For the week of June 6, 2003

SOUTHERN MISS HONORS STUDENTS SET TO ATTEND CONFERENCE

HATTIESBURG - Southern Miss Honors College students Alicia Lane, a junior from Pearl, and sophomore Adam Moore of Germantown, Tenn., have been selected to attend the National Student Leadership Forum on Faith and Values to be held in Washington, D.C. in September. Lane, a speech communication major, is the winner of the Tylenol National Scholarship Award and the Outstanding Student of America Award. She is currently serving as treasurer for the Southern Miss Student Government Association and vice president of the Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society. Moore, a business administration major, is a first sergeant in the Southern Miss Army ROTC's Scabbard and Blade. He is also a recipient of the Superior Cadet Award and the Outstanding Male Freshman Award.

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APPLICATION FAIR FOR POTENTIAL HOME BUYERS SET FOR JUNE 16

JACKSON - Mississippi Home of Your Own (HOYO), a program of the Institute for Disability Studies (IDS) located at The University of Southern Mississippi, will sponsor a housing application fair for potential Jackson-area home buyers. The application fair will be held June 16 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. and again from 5-7 p.m. at the Jackson Medical Mall community room. HOYO is an award-winning "Equal Opportunity Housing" program for people with disabilities that focuses on creating a support system that will identify potential home buyers, analyze their housing needs and financial capacity, and prepare them for home ownership. Project staff will provide qualifying guidelines and take applications on site for applicants with disabilities seeking home ownership. If approved, applicants may qualify for up to $15,000 in home investment partnership funds from the city of Jackson to apply toward down payment and closing costs. For more information, call Deborah Jefferson or Amy Cooper at the Institute for Disability Studies' Jackson office at (601) 432-6876. IDS is Mississippi's Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service, headquartered for 25 years at Southern Miss. The institute provides university training, community-service activities, research, and information that promotes the independence, productivity, and community inclusion of individuals with disabilities and their families. For more information about IDS, visit the Institute's Web site at www.ids.usm.edu or call 1-888-671-0051 (TTY).

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YOUNG WRITERS CAMPS SET FOR JUNE, JULY

HATTIESBURG - The University of Southern Mississippi Department of Continuing Education and Distributed Learning will hold a series of Young Writers Camps in June and July. The camps offer rising second-through-fifth-grade students an opportunity to write for their own enjoyment, free from the pressure of grades and limiting assignments. An experienced teacher will lead the campers in a variety of individual and group writing activities. The camps are set for June 9-20 in Hattiesburg, June 16-27 in Laurel and July 7-18 for the second session in Hattiesburg. For more information, call (601) 266-4186.

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WORKSHOPS SLATED FOR HOME BUYERS

HATTIESBURG -- Mississippi Home of Your Own (HOYO), an award-winning program of the Institute for Disability Studies (IDS) located at The University of Southern Mississippi, will sponsor one-day home-buyer education workshops June 21 in Jackson and June 28 in Greenville, for residents with disabilities. The Jackson workshop will be held from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the T. L. Love Center located at 2912 Holmes Avenue, and the Greenville workshop will be held from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Washington County Library at 341 Main Street. HOYO focuses on creating a support system that identifies potential home buyers, analyzes their housing needs and financial capacity, and prepares them for home ownership. Applicants of the HOYO program must attend home-buyer education to be considered for financial assistance in purchasing a home. Call Amy Cooper at the Jackson office of Institute for Disability Studies at (601) 432-6876, or Frankie Lee at the Hattiesburg office at 1-888-671-0051 or (601) 266-5163 for more information or to preregister for the free home-buyer workshop.

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Southern MissGC TO OFFER GRANT WRITING COURSE

LONG BEACH - Improved skills in grant writing will be the focus of an upcoming continuing education course offered at The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast. "Grant Writing," a Southern MissGC Division of Continuing Education course, will be held from 6-9 p.m., June 10, 17 and 24 at the Jackson County Campus in Gautier. Another session of the grant-writing course will be held at the Gulf Park Campus in Long Beach from 6-9 p.m., August 12, 14 and 16. The course will emphasize finding the right fit between a dream and a funding source for both nonprofit and governmental agencies. Participants will learn how to search for grant sources and package their visions into forms that funding agencies recognize as fitting into their missions. To register for the $89 course, call the Southern MissGC Division of Continuing Education at (228) 867-8777.

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Southern MissGC TO OFFER COURSE ON MANAGING MULTIPLE PRIORITIES

LONG BEACH - Becoming more efficient and productive in the day-to-day management of multiple priorities is the focus of an upcoming continuing education course offered at The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast. The course, titled "Managing Multiple Priorities," will be offered through the Southern MissGC Division of Continuing Education. Two separate course sessions will be held: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 18 at the Jackson County Campus in Gautier; and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 20 at the Gulf Park campus in Long Beach. This course is designed to help participants discover how to feel organized and in control of the work day, plan and keep a painless log in order to meet deadlines without stress and pressure, and forecast projects to anticipate deadlines and possible conflicts to ensure success. Topics of the course include: "Getting More Fun out of Work" and "Motivate, Don't Intimidate Yourself: a 30-Day Improvement Guide." The cost of the course is $175. For more information or to register, call the Southern MissGC Division of Continuing Education at (228) 867-8777.

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Southern MissGC TO OFFER VARIETY OF WRITING COURSES IN JUNE

LONG BEACH - A variety of writing courses will be available for writing enthusiasts at The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast in June. The Southern MissGC Division of Continuing Education will offer the courses, which deal with topics ranging from self-publication to screenwriting for movies, on three separate days near the month's end. The first course, "A Guide to Self-Publication," will be held from 1- 4 p.m. June 27 at the Gulf Park campus in Long Beach. The course is designed to distinguish between traditional and print-on-demand publishers and to teach participants to evaluate the feasibility of self-publication and to promote self-published books.

A course titled "Screenwriting for the Movies" will be held the same day from 6-9 p.m. on the Gulf Park campus in Long Beach. The screenwriting course will teach participants to create effective roles to attract leading actors, register completed scripts with the Writer's Guild, and structure screenplays to capture immediate attention.

Both courses cost $49 each.

The "Writing a Novel that Sells" course will be held from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. June 28 on the Gulf Park campus. The course will teach participants to distinguish between literary and popular fiction, to format professional manuscripts to meet industry standards, and tips on overcoming writer's block. The cost of the course is $79.

Also on June 28, the course "Short Story and Novel Feedback" will be held from 6-9 p.m. on the Gulf Park campus. The course will prepare participants to write an effective opening for a first novel or short story and to accept manuscript rejection as an everyday business occurrence. The course will also offer tips on finding professional freelance editors. The cost of the course is $49.

On June 29, a course titled "Creating a Novel from Scratch" will be offered from 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. on the Gulf Park campus. The course will teach participants to create interesting and effective characters, structure novels for maximum impact and target specific manuscripts to specific publishers. The cost of the course is $79.

For more information or to register for any of the courses, call the Southern MissGC Division of Continuing Education at (228) 867-8777.

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