USM & Dr. Thames

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050519/NEWS01/50519001

Interesting news but not all that suprising.* I have always felt that Dr. Thames was at the helm for a specific period of time to accomplish some specific tasks.

Now we have something to discuss and speculate about after the election for the next two years.

[aaron]

yeah, USM is something else that is near and dear to me. I watched this report on WDAM, and it seems very sudden. I think Thames would do a better job back in the polymer science department.

[thetruth13]

Maybe it's just me, but does anyone else feel like Thames was doomed from the beginning? From day one it seemed that the faculty had already decided they were against him no matter what.

[aaron]

It's not just you, I'd like to know what he has done positively for the university. All I read about is negative things. I know the polymer science department received a big donation, but that's all I can remember.

I think that because of the state's economic woes over the last several years and other factors, the college board was looking for someone who could come in and make sweeping administrative and structural changes. It is human nature to be resistant to change and unfortunately, agents of change are rarely popular figures.

I think that Thames was selected partially because he is thick-skinned enough to deal with the detractors while still staying on his appointed task.

As I said at the beginning of this thread, I truly believe that he was brought to the helm to accomplish certain tasks that needed to be done and once those had been accomplished that he would step down. I never thought that he would be there for more than five years.

[jmack]

Dr. Thames runs USM like a business. And guess what? It is a very big business. The faculty however wants a puppet for a figure head. It seems the tail can wag the dog. I guess one of his faults is he's not very political or one of the good O'l boys like you have with elected officials.