Southern Miss president speaks to Gulf Coast Business Council
Southern Miss President Joe Paul was honored last night in Gulfport.
There was a full room of business leaders gathered at Centennial Plaza eager to hear Dr. Paul speak about the impacts of Southern Miss on the region and the university’s commitment to the blue economy.
During his speech, Dr. Paul shared his excitement to continue growing the Gulf Park campus.
Over the last three years, Southern Miss has brought in over $80 million for funding research and $280 million in capital investments.
Dr. Paul says his focus is also on increasing enrollment. “We’re in a time where there’s fewer high school graduates. But we’re, stemming that and so this fall, we had a five percent increase in first time freshmen, five percent increase in community college transfers. So, we’re on the way to dynamic enrollment growth. Taking it one year at a time.”
Dr. Paul’s official inauguration as USM president will be taking place October 5th at Bennett Auditorium on the Hattiesburg campus.
