http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070408/COL0402/704080322/1161/OPINION

'Magnetic' Saunders, USM seem a good fit
By Ronnie Agnew

The meetings could more accurately be described as a lovefest....

...ultra-secretive process to find her aside,...

...USM didn't just hire a president the other day; the school hired a female president - the first to lead one of Mississippi's Big 4 universities....

...58-year-old woman who  looks 10 years younger...

...But Thames, who has done much good as a father of USM's famed Polymer Science Institute, has mellowed in recent years.

Criticism has waned. It would appear that he has learned the art of consensus building.

That sets a sturdier table for Saunders, who will have her own challenges as the school's ninth president....