University of Southern Mississippi

University of Southern Mississippi Summary

The University of Southern Mississippi (USM, but frequently referred to as Southern Miss) is a four-year public university located primarily in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. With an enrollment of about 16,050 students, The University of Southern Mississippi is currently the second largest university in the state. Established on March 30, 1910, The University of Southern Mississippi was originally known as Mississippi Normal College, a college for training teachers. Southern Miss has multiple teaching sites that include the Gulf Park Campus in Long Beach, MS, Stennis Space Center, Jackson County, Keesler Air Force Base, J.L.Scott Aquarium, Gulf Coast Research Lab, and Pontlevoy, France. The university, through its Center for International Education, operates a number of international programs, and is consistently ranked as one of the top universities in the nation for the number of students studying abroad each year. According to the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, The University of Southern Mississippi is the second largest by enrollment of the three major Mississippi universities. The Southern Miss Wind Ensemble is considered to be among the nation’s best, as is The University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, which has performed with such world-renowned figures as singer Ray Charles, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, violinist Joshua Bell, flutist James Galway, trumpet player Doc Severinsen, and tenor Plácido Domingo. In the past few years, the Southern Chorale, the university’s top choir, has come into national and international prominence with invitational performances at the National American Choral Director’s Association Conference in Los Angeles, Carnegie Hall, and abroad. Originally called the Mississippi Southerners, in 1971 they became the Golden Eagles. The University of Southern Mississippi is a comprehensive Carnegie Doctoral Research Extensive University. Southern Miss is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and its programs are fully accredited by 30 state and national agencies. Southern Miss has traditionally drawn many of its students from Mississippi schools and community colleges, hailing from every county in Mississippi, though today the majority of undergraduates come from public schools across the southern United States and around the globe. The University of Southern Mississippi offers more than 250 clubs and organizations, as well as intramural athletics and special events. Prominent student organizations at Southern Miss include the Student Government Association, The Legacy, The Student Printz (the biweekly student-produced newspaper), The Southerner (the yearbook), Southern Style (the University’s student ambassadors), national fraternities and sororities, prestigious honor societies, and various religious organizations. The school of Communications is ranked among the Top 10 programs in the nation, according to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and Southern Miss is one of only 30 percent of business schools in the nation accredited by the AACSB International Association for Management Education. The University of Southern Mississippi is governed by the University President along with the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning. The President of The University of Southern Mississippi is the day-to-day administrator of Southern Miss and is appointed by and responsible to the State Institutions of Higher Learning Board. The University is organized into five colleges, offering academic programs of study in: In addition to its five academic colleges, The University of Southern Mississippi also offers the following programs: Founded by Legislative Act on March 30, 1910, The University of Southern Mississippi was the state’s first state-supported teacher training school. On March 7, 1924, Mississippi Normal College became State Teachers College. Many improvements were instituted following the name change as STC pursued accreditation by the Southern Association of College and Secondary Schools (SACS). Nevertheless, it was during the Bennett administration that the school was approved for membership in the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in 1929. Its new name, Mississippi Southern College, reflected the fact that it was no longer exclusively a teachers’ college. To that end, he reorganized the academic programs into colleges and schools, and on February 27, 1962, Gov. Ross Barnett signed the bill that made Mississippi Southern College a university: The University of Southern Mississippi. Other noteworthy events of the McCain era include formation of the Oral History Program in 1971 and establishment of the Southern Miss Gulf Park Campus in 1972. On July 1, 1975, Dr. Aubrey Keith Lucas became the sixth president of Southern Miss, having served as instructor, director of admissions, registrar, and dean of the Graduate School, in addition to holding both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the school. Designed to plot the university’s course over the next three to five years, the plan envisions Southern Miss as “a national university for the Gulf South.” In 2001, Dr. Fleming introduced the public phase of a $100 million comprehensive campaign. On May 1, 2002, Dr. Shelby Freland Thames became The University of Southern Mississippi’s eighth president. Thames has an extensive history at Southern Miss, starting as a student in 1955 and earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The University of Southern Mississippi. His previous administrative positions at Southern Miss were chair of the Department of Polymer Science, dean of the College of Science and Technology, vice president for Administration and Regional Campuses, and executive vice president. He was an inductee, in 1998, to Southern Miss’s Alumni Hall of Fame, and in that same year, the Polymer Science Research Center was named in honor of Dr. Thames and is now known as the Shelby Freland Thames Polymer Science Research Center. During Thames’ presidency, the state college board voted unanimously to establish a second campus for The University of Southern Mississippi, and on August 19, 2002, Southern Miss admitted its first class of freshmen on its Gulf Park Campus, making the university the only comprehensive university in the state with dual-campus status. In a separate incident, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools placed USM on a one-year accreditation probation in December 2004 because of concerns about distance education programs. A January 2006 college ranking list created by a graduate student at Stanford University based on Google hits also ranks Southern Miss rather high- 62nd out of over 1700 U.S. institutions. In Fall 2006, The University of Southern Mississippi dedicated a 4-story, multi-million dollar addition to its R.C. The Thad Cochran Center is now home to a 2-story Barnes and Noble Bookstore (proclaimed to be the largest college bookstore in the Southeastern U.S.), a ballroom, a stadium-style theater, student organization offices, and Southern Miss Dining and Fresh Foods Company. At nearly 300, Southern Miss’ student organizations appeal to a wide spectrum of interests and are categorized under the following areas: Business, Education and Psychology, the Arts, Games and Athletics, Graduate Studies, Greek Life, Health and Human Sciences, Honors Societies, Liberal Arts, the Military, Religious Life, Residence Halls, Community Service, and Science and Technology. The largest organizations based on student membership include the: Student Government Association, African-American Student Organization, University Activities Council, The Legacy Student Alumni Association, and Baptist Student Union. Some of the very best athletes in the country have competed as Southern Miss Golden Eagles, including NFL MVP Brett Favre. The University’s presence on the Mississippi Gulf Coast began in 1947 when then Mississippi Southern College first organized classes at Van Hook Hall, Methodist Camp Grounds, in Bilo