| Monday, January 26, 2015 |
| Mississippi State Holding Career Workshop for Engineers in Academe | |
 | The National Science Foundation is funding a free engineering career workshop at Mississippi State. Titled "Career Development: From Senior Undergraduates to Navigating Assistant Professorship," the various Jan. 29 and 30 sessions will be held in university's Bost Extension Center auditorium. The event is designed specifically for engineering majors and faculty members at any institution of higher learning, including senior undergraduates, graduate students, post-doctoral alumni and non-tenured faculty. Increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in both graduate schools and academia in general is NSF's goal in supporting workshops like this around the country, according to campus organizers. |
| 'Family Weekend' to Introduce Students' Families to Mississippi State | |
| Families of current Mississippi State University students are invited to campus to learn more about the "true maroon" experience and the Bulldog family. The Division of Student Affairs' Office of Parent Services will host the 2015 Bulldog Family Weekend Feb. 27-March 1. "We'll be highlighting activities already going on at the Mississippi State campus that weekend," said Cat Walker, OPS director. "Family Bulldog Weekend draws many families who live outside the state and may not have the same connections and networks that more local families may have. We already have attendees coming from 25 states outside Mississippi -- half the states in the country." |
| Black Violin to open Lyceum Series Monday | |
 | Mississippi State's spring-semester Lyceum Series begins Jan. 26 with a hip-hop duo of classically-trained string musicians who met while playing in their Florida high school orchestra. The university performance by Black Violin begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Bettersworth Auditorium of historic Lee Hall. Lyceum organizers are reminding patrons that the Monday concert initially had been scheduled for the following evening, Jan. 27. |
| February MSU Rural Design Workshop to be Held in Houston | |
| Four widely recognized resource experts from around the country will be in Chickasaw County next month for a Citizen's Institute for Rural Design workshop sponsored by Mississippi State's Carl Small Town Center. Organizers from university research center, part of MSU's College of Architecture, Art, and Design, also will be in Houston to help lead the free Feb. 22-24 open-to-all event. The workshop will assist city leaders in development of plans to lead visitors from the Tanglefoot Trail to the downtown area and connect the trail to the nearby Natchez Trace. |
| Teachers attend Kennedy Center workshops at MSU Riley Center | |
 | More than 30 teachers attended a daylong workshop at the MSU Riley Center titled, "Using Visual Art as the HOOK and Assessing Learning Through Student-Created School Exhibitions." The education teacher workshops were presented by the Kennedy Center. Kennedy Center Teaching Artist Peg Koetsch from Washington, D.C. was the featured presenter. |
| MSU Sesame Test Plots Back Growing Interest | |
| Mississippi farmers interested in growing sesame have to rely mainly on recommendations made for Texas fields, a problem Mississippi State University researchers are working to address. In 2014, MSU researchers grew small amounts of sesame at the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville and the Pontotoc Ridge-Flatwoods Branch Experiment Station near Pontotoc. Wayne Ebelhar planted 96 sesame test plots in a half-acre area at Stoneville. He said Mississippi farmers don't have much local information to go on to grow sesame. "We're trying to look at its potential under Mississippi growing conditions in order to provide our producers with the best information about growing this crop," Ebelhar said. |
| New MSU Exhibit Features Figure-Focused Portraits by Starkville Artist | |
| Works of a Starkville painter are on display through Feb. 27 at Mississippi State's Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery. Free to all, the second-floor exhibition at the university's Welcome Center titled "Empathetic Resonance" features portraits focused on the human figure. Martin A. Arnold said his creations explore humans' natural curiosity when confronted with figural representations, which he describes as a "fascination that we all harbor for our fellow humans." Originally from Michigan and now teaching at East Mississippi Community College's Golden Triangle campus, Arnold is an art education graduate of Mississippi University for Women who also holds a master's degree in fine arts/painting from the University of Mississippi. |
| Open Meetings Act violation claim expected against Starkville | |
| Starkville's former Chief Administrative Officer Lynn Spruill confirmed Wednesday she is in the process of filing an Open Meetings Act violation against the city after one alderman, defiant of his peers' action, alleged the board improperly entered executive session Jan. 6 and canceled lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered-friendly policies. Spruill said she is in the process of developing the claim and will file it with the Mississippi Ethics Commission once it is complete. The claim, she said, will focus on Tuesday's discussion before aldermen vetoed Mayor Parker Wiseman's attempt to save the city's equality resolution and plus-one adult insurance tier. |
| During MEC stop in Golden Triangle, locals say industry is area's greatest asset | |
