The Vice President for Student Affairs holds supervisory responsibility for a wide range of activities, programs, and services that enhance the quality of life of the University community. These include student recruitment, admissions, orientation and retention, records, financial aid, food services, campus housing, health services, public safety, and all programs and services that promote student welfare and development: student government, student organizations, student-faculty relations, counseling services, drug education and prevention, recreational programming, student employment and placement, cooperative education, services for the disabled, student discipline, and many other activities and special services.

The University of Southern Mississippi is a comprehensive research extensive university. Our primary mission is to cultivate intellectual development and creativity through the generation, dissemination, application, and preservation of knowledge.

Our mission is supported by the values that have been formed through the history and traditions of our institution. These values are widely and deeply held beliefs of our faculty, staff, students, and administrators.

Dr. Joseph S. Paul has served more than 20 years as a Southern Miss student affairs administrator.

Before becoming vice president for student affairs in February 1993, he held a variety of positions, including assistant director of student activities, assistant vice president and dean of student development.

He succeeded the late Dr. Peter Durkee upon his retirement as Southern Miss's top student affairs administrator for more than 25 years.

Beyond his work at Southern Miss, Paul has presented seminars and training in management and leadership for business, industry and education. He is a senior consultant with The Atlanta Consulting Group, a Fortune Top 50 management consulting firm. He also holds faculty rank in Southern Miss's College of Education and Psychology, teaching in the graduate program for college student personnel majors seeking a master's degree in counseling.

Paul holds a Ph.D. in administration of higher education from the University of Alabama and was named the university's Most Outstanding Doctoral Student in the field in 1985. The Bay St. Louis native earned a bachelor's degree in communication and political science from Southern Miss in 1975, graduating magna cum laude, and got a master's degree in communication and management from Southern Miss in 1978. He received the Southern Miss Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award in 1993.

He has had articles published in national periodicals and, in 1987, was interviewed about college cheerleader safety on NBC's Today Show.

In 1978, Paul was named the National Association of Student Personnel's Outstanding New Professional. In 1981, the state Jaycees named him the Outstanding Young Mississippian. He's also a 1987 graduate of Leadership Mississippi training.

Among many civic activities, Paul has served two terms as president of the United Way of Southeast Mississippi. He's also been president of the Hattiesburg Area Education Foundation, on the Board of Directors for the Hattiesburg Boys and Girls Club and has been a trustee for the Hattiesburg Public School District. He's co- founder of the Hattiesburg Leaders for a New Century program and has served on a statewide basis in leadership positions with the Mississippi Economic Council.