English Chair Resigns (rumor) - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Aug 3, 2004

English Chair Resigns (rumor)

Date: Aug 3, 2004

yep, i heard the same thing. as soon as she knew hudson was going, she stepped down.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"yep, i heard the same thing. as soon as she knew hudson was going, she stepped down."

I doubt Hudson's going had anything to do with it. But, yes, I've heard this, too. I'm impressed she's wanted to stay in the position this long, given all that's happened. She's a great teacher (one of the best!), poet, and friend. It will be interesting to see who the next Eng. Dept. chair will be. Any bets?

Date: Aug 3, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: truth4usm/AH
"I doubt Hudson's going had anything to do with it. But, yes, I've heard this, too. I'm impressed she's wanted to stay in the position this long, given all that's happened. She's a great teacher (one of the best!), poet, and friend. It will be interesting to see who the next Eng. Dept. chair will be. Any bets?"

Maybe Ken Malone.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

i'm staking my worldly fortune (all dollar two eighty of it) on either Salda or Wheeler.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

Unless USM nepotism rules have changed (and we all know how possible that is!), Wheeler can't be chair now because his wife is also in the Eng. Dept. That rules out Barron and Weinauer, too. I doubt Salda would want to do it a second time. Richardson might be persuaded to take up the mantle again. Ryan is free now, since she's no longer asst. provost, but, again, would she want the hassle of it? Doubt it.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

I know a chair or two at USM who should step down, but the chair of English is definitely not one of those.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

yep, i forgot about Wheeler. Richardson could be a possibility. folks can't forget, Angela was appointed as interim until made the provost switch to the hattiesburg campus and removed the interim title.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

sorry add in there "until Hudson made the switch"

Date: Aug 3, 2004

Are you implying that Angela was somehow beholden to Tim Hudson for her position? I doubt that's the case. She's got enough credentials to stand on her own. My guess is that she just got tired of dealing with the idiocracy...er...bureaucracy that is Shelboo's administration.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

all i'm saying is that her appointment was interim until Hudson came here. i don't know if the department would have conducted a national search this past year if she had been interim. changing her position from interim was Hudson's decision. i also know Hudson had a habit of releasing information to the English department well before similar information was given to other departments. currying favor with English? i don't know.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

I can't imagine why anyone in his/her right mind, especially in a liberal arts department, would wish to be a chair these days. I wish all the best for Dr. Ball, and have added her successor to my prayer list!

Date: Aug 3, 2004

i am being absolutely facetious (sp?) when i respond to the question of being a chair in liberal arts--given the heat and how i've seen some people suffer working in it--inside work and no heavy lifting.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

The USM English Department has achieved the type of national academic visibility to which even some of the "real" world class universities aspire. Some of the English faculty members' names were common household words among colleagues in other departments at the same time those other universities were asking "What is a USM?" The USM English faculty has been more visible than the university with which they are affiliated. What other department at USM has achieved that level of national prominance? None that I can think of.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

to lights, camera, and action--even within the old CLA there are other departments where the faculty are better known than the university. they just don't get the publicity.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"to lights, camera, and action--even within the old CLA there are other departments where the faculty are better known than the university. they just don't get the publicity."

stinky,

My guess is that you are referring to Music. Is that right? If so, let me say that a carelessly neglect to mention that. Even when I was a high school student, growing up in another part of the state, USM was "the" place to go if one aspired to be a band director. I full well know that USM's music programs rapidly developed far beyond that limited scope.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Lights, Camera, Action
"The USM English Department has achieved the type of national academic visibility to which even some of the "real" world class universities aspire. Some of the English faculty members' names were common household words among colleagues in other departments at the same time those other universities were asking "What is a USM?" The USM English faculty has been more visible than the university with which they are affiliated. What other department at USM has achieved that level of national prominance? None that I can think of. "

I completely agree with you. The English Dept. is one held in high esteem by colleagues throughout the nation. And, it was this English Dept. that has taken lots of the heat for many occurences in the past couple of years. They do it because they are committed, intelligent, and laudable individuals who can clearly determine right from wrong.

Power to the People! No Quarter!!!

Date: Aug 3, 2004

no i wasn't thinking of music. there are others.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

Music was a widely reknowned program though. It carried the big recognition stick (not for being notorious, but for being highly esteemed).

Date: Aug 3, 2004

i find this discussion illuminating. i have felt for years that faculty / departments in the old CLA were relatively isolated from one another. people didn't know what faculty in other departments were doing. (i hope it wasn't because they didn't care!) they clearly had no idea of how those departments and their faculty were considered by those in their discipline. so, to limit the departments that have a reputation that was greater than USM to english or music is inaccurate.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

Martina Scolino wanted the job when Ball got it. I also heard she got one of the mid-year raises. What are the odds on her?