| Business and community leaders from the Golden Triangle attended the Mississippi Economic Council's annual Regional Round-Up at East Mississippi Community College in Mayhew on Thursday. The meeting was a stop on the Regional Round-Up, a series of meetings in which the MEC travels around the state and meets with communities to discuss the economic strengths and weaknesses of Mississippi. A majority of attendees said industry is the Golden Triangle's greatest economic strength, though infrastructure, diversity, people and community were also noted as being strong. The biggest weakness, they said: education and workforce development. |
| Education key to state's economy | |
 | Education and workforce development are the keys to a thriving economy and although Mississippi has made significant progress in improving both during the past decade, the "clunkiness" in that process needs to be removed so that the cogs of the state's economic engine run more smoothly. That's the message that Blake Wilson, Mississippi Economic Council President, delivered to a group of about 300 industrial and economic leaders at Landers Center on Friday. "The economy is improving and companies are looking," Blake said. "Our incentives are broad but they are clunky -- we have to narrow that down." Wilson said DeSoto County has been successful because of its leadership at the Capitol and at local city halls. |
| Chinese furniture delegation to visit Tupelo | |
 | It's been a little more than eight years since a delegation from Mississippi that included officials from the Tupelo Furniture Market, the Community Development Foundation, Mississippi State University and the Appalachian Regional Commission met with industry counterparts in China. Next month, a delegation from the Peoples Republic of China is making a return visit of sorts. The visit was organized by the Franklin Furniture Institute at Mississippi State University, along with the Mississippi Development Authority's International Trade Office, the Tupelo Furniture Market and the China National Furniture Association. |
| Ag Expo speaker details market outlook | |
 | John Anderson, senior economist for American Farm Bureau Federation, outlined the market outlook and situation for farmers at the 42nd Ag Expo Wednesday. According to Anderson, the trade environment will be difficult in 2015. Ethanol production is hard to maintain and there is not the energy content as gas. Oil prices are low which is a challenge for ethanol. On the subject of cotton, Anderson said, "Cotton exports were down a little. There was an average of 800 pounds per acre and 16 million bales produced. The big story with cotton is that China is holding enormous stocks and we don't know their plans. There is increasing competition in cotton production from India and Brazil." |
| Minority farmers meeting draws huge crowd | |
| More than 120 small farmers from across the region gathered at the Mississippi State Research & Extension Center to not only network with each other, but also to learn about programs and assistance. "We wanted to introduce the local farmers to the state stakeholders," said Carolyn Jones, director of the Mississippi Minority Farmers Alliance who sponsored the first Rural America Small Farmers Conference. "We feel Northeast Mississippi has been overlooked," said Jones, an Okolona farmer. "That was the reason we wanted to host this conference." Participants got to hear from a number of experts in a host of fields during four morning sessions. It also gave farmers a chance to meet with other farmers and possibly join a local cooperative. |
| Former U.S. Attorney George Phillips dies | |
 | If George Phillips had lived in another era, he might have been a lawman in the Old West. "Yet he was a man ahead of his time, too," said Corrections Commissioner Marshall Fisher, who became friends with Phillips when he headed the state Bureau of Narcotics. "He was a man ahead of his time as far as his attitude with race relations. He was about people. He just loved people. The former U.S. Attorney died Monday of cancer, which he has been battling since 2013. Phillips served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi from 1980 to 1994. He helped oversee many corruption cases, including the FBI's Operation Pretense, which led to the prosecutions of 57 Mississippi supervisors on corruption charges. |
| Special-needs scholarships back in spotlight | |
| Both Gov. Phil Bryant and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves are voicing strong support for a program that would provide state funds for parents of special-needs children to pursue education options other than the public schools. With both Bryant and Reeves touting the legislation and much of the majority Republican Party supporting the proposal, it is likely to be a major topic moving forward. The question is whether the handful of Republicans who sided with Democrats to kill the proposal last year can be swayed to support the measure this session. Many legislators agree that measures need to be taken to provide help for special-needs students. But some question whether to provide a scholarship or voucher to go to a private entity is the right course of action. |
| The battle over education funding | |
 | Last summer, when state Sen. John Polk attended the Neshoba County Fair, he couldn't help but notice petitions being circulated to gather enough signatures to place a referendum on education funding on the November 2015 ballot. "They had people all over the place to sign the petition, and what I saw was a big page and it said on it in very bold type, 'Better Schools, Better Jobs,'" said Polk, R-Hattiesburg. "That was what it said, and that's kind of like, 'Am I going to vote for mom, apple pie and baseball?' "Sure, everybody wants better schools and better jobs. Who doesn't? So, how do you not sign that?" What Polk said was "very difficult" to find was the actual item that would appear on the ballot. Once they did, Polk and many of his Republican colleagues in the Pine Belt found they had issues with Initiative No. 42. |
