Dr. William “Bill” Odom, USM College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Member, Dies

Fri, 01/05/2024 - 11:13am | By: David Tisdale

A longtime University of Southern Mississippi (USM) College of Arts and Sciences educator is being remembered by colleagues and former students for his exceptional intelligence and wit, along with an indefatigable devotion to his work in a nearly half-century of service to the school.

Dr. William “Bill” Odom, professor of German in the USM School of Social Science and Global Studies’ World Languages Program, died Jan. 4 in Hattiesburg at age 84. He was a member of the USM faculty since 1974, when he joined its then Department of Foreign Languages.

“We are saddened by the loss of Dr. William Odom, and share condolences with his family, friends and colleagues,” said USM President Dr. Joseph S. Paul. “Bill was a true scholar and renaissance man who loved the life of the mind. He will be deeply missed.”

Dr. Chris Winstead, dean of the USM College of Arts and Sciences, said Dr. Odom’s dedication to his students and passion for teaching “was evident in everything he did.” 

“Dr. Odom served the university with distinction and honor for almost 50 years,” Dr. Winstead continued. “When most of us would have retired, he still loved teaching and being a member of the faculty and the university community. He will be missed by the entire Southern Miss family.”

One of Dr. Odom’s former students, USM alumnus Dr. David Nobles Jr., described him as “an incredibly knowledgeable professor with a tremendous intellect” who approached teaching “with a marvelous combination of professionalism and humor.”

Dr. Odom earned a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and a Ph.D. from Tulane University. At USM, he taught German and Russian language courses. His publications include German for Singers: A Textbook of Diction and Phonetics, used for decades at leading conservatories and universities as a guide for singers in learning German opera and art songs.

Dr. Odom’s other work includes translations of JAZZ: A Photo History, and Tomorrow We'll Be in Switzerland, a play which tells the story of a group of Jewish children hidden from the Nazis in the south of France during World War II. He also translated Hellmut Haasis’ biography of Georg Elser, Bombing Hitler, about the carpenter who tried to assassinate German dictator Adolf Hitler in 1939 by placing an explosive device in a platform in Munich where Hitler was giving a speech.