Dr. Bridget Hayden, Associate Professor of Anthropology, and Dr. Michael Wittmann, Associate Professor of Marketing, have been selected to become the 2012 Trent Lott National Center Fellows. In order to achieve its potential of serving as the University's primary community economic development and business engagement entity, the Trent Lott National Center has created the Fellows Program for faculty and staff throughout the university to have formal affiliations with the Center. This new affiliation will create a mechanism for the expansion of a robust body of knowledge for the practice of community economic development, entrepreneurship and business engagement. Hayden will research the intersection between two trends of globalization and localization using immigration from an economic, social and cultural perspective and Wittman's research will include an analysis of the current practices of knowledge dissemination and the needs of the Mississippi business community.   

Federal funds for some training and job search programs have fallen even as the national unemployment rate stays above 8%. Federal money for the primary training program for dislocated workers is 18 percent lower in today's dollars than it was in 2006, even though there are six million more people looking for work now. Funds used to provide basic job search services, like guidance on résumés and coaching for interviews, have fallen by 13 percent. According to the New York Times, political fights have focused primarily on extensions of unemployment insurance, while the cuts in funds for training have passed with little debate and little notice.  LEARN MORE