| Health officer opposes change to vaccine requirement | |
 | Mississippi has some of the worst rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease in the U.S., but public health officials brag that it ranks best in the nation for childhood immunization. Physicians are lobbying against a bill that would broaden the exemptions for vaccinations required to enter school or day care. The state health officer, Dr. Mary Currier, says loosening immunization requirements could put people at risk of contracting preventable diseases such as measles. |
| Bill targeting open meetings has Columbus roots | |
| Mississippi legislators are considering whether to redefine what a "public meeting" is and Columbus is at the center of the debate. State Sen. Lydia Chassaniol of Winona introduced Senate Bills 2352 and 2489 at the Capitol this week. Those bills, as written, state that a "public meeting" only occurs when a quorum of a governing body is present. If passed, the Open Meetings Act would not apply to gatherings of less than a quorum, meaning the public could be barred from attending. Chassaniol, in an interview with The Dispatch on Thursday, said she sponsored the bills at Columbus City Attorney Jeff Turnage's behest. |
| Hosemann leads push for autism insurance coverage | |
| The annual battle pitting parents against lobbyists over a proposal that health insurers cover autism treatments could end this year with legislation initiated by Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann. Hosemann helped craft a pair of bills filed last week in the House and the Senate that would require any health insurer doing business in Mississippi to cover the screening, diagnosis and treatment of autism from birth to 21 years old. While previous bills faced opposition from the insurance lobby, Hosemann's proposal this year won support from the state's biggest insurance company, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, which recently began covering ABA therapy on its own. |
| Legislator seeks to eliminate hunting and fishing licensing fees | |
 | A local legislator is attempting to eliminate hunting and fishing licensing fees for Mississippi residents saying sportsmen shouldn't have to pay to do something that's a God-given right. Sen. Melanie Sojourner, R-Natchez, introduced Senate Bill 2446 that calls for a repeal of the state law requiring residents to pay for licenses through the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. Sojourner said MDWFP brought in $571,000 in fees last year. "I just think there are more creative ways we can look at getting those funds, while also rewarding Mississippi sportsmen," she said. |
| Lawmakers push for House Bill 433 and more resources for law enforcement | |
 | Some state lawmakers are pushing for a bill that would essentially give more resources to the Jackson Police Department. It's called House Bill Number 433 and it was introduced by Representative Adrienne Wooten. It will give the city of Jackson $5 million dollars for hiring additional police officers and new police cruisers. Right now there has been no discussion or vote on the bill. |
| Senator announces campaign for Public Service Commission | |
 | Tony Smith, Mississippi Senator for District 47, came to Brookhaven last week on a trail announcing his candidacy for Southern District Public Service Commissioner. Ashley Comstock, campaign manager for Smith, said he is part of the conservative coalition, and he tries to be his own person. She said he goes very in-depth on bills to identify solutions. Smith, a Picayune resident, graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor's degree in home economics. |
| Mississippi Supreme Court rules again that governor's pardon does not expunge criminal record | |
| The Mississippi Supreme Court has again ruled a pardon by the governor does not wipe out a criminal record. Katherine Robertson pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in 2006. In 2012, Gov. Haley Barbour pardoned Robertson, and she filed a motion in Madison County Circuit Court to have her record expunged. The circuit judge denied the motion in 2013 and Robertson appealed. The Supreme Court said Thursday it had already addressed the issue and it upheld the trial court's denial of Robertson's motion to expunge. |
| Chris McDaniel unveils conservative PAC in Tupelo | |
| Former U.S. Senate candidate and current state Sen. Chris McDaniel announced Friday night in Tupelo the creation of the United Conservatives Fund. While he will be the chairman of the PAC, he said he will not receive payments from the grassroots political action committee. "I plan on putting $25,000 in it to start and then $500 per month," said McDaniel. "I will receive no salary, no reimbursements, not a dime." McDaniel said losing the Senate runoff to Thad Cochran in late June was not the ending of his campaign, but the beginning. While McDaniel is focused on the UCF and supporting conservative candidates, he is uncertain of his own political future. He has not decided if he will run for re-election to the state legislature. |
| Mississippi's Wicker unabashed in denying global warming | |
