(April 17, 2009) Abuse of Staff? A Look Back at CoB History on the Matter The recent advice to CoB dean Lance Nail
entitled Wrong Message, Wrong Mode, Wrong Moment, Wrong Minister regarding the so-called Sonia Gaines-Littles
episode alludes to the possibility that the undercurrent of animus towards CoB faculty in Gaines-Littles' e-mail stems
from some harm done by past faculty abuse(s) of CoB staff. Assuming for the moment that such harm is real, a look
back at CoB history, and on a staffer-by-staffer basis, reveals that the abuses almost always stem from CoB
administration sources.
CHERYLNN BECKER, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, FORMER
CHAIRMAN, DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM MANAGEMENT
(May 18, 2009) Breaking News Cherylynn Becker Moved to MGT LONG BEACH – In what is being described as yet
another bizarre move by CoB administrators, CoB tourism management professor Cherylynn Becker is being moved
from the TM faculty to the MGT faculty, beginning with the 2009-10 academic year. Trained in hospitality
management at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, and hired by the Harold Doty administration
(2003-07) of the CoB to chair TM, Becker is being moved into the CoB-GC division’s MGT unit by first-year CoB dean
Lance Nail. Sources tell USMNEWS.net that Becker had recently become unmanageable, at least as far as TM officials
were concerned, and that the move to MGT is hoped by CoB administrators to salvage some of what remains of any
potential left in Becker.
(May 12, 2009) 31st & Pearl Blame it on the Ha . . . Ha . . Ha . . Ha . . . Ha . . . Harold Doty We don't need a Jamie Foxx hit
song to know that the whole Cheri Becker meltdown that CoB administrators are now facing lies at the feet of former
CoB dean Harold Doty. Doty, now the dean the College of Business & Technology at the University of Texas --Tyler,
used the hiring of Becker a few short years ago simply to get in the craw of the Shelby Thames administration
(2002-07) of USM.
(May 21, 2009) Dear USM news, Dear USMNEWS.NET, The story developing about Cheri Becker [being moved to
MGT as a result of becoming unmanageable in TM] is no surprise to a number of us. If [former CoB dean Harold] Doty
thought she was so great then he should hire her at his new gig [as dean of business at the University of Texas at Tyler].
How much do you want to bet that'll never happen?
(July 27, 2009) 2 Questions for Becker Concerning Budget Cuts CoB TM/MGT (?) associate professor Cherylynn Becker
was brought to the CoB – shortly after the beginning of the Harold Doty administration (2003-07) – to chair the tourism
management department. Despite a number of "issues," she hung on to that role for some time, though she ultimately
stepped down and assumed a rank-and-file TM faculty position in the CoB. Given her past administrative position,
however, one has to conclude that she developed at least some reliable channels of "inside information" at USM. So, it's
no surprise that we connected some dots recently when we heard that Becker may have actually requested the move to
the MGT faculty that was the subject of an 18-May-09 Breaking News story here at USMNEWS.net.