University of Southern Mississippi: Difference between revisions

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* [[Phil Bryant]] '77 - Lieutinant Governor, State of Mississippi
* [[Phil Bryant]] '77 - Lieutinant Governor, State of Mississippi
* [[Evelyn Gandy]] - Politician, First female to serve in several Mississippi state governmental positions
* [[Evelyn Gandy]] - Politician, First female to serve in several Mississippi state governmental positions
* [[Jeff Hammond]] ’83 – A Major General military leader who served in Bosnia and Iraq
* Jeff Hammond ’83 – A Major General military leader who served in Bosnia and Iraq
* [[Oseola McCarty]] '98 (honorary degree) - The University's most humble and famous benefactor
* [[Oseola McCarty]] '98 (honorary degree) - The University's most humble and famous benefactor
* [[Ed Pittman]] - Former Chief Justice, [[Supreme Court of Mississippi]]
* [[Ed Pittman]] - Former Chief Justice, [[Supreme Court of Mississippi]]

Revision as of 15:36, 14 November 2007

The University of Southern Mississippi
The University of Southern Mississippi Seal
The University of Southern Mississippi Seal
TypePublic University
EstablishedMarch 30, 1910
PresidentMartha Dunagin Saunders
Academic staff
712
Students16,050
Location
Hattiesburg
,
Mississippi
,
USA
CampusUrban, 1086 acres (1.7 m²)
Athletic ConferenceConference USA
(NCAA Division I)
ColorsBlack and Gold   
NicknameGolden Eagles
MascotSeymour d'Campus
Websitewww.usm.edu

The University of Southern Mississippi (USM, but frequently referred to as Southern Miss) is a four-year public university located primarily in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

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. It is particularly noted for its flagship British Studies program, which regularly sends over 200 students each summer to live and study in the heart of London.

The university is home to a major polymer science research center, a nationally recognized writer's center and one of the strongest music programs in the southeastern United States. 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 school’s colors, black and gold, were selected by a student body vote shortly after the school was founded, and while mascots, names, customs, and the very campus itself have changed through the years, the black and gold colors have remained constant.

Institution

The University of Southern Mississippi is a comprehensive research university; in fact, it holds the prestigious "Carnegie Doctoral Research Extensive" designation. The University's primary mission is "to cultivate intellectual development and creativity through the generation, dissemination, application, and preservation of knowledge." Southern Miss is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and its programs are fully accredited by 30 state and national agencies.[1]

Southern Miss is a four-year institution offering approximately 189 programs leading to baccalaureate, master’s, specialist, and doctorate degrees. A faculty of about 715 serves about 13,000 undergraduate and 3,000 graduate students. 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. Southern Miss has over 300 cultural events every year. In addition, the school participates in the NCAA's Division I-A, and Conference USA featuring year-round athletics in 17 sports.

The institution's strengths include its large research endowment, its emphasis on accreditation at the departmental and college level, its respected music and art programs, and its athletic prowess. Several degree programs at the University rank among the best of their kind in the nation. The New York Times Book Review rates the University's Center for Writers as one of the Top 10 in the country, and the Polymer Science and Engineering department is consistently ranked among the nation's top 10 by U.S. News and World Report.

Southern Miss is also one of only a dozen universities in America to hold accreditation in all four fine arts emphasis areas of art, dance, theatre and music. The College of Fine Arts is the only such College in Mississippi. 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.

Dr. Martha Dunagin Saunders, a 1969 graduate of USM, was selected as the ninth president of the University in April 2007, giving her the distinction of becoming the first woman to hold that post.[1]

Organization

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:

History

Adapted from: usm.edu

Mississippi Normal College, eventually renamed The University of Southern Mississippi, was founded on March 30, 1910 to train educators. The college's first president, Joseph Anderson Cook, presided over the opening session of instruction on September 18, 1912 and oversaw the construction of College Hall (the academic building); Forrest County Hall (men’s and married students’ dormitory); Hattiesburg Hall (women’s dormitory); the Industrial Cottage (training laboratory for home management); and the president’s home (now the Alumni House). In its first session, Mississippi Normal College had a total enrollment of 876 students.

