Released December 12, 2003

Dec. 12, 2003

SCOTT AQUARIUM ADMISSION TO INCREASE JAN. 1

BILOXI - Admission to The University of Southern Mississippi's Scott Aquarium will increase effective Jan. 1, 2004. New admission fees are $5 for adults and teens, $4 for seniors, and $3 for ages 3-12. Admission is free for ages 2 and under. Ages 13 and above will come under the adult rate in the new schedule. The new admission costs include an increase of $1 for adults and 50 cents for seniors and children ages 3-12. Beginning in 2004, the aquarium will also inaugurate a new summer schedule. In addition to operating 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, the aquarium will be open 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The J.L. Scott Marine Education Center and Aquarium is the public education and outreach facility of the Southern Miss Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.

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CENTEX ROONEY PROMOTES SOUTHERN MISS ALUM

PLANTATION, Fla. - Centex Rooney Construction Company has promoted a Southern Miss alum to a top management position. Doug Wells will be the new operations manager supporting the Fort Myers office. Wells earned a bachelor of science degree in construction engineering technology from The University of Southern Mississippi. He has more than 28 years of experience in the construction industry. Wells joined Centex Rooney in 1990 as a project engineer, and was later promoted to project manager and senior project manager. He is a certified building contractor in Florida and California. In his new role, he will oversee all projects in Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties.

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SOUTHERN MISS' GIBBONS SELECTED FOR BOARD OFFICE

HATTIESBURG - Amy E. Gibbons, LMSW with the Institute for Disability Studies at The University of Southern Mississippi, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Social Workers, Mississippi Chapter, for the 2003-2005 session and will represent Region V. Amy works in the Jackson office of IDS and is a social worker with the Shelter for All program, assisting the homeless and disabled in the state to locate housing and resources. The National Association of Social Workers mission is to support, promote, and advocate for the social work profession in order to improve the quality of life for the people of Mississippi.

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SOUTHERN MISS SPEECH COMMUNICATION
GRADUATES RECEIVE RESEARCH AWARDS

HATTIESBURG - Two graduates of The University of Southern Mississippi's Department of Speech Communication have received research awards. Kelli L. Fellows, now a doctoral student at the University of Georgia, won the Bostrom Young Scholars Award given by the Southern States Communication Association. This award is given annually for the best paper submitted for presentation at the convention by a graduate student. The paper was based on her master's thesis, "Television's Socially Acceptable Behavior: A Content Analysis of Tobacco and Alcohol Usage in the HBO Series Sex and the City," and was directed by Dr. Lawrence A. Hosman. She graduated from Southern Miss with a master's degree in 2002. Dr. Mark Henderson, assistant professor at Jackson State University, recently won the best dissertation award given annually jointly by the African American Communication and Culture Section and the Black Caucus Division of the National Communication Association. The title of his dissertation was "The Effects of Speaker Race, Speaker Gender, and Participant Gender on Perceptions of Bragging" and was also directed by Dr. Hosman. He graduated from Southern Miss with a doctoral degree in 2003.

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