Sponsored by The Trent Lott National Center for Excellence in Economic Development and Entrepreneurship
In This Issue
Alumni
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Job Openings 

 

Economic Development Intern Job in Prince George, BC  View Position
Upcoming Events
SEDA Alumni Tailgate Saturday, April 18th at 4pm Pete Taylor Park in the Roost. 
ADP Rise Up Professional Development Series with Toby Barker
April 14, 2015 at the Trent Lott National Center, Hattiesburg, MS Register Here
Listen Up! Historic Preservation Conference
April 22-23, 2015 Oddfellows Gallery, Hattiesburg, MS View More
Small Business Summit and SBIR SWIFT Tour April 27, 2015 USM Gulf Park Campus Long Beach, MS.  More Information
USM True South Basic Economic Development Course accredited by IEDC September 21-24, 2015
April 13, 2015
MSED Student Obtains EMSI Software Certification
In March, Economic Modeling Specialists International (EMSI) hosted a regional training event at Broward College, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where economic development masters student Tanner Jones was able to obtain his certification as a user of the EMSI software. Jones, in his second semester of the MSED program, attended the event as part of his internship with North Florida Economic Development Partnership. The event included formal training with EMSI's software and presentations by a number of regional software users, who discussed how the software is used practically by researchers at the state and local level. Faculty, staff, and graduate researchers at the Trent Lott National Center frequently uses EMSI's software for economic development projects and EMSI is incorporated into the ED 722 Economic Development research methods course.
MSED Student Inducted into the Inaugural Graduate School Hall of Fame
Chelsey Everett, a recent graduate from the Master of Science in Economic Development program was recently inducted into the inaugural Graduate Student Hall of Fame. She is from Sumrall, Mississippi and did her undergraduate work at USM in Mass Communications. Everett was nominated by Dr. Faye Gilbert, Dean of the College of Business based on her work with Covington County, Mississippi. 

As part of the senior capstone project, Chelsey Everett and Samantha Walker examined the economic impact of adventure and rural tourism in Covington County, Miss. Everett and Walker met with the Chamber of Commerce President and interviewed several local business owners. Everett spent time researching the potential growth of adventure tourism throughout the country which includes sports such as canoeing, kayaking, hiking, etc. Through her research she found that Covington County does offer the perfect adventure get-a-away for local residents and college students.  

Student Presents Research on Improving Port-Based Economic Development Websites

Thomas Kern, a MSED student on a National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (CFIRE) graduate assistantship, presented his research on improving port-based economic development websites at the 2015 Mississippi Water Resources Conference in Jackson. He reviewed site location consultants' request for information (RFIs) to develop a tool designed to ensure that the ports' websites contain the information that site consultants and economic developers need, as well as, to enhance the overall usability of the site. He used the tool to analyze the 16 port websites in Mississippi. Based on this analysis he recommended that each port should develop a primary website to promote the offerings of the ports, port websites should match the information on the websites with the requested information in the survey and that ports should continually analyze economic development trends to adjust website information to changing market.  
Students Examine Economic Recovery After a Disaster 
Students in ED 721 Economic Development Management and Ethics took a site visit to Columbia, MS to see how the community organized for disaster recovery. Just before Christmas in 2014 a EF3 tornado tore through the city of 6,406 killing two people and destroying 108 homes and 43 businesses in Marion County. The community responded immediately and began recovery the next day. Gerald Frazier and Lori Watts of Marion County Development Partnership (MCDP) hosted the visit.  They discussed how MCDP operates and its role in the recovery.  Jay Carney gave a presentation on Columbia Strong which brought together civic and religious groups and partnered with the Pinebelt Community Foundation to be the central organization for the rebuilding process. The students also learned that Columbia, Mississippi is considered by some to be the birthplace of modern economic development with the introduction of the Balance Agriculture with Industry Program (BAWI) and industrial revenue bonds.
Southern Miss Economic Development | [email protected] | 118 College Drive #5191
Hattiesburg, MS 39401-0001

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