Dr. Susan Mallon Ross, Southern Miss Professor, Dies

Dr. Susan Mallon Ross of Bay St. Louis, an assistant professor of speech communication and director of the Gulf Coast Speaking Center at The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast, died at her home July 15. She was 60.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, July 21 at St. Rose de Lima Church, located at 301 South Necaise Avenue in Bay St. Louis, with a reception to follow at the church. Edmond Fahey Funeral Home of Bay St. Louis is in charge of arrangements.

Ross joined the Southern Miss faculty in 2004. She taught previously at State University of New York at Potsdam, where she served as director of the Learning and Teaching Excellence Center and as an associate professor in the department of English and communication.

"Susan was a dedicated and conscientious colleague. She helped the department and university in ways we never envisioned when she was hired," said Dr. Charles Tardy, chairman of the Southern Miss Department of Speech Communication. "From the day she joined our faculty it was clear that she wanted to do her part to make us a better institution, and she did."

She earned her doctorate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; master's degrees from Dartmouth College and the University of New Hampshire, and a bachelor's degree from Middlebury College. Her research interests included history of public address, freedom of speech and visual rhetoric. Recently, she initiated a study of the lives of women who has worked in Mississippi's shipyards on the Gulf Coast during World War II.

Ross was a co-editor of "From Megaphones to Microphones: Speeches by American Women 1920-1960," published in 2003. She was a long-time and active participant in the Freedom of Speech Division of the National Communication Association. She helped establish the Speaking Centers at both the Southern Miss Gulf Coast and Hattiesburg campuses, while also serving as interim director for the Hattiesburg campus' Speaking Center.

She was instrumental in the success of the university's successful reaffirmation of accreditation in 2006 through her role in the university's Quality Enhancement Plan, "Finding a Voice: Improving Oral and Written Competencies" and served as co-facilitator of the QEP Faculty Development Seminar during its first two years.

"She went above and beyond the call of duty, and her expertise and dedication to helping students become stronger speakers will be missed," said Julie Howdeshell, director of quality enhancement for the Southern Miss Office of the Provost.

Survivors include her husband Arthur and two children, Kelly Ross and Casey Ross.

Memorials to Ross may be made to the St. Rose de Lima Education Fund, the Bladder Cancer WebCafé, Southern Miss Gulf Coast Speaking Center or the Communication Program in the English and Communication Department at State University of New York at Potsdam. 

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