H.A. Update--Saunders sets broad agenda - USM Forum -- Message Board

Reporter · Status: Offline

H.A. Update--Saunders sets broad agenda

Googler · Status: Offline

Reporter wrote:

Saunders sets broad agenda

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070613/NEWS01/70613007

"...rebuilding the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast operation, increasing philanthropic giving and encouraging collaborative leadership are priorities for the university's new administration....

...By the beginning of the fall semester, Saunders... said she will make an announcement about cabinet personnel, most of whom were hired under former President Shelby Thames.

She is "leaning toward whittling down" the number of people that report directly to her, she said ..."

Read more in tomorrow's print edition of the Hattiesburg American.

She is "leaning toward whittling down" the number of people that report directly to her, she said ..."

Could this finally mean the university will have a Provost to whom all of the VPs report, and who is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the institution, freeing up President Saunders for external initiatives (friendraising as well as fundraising) and for her to devote a large amount of her time to the rebirth and expansion of the Gulf Coast campuses?

Current USM organizational chart

LVN · Status: Offline

Thanks Googler, that was interesting. I noticed that the assessment person has a fair amount of oversight, including Institutional Research. That's one office that is usually (in my limited experience) a direct report to the president of an institution. When I worked in IR elsewhere, we briefly tried having us report to a VP of planning or some such, and for reasons lost in the dim mists of time, it didn't work well.

Reporter · Status: Offline

The Rest of the story:

Saunders has broad agenda

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070614/NEWS01/706140339/1002

"Boosting philanthropic giving, then, is the key. "We really haven't tapped that," she said...."

"Personnel. ... Saunders said she expects to announce by the beginning of the fall semester changes at the university's cabinet level."
......

"the hiring process for a new university librarian and new deans for the colleges of arts and letters, science and technology and business will get under way within the next several weeks, she said. All will be national searches, though current Southern Miss personnel and interim deans will be encouraged to apply if interested."

"Building trust. ..."Universities are not like most organizations we know; they're non-hierarchical," she said. "Just because I'm the president doesn't make me the top of the heap - it makes me the president." Consultation with stakeholders will be part of the decision-making process, she said, because even when her final decisions disappoint some, "at least people will be able to say, 'At least she asked.'"

stinky cheese man · Status: Offline

the article puts words in Saunders mouth when it refers to the particular dean searches that are beginning. Saunders did not identify any particular dean search, except the librarian search. she did not say a search was going to occur for the college of science and technology. the questioner asked about the arts and letters deanship and the college of business deanship. (there is a recording of this meeting on the HA website if you want to listen. saunders is impressive.)

DJ · Status: Offline

Either I am confused or I have missed something. i thought it was CoEP, Arts & Letters and Business that had interim deans. Did Rex Gandy step down in CoST?
And why isn't CoEP on the list of deans for which a search will begin soon?

stinky cheese man · Status: Offline

DJ--you are correct--it's COAL, COEP, COB, and the library that have interim deans, and those searches are going to begin shortly. the person writing the HA story got it wrong and Saunders didn't say COST. poor writing on the part of the reporter.

DJ · Status: Offline

Thanks for the clarification, SCM. Hoping that all the good things I keep hearing about MDS continue! She sounds like she is very much on top of her game.