The school underwent more name changes in 1924, to State Teachers College, and in 1940, after instruction had expanded beyond teacher training, to Mississippi Southern College.

From humble beginnings: The first five buildings erected on the University's Hattiesburg campus.

The college's fifth president, State Archivist Dr. William David McCain, was installed in 1955 and worked diligently to expand Mississippi Southern College. He oversaw the construction of 17 new structures on campus and convinced Gov. Ross Barnett to give Mississippi Southern College university status in 1962. This resulted in a fourth, and final, renaming of the institution to the University of Southern Mississippi. McCain's administration also superintended the inclusion of African-American students on campus beginning in 1965. The first African-American students to attend the University of Southern Mississippi were Raylawni Young Branch and Gwendolyn Elaine Armstrong. In 1972, the Southern Miss Gulf Park Campus was founded and the university athletic teams were renamed from the “Southerners” to the “Golden Eagles.” By the time McCain retired in 1975, enrollment had climbed to 11,000 students.

In the years following McCain's campus transformation, the University of Southern Mississippi continued to expand dramatically. Notable changes included: replacement of the quarter system with the semester system, creation of the Polymer Science Institute, reorganization of the university’s 10 schools into six colleges, affiliation with Conference USA, establishment of the School of Nursing as a college; the implementation of online classes; and an expansion of the Gulf Coast campus.

Presidents

  • Joseph Anderson "Joe" Cook - 1912-1928
  • Claude Bennett - 1928-1933
  • Dr. Jennings Burton George - 1933-1945
  • Dr. Robert Cecil Cook - 1945-1954
  • Dr. Richard Aubrey McLemore (acting president) - 1955
  • Dr. William David McCain - 1955-1975
  • Dr. Aubrey Keith Lucas - 1975-1996
  • Dr. Horace Weldon Fleming, Jr. - 1997-2001
  • Dr. Aubrey Keith Lucas (interim president) - 2001-2002
  • Dr. Shelby Freeland Thames - 2002-2007
  • Dr. Martha Dunagin Saunders - 2007-Present

Recent Developments

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. These degrees were in chemistry and organic chemistry, respectively. 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. In 1970, he was the founder of the Department of Polymer Science, and, in 1973, co-founder of the Waterborne and High-Solids Coatings Symposium. 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.

Thames inherited a university in financial crisis with multi year cuts,some of 5 million dollars, by the state legislature. Twenty years ago, the state of MS funded 80% of operational costs, now only 20%. One of his first moves was to successfully advocate a restructuring the funding formula used by the state College Board. The formula is now based on the number of undergraduates. This change put USM on equal footing with the other comprehensive universities in state for the first time. Another move was to reduce the number of colleges at USM from nine to five. While this was an unpopular move with faculty, the state college board and retired president Dr Lucas endorsed the cost cutting move as reported in the Hattiesburg American.

Controversy erupted on campus when Dr. Thames attempted to fire two tenured professors, locking them out of their offices on March 4, 2004. The backlash from President Thames's actions resulted in a 40-0 vote of no-confidence in Dr. Thames by the Faculty senate. The full faculty responded days later with a vote of 430-32. The Hattiesburg American reported approximately 1,000 students and faculty protested against Dr. Thames in the immediate aftermath of the vote, while approximately 250 students and faculty rallied for Dr. Thames. Impeachment proceedings followed, as well as extensive debate among the public and the members of the state College Board. Eventually, it was agreed that Thames would serve as President until 2007, when he will return to being a professor. The two professors were placed on paid leave for two years, with instructions that they could be fired after their leave ended.[2]

Another minor scandal during Thames' tenure involved the reporting of enrollment. Eventually, a mid-level administrator admitted using an overly simplistic counting methodology for graduate students and was demoted. This controversy was essentially a public relations issue, since the enrollment numbers involved did not have any official bearing on funding.

