quote:

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Originally posted by: Malapropism
"Can I nominate Chancellor Gee for Mr. Wonderful's award?  And I like Chancellor as opposed to President/CEO too.  Maybe I'll argue for an honorary N d'A as well."

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Hey, no problem...he's a cool dude.  Wears bow-ties, too!  (remind you of anyone??)

quote:

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Originally posted by: Malapropism
"Can I nominate Chancellor Gee for Mr. Wonderful's award?  And I like Chancellor as opposed to President/CEO too.  Maybe I'll argue for an honorary N d'A as well."

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The Mr. Wonderful organization reviewed your suggestion and found it to be with merit. Because our weekly designations are designed only for statements made on the message board, however, we arranged for Chancellor Gee's recognition to appear on the Creme de la Creme pinned thread.

chancellor gee's words ring like those of a statesman rather than a politician. i have given much thought to his words during the past five hours. i have concluded that usm never had that type of good academic leadership in its recent history. the mississippi ihl appears relucant to appoint such a person as president. it is my personal opinion that horace fleming was an exception, but he lasted only briefly and he was basically forced out before he could get his plan for usm fully in place. he did manage to make some good appointments during his tenure here (and perhaps a controversial one or two) but for the most part it appears that some of the good ones were relieved of their duties when fleming left. some administrators who probably should have never been given the type of power that comes with being a usm administrator left their posts during fleming's brief administration. for the most part the mississippi ihl has tended to appoint good academic leaders at ole miss and mississippi state. i fail to understand why they have not done so for usm. it is also my opinion that the 'top down' management style which has prevailed at usm in recent history is killing the institution gradually but surely. usm as an institution must not continue on this road. for many years an environment of intimidation has permeated some quarters of academic life here. the climate of the organization as a whole has not been conducive to the development of a stellar university. when an occasional pocket of excellence did surface it was sometimes cut off at the knees. i have heard some say that it is like this everywhere. that is not true. there will always be problems, at usm and elsewhere but not of the magnitude of the problems which have existed at usm for many years. great universities are headed by great leaders. let us hope that when the time does come for a presidency turnover the ihl will appoint an acdemically savy statesman. maybe not of the calibre of gordon gee at vanderbilt, but am academically savy statesman nonetheless. truth4usm's posting of gee's address to the parents of the incoming Vanderbilt freshmen has been meaningful to me personally. i am optimistic enough to believe that usm could become the university of choice for the brightest and best if and when it develops a realistic level of aspiration and the ihl appoints a leader who shares the philosophy of the vanderbilt chancellor.