USM president steps down

Published 10:43 am Friday, April 27, 2012

HATTIESBURG (AP) — Officials at the University of Southern Mississippi say President Martha Saunders is stepping down from the post she has held since 2007.

Officials with direct knowledge of the resignation spoke on condition of anonymity because the university had not yet made the decision public. They said Saunders will make the announcement at a news conference Friday morning on the Hattiesburg campus.

It was unclear why Saunders is leaving.

Saunders is a USM graduate and the university’s first female president.

She came to the USM from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. She succeeded Shelby Thames.