financialsituation12

(September 21, 2009) Observations About Economic Hard Times Part I Today we start a series of articles recommending what to do during economic hard times facing colleges and universities. The first article we offer is “Take a Hard Look at Academic Programs and Weed Out the Weak” by Charles Miller.

(September 17, 2009) CoB News, 17 September 2009 Plan to Move ECO Looks Like a Go Based on Ed Kemp's report in the 16-Sept-09 The Hattiesburg American entitled "Plan would move professors," it appears as though the USM administration has approved the plan to move the four mostly junior CoB economists (Deniz Gevrek, Daniel Monchuk, Sami Dakhlia, Akbar Marvasti) over to the CoAL in exchange for the retirements of the five mostly senior economists (William Gunther, Edward Nissan, Trellis Green, Mark Klinedinst, George Carter). According to Kemp, the proposed plan would take all economics courses and one of three economics majors away from the CoB and house them with the four economists in dean Denise von Herrmann's CoAL.

(September 21, 2009) CoB Dean on Mississippi’s Budget Crisis A Look Back at the “State of the CoB” Address In his 18-Sept-09 “State of the CoB” address, CoB dean Lance Nail expounded upon Mississippi’s budget crisis of 2008-present. Nail told CoB faculty assembled in JAG that Mississippi’s new IHL Commissioner Hank Bounds expects to oversee a 10% cut in college/university funds in each of the next two fiscal years – 2011 and 2012. That would bring the total state funding cuts to USM and its brethren to somewhere between 25% and 30% over just three years. Currently, USM academic deans are working on providing the Martha Saunders administration of USM with a mid-year cut of 3.5%, which for the CoB will come to around $350,000. Also, each of USM’s colleges is expected to contribute a staff line to the cause. Sources are telling USMNEWS.net to expect hiring freezes throughout the university, and a suspension of university travel, etc.

(September 28, 2009) breaking news . . . USM to Cut more than $4.9 Million during Fall 2009 HATTIESBURG – USM Chief Financial Officer Joe Morgan has released the details of USM’s response to Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour’s call for state universities to slash their budgets. Those details (see usm.edu/budget/) indicate that USM will be cutting $4,994,386 from it current budget during fall semester 2009. Excluded from these cuts are scholarships, waivers, contingencies and fixed costs, which are all being sheltered from budget cutting by the Martha Saunders administration. Although unfilled faculty/staff positions will likely be used to cover the more than $4.9 million budget cut, USM officials have not decided how the cuts will be made on a department by-department basis at this time.

(October 12, 2009) CoB News, 12 October 2009 “Beleaguered Nail,” by 31st & Pearl Columnist CoB dean Lance Nail must be feeling the sting of losing another battle with the CoB’s economists, who were recently saved from Nail’s budget-cutting by the Martha Saunders administration of USM. Now comes the bleakest of pictures, painted at USM’s fall 2009 convocation by Mississippi IHL Commissioner Hank Bounds