A Changing South: The 2008 Elections Illuminate Demographic and Economic Trends

The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States opened a window for an examination of the most recent round of demographic, social and economic change in the American South. Using the 2008 election—in which the nation’s first black president won three states of the former Confederacy—as a launching pad for analysis, this paper presents a South that has become metropolitan-driven, more prosperous and economically diverse than ever in its history. The paper also depicts a South with inter-regional differences and with distinct inequalities, especially in income and educational attainment.     

University Audit Departments in the United States

Internal auditors of public and private universities were asked about their selection processes, supervisors, and activities. At public institutions, the governing board selects the internal auditor, the president supervises the work and more audit findings are implemented. Private institutions have more audit committees that are involved with the internal auditors' activities and their auditors perform more program audits. Thus, although public universities are following professional guidelines more closely, suggesting more accountability, private universities have greater access to audit committees and perform more value-added audits.