What is USM's "niche" in life? Invictus, in a statement made in the middle of another thread, suggested that this is the $64,000 question. But nobody responded. I believe that is an important question, so I am starting this new thread on the topic.

Mississippi's other institutions of higher education seem to have a clearly defined mission or vision of themselves  - even beyond that stated in the rhetoric of their respective catalogues. Their "self concept." They are aware of the "peer" institutions which share similar goals, or to which they aspire to emulate. What are USM's "peer" institutions and how does USM's "self concept" differ, if at all, from the other of Mississippi's institutions of higher education?

Mississippi State University. As a land-grant university, Mississippi State relates philosophically to other land-grant institutions such as Auburn, Clemson, Cornell, LSU, North Carolina State, Penn State, Rutgers, University of Tennessee, Virginia Tech, and Washington State, to name only 10 of the 75+ land-grant universities in the nation.

University of Mississippi. Ole Miss seems to relate, at least in their heart, to public universities which are generally regarded to be the "flagship" - perhaps even considered the "elitist" - institutions in their respective states.  Three come to mind: In North Carolina: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In Texas: University of Texas. In Virginia: University of Virginia.

Millsaps. As a small, nationally-recognized liberal arts college (often recommended to their better students even by guidance counselors in the best high schools in the Northeast), Millsaps seems to be, or aspires to be, much like Williams, Carleton, Bowdoin, Washington & Lee, Grinnell, Oberlin, Franklin & Marshall, Rhodes, Wofford, and Knox (to name only 10 of the hoards of small liberal arts colleges with high admissions standards and which have been producing leaders in industry and in the arts and sciences for many years).

Mississippi College. Mississippi College has morphed, slowly but surely, from a small liberal arts college into a small university which still retains the name "college." From my pespective, it's current "peer" group includes schools such as the University of Richmond and  Stetson University (both of which also have law schools I believe). If the morphing continues at the present pace, it could turn wind up being regarded as Mississippi's major private university such as Wake Forest or Baylor or Mercer are in their respective states.

William Carey. Perhaps the folks at Carey will not agree with this, but I see William Carey at a school on the move. Much like Mississippi College was many years ago, it is a character-building fine liberal arts college whose "peers" include Belmont (Nashville), Bluefield College  (Virginia), Louisiana College (Louisiana), Palm Beach Atlantic (Florida), and Hardin-Simmons (Texas).

Jackson State University: As Mississippi's "Urban" university, I believe that - given its geographical position - it could eventuallly become to Mississippi as other urban schools are to their respective states: Georgia State (Atlanta), Wayne State (Detroit), Virginia Commonwealth (Richmond), University of New Orleans (Louisiana), Univeristy of Houston (Houston), and American University (District of Columbia). Remember, Jackson State has only recently been designated as one of Mississippi's  "comprehensive" state universities. It will take time, but my guess is that the aforementioned schools are the types to which they aspire.

Perhaps I have misplaced one or two of the "peer" schools cited above, but I hope you get my drift. So what is the answer to Invictus's "$64,000 question?" Just what is USM's "niche?" Who are our "peer" schools (present & aspirational)? Surely not Carnegie-Mellon, or MIT, or Cal Tech, as that seems to be a little out of reach right now. But somebody, somewhere, surely knows where we are going and what we aspire to be. There must be a "grand plan" sitting in some administrator's office, or at theIHL in Jackson. Anybody interested in this topic?