September 24, 2015

UNIVERSITY PRESS

The Newspaper of Lamar University

Vol. 92, No. 3 September 24, 2015

Enrollment rises 0.5 percent University head count hits 14,966 Haley Bruyn UP staff writer Lamar University’s enrollment for Fall 2015 set an alltime record with a 0.5 percent increase from last fall’s recordbreaking figures.

Enrollment is up to 14,966 compared to 14,895 from fall 2014.

“Even though the absolute number of additional students

is fairly modest, we are delighted, as a university, to see the continued growth pattern,” Kevin Smith, senior associate provost, said. “We’re headed in the right direction and we have once again set a new high-mark for the university.”

An inconsistency in the scheduling of a graduate-only 5-week term means that it is impossible to make a meaningful comparison between this

year’s fall semester credit hours and the same figures from last year. Credit hours are down around six percent, but this figure is not representative of Lamar’s growth.

“Traditionally, credit hours follow head count, and as your head count goes up, obviously, your credit hours go up,” Smith said. “Again, we’ve set a record

See ENROLLMENT page 8

UP Lauren Van Gerven

Students walk in the Quad during a break between classes, Tuesday. Fall enrollmentis up 0.5 percent over last fall’s numbers, to 14,966 students.

Ten Years After

LU file photo

Branches from the live oaks in the Quad immediately after Hurricane Rita. The Lamar campus received approximately $50 milliion of damage.

Hurricane Rita turned campus into ‘warzone’ Grant Crawford UP sports editor Ten years ago this week, students weren’t running to class — they were running away from campus.

On Sept. 23, 2005, winds began to increase in Southeast Texas, and not to the joy of local kite flyers. More than 125 mph winds gusted through the city of Beaumont and surrounding areas, signifying the landfall of Hurricane Rita.

Just a day earlier, thousands of people sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic, trying to escape the everlooming Rita.

Before the hurricane had reached the coast of Texas, Rita reached top wind speeds of more than 175 mph, making it a Category 5. Although it had weakened

to a Category 3 storm when it hit land, it still claimed the lives of 120 people.

The damages to the campus were unimaginable, President Emeritus Jimmy Simmons, who was president of the university at the time, said.

“It was like a warzone afterwards,” he said. “We had probably close to $50 million worth of damage. The roofs were gone — trees gone — windows blown out.

The IT system was completely devastated. Every dorm room had water damage.”

Simmons said the wind was so powerful that it blew the writing off street signs.

Initially, only a few policemen stayed to protect the Lamar University campus.

“Chief Dale Fontenot let everyone evacuate who had children,”

‘In 24 days we were back up….

I’m telling you, it was a miracle.’

— President Emeritus Jimmy Simmons LUPD Sergeant Carl Hollier said.

“So it was a skeleton crew.

“They stayed in the library until the eighth floor was destroyed. Then the fire alarm went off — making a constant noise, until they finally couldn’t take it anymore. They said it was the See RITA page 5

LU file photo

The reception center on the eighth floor of Gray Library received heavy damage from Hurricane Rita.

Thousands of miles for opportunity Holtzhausen appointed new COFAC dean Lane Fortenberry UP contributor It was time for a change.

Derina Holtzhausen has experienced a lot of change in her life. From South Africa to Florida to Oklahoma and now Lamar University, the new dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication has always been open to opportunity.

Holtzhausen grew up in South Africa Derina Holtzhausen, College of Fine Arts and Communication dean while the

www.facebook.com/UPLamar

country was struggling with the effects of apartheid.

“I studied for my Ph.D. when I was considerably older,” she said. “I developed a unique research agenda for public relations in postmodern theory and the concept of activism in that you don’t necessarily advocate for a company, but you advocate for social change and social justice.

“That was greatly formed by my experience in South Africa. Practitioners had to help with the transition in government and new ways of thinking.

www.lamaruniversitypress.com

Holtzhausen received a grant for international studies and attended the University of Maryland for a semester.

“My professors (in Maryland) said I needed to come teach in the States because of the uniqueness of my research,” she said.

Holtzhausen has a doctorate in Communication Science, a master’s in Afrikaans Literature, and degrees in Afrikaans-Dutch Literature, psychology and German at the University of Pretoria in her homeland.

By the time she had fin-

ished her doctorate, her son had just finished high school in South Africa and her family was ready for a change. Holtzhausen decided to apply for a public relations professor job at the University of Florida.

However, things took an unexpected turn.

“One day, in the 1990s, my professor emailed me and she said there’s a position open at the University of Florida, which I think you should apply for,” she said.

“So I went online and found See DEAN page 2

www.twitter.com/UPLamar

-INSIDE

Thursday, September 24, 2015 University Press Page 2

DEAN

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Be yourself; everybody else is already taken.”

— Oscar Wilde

from page 1

an ad for a public relations professor at the University of South Florida. At the time I was only here for a semester in the states so I didn’t know the difference between UF and USF, so I applied and I got it.

“So I never ended up at UF because I applied at USF by accident. But it was good, because Tampa is a lovely place. A year later, my son (Paul Holtzhausen, Jr.) joined us, then went to Florida State to fulfill his dream of studying film. He’s now a co-owner of a company in Los Angeles that makes trailers and does TV campaigns, so his film studies paid off.”

After a spell in Tampa, Holtzhausen moved to Oklahoma State University where she became director of the school of media and strategic communication.

When the opportunity opened to become a dean, Holtzhausen knew she had to take advantage because of her communications background.

“I love the different disciplines in the college, it’s my favorite area,” she said. “Of course, communications is what I did for my whole life.

