COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES DR. ALLYN SCHOEFFLER, assistant professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Earl and Gertrude Vicknair Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, received $89,000 from the Louisiana Board of Regents’ Research Competitiveness Subprogram that will support undergraduate research in biochemistry for three years. Her project, “Molecular Determinants of Specialization in Bacterial Topoisomerases from Extreme Environments,” will study adaptations in enzymes controlling DNA topology. Students will have opportunities to engage in wet-lab biochemical experiments and online bioinformatic analyses to investigate how these molecular machines function in hot and cold environments. Sociology professor and department chair DR. MARCUS KONDKAR has been awarded $100,000 from the Vital Projects Fund for research to improve our criminal justice system. Kondkar’s teaching and research interests include criminology, sociology of law, and sociological theory. The Vital Projects Fund, Inc. (VPF) is a charitable foundation with an interest in human rights and criminal justice reform. Loyola’s 30TH ANNUAL BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM was held virtually in April and included nearly 20 research projects on topics ranging from nanoparticle exposure on voltage-gated ion channels to mud crab feeding preferences. Student/faculty research is a hallmark of the Loyola experience and is made possible through contributions to funds such as the Rev. John H. Mullahy, S.J., Ph.D. Undergraduate Research Endowment, the Drs. Stephen and Rachel Kent Endowment for Research in the
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Physical Sciences, and the newly created deKernion Fund, which supports juniors and seniors in the Life Sciences. Philanthropic support like this often comes from alumni who recognize how their own student research inspired, transformed, and well-prepared them in their careers. THE JACK AND SARAH LANASA MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP endowment is typically used each year to send Arts & Sciences students to their Study Abroad destinations. This year, because of COVID-19 and restrictions on international travel, funds will be used to support senior students whose lives have been disrupted by the pandemic, to pay for summer course tuition to ensure that they are able to graduate. “We are committed to being good stewards of these funds and to supporting students who are in greatest need,” says College of Arts & Sciences Interim Dean Uriel Quesada, Ph.D. LaNasa Scholarship funds will support seniors who lost jobs; who are taking care of afflicted family members, or who faced other related disruption. Approximately 25 students will benefit from the fund, named for the late Jack LaNasa and his mother, Rosaria Sarah LaNasa. Mr. LaNasa owned LaNasa's hardware store in the French Quarter in the early 1900s. The store had most of the business in its sector, focusing on ship supplies and items for the fishing and shrimping industries.
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS GUSTAVO BARBOZA will join the College of Business in the fall as the Reynolds Chair in International Business. Originally from Costa Rica, he will also serve as Director of the Center for International Business with a key goal of fostering relationships in Central and South
America. Dr. Barboza received his Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University. After serving as an adjunct professor the past two semesters, IRIS MACK will join the faculty full time this fall. She will teach Introduction to Business, which is the first class taken by business freshmen. Dr. Mack is a New Orleanian and has an impressive industry background in finance as well as master’s degrees from the University of California Berkeley and the London Business School and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.
COLLEGE OF LAW The Loyola University New Orleans College of Law's WORKPLACE JUSTICE PROJECT (WJP) is helping area residents to cope with workforce impacts caused by COVID-19. Founded in late 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to meet the legal services needs of mostly immigrant low-wage workers, the WJP as its mission seeks to build resources and enforce workers’ rights, cultivating legal and economic opportunities to uphold and respect the dignity of all workers. Though the College of Law has transitioned to delivering all courses online, the WJP remains open and active, accessible to eligible clients through its intake telephone line and through a new bilingual Google intake form. The WJP is posting critical information related to employment issues, including a listing of employers with coronavirus-related openings on its website and Facebook page as it becomes available. The WJP is also currently coordinating resource-related information with the Music & Culture Coalition of New Orleans and Step Up Louisiana by creating an easy-to-understand flowchart for the benefit
