SUMMER 2019
Music to Our Ears Loyola's new College of Music and Media
CAROLINE
GONZALEZ ’17
creates a digital voice for the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans
HAVING
A BALL Loyola Athletics' record-breaking year
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32 Team Building
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The Super School
Loyola's New College of Music and Media
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Loyola Loyal Day 2 4 6 8 9 22 24 28 30 33
16 COVER STORY
GOOD SPORTS
Loyola Athletics is hitting its stride – bringing home four conference titles this year alone.
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President’s Message Know & Tell News Roundup Mission Examen The Loyola Effect Inauguration Alumni Events Commencement Class Notes College Roundup
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28 Commencement SUMMER 2019 | loyno
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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
SUMMER 2019 Designers Hollie Garrison Linda Lien-Ribardi Photographer Kyle Encar Contributing Writers Angelique Dyer ’11 Will Glass Ramon Antonio Vargas ’09 Associate Director of Public Affairs Patricia Murret Executive Director of Development Stephanie Hotard ’04, M.B.A. ’10 Assistant Vice President for Alumni Engagement Laurie Eichelberger Leiva ’03
Dear Loyola community, As I looked out over commencement at the joyful students and the even more joyful families, I thought I might burst with pride. Loyola is on a path to flourish because of your generosity and because of the commitment of our spectacular faculty and staff. You have rallied around this university that you treasure and these students whom you love. At a time of significant headwinds for schools like ours, Loyola is up this year in admissions. We have well-exceeded our target of 800 new undergraduates and increased the quality of the class at the same time.
Vice President for University Advancement Chris Wiseman ’88, Ph.D. Senior Vice President, Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Sarah Kelly University President Tania Tetlow
We will welcome our most diverse class ever, from all over the nation and the world. To our exceeding pride, 30 percent of them are the first in their families to go to college. They mirror their generation – more than half of them are students of color. I may be just a little bit biased, but I believe them to be the most talented, creative, brilliant students anywhere. We continue to offer these students the excellence they deserve, with small classes, hands-on teaching from passionate faculty, and now individualized success coaching to help them learn the skills of adulthood. In the graduate programs and the College of Law, we are expanding our reach and relevance. Law students learn by doing in the college’s innovative advocacy program and by practicing actual law in the clinics. Nurses integrate health care skills with critical thinking and mission. Business students manage actual investment funds and consult with local nonprofits and entrepreneurs. And our music industry program is helping New Orleans develop the business infrastructure to expand a true cultural economy. We have worked hard to diversify our revenue and balance our budget. I am proud to report that we are ending this year with a surplus and your support has made all of the difference. We are almost to the finish line of our $100 million campaign, one that has transformed our campus and our students’ lives. On Loyola Loyal Day, our 24-hour social media campaign, we exceeded last year’s results tenfold, raising more than half a million dollars. Thank you! Loyola is quite simply the most tightknit and dedicated community I have ever experienced. You know, some people say they are on a “mission from God” as a metaphor. We really mean it. Nothing can stop us now. (Cue the second-line music.)
LOYNO Magazine is published twice per year. View online at loyno.edu/magazine Send address changes and correspondences to: Loyola University New Orleans Department of Alumni Engagement 7214 St. Charles Avenue, Box 909 New Orleans, LA 70118 phone (504) 861-5454 email magazine@loyno.edu Submissions of stories and photographs are welcome.
Tania Tetlow, J.D. University President
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Loyola University New Orleans admits students of any race, creed, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability status, marital status, and citizenship status and doesn't discriminate in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, or athletic and other school-administered programs.
$250,000 Dollars Donated
$337,221 799 unlocked an additional gift of
$250,000 18%
Faculty & Staff
14%
Athletics
10%
Parents
49% Alumni
Eric Delgado '99 generated 97 clicks & 17 gifts totaling $5,500 Coach Kellie Kennedy generated 60 clicks & 10 gifts totaling $1,785 Leigh Thorpe '03 generated 44 clicks and 9 gifts totaling $1,200 Bethany Paulsen '04 generated 15 clicks and 8 gifts totaling $800 Elizabeth Guilbeau '03 generated 89 clicks and 7 gifts totaling $575
8%
Top donors
Students
Loyola Loyal Day
$587,221
By State
$4,000 $3,000 $2,000 $1,000 Class of
Class of
Class of
Class of
Class of
2003 2001 1998 2022 1996
Louisiana – 419 Texas – 50 Florida – 37 California – 25 Colorado – 19
We are so thankful to all the Loyola Loyal advocates who helped make the fourth annual Loyola Loyal Day of Giving a success! Thank you for being part of such an extraordinary day for the Loyola community and supporting our mission. SUMMER 2019 | loyno
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know&tell Loyno news worth howling about
2019 Loyola graduate and physics major
Cole Green is one of six Louisiana students to be named as a
Goldwater Scholarship recipient! This elite award recognizes
top students who wish to pursue scholarly research in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering and brings recipients one- to two-year scholarships valued up to $7,500. During his time at Loyola, Green was involved with several research projects in the fields of mathematical physics and quantum biology, including the study of modeling light-harvesting chlorophyll complexes in plants.
A Wolf Pack welcome for new baseball coach
Jeremy Kennedy! The five-time Conference Coach of the Year award winner brings extensive experience to this position and is one of five coaches in the country to take two different programs to the NAIA World Series. He has led 11 student-athletes to NAIA All-American selections and had 21 sign professional baseball contracts during his 10 seasons with Northwood and Keiser Universities.
Loyola University New Orleans junior Rana Thabata has been awarded a Truman Fellowship.
Thabata is double majoring in economics and political science at Loyola. She is one of approximately 60 students in the country — and the only student from Louisiana this year — to win this distinguished honor for students pursuing a career in public service — and it comes with a $30,000
She is the fourth Loyola student and first female Loyola student to win a Truman. Thabata is a
scholarship toward graduate school.
student leader on campus especially interested in issues of social justice, diversity, and inclusivity, and she hopes one day to write educational policy for New Orleans public schools. This summer, she’s interning at the U.S. State Department in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Raphael Zimmerman, sophomore jazz studies student, gained nationwide fame as
“ The Boy in The Window,”
when after he was denied entrance into New Orleans’ jazz club The Starlight due to being underage, the band let him join the jam session from the side window of the club! He was featured on the Today Show after the video of him playing through the window went viral on social media.
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FAITH IN THE FUTURE CAMPAIGN
THE FINAL STRETCH
Your generosity has funded: $34,500,000
in scholarship support
$32,000,000
in programmatic and endowment support for projects across campus
$9,500,000
in Loyola Fund support
$22,000,000
raised for capital projects The Faith in the Future campaign has raised over $98 million so far, making it
$98M CAMPAIGN IN LOYOLA'S HISTORY THE LARGEST AND MOST SUCCESSFUL
To join the drive to surpass our $100 million goal, visit campaign.loyno.edu SUMMER 2019 | loyno
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news roundup v
New Mental Health Counseling Center
Housed on Loyola's campus, the new clinic hopes to fill the void in the lack of mental health care treatment in the Greater New Orleans area. The Loyola Center for Counseling and Education is here to fill the gap of mental health treatment services, especially for citizens of New Orleans. Housed on Loyola’s campus, the center provides effective mental health counseling services on a sliding scale to underserved families, couples, groups, and individuals at every stage in life. Currently, graduate students in the College of Nursing and Health are able to work in the LCCE and fulfill their internship requirements and get real-world experience helping clients. The clinic also has partnered with the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic and Assistance Foundation and the Preservation Hall Foundation. Through this locally focused partnership, the clinic will help provide low-cost mental health treatment for musicians and artists who are also receiving medical care at NOMC.
Bob Thomas Named Nation's Top Wetland Hero Robert "Bob" Thomas, Ph.D., received his award at the 30th Annual National Wetlands Awards in May in Washington, D.C. Renowned environmentalist and chair of Environmental Communication at Loyola, Bob Thomas, Ph.D., recently was named one of the nation’s top Wetland Heroes by the Environmental Law Institute. Six environmentalists, all of whom have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to the conservation and restoration of our nation’s wetlands, were honored for their individual achievements, and Thomas won the Education and Outreach Award!
