The Campus Beautification Campaign for The University of Southern Mississippi proved to be successful over the last few weeks.

The University of Southern Mississippi’s newest president held the first of many media roundtable discussions Tuesday morning in the President’s Conference room.

Southern Miss student Blake Ballard is in critical but stable condition after he was transported to the hospital yesterday due to what appeared to be an accidental, self-inflicted gunshot wound to the thigh. 

For five years, Southern Miss has had an Office of Scholarships, and since then, the university has had twice as many national scholarship winners as any other university in the state.

Fleming to take top fundraising spot

For the first time in several years, the University of Southern Mississippi Foundation has re-instated the role of Executive Director of the Foundation. Dr. Shannon Fleming will take over as Foundation Director in June.

Located directly across from the University of Southern Mississippi in a cozy yellow house is The Yellow Fiddle, a new Hattiesburg business that blurs the line between bar, music venue and coffee house.

Members of several University of Southern Mississippi dance organizations teamed up Saturday to present “Break the Silence for Domestic Violence: Dance for Peace.”

Southern Chorale, Concert Choir, Men’s and Women’s Ensemble, members of the Hattiesburg Choral Union and the Symphony Orchestra at the University of Southern Mississippi will come together to perform “Belshazzar’s Feast,” a cantata by William Walton that features ten different movements, a few of which were previewed during their Christmas extravaganza in December. Much like the annual Christmas concert, the orchestra will be participating, making this a night to showcase all the talent in the music department.

Fraternities at the University of Southern Mississippi are making this week a little brighter by hosting their annual philanthropy events, including Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s Charity Bowl, Alpha Tau Omega’s Crawfish Boil and Sigma Nu’s Project Fratway.

The Mississippi Legislature’s recently passed bond bill brought good news to the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Nursing. Senate Bill 2913 included state bonds, and of those bonds, the legislature authorized $20 million to go towards the new nursing building, and pending approval from the State Institutions of Higher Learning, it will be called Asbury Hall.

For the past three years, Spirit of Southern at Southern Miss has hosted a benefit concert in honor of one of their members who was killed in a car accident. This Saturday, the group will come together and perform once more in memory of their friend. 

Last Saturday, the College of Arts and Letters hosted their second annual undergraduate research conference. Students competed for cash prizes and the opportunity to gain experience and critiques in presenting academic work.

Phil Bryant, a University of Southern Mississippi graduate and currently serving as governor of Mississippi, has confirmed he will be the speaker delivering the commencement address at the university’s spring commencement ceremonies on Friday, May 10.

The University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagle Intertribal Society (GEIS) hosted its 11th annual powwow this weekend on Centennial Lawn. A powwow is a gathering of North America’s native people for ceremonial purposes and social gatherings and usually includes an aspect of competitive dancing.

The replacement of the field turf at M.M. Roberts Field has begun after it was damaged by the EF4 tornado that ripped through Hattiesburg in February.

Live @ Five is back just in time for the warm spring weather. The weekly event will be bringing music to downtown Hattiesburg every Friday during the month of April. The concert series is held in Town Square Park from 5 until 9 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

The Southern Miss School of Music will be hosting a concert Friday night, and music professors and students alike say the show will be unlike any other the university has ever seen.

On Friday night, the annual 12-hour Relay for Life will be held on Pride Field at the University of Southern Mississippi. Beginning at 6 p.m. and lasting until 6 a.m. Saturday, the fundraiser will feature student teams who have spent the past few weeks working toward a fundraising goal for the American Cancer Society. Each team pledged to raise a certain amount, and for those who don’t reach that goal, they must face the “consequences.”

Beginning Monday, the University of Southern Mississippi will be participating in a week’s worth of environmental conservation and sustainability related events in honor of Earth Day.

April is STD Awareness month, meaning it’s time to educate, inform and aim to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and sexually transmitted infections. More than 20 million sexually transmitted diseases are transmitted each year, with Mississippi ranking at the top of almost every category of disease.

Three people were killed and more than 140 were injured Monday afternoon when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, and several Hattiesburg residents were in attendance at the race. Those who traveled from the Hub City were close to the explosions, but they were not injured in the attack.

Southern Miss has a leading role to play in the response to the Boston Marathon bombings, said Lou Marciani, Director of the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) at Southern Miss.

The project to restore the University of Southern Mississippi’s landscape and front campus beauty is officially underway.

The Southern Miss Association of Black Journalists hosted an Honoree Lecture Monday night featuring Department of Mass Communication and Journalism faculty member and former journalist Riva Brown-Teague.

The University of Southern Mississippi Department of English is hosting several free poetry related events over the week.

After weeks of preparation, the men of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity at the University of Southern Mississippi are busy with their annual “No Boundaries” philanthropy week benefiting Push America.  

When Brandon Hersey was called into President Rodney Bennett’s office on Wednesday, he had no idea that he would be welcomed into an office filled with administrators, cameras and the news that he was chosen as a Truman Scholar.

Since 1976, Southern Miss has offered a major in interior design, and starting this fall, a minor in the program will be available to students, as well. 

On Thursday, University of Southern Mississippi students will be treated to a global sampling of foods in the Baptist Student Union for a donation of $2.

Friday night, a group of students, Hattiesburg locals and people from across the state came out in droves to experience the annual Eaglepalooza concert event.  The streets of downtown were lined as concertgoers enjoyed music, food and fun during the festival. This year had one of the most impressive turnouts that the event has ever had.