Southern Miss Announces New Director of Human Resources

Russ Willis, vice president of Administrative Affairs at The University of Southern Mississippi, has announced that Linda Rasmussen will become the university's new Director of Human Resources, effective Nov. 1.

Rasmussen, who has spent the past 16 years as Human Resources Director at Indiana University, emerged as Southern Miss' top choice following a national search. She will oversee human resources at the main campus in Hattiesburg, Miss. and all Gulf Coast campus sites.

“After reviewing the job listing, I examined a lot of material about the university on its Web site. I was very impressed with the direction it had come, some of the difficult challenges it had faced and the direction it was going,” said Rasmussen, in explaining her interest in the Southern Miss position. “The values I saw expressed, and those same values I heard and saw during my visit to the two campuses, assured me that USM would be the right place for me.”

During her time at Indiana, Rasmussen helped initiate a variety of strategic objectives which included:

• Participation in the design of an electronic position maintenance system and the interface with human resource information system

• Strategic planning and program responsibilities for recruitment and employment; benefit administration and enrollment and records management; classification and compensation

• Project manager for design and implementation of a Web-based employment system

• Designed and developed strategies for audit, review and compliance with employment laws

Rasmussen will fill a vacancy at Southern Miss created when Willis was appointed vice president of Administrative Affairs earlier this summer.

“Linda brings a rich history of experience in human resources management to the university, and I feel confident that she will take the department of the Human Resources to the next level,” said Willis.

A native of Denver, Colo., Rasmussen got her undergraduate degree in psychology from Metropolitan State College in Denver. She obtained a master's degree in Information Systems from Indiana University. She has also earned national accreditation as a Certified Public Manager.

Rasmussen said her short-term goals would be to “listen and learn, build relationships, understand the university's history and traditions and determine where I, and the Human Resources Department, can strategically contribute to the university's vision, mission and values in support of higher education.”