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Brunswick-Glynn County Wins Site Selectors Guild Award
Congratulations to MSED alum John Scott and the Brunswick-Glynn County Development Authority for being selected as the 2017 Excellence in Economic Development Award from the Site Selectors Guild. 

Mach 27, 2017
New Economic Development for Defense Communities Summer Course

The MSED program will be offering a new totally on-line elective, ED 761 Contemporary Issues in Economic Development  Economic Development for Defense Communities , this summer.  The new course is designed for economic developers whose economy is defense dependent and military personnel involved with civilian affairs, logistics, and, procurement.  The course makes extensive use of data analytics to understand the defense industry and how to diversify local economies. The course, which will run from  June 5 to July 31, 2017, was developed through the Support National Security Technology Acceleration and Economic Diversification program funded by  the U.S. Department of Defense Office of Economic Adjustment . The instructor for the course is Dr. Ed Bee, President and founder of Taimerica Management Company. Prior to founding Taimerica, Bee led regional and local economic development groups in New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Corpus Christi, Harlingen, TX, and Darien, GA.  Bee's prior experience with DOD includes community support of the Tinker Air Logistics Center, the Corpus Christi Army Depot, and the Corpus Christi Homeport.  Bee worked with communities to support DOD needs during the construction of the Kings Bay Submarine Base and the expansion of Ft. Stewart, Georgia.
MSED Students Tour a Nuclear Power Plant
 
Entergy Mississippi Inc. hosted a delegation of MSED students and Mississippi Development Authority personnel to tour the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Port Gibson, Mississippi. Built in 1979, Grand Gulf's reactor is the most powerful in the United States with a core power of 4408 MW which generates 20% of Mississippi's electricity. The plant employs over 600 skilled high paying jobs and provides state and local annual tax revenue of almost $30 million. The environmental contributions of the plant include avoiding 12,512 tons of sulfur dioxide, 8,971 tons of nitrogen oxide and 7.71 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. 
 
The tour was arranged by Ed Gardner, Director of Business & Economic Development for Entergy, and MSED alums David Rose and Chris Hinton. The MSED students on the tour included Kristen Mitchell, Stefaney Wally, Megan Clark, Anna Kate Baygents, Jeffrey George, Stuart Hinton, Katie Hogan, Obie McClure, Imran Ahmed, and Kehinde Shittu.
Montana Coal Industry Workforce Analysis
Written by: Jeffrey George, Graduate Assistant

The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) partnered with Taimerica, Inc. to conduct a workforce analysis of Montana's coal industry which is anticipated to be negatively impacted by changes in the energy sector. The study region included 15 counties in the southeast corner of Montana. The study prsented regional demographic characteristics and provided an industry overview in order to determine the top industries within the region. Historic, current, and projected job trends along with unemployment rates were reviewed to understand the employment situation within the state.


Individual industry sectors within the Coal Mining Industry were used to determine the average earnings, required education, and necessary work experience to be employed within this industry. These factors and on-the-job training programs were also reviewed to help identify the regionally important skill sets needed to help the negatively affected workers quickly transition into other gainful employment. An Occupational Compatibility Index tool was used to determine other potential occupations in which the worker's knowledge, skills, and abilities are well suited for employment. These index numbers were used to create a compatibility index matrix that identified compatible occupations that workers displaced by the affected occupations could seek employment. Finally, opportunities for education and retraining were identified through reviewing state run workforce initiatives, university offerings, and community college technical training programs.
 
The final outcome determined the favorability of economic conditions to help dislocated coal workers transition to other employment, the challenges associated with transitioning these workers, and provided recommendations for the region moving forward.
MSED Students Hosted at Retail Development Event

Mississippi Power Economic Development and Southeast Commercial Real Estate Services sponsored three MSED students to participate in the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) Idea Exchange Conference in Biloxi.  ICSC has over 70,000 members from the shopping center industry who come together to promote its role in the commercial distribution of consumer goods. MSED students Katie Hogan, Anna Kate Baygents, Oprah Payne were made ICSC members and provided mentors during the education networking and retail real estate deal making event. The students gained an understanding of how communities can develop their retail sector to improve quality of life and the tax base. 
Southern Miss Economic Development | tasha.may@usm.edu | 118 College Drive #5191
Hattiesburg, MS 39401-0001