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Originally posted by: John 'Bluto' Blutarsky
"Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?   no!"

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The Germans? And they used to say not to believe anybody over 30.

Bluto was of course recalling his lines from Animal House,
http://members.screenz.com/ScottHooper/Waves/Movies/Animalhouse/germans.wav.

7 years of college down the drain...

I don't think he did.  I believe his use of the term "professor" is as uninformed as the rest of his academic blunders.  Should be easy enough to find out, ask Dean Gandy.

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Originally posted by: Lost in Space and Translation
"I love all the "Animal House" references and jokes, but I'd really like some serious answers to the questions I posed in the first message on this thread. Can anyone help me out?
Thanks,
Lost"

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Lost,

I'm sorry, but I doubt that there is someone out there who could give you a credible explanation to these questions, other than those who were directly involved, and (to coin a phrase) "They ain't talkin'!"

With this in mind, I would speculate that this is just another example of the rampant cronyism that has been taking place on campus for the last 2 1/2 years. If SFT (or one of his hand-picked crony's) likes you, or perhaps likes some idea of yours, you're set. Rapid, non-reviewed promotions, higher-than-average "merit" pay raises, committee chairmanships . . . the list goes on.

Does he really hold the rank of Full Professor? Again, I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

Were faculty members involved in the decision? Well, when has Shelby and crew ever cared to involve the faculty in anything? I seriously doubt that he did this time, either.

What college endorsed this move? Doesn't matter - they're all under SFT's thumb now. I firmly believe that this was the true reason for the "paring down" from 9 Colleges to 5, so that SFT could place hand-picked people in charge of them. Since all 5 are now beholden to him for their positions, they will pretty much do what he says. Endorse a meteoric promotion for someone they like? No problem.

Thanks to all for the responses to my question. I sincerely hope that "Let the Academics Govern" is correct - that Kenbot's use of "professor" on the website is just more evidence of how uninformed he is about about academic matters. If he's really a full professor now, that along with the news about the COB's new research agenda, makes me feel that I'm ready for the cyanide pill. This is so depressing.

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Originally posted by: Let the academics govern
"I don't think he did.  I believe his use of the term "professor" is as uninformed as the rest of his academic blunders.  Should be easy enough to find out, ask Dean Gandy."

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Since very, very few in COB are doing baisc (as opposed to applied) research, it sounds like Grimes is just acknowledging the facts of the situation rather than issuing a mandate.

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Originally posted by: Funny
"Since very, very few in COB are doing baisc (as opposed to applied) research, it sounds like Grimes is just acknowledging the facts of the situation rather than issuing a mandate."

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Hell, very few professors in CoST do basic as opposed to applied research. In fact, I am unaware that the Polymer Science Department has ever done anything other than applied research. Could it be that there is a very strong perception by both Grimes & Thames (& Malone, for that matter) that applied research pays the bills?

Also, "applied research" performed by CoB for the local bidness community would strengthen support for Thames in the Hattiesburg area. And why not? Using public funds to perform services that private sector entities ought to consider as normal costs of doing business is what "economic development" is all about.

There are serious parallels between "economic development" & what was called "corporatism" in the 1930s.

Invictus,

One estimate I recall reading a few years ago: 90% of all Federally grant-funded research is applied research. From my experience as a psychologist, I'd say there's a little more basic research being funded than that 10%--but it's because it's been packaged as applied researcher and the reviewers have bought into the (not very realistic) claims about applications.

I get the impression, thought, that the applied research that folks in the CoB do wasn't applied enough, from Shelby's standpoint. He tends to equate "applied research" with "economic development," whose essence you've succinctly described.

Upper administrators don't like consulting because they don't get a cut of the proceeds--it's that simple.

By the way, since when did a university IRB not impose requirements on research with human subjects that professors are conducting at a remote site? At Clemson we've had some problems with our IRB trying to impose conditions (for instance, telling managers not to require employees to participate) that the managers of that business have no incentives to comply with.

Robert Campbell

Also, "applied research" performed by CoB for the local bidness community would strengthen support for Thames in the Hattiesburg area. And why not? Using public funds to perform services that private sector entities ought to consider as normal costs of doing business is what "economic development" is all about.

In most good universities, the type of activities referred to here would be classified as service. The term "economic development" is unknown there, if there is payment (as through the Small Business Development centers)it is called what it is, providing monies for administration to use.

Before the war he had been an alert, hard-hitting, aggressive, marketing executive. He was a very bad marketing executive. Colonel Cargill was so awful a marketing executive that his services were much sought after by firms eager to establish losses for tax purposes. Throughout the civilized world from Battery Park to Fulton Street, he was known as a dependable man for a fast tax write-off. His prices were high, for failure often did not come easily. He had to start at the top and work his way down, and with sympathetic friends in Washington, losing money was no simple matter. It took months of hard work and careful misplanning. A person misplaced, disorganized, miscalculated, overlooked everything and opened every loop-hole, and just when he thought he had it made, the government gave him a lake or a forest or an oilfield and spoiled everything. Even with such handicaps, Colonel Cargill could be relied on to run the most prosperous enterprise into the ground. He was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody.

 

--from Catch-22 , the novel by Joseph Heller

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Originally posted by: Resume Checker
"  Proves that a poseur,  if he/she repeats the lies often enough and with great passion,  can convince most people of most anything.  "

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Especially if she clenches her fists as her reddened eyes brim with tears at the thought of her lost academic career...

 

 

They say that life is tit for tat, and that's the way I live... so I deserve a lotta tat for what I've got to give.

Originally posted by: Kent "Flounder" Dorfman
"The timeline suggests that about the time he should have been getting tenured, he was pretty busy being ejected from the Chemistry Department for being obnoxious."

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But if "bedside manner" were used in personnel decisions, lots of faculty members - here and elsewhere - would be in a heap of trouble. We'd all go around smiling and asking our colleagues if they'd like a cup of coffee (and if they said "yes," we'd brew it for them). Collegiality is one thing, but being obnoxious is another.

NO QUARTER (I had to add these two little words so that my comment would not be taken the wrong way and so nobody would flame me).