To the Southern Miss Community:

It has been a busy time for me as I reacquaint myself with Southern Miss.  The campus this summer is busier than ever. We are having record numbers of summer camps and our summer semester is well underway.  I will be working from the Gulf Coast campuses alternate weeks this summer and enjoyed my first day there last Friday. 

Master Facility Plan for Hattiesburg

I saw a presentation of the Master Plan for the Hattiesburg campus. Many people from the university community and a highly skilled consulting consortium have contributed to this work over the past year and a half. It is our first comprehensive plan and it has been designed to take Southern Miss forward for the next ten to twenty years.

You can see the plan presentations online at:

http://projects.sasaki.com/usm/worktodate.html

Some key aspects include the north expansion of our campus as we build new residence halls; maintaining principles of enhancing learning environments, energy conservation and the use of open space and buildings; and highlighting the importance of working with the City of Hattiesburg to strategically grow our university within our hometown setting in ways that make good sense for us all.

We continue to have a lot of good news from across the university. Here are a few of those stories:

New Dean of the Honors College Announced

A veteran journalism educator and administrator at the University of Southern Mississippi has been selected as the new dean of Southern Miss Honors College following the completion of a national search for the position. Dr. David R. Davies, who currently serves as associate dean of the Southern Miss College of Arts and Letter, and as professor and associate director of the School of Mass Communication and Journalism, will begin serving as dean Aug. 1. Congratulations Dr. Davies and read more about this appointment.

New Masters Program Debuts on the Gulf Coast this Fall

The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast will offer the Master of Education degree in college student personnel services beginning in fall 2007. This degree program prepares students to work in the field of student affairs within community colleges, colleges and universities. The program will be offered part-time on the Gulf Coast campus and all of the courses will be offered online, in the evenings or on Saturdays. Students taking two classes per semester can typically finish the masters degree program in two academic years. Read more here.

Mini Sessions Growing in Popularity
A growing number of students are taking advantage of The University of Southern Mississippis mini-session course offerings available during the two-week intervals between semesters. Southern Miss now offers a wide variety of these courses at both its Hattiesburg and Gulf Coast campuses. They are delivered in an accelerated one or two-week format and are perfect for the working individual or student who wishes to earn additional hours in a semester. Get the full story here.

Martha D. Saunders, PhD

President