saunders12

(June 27, 2008 ) CoB News, 27 June 2008 Save the Date The CoB’s Bureau of Business & Economic Research Director, Bill Gunther, and his staff will be providing a mid-year assessment of the South Mississippi and Gulf Coast economies on 17 July 2008. According to the BBER, the one-day conference will include forecasts and updates from some economists and others. It will also include a presentation by Martha Saunders, the President of USM.

(July 9, 2008 ) MOB Index After reading the president’s blog for the months of its existence, it appears that is it almost an anti-reality blog. The more essence of nothing the posts contain, the more it seems there are specific events concerning Southern Miss that are happening. These events are seldom addressed in her blog – or elsewhere that can be found – and if they are addressed, it is at a superficial level. This being the case, it appears her blog is not just a cover, but more like a disinformation campaign. Less knowledgeable or first-time readers might conclude that there must not be any problems at Southern Miss if this is all the president wants to discuss. Therefore, her blog can be considered a MOB Index: Martha’s Obfuscation Blog Index. The higher the obfuscation score, the more that is troubling at Southern Miss; and, the lower the score, the fewer the (known) problems.

(July 9, 2008 ) The Return of the Sorority Blog Summer Reading [from the President’s periodic blog] Is this the best we expect from you, Dr. Saunders? Is there nothing of interest happening in the entire Southern Miss world? Is there nothing new, different, or innovative from the new provost? How about the new deans? What is being worked on for the fall semester? What about the idea of Southern Miss faculty teaching Southern Miss courses at area junior colleges and community colleges? That sounds new and very different. What about structural changes in the university? What about any of the construction projects in the works? It seems a blog post about anything like this would be of more interest to your potential readers. It is doubtful the stakeholders of Southern Miss find it appealing that you consider yourself on summer vacation

(July 18, 2008 ) MOB Index Score for the July 11th Post Visiting Board Members The Martha Obfuscation Index scores posts based on content versus reality of the state of USM. This post is a clear cry for help, so it receives a low score of 2 (out of 10). As far as we are told, this is a last minute quick visit by the new Board members. Are there other reasons for the visit? How did the visit go? What did the Board members want to discuss? We have no idea, even a week later. There have been no further posts in a week. Maybe Martha’s posts like this should be part of the campus emergency notification network instead of a blog post. Probably the more realistic answer is Martha returned to her backlog of summer reading materials until she has to host the welcoming reception for new faculty members on August 17th. That should be enough time to whittle down the book stacks in the president’s home.