I started out as a print journalist many years ago, then public relations, then communication management, then academia research and teaching, then into administration to help my school transition into the new media environment.

“Now I feel I’ve done all of that — so I think it’s time for me to enjoy the arts.”

The added bonus is the college’s deaf studies programs, she said.

“I’m incredibly proud of

our deaf studies, deaf education and the speech and hearing departments because of social improvements and helping people function,” she said. “It was sort of the perfect match.”

Coming to Texas was not the culture shock it might be for some, as Holtzhausen said she has had friends in Houston since 1980 and has been to the area many times.

However, there are differences between the United States and South Africa.

“It’s two totally different worlds,” Holtzhausen said.

“Growing up there was really tough, because we grew up with a sense that things aren’t going well — it was kind of always down. There were not that many opportunities. On the other hand, it was a beautiful country.

We really embraced nature and wanted to take care of it. We have a great sense of hospitality, which is a lot like Texas.

“In terms of education, it’s styled like the British model. It’s quite different.

All the students have to know the same information — there’s very little choice.

Here, you have a better choice in what interests you.”

Holtzhausen does not dwell on the past, and said that education encompasses change.

“We don’t educate you to do things we did 30 years ago,” she said. “Our biggest challenge is for education to be for the future. It needs to be education that allows our students to leave us with the basic education of discipline, but also that

‘Our biggest challenge is for education to be for the future.

It needs to be education that allows our students to leave us with the basic education of discipline, but also that knowledge is changing all the time and they will need to be innovative their whole lives’ — Dean Derina Holtzhausen

knowledge is changing all the time and they will need to be innovative their whole lives — and that’s something I’m going to focus on heavily. Where are we going? What knowledge will be needed?

“One thing, for example, is integration for different media platforms. Another focus is career orientation and the understanding that you make your own career — it’s not like in the old days when you go to a company and you work there your whole life. There are so many opportunities out

there for creating your own career.”

As Holtzhausen speaks, her enthusiasm for her new job is infectious, frequently sitting forward to make her point. She said that students also need to know what it is to have a good work ethic.

“We need to help our students understand the world of work and leave here with a career plan and with experience,” she said. “Things in communication can all be practiced. I have worked my whole life, so it is very important to me for students to think of their knowledge as applied science and not just as theoretical knowledge.”

As she learns about her new job, Holtzhausen said that her hobbies have to take a back seat.

“I know I need to go back to the gym, but that’s not really a hobby it’s a duty,” she said, laughing. “I love to cook and entertain, unfortunately it takes a lot of time. My husband (Paul Holtzhausen, Sr.) and I bought the house we did so I can entertain. I would love to take up painting again, because I painted a lot in Florida but I don’t know when I’ll have time other than when I retire. I do love to garden as well, and I’ll be able to do more of it now because it’s getting cooler outside.

“Everything here is slow for the moment because I’m an amateur at this.”

Holtzhausen may be an amateur when it comes to being a dean, but if history is anything to go by, this change is simply another opportunity she will master.

NOTICE

The University Press can be read online at www.lamaruniversitypress.com.

Advertising rates can be found on the site, along with practically all information that a person might be looking for.

CALENDER September 24

Thank a Donor Day

Setzer Student Center Ballroom 11:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Undergraduate Research Faculty Talk Kabir Sen, Chair of Marketing

Galloway Building, Landes Auditorium 3:30 - 5 p.m.

LU Theatre presents The 39 Steps

Studio Theatre 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.

September 25

LU Theatre presents The 39 Steps

Studio Theatre 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.

September 26

LU Theatre presents The 39 Steps

Studio Theatre 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.

September 27

Lunar Eclipse Viewing

Archer Building (E-1 Parking Lot) 7 p.m. - midnight LU Theatre presents The 39 Steps

Studio Theatre 2-4 p.m.

September 28

Last day to drop or withdraw without academic penalty

October 3

Texas STEM Conference

Setzer Student Center 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities Open House

University Reception Center, 8th Floor, Gray Library 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

UNIVERSITY PRESS • Thursday, September 24, 2015

Comic thrills

Page 3

UP Lainie Harris

Eyenkebi Itima (Salesman 2), left, Tracie VanLaw (Salesman 1) and Nathan Crump (Richard Hannay) rehearse a scene from "The 39 Steps" in the Studio Theatre on Monday. The play opens today.

‘The 39 Steps’ promises workout for imagination Lainie Harris UP staff writer What is “The 39 Steps?”

That is the question on everyone’s mind throughout the plot of “The 39 Steps,” adapted by Patrick Barlow from John Buchan’s novel and the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film.

Thrills, imagination and comedy is the answer.

The Lamar University Department of Theatre & Dance will present the play, beginning tonight in the Studio Theatre.

Performances are set for 7:30 p.m., today through Saturday, with a matinee at 2 p.m. Sunday.

The play, directed by instructor Brian LeTraunik, consists of a four-actor cast. The hero is Richard Hannay (Nathan Crump), a man living an ordinary life who becomes the center of a nationwide manhunt.

Sydney Haygood plays the three different women he romances, and Tracie VanLaw and Eyenkebi Itima play every other character in the show.

LeTraunik said there are a couple of reasons he chose “The 39 Steps,” which he describes as Alfred Hitchcock meets Monty Python.

“First off, it’s right up my alley, it’s the kind of play I like to do,” he said. “It’s funny, it’s very physical and it’s very theatrical, in the sense that the audience is going to have to fill in the blanks with their imagination. I always think it’s a lot more interesting.

“If you put a train on stage or a big house, it kind of takes some of the fun away from it because you don’t get to engage your imagination. Whereas here, where you have two trunks and the audience has to imagine the train — I think that’s so much more fun. The audience takes a more active role in the show as opposed to just sitting back and saying, ‘Oh, look at the train.’

