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(December 1, 2009) CoB News, 1 Dece mber 2009 "Faculty Members do more than Teach" Former USM provost Tim Hudson, now president of the University of Houston at Victoria, recently wrote an op-ed for the Victoria Advocate defending the work that university faculty do. As you will see from the link above, former CoB associate dean Farhang Niroomand is prominently featured in the story. Hudson's UH-V views may come as a surprise to some USMers, particularly considering the prominent role he played in what many consider the oppressive/anti-intellectual Shelby F. Thames administration (2002-07) at USM.

(April 7, 2010) GH Chatter A number of CoBers and USMers are still talking about Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour’s participation in last week’s Centennial Convocation. If you were there you saw Barbour joke around with former (controversial) USM president Shelby Thames, who was in the audience, about his (Thames’) age. Barbour also went on and on about Thames’ work with polymers. It was clear the two are best buds. Barbour again called MS universities “gold mines.” None of this suggests anything has changed in the state.

(April 14, 2010) Gone and now remembered "USM News Item: On April 23, 2010 the Advanced Education Center at the Gulf Park Campus will be dedicated and re-named the Horace Weldon Fleming, Jr. Education Center." All too many people like to revise history to suit their own personal desires. When Horace Fleming was President of USM he was a man ahead of his time. Coming out of a non-state university environment, he started looking for ways to raise private money for USM. That is now expected. He was mostly disliked because he was not Aubrey Lucas. He thought wearing a suit just to be seen wearing a suit – especially in many months of summer – was silly and added nothing to productivity. It seems his stock value has now risen after the Shelby Thames administration, and perhaps, even during the Martha Saunders administration. Once again, as has so often happened at Southern Miss, people in the past start looking better as their successors administrate.

(April 15, 2010) 31st & Pearl Bad President Fatigue The recent USMNEWS.net editorial about the dedication of a USM-GC education center to former USM president Horace Fleming struck a chord with many. Fleming may have become USM’s greatest president if only the USM family had properly accepted him. He fought hard for USM’s share of public support, and he sought to augment that with private donations. Sure, he was not Aubrey Lucas. But then again, Lucas sat in the stands and watched the Shelby Thames administration dismantle just about everything that was good about the institution. It’s difficult to imagine Fleming doing the same, as it is to imagine Fleming choosing to hold the title of president emeritus and drawing a near-six figure salary for years in that position.

(May 25, 2010) Tracking Turnover through Tenure A Look at How Bad Leadership has Impacted USM Regular followers of happenings at the University of Southern Mississippi are well aware of the damage done to the institution by the Shelby F. Thames administration (2002-07). Thames’ tenure was characterized by scandals, beginning immediately upon taking office. Those scandals led to unprecedented faculty turnover during the 2002-07 period. That turnover suggests that USM would begin to see unprecedented numbers of tenure awards beginning in 2009, and carrying through to subsequent years. The figure below tracks the number of USM faculty awarded tenure for the 2003-10 period, using data collected from the Mississippi IHL’s May meetings minutes from each year.