 | When Democratic senators sought last week to put the U.S. Senate on record as agreeing that climate change is real, a lone Republican stood out as the biggest skeptic of all: Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker. Wicker was the dissenter in a 98-1 vote that global warming is not a "hoax." Even Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the chairman of the Senate Energy Committee who has called claims that humans are causing global warming "the biggest hoax" perpetrated on mankind, agreed that climate change is real. So did Mississippi's senior Senate Republican, Thad Cochran. The Mississippi senator was unabashed about taking what appeared to be the most extreme position in the Senate, at least that day, amid polls showing that a majority of Americans believe climate change is accelerating because of carbon emissions from power plants, vehicles and other human sources. |
| Palazzo to push moon mission | |
| Rep. Steven Palazzo plans to use his chairmanship of a House panel on space this year to again promote a return-to-the-moon mission and lobby against President Barack Obama's plan to use an asteroid as a stepping-stone to Mars. Palazzo, R-Miss., also chaired the House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Space in the last Congress, but this year he sees a possible boost for his priorities in the GOP's takeover of the Senate. "With the expanded majorities, we're going to continue to put an emphasis on America remaining the leader in space," Palazzo said in a recent interview. "America's leadership in space is no longer just a matter of national pride, it's become a matter of national security." |
| Device found on White House grounds identified as drone; no threat posed | |
 | A small drone was found on the White House grounds early Monday, news reports said, but officials said it was recovered and posed no ongoing threat. White House press secretary Josh Earnest, speaking to reporters in New Delhi, said the Secret Service found a "device" and was investigating the latest breach of perimeter security at the executive mansion. He gave no further details. The Associated Press and others described the object as a "quadcopter," a commercially available drone with four propellers. There was no official comment from authorities on the drone reports. |
| Middle Class Shrinks Further as More Fall Out Instead of Climbing Up | |
 | The middle class that President Obama identified in his State of the Union speech last week as the foundation of the American economy has been shrinking for almost half a century. In the late 1960s, more than half of the households in the United States were squarely in the middle, earning, in today's dollars, $35,000 to $100,000 a year. Few people noticed or cared as the size of that group began to fall, because the shift was primarily caused by more Americans climbing the economic ladder into upper-income brackets. But since 2000, the middle-class share of households has continued to narrow, the main reason being that more people have fallen to the bottom. At the same time, fewer of those in this group fit the traditional image of a married couple with children at home, a gap increasingly filled by the elderly. |
| Mississippi colleges high on list for best online MBA programs | |
 | Two Mississippi colleges are sitting high on a list of the Best Online MBA Programs in the nation. The University of Mississippi and Mississippi State online Master of Business Administration programs were listed as some of the top spots in the U.S. News & World Report's 2015 list. The University of Mississippi's program took the No. 16 spot in a tie with Ball State University. Mississippi State tied with the University of Tennessee for No. 18. |
| UM Chancellor continues treatment for lymphoma | |
| The chancellor for the University of Mississippi updated faculty and students on his condition this week after being diagnosed with lymphoma in November. Dr. Dan Jones sent a letter Thursday with thanks for support and prayers he has received and with details on his conditions and improvements. |
| UMMC bound by thousands of bodies buried on campus | |
| Thousands of bodies of mental patients remain buried on the grounds of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and officials are stymied about what to do. "It's fair to say that it's impracticable to relocate all of them on the campus as it's currently configured," said Tom Fortner, chief of public affairs and communications for UMMC. UMMC officials are now working with experts on a plan "to evaluate the archeological and historical importance of the gravesites and anything else that might be on the property," he said. "To some extent that will influence what our options are, but we also want to document and preserve whatever might be there for its own inherent value." |
| British studies program begins 40th year at USM; registration underway | |
 | The University of Southern Mississippi's British Studies Program is marking four decades since it began providing students a global and transforming educational experience that lasts a lifetime. During the summer 2015 semester, 16 courses will be offered through the BSP and four of the university's Colleges, including Arts & Letters, Business, Education and Psychology, and Health. Most classes are taught by Southern Miss faculty and also feature lectures and presentations by some of England's top scholars and business and political leaders. In the past 40 years, Southern Miss has sent approximately 9,000 students to London for the unique cultural and academic program, and nearly 1,500 since 2006. |
| Red Cross, fraternity sign agreement | |