In a separate incident, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools [SACS] placed USM on a one-year accreditation probation in December 2004 because of concerns about distance education programs. The probation was lifted in December 2005. Using open records law, the Hattiesburg American obtained letters from SACS to Dr. Thames dating over several years. These documents indicated that SACS did not express concerns about the distance learning program until December 2004, and that the probation represented a complete surprise to the University.

Dr. Thames has been praised by many, including the faculty, for his response to the destruction wrought by Hurrican Katrina. The October, 2005 meeting of the Faculty Senate of the Gulf Park campus, for example, passed an official resolution of appreciation, and the Hattiesburg American reported that his post-Katrina address to the faculty at Hattiesburg was well-received. Furthermore, no University employees were released in the aftermath of the storm, although the Gulf Park campus alone sustained over $100 million in damage. Such was not the case at Tulane University, for example, where approximately 25% of the staff was released, and significant athletic and academic programs- including the Computer Science major and most engineering programs- were dropped.

The Thames administration has presided over the financing and execution of several construction projects on the campus, often in partnership with private-sector entities. A new addition to the student union holds the second-largest Barnes and Noble store in the southern U.S., for instance, and Barnes and Noble pays $1.5 million in annual rent on this facility. Thames also negotiated a financially favorable food services agreement with Aramark (who will donate $9 million to University construction projects), and it is worth noting that both Aramark and Barnes and Noble have retained the previous staff with an across-the-board 10% raise in pay. Other enhancements to the campus realized under Dr. Thames include the upscale Power House restaurant (at an old college power plant), the $15 million sorority village, additions to the football, basketball, and baseball facilities, and many enhancements designed to make the campus generally more open, green, and pedestrian-friendly.

Finally, in addition to controversy and construction, the tenure of Shelby Thames has been characterized by a significant increase in the quality and quantity of research being done at the University. USM was recently assigned the "Doctoral / Research Extensive" designation by the Carnegie Foundation, a category that includes the largest, most important research universities in the nation, which number approximately 150. The most recent figures indicate that annual research funding entering the University exceeds $100 million per year.

The University experienced an unexpected, highly-publicized drop from "Tier 3" to "Tier 4" in the U.S. News and World Report college rankings beginning in the 2004 edition. It is worth noting, however, that USM ranks high in the college rankings developed by Washington Monthly, a persistent critic of the U.S. News and World Report rankings. In these rankings, which attempt to make a more holistic assessment of an institution's value, USM ranks 98th out of 245 doctoral institutions. This is the highest ranking of any school in Mississippi. 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.[3] The school's Carnegie Foundation categorization is of considerable value to its overall academic standing. In summary, existing measures of institutional quality other than the U.S. News and World Report rankings generally assess the University with high praise.

Campus and Student Life

Semesters at the university run from August to December and January to May, with a 10-week summer session. There are also two four-week accelerated summer terms.

In Fall 2006, The University of Southern Mississippi dedicated a 4-story, multi-million dollar addition to its R.C. Cook University Union. 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.

The University is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I-A level and a member of Conference USA. Some of the very best athletes in the country have competed as Southern Miss Golden Eagles, including NFL MVP Brett Favre and the greatest punter of all time Ray Guy. Intercollegiate sports for men are football, basketball, tennis, golf, indoor and outdoor track, and cross country. Women's sports are tennis, basketball, cross country, volleyball, golf, and indoor and outdoor track. Intramural sports include more than 40 team, dual, and individual sports activities.

Gulf Park Campus

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 Biloxi. In 1958, classroom space and facilities moved to Mary L. Michael Junior High School in Biloxi. To meet the educational needs of various occupational fields and interests along the Gulf Coast, the University relocated in 1964 to Keesler Air Force Base. Classroom facilities were obtained for night classes from the Jefferson Davis campus of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College; the addition was called the USM Harrison County Resident Center.

In September 1966, Southern Miss further extended its offerings by adding the Jackson County Resident Center, located on the Jackson County campus of the MGCCC in Gautier. The Jackson County Center was built for the University by the Jackson County Board of Supervisors, largely through the efforts of Dr. Shelby Thames when he was executive vice president of USM. The center was constructed with the hope that all four years of a number of degrees would be located in Jackson County through USM and MGCCC. Today, that wish is a reality.

