recent weeks describing the EFIB’s heretofore unmentioned policy of hiring faculty at
low(er) ranks with the intention of promoting them quickly, a process that allows EFIB and CoB administrators to
funnel additional monies to new economics, finance and international business faculty. According to sources
contacted by usmnews.net about these tips, EFIB administrators have been making (in recent years) verbal
agreements for what sources are referring to as “quick-strike promotions” with EFIB hires. Of course, these so-called
“quick-strike promotions” are accompanied by raises anywhere from $4,000/year to $5,500/year.
DR. AKBAR MARVASTI,
FORMER ECONOMICS PROFESSOR
(October 27, 2007) CoB News, 27 October 2007 In recent days the CoB's administration uploaded an electronic version
of the Fall 2007 issue of the CoB's affinity magazine, Joint Venture. This installment of CoB News takes a look at some
of the features in the magazine.
(November 1, 2007) Breaking News Carter Names ECON Search Committee HATTIESBURG – Sources tell
USMNEWS.NET reporters that EFIB Chair George Carter has named three EFIB faculty to form a search committee to
fill an opening in economics at the CoB’s Gulf Coast operation.administrator entitles him to a 6-hour base teaching
load.
(November 6, 2007) 31st & Pearl The Admission Behind Marvasti's P&T Gambit The idea that the CoB's Akbar
Marvasti, an associate professor of economics, sought and received an "external letter of review" for his
promotion-to-full dossier from Charles Sawyer continues to spark interest among usmnews.net readers. Sawyer, who
spent approximately 25 years in USM's College of Business, retired from USM in May of 2007. One of his last acts
was to assist EFIB Chair George Carter in the hiring of Marvasti during the spring of 2006.
(November 6, 2007) Special Report How Would You Like Your “A”? A Look at What the Sawyer-Carter P&T
Evaluations Say As the 2007-08 P&T season’s dossiers circulate further into the corridors of the CoB, word is
spreading about what former EFIB economist, Charles Sawyer, and current EFIB Chair, George Carter, are saying
about the research credentials of two of the EFIB’s P&T candidates – Sami Dakhlia and Akbar Marvasti. In both sets
of evaluations – Sawyer’s “external review” of Marvasti, and Carter’s “independent, professional judgments” of both
Dakhlia and Marvasti – the duo of Sawyer and Carter attempt to make the case that most academics in economics
never publish in an “A” journal. As such, Sawyer and Carter claim that by having 3 “As” and 2 “As,” respectively,
Dakhlia and Marvasti are truly unique characters on the academic landscape, at least among academic economists.