| When a tornado hit Columbia on Dec. 23, an Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity member's family lost everything. On Saturday, the fraternity signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the American Red Cross to provide volunteers and other support to the organization when similar disasters strike the state. More than 200 Alpha Phi Alpha brothers representing 22 alumni and college chapters from all across Mississippi were on hand when the measure was signed during the fraternity's annual district conference held at the University of Southern Mississippi. |
| After 11 years as East Mississippi Community College president, Young stepping down | |
| They say the customer is always right. Dr. Rick Young, president of East Mississippi Community College, thinks they are on to something. To Young, the students he has taught and administered in his 40 years at EMCC are just that -- customers. And like any good businessman, Young has worked to keep his customers happy. "We try to tailor whatever we do to what the people want," Young said. "The whole, driving force is to create opportunity to people to move on to higher education or to go work." Young's 11 year tenure as school president will end June 30. He is retiring. He will miss his colleagues and his students, graduations and football games, but he will leave behind a legacy that EMCC and community colleges nationwide will strive to uphold. |
| Louisiana colleges negotiating for ways to lessen deep budget cuts | |
| The threat of up to $380 million in budget cuts to Louisiana's public colleges has higher education officials and lawmakers scrambling for ideas to stop the slashing, weighing everything from tax-break suspensions to new tuition and fee hikes. College system leaders are suggesting a special legislative session might be needed to stop deep, damaging reductions from forcing widespread layoffs, jeopardizing worker-training programs and chasing potential students and faculty from campuses. LSU System President F. King Alexander said without changes, many of Louisiana's colleges would be forced to declare "financial exigency," the equivalent of campus bankruptcy. He said the LSU main campus in Baton Rouge would have to stop the hiring of more than 100 new faculty members and lay off another 200. |
| LSU faculty say state budget cuts could be daunting to higher education | |
 | LSU faculty members say if the state's current proposal to cut $60 million from the university goes through it would demoralize faculty morale and set back higher education in the state by decades. In order to fill a budget shortfall of $1.4 billion for next fiscal year, Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration has said budgets cuts to higher education institutions could reach up to more than $300 million. "People, and particularly the governmental officials who make budgetary decision don't really value higher education," Kenneth Mcmillin, LSU Professor of Animal Sciences said. In the past three years, LSU has been working to rebound from losing more than 220 faculty members. |
| Middle school kids imagine cities of future in competition at LSU | |
 | Using models built from bottles and broken toys, middle school students from Louisiana and Mississippi did their best on Saturday to convince judges of a concept still well in the future: creating a self-sustaining city that relies on renewable resources. Students presented their visions to a panel of judges at LSU as part of the regional finals for Shell's "Future City Competition." The winning team from each region heads to Washington, D.C. for a national competition. The city must make money and the energy sources have to be renewable, but approval ratings from the virtual residents must also weigh in at 80 percent, said Jesse Ardonne, a volunteer judge and PhD student in electrical engineering at LSU. |
| Texas A&M business school profs, professionals take to new frontiers of marketing at brainstorming session | |
 | It may have taken more than a year to coordinate a gathering of the top educators and practitioners in mobile marketing from around the world at Texas A&M University, but the impact it will have on students in the Mays School of Business will be immediate and far-reaching. Eight marketing directors from brands such as JCPenny, GameStop, Macy's and several professors from Texas A&M and around the world held a private three-day brainstorming session Wednesday through Friday on how to navigate the uncharted territory of mobile marketing at the third Thought Leadership Conference. The private seminar served as a launching pad for academic research in areas of mobile advertising, supply chain, mobile shopper marketing, mobile promotions and gaming that will culminate in a special issue of the Journal of Interactive Marketing next year to be the premier resource on how to reach customers through mobile devices. |
| Texas A&M System inks deal consolidating Cisco Smartnet IT services into one five-year contract | |
| Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp announced Friday the system will net $3.7 million in cost savings and enhanced information technology support over the next five years as part of a sweeping contract consolidation effort with Cisco. By rolling 604 existing Cisco Smartnet IT contracts into one five-year Cisco Smartnet contract, schools system-wide will receive maintenance and support for all existing Cisco hardware and software programs as well as enhanced support services. System Chief Information Officer Mark Stone said the straightforward effort to eliminate contract maintenance charges will provide the immediate benefit of now having one go-to source in addressing the Cisco needs of all system members. |
