Academic Research
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.
Chauncey M. DePree, Jr. Editor
marcdepree@gmail.com (Click here for editorial policy.)
Fiction
"TobaccoPharm, A Divine and Deadly
Green Factory"
If you had the knowledge to put an end to
the plague of diseases caused by
cigarettes and tobacco, would you use it?
Given the current knowledge of
transgenic use of tobacco plants,
TobaccoPharm will leave you wondering
when, not if, the plague of tobacco will
end. Purchase at: Amazon
Current research by Chauncey M. DePree,
Jr., DBA can be downloaded free from
SSRN (several projects are Top Ten
downloads on SSRN):
"A General Theory to Test Social Reality"
"Is Accreditation a Reliable Authority on
Academic Quality?: Testing Social Reality"
"University and AACSB Diversity: Testing
Social Reality"
"A Sound Foundation: The FASB Got Its
Conceptual Framework Right, The IASB
Didn't"
"An Evolution of Form and Content: A
Practical Guide to Use of the FASB's
Conceptual Framework"
More than 7,214,000 hits
"The fun money is private money.
At Southern Miss, I've got state
dollars and I've got Foundation
dollars. It's real easy to tell them
apart. I tell people I've got two
checkbooks. I've got my booze
account and my non-booze account.
Out of the state money I'm pretty
constrained what in I can do. ...
Foundation dollars, that's when I
take my money out of my booze
account, I can pretty much do
anything I want with it." D. Harold
Doty, former Dean, College of
Business, University of Southern
Mississippi, current Dean,
University of Texas at Tyler
In August 2011, Martha
Saunders smiled as she
presented Galaxy Tabs to
selected students. Now, three
senior adminstrators have
been suspended. Will
Saunders be next? (For more
reports re "Tabletgate", click
here.)
May 18, 2012
(Noon) Martha’s Podium: An Editorial Cartoon Series from USMNEWS.net, part 21
(8:00 am) Breaking news: IHL Gives Lucas Mysterious Title . . . and Salary
For readers who have requested
quicker access to reports about Dr.
Saunders' airplane, please click here.
A good place to start is Cost Per Flight
Hour which includes links to the
detailed cost and usage data obtained
through open records requests.
Rufus McCoy and Profiteers in the Ivory Tower, a
novel, offers an insider's view of the calamity
overtaking American higher education.
It's FREE to Amazon Prime members.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007AOU33S
ASK RUFUS
Q2: You're a philanthropist? Or just a
good-hearted alum thinking of donating to your
college or university? After all, you might think,
where better to donate your money or resources?
You might be surprised what colleges do with
your money. Click here for more.
I like Thomas Thibeault's novel and suspect you
will, too. Mr. Thibeault will transport you to the
world of "Monuments Men and Women" who
saved the art of Western Civilization from the
rubble of the defeated Nazis.
Ken Westhues' review is must reading. Ken is a
distinguished professor at the University of
Waterloo. He is a Sociologist and expert on
mobbing. Be sure to peruse his website, too.
Purchase Balto's Nose at Amazon.
usmnews.net
May 10, 2012
31st & Pearl Del Boca Presidentista If interim USM president Aubrey Lucas
is successful in hiring his replacement some time during the next 9 months,
as he says he will be, then USM will have no fewer than 5 current or former
college/university presidents among its faculty ranks. That would include
the next USM president, Lucas, Martha Saunders, and Shelby Thames –
each of whom has served as USM president at one time or another. The final
member of the quintet is Frances Lucas, the former president of Millsaps
College in Jackson. That has to put USM at the top of U.S. colleges and
universities in terms of current/former presidents per capita.
Now Bloating A LOOK AT ADMINISTRATIVE HIRING AT USM With all
of the turmoil at USM leading up to and in the wake of the sudden
resignation of USM president Martha Saunders, USMNEWS.net is taking a
look at the types of job announcements emanating from USM during the
spring semester of 2012. A listing of these is shown in Table 1 below: ...
Members of the USM community will likely be interested in the final entry
of Table 1. It appears to be an advertisement to fill the vacancy created by
the resignation of Russ Willis, who held the VP for administrative affairs
position before joining the USM Foundation (in early 2012).
May 11, 2012
Why USM-Gulf Coast for Saunders? A Guest Editorial With the recent
resignation of Martha Saunders as USM president, along with her
announcement about moving to the USM-Gulf Coast faculty, many at USM
are dazed and confused. One of the many questions that keeps popping up
concerns not only her decision to return to the USM faculty, a common
question in editorials at usmnews, but why she has chosen to join the
USM-Gulf Coast campus instead of the main campus in Hattiesburg. I think
this particular question is both a legitimate and interesting one,
May 14, 2012
President Martha Saunders under Oath Part 4 "Don't count her out yet. There
are plenty of low level colleges where she could rise again." Name withheld
If there is a chance that Martha Saunders can repeat her incompetence as
an administrator at another college or university, its faculty and
administrators should have a clear picture of her conduct as president of
Southern Miss. This series provides a rare opportunity for the Southern
Miss family, as well as potential employers, to consider Martha Saunders'
words, under oath. Click for Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
USM Athletics in Big Hole LOCAL MEDIA REPORTING DEFICIT NEARLY
DOUBLED IN ONE YEAR The financial woes in USM’s athletics
department are gargantuan, at least according to Patrick Magee of The
Hattiesburg American. Magee reports that the department’s deficit was
$439,255 at the end of the 2009-10 academic year, and that it nearly doubled,
rising to $790,398, during the 2010-11 academic year. With the 2011-12
academic season coming to a close, the department’s total deficit is now
above $1 million and counting.
May 15, 2012
May 17, 2012
Martha's Podium, An Editorial Cartoon Series from USMNEWS.net Now that
the ground is broken on the new business building and spring 2012
commencement is done, my second term is officially complete. With the big
things out of the way, I leave the easy tasks, like hiring a new AD and
finding the $1 million missing from the athletics budget, to my successor.
Editor's note: As usmnews.net has recently published reports concerning the
cost of sports at USM to students and taxpayers, and the million dollar deficit
in the program. The increasingly spoken question on campus and in the
community is what is USM getting for your money? So that you may begin to
answer that question for yourself, usmnew.net publishes and update to:
Will 2011-2012 be a Banner Year? During the 2010-11 academic year,
USMNEWS.net staff followed the progress of USM's athletics. As you can
see, the Golden Eagles sports units won only 50.1% of their contests
Breaking News: Moser, Wiesenburg, and Cannon Collect Big Raises
HATTIESBURG – At its 17-May-2012 monthly meeting, the Mississippi IHL
injected a total of $107,620 additional dollars into the annual paychecks of
USM administrators Denis Wiesenburg, Gordon Cannon, and Steven Moser.
In being moved from interim provost to provost, Wiesenburg’s salary will
rise from $250,000 per year to $275,000 per year on 1-July-2012 (see insert
below).
May 16, 2012
. . breaking news . . Is Lance Nail Leaving USM for Texas Tech?
HATTIESBURG – When Allen McInnes, the dean of the Rawls College of
Business at Texas Tech University, announced back in Sept-2011 his
intention to retire at the end of the 2011-12 academic year, the Tech
community began to search for his replacement. Now, with the approach of
summer, Tech is closing out that search with its favored prospects visiting
the Rawls College and the Tech campus in Lubbock.
May 18, 2012
Martha’s Podium: An Editorial Cartoon Series from USMNEWS.net With all
of the craziness surrounding my sudden resignation back on April 27 [2012],
including the groundbreaking for Scianna Hall and the spring 2012
commencement exercises, I decided to put off my final press conference. I
guess you could say I saved the best for last.