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Law Alumnus Named Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs The new role adds to Robert Wilkie's lifelong career of military service. College of Law alumnus Robert Wilkie, J.D. ’88, was confirmed as the 10th secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In this role, Wilkie will oversee providing important and quality services to our veterans including health care and benefits for veterans and their families. Previously, he served Secretary James Mattis as his under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, and before that, as assistant secretary of defense and senior director of the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration.
New Members of the Loyola Administration Four new additions to the Loyola leadership team include a dean, two vice presidents, and a chief operating officer The Loyola community is excited to welcome four new leaders to the Loyola community: Michael L. Capella, dean of the College of Business; Fr. Justin Daffron, S.J., vice president of Mission and Ministry; Sarah Kelly, senior vice president of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs; and Carol Anh Markowitz, senior vice president of Finance and chief operating officer. Dean Michael L. Capella joins the Loyola academic community from Villanova School of Business as the associate dean of Graduate and Executive Programs, and led the development of a comprehensive online learning strategy that included the creation and launch of an online MBA and Master of Science in Analytics program, both of which are ranked in the top 15 of the 2019 U.S. News & World Report rankings. Fr. Justin Daffron comes to Loyola from St. Louis University, and he brings a wealth of higher education administrative experience as the former special assistant to the president of St. Louis University,
and the associate provost for Strategic Planning and Academic Services and vice president for Advancement at Loyola Chicago. Sarah Kelly served as the vice president for Enrollment and Marketing at St. Michael’s College in Vermont, where she oversaw undergraduate and graduate admission, student financial services, and marketing and communications. Under her leadership, St. Michael’s strengthened the academic profile of its entering cohort, expanded the college’s geographic reach, and grew revenue. Carol Anh Markowitz has served for the past six years as founding executive director of a new educational institution, New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute, and with a strong background in corporate finance and strategic planning, she will help to shape Loyola’s future through strong fiscal stewardship, ingenuity, and leadership.
Capella Dean of the College of Business
Daffron Vice President of Mission and Ministry
Kelly Senior Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs
Markowitz Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Operating Officer
2018 Dux Academicus Award Recipient: Maria Isabel Medina Maria Isabel Medina, College of Law professor and a Ferris Family Distinguished Professor of Law, joined the Loyola Law faculty in 1991 after practicing law in Washington, D.C. This January Medina joined an esteemed group of faculty members when she received the 2018 Dux Academicus Award, the highest honor given to Loyola faculty members. She was recognized for her sheer passion for her students, justice, the law, and the potential of the law to serve as a refuge for underrepresented and marginalized communities. Recently, she also developed and implemented the curriculum for the popular certificate in immigration and citizenship law and practice. As a result, Loyola was the first law school in the nation to offer a certificate in this important practice area. SUMMER 2019 | loyno
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Photo credit: Saint Louis University
A Note from Fr. Justin Daffron, S.J. on University Mission
I’M GRATEFUL TO BE ONE OF THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS COMMUNITY AS THE VICE PRESIDENT
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OF MISSION AND IDENTITY. The warm welcome I’ve received since my first day has been gracious, and with every message, I’m learning that the Loyola community is a tightknit one, committed to the growth and care of all who join. As I step into this role and continue the tireless work of Fr. Ted Dziak, S.J., I will strive to keep the mission central to everything we do at Loyola. We are a proud Catholic, Jesuit university determined to form our students as men and women with and for others. We welcome those from every walk of faith and on each step of the spiritual journey, and we are drawn together by the values we share. In the 2019-2020 academic year, Loyola will participate in a Mission Examen at the request of the Superior General of the Society of Jesus and with the support of the Jesuit Provincials in the United States and the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. The Examen invites the Loyola community to engage in institutional reflection on the mission and to commit to a set of priorities for faithfully and creatively promoting our Catholic, Jesuit identity and values in the years to come. At the center of this Examen process is a self-study, and in September, we will engage a broad cross section of our community of students, staff, and faculty across every school and discipline. Together, we will dig deeper into our mission by looking back, looking in, and looking ahead. Everyone can learn more about the Mission Examen by visiting loyno.edu/missionexamen. I look forward to meeting many of you during the Mission Examen process and beyond as we remain rooted in our strong mission and even stronger faith.
Fr. Justin Daffron, S.J. Vice President of Mission and Identity
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Planning, Preparing and Listening Spring '19: Executive Steering Committee designs process to engage stakeholders for input on areas of strength and opportunities for enhancing Loyola's mission. Summer '19: Executive Steering Committee develops communication plan, meeting agendas, activity materials and schedule of stakeholder engagements. Fall '19: Executive Steering Committee distributes campus-wide survey and completes listening sessions with important stakeholder groups.
Dialoguing Fall '19: Classes, teams, and departments participate in reflective activities designed to encourage looking back, looking in, and looking ahead to strengthen Loyola's mission. Fall '19: The community's collective wisdom is captured into a comprehensive Mission Examen Report.
Welcoming and Celebrating Spring '20: The campus community hosts a visiting team of AJCU colleagues to more deeply explore findings from Mission Examen Report. Spring '20: Final Report is submitted to the Jesuit Provincial and the implementation of mission enhancements begin.
DAVID W. MOORE
THE
LOYOLA EFFECT 1
As a child, David visited Loyola's campus regularly to see his father, a professor who was world-famous for his research on temporary ponds.
David describes his father as "an ecologist before it was cool " and as " the embodiment of the phrase 'a scholar and a gentleman.'" David's high school biology teacher, Felix Gaudin (who received the Adjutor Hominum Award in 2002), told him that his father (who had taught Gaudin at Loyola) was a great teacher.
David credits the dialogue between students and faculty with instilling in him the idea that his studies weren’t just academic.
"We were trying to understand ourselves, our societies, our world," he says. "We didn’t just want to make a living when we graduated; we wanted to make the world a more humane and livable place." So after he graduated, he joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in Ethiopia. David started his career as a member of Loyola's faculty in the late 1970s, just as his father was ending his. Their time at Loyola overlapped briefly, and David later taught one of Gaudin's daughters, a history major.
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2019 ADJUTOR HOMINUM RECIPIENT David Moore is the Rev. James J. Pillar, O.M.I., Distinguished Professor of History and the chair of Loyola's Department of History. He's been the chair of that department, in fact, for the past 30 years — since 1989. In that time (longer, actually — he's been teaching at Loyola for 40 years), he's served the Loyola community as a humble, attentive, and selfless leader. On a more personal note, he met his wife when they were both students at Loyola in the 1960s, and in November they'll have been married for 50 years. He's an excellent example of not just the ways Loyola tends to follow its people but also of the kind of person who's exactly right for Loyola. And at the awards presentation* on Sept. 29, 2019, he's receiving the Adjutor Hominum award, Loyola's highest alumni honor, in beautifully deserved recognition of that fact.
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When it came time for college, David attended Loyola University New Orleans, then known as Loyola University of the South. He was a fairly serious student who, despite an 18-credit-hour schedule, would find time to sit in on classes he found interesting. In his own words: "not a nerd, exactly, but I mostly enjoyed my studies." At Loyola, many of David's favorite teachers were Jesuits, and they taught subjects that he hadn't had much formal exposure to, like philosophy and theology, which shaped a baseline academic discipline for asking and answering important existential questions.
"The openness to the pursuit of truth and meaning that I identified with my experience of studying at a Jesuit university, the commitment to explore fully both or all sides of a question, not just 'the accepted' one, helped me better understand what I was reading in philosophy and religious studies, as well as in literature and history about the complexity of the world and of the human situation. It helped me grow, I hope, not just in knowledge but in tolerance, understanding, and objectivity, as well."
In 1989, after 10 years as a professor, David became chair of the Department of History.
