I am constantly amazed at how many innovative concepts are generated in Mississippi, especially at USM. No one in the whole US has thought of this combination. Tis, but another example of the World Class status of USM. It makes me proud to walk into the classroom next month.

From the article:  "This program is really for those of us who think outside the box and want the opportunity to take research and become small business owners."

Let's examine this statement. For starters, a Ph.D. is a research degree, not a practice or professional degree. If the goal of a program's enrollees is to ". . . become small busness owners," perhaps the degree should be changed from a Ph.D. to something implying professional practice rather than research. For instance, perhaps the terminal degree in  Polymer Science should be changed from a Ph.D. to a D.I.P.S. degree (Doctorate in Polymer Science). Medicine and Law, appropriately, already do this (Appropriately, they do not offer the Ph.D. They offer an M.D. or a J.D.  Further, the term ". . . take research and become small business owners" does seem to make it clear that taking rather than giving is the primary goal. Nuf said. The philosophy experessed in this letter reflects quite the opposite the reasons I entered academics.  

Eating Bread while my students eat cake and By Grave

Thank you for supporting my observation that has "Mississippi's educational mentality stuck in the beginning of the last century" with two solid statements that help explain why the "New Economy" has passed Mississippi by.

 

Angeline wrote:

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... Thames could have done all of this where he was. Instead, with him as president we are all told essentially to become polymer scientists or other profiters from the public dole (notice how all of this is funded with a grant of your tax dollars) or get lost. This is a glorified trade school if this is all USM is to be.

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Angeline, SFT has been going this for at least three decades.  I remember when Polymer Science was going to "enhance oil recovery" after the fuel shortage in the seventies.  Then it was "plastics for the artificial heart" in the eighties. I believe in the nineties it was using polymers for "drag reduction" for Navy ships, etc, etc.  I believe all of these projects were funded with tax dollars.  Newspapers announced when the grants were obtained, but that was the last we would hear of these projects.  

and recently it has been the odorless paint. someone told me that interior decorators around town tell folks that if you tint the paint, it then has an odor. it also is apparently not a very good paint--usm's physical plant has even said that. ??could that be the reason for the proposed outsourcing??

stinky cheese man wrote:

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and recently it has been the odorless paint. someone told me that interior decorators around town tell folks that if you tint the paint, it then has an odor

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I'll bet if you give it a Soylant Green tint it will smell delightful. Much like the stuff they spray in your vehicle at carwashes.