They get to imagine what the train may look like. They get to create their own little play on top of what we are creating.”

LeTraunik said the show is different from Lamar’s normal type of plays.

“Most of what we do is fairly realistic, fairly straightforward plays, and this is very different, it’s much more broadly comic,

it’s much more representa- well, because when she thinks tional,” he said. something needs to be done, ’I like the way it “I think it’s something a little she’ll go and do it. If she needs bit different for students. It gives to say something she’ll go and pushes comedy. them a chance to branch out a say something, if it’s important little bit and do something that’s enough. She’s kind of like fol- It’s very theatrical’ a little different than other low-the-rules, by-the-book, and plays.” she really believes in that. She’s — Nathan Crump Crump describes Hannay as a kind of like, ‘I don’t care what who plays Richard Hannay man seeking a thrill outside of you say, that’s not the law, I’m his everyday life. not going to do that.’ She’s just “He is bored and in his her own person — she’s not a folprime,” he said. “He’s just lost lower, she’s a leader.” the zest out of his life — the pasSophomore Eyenkebi Itima differ, Itima said she relates to sion — no hobbies,” he said. plays several characters, but her each of them.

“Then he gets embroiled in a spy favorites are The Milkman and “Like The Milkman, I’m kind caper and it brings him back to Mr. McGarrigle. The Milkman is of a busybody with my friends,” life.” a busybody nosing around in she said. “And then Mr. McGarCrump said he identifies with Hannay’s life and Mr. McGar- rigle sometimes has a go-withHannay in that he is content in rigle is a simple, but interesting the-flow type of attitude — ‘Yeah, his everyday life, but is always man who mostly says ‘Aye’ no, it’s fine, everything’s good.’ open for excitement. throughout the play, agreeing “Mr. McGarrigle has kind of “I always feel like there is a with whatever Mrs. McGarrigle an overpowering wife, she’s not kind of adventure that’s some- says. rude or anything, but her perwhere out there, because I mean Although these characters sonality’s just so big that he kind nothing is going wrong in his (Hannay’s) life,” Crump said.

“He is just like, ‘Something could happen,’ and I love that.”

The play is filled with action as well as comedy, Crump said.

“I like the way it pushes comedy, it’s very theatrical, which sounds silly when you’re referring to theatre, but it plays to the audience and it’s very quick, but it has a lot of content,” he said.

“Instead of just being zany with nothing behind it, it’s got a lot of weight in it.”

Sophomore Sydney Haygood plays Hannay’s three romances throughout the play: Margaret, Anabella and Pamela.

All three characters have different personalities, Haygood said. Margaret is a sweet little Scottish girl, Anabella is a German spy — a secret agent, and Pamela is an attractive British woman who gets dragged along on the adventure.

Haygood said she relates to Pamela and Margaret’s characters. “(I’m) a little bit of Margaret and a little bit of Pamela, especially Margaret because she’s shy and she does her best to help people,” she said. “If she knows that you need help, and she believes you, she’s going to try her best to help you out the best way she can. I believe I do that myUP Lainie Harris self, I try to help people if they Tracie VanLaw (Mrs. Higgins) shrieks upon finding Sydney Haygood (Anabella Smith) really need it. while rehearsing a scene from "The 39 Steps" in the Studio Theatre, Monday. The play “I’m a little bit of Pamela as opens today and will run through Sunday. ‘

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of just lets her be her.”

Itima said the play has something to suit everyone’s comedic taste.

“It’s funny, regardless of what kind of humor you like, because of the characters and the way it’s written, and how we portray them — there’s something for everyone to laugh at,” she said.

Senior Tracie VanLaw has performed in several plays at Lamar, and this is not the first time she has played multiple characters.

“I did a show, ‘Anton in Show Business,’ that was kind of similar, I played multiple characters, with the fourth-wall-wasn’talways-there kind of feel to it.”

However, playing multiple characters throughout “The 39 Steps” is no easy task, VanLaw said.

“This one, there is like 10 times more characters in it and it’s a challenge, but that’s what makes it so enjoyable,” she said.

Of all the characters she plays, VanLaw said her favorites are Mrs. McGarrigle and Crofter.

“I really like playing Crofter,” she said. “I hate him as a person, but he’s super fun to play — the angry Scottish guy.”

“Another character, Mrs. Higgins, I kind of got inspiration from the ‘Carol Burnett Show.’

There was a character, Mrs. Wiggins, she would kind of stick her butt out and waddle when she walked.”

LeTraunik quotes Pablo Picasso, saying, “Every child is born an artist, the problem is to remain one once they grow up.”

“There’s a reason that the things we do on stage are called plays — it’s not called a toil, a scruple or a work, and so there should be a sense of fun, a sense of play and a sense of adventure to it, and I think that’s something we lose as we get older,” he said.

“We all have that when we’re born, then as we get older we don’t use our imaginations anymore, and it’s one of the best things as human beings we can possibly have.”

Ticket prices are $7 for LU students, $10 for senior citizens, students and LU faculty/staff, and $15 general admission.

For more information, call 880-2250, or visit, www.lamar.edu/theatre

Page 4

Thursday, September 24, 2015 • UNIVERSITY PRESS

Building Better Bonds BECK FELLOW SETS SLOW ‘SHIPP’ TO CHINA Brooke Stinebrickner UP contributor William Shipp IV was born in Germany to a military father, but at the age of one he moved to the States.

For 21 years, the extent of his world travel was visiting Mexico, “Which doesn’t really count,” he said. But when Shipp was awarded a prestigious Beck Fellowship he set his sights on the Far East — China.