| U. of Missouri officials working to address race issues on campus | |
 | The University of Missouri Faculty Council is preparing to throw its support behind Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin as he and campus leaders attempt to tackle cultural changes around race at MU. At a council meeting on Thursday, Chairman Craig Roberts, a plant sciences professor, announced the creation of a faculty committee to address "race relations" on campus. Roberts said the need for such a committee became apparent after listening meetings hosted on campus last semester related to the death of Michael Brown and the events that followed in Ferguson. "I think it's hard for people like me, white faculty, to be in tune of the mistreatment of faculty of color," Roberts said. "We all know that this occurs. I think we'll be surprised at the magnitude." |
| Mizzou Alternative Breaks continues rapid growth | |
 | Mizzou Alternative Breaks will extend its record-setting streak this spring. Nearly 800 MU students will be spending their spring breaks serving others on 65 trips around the country this year, according to Mizzou Alternative Breaksadviser Bryan Goers. That's up from around 650 students on 53 trips last spring. The program, which was founded in 1991, has grown rapidly in recent years. Just 88 students took part in eight trips in 2008, according to the MU Division of Student Affairs. Hai Kim, Mizzou Alternative Breaks' director for spring service, said students are assigned to serve on a wide range of trips. Past participants have worked with animal rescuers in New Orleans, helped with disaster relief in New York and taken care of rescued tigers in North Carolina. |
| Incident at Yale sets off a new debate on racial profiling | |
 | The debate over racial profiling -- already a hot topic on many college campuses -- gained renewed attention this weekend when Yale University police briefly detained a black male student Saturday evening. Black students and faculty members at many campuses charge that racial profiling is a fact of life for them, but this student's experience immediately attracted wide attention. His father is a New York Times columnist who has written about racial profiling and whose Twitter feed attracts many eyeballs. |
| The Day the Purpose of College Changed | |
 | Sometimes, sea changes in attitude start small, gradually establishing assumptions until no one remembers thinking differently. This is how that happened to liberal education. It's a story of events on campus and beyond: the oil embargo, the canon wars, federal fiscal policies, the fall of the Soviet Union. On that day in 1967, Gov. Ronald Reagan crystalized what has since become conventional wisdom about college. In the early 1970s, nearly three-quarters of freshmen said it was essential to them to develop a meaningful philosophy of life. About a third felt the same about being very well off financially. Now those fractions have flipped. |
| Where have all the English majors gone? | |
| Humanities advocates sometimes dispute data about declining numbers of majors in their disciplines: they don't always reflect double majors, or overall enrollment in courses, or the diversity of majors now available to students (compared to the past). But data on the number of English majors at the University of Maryland at College Park -- down some 40 percent in a little more than three years -- are pretty hard to dispute. What happened? Part everyman tale, as far as English departments go, and part lesson in unintended consequences, Maryland English's story looks something like this. |
| Education School Deans Join Forces to Bolster Teacher Preparation | |
 | More than a dozen education school deans are banding together, aiming to design a coherent set of teacher-preparation experiences, validate them, and shore up support for them within their own colleges and the field at large. Deans for Impact, based in Austin, Texas, launches this month with a $1 million grant from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. The new group's embrace of data-informed changes to teacher-preparation curricula -- even, potentially, based on "value added" information -- is likely to generate waves in the insular world of teacher preparation. It's also a testament to teacher-educators' search for an alternative to traditional associations and accreditation bodies. |
| Colorado seeks permission to grow pot at state universities | |
 | After years of trying to stamp out marijuana use on college campuses, Colorado officials are now asking the federal government to allow its state universities to grow their own pot. The reason, they say, is that the legalization of the drug here has raised questions about its health effects, questions that can only be answered by studying large amounts and different strains of marijuana. But researchers face bureaucratic hurdles in scoring pot from the one federally approved marijuana farm, a 12-acre facility at the University of Mississippi's National Center for Natural Products Research. |
| Your College May Be Banking on Your Facebook Likes | |
| College development offices have for decades adapted the consumer-profiling techniques used by marketers at for-profit companies. Some schools employ their own in-house researchers to follow, say, the stock market transactions of individual donors or to look up the value of their homes on Zillow. Others buy information from data brokers on their most generous alumni or prospective donors. But EverTrue is among a handful of start-ups using social media to try to predict the willingness of graduates to donate or volunteer for other activities, like interviewing college applicants. Schools have historically relied on donor databases and have also used alumni attendance at reunions as proxies for willingness to donate. The start-ups are meant to complement those strategies with data visualization tools that allow fund-raisers to map their graduates' locations or graph their social media interactions with a school. |
