The web page indicates not available until August 19th?

 

Break it to me gently wrote:

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I checked two news stands today and it had not arrived. Maybe the online premium edition appeared first. I have the old 2005 edition. A side-by-side comparison should be instructive.

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Here is the link.  The online edition is not available until August 19th and the print edition later.  This may be a legit post because I suspect we will still be 4th tier but I am a little suspicious this person has seen the 2006 edition.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/store/products/collegepreorder_index.htm

 

 

Break it to me gently wrote:

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Break it to me gently wrote: I checked two news stands today and it had not arrived. Maybe the online premium edition appeared first. I have the old 2005 edition. A side-by-side comparison should be instructive. Copies of the old 2005 edition are all over various news stands. The new edition is "2006." Be careful or you'll wind up buying the old outdated 2005 version.

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I guess it was an overanxious clerk at Walden Books who got them out early here in Texas. I spotted the pristine stack and checked the date.  

Fourth Tier, with no explanation about not turning in the data...

Graduate of Honkeytonk U wrote:

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I guess it was an overanxious clerk at Walden Books who got them out early here in Texas. I spotted the pristine stack and checked the date.   Fourth Tier, with no explanation about not turning in the data...

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I looked for the new edition at our largest Austin Barnes & Noble last night. A clerk checked their computer and advised that the '06 USNWR publication wouldn't be out for another 7-10 days. You must be in a major market, Dallas or Houston?

One year ago....

HA, 08/21/04

U.S. News: USM is fourth-tier school

... "We are proud to be ranked among schools like Alabama and Michigan in the U.S. News and World Report ranking," Southern Miss spokeswoman Lisa Mader said Friday. "We are a Carnegie I Research Extensive university that ranks in the Class I Southern Regional Education Board rankings. The Carnegie status places us among an elite group of universities across the nation."

Other schools in the fourth tier are Alabama A&M University, Central Michigan University, Jackson State University, Louisiana Tech University and the universities of Houston, Memphis and South Alabama.

The magazine did not rank Southern Miss's graduate programs, reporting that USM did not return a survey document.

"We do not show receipt of a survey from U.S. News and World Report," Mader said. "Obviously if we didn't receive it, we didn't complete it and return it."...

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HA, 9/03/02

Thames blames Hudson for missing information

University of Southern Mississippi President Shelby Thames blamed former provost Tim Hudson on Thursday for failing to provide information about the Hattiesburg school for inclusion in U.S. News and World Report's annual America's Best Colleges report.

But Hudson, who began his new job Wednesday as president of the University of Houston-Victoria, says that task was never discussed with him by Southern Miss administrators....

... "The business of a university is knowledge and truth," Folse said. "And if we ever lose credibility, we lose the ability to call ourselves a university."

He said he was concerned with university spokeswoman Lisa Mader's comments Aug. 21 in the Hattiesburg American.

"We are proud to be ranked among schools like Alabama and Michigan in the U.S. News and World Report ranking," Mader was quoted as saying.

"It makes no sense," Folse said about Mader's comments. "It's like Coach Bower saying we're proud to be ranked with Southern Cal and LSU."

After the meeting, Mader said her statement came from a compilation of comments she made....

...Thames expressed cynicism about the newspaper's coverage of Southern Miss, saying there was "more accurate coverage in The Clarion Ledger and The Sun Herald than in our own paper."

Asked for clarification afterward, Thames said others shared his opinion of the newspaper.

"If you talk to business leaders in this community, they'll tell you the same thing - and I don't understand it," Thames said. "I don't understand why the Hattiesburg American appears to always take a negative connotation relative to this institution."

That should have been "HA, 9/03/04" for the second story.

Mover and Shaker wrote:

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If it weren't for Shelby Thames and his Polymer Science program no one outside of Miss would have ever heard of USM.If you think the school has ever been known for its liberal arts program,you are sadly mistaken. The titans of business and industry think very highly of Thames and his Polymer science program.

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Polymer Science doth not a UNIVERSITY make.

Me thinks "Graduate of Honkeytonk U" put out a bogus hook and caught many fish here. Robert Campbell, Reporter and other regulars would never have bitten on this story. I will wait for real confirmation from a regular.

Mover and Shaker wrote:

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If it weren't for Shelby Thames and his Polymer Science program no one outside of Miss would have ever heard of USM.If you think the school has ever been known for its liberal arts program,you are sadly mistaken. The titans of business and industry think very highly of Thames and his Polymer science program.

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Actually, most people I meet know of USM because of Brett Farve and not Polymer Science! 

Joker wrote:

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Me thinks "Graduate of Honkeytonk U" put out a bogus hook and caught many fish here. Robert Campbell, Reporter and other regulars would never have bitten on this story. I will wait for real confirmation from a regular.

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Colleges and universities have received advance notice of their rankings. But, I don't imagine USM is working behind the scenes on a press release to announce they are still in the 4th tier. Honeytonk knows the facts. He/she speaks the truth. 

 

 

Exit 13 wrote:

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 USM is in the 4th tier but probably should be even lower. 

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We would be lower if it were not for Brett . . . aside from the fact that most out of staters think he played for The University of Mississippi.

Mover and Shaker wrote:

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If it weren't for Shelby Thames and his Polymer Science program no one outside of Miss would have ever heard of USM.If you think the school has ever been known for its liberal arts program,you are sadly mistaken. The titans of business and industry think very highly of Thames and his Polymer science program.

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FWIW,

I, and many others, had heard of USM's English department for many positive reasons (Faulkner, Donne, creative writing, Southern studies).  I had NEVER heard of Shelby Thames until the huge front-page article about his firing of Gary Stringer and Frank Glamser appeared in the nationally-read Chronicle of Higher Education.  Unfortunately, I know from attending conferences that USM is now known nationally as "that school with the crazy president."  I believe I once read on this board that the USM English department was nationally ranked among the top 10% in the country.  That claim did not surprise me, because I personally had heard nothing but good things about the department.  Shelby has damaged many individual lives, but he has also damaged the wider reputation of the whole state of Mississippi throughout the academic world.

The Walking Wounded wrote:

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That would mean that the program in place is working and we're well on our way wouldn't it?

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Where in tarnation were you wounded, man? It must be a head injury.

Mover and Shaker wrote:

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If it weren't for Shelby Thames and his Polymer Science program no one outside of Miss would have ever heard of USM.If you think the school has ever been known for its liberal arts program,you are sadly mistaken. The titans of business and industry think very highly of Thames and his Polymer science program.

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People outside of the state had heard of the School of Music, too and believed it to be a solid program. But having lost 14 faculty members, I doubt it will maintain its reputation for long.