Shipp, a Lamar chemical engineering major spent his summer working on research at Tongji University in Shanghai as part of the Beck Fellowship program.

“We were studying different materials for use in super capacitors,” the Spicewood junior said. “We modified previous methods of synthesized graphite oxides, and used that in varying ratios with transition metal oxides to find a nano-composite material that showed the electrical chemical properties needed for really great super capacity performances.”

Shipp said that he did not know about the fellowship until assistant professor of chemical engineering, Evan Wujcik, told him about it.

“Dr. Wujcik called me up one day and was like, ‘Hey Will, there is this really great opportunity. I think you should apply for it,’” Shipp said. “I looked it up real quick and it seemed that there was no way I was going to do that. I said, ‘I’m sorry Dr. Wujcik I don’t think I can do that.’ A few weeks later I was looking into it again, and I went ahead and pulled up my email and checked it out and was like, ‘Alright, I will give it a try.’”

Shipp said that Wujcik, who is his faculty mentor, already had a plan in mind for a field of study.

“Because my research is very specific and I was already doing it, he had an opportunity in mind and I was totally OK with it,” Shipp said. “It seemed like a great opportunity to me, and it was pretty much laid out before me — I just ran with it.

“Not that it was easy though. I’m not going to make it seem like it was an easy project to prepare for, or even to complete, but I did enjoy it.”

Shipp said the whole purpose of the fellowship is to give an opportunity for young minds with a lot of potential to do something they wouldn’t otherwise have the means to do.

“It is giving people like me an opportunity to do something great,” he said. “People who wouldn’t have a chance otherwise due to money.”

Shipp said that not only did he learn more about his research, but he also learned about the culture.

“I knew a lot of things to expect in China,” he said. “Not only from common knowledge but I also looked a lot of stuff up online in order to prepare for the culture change. It was nothing compared to experiencing it, hands on, yourself. It was great, I enjoyed it.”

Through the cultural experience he gained knowledge and understanding that he believes will benefit him in the future.

He said people are always in situations where they disagree with someone.

‘I just learned a completely different way to interact with people, and I feel that will be very valuable in the future.’

— Beck Fellow William Shipp IV “In America, we usually will talk with the person about the problem, but in China that would be considered confrontational,” he said. “I just learned a completely different way to interact with people, and I feel that will be very valuable in the future.”

Shipp said even though he spent a lot of his time in the lab working on his research, he also took the opportunity to explore the country.

“I am a real go getter, I take advantage of every second I have,” he said. “I am a very big beer guy. I brew beer. So, I love beer. It was very difficult to find good beer in China, but I did find a couple of good beer places, so I would check those out and try a new beer every chance I got.

“I would usually try to do trips on the weekends. I did do one big trip where I went to Hua Shan. I went to two of the five Sacred Mountains of China — that was one of them.

Then I went to Beijing. I did the touristy stuff in town, then went and hiked 12 kilometers across the Great Wall. I took a friend with me, and he was even asking (people) about it.

They were like, ‘There is no way you can get across that in a day. No way, it is impossible.’ We even met people on the trail that were going the opposite direction, maybe a third of the way and they were like, ‘There is no way you are going to get there before it gets dark.’

“We made it in six hours.”

From there, Shipp went to Qingdao where the Chinese version of Budweiser is made.

UP Brooke Stinebrickner “It is called Tsingtao,” he said. “(It’s) a little beach town, probably one of my favorite towns I went to. It was hardly touristy. That was probably the biggest trip I did. I hit three of those cities over the course of 10 days.”

Shipp also visited Huangshan, another of the five Sacred Mountains in China.

“I loved Huangshan. Great little town, I met a lot of great people,” he said.

The Beck Fellowship also taught Shipp what he would be doing as a chemical engineer.

“I learned a lot,” he said. “I can carry out an experiment. I brought a whole experiment back that I will be working on.

I learned enough to do that as an undergraduate.

“I think that is pretty awesome. To be given that opportunity.”

The deadline to apply for the David J. Beck Fellowship is Oct. 1.

Courtesy photo For information, visit https://forms.lamar.edu/stu Beck Fellow William Shipp IV works in the chemical engineering lab, top. Shipp spent the summer researching materials used in dents/beck-fellowships.html. subcapacitors in Shanghai, China. While in China, Shipp hiked two of China’s five sacred mountains, including Hua Shan, above.

Synthetic-biology expert Keasling to lecture, Oct. 14 From Nebraska farm boy to groundbreaking researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, Jay Keasling has become one of the world’s foremost authorities on synthetic biology and metabolic engineering. At Berkeley, he developed engineered bacteria to create life-saving malaria drugs and carbon-neutral biofuels that provide an alternative to petroleum. Keasling will share his

story and vision of the role of engineers and scientists for the betterment of mankind in a free public lecture at Lamar University Oct. 14.

His visit is hosted the LU’s College of Engineering as part of the university’s Academic Lecture Series.

The free lecture will be held at 7 p.m. in the University Theatre.

For more information on the lecture, call 880-8741.

Keasling, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He is a professor of chemical engineering and bioengineering at the UC- Berkeley. He is also associate laboratory director for biosciences at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and chief executive officer for the Joint BioEnergy Institute.

UNIVERSITY PRESS • Thursday, September 24, 2015

Page 5

Dorm students found shelter, support at SFA Grant Crawford UP sports editor

UP Desmond Pickens

The eighth floor of Gray Library after Hurricane Rita in 2005 (top) and now, in 2015. (above)

For some Lamar University students living in the dorms, the evacuation from Hurricane Rita in 2005 was not uneventful, President Emeritus Jimmy Simmons said.

