Happy New Year!

Between a joyous December commencement ceremony where more than 1200 graduated to closing for the holidays, I was busy wrapping up the old year and preparing for the new.

During this time we added a new vice president for advancement. David Wolf, assistant vice president for development at the University of Alabama, will join my executive team in February. David comes to us with high praise from those with whom and for whom he has worked in the past and we are happy to welcome him to our Southern Miss family in this important role. He will be overseeing Foundation activities as well as other areas of advancement for the university.

With one executive position to fill, the university provost, my team is really shaping up. The provost selection process is continuing to move forward and we should be interviewing finalists early in 2008.

Ill be spending much of my time over the next couple of months moving forward with our strategic planning initiative. The results from last semesters campus dialogues have given us a good platform for planning. After we refine our anticipated outcome measures, I will appoint a new University Planning Committee to develop goals and priorities for the 2008-2013 planning period. This planning coincides nicely with the strategic planning process currently underway with the IHL Board.

As we welcome in 2008, I want to share other news from our campuses:

Nationally Honored

Royal P. Walker, co-director of the Institute for Disability Studies, Mississippis University Center for Excellence located at The University of Southern Mississippi, received the 2006-07 Presidents Award at the Association of University Centers on Disabilities Awards breakfast held recently at the organizations annual conference in Washington, D.C. Read the full story here.

Experts to Speak at Inaugural Economic Outlook Conference

Set for Jan. 10 and hosted by the College of Business Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER), Southern Miss hosts experts to cover the 2008 economic forecast as well as provide updates on the post-Katrina recovery efforts along the Coast. Speakers include: Dr. Thomas J. Cunningham, vice president and associate director of research for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, who will address the U.S. economic outlook; Dr. Darrin M. Webb, senior economist for the Center for Policy Research and Planning at the Mississippi Institutions for Higher Learning, who will speak on the economic outlook for Mississippi and Dr. Ed Ranck, faculty and associate director of BBER, who will discuss economic recovery on the Gulf Coast post-Katrina. Read more here.

Ground Breaking for NEW Ogletree House January 18

The University of Southern Mississippi Alumni Association is celebrating the success of the $3 million Ogletree House Campaign. Campaign co-chairs Lou Ann Poynter and Dr. Aubrey K. Lucas announced that commitments to the campaign exceed the $3 million goal, and groundbreaking ceremonies for the new facility will be held Friday, Jan. 18, at 2 p.m.
Alumni Association staff have temporarily re-located and are assuring alumni that services are delivered as usual during the construction project. Get the full story here.

Looking forward

In the past seven months I have often said that the future is bright at The University of Southern Mississippi. I look forward to a bright 2008 and hope that you and your family share the same.

Dr. Martha D. Saunders
President