ARTICLES CONCERNING
SHELBY F. THAMES, FORMER PRESIDENT
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI

For more articles and editorials concerning Dr. Thames, please click here.

(April 21, 2011) Special Report Think The Student Printz is in the Tank? A few USMNEWS.net readers have expressed the view that USM’s student newspaper, The Student Printz, has been, thus far during 2011, in the proverbial tank for the institution’s administration. This opinion has also been stated by some USMNEWS.net reporters and contributors.

(May 10, 2011) No Confidence . . . by the Numbers A GUEST COLUMN Votes of “no confidence” have spread from the Shelby Thames administration of USM (2002-07) to the University of Houston at Victoria, where former USM (Thamesian) provost Tim Hudson served as president until Aug-2010, and where former USM (Thamesian) associate dean Farhang Niroomand now serves as b-school dean.

(May 27, 2011) (update) 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).

July 15, 2011) Something Different As president of USM from 2002-07, Shelby Thames had a specific vision for what the institution should become. He wanted to expand the sciences at the expense of the liberal arts. He pushed funded research, profit centers, and faculty entrepreneurism, and he enlisted a cadre of local business people to support this vision. Most USM faculty disagreed, and rightly so. They coalesced, and made administrative life difficult for Thames. Eventually, Thames’ disastrous regime ended without irreparably harming the nearly 100 year old university.