| DAVID WEIGEL (OPINION): Because America Needs Him: The Return of Chris McDaniel | |
 | Bloomberg Politics reporter David Weigel writes: "It says something about the political antenna and fortunes of Chris McDaniel that the Mississippi state senator announced his next plans in an interview with Breitbart.com. Matt Boyle, the roving correspondent who covered McDaniel's 2014 U.S. Senate bid closer than most, talked to the Republican about his nebulous plans for a comeback. After nearly beating Senator Thad Cochran in a primary, after narrowly losing to Cochran in a runoff joined by Democratic voters, after suing to challenge the legitimacy of that election, McDaniel has launched a PAC called the United Conservatives Fund. In his press materials, in his own talk with Boyle, McDaniel emphasizes that he and his allies are girded for revenge against the Republican establishment." |
| KEVIN COOPER (OPINION): Is there better use of time for our legislators? | |
| The Natchez Democrat's Kevin Cooper writes: "So I couldn't help but chuckle a bit last week at one of our local legislator's latest efforts at making something happen in state government. Sen. Melanie Sojourner, R-Natchez, has submitted a number of bills for consideration by the Mississippi Legislature this session. But a few, in particular, stuck me as amusing." |
| DENNIS SEID (OPINION): Setting higher standards for students should be a priority | |
| The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Dennis Seid writes: "My son hates Common Core. He's a 12-year-old middle-schooler who complains about having too much homework and having too many tests. So far, he's an almost all-A student. He does have a stubborn B in math. I joke with him that Asians are supposed to be good with math. He doesn't ask me for much help -- especially in math, when I figured out during his fifth grade that I had pretty much forgotten what I knew. Maybe that explains why I'm not an engineer or scientist today. And for some reason he doesn't like me to read over his writing assignments. Do I feel sorry for him? Not really. I can tell he's learning new things in school. He's also figuring out how to think on his own and find different ways to find answers. It's not always easy, I'll admit." |
| SAM R. HALL (OPINION): Public education stranded on the side of the road | |
| The Clarion-Ledger's Sam R. Hall writes: "Republicans don't want to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program because the formula is broken. It's broken because our schools are still struggling, so the formula must not be working. Of course, the formula has only ever been fully funded twice in its entire existence, but we'll continue to ignore that troublesome little fact for a while. But can we stop ignoring the fact that in the four years Republicans have controlled the entire Legislature and the governor's mansion -- not to mention the 10-plus years prior to that when Republicans controlled the Senate and the governor's mansion -- they have made no serious effort whatsoever to develop a formula that meets their definition of working? Because there's only so long you can be in charge of what you say is broken before it is solely your fault for not fixing it. Which leads me to the Democratic leaders..." |
| GEOFF PENDER (OPINION) Transparency, 'ree-form' pending | |
| The Clarion-Ledger's Geoff Pender writes: "No sooner had the ink dried on federal indictments in the state prison contracts bribery scandal than calls went out from state leaders and lawmakers for transparency. Transparency and 'ree-form.' There's a passel of legislation, pending and forthcoming, aimed at making government spending and records more open to the public and reforming state contracts and spending oversight. Many of these measures are not new, but in the past were smacked down so hard they bounced by the state government-industrial complex and special interests. ...Nevertheless, perhaps this renewed call for transparency and reform will mean citizens will peer through a glass less darkly at Mississippi government. And while they're in this mood, let me provide a wish-listical of mine and others..." |
| SID SALTER (OPINION): Roy Noble Lee helped modernize state courts | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: "The death of the retired Mississippi Supreme Court chief justice Roy Noble Lee Sr. should be noted for what it is -- the passing of the man who led efforts to modernize the Mississippi court system despite the strongest possible ties to the status quo in Mississippi. Lee, 99, died at his home on Roosevelt Street in Forest on Jan. 21 after an extended illness. But it's important, likewise, to note that he remained active, engaged and relevant up until the age of 96. It was my great pleasure to come to know Judge Lee during my years as publisher of the Forest newspaper and to speak to his peers from around the country when Mississippi hosted a meeting of the National Conferences of Chief Justices during his tenure leading Mississippi's high court." |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State's Stricklin says cost of attendance right way to go | |
