South Readies for Fall Commencement

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Posted on December 6, 2019

Bob Lowry

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Dr. Alvin J. Williams, nationally recognized chair of marketing and quantitative methods in the University of South Alabama’s Mitchell College of Business, will deliver the fall University Commencement Ceremony address at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 14 in the USA Mitchell Center.

The entire graduating class and their guests will gather for the commencement ceremony, at which President Tony Waldrop will confer the degrees upon all graduating students, the commencement speaker will deliver an address, and doctoral students will receive their diplomas and diploma covers.

South is scheduled to award a total of 1,418 degrees, including 679 bachelor’s degrees, 605 master’s degrees, 133 doctoral degrees and one educational specialist degree. Four candidates will receive dual degrees. The commencement ceremony is for students who completed degree requirements in either the summer or fall semesters.

USA will provide live streaming of the commencement ceremony beginning at 2 p.m. on the University’s website. Recorded video of the entire commencement ceremony will be available online following the live webcast.

Prior to the University Commencement Ceremony, individual college and school ceremonies will take place throughout the USA campus. Please visit the commencement website for details.

Dr. Alvin J. Williams

Alvin Williams’ selected areas of research interest include business-to-business marketing management, buyer-seller interfaces, supply chain integration, role of trust in supply chain management, application of creative problem-solving to sales and supply success, and application of marketing and sales to supply chain performance. He presently teaches upper-level courses in supply chain management, business-to-business marketing, sales and sales management, and special topics in marketing, including study abroad courses in Australia, Costa Rica and Panama.

Williams earned a doctorate in marketing from the University of Arkansas in 1980. His dissertation was “An Exploratory Study of Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior Among Organizational Buyers.” He received a master of arts in marketing from the University of Alabama in 1975 and a bachelor of science with a major in marketing in 1974 from the University of Southern Mississippi.

The professor has received numerous awards for distinguished contributions to business education and practice, including the John H. Hoagland Award from the education resources committee of the Institute for Supply Management, or ISM, in 2013. In 2011, he received the Outstanding Faculty Award at South. He was only the fourth recipient of this award.

Williams is a past president and co-chair of the board of governors of the Society for Marketing Advances. He is also a former editor of the “Journal of Supply Chain Management” and associate editor of “International Journal of Purchasing & Materials Management.” Presently, he serves on the editorial review boards of “Journal of Business Research” and “Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice.”

Williams has published numerous articles in various academic journals and professional publications, including “Industrial Marketing Management,” “Journal of Supply Chain Management,” “Supply Chain Management Review,” and “Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management.”

In 2012, Williams received a Caesars Hospitality Research Center Grant Award from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas for research on “Sustainable Supply Chain Integration in the Hospitality Industry: A Triangular Approach to Best Practices.”

He has presented numerous papers at business conferences across the U.S. and internationally, including New Zealand, Ghana, Peru, Hungary, China, Sweden, India and France.

His volunteer leadership roles include service on the ISM Educational Resources Committee, the CAPS Research Board of Trustees, and the ISM Business Survey Advisory Committee. He has conducted more than 350 presentations and seminars for supply management and marketing professionals in the United States, Europe, South Africa, India and China.

Before coming to USA in 2008, Williams was chair and professor of marketing at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg where he was a member of the faculty for more than 28 years. He began his academic career as an instructor at Alabama A&M from 1975 until 1977.

At South, Williams has served on the 2013 Presidential Search Committee and the University Diversity Committee. In the Mitchell College of Business, he has served on the Doctor of Business Administration Committee, Marketing Faculty Search Committee, Curriculum Committee and Strategic Planning Committee.

His community service includes serving on boards of the United Way of Southeast Mississippi, Habitat for Humanity, Gulf Pines Girl Scouts Council, Salvation Army, and the Boys and Girls Club. He is a member of True Light Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, Miss., where he is a member of the board of deacons and a Sunday school teacher.

University Commencement Ceremony Parking and Shuttle Information

For the University Commencement Ceremony, the Mitchell Center will open for the general public at noon. Guests are encouraged to access the campus by USA South Drive or Jaguar Boulevard.

Parking signs will be posted throughout the campus and shuttle service will be available for guests who park in the posted areas. The shuttle service will run from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Shuttle pick-up and drop-off points will be in these parking lots:

• University Commons
• Gamma Residence Hall
• Humanities Building
• Whiddon Administration Building
• Student Services Drive (shuttle access will be toward Old Shell Road, south of the entrance to the Health, Kinesiology and Sport Building.)
• East of the Computer Services Center.

Limited handicapped parking will be available in the Mitchell Center parking lot for students, family and friends. Entrance to this lot will be only from Old Shell Road, located on the south side of the Mitchell Center. Proper handicapped tags must be visible on vehicles for admittance to this lot.

Graduating students should arrive well before the ceremony and park in the parking lot located west of the Mitchell College of Business on Student Services Drive. Admittance to the Health, Kinesiology and Sport Building, where graduates line up for the ceremony, will be limited to only graduating students. Graduates should not bring bags, purses or any “carry” item.

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