In March 1972, the USM Harrison County Resident Center program was moved from the Jefferson Davis campus of MGCCC to the campus of the former Gulf Park College for Women, located on Highway 90 in Long Beach. Gulf Park was a two-year private school founded by Col. J.C. Hardy, who also founded the Gulf Coast Military Academy. The school opened for classes September 10, 1921, and held its final commencement May 29, 1971. The school’s closing was attributed to the sagging economy, damage inflicted by Hurricane Camille in 1969, and the increasing ability of community colleges to provide quality education at a low cost.

In July 1972, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning established the USM Gulf Park and Keesler Air Force Base Center as an upper-level degree completion regional campus of the University, offering programs leading to degrees at the baccalaureate and graduate levels. 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.

Today, the Gulf Park campus serves as the central campus for several teaching centers, including:

  • The Keesler Center, located on Keesler Air Force Base, provides courses for military personnel as well as the civilian community.
  • The Jackson County Center, located on Jackson County campus of the MGCCC, offers courses and services for the convenience of students in Jackson County. Prominent historic landmarks at the Gulf Park campus in Long Beach are
  • Hardy Hall: A three-story stucco building named for the school’s founder, Col. J.C. Hardy, Hardy Hall is one of the original buildings. Its architectural style is Spanish Mission.
  • Friendship Oak: This huge live oak tree that adorns the lawns of Hardy Hall and the Administration Building dates from approximately 1487. It is about 50 feet high, and the diameter of its trunk is more than five feet. Its trunk’s circumference is more than 18 feet, and the spread of its foliage is 150 feet. The earliest available reference to the moniker Friendship Oak is found in an article written by the late Bob Davis, correspondent for the New York Sun, who described the tree in his book, People, People, Everywhere, published in 1936.

In addition, other USM units in the Gulf Coast region are the elements of the College of Marine Sciences; the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs; the J.L. Scott Marine Education Center and Aquarium on Point Cadet in Biloxi; the Hydrographic Science Research Center; and the Center for Marine Sciences at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County.

In February 2000, the IHL approved the University’s concept of Gateway to the Gulf, a complex that will be located at Point Cadet and encompass a new marine sciences education facility to replace the existing structure, a public aquarium and other attractions designed to create a destination site for visitors to the region.

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused about $115 million in damage to Gulf Park and lead to the relocation of classes to a healthcare facility in Gulfport, Healthmark Center (1520 Broad Avenue, Gulfport, MS). As of July 2006, USM Gulf Park is still being rebuilt. The Friendship Oak, however, has survived this storm as gracefully as it survived Hurricane Camille and countless lesser storms that have hit the area.

Residential Housing

The University of Southern Mississippi has 14 residence halls and about 5,000 students live on campus throughout the school year.

Freshman Quad Residence Halls:

  • Bolton Hall, traditional residence hall housing freshman females and Lucky Day Scholars.
  • Jones Hall, a traditional residence hall housing freshman men.
  • Pulley Hall, a traditional residence hall housing freshman women.
  • Roberts Hall, a traditional residence hall housing freshman men.
  • Wilbur Hall, a traditional residence hall housing freshman women & Leadership Scholars.

Triad Complex Residence Halls:

  • Hattiesburg Hall, a suite-style residence hall housing male Honors College residents.
  • Hickman Hall, a traditional residence hall housing the male Luckyday Scholars & offices for Housing & Residence Life.
  • Mississippi Hall, a suite-style residence hall housing female Honors College residents.

Upper-Class Residence Halls:

  • Hillcrest Hall, a suite-style residence hall housing upper-class women.
  • McCarty Hall Men's, a super-suite residence hall housing upper-class men & Y2I.
  • McCarty Hall Women's, a super-suite residence hall housing upper-class women & Y2I.
  • Bond Hall, traditional residence hall housing upper-class males in all private rooms.
  • Vann Hall, a suite-style residence hall housing upper-class men.
  • Scott Hall, a traditional residence hall housing upper-class women.
  • Elam Arms Hall North, a suite-style residence hall housing upper-class men.
  • Elam Arms Hall South, a suite-style residence hall housing upper-class women.