| The historic step the NCAA took last week isn't going to alter the course of the Mississippi State athletic department. That's the sentiment MSU Director of Athletics Scott Stricklin shared earlier this week when he was asked about the 79-1 vote last week that paved the way to grant cost-of-attendance stipends to student-athletes in the Power Five conferences and any other Division I schools that choose to do so. "It makes you wonder why it was never done that way to begin with," Stricklin said. "The opportunity to provide miscellaneous expenses so we can cover the full cost of attendance for student-athletes is the right place to be." |
| After early struggles, Mississippi State a much improved team | |
| More than 7,500 fans assembled at Humphrey Coliseum on Saturday to watch an audition. They sat and judged a competition that had little to do with the outcome of the game between Mississippi State and Georgia. MSU entered the matchup with two straight wins. Through six games in 2015, Rick Ray's team performed well in five of them. The arena that could barely reach an attendance of 5,000 in December filled to 7,549 on Saturday, when MSU and Georgia took the courts. Despite the 72-66 loss, MSU (9-10, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) accomplished something it hadn't this season -- a legitimate college basketball atmosphere. |
| Mississippi State's Preston Smith shines, but North wins Senior Bowl | |
 | At 6-foot-5, 270 pounds, Mississippi State's Preston Smith looks every bit the NFL defensive end. In Saturday's Senior Bowl, he showed he belongs on the top tier of professional football. Smith registered five tackles and a sack to lead a solid contingent of players from the Magnolia State at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. There were six players from Mississippi schools on the roster, but only five played. Ole Miss cornerback Senquez Golson sat out with an injury. The North pulled away for a 34-13 victory over the South as Baylor's Bryce Petty and Sean Mannion of Oregon State both did a good job of keeping the North offense moving at quarterback. |
| ADAM MINICHINO (OPINION): Ole Miss-Mississippi State rivalry will be thrilling for years to come | |
| The Dispatch's Ada Minichino writes: "Rivalries are filled with perfunctory hand shakes and obligatory remarks that praise the opponent at the beginning of post-game news conferences. The hand shakes between coaches usually are the shortest and the comments typically have the most bubbling in between the lines when coaches are trying to establish dominance early in their tenures. It's far too early to use the word dominance in the fledgling stages of the latest chapter of the Mississippi State-Ole Miss women's basketball rivalry. But suffice it to say this rivalry is going to heat up in the next few years. That only can be a great thing for basketball fans in the state of Mississippi, the region, and the Southeastern Conference." |
| Dave Hart says Tennessee is capable of handling cost of attendance for student athletes | |
 | Dave Hart isn't sure yet which athletes at Tennessee will be paid the full cost of attendance as part of their scholarship or exactly how much that full cost will be. The Vols' athletic director said, however, that when recently passed NCAA legislation allows schools to supplement athletes' scholarships beyond tuition, room and board, books and fees, Tennessee will be one of the programs participating. "Oh yeah," Hart said in an interview with the News Sentinel on Wednesday. "We're committed to that investment. That's not an issue. We'll find a way to do that. Again, will it be easy for anybody? No. People will be having conversations about how they're going to make that model work financially. But certainly, that will occur." |
| 'Bro Code' inaction in Vanderbilt rape case sparks anger | |
 | Awakened in the middle of the night when the light was turned on in his dorm room, Vanderbilt football player Mack Prioleau glanced down from his top bunk and saw his roommate and three other male students -- all football players -- with a partially nude, unconscious woman lying facedown on the tile floor. What he did next: "I rolled over and after that I didn't see anything else," said Prioleau, who was 18 at the time. "I was scared and uncomfortable and didn't know what to do." He was not the only bystander that night who encountered the unconscious, unclothed woman and did nothing to intervene. None of the men reported what happened to authorities or tried to aid the woman. Instead prosecutors said they helped to cover up the crime or destroy the evidence. |
| Seattle Seahawks file for trademarks to circumvent '12th Man' issues with Texas A&M | |
| Texas A&M and the Seattle Seahawks have had an agreement in place since 2006 for the NFL franchise to use the "12th Man" name for its fans, but the organization is attempting to take a greater ownership of the number 12. According to the Seattle Times, the Seahawks have filed about two dozen trademark applications for popular names and phrases used for and by their fans since October 2013, one of which is simply to trademark the number "12." Other trademarks filed by the team include "We are 12" and "The 12s," which has become a popular name for the team's fans. "I think it would be nice to be able to say that nobody can use [the 12th Man phrase]," Shane Hinckley, interim vice president of marketing and communications for A&M, said, "but, unfortunately, that's not the reality of the legal world that we live in and the arrangement that we have suits Texas A&M's needs and allows us to retain ownership." |
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