OXFORD, Miss. – James G. Vaughan, F.A.P. Barnard Distinguished
Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Mississippi,
has been appointed interim director of the new Center for Manufacturing
Excellence.
UM Provost Morris Stocks announced Vaughan’s appointment Friday (July
11). Since the Feb. 2007 announcement that Toyota Motor Corp. will
build an assembly plant near Blue Springs, Vaughan has helped plan the
facilities and building layout, academic programs and the numerous
outreach activities to be associated with CME. The center is to be
constructed between Carrier Hall and the Old Chemistry Building on the
Oxford campus.
“I am very pleased that Jim has agreed to serve as interim
director of the Center for Manufacturing Excellence during this
important period,” Stocks said. “We are privileged to have someone with
his experience and ability to lead us through the creation and
development of this center.”
Vaughan said he is “honored and excited” at the appointment. “As part
of the team that has envisioned this center, I look forward to
continuing the development of this unique center into the great
potential that it has for the university and state,” he said.
Vaughan is to continue his administrative and teaching roles in the School of Engineering, Stocks said.
“From the start, Dr. Vaughan has been instrumental in all the
preparatory work on the center,” said Kai Fong Lee, dean of the UM
School of Engineering. “He is an individual of outstanding
capabilities, and we are fortunate to have his service.”
Vaughan’s appointment comes approximately three weeks after Gov. Haley
Barbour and UM Chancellor Robert Khayat announced the creation of the
center. CME is to be unique in the nation in its undergraduate
curriculum, offering students not only degrees in engineering with an
emphasis in manufacturing but also strong cross-disciplinary studies
that include business, management, accounting, leadership and human
resources.
The $22 million center is being funded through part of a state
incentive package that helped attract Toyota to the state. When
production begins at Blue Springs in late 2010, the plant is expected
to employ about 2,000 workers to build the popular Prius hybrid
automobile.
For more information about the Center for Manufacturing Excellence, visit http://www.olemiss.edu/cme