March 2008 Archives

Today was Founder's Day, the 98th anniversary of Southern Miss' founding and a day we traditionally use to salute the university's best students. To our delight, many of the day's awards went to "Honors College kids," the name our students proudly give themselves.

Six of our students -- Ashley Cangelosi, Leslie Gaddis (pictured at top with President Martha Saunders), Cresean Hughes, Jaime McKercher, Owen Parker, and Hilliary Walters -- were named to the Southern Miss Hall of Fame. And Jessica Parker was named most outstanding freshman female.

All of these students are simply outstanding. These awards could not go to a nicer or more capable group of students.

Honors College junior Kendra Reed, a junior biological sciences major from Bay St. Louis, scored 15 points in the Lady Eagles' dramatic 62-61 come-from-behind victory over Mississippi State tonight. My family and I were among the 1,200 fans in the bleachers at Reed Green Coliseum cheering her and the rest of the basketball team on to victory.

Kendra proves that Honors College students can indeed do it all: They can balance their Honors College coursework with athletics, band, or any of a host of other extracurricular activities.

Kendra and her Lady Eagles teammates now advance to the next round -- the Sweet 16 -- of the Women's N.I.T. against Michigan.

One of our priorities in the Honors College is to organize field trips for Senior Honors students (our juniors and seniors). Today I escorted four of our best students to the University of Mississippi School of Law in Oxford for a grand tour of the school along with presentations by Ole Miss admissions and job counselors. The Ole Miss folks did a fine job, even rounding up Southern Miss grads to lead our students through the building.

The students highly enjoyed the trip, and I enjoyed spending the time with them. (Getting to know the students is the best part of working in higher education!) The picture above shows the Fine Four posing on the balcony of Square Books in Oxford. They are Trisha Casey, Jaime McKercher, Kendrick Kennedy, and Meredith Breckenridge.

A veteran Southern Miss employee, Debbie Haskin, has joined the Honors College as our administrative assistant. For more than a decade, Debbie worked across campus for Joe Paul, vice president of student affairs. After a brief hiatus from the university, she's rejoined Southern Miss. I can't tell you how happy we are to have her vast experience as an asset to the college.

Welcome, Debbie.

What a terrific field trip today and yesterday. I accompanied four Honors College students and a chemistry prof to the BP plant in Decatur, Ala., to see real chemistry at work in a chemical processing plant. It was a chance for the students, most of whom are science majors, to get a sense of the real-world applications of science.

The tour through the plant was special because Robert Jordan, an Honors College alum and a veteran BP employee, lead the way. Robert, a Hattiesburg native, has long been an ardent supporter of the College. This was the second year he's arranged a tour for our students.

On the trip were (from left) Brittany McClure, Britny West, Marauo Davis, Kyle Libby and Professor Hans Schans. I think that yours truly learned a thing or two about chemistry!

The students were very excited about the trip, and it speaks volumes for their dedication that they gave up part of their spring break to continue their learning. You gotta love Honors College students.

We have two finalists for the prestigious Truman Scholarship. This is absolutely tremendous news for the Honors College, as these awards are incredibly competitive. To win finalist status is a tremendous honor, and we are very proud of the two students -- Jessica Shackleford and Paul Saputo (both juniors). We'll learn later this month whether they won the awards.

Jessica is a chemistry major from Senatobia, and Paul is a psychology major from New Orleans. Take a look at the Southern Miss press release on their accomplishment and the Truman Foundation web site for a sense of the magnitude of this honor.

Paul and Jessica have worked so hard on their Truman Scholarship applications. I salute them and also Peggy Varnado, our scholarship officer, for her hard work on the students' behalf.