(October 4, 2010) From Cowbells to “Lymanese” One Major Theme from the Oct-2010 USM Faculty Senate Meeting Unlike what is going on at USM, where athletics appears to be draining the institution’s tuition pool and general education fund, the athletics department at Mississippi State University is giving back to the academic side of its institutional home. According to Libby Sander’s 30-Sept-2010 news story for The Chronicle of Higher Education, 406 MSU faculty members each recently received a bonus of $2,500 (406 x $2,500 = $1.015 million) that was made possible by a $2 million fund consisting of $0.75 million from the institution’s athletics department and $1.25 million from private supporters.

ARTICLES CONCERNING
ROBERT LYMAN, PROVOST
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI

For more articles and editorials concerning Dr. Lyman please click here.

(October 5, 2010) Dr. Lyman & “Mr. Kemp” A Guest Editorial At the 1-Oct-2010 USM faculty senate meeting, USM provost Robert Lyman stated that “Mr. Kemp” – referring to The Hattiesburg American’s higher education reporter Ed Kemp – had done a number of “jobs” on USM in his reporting of the latest financial crisis to shake the 100-year old institution.

(October 5, 2010) A Voice of One? More Questions About the 1-Oct-2010 Faculty Senate Meeting The quote below comes from the final portion of the 1-Oct-2010 USM faculty senate meeting: “The house is burning down, and we’re spending too much time on committee reports. Whereas today we should’ve debated . . . a fierce debate on what we want the administration to know.”

(October 20, 2010) GH Chatter The appeals process for the recent faculty terminations is, as expected, generating lots of chatter. It seems the USM liberal arts faculty are on the verge of an uprising of sorts regarding the composition of the appeals committee. For one, science & technology reportedly dominates the five faculty slots on the committee. Some are also saying that Tammy Barry, the academic council representative from the group, will provide a pro-administration take on budget cuts since she was once USM provost’s Robert Lyman’s student. Judging by chatter, the appeals process promises to be a three-ring circus.

(November 17, 2010) Special Report ‘IMPEACH’ USM’s New Retention Rewards Program In what USMNEWS.net sources are referring to as USM’s surprise Incentive Model for Promoting Efforts to Advance Credit Hours (IMPEACH), the Martha Saunders administration is now using a line item in the USM budget to reward student retention successes at the department level at USM.