Special Housing:

  • Pinehaven, a complex featuring apartment-style housing for families and graduate students.
  • The Village, a community-style living area that houses the current National Panhellenic Conference sororities and the National Pan-Hellenic Council sororities.

Student Organizations

The most prominent student organization is the Student Government Association, the official voice and governing body for the Southern Miss student body. Other prominent organizations include the University Activities Council, Residence Hall Association, the Afro American Student Organization, 28 Greek Letter organizations, and some of over 250 other student organizations.

Publications and Media

  • The Student Printz, the university's student-run newspaper, is published twice a week during the fall and spring semesters.
  • The Southerner is the University's full-color yearbook publication.
  • WUSM FM 88.5 is the 3000-watt Southern Miss public radio FM station, located on the first floor of Southern Hall.
  • Mississippi Review is a quarterly published journal that features fiction, poetry, and essays.
  • The Drawl, a publication that the highlights the traditions and history of Southern Miss. Incoming Golden Eagles are given a copy of The Drawl their first week of school.
  • The Talon, a quarterly magazine that keeps alumni and friends abreast of the latest Southern Miss news and events.

Libraries

  • The Cook Library, located on the Hattiesburg campus, contains the principal collections of books, periodicals, microforms, government documents and other materials which directly support the instructional programs of The University of Southern Mississippi at all levels.
  • The McCain Library and Archives houses the Library's Special Collections and University Archives on the Hattiesburg campus. Collections include the de Grummond Childrens Literature Collection as well as a remarkable collection of Mississippi oral history, manuscripts, and civil war materials.
  • The Gulf Coast Library, located on the Long Beach campus, is part of the University Libraries serving the Gulf Coast campuses (Gulf Park, Keesler, and Jackson County campuses). This state-of-the-art library is the only comprehensive university library on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and provides students with a wealth of library resources and media collections.
  • The Gunter Library is located at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (GCRL), Ocean Springs, MS campus. The Library provides technical information for the research staff, resident faculty and students, and visitors. Included are files of abstracts and reprints, books and journals, expedition reports, dissertations, and reference works. Special book collections support the academic program of the Laboratory. The Gunter Library is a unique resource designed to support research, education, and service in the marine sciences.

Eaglepalooza

Eaglepalooza is a play on the concert festival Lalapalooza. It is put on by the Southern Miss Student Government Association every year in association with local businesses and other campus organizations. The goal of Eaglepalooza is to bring nationally known musical acts to the campus of Southern Miss. Past performers have included Dashboard Confessional, Gavin DeGraw, Sister Hazel, Train, Better Than Ezra, Mya and Pat Green. This year's performance was originally slated to feature Sister Hazel and Chingy. Chingy cancelled the engagement mere months before it was to take place. Mýa was chosen as his replacement. The 2007 Eaglepalooza will feature R&B artist Eve (rapper) and Robert Randolph and the Family Band.

Mardi Gras Holiday

The University of Southern Mississippi is one of the few universities to allow a two-day holiday each year for Mardi Gras. Currently, the University does not hold classes on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, many USM students expressed a desire for the holiday, due to the University's proximity to New Orleans and its close ties to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where Mardi Gras is celebrated with a devotion that rivals the annual New Orleans celebration. In 1981, Ken Stribling, who was at the time serving his first of two years as president of USM's student body, organized a student drive to institute a holiday that would occur annually on Fat Tuesday. After the University's Calendar Committee refused to allow the hoilday, Stribling appealed the decision to USM President Aubrey Lucas. At an annual Christmas celebration at USM in December of 1981, Lucas made a surprise announcement that USM would try the holiday on Fat Tuesday in 1982 to see how it worked. Stribling made a similar effort in 1982, and Lucas again allowed the holiday for Fat Tuesday in 1983. The next year, the holiday for Fat Tuesday was made a permanent part of the University's calendar.