“We sent about 400 students to a camp right outside of Woodville — a Baptist camp,” he said. “It was the only place we could find to send the students that didn’t have any transportation and nowhere to go.”

Simmons said that LU sent two police officers with the students on chartered buses, only the camp would soon turn into another evacuation site.

“That night the roofs blew off, the electricity was gone and there was no food,” he said. “So, I called a friend at Stephen F. Austin, who was the president, and he said, ‘Don’t worry about it. I’m sending two buses there right now to pick them up. We’ll take them to Stephen F. Austin and feed them, and take care of them.”

The students stayed in the recreational center on the SFA campus, and were even allowed to attend classes to pass the time.

“The kids that went through it, understood it and appreciated it, especially since they had to go to Stephen F. Austin and spend 24 days there in the gym,” Simmons said. “(SFA) were extremely accommodating. I was overwhelmed with their generosity.”

Of all the students that Lamar lost after the city-wide evacuation, there was one group that had been through this experience before, Simmons said.

“We had taken in several hundred students from Katrina,” he said. “They fled Katrina — moved to this region and in an agreement with the state of Louisiana, we let them enroll in Lamar. Of course, when the hurricane hit here, those students went to Houston, and that group never came back.”

Simmons said close to 1,500 students never returned to Lamar.

RITA from page 1 until they finally couldn’t take it anymore. They said it was the worst thing you could imagine while it was going on.”

Simmons said that the crew of policeman originally thought they would be safe in Gray Library, near the loading docks in the rear of the building.

“Well they heard all of this horrible noise when the windows were blowing out on the eighth floor, and water came running down those steps,” he said. “So, they got arm in arm — it was blinding they said — it was ankle deep water, and they had to walk to the police station. So, they stayed in the police station that night.”

With the campus in a dismembered state, the only thing Simmons and his staff were concerned with, he said, was restoring the campus within enough time to avoid a lost semester.

“In 24 days we were back up,” he said. “It was impressive.

I’m telling you, it was a miracle.

That’s a story that needs to be told. I don’t know if people realize the dramatic work that was done.

“We had a terrific staff, and great support from the Texas State University system. I may be prejudiced, but it took McNeese almost a year to get their dorms back up, and we had ours going in 24 days.”

Simmons said the administration had prepared a plan before the storm hit.

“The chancellor told me, ‘Don’t worry about paying for it, get it fixed,’” he said. “We got emergency approval to sign contracts, so we could bring restoration companies in, sheet rockers, painters, carpenters, tree companies, lawn people — and we lined most of that up before the hurricane hit.”

Simmons said if they couldn’t have worked out the issue of no electricity, they would have never finished the restorations in time, so the first thing the crew worked on was getting power back to the school.

“The thing we weren’t prepared for was going that long without electricity,” he said.

“The heat was almost unbearable. The electricity was invaluable, you can imagine, because everyone was working in the dark in all these buildings.”

The officers in charge of protecting campus property were feeling the high temperatures as well, Hollier said.

“It was ridiculous,” he said.

“We went to Sam’s and bought T-shirts and shorts. Our uniform was a pair of shorts, a Tshirt and a gun belt. That’s how hot it was, and you had no place to wash your clothes.”

Between the heat and no

electricity, campus police had to improvise their living arrangements, even resorting to raiding the Mirabeau café for drinks, Hollier said.

“The first three days, we had two man units, and one man in the passenger seat would be taking a nap, because we didn’t have anywhere to sleep,” he said. “We all scavenged up fryers and barbeque pits. We had Assistant Chief (Obert) Blaisdell, at the time, at the Chancellor’s House and he stayed there and cooked all day. So we went from chicken nuggets to sometimes having good steaks.”

While every other building on campus was without electricity, the one place, possibly in all of Beaumont, that had power was the President’s House, Simmons said. The team made its headquarters there — they even had Internet.

The Lamar administrators in charge of bringing in cleanup crews were thankful to have scheduled companies in enough time, but they didn’t anticipate that the initial workers themselves couldn’t be trusted, Hollier said. They set up checkpoints to keep students and citizens out of the dorms, but they couldn’t control every worker due to the lack of manpower.

“They had brought in a cleanup crew to do the dorms,

and they were stealing things — jewelry, money, shoes,” he said.

“So, the detectives had to go to the hotel where they were staying, and they recovered bags and bags of stuff they had taken.”

Although LU was prepared for the worst, there were still little things that could not be controlled, Simmons said.

“We forgot about the iceboxes in the dorms, and the storage facilities in the Biology Building,” he said. “We had to replace every icebox in the dorms. Can you imagine the Biology Building with all those animals and specimens? I think the guy that had to go in there had to have a spacesuit on to clean that out.”

Simmons and company not only wanted to have everything on campus fixed, but they wanted the students who were coming back to the dorms to feel at home, he said.

“When they came back, there were candy Kisses on their pillows in the dorms,” Simmons said. “Their parents said, ‘We’ve never seen their dorms this clean.’”

With more than two weeks of school lost, Lamar had to reset the rest of the semester schedule in order for students to be able to graduate in time.

“We had to create a whole new schedule of classes from

that point on,” Simmons said.

“The crediting agencies require X-amount of hours to give you college credit, so we had to fit those hours in and extend the semester a week, and have classes on Saturday.”

Simmons said the possibility of losing a semester would have meant many students not returning to campus. With the quick turnaround, losses were kept to a minimum.

“We did lose a number of our students, but we did have graduation — it was probably one of the most joyous graduations in our history,” he said.

