Released July 6, 2005

Long Beach– After serving as chief operating officer for The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast campus for the last year and a half, Dr. Ken Malone is leaving that position to focus on his duties as chair of the Department of Economic and Workforce Development.

“Dr. Malone’s leadership and business acumen have been instrumental in creating operational efficiencies and improvements across our Gulf Coast teaching sites,” Dr. Jay Grimes, Southern Miss provost said. “His business experience has helped prepare us to more efficiently serve the people of South Mississippi as our campus facilities improve and our enrollment continues to grow.

“We appreciate that he assumed additional responsibility serving both as chair of our growing Department of Economic and Workforce Development and as chief operating officer for the Coast – both key priorities for Southern Miss. He has done a great job of positioning and growing the Coast campuses by emphasizing a customer service and satisfaction model. However, economic development opportunities on the horizon for Southern Miss now call for his full attention, expertise and energy in that arena.”

Malone said he is pleased with the advancements made on the Coast campus, such as continued growth in enrollment and upgrades in service, technology and physical structures. This year, fall enrollment increased by 26 percent from the previous year, topping more than 2,500 students in 2005.

“After accomplishing the restructuring goals that were established for the Gulf Coast campus and meeting the growth objectives, I now look forward to commercializing university technology,” Malone said.

His academic duties in economic development include supervising the master’s degrees in workforce training and economic development. Beyond academics, he has been instrumental in commercializing University technology, the Research Park, forming ventures with private sector companies and providing economic development services to the state of Mississippi and local communities through The Center for Community and Economic Development.

Malone received his doctorate in polymer science from Southern Miss in 1991 after earning a Bachelor of Science in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., in 1986. Malone returned to Southern Miss in November 2002 from Atofina Chemicals Inc., where he was director of planning and finance.

Grimes said the university will fill the position with an interim associate provost while a formal search to replace the chief operating officer with a permanent associate provost is conducted.

For more information, contact Shelia White at (228) 324-4573 or Christopher Mapp at (601) 266-4497.

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