"I have had the privilege of being a member of the Department of History for over 40 years, and its chair for the last 30. My goal has been the same throughout: to encourage and support the faculty and students to make the best and most productive use of their time at Loyola. We have had a wonderful, if varied, group of scholars in the Department of History. All our challenges and changes were met and made not by me but by us. What I’m proudest of is us."
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1. David's father, Walter Moore, in the 1957 edition of The Wolf yearbook. 2. David and his father, Walter, in the 1978 edition of The Wolf yearbook. 3. David and his future wife, Dee, at the 1967 Alpha Delta Gamma formal. 4. David in the classroom in 1989.
* The presentation will be held during the Annual Alumni Jazz Brunch at the Audubon Tea Room from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. To register for the brunch and any other Wolf Pack Weekend events, visit alumni.loyno.edu/alumni-weekend-calendar-events SUMMER 2019 | loyno
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There's something strange about the Palm Court, the quad area between Marquette Hall and the Music/Communications Building. Those who walk it even daily may not notice, but those who've seen it from above, well... An aerial view reveals that, yes, Loyola University New Orleans is secretly a branch of Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Like from X-Men. It's a running joke among some students and staff: The aerial picture of the Palm Court that makes it onto many of Loyola's marketing materials is lovingly referred to as "the X-Men picture."
A little oddity that becomes especially interesting when Samuel Bradley, Ph.D., director of Strategic Initiatives, says that for just a second, they were having trouble naming the new College of Music and Media, or CMM. "We were just calling ourselves 'The Super School,'" Bradley says. And when he says it, it sort of sounds like an admission.
It's a lovely picture. It sells the university's palm trees and green space, and it reminds its prospects that Loyola is a destination. But it also looks like the X-Men logo.
But while they may not be mutants or superheroes, the fact of the matter is that the students who follow that X-shaped walkway into the CMM will become a new kind of graduate. The next step in the evolution of the creative economy of New Orleans. Wideminded problem-solvers, improvisers, collaborators, and creators. Self-sufficient masters of their craft and humble team players.
Powerful products of Loyola's very own . . .
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Super School.
THE
SUPER
SCHOOL BY WILL GLASS
Loyola's New College of Music and Media SUMMER 2019 | loyno
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All Kinds LIKE IN THE FICTIONAL SCHOOL IN X-MEN, Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters – where young mutants learned to know themselves, work together, and harness their abilities – the CMM emphasizes not just a recognition and perfection of your unique strengths but also an obsessively thorough collaboration with your fellow superhumans – er, students. Musicians learn to advertise. Directors apply design thinking to their shoots. Because if there’s one thing a superhero needs in the heat of battle, it’s a broad skillset that allows for creative problemsolving and improvisation. And this new school is preparing its students for 21st-century battle. “People are sourcing all sorts of things in-house,” Bradley says. “They want somebody who can write a good story, design a quick clip to go with it, and know where to go looking in order to grab some music from an open domain site and put it in – they want the whole package.” And that, in a nutshell, is the answer to the first thing on everyone’s mind: Why now? Why take already iconic music and mass comm schools and mash them together like some kind of bonkers DJ? Reorganizing an entire school is no simple task – why take it on now? What urged this change? Or to put it more theatrically, what’s your motivation? “The world around us is changing constantly, and higher education is the inheritor of everything that happens out there in the public domain,” Bradley continues. “So we talk about business, media, news, design, and music . . . all those things are working together much more than they have in the past.” The College of Music and Media asserts that your primary skill, the one you will master, does not exist in a vacuum – it is bolstered by, and in the 21st century depends on, a wellrounded understanding of its complementary skills. “I just love the idea of being a whole, well-rounded person,” Bradley says, “and how that can help you later on in your career adapt to a bunch of different needs that your employer might have. “I really think the idea of creating men and women with and for others, people who can be interventionists out in society, requires that they have a special level of training and education that’s trans-disciplinary.” Or, in other words, Loyola’s students have to meet the environment they’re graduating into, and the new structure of the CMM mirrors the way the creative industry itself has evolved. Kern Maass, the dean of the College of Music and Media, echoes this sentiment. “When you’re under one roof and you start aligning things and people are working and see how they relate, the ability to work on projects and work in classes together expands your base and lets you know that you’re going to be a team player when you go and get your first job,” he says. “You’re not going to have the blinders on like, ‘This is the only way I solve a problem.’ “So the more collaboration we provide and create for students, the more successful they’re going to be when they get out,” Maass continues. “They’re going to see more ways that their discipline actually approaches and interacts with the world. So where they thought they were just going to get a job in this, they’re going to realize that their degree entails all these transferrable skill sets – ‘I can work in all these different fields I didn’t even think about before because I’ve been exposed to them now, and my skill set works for that, too.’”
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THE NEW COLLEGE OF
MUSIC AND MEDIA SCHOOL OF
MUSIC AND THEATRE ARTS Music Music Education Music Therapy Theatre Arts Musical Theatre
SCHOOL OF
MUSIC INDUSTRY Music Industry Studies Popular and Commercial Music Urban and Electronic Music Entertainment Studies
SCHOOL OF
COMMUNICATION AND DESIGN Studio Art Design Digital Filmmaking Journalism Advertising / Public Relations Visual Communication
A brand-new kind of creator for a brand-new kind of creative economy. Students engineered to be cornerstones of a cuttingedge culture. Which makes sense – Loyola and its students have always been an essential part of the fabric of New Orleans. And the college’s new name signals that more than one might expect.
What’s in a name?
ANTONIO DOMINO, vocal performance junior, is the grandson of legendary musician Fats Domino and makes his mark at Loyola as a member of the choir and performing in the Loyola Opera Theatre.
The New Orleans Conservatory for Music and Dramatic Art was founded in 1919 by Dr. Ernest Schuyten. In 1932, the conservatory was incorporated into Loyola University as the College of Music. The following year, it moved from its location on Jackson and Carondelet to Loyola’s campus. In the almost-century since, Loyola University New Orleans has become a deeply rooted and essential tradition, an institution that feeds and shapes the city’s culture. Two programs in particular have become synonymous with Loyola’s New Orleanian imprint: music and mass communication. The new CMM, though, is already expanding on that legacy. “People always tell you that music and mass comm are the crown jewels of Loyola,” Maass says. “Design is the only design [bachelor’s] degree in New Orleans. It’s been quiet in existence but putting out a fantastic product in our students. “Every time I meet with folks in the city,” he continues, “They say, ‘Wow, you have a design program!’ It’s been here a long time, and it’s really successful, but nobody knows about it. So let’s elevate it … [and make it] much more prominent.” “It just so happens that two of the strongest programs at the university are communications and music,” Bradley says. “So we wanted to combine those two things – but also elevate all other programs within the college.” But there’s a bit more to the story before the final decision. In 2008, when the school was called the College of Music, it underwent some post-Katrina restructuring. The dean at the time proposed that other arts-related programs become part of the college: things like design, art, and theatre. The college was starting to look a little more “super,” but in Bradley’s words, they were still trying to figure out what a really great college could look like. They started noticing several programs that were media-related – digital filmmaking, entertainment studies, graphic design – and knew those things would collaborate well with the other programs in the School of Mass Communication. Eventually, it was proposed that mass comm also become a part of the college. “At that point,” he says. “We were just calling ourselves ‘The Super School.’” But now, after an extensive and inclusive renaming process, it’s called the College of Music and Media. “We wanted the name to not be something that was lackadaisically selected,” Bradley says. “We wanted to engage in a process with our community, our constituency.” That included both internal (students, staff, and faculty) and external (donors, alumni, business partners) constituencies. “We partner with a lot of business entities,” Bradley says. “Think about Greater New Orleans, Inc.; think about places where students go to do their internships. They’re really on the front lines of work, and our hope is that they will actually eventually hire our students, so we wanted their feedback, too, about what we should be thinking about. Not only from a
SUMMER 2019 | loyno
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vanity title perspective but also like, as we’re creating this merger, what reorganization makes sense to align programs in what way?” So they called people working for CNN and the Advocate, people working in arts and music all over the city. They brought students together and focus-grouped them over the course of several months. Faculty met to discuss the results, and then they broke out into their own individual focus groups. Students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members all came together with ideas – and it all generated a couple hundred variations on a theme. “As words started to come to the top,” Bradley says, “this idea of both music and media started to float to the top. “At the same time, they were also creating other kinds of titles that were very appropriate for all of the different schools [under the CMM].” “For instance, we believe that the title of Music and Theatre Arts hearkens back to our 1919 founding as the New Orleans Conservatory for Music and Dramatic Art.”
