ARTICLES CONCERNING
MARTHA D. SAUNDERS, PRESIDENT
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI
(December 10, 2008) GH Chatter The “planegate” saga at USM is often a topic of conversation among CoBers and
USMers alike. According to the chatter, those who missed the Dec-08 USM faculty senate meeting should take a listen
to the podcast. Doing so promises to provide a clearer picture of just who new provost Robert Lyman is, and just how
gullible some of USM’s faculty appear to be.
(December 15, 2008) Cost Savings? Now you are interested in efficiency and cost savings? What about the airplane?!
(December 22, 2008) Top Stories of 2008 by Duane Cobb 9. Saunders Gives CoB $1 Million for Research -- Hoping to
increase research output in the CoB, USM president Martha Saunders announced to the CoB that she will soon be
providing new CoB dean Lance Nail with $1 million in new funds. Editorials here at USMNEWS.net, however, pointed
out the inherent flaw in the idea. That is that Saunders will be providing thousands of dollars tempting CoBers to do
the work that their 9-month base salaries are paid to them for doing.
(December 24, 2008 ) Is Fedora just not a party hat for Martha? In Aunt Martha’s blog, she mentions going to New
Orleans for the game on the 19th and on the 23rd she does mention the exciting win for Southern Miss, including a
couple of photos. The second photo is of arms holding the giant trophy for the win.
(January 5, 2009) CoB News, 5 January 2009 "Level" 4 for Aunt Martha? A number of newspapers have been reporting
the bowl game payouts for the 2008-09 college football bowl season. These payouts are useful for determining just
how much progress that USM might be making toward reaching the proverbial "next level" in the collegiate football
world. Table 1 below presents these bowl receipts by conference.
(January 5, 2009) 31st & Pearl Permission Slip(-Up) USM President Martha Saunders often boasts about how USM
became a national research university without asking for anyone.s permission to do so. Saunders. brag is typical of the
heads of many states. second tier institutions, proudly embracing the "underdog" tag that is usually placed upon these
same institutions by political and business leaders who generally support a state's so-called flagship institutions.
What's interesting about Saunders' statement is that it can easily be turned on its head. Doing so is particularly
relevant to USM.s College of Business, which, in 2007, came within a hair of losing its AACSB accreditation.
(January 5, 2009) Martha’s 9 9 wishes for '09 What an interesting list. Numbers 1 and 4 point toward Number 7, but
certainly not like airplane payments – especially balloon payments – would. Number 2 is fine, but giving USM
students a more positive experience while they are here would surely correlate to higher giving when they do
graduate. Please see the regional examples of Ole Miss and Alabama.