IHL Board appoints Jones chancellor of Ole Miss

The day began like any other for Dr. Dan Jones and his wife, Lydia – up at 5:30 a.m. followed by quiet time and prayer together.

But June 15 was no ordinary day. At the end of it, after daylong meetings with students, faculty, staff and alumni, Jones became the 16th chancellor of the University of Mississippi.

Members of the Board of Trustees of Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) announced his appointment at 4:24 p.m. on the Oxford campus.

Jones thanked the board for its confidence in him, for the support of “all of you who love Ole Miss,” especially outgoing Chancellor Robert Khayat.

New support for a child’s medical journey

Traditionally, treatment for children with life-threatening illnesses is targeted toward a cure through a blur of doctor visits, scans and tests.

While the quest for a cure continues, a new division in the Department of Pediatrics will take an alternate yet complementary approach to caring for these children.

Beginning in July, the Division of Pediatric Palliative Medicine will focus solely on providing the best possible quality of life for patients and their families, according to Dr. Rick Boyte, associate professor of pediatrics.

“It’s at the heart of what we’re supposed to be doing in health care,” Boyte said.

More than 500 degrees conferred at Commencement

In his last presiding role at UMMC Commencement, University of Mississippi Chancellor Robert Khayat, who is retiring next month, told graduates of the health sciences campus, “most of what is said here today will be forgotten, but you must record in your memory your place in this happy event.”

So with speech-making at a minimum, 515 students received degrees at the Mississippi Coliseum in less than two hours.

“My memory of this Commencement will always be tinged with a degree of sadness because it marks the final ceremony in which our dear friend (Khayat) will confer degrees to our graduates,” said UMMC vice chancellor Dr. Dan Jones.

UMMC pandemic ready

The now-dwindling call for alarm over a new flu strain that claimed nearly 50lives internationally leaves the state anticipating cases, and the University of Mississippi Medical Center ready to respond.

Call it H1N1, Swine Flu or North American Flu, the strain that first surfaced in Mexico and went on to dot the globe will spread farther, for sure. The question is, how quickly?

“This could be no more than the garden-variety flu we see annually. But we’ve planned and prepared for the worst and we’ll work from there,” said Dr. Rathel “Skip” Nolan, interim director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Medical Center.