The Creative Economy Loyola’s New Orleans constituency was included in the naming process, but more than that, the symbiotic relationship between its students and the Big Easy informed the planning of the CMM’s actual structure. “It’s such a great hospitality city,” Bradley says. “So focused on a creative economy, a cultural economy . . . New Orleans hangs its hat on being able to hire people who are very creative and who do innovative, new things – novel approaches to problems, both social problems and artistic ones. “When I talk about a cultural economy, I talk about a richness of a way of thinking and being.” That specific richness – of thinking and being – is what’s always made New Orleans the perfect place for Loyola, and now more than ever, it’s the perfect place for something like the CMM. The Big Easy is eager to
receive Loyola’s students – their ideas and innovations. It is prepared for growth, and it is ready to meet the future of media. Bradley and Maass recall a 2017 study done by Americans for the Arts, which ranked New Orleans fifth for percentage of all jobs that are arts-related. “When you think about that,” Maass says, “when we’re 50th in terms of population – to be No. 5 behind San Francisco, L.A., Atlanta, New York? It’s pretty cool to think about how huge those cities are, how many educational institutions they have in those cities. So really, you get to come here, and it’s a small city, but it’s internationally known, so you’re already a big fish in a big pond.” This idea – that Loyola students are connected to and matter to these professions in New Orleans and elsewhere – is something he also attributes to its faculty. “We’re dialed in and connected to every one of those industries,” Maass says. “Our faculty all worked professionally in their disciplines. So those connections come into the classroom while they’re still students
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VinLisa Khoeum, left, and Darian “DJ” Ritter are students in the School of Music Industry, where aspiring musicians, producers, and performers grow their skills onstage, in the classroom, and in the boardroom.
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Journalism senior SKYE RAY helped charter a new chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists and served as president in Spring 2019.
v here, and it makes that connection and that opportunity much better when they leave. “What I found here, too, is faculty and staff are just … I mean, they’re amazing. They’re world-class.” Bradley agrees. “What makes a really good degree program is the human capacity you have behind it,” he says. And again, to that end, the restructuring of this college was done with expansion toward the future in mind, both of the city and Loyola’s community. “We wanted to think about growth, and we wanted to think about the talent we have on our bench and where we could put that talent so we could really grow our programs and our people,” Bradley says. “We wanted to really be sure that we were organizing a leadership team that would be responsive to what the 21st-century needs are for our students who are graduating.” So when he became dean, the first thing Maass did with Bradley was go out and meet with Loyola’s community partners, not just to keep those connections open but also to keep them in the loop about the restructure and to check on their needs, ensuring that Loyola would remain part of the city’s creative growth. “He and I hit the pavement,” Bradley says. They went to places like the Idea Village, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, New Orleans Opera, design-thinking partners, high schools, music venues, etc. – to tell the story about what this school does specifically. “I think people know Loyola as a brand,” Bradley says, “but we really wanted people to understand that the College of Music and
Media was also an entity that was thriving and a part of the fabric of New Orleans. “New Orleans has been strategically working on growing its own creative economy, and it’s been useful for Loyola’s College of Music and Media to be involved in those conversations and to be a big leverager in that.” And because hospitality is such a big part of the market in New Orleans, it’s important to be an institution that carries enough clout to help shape the conversation. Or in other words, as we’re teaching students, we’re also teaching the community how to receive them. “Oftentimes when you talk about the arts and music,” Bradley says, “people have this switch in their brain that they click off that’s related to the fact that those things are business enterprises. “We’re teaching our students that they are a business. That if they’re a musician and they’re going out and they’re gigging Thursday, Friday, Saturday night and teaching Monday through Friday during the day that, in fact, they are a small business.” And New Orleans as a whole is very receptive to the idea. Remember – its growing, fifth-in-the-nation creative economy. And the end result of this collaboration with the city? “Our students are already very wellintegrated into New Orleans,” Bradley says. “People will frequently call my desk or call faculty members asking for ways they can get students from our college to come volunteer or do internships and be a part of the New Orleans community.”
School for super-mutants or not, the restructured College of Music and Media can already claim success. The results internally have been great – “It’s rewarding to see the collaboration happen across the units,” Maass says. “Not to say it wasn’t happening before, but incentivizing and making it more intentional about how that collaboration happens is rewarding. Me personally, those challenges are always what I aspire to and like to work on.” – and beyond that, the CMM has demonstrated a tangibly special appeal to students. More than 1,000 are enrolled in the college. But that doesn’t mean the growth is over. “We’re really proud of two new programs that are coming,” Bradley says. “The first one is our entertainment industry program, which is modeled after our music industry program. . . . We think it’s going to become a destination degree for our music industry school. We also think that our urban electronic music program is going to be pretty cool.” Both of those programs are enrolling their first classes this fall. And as industry grows and changes, Loyola’s faculty, staff, and students will always rise to be part of that change – not just in response but as a contributor, a voice urging the creative economy onward. Because like any good school for mutants, this one will always be looking for the next step in its evolution.
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Loyola Athletics is hitting its stride – bringing home four conference titles this year alone.
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BY RAMON ANTONIO VARGAS ’09
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Some of Loyola University New Orleans Athletics’ best days are seared into the pages of the city’s history. A quarterback named Bucky Moore set a record for rushing yards as the Wolf Pack’s 1926 football team went a perfect 10-0, practicing and playing games at a stadium that once stood just off Freret Street. Wolf Pack track star Emmett Toppino and boxing team standout Eddie Flynn each won gold medals at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Thirteen years later, the Wolf Pack basketball team won a national championship. Ranking right up there with some of the most inspiring moments in the 105-year-old Loyola’s proud sports tradition is what its athletes pulled off this past March 2. A women’s basketball team led by coach Kellie Kennedy – and catapulted by an MVP performance from junior Kaila Anthony – opened the afternoon by capturing a second straight Southern States Athletic Conference postseason tournament championship. Then, within a few hours, a men’s basketball team helmed by coach Stacy Hollowell – and keyed by freshman Myles Burns’ MVP performance – brought home its first-ever SSAC title. A scene that saw triumphant members of both squads leaping around and embracing each other at mid-court didn’t just cap off a single-day sweep unlike any at Loyola. It punctuated what was undeniably a banner year for an intercollegiate sports program that 28 years ago began rebuilding from a two-decade hiatus – and 14 years ago was rebuilding again following Hurricane Katrina. The historic double wins on March 2 helped bring the number of conference titles won by Loyola during the 2018-2019 academic year to four. Participating in one of Loyola’s more newly offered sports, a women’s golf team coached by Drew Goff wrote its own chapter in the history books the following month, clinching its first-ever SSAC tournament championship with standout play from senior Daria Delfino and sophomore Alejandra Bedoya Tobar.