Date: Aug 3, 2004

Oh, you misunderstand me perhaps, I'm not limiting them - I'm just mentioning the ones that I personally and professionally knew of! I know that there are other great departments that are most worthy. I wouldn't have chosen to teach at USM if it wasn't noteworthy in many academic areas. I was very proud to be associated with a university that had (has/had/has/had/has) many stellar departments.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

sadly educator, you reinforce my perception that people "know" of some departments but don't "know" of others. how do we know things. accomplishments? reputations? sometimes it's hearing others "toot" the horn of some departments. but what if you don't know what other departments are doing? what if people don't care? there are departments and the faculty within them within COAL that are better known than the university. if folks can't figure them out, they should educate themselves.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"to lights, camera, and action--even within the old CLA there are other departments where the faculty are better known than the university. they just don't get the publicity."

hello again stinky,

I am aware that, scattered among the various departments on campus, there are individual scholars who reputations excede that of their department. I was, however, referring to departments - not to individual scholars. Basically, what I was trying to say is that English was able to attract a critical mass of scholars which enabled the department to become nationally visible. I know of no other department at USM which is so regarded by their peers nationally. If a prepondrance of USM departments had the national reputation of its English Department, USM would be (I'm embarrassed to use this term) "World Class." And I don't believe USM has achieved that distinction quite yet.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Lights, Camera, Action
" hello again stinky, I am aware that, scattered among the various departments on campus, there are individual scholars who reputations excede that of their department. I was, however, referring to departments - not to individual scholars. Basically, what I was trying to say is that English was able to attract a critical mass of scholars which enabled the department to become nationally visible. I know of no other department at USM which is so regarded by their peers nationally. If a prepondrance of USM departments had the national reputation of its English Department, USM would be (I'm embarrassed to use this term) "World Class." And I don't believe USM has achieved that distinction quite yet."

This raises an interesting question. I don't know whether, in the midst of all the other craziness that is going on, anyone wants to discuss it but my question is: how does a department (a college...a university) gain its national (international) reputation? Is it by developing a culture of (as someone suggested on the old Fire Shelby website) independent agents or is it by nurturing a community among academics (a community of scholars)? Is it by rewarding those who are "on the team" or those who excel individually? Is it by identifying and feeding an unusual niche or by spreading limited resources across disciplines?

Of all the MANY things that trouble me about USM, the greatest problem looming in my mind is that there is no consensus of strategic direction. Beginning at the IHL, continuing through the dome, the colleges, the departments -- there is no common goal. Someone (First Ant at the Picnic, maybe?) brought up on another thread where liberal arts goes, so will the university (or something like that -- forgive me for paraphrasing). It seems to me that there is NO meeting of the minds at this university about what USM has been, what it is, or what it will become. Add to that an administration that does not solicit, acknowledge, or respect the opinions or the process of soliciting opinions from its many constituencies, and there is a recipe for disaster.

Even worse than being "stuck in the middle"...

Date: Aug 3, 2004

I have never adhered to the belief that a couple of individuals can "carry" a department. I look at universities in my field (English) and continue to take note of those departments that have many heavyweights (for lack of a better term) in various and similar capacities making strides in all three areas as well as bringing new faculty into the fold and nurturing their voices (NOT in the Shelbywayclaim of "nurturing" either). When I see what I perceive to be one great "scholar" in a mediocre department - I am normally pretty unimpressed wondering why this person doesn't want other people around to challenge and grow professionally. The little pond can become a big pond if enough ducks (who can have egos but appreciate a good difference of opinion with noted collegiality) adhere to the Socratic notion that (a bit paraphrased) the most "knowing" people are those that know that they do not know everything.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

The USM English Department was two years ago cf. that department today is an entirely different creature. Some very outstanding people still remain - at least for the moment - but that department has taken quite a hit. The same is true for some other departments and programs at USM. Such is the legacy of the past two years. It is as if the downward trend, if graphed, takes the shape of a positively accelerated decreasing curve.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

to lights etc.--i'm speaking of departments (not individuals) that are better known than USM. why do some believe that some departments here are greater than USM (aka english) while others aren't? i'm not sure some know the other department's reputations well enough to make such a claim.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

Sort of an odd thread given the original post that started it - much of the discussion is off base. Angela resigned her chair position because she could no longer work with Dean Pood - it had absolutely nothing to do with Hudson or even the Dome. The issues of friction between Pood and the English department are many and deep. English used to be a stellar department but over the last two years so many top people have left that it is more along the lines of many other fine departments in the old CLA - a few very good nationally-prominent scholars surrounded by equally competent but not yet as accomplished scholars. Music and English are absolutely not the only "well-known" and academically respected departments in the new COAL.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

i'm not sure it didn't deal with more than Pood. maybe Angela realized that once Hudson resigned the english department didn't have a lot of support at the provost's level. put bluntly, english is having a hard time dealing with a new dean after 20 years of the former dean. change is difficult.