This is not how a real "wurl class"university is run. To basically install someone as vindictive and mean-spirited as the new chair of Polymer Science is such a bad move, regardless, and to have SFT meddling in his own department this way (over the objections of the faculty) is completely backwater. I hear the new chair is taking names and meting out punishments left and right. Sounds very much like what happened in the English dept. when the faculty voted for Noel Polk as new chair back in 2003, and SFT went against them. The chickens have come home to roost even in PSC, it seems.

No rest for the wicked until May 2007.

I have been following the psc director selection process as closely as one can who is outside the department. Marek Urban is the chair and none of the polymer professors I spoke to mentioned any dissention. Shelby's name was also not mentioned. Frankly, NO ONE wanted the position and I can't blame them. That must be an impossible job.

What happened to the high profile candidate for their Director position that Polymers pursued before Katrina?

As one who is unfamiliar with university mechanics, what power does SFT wield in polymer sci exactly? Or should I say what is the source (other than him now being the president) ?  It was my understanding that most professors over there respected him, but knew he is a complete jerk so they basically ignored him.  The grad students certainly did because he never got any good ones- and that's a fact.

Job seeker wrote:

---

The "secretary spat" scenario outlined above is puzzling, because there is a job posting on USM's HR site for an administrative assistant to the chair of Polymer Science.

---

Almost every professor in PolySci has their own administrative assistant. Thus, many secretaries = possibilities for many spats.

And, woe to the person who takes the job listed above! Working for the "new chair" would be a true nightmare.

Polly Polymer wrote:

---

His power is supreme...didn't you get that memo? He already meddled in at least one other chair decision mentioned on this thread (English Dept.). What makes you think he wouldn't do it in his own dept.?

---

Do faculty members in a department generally get to "meddle" with the department chair selection process? SFT is in fact still listed as a member of the Polymer Science Department, which coincidentally must have close to a one-to-one ratio between faculty & the number of undergraduate degrees it awards annually.

Invictus wrote:

---

...which coincidentally must have close to a one-to-one ratio between faculty & the number of undergraduate degrees it awards annually.

---

PS does not look as bad with 19 faculty and 29 grads (14 BS 3 MS 12 PhD) as some other departments in the college: Math 23 faculty for 22 grads (21 BS 1 MS), Chem 18 faculty for 17 grads (15 BS 1 MS 1 PhD), Physics 8 faculty for 1 grad (1 MS), Geology 6 faculty for 6 grads (5 BS 1 MS), Geography 8 faculty for 12 grads (8 BS 4 MS), and one outside CoST Philosophy 8 faculty for 9 grads (7 BA 2 MA).

5 of 17 departments in CoST make up 79% of all grads (AoJ 76, Bio 132, CS 49, EngTech 90, & Const 77).  By the way, Construction???? what the heck is that????  Is it a quasi engineering program?

In fact, CoST has the lowest grad to fac ratio of any college (2.98), even CoAL with heavy faculty departments like music still has a 3.36 ratio (others: CoH 5.79, CoB 7.52, CoEP 9.14).

*All data from fiscal year 2004 as reported in the USM fact book.

Little number Annie wrote:

---

Poly sci doesn't offer any core courses does it? Math, chem, even philosophy offer courses to non-majors to fulfill core requirements, so the faculty-to-graduate ratio doesn't tell us that much. Credit hour production might be more telling.

---

Polymer has one core course, the "material world" one but enrollment is low. The polymer credit hour numbers are not bad because their undergraduates take almost exclusively polymer courses their junior and senior year and their appx 80 graduate students take 16 hrs/ semester of polymer courses, mostly research hours.

Back to the original post on this thread, what was the point?

asdf wrote:

---

COST faculty wrote:
...Back to the original post on this thread, what was the point?
I think the original poster was trying to point that the rankings from the mid 90's that Polymer, the university, and heck, even Hattiesburg, still brags about is no longer the case.

---

... and possibly never really was the case.

2004 fact book wrote:

---

PS does not look as bad with 19 faculty and 29 grads (14 BS 3 MS 12 PhD) as some other departments in the college: Math 23 faculty for 22 grads (21 BS 1 MS), Chem 18 faculty for 17 grads (15 BS 1 MS 1 PhD), Physics 8 faculty for 1 grad (1 MS), Geology 6 faculty for 6 grads (5 BS 1 MS), Geography 8 faculty for 12 grads (8 BS 4 MS). . .

---

And of the 23 math faculty, how many graduate faculty are housed at the Hattiesburg campus? How many faculty in polymer science hold instructor status? How about the other departments?

From USDM Website.  Math 2005-2006  14 graduate faculty

*ADAN-BANTE, Edith, Assistant Professor.

BELL, Lue Birdia, Instructor. 

BISHOP, Nell K., Instructor. 

*CHEN, C.S., Professor and Chair.

*CONTRERAS, Jose A., Associate Professor

*CWIKLA, Julie, Assistant Professor.

*DING, Jiu, Professor.

DUDLEY, John C., Instructor. 

FLETCHER, Janice G., Instructor

*HARRIS, John M., Assistant Professor.

*HENRY, Myron S., Professor.

*HORNOR, William E., Professor. 

HOWELL, Susan R., Instructor.

*KOLIBAL, Joseph G., Associate Professor

*LEE, Sungwook, Assistant Professor

MCDOWELL, Lida G., Instructor. 

MEAD, Lawrence R., Associate Professor of Physics and Mathematics

PETERS, Mary B., Instructor.

*PIAZZA, Barry L., Professor. 

*PYE, Wallace C., Professor. 

*ROSS, Susan, Assistant Professor. 

VISITORS

SMITH, Gaston W., Instructor.

NAQUIN, Marlene, Mathematics Lab Coordinator

*TIAN, Haiyan., Assistant Professor.

ADJUNCTS

DAVIS, B. Jan, Instructor. 

DUNN, Nancy R.., Instructor

JUNEAU, Jon, Adjunct Instructor.

SIMON, David, Adjunct Instructor.

SMITH, Robert C., Instructor. 

 

Just Coasting wrote:

---

Organic Chemistry & Polymer Science

---

In view of the numorous mergers and consolidations of various depatments and colleges at USM over the years, allegedly to save money, how is it that Polymer Science has survived unscathed as a departmental entity unto itself? Qute a few of the other mergers and consolidations were very inappropriate. Finding an appropriate home for Polymer Science should have been a piece of cake during the various reorganizations.

COST Was Us wrote:

---

My experience of working with Debbie Ballard in the past qualifies me say she is in no way a mere secretary. As Dr. Thames's assistant in the Polymer Department, she is an extension of his will. Just as thin skinned, just as judgemental and just as parochial as the man himself. Spat? no, she is merely securing her top spot in the pecking order. 

---

I completely agree.  In fact, many of the draconian aspects of working in the Thames Research Group were due to Debbie, not Shelby. 

sorry, "Polymer Science Alumnus" not "Polymer Science Alumni". Don't want to reflect poorly on the language skills I learned at my Alma Mater.