THE ARTS
NEWS AROUND CAMPUS
Staff/Council Awards Ceremony Honors Pierce and Powell Annelise Moreau returned to the Southern Miss campus to take part in an awards ceremony honoring Jared Pierce.
The last time Annelise Moreau saw University of Southern Mississippi police officer Jared Pierce, he was coming to her aid after the Hattiesburg campus was struck by an EF-4 tornado Feb. 10. On June 4, under clearer skies, Moreau returned to Hattiesburg to help the University honor Pierce for his service on that fateful day. During the University’s annual Staff Council recognition and awards luncheon, Pierce and fellow officer Jason Powell received the Life Saving Award and Medal of Valor, respectively. Moreau, a junior at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, was travelling back to the university from New Orleans when she stopped to ride out the storm on the Southern Miss campus near the heavily damaged Ogletree Alumni House. Patrolling the campus to inspect the aftermath, Pierce discovered a visibly upset Moreau in her damaged car. He helped her out of her vehicle and took her and two pets traveling with her to safety at Wilber Hall, while also briefing staff there about her situation. Moreau said the feeling of returning to the campus for the first time after the harrowing experience was “intense” as she relived the memories, but she was looking forward to reuniting with Pierce again and helping the University honor him. Pierce said the memory of that day is still “surreal” and said he would hope any other police officer would do the same for his own child. On Nov. 28, 2012, Powell responded to a report of a fight on campus involving a firearm. Powell began investigating the area and encountered three suspects coming across Centennial Lawn. Parked near the old Printing Center building, he witnessed one of the suspects reach into a vehicle and pull out a black handgun. The armed individual then appeared to focus in on a group of people walking from Centennial Lawn toward the Thad Cochran Center, at which time Powell made the decision to apprehend him, pinning him to the ground until backup arrived. In his remarks about the accomplishments of Pierce and Powell, University Police Chief Bob Hopkins said one of the primary things he emphasizes to his staff is that they care about the people they are protecting. In both instances, he said that was evident.
EAGLE CLUB
Miller Named Associate Dean ATHLETIC NEWS in Southern Miss College of Arts NOTES FROM HOME and Letters Dr. Amy Chasteen CLASS NOTES Miller, associate professor and chair of the Department of SNAPSHOTS Anthropology and Sociology, took on the ALUMNI AUTHORS role of associate Amy Chasteen Miller dean for academic affairs in The University ALUMNIMississippi’s ALMANACCollege of of Southern Arts and Letters in July. In working to ensure undergraduate student success, Miller will focus on professional development, academic engagement and intellectual growth. She will also work to develop leadershipbuilding initiatives. Miller earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alabama, Master of Arts from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Michigan. She also earned a graduate certificate in women’s studies from the University of Michigan. Miller began her career at Southern Miss in 1997 and has served on the Luckyday Citizenship Scholars Program Advisory Board and on Faculty Senate. She also served as director of the Honors College Forum and was the founding associate director of the Center for Black Studies.
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