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Earlier in the semester, another of the more newly formed squads at Loyola, the competitive dance squad, continued cementing a dynasty, winning a third straight SSAC title in its third season of existence. Four members on coach Rickey Hill’s team earned spots on the all-tournament team. The men’s and women’s swimming teams each finished among the top six teams in the country, with 15 members earning AllAmerican nods across 17 events, building on immediate success that the programs have enjoyed in three years under head coach Thomas Natal. An additional team, women’s tennis, joined the school’s four conference champs as well as the swimming programs in earning bids to their respective national tournaments. A number of other athletes whose teams didn’t clinch a title won their individual conference competitions, including four track athletes. The SSAC couldn’t help but notice and gave its Athletic Director of the Year award to Brett Simpson ’96, MBA ’03, a former baseball player for Loyola who’s worked his way up the ranks of the intercollegiate sports department over the years. “The recent success of Wolf Pack athletics is a testament to the hard work and support of the entire Loyola community,” said Simpson,
ETHAN TURNER, senior finance major, was named the SSAC Men’s Basketball ScholarAthlete of the Year for the second consecutive season. Computer science senior and men’s basketball studentathlete TRE’VON JASMINE, left, follows in the footsteps of his father, Yussef, who is a member of the Wolf Pack Athletics Hall of Fame. ZACH WRIGHTSIL, center, and MYLES BURNS, right, mass communications freshmen, both earned First Team AllSSAC honors this year.
who’s brought the number of intercollegiate athletics teams at Loyola from 14 to 18 since becoming athletics director in 2014. Simpson recalled a time when people on campus were simply happy to have enough athletes to field a team. Now, he said, the programs engage in “a healthy rivalry” to see which one can bring the school its first national title in 75 years. Perhaps most important to people who once questioned the value of introducing athletic scholarships at the school about 15 years ago, none of the laurels have come at the expense of marks in the grade book. A half-dozen Wolf Pack athletes this past year earned recognition from the SSAC as their sport’s top scholar. Dozens more across various sports landed on conference all-academic teams, helping Loyola – for a 10th consecutive year – earn a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Champions of Character Five-Star Institution award. “What our coaches and student-athletes have been able to accomplish both in the classroom and in competition this past year has been unbelievable," said Mike Swartz, Loyola’s sports information director. Among the academic standouts was senior basketball player Ethan Turner, who helped one of Loyola’s four title winners accomplish something it had not since shortly after World War II.
Hoops Glory Since men’s basketball won the school’s lone national championship nearly 75 years ago, the program has registered riveting triumphs, though relatively few and far between. The defending champs of 1945-1946 advanced to the national semifinals of what is now the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, where Loyola currently competes. When Loyola competed for a time in the first division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the Wolf Pack qualified three times between 1954 and 1958 for the tournament many now simply refer to as March Madness. Then, in 1994-1995, three seasons after Loyola athletics returned to the NAIA following a voluntary hiatus beginning in 1972, the squad won a Division II regional championship and again returned to a postseason national tournament. But none of the postseason forays following the run to the ’46 semis resulted in Wolf Pack victories – until coach Hollowell’s squad this year delivered a different outcome. After winning 20 of 31 games and capturing its first Division I conference tournament championship since the reinstatement of Loyola athletics with a 7874 victory over Middle Georgia State, Loyola secured a spot in the 32-team field for the NAIA’s national tournament.
With a little more than 13 minutes left in 24th-ranked Loyola’s first-round clash with ninth-ranked Missouri Baptist, it seemed as if the Wolf Pack was destined for another oneand-done outing at a national tournament. Loyola trailed by 9 points (54-45), despite Turner posting a game-high 17 points at halftime, largely off five 3-point shots. But then Tre’Von Jasmine, whose father, Yussef, is a member of the Wolf Pack Athletics Hall of Fame on the strength of his own basketball career at Loyola, nailed a 3-point shot that led Loyola on a 10-1 run. A 3-pointer from senior forward Benjamin Fields late in the contest would give Loyola a narrow 68-67 victory over the Spartans to advance in a national tournament for the first time in more than seven decades. The Wolf Pack fell by 6 points to Arizona Christian in the second round. Though the season ended, freshmen stars Myles Burns and Zach Wrightsil earned First Team All-SSAC honors as well as All-American honorable mentions. Hollowell, whose 91 wins are fourth all-time among Loyola men’s basketball coaches, earned the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches’ prestigious Small College Coach of the Year laurel. He also was included in a list of 25 men’s basketball coaches who have had success at small colleges, which for the most part don’t count on the same resources as the game’s marquee programs.
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“I’ve been able to work with really good guys,” Hollowell told The Maroon during his team’s run. “We have great players that are continuing to build our program.” The women’s basketball team, meanwhile, has younger roots than its men’s counterpart, having launched only when Loyola reinstated intercollegiate athletics. After lean years in its infancy, it’s arguably been Loyola’s flagship athletics program since 2007, when it won the first of several conference tournament championships. The winningest coach in the program’s history, Kellie Kennedy, is responsible for many of those conference tournament championship banners, including four SSAC titles in the past five years. That run began one year after Kennedy led the Wolf Pack to the national tournament’s quarterfinals for only the second time ever, with a squad under the command of former coach DoBee Plaisance having done it first six years earlier. To some outsiders, the most recent SSAC title may have seemed like a long shot, with the Wolf Pack losing five straight games to start the campaign – three official games and another pair of unofficial exhibitions with LSU and Tulane to open the year. “I don’t know that we exactly knew who we were,” Kennedy said at the time. “We lost the (SSAC) Player of the Year last year in Zoie Miller, and we lost the (SSAC) Defensive Player of the Year in Di’Mond Jackson, and I feel like we were just trying to figure out who we were.” v
KAILA ANTHONY, left, international business and finance junior, and MEGAN WORRY, right, senior women’s basketball studentathletes, have received recognition from the NAIA, SSAC, and the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for their outstanding performances on the court and in the classroom.
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To the delight of the Wolf Pack’s supporters, they did figure out who they were. A team whose leaders include AllAmerican guard Kaila Anthony and forward Megan Worry – an All-American honorable mention – won 26 of the remaining 29 regular-season and conference tournament games. Those included a 17-3 mark in SSAC regular-season play and a 3-0 mark in the conference tournament, where Loyola – the 24th-ranked team in the nation – met No. 15 Bethel University in the final. The game was tense – Loyola had only a 2-point lead with a little over 4 minutes to play. But Loyola got 11 of the game’s next 13 points – including 7 from Anthony, who finished with 30 on the day – as the Wolf Pack secured the conference title. Expectations were high heading into the program’s sixth consecutive trip to the national tournament. However, despite a game-high 24 points from Anthony and another 22 points from Worry (the program’s all-time leader in blocking opponents’ shots), Loyola was eliminated in the opening round, falling by 5 points to Our Lady of the Lake University. The defeat was stunning and painful. But, as Kennedy’s Wolf Pack eyes next season, it can take solace knowing it won’t be losing two key pieces. While Worry departs as a senior, Anthony was a junior and will be back.
New Offerings Find a Foothold Among the athletics teams that Loyola has added since leaving the Gulf Coast Athletics Conference and joining the larger SSAC in 2012 is women’s golf and competitive dance. Both have managed to establish themselves quicker than other Loyola athletics newcomers of years past. Competitive dance coach Rickey Hill arrived at Loyola in 2016, after 14 years as Virginia Tech’s spirit coordinator. His squad entered its third season this past school year having won back-to-back SSAC titles as well as having made its first trip to the national tournament, marking one of the most auspicious starts to a coaching career ever at Loyola. The Wolf Pack built on those accomplishments on its home floor at The Den, which hosted the SSAC championships the first weekend of February. The team posted a score of 86.32, topping Martin Methodist and Brewton-Parker for a third straight crown. Four of the Wolf Pack’s dancers auditioned for the all-conference team – Elisabeth Cohen, Lauren King, Ana Maristany, and Sofia Rabassa. All earned spots. Hill won the Conference Coach of the Year for the effort. Freshman Ava Gonzalez earned the program’s first-ever All-American honorable mention.
From left, sophomores ALEJANDRA BEDOYA TOBAR, NICOLE DRAGONETTE-RINCON, and business senior DARIA DELFINO led the women’s golf team to its first-ever SSAC tournament championship.
The Wolf Pack ultimately placed 12th of 12 at the national tournament, a year after finishing 11th in that competition. But Hill struck an optimistic tone when looking back at how the program’s infancy had gone. “I am over the moon and pleased,” Hill said following nationals in March. “They left the floor with no regrets.” Similarly, the women’s golf program has found a foothold early on. In 2013-2014, its second year of competition, the team secured its first national tournament appearance. At this year’s three-round conference tournament, Daria Delfino, Alejandra Bedoya Tobar, Madison Bates, Ashley Rogers, and Callee Breeland shot a combined 904, finishing 13 strokes under the next-closest team. Delfino finished one shot below the overall individual leader – and Bedoya Tobar seven shots to finish fifth overall – as Loyola pocketed the conference title for the first time ever on April 10. Both women earned All-American nods after Loyola finished ninth of 30 in the country at the national tournament in May.
