financialissues30

(June 2, 2010) 31st & Pearl Is the SoA the CoB’s Deepwater Horizon? The recent reports indicating how the CoB’s School of Accountancy is spewing negative net tuition revenue all over the place serve to really highlight the weaknesses in the University Priorities Committee’s response to cutting the institution’s overall budget. As we understand it, the UPC is likely to pass over a unit like accounting, arguing that it is central to the mission of the CoB, and thus to USM.

(June 3, 2010) Best Case, Worst Case More on ‘the Bottom Line’ in the CoB’s School of Accountancy The recent USMNEWS.net report, “How is Hiring Michael Dugan a Good Deal?” sparked a great deal of interest among readers. That report explained how incoming CoB accounting professor Michael Dugan (from the University of Alabama) will actually generate a net Fall 2010 loss to the CoB of anywhere from $45,000 to $57,000, given what is expected to be Dugan’s fall 2010 salary + fringes (about $94,000) and the tuition revenues generated by Dugan’s fall 2010 teaching assignment (about $36,000 to about $48,000).

(June 11, 2010) Faculty Senate Watch ‘Strategic Fencing of the University’ IRON AND BRICK FENCE SOON TO ENCLOSE USM CAMPUS In her 4-June-2010 report to the USM faculty senate, USM president Martha Saunders informed senators that a wrought iron and brick pillared fence will soon surround USM’s Hattiesburg campus. According to Saunders, construction on a “wrought iron and brick pillared fence” will soon begin as part of a plan “for ‘strategic fencing of the university.’” Saunders also told senators,

(June 11, 2010) Faculty Senate Watch ‘I [will] be Travelling a Bit this Summer’ USM PREZ MARTHA SAUNDERS TO ASSIST SACS/C-USA IN 2010 In her 4-June-2010 report to the USM faculty senate, USM president Martha Saunders informed senators that she will be “travelling a bit this summer” in fulfilling her duties as a member of the executive committee of SACS. Saunders stated that being an EC member for SACS involves going to a few more meetings each year than is required of members of SACS’ board of directors. The additional travelling will begin in about one week, with other trips to follow.

(June 16, 2010) Special Report Catch Him if You Can Former CoB Associate Dean Still a Jet Setter Extraordinaire Former CoB associate dean Farhang Niroomand became famous for travelling the globe while part of the CoB administration (1998-2007). In fact, during one 59-month stretch, Niroomand used more than $75,000 in travel funds to cover almost 150,000 miles around the globe. Compounding the issue for Niroomand is the fact that many of his “academic” trips are questionable, at best.

(June 15, 2010) breaking news . . . Lucas and Pierce to Get $370,000 HATTIESBURG – Additionally, the IHL will be elevating Bob Pierce from acting vice president of advancement and executive director of the USM Foundation and the USM Alumni Association to vice president of advancement and executive director of the USM Foundation. The removal of acting from Pierce’s title may come as a surprise to many USMers. And, Pierce’s salary will be rising from $104,200 per year to $185,000 per year with this change in titles, representing a 77.5% increase.