SOUTHERN MISS PRESIDENT, PROVOST
CELEBRATE RECORD YEAR FOR UNIVERSITY, GCRL

OCEAN SPRINGS - Dr. Shelby Thames, president of The University of Southern Mississippi, joined business and civic leaders here Thursday to celebrate the contributions of Southern Miss and the university's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory to the coast community.

Thames praised university faculty and researchers for innovative and aggressive research activities that have brought in funding from outside the state with a total of more than $67 million, a record for the university. He also noted that Southern Miss enrollment this fall is the largest in the state.

Dr. D. Jay Grimes, provost for the coast and director of the Southern Miss laboratory here, said that the GCRL is one of the largest contributors to the university's research portfolio at $13 million in grants and contracts for the 2003 fiscal year.

"Research is the best economic development engine, but you have to drive that engine," Thames said.

Thames and Grimes highlighted the local and university-wide milestones before about 100 guests assembled at the laboratory for the monthly Business After Hours of the local Chamber of Commerce. GCRL and the new eatery Dinner Is Served co-hosted the event.

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