“The faculty, the staff and the students were just overjoyed that we could get through that crisis and still hand out diplomas.”

Every building on the Lamar campus suffered some damage after Rita rolled through, but rather wait until spring to restart school, Simmons and his staff worked tirelessly to get the university up in a little over three weeks.

“As I look around at all the things I’ve accomplished during my tenure, I think maybe that 24-day period will always stick out in my mind, as working with some of the greatest people you could ever imagine, to accomplish that 24-day recovery,” he said. “It was an amazing time.”

UP Desmond Pickens

The severely damaged Montagne Center roof after hurricane Rita hit, (left) and the same area of the Montagne Center 10 years later. after renovations.

Page 6

Thursday, September 24, 2015 • UNIVERSITY PRESS

KVLU powers up Workers completed repairs to KVLU’s radio transmitter, Sept. 17. The tower and transmitter, located in Rose City, was damaged during a recent storm. The radio station continued to air, but the damage caused the signal to be weak, causing problems in reception for many listeners. Following the repairs, the station announced that it had returned to full power, Tuesday.

UP Megan White

Lecture commemorates Rita anniversary Grant Crawford UP sports editor The Texas Tribune paired with The Beaumont Enterprise, Tuesday, to present a special event commemorating the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Rita’s landfall.

The event, sponsored by ProvostUmphrey law firm, was held in the Setzer Student Center Ballroom on the Lamar University campus.

The theme of the discussion was that the passing of Rita left Southeast Texas with damages to be fixed and lessons to be learned.

“The experience we learned from is our own — it was dangerous, painful and very, very expensive,” LU President Dr. Kenneth Evans said. “We look back and assess the lessons learned and share them, and hopefully make a difference for tomorrow.”

The event consisted of a panel of experts that spoke on how the area

has been affected from the storm and what improvements have been made since.

State Representative Joe Deshotel said that one area of improvement specifically, was that the roads heading out of this area were greatly improved with new contraflow lanes.

“I think that’s one of the major things that (the Texas Department of Transportation) has done,” Deshotel said. “Since Hurricane Rita, we cut the eastbound traffic towards this area off, and made it eight lanes going towards San Antonio and Austin to release that traffic in case of an evacuation.”

The people of Southeast Texas have learned how to prepare individually, as well, Debbra Mamula, policy advisor to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former executive vice president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, said.

“We all know that fuel should be in your tool kit now, just like batteries

and fresh water,” she said. “The most significant supply of fuel is in your own fuel tanks. If you have generators, you need to be prepared to have fuel for those generators.

“People were stuck on I-45, and we didn’t have fuel prepared to give out to those who were stranded. So, I said bring in those who do this every day, and they may not be emergency responders, but they know how to get fuel to people.”

Brad Penisson, Beaumont Fire Department captain, said that the ability been adjusted.

“We have better communication throughout the state,” he said. “Our plans have definitely improved, as we saw three years later with Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike, and we’re continuing to improve.

“Our emergency management personnel meet on a regular basis. We meet and we tweak our plans, it’s a work in progress.”

LU file photo

A tattered flag is caught in the branches in the Quad following Hurricane Rita in 2005.

TUNE IN There Is No Public Radio Without The Public

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7

SPORTS

UNIVERSITY PRESS September 24, 2015

Lady Cards 6-0 at home Volleyball wins Cardinals Classic, heads into SLC Coty Davis UP contributor The Lady Cardinals Volleyball team (10-4) ended their non-conference season as champions of the Cardinal Classic tournament, Saturday, in McDonald Gym. The win gave the Lady Cardinals their first winning record in September in seven years.

“Since the start of preseason, this team has really been coming together, and I am truly proud of us,” middle blocker and tournament MVP Cortney Moore said. “We all have that fighting drive inside of us to be a great team, and to make it really far this season.”

The Lady Cardinals had a tough start to the tournament, losing 25-20 in the first set against the UT-Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros.

LU head coach Allen Edwards said getting a fast start in games has been a problem.

“I do not know why, but we are not really good coming out of the locker room,” he said.

“This is a team that is much more talented than last season, but this is still a huge concern for us.”

Despite losing the first set, LU bounced back, taking the the second 25-12. Midway through the third set the Lady Cardinals were down 13-9, but slowly erased the four point lead to take the set. LU won the fourth set, 25-23, to win the match 3-1.

“When they go on a run, it’s like they snap and realize that they are doing things, and are pretty good,” Edwards said.

“Sometimes we have to fall into that. I think that is just part of the maturation process the

The Lady Cards pose with the Cardinal Classic trophy in McDonald Gym, Saturday.

team is going through.”

The Lady Cardinals continued their roll in their next match against the winless Jackson State, who were no match for LU, losing 3-0 — 2510, 25-19, 25-16.

Edwards said the biggest key in the match was how great the Lady Cards were from the service line.

“When you attack a team right out of the gates and are willing to compete to the end, it can simplify the match,” he said.

“None of these kids will tolerate a lack of performance from themselves or their teammates.”

Although they won both previous matches, Edwards knew that facing the Tulane Green Wave in the final game was not going to be an easy task.

However, no one could predict the dominating performance the Lady Cardinals displayed.

Lamar jumped out to an early lead, winning the first two sets 25-22, 25-23.

Trying their best to avoid a sweep, the Green Wave handed Lamar their worst set loss of the tournament, 25-14.

In a hard-fought fourth set, neither Lamar nor Tulane had a lead bigger than three points.

However, the Lady Cardinals prevailed and defeated the Wave Green 26-24 to win a 3-1 match.

Lauren Stahlman, Plano junior, left, and Autumn Taylor, Pearland junior.