The play from Delfino, a First Team AllAmerican, left her tied for 13th individually at the NAIA nationals. The senior’s departure as competition picks up again next school year will almost certainly be felt by Goff, the SSAC’s Coach of the Year. But Bedoya Tobar, a sophomore Second Team All-American, will be looking to build off the prior year’s triumph. Just a few weeks before Loyola welcomed home the spring’s four team conference championships, the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame inducted women’s volleyball star Gina Gill; women’s basketball star Garkeiva Council; the 1994-1995 men’s basketball team; and Amy Danielson, the first-ever inductee to have played women’s soccer. Each of the athletes chosen for induction competed for Loyola in the post-reinstatement era, which some tend to view as sparser in accomplishments than the hallowed period of Wolf Pack Athletics from the 1920s to the early 1970s that produced many of those enshrined in the Hall.
But after this year, it shouldn’t surprise anyone to see the latest crop of basketball players – along with the first golf and competitive dance representatives – possibly take up a place along past Hall inductees in the coming years. “I can’t say I’m surprised by the accolades our athletic programs and department have received this year,” Assistant Athletics Director Courtnie Prather said. “We see their dedication and unwavering work ethic behind the scenes every day.”
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“If New Orleans asks only that you be yourself, Loyola demands that you be the very best version of yourself. To practice, over and over. To learn – more knowledge, more context, more tools. As the Jesuits say in Latin, magis.” – Tania Tetlow
President Tania Tetlow is the first woman and the first layperson to lead Loyola since the university’s founding. She is also the fourth woman president, as well as the youngest woman president, to lead one of the 27 Jesuit colleges and universities in the U.S. And in November, she officially became Loyola’s 17th president during a two-day-long inauguration celebration that included Mass at Holy Name of Jesus Church, Tetlow Fest in the Peace Quad, the official Inauguration Ceremony, and a special Inauguration Concert in Roussel Hall!
See more at inauguration.loyno.edu
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Alumni
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Tetlow Tour Events
1. Jan. 16, 2019 Miami Henry Munoz ’81 and friends Mily de Molina ’82 and Raul de Molina hosted a reception in honor of President Tania Tetlow. 2. Oct. 28, 2018 Houston President Tetlow, pictured here with current Houston Alumni Chapter President Parker Bigley ’95, former Chapter President Carol (Zengel) Smith ’86, and Assistant Vice President for Alumni Engagement Laurie Leiva ’03 at the Houston Chapter Brunch at Brennan’s. 3. Oct. 18, 2018 Home of Harry and Claire Stahel New Orleans Proud Loyola parents Stephanie Stokes and Dan Shea with President Tania Tetlow and Joe Exnicios, J.D. ’90. Pictured attending a lovely evening reception generously hosted by Claire ’58 and Harry Stahel, J.D. ’64.
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Wolf Pack Weekend 2018
1. The official start of Wolf Pack Weekend 2018 was the President’s Welcome and Reception on Sept. 28, 2018. Pictured here are alumni Aimee Parsons ’98 and Kevin Casey ’98 with Interim Provost Maria Calzada. 2. Wolf Pack Weekend is not just for alumni! Retired faculty also were invited back to campus for a special luncheon. Pictured here are President Emeritus and current physics faculty member Fr. James Carter, S.J., and retired physics professors Dr. Creston King and Professor Henry Garon ’47 and Ms. Marie Garon. 3. Pictured sitting from left are Rudolph Liggins, M.P.S. ’93, and his wife, Brenda; Yvonne Maestri ’69 and Howard Maestri ’68, M.B.A. ’70; and Charles Young ’64. Standing from left are Sister Maureen Little ’68, ’85, M.E. ’90, M.S. ’93; and Sandy Young ’66. 4. One of the highlights of Wolf Pack Weekend 2018 was the Golden Wolves 50th Reunion Dinner for the Class of 1968. Classmates Jane Robbins ’68; Barbara Berrigan ’67; Sandra Young ’66; and Maureen Little ’68, ’85, M.E. ’90, M.S. ’93, enjoyed looking at photos in the 1968 edition of The Wolf. 5. Wolf Pack Weekend ended with a delicious jazz brunch at the Audubon Tea Room. Pictured here: Sheri Salvagio ’88, M.R.E. ’01; Monique Buras; Jackie Markey ’87; and Julie Shreve ’88. 6. The 2018 Adjutor Hominum recipient, Cheryl Dileo ’71, M.M.T. ‘75, delivered moving remarks about the importance of music in health and healing. She is pictured here with Alumni Association President Leigh Thorpe ’03; President Tania Tetlow; and Tony Decuir ’70, M.M.T. ’75.
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Send us your milestones.
New job? New baby? Got married? We want to share in your joy! Send us your wedding, birth, or job announcements, along with photos, at magazine@loyno.edu
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Law Alumni Luncheon
1. The Annual College of Law Alumni Luncheon took place on Jan. 25, 2019. Pictured here is the 2018-2019 Law Alumni Board. 2. D ean Madeleine Landrieu, J.D. ’87, H ’05, pictured here at the Law Alumni Luncheon with outgoing Law Alumni Board President Leila D’Aquin, J.D. ’88, and current Law Alumni President Jay Ginsberg, J.D. ’82. 3. Former Dean of the College of Law Marcel Garsaud ’54, J.D. ’59, H ’04, pictured here with 2019 St. Ives Award honoree, Professor Kathryn Lorio, J.D. ’73, and Dean Landrieu.
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Young Alumni Pack
The Young Alumni Pack sponsors events that focus on career development, community service, and other social networking. Some of the young alumni events in the 2018-2019 year include the Wolves on the Prowl Day of Service, crawfish boils, Thirsty Thursday Networking Happy Hours, and a Christmas social. The 2018-2019 Young Alumni Pack Board included Jasmine Barnes ’14; Sharyn Booker ’11; Noah Borer ’15; Katie Broadbent ’14; Donald Faust ’09; Juliet Frazier ’11; Elyse Harrison ’17; Allyson Hodapp ’13; Madeline Janney ’16; Chae Jiles ’14; Kaki Johnson ’11, J.D. ’15; Adam Kohler ’08; Kaylen Lee ’18; Kristen Lee ’12, J.D. ’15; Zaina Mansour ’14; Sofia Pena Uijttenboogaard ’10; Catherine Pugh ’15; Chelsey Richter ’12; Ashley Stevens ’11; Thomas Stover ’10; Even Thomas ’13; and Madeline Zelenka ’15.
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Wolf Pack Athletics Hall of Fame
1. The 1994-1995 men’s basketball team was inducted into the Wolf Pack Athletics Hall of Fame. 2. F ormer director of Athletics and head basketball coach Dr. Michael Giorlando was honored as the recipient of the St. Sebastian Award. Pictured here are Garkeiva Council ’12, women’s basketball Hall of Fame inductee, and Dr. Giorlando. 3. Amy Danielson ’02, left, is the first women’s soccer player inducted into the Wolf Pack Hall of Fame on Jan. 26, 2019. Pictured here with former teammate Allison Plaisance ’00. 4. Lee Feinswog; Hall of Fame Inductee Gina Gill ’12 (women’s volleyball); and Brett Simpson ’96, MBA ’03.
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Wolf Pack Athletics Golf Tournament
The annual Wolf Pack Athletics Golf Tournament is a great way to enjoy a game of golf and support Wolf Pack Athletics. The event took place on May 17, 2019, at Audubon Clubhouse. 1. Pictured from left are Dr. Lance Lege ’96, Brad Duplechain ’96, Josh Guilbeau ’95, Frank Smith ’96, Mark Drago ’99, and Ryan Dicharry ’95. 2. P ictured from left are Thomas Gibbs ’09, Greg Velri ’08, David Sudyka ’05, Brad Rodrigue ’05, and Jeff Pippenger ’05.
