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Fire Shelby Thames -> Fire Shelby Thames -> Fire Shelby Thames -> williamson's letter to SH
Post Info TOPIC: williamson's letter to SH
elliott

Date:
williamson's letter to SH
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USM will benefit because Thames made waves


I am writing to express my complete support for Dr. Shelby Thames and his administration. Long before Dr. Thames became president of USM, he was known throughout Mississippi and, yes, the entire nation for his outstanding work in his field, polymer science. I had never heard of either of the other professors prior to the fiasco with Dr. Thames. I feel confident that if they had accomplished much, their names would have appeared in the print or TV media. So it seems to me that the proof is in the pudding. The ones doing the most get the most publicity.


I think that any fair-minded person would say that had Dr. Thames come on board and accepted the status quo, making no changes and expecting nothing from the profs except teaching a couple of courses each semester, then nothing would have happened and USM would have continued to muddle along as before. I am sure some were uneasy when Dr. Thames was named president because they know from his own work ethic that he would never be content with business as usual but would expect everyone to produce.


In my opinion, Dr. Thames is the best thing that has happened at USM, and with the College Board's support will succeed as never before. I would like to repeat that if Dr. Thames had been content with making no waves, then none of this upheaval would have occurred. So, I say, hang in there, Dr. Thames, and I'll see you at the tailgate party at Alabama this fall.


H.G. WILLIAMSON
Poplarville



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natchezeagle

Date:
Permalink Closed

Can someone on this board from USM start a list of profs that are as well-known, or even more so, in their field than Thames?  This might be helpful in combatting this type of argument.  You could do so here or elsewhere.

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truth4usm/AH

Date:
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Gary Stringer is about as well-known as you can get in your field.  Just because this yokel has never heard of John Donne, it doesn't diminish Gary's reputation one bit.  This is letter is full of inaccuracies that the other letters published in the SH speak to quite eloquently.

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Flash Gordon

Date:
Permalink Closed

Where does this frequent charge that USM faculty members are slackers come from? Do Ole Miss supporters bash their faculty? Do State alumni attack their faculty. Is there any evidence that the USM faculty is somehow unique? The teaching loads at the three schools are about the same or slightly higher at USM. The student/faculty ratio at USM is the highest in the system, and credit hour production per faculty member is the highest. On those measures our productivity is about 20% above the system average and at least 10% above State and Ole Miss. Our salaries rank third or fourth in the system, depending on rank. Therefore, our cost per credit hour is the lowest of the big three.

Where do people get the idea that USM faculty need a butt kicking? All the empirical evidence suggests that we are the most efficient school in the state system. Maybe Hudson or Mader should get the facts out to the public.

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Ellen Weinauer

Date:
Permalink Closed

Yep--the letter is ugly.  But the SH also prints letters by Jonathan Barron and Amy Young that make really strenuous criticisms about the undemocratic and anti-educational environment at USM.   We also get good stuff (along with one pro-SFT letter) in the American today, including the great piece by Saucier discussed on another string and a letter by English faculty Will Watson.  So coverage is still running in our favor.

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present professor

Date:
Permalink Closed

quote:
Originally posted by: Flash Gordon
"Where does this frequent charge that USM faculty members are slackers come from? Do Ole Miss supporters bash their faculty? Do State alumni attack their faculty. Is there any evidence that the USM faculty is somehow unique? The teaching loads at the three schools are about the same or slightly higher at USM. The student/faculty ratio at USM is the highest in the system, and credit hour production per faculty member is the highest. On those measures our productivity is about 20% above the system average and at least 10% above State and Ole Miss. Our salaries rank third or fourth in the system, depending on rank. Therefore, our cost per credit hour is the lowest of the big three. Where do people get the idea that USM faculty need a butt kicking? All the empirical evidence suggests that we are the most efficient school in the state system. Maybe Hudson or Mader should get the facts out to the public."

Flash: Hudson was supposd to -- this is one of the things he prmised the Senate in August 03 . . . .


And of course we know that Mader doesn't really work for USM -- she works for the President. If the Presdient is sayinghe came here to "clean house" -- guess what line Mader's gonna take?


 


Course you know this already and I assume your question is really rhetorical . . . .


Might be nice if someone wrote a letter to the HA challenging the admin to come out and reply to these "critics" of the faculty. After all, Shelby called us "world class" in graduation, and he says "to be the best you must be taught by the best" (that's us, he says).


So how come they allow these attacks to continue with no response? We know why, but asking the question in publiuc woukd shame them and maybe expose the lie .  .



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Ellen Weinauer

Date:
Permalink Closed

I should have mentioned Sencenbaugh's excellent letter in my earlier post.  So we have three careful, articulate letters to one baldly croneyistic (see you when we tailgate? can't these people even cover their croneyistic tracks??) one.  Pretty good, by all accounts.


EW



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Robert Campbell

Date:
Permalink Closed

Absolutely...

It's time to ask Shelby Thames and Lisa Mader how come he isn't "bragging on" the USM faculty at every opportunity, as he claimed in the letter that Myron Henry had to read to the Faculty Senate.

Robert Campbell



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Flash Gordon

Date:
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I agree that the balance of letters is excellent, but the myth of inefficiency or sloth needs to be attacked head on. Perhaps the faculty senate could use IHL system wide data on teaching productivity to present at a press conference. Maybe the Alumni Association could be persuaded to defend the faculty if given the data. Clearly, State and Ole Miss are being given a pass by our critics. This issue is not going to go away.

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elliott

Date:
Permalink Closed

quote:
Originally posted by: Flash Gordon
"I agree that the balance of letters is excellent, but the myth of inefficiency or sloth needs to be attacked head on. Perhaps the faculty senate could use IHL system wide data on teaching productivity to present at a press conference. Maybe the Alumni Association could be persuaded to defend the faculty if given the data. Clearly, State and Ole Miss are being given a pass by our critics. This issue is not going to go away."
I like both of flash's ideas in this post.  This should be done.

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Googler

Date:
Permalink Closed

quote:
Originally posted by: elliott
"So, I say, hang in there, Dr. Thames, and I'll see you at the tailgate party at Alabama this fall. H.G. WILLIAMSON Poplarville "
What a strange way to end a letter. Unless of course this is Williamson's way of publically reminding Thames that he owes him some tailgate grub as repayment for writing a pro-Shelby letter.

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LVN

Date:
Permalink Closed

quote:
Originally posted by: Googler
"What a strange way to end a letter. Unless of course this is Williamson's way of publically reminding Thames that he owes him some tailgate grub as repayment for writing a pro-Shelby letter. "
Wants everyone to know/think he's SFT's good bud.  Showing off.

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