Subsequent efforts by the University's student government in 2003 led to the addition of the Monday before Ash Wednesday as part of the Mardi Gras Holiday, creating a two-day holiday for the event. While many USM students attend Mardi Gras during the holiday each year, the majority of students spend the four-day weekend preparing for mid-term exams or visiting loved ones at home. Regardless, the Mardi Gras Holiday has become a recruiting tool and an enjoyed novelty particular to Southern Miss.

Athletics and Traditions

File:SouthernMissGoldenEagles.png
Southern Miss Golden Eagles logo

The University of Southern Mississippi enjoys a rich athletic history. That history includes winning traditions in all the sports the University’s Department of Intercollegiate Athletics sponsors. Bowl games, conference championships, All-American athletes, and matching athletic and academic prowess are far more the norm than the expectation.

At the end of 2006, the Golden Eagles were one of a handful of Division I schools to boast at least 13 consecutive winning seasons, a distinction they shared with the University of Michigan, Florida State University, Virginia Tech, and the University of Florida. Southern Miss had also appeared in 9 bowl games in the last 10 years. The Golden Eagles have arguably been the most dominant team in Conference-USA since its founding in 1996. The Golden Eagles football team has played for 5 conference titles winning 4 of them, with their most recent coming in 2003. The Golden Eagles and Coach Jeff Bower were selected as conference team and coach of the decade respectively. The Golden Eagles football team boasts a 92% graduation rate among student-athletes, ranking it among the elite academic institutions in America.

Various other Golden Eagle sports have garnered national attention. The Southern Miss Lady Eagles softball team made it to the College World Series in 1999 behind the arm of Courtney Blades. The Southern Miss basketball team which has been in a down period is currently looking up under third year coach Larry Eustachy. The team is of to its best start in years.

Golden Eagle fans can quickly boast of the internationally renowned Pride of Mississippi Marching Band, founded as a 20-piece brass ensemble in 1920, and the equally famous Dixie Darlings, created in the early 1950’s. Both groups have, since their inception, represented the spirit and tradition of Southern Miss athletics. Recently, "The Pride" was invited to play at Lambeau Field, for the NFL's Green Bay Packers home football game.

The school’s earliest nickname was Tigers. Thereafter came such nicknames as Normalites (from Mississippi Normal College, the early name of the University), Yellow Jackets, Confederates, and Southerners. Golden Eagles was selected in a student/alumni vote in the early 1970s. Seymour d'Campus, the name of the modern-day mascot eagle, continues to thrill young and not-so-young Golden Eagle fans alike.

Eagle Fever, Anyone. Anywhere. Anytime. and Go Gold! are the rallying cries that Golden Eagle students and fans have used to help create such traditions as Homecoming and EagleFest, tailgating in The District, Friday Night at the Fountain pep rallies, the Eagle Walk at The Rock, the game-day Eagle Walk parade, the Painting of the Eagle Walk, the Junior Eagle Club Tunnel, the band’s Fifth Quarter Concert, featuring a hallmark rendition of Amazing Grace, and a host of other events help fans savor a near-century-long tradition of progress and growth.

Alumni

Entertainment

Journalism

Science and Technology

Government and Education

Business

  • Gene Carlisle - Founder of Carlisle Corporation, owner\operator of over 95 Wendy’s restaurants throughout the Southern United States
  • Keith Cobb '63 - former CEO, Alamo Rent-A-Car
  • Lloyd D. Brinkman '53 – owner of the nation’s largest carpet and floor products distributor
  • Margaret Loesch '68 - Founding president of FOX Kids, former CEO Odyssey Channel, and CEO of Crown Media

Sports

See all Notable Alumni of The University of Southern Mississippi.

External links

References

  1. ^ The University of Southern Mississippi. (2006). Southern Miss Profile.
  2. ^ http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3860/is_200409/ai_n9440998
  3. ^ http://vcmike.blogspot.com/2006/01/ranking-colleges-using-google-and-oss.html
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