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The investment you make in your faith will, perhaps, pay the greatest dividends in your life.” – Gayle Benson ON MAY 10, 2019, filled with the sounds of bagpipes and herald trumpets, 780 graduates received their Loyola diplomas surrounded by their families and friends. Diverse in every way, the class of 2019 graduates represent the best and the brightest from nearly every corner of the nation and around the globe. This year’s honorary degree recipients included New Orleans musician Deacon John; Touro Synagogue's first woman rabbi, Rabbi Alexis Berk; Hiroshi Motomura, an internationally recognized advocate and law
professor; and the commencement speaker, Gayle Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans and wife of the late Tom Benson, H’87. The 2019 commencement celebration also marked President Tania Tetlow’s first graduation as president of Loyola. “Today is your victory lap,” she said in her remarks to the graduates and also led them in a rousing chant of “Who Dat!”
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Class Notes SAVE THE DATE
Brad Duplechain ’96 received the 2019 Brother Martin High School faculty award.
Weekend 2019
September 27-29, 2019
Daisy Pignetti ’96 is a full professor in the English department at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. She recently presented her research “The Impact of Hiddleswift on Hiddlestoners” at the annual Fan Studies Network conference.
The Class of 1969 will celebrate their 50th reunion and their indication into the Golden Wolves Society. The Class of 1999 will celebrate their 20th reunion and the Class of 2009 will celebrate their 10 year reunion. Learn more at alumni.loyno.edu/reunion
The Hon. Robin Pittman, J.D. ’96, was presented with this year’s Judge Benjamin Jones Judges in the Classroom Award and received the Michaelle Pitard Wynne Professionalism Award.
Wolf Pack
1960s Charlie Young ’64 received the Aaron F. Marcus Award presented by the New Orleans Planned Giving Council.
1970s Robert Kutcher, J.D. ’75, was selected for inclusion in Louisiana 2019 Super Lawyers. J. Van Robichaux Jr., J.D. ’75, was named to the Pro Bono Project Board of Directors.
1980s Thomas Richard, J.D. ’83, was selected for inclusion in Louisiana 2019 Super Lawyers.
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Magdalen Blessey Bickford, J.D. ’86, was named to Louisiana 2019 Super Lawyers in the area of Employment and Labor Law: Employer. Thomas Cortazzo, J.D. ’87, became a partner at Lewis Brisbois Complex Commercial Litigation Practice. Lindsey Ladouceur, J.D. ’89, was named to the Pro Bono Project Board of Directors.
1990s Marlene Sharp ’92 was a finalist for Best TV Pilot in the Action on Film/Script Summit Film Festival script competition for Born in LA: Dolls and All. René Thorne, J.D. ’93, was selected for inclusion on the Louisiana Super Lawyers' 2019 Top 25 Women in Louisiana list.
Mitchell Danese ’98 was chosen as vice president of construction and real estate at Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity Inc. Andrew Hill, J.D. ’98, was promoted to associate professor of philosophy at St. Philip's College and named a fellow in the Global Studies Division of Stanford University. Roberta Whelchel-Sabrio ’98 was named vice president for programming and planning at the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. Stephani Leibe, J.D. ’99, was promoted to partner in the firm of Norton Rose Fulbright in Houston.
2000s Dana Marie Douglas, J.D. ’00, was selected as a United States Magistrate Judge for the United
States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. JoAnne Eichelberger, MRE ’00, recently joined Jimerson Birr's business litigation and appellate law practice groups. Robert LeBlanc ’00 was named New Orleans Magazine's Restaurateur of the Year. Anne Marie Morgan, BME ’00, earned her Certified Financial Planner designation in April. She has been working for Baird for 19 years and is an assistant vice president in private wealth management. Sharonda Williams, J.D. ’01, was named to the Pro Bono Project Board of Directors. Cherrell Simms Taplin ’02 has joined the firm of Liskow & Lewis. Mark R. Deethardt ’04 was named to Louisiana Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” list in the area of Business Litigation. Kristi Jacobs-Stanley ’04 was honored with a Big Easy Award for Best University Production for her work at Loyola, where she directed These Shining Lives for the Loyola Theatre Department in the fall. Charles S. Smith ’05 was named to Louisiana Super Lawyers “Rising Stars ” list in the area of Intellectual Property. Jeremy Thibodeaux ’06 was promoted to partner in Ericksen Krentel CPA's Accounting and Audit Services Section. Thibodeaux was also recently appointed to Greater New Orleans Inc.'s NextGen Council. The Hon. Jared Robinson, J.D. ’07, was appointed judge of the 405th Judicial District Court in Galveston County.
Nadage Assalé, J.D. ’08, was elected vice chair of the Pro Bono Project Board of Directors. Alex Burtzos ’08 is an assistant professor of composition at UCF and was recently featured in an online story by UCF Today. Michael Girardot ’08 and his band, The Revivalists, recently performed on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Matthew Miller, J.D. ’08, became a partner in the firm of Baldwin Haspel Burke & Mayer in New Orleans. Carlee Gonzales, J.D. ’09, was elected to the Hammond City Council. Roy McGrath ’09 received a master’s degree from Northwestern; his group ChiTown Sounds recently released two videos. Eric Rodriguez, MBA ’09, was promoted to visual solutions chief of staff at Intel Corporation.
2010s Gretchen Lozes Fischer, MBA ’10, joined Ericksen Krentel as a manager in the firm’s Accounting and Audit Services Section. Tyler Gray, J.D. ’10, was named president of Louisiana MidContinent Oil and Gas Co. Ryan Christiansen, J.D. ’11, was elected as a shareholder in the firm of Liskow & Lewis. Danny Dysart, J.D. ’11, recently joined Fishman Haygood's litigation group.
Adrienne Wheeler, J.D. ’11, was recently named the executive director at Louisiana Appleseed. Gretchen Hirt Gendron ’12 was promoted to director of public relations at Gambel Communications. Elissa Kerr, J.D. ’12, joined Fox Rothschild LLP in Philadelphia as an associate in the Litigation Department. Timothy D. Ray, J.D. ’12, made New Orleans history by becoming the first African-American man to serve as clerk of First City Court of New Orleans.
LIFE CHANGES QUICKLY
HAS YOUR WILL KEPT UP?
Your will reflects the time when it was created. Many people intend to update their wills but often fail to do so. You can always change your will by adding a codicil (an amendment), but how do you know when to change it?
Lacey Rochester, J.D. ’12, was named to the Pro Bono Project Board of Directors. Camille Bryant, J.D. ’13, was selected for the Pathfinders program for diverse, highpotential, early-career attorneys through the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. Lauren Patton ’14 is now acting associate artistic director of Theatre Prometheus. Dr. Rebecca Burns, DNP ’15, was recently named a recipient of the Texas A&M University and The Association of Former Students 2019 Distinguished Achievement awards, recognized in the category of Individual Student Engagement. Denise Powell ’15 recently wrote two articles, "What is multiple sclerosis?" and "Healthy tips to get the most out of Mardi Gras," that were featured on the CNN health website. Travis DeZarn ’17 enlisted with the Louisiana Air National Guard.
Here are some circumstances that make it vital to update your will: 1. You want to name a different personal representative, trustee or guardian. 2. Your estate has increased or decreased significantly. 3. You've moved to another state. 4. Your situation or a beneficiary’s situation has changed because of marriage, divorce, birth, adoption or death. 5. Tax laws have changed. 6. You want to include a charitable gift in your will. If you wish to remember Loyola University New Orleans, consider leaving us a percentage of your estate so your gift will remain proportionate to your estate size, no matter how it fluctuates over the years.