Edwards said the response showed how much better the team has become.

“I told them after the loss that the talent level for us to be really good is there, and the only question I had is how we would face adversity,” he said.

“The look in their eye was different. There is a lot more grit and a lot more fight. We were never out of it, even when there was adversity and we struggled a little bit.”

The Lady Cardinals remain undefeated at home (6-0).

“We love playing here — there is no better place to play,” Edwards said. “We certainly love playing at home in front of this great crowd, and there is nothing better than home cooking.”

The Lady Cardinals will return to action Friday, when they open their conference season against the Sam Houston State Bearkats in Huntsville.

Jim Gilligan set to retire at end of season Brooke Stinebrickner UP contributor Coaching legend and the face of Cardinal baseball for 38 years, Jim Gilligan announced Monday he will retire after the end of the 2016 baseball season.

“I have truly enjoyed the opportunities I have had here at Lamar,” Gilligan said. “Let’s celebrate. It’s time to get to work and make this the best year I have ever had.”

Gilligan’s accomplishments and records have led him to 12 conference championships and earned him 1,320 career wins.

Gilligan said that even though he is retiring, he does not plan on his professional career ending.

“What I am going to miss, I am going to try to continue to do, and that’s still working with players,” he said. “I don’t enjoy the competition as much as I like watching the development of the players. I don’t have plans yet on what I would do as far as that, but I’m sure I’ll do something.

“It’s kind of the same thing when Al Vincent quit after 42 years of professional baseball. He came out and gave me about 14 years — maybe I’ll do 14 years for somebody else.”

In 2010, Gilligan guided the Cardinals to their most recent NCAA Regional Tournament, where they have played 12 times previously.

Gilligan was a former pitcher for Lamar from 1967 to 1968, and that is one of the reasons he came to Lamar to coach baseball.

“If I didn’t play here, I don’t think I would have got back into coaching,” he said. “Because I don’t think I would have taken another job. I was working in the radio business down in Houston. I took a cut in pay to take this job. I don’t think I would have for anybody else, but I had played here and this was a family.”

Gilligan said when it comes to teaching baseball that it doesn’t matter what level it is.

“I like that baseball is baseball,” he said. “I remember I kept on saying when I was talking to (Sparky Anderson), ‘You know at our level Sparky,’ and I said it about three or four times.

He finally stopped me and said, ‘Listen, baseball is baseball. Doesn’t matter what level you are coaching at. Whether it is little league or big leagues. There is only one way to do it, and that is to do it right.’”

Gilligan has coached 79 major league draftees, six major leaguers and four All-

Lamar head baseball coach announced that the upcoming season would be his last, at a press conference, Tuesday.

Americans during his coaching career.

He said he couldn’t refer to one of his previous players, without talking about the rest.

“There are just so many great players that have come through here,” he said.

“We’ve had so many of them I don’t want to slight any one of them.”

Gilligan began his coaching career in 1970 as a graduate assistant under Al

Vincent. In 1972 he became head coach for Western New Mexico University, and a year later he became head coach at Lamar where he has spent the better parts of 38 years.

“I’m going to be 69 next month,” he said. “While I feel healthy, I don’t feel as vibrant as I used to. It’s time. I’ve coached here for six decades.

“If I go seven decades I will feel old.”

Rec sports offering clubs, classes Ryan Hobbs UP contributor Lamar University Recreational Sports will offer a variety of intramurals and club sports this fall, and is also introducing a new football “Pick-em” fantasy league.

“This fall is our staple for team sports,” Jason Harrington, head of intramural/sports clubs, said. “We offer a variety of sports for students to participate in. It gives them a benefit of being included in student life, developing leadership skills and building lasting friendships.”

All of this can happen while playing intramural sports, as well as club sports, Jabari Lewis, graduate assistant to intramural sports, said.

“A lot of these clubs are student organizations, because you have presidents and officers,” he said. “There’s a lot of budgeting that goes into sports clubs, being able to promote and market your sport to students so they are gaining a lot of knowledge.”

Flag football, volleyball and intramural 10-on-10 full-ground cricket are al-

ready underway, with basketball and indoor soccer scheduled for October.

Beaumont sophomore Quentin Rico said it was a good way to meet friends and stay active.

“I played baseball in high school, and got tired of not playing sports,” he said.

“This is my only way of still being able to get outside. It’s a good way, if you’re not in a fraternity, to get to know people, too.”

Registration runs through Oct. 9 for basketball, and through Oct. 16 for indoor soccer. Information is available at imleagues.com.

Harrington said Rec Sports is introducing challenge ladder leagues, where students compete against each other to climb a ladder, and students can sign up at any point.

“It’s basically for all racquet sports — badminton, table tennis, tennis, racquet ball and even 8 ball pool,” he said. “You challenge people and you try to work your way up to the top of the ladder.

“You challenge someone, you schedule the time, and then you play your match. Whoever wins reports the score and the loser confirms it.”

Rec Sports supplies all the equipment needed for club sports.

Also new this semester is the flag football “Pick-em.” The deadline to sign up is Friday.

“You pick who you think is going to win and you put confidence points next to it — that’s going to start up in a few weeks,” Harrington said.

“Its going to be fun,” Lewis said. “It’s going to be an opportunity for students to be involved in the NFL — being able to pick their teams and to have that competition in between individuals.”

Rec Sports also offers many fitness classes, said Lewis.

“We offer yoga, we offer cross fit, cardio kick boxing — another big one that we will be having is the zumba and glow zumba in McDonald Gym,” Lewis said.

