USM Celebrating 2024 Founders’ Week March 22-27
Tue, 03/19/2024 - 11:36am | By: David Tisdale
University of Southern Mississippi (USM) students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other supporters of the school will mark its golden history during Founders’ Week celebrations March 22-27 in commemoration of the 114th anniversary of its establishment with events at the institution’s Hattiesburg and Gulf Coast sites.
Highlights of the week include athletics events March 23 featuring the USM football team’s spring scrimmage, the baseball team’s Sun Belt Conference series against Georgia Southern University, and a Lady Eagles softball matchup against Marshall University; the city of Hattiesburg’s annual major festival, HUBFEST, will be ongoing the same day.
On March 26, a “Southern Miss Birthday Party” will be held at both Spirit Park on the Hattiesburg Campus and Hardy Hall on the Gulf Park Campus in Long Beach. The week’s events will culminate March 27 with the annual Student Awards Day Ceremony at historic Bennett Auditorium on the Hattiesburg campus, immediately followed by a reception on the south lawn of Bennett Auditorium. Learn more details about all the week’s events.
USM Dean of Students Dr. Sirena Cantrell said the students being honored March 27 “have put in the time and effort it takes to be great.”
“It takes courage to create your own path and to generate opportunities for yourself, and these students have done just that,” Dr. Cantrell continued. “They have excelled in and outside the classroom by getting involved in student organizations, taking on leadership roles, performing community service, and sharing their talents and good fortune with those around them.
“They’ve displayed the true meaning of what a Golden Eagle is, and each of them are leaving USM better than they found it.”