Contact the Office of Planned Giving at (504) 861-5752, or email Monique Gaudin Gardner at mgardner@loyno.edu to get started today. SUMMER 2019 | loyno
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HOW LOYOLA SHAPED ME
Team Building Caroline Gonzalez ’17 (communication)
As digital media coordinator for the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans, Gonzalez maintains the website and apps for both teams and has hosted the Saints postgame show as well as co-hosted The Black and Blue Report, a weekly podcast on the two teams. On July 1, 2019, she'll become broadcasting coordinator, working behind the scenes and on-air for both franchises. "First things first, I know this story is about me, but I want to be careful with how much I use the word, 'I,'" Gonzalez says. "I wouldn’t even be close to the position I’m in without my family, the people at Loyola who shaped me, and the people here at the Saints and Pelicans who have gone the extra mile to help me start my professional career." At only 23 years old, Gonzalez is the digital media coordinator for the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans, and on July 1, she'll become broadcasting coordinator. By anyone's standard of success, she's a little bit ahead. But instead of singing her own praises, she's got a list of people she insists on thanking. Many of Loyola's best and brightest have this in common — they're quick to credit others with their success. She mentions Beth Blackburn, her manager; Doug Tatum, her boss; John DeShazier; Daniel Sallerson; Jen Hale; Sean Kelley — all people she feels grateful to have worked with. "Each one of these people and countless others have encouraged me, given me their hand, and built me up when I was at my lowest," she says. It's a humility characteristic of Loyola — the true recognition that one's success is the community's success. That lifting others lifts oneself. And it's not the only Loyola-ism Gonzalez picked up in her time here. As she learned her trade, she learned to love being a student. The diversity of interests on Loyola's campus, plus the university's focus on becoming a well-rounded person, pushed her ambition to its full potential. "Loyola allowed me the opportunity to become the best student I could be . . . the best athlete I could be, and a well-rounded individual with her sights set on her goals." She describes her experience at Loyola as "go, go, go," and learning to balance everything became a crucial skill — one that she's carried into her career. "A 14-hour day isn’t unheard of; it’s pretty common in this industry, but that’s what makes it fun," she says. "The chaos of everything I had going on at Loyola and everything I have going on in my profession is very similar." This ambition is something Gonzalez believes was particularly important for Loyola to foster in her
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because during high school, she prioritized her athletic career over her education. But when Loyola recruited her to play basketball, it was a stroke of fate. Here, she found her passion for higher learning, and more than that, she found the community she needed to encourage her toward becoming a well-rounded scholar and athlete. "At a big school it’s easy to feel like a small fish in a big pond," she says. "If it weren’t for the small pond of Loyola, I wouldn’t have been able to get coffee with my professors and sit in their office and talk about the latest social media trends or have 20-year-old crises." She speaks fondly of professors Laura Jayne and Lisa Collins, both of whom she visited with every day simply to talk — about class, goals, life, anxieties, victories. Those two women became hugely important mentors to Gonzalez. "They instilled confidence in me," Gonzalez says. "And not just confidence as a student to get an A but the confidence to be a successful person, reporter, and woman." Jayne helped Gonzalez pitch stories to Nola.com, and one assignment in her capstone class was for each student to meet with a professional in their field. Jayne connected Gonzalez with a friend of hers. His name — Doug Tatum. "Because of the skills and characteristics that Loyola taught me, like to have a positive attitude with every single assignment no matter big or small, I was able to stand out of the crowd," she says. "I was able to prove to myself and prove to others that I was the person they should be willing to take a risk for." And Gonzalez has more than proven herself. "This past year I was moved into the new broadcasting coordinator position not because they think I’m perfect but because they see potential in me and they have confidence that I’m willing to work hard to get the job done." And what she's most excited about in her new position — "I’m so excited to learn; I think that has been the most fun part of this entire process. Just learning from others. No matter how big or small the opportunity, it’s still an opportunity to learn." In true Loyola fashion, what Gonzalez has become at heart — is a lifelong student.
COLLEGE OF MUSIC AND MEDIA Sundance Award winner and instructor of digital filmmaking Garrett Bradley has been named the inaugural Philip Guston Rome Prize winner in Visual Arts through the Academy of Arts in Rome. Her groundbreaking film, AMERICA, will be presented in Bodies of Knowledge, an exhibition on view June 28 – Oct. 13, 2019, at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Professional in Residence in Journalism Joe Duke received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Orleans Press Club.
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS During the spring semester, the College of Business partnered with the National Security Agency TTP SPARC Program to offer the Lean LaunchPad MBA course. The course, taught by Loyola management professor Dr. Felipe Massa and Center for Entrepreneurship head Kate Yoo McCrery, led MBA teams through the entrepreneurial process of assessing the commercial potential for two technologies patented by the National Security Agency. In May, Loyola’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Development hosted a 24hour Civic Hackathon Challenge in partnership with Amazon Web Services. The Hackathon attracted participants from across the country to collaborate on a technology-driven solution to solve some of Baton Rouge’s most pressing problems including traffic, blighted properties, and crime.
COLLEGE OF LAW U.S. News and World Report named three College of Law programs among the nation’s top 50 specialty programs for the 2020-2021 year, ranking the Clinical Training program No. 23, the Environmental Law program No. 41, and the Legal Writing program No. 42. The Legal Research and Writing Program’s national ranking puts the program as the No. 1 Legal Research & Writing program in Louisiana. Chunlin Leonhard, Léon Sarpy Distinguished Professor of Law, has won a Fulbright Scholarship for her research project in China during the 2019-2020 academic year. Working with the Institute of Legal History, China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, she will research ancient Chinese dynastic contract law issues, focusing on the Tang Dynasty.
Louisiana’s Supreme Court building in New Orleans will be renamed for the late State Supreme Court Chief Justice Pascal F. Calogero Jr., J.D. ’54, H ’91, a distinguished alumnus and former College of Law instructor. Environmental Law and Policy Lab students Cristin Barr and Moriah Matthis-Montgomery represented Culinaria, headed by alumna Shawn “Pepper” Bowen, J.D. ‘16, this semester in a successful effort to establish Lead Awareness Week in New Orleans at the end of October.
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Dean Uriel Quesada has received Costa Rica’s National Book Award for his short-story collection La invención y el olvido. This marks the third time Dr. Quesada has received the top literary award in the country. Associate professor of history and director of the Center for the Study of New Orleans Justin Nystrom, Ph.D., was a finalist this year for a James Beard Foundation Award for Research for his seminal book, Creole-Italian: Sicilian Immigrants and the Shaping of New Orleans Food Culture. At Spring Convocation, the University Senate honored Dr. Ashley Howard, assistant professor of history, with the Teaching Award; Dr. Leonard Kahn, associate professor of philosophy and department chair, with the Service Award; Sarah Allison, assistant professor of English, with the Research Award; and Dr. C.J. Stephenson, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, with the Advising Award. Dr. Aimée Thomas, lecturer/assistant professor of biological sciences and associate director of the University Honors Program, received the Faculty Excellence Award in Teaching 2019.
Offbeat magazine has honored John Snyder, Conrad N. Hilton Eminent Scholar in Music Industry Studies and chair of the School of Music Industry, with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
COLLEGE OF NURSING AND HEALTH NURSING Dr. Sophia Thomas, a 2017 DNP graduate, is the new president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. RWJ Barnabas Health presented Doctor of Nursing Practice student Mary “Megan” Allen with its New Knowledge, Innovations, and Improvements Award for her contributions to the organization. The organization’s medical and dental staff also honored her with a scholarship toward her continued studies in the DNP program. BSN-DNP student Jessica Volz, MSN-DNP student Ellen Carlos, Nursing Leadership student Tammy Van der Woude, and BSN student Ann Graham all received the Nightingale Award, a recognition of nursing students who excel academically and demonstrate the value of the nursing profession. LOYOLA INSTITUTE FOR MINISTRY LIM professor Tracey Lamont collaborated this spring with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' National Advisory Team on Young Adult Ministry to produce webinars related to youth and young adult ministry and address Pope Francis' Christus Vivit: Post-Synodal Exhortation on Young People.
ONLINE Loyola now offers more than 20 online degree programs at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels, in subjects from nursing to finance, psychology, theology, and criminology. Visit online.loyno.edu to learn more.
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