“It’s a big event. We turn off all the lights, everyone has on glow attire and we get after it — mixed in with aerobics, it’s dancing, it’s good cardio and it’s a fun way to be involved with the Rec.” Classes also include water aerobics and cycling. To sign up for any of the activities offered, visit the front desk in the Sheila Umphrey Recreational Center, or

UP Josh Aych

Quentin Rico, Beaumont sophomore, makes a catch during an intramural flag football game on the field next to Vincent-Beck Stadium, Monday. visit the website at www.Lamar.edu/rec sports.

Page 8

Thursday, September 24, 2015 • UNIVERSITY PRESS

Local ‘Wreaths Across America’ honors veterans Nathan Paine UP contributor Wreaths Across America is a non-profit organization that lays wreaths on veteran’s graves at Christmas to honor the nation’s fallen. The organization is seeking volunteers and sponsors for wreaths to be laid at Beaumont’s Forest Lawn Cemetery.

“The thing that does the most good is that we have ceremonies at local cemeteries, and with those ceremonies, the local people come out, local news media comes out, and we have an outpouring of support to honor the veterans and lay the wreaths on the graves,” Maj. Connie Wooley, WAA location leader, said. “Normally, people don’t know anything about (WAA), and when they come out to the ceremony, they see that, ‘Hey, this really is something important.’”

Although Wooley, a member of the Civil Air Patrol, became involved with WAA in 2009, the organization took on extra significance when her son, also a member of the Civil Air Patrol, died while with the Marine Corps in 2013.

“Nobody knew about my son, and after the ceremony (in December) the lady that I had been dealing with came up to me and said that the director wanted to put my son’s name on the Veteran’s Memorial Wall at no charge,” she said. “To me, that says a lot about that funeral home and cemetery — they went above and beyond.”

Wooley said part of her mission is to raise awareness of the WAA’s work.

“The community as a whole is very much unaware,” she said. “Honestly, I wish every city knew about Wreaths Across America, and every city had

ENROLLMENT and we are always boastful about setting enrollment records. You can go in one of three directions with enrollment — you can go up, you can go down or you can stay the same. Any time you are pedaling up, it’s good news — especially when the quality of your students is good. Our quality indicators say we are just as good this year as we were last year. I am absolutely happy with the numbers.”

Smith said graduate students are up 22 percent, while undergraduates were actually down 1 percent.

“We had such a tremendous increase in graduate numbers that it offset the very slight drop at the undergraduate level for a total increase,” he said.

The College of Engineering had a 12.5 percent increase since last fall, Smith said. The

their own cemetery that they participated with.”

Different organizations raise money and sponsorship to pay for the wreaths, Wooley said, but community support is most important.

Wreaths are sold throughout the year, with the deadline to be eligible for this year’s ceremony set for Nov. 30.

“I prefer to have everything by Nov. 15 to give me time to get everything in — for us, that when it gets hectic,” Wooley said.

The ceremony, which will be held at 11 a.m., Dec. 12, at Forest Lawn, is open to everyone, regardless of whether they have donated a wreath.

“You can still attend the ceremony,” Wooley said.

“You can lay the wreath for someone else who has sponsored a wreath but can’t be there to lay it.

Some biker organizations

escort the trucks. So if you ride a motorcycle and you’re wondering, ‘What can I do? — I can’t attend a ceremony, maybe I can escort a truck.’”

Wooley said that WAA is slowly growing every year and the community is noticing.

“You get maybe 100 people that show up, but attendance has increased, media has increased, the wreaths have increased, the publicity has increased, and the number of organizations that participate has increased,” she said.

For information about the ceremony, how to sponsor a wreath, or local affiliated organizations, email Wooley at wooley05@juno.com, or call 903-335-9998.

For more information about Wreaths Across America, visit www.wreatahsacrossamerica.org.

Courtesy Image

A girl places a wreath on a veteran’s memorial during a remembrance service.

from page 1 specific departments within that college accounting for most of the growth were industrial, chemical and mechanical Engineering.

“Computer Science was way up,” he said. “Counseling and special populations, which is in the College of Education and Human Development, was up, and music was up, I’m pleased to say.”

Smith said he is pleased with the university’s wide reach.

“One of the most delightful things that I have to share is in our commitment to global reach and diversity,” he said.

“Our freshmen came from 19 other countries, which is pretty impressive when you think about it — 19 other countries and 19 different states. Of our total enrollment of almost 15,000, more than 2,000 are

‘The world in which we live is no longer within the borders of Southeast Texas.

It is to our advantage to take this global perspective, and we see that in our numbers.”

— Senior Associate Provost Kevin Smith students from other countries and other states, which is good.”

Smith said the school values diversity.

“We have a global reach and mission,” he said. “It’s fascinating when you go to wander around campus and discover there are kids from South Africa who want to play golf. You can walk over to the College of Engineering and you hear different languages spoken depending on

where the students are from.

You can go watch a tennis match and see someone from Peru play. You can go watch basketball and see Europeans play, and track and field is the same way.

“That truly enriches the educational experience of all of our students. The world in which we live is no longer within the borders and boundaries of Southeast Texas. It is to our advantage to take this global per-

spective, and we see that in our numbers.”

However, Smith said the vast majority of Lamar students are still from Southeast Texas.

“Lamar plays a key role in Southeast Texas,” he said. “It provides higher education for the majority of students in Southeast Texas and the truth of the matter is, we are tied at the hip with Southeast Texas. Our graduates are employees in local industry, so we have an obligation and a commitment to the community.”

Smith said the school would like to see more growth, but within capacity.

“We are certainly not going to lower our quality standards to grow, but we’d like to see even more,” he said. “Believe me, its much better to see growth than it is to see declines, or even to see flat patterns.”