Holiday greetings to all,

It is a special time of year. We gather with friends and family and look ahead to the possibilities of a new year. Here at Southern Miss, we are doing just that.

The past few weeks have been exciting with quite a bit going on. We have a new football coach, are near to closing our search for a new vice president for advancement and graduated more than 1,200 students at fall commencement. Ive received quite a few phone calls and messages from people interested in happenings on campus and I apologize if I havent been able to get back to you in a timely way.

Who We Are What We Dream.

The greater Southern Miss family came together and talked about our hopes, strengths and dreams for the university in campus and community dialogue sessions with more than 350 individuals. In this first step in the strategic planning process, we listened to the various voices that resulted in definition of the forces and areas to inform future action.

Deep within every organizational culture lies the values and beliefs that, over time, have evolved into cultural assumptions. These values, beliefs and assumptions are best discovered through the stories told by organizational members. The data gathered through the stories told during the campus and community dialogue sessions produced five forces central to the core of Southern Miss.

• Spirit of Humanity
• Self-Efficacy
• Collective Individualism
• Connection to Heritage and Tradition
• Commitment to Diversity

These five forces of innovation represent those intangible characteristics that make Southern Miss what it is while at the same time providing the energy to move Southern Miss toward its desired future. See the complete report here.

Planning for the Gulf Coast

Initial programming plans looking at potential academic offerings for the new Cross Creek campus in Harrison County were presented to the Institutions of Higher Learning committee that is directing the development project. We are in an active planning phase for the 200-acre development that is located on the I-10 corridor north of Long Beach. It is an exciting time to come together with the leadership and community of the Gulf Coast to envision the Southern Miss campus of the future on the Cross Creek site.

Welcome Coach Larry Fedora

It was a great day! We gave a loud, spirited welcome to Larry Fedora, his wife Kristi and four children during a Dec. 12 press conference at the Thad Cochran Center. Ive talked at length with Coach Fedora and feel that he has the best interest of the student-athlete at heart. I believe he can take us to the next level of excellence. It has been a collaborative, successful search process and I cant wait to be at The Rock in 2008!

See more information about Coach Fedora here. Sothern Miss to the Top!

More campus news

Honorary Degree Granted to David Fine

Houston, Texas, healthcare executive David J. Fine received the Doctor of Philosophy Honoris Causa during December commencement ceremonies. Since June 2004, Fine has served as president and chief executive officer of St. Lukes Episcopal Health System in Houston. St. Lukes is a multi-hospital, integrated healthcare delivery system with 7,000 employees and $1 billion in net patient revenues. It is the home of the famed Texas Heart Institute and the Episcopal Health Charities of the Diocese of Texas. Mr. Fine has 30 years of experience as a healthcare executive, including 20 years as a CEO of university hospitals, multi-hospital systems, medical groups and managed care organizations. We are proud to honor David Fine for his distinguished career in the healthcare field and add him to the list of distinguished graduates of our university. See the complete story here.

Gulf Coast Team Wins Business Plan Competition

A plan to market a product that would alert parents or caregivers when children are left unattended in vehicles won the top prize in the third annual Golden Eagle Challenge, a business plan competition hosted by the College of Business. The graduate student team of E.J. Croal of Gulfport, Justin Crockett of Biloxi, Brenda Lewis of Gautier, Yen Nguyen of Biloxi and Ashleigh Rogers of Ocean Springs formed the fictional company Angel Tech LLC. All are students in the Master of Business Administration program. Read more on their winning idea here.

Southern Miss Theatre Production Selected To Perform

The Department of Theatre and Dance fall semester production of Doubt has been invited to perform at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (ACTF) regional conference Feb. 5-10, 2008, at Clemson University in South Carolina. Our theater and dance department has the reputation of quality productions and has a proven track record with the ACTF program. The Southern Miss production is one of five selected from among 23 productions nominated from 10 Southeastern states. Get the complete story here.

2007 what a year!    

It has been a personally momentous year for me and my family. I am home. I continue to work hard each day to live up to the promises I made back in May as I stepped into this role. We have made a lot of progress and have built momentum for an exciting 2008.

Thank you for your kindness and support of this great university. We need to continue to nurture, guide, protect, expand and make big dreams for Southern Miss. We will do so together in the new year.

To all in the Southern Miss family, happy holidays!

Dr. Martha D. Saunders
President