2019 + 20
THE DEAN’S LETTER This year has been a year of many letters. Letters to students, faculty, and staff, notifying them of sudden, drastic changes to the way we teach and learn. Letters to inform the LSU community that we are doing everything in our power to make campus a safe environment to return to in the fall. Letters reassuring students that they matter – regardless of the color of their skin. Letters reminding everyone to do their part to keep us all safe and healthy. Here are some excerpts of my letters this year: March 13, 2020 “Our aim is to limit the spread of this virus and maintain the health and well-being of our College community while maintaining high academic standards and compliance with the University academic calendar. We will not underestimate this coronavirus situation, but will face it with the optimism inspired by our creative Art and Design spirit.”
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May 15, 2020 “Class of 2020 - Today, we: family, friends, faculty and staff, celebrate your graduation with hope and optimism. We know that your experience in Art & Design, the many sleepless nights, etc., has prepared you well to face adversity and to defeat viruses of all sorts that threaten our health and poison our relationship to our world, to our surroundings, and to one another. Follow the example of Julian White, the first African American professor at LSU, and above all, do good. The doors that Julian White opened for all of us will always be open to welcome you back. Au revoir and until soon, peace and health.” June 15, 2020 “Fifty years ago, architect Julian White broke through the walls of bigotry and prejudice and entered LSU as the institution’s first African American professor. Today, a hundred and fifty-five years after the emancipation of the last enslaved African in the
SCHOOLS United States, the center of the LSU campus is named after one of her descendants. The Julian White Atrium in our Design Building commemorates, with a monumental mural, the liberation of LSU: the opening of its gates for all and especially for those who, like Julian White, have and continue to suffer the cruel and inhuman consequences of slavery, segregation, and racism. Tomorrow, and for the next hundred and fifty-five years, the mural will serve to remind us that there is much more to be done, not just said. Our duty as citizen artists and designers is to preserve Julian White’s legacy of courage and humanity as we work to build a world of Beauty and Justice for all.”
School of Architecture School of Art School of Interior Design Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture
ADMINISTRATION Alkis Tsolakis – Dean, College of Art & Design Tom Sofranko – Associate Dean of Academic Services Lake Douglas – Associate Dean of Research & Development Elizabeth Duffy – Assistant Dean of Finance & Administration Dana Mitchell – Assistant Dean of Recruitment & Diversity Erin Schell – Assistant Dean for Student Services Marwan Ghandour – Director, School of Architecture Rod Parker – Director, School of Art Marsha Cuddeback – Director, School of Interior Design Mark Boyer – Director, Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture Michael Desmond – Director, Graduate Studies
DEGREES
Alkis Tsolakis, Dean
Bachelor of Architecture Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of Fine Arts Bachelor of Interior Design Bachelor of Landscape Architecture Master of Architecture Master of Art History Master of Fine Arts Master of Landscape Architecture Doctor of Design
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151
1,021
Degrees Conferred
134 Undergraduate + 17 Graduate
Students Enrolled
922 Undergraduate + 99 Graduate
in Scholarships awarded to 135 Students
Interior Design | 10
$4,200
Art | 22
$13,800
Architecture | 27
$42,038
Landscape Architecture | 76
$114,500
2019 + 20
25%
190
24
390
Courses completed online in spring 2020
increase in students enrolled
Lectures by visiting scholars
85
Virtual exhibitions during the COVID-19 pandemic
1
st
Doctor of Design Graduate
NEW FACULTY Haley Blakeman Haley Blakeman holds the Suzanne L. Turner Professorship at the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture. In addition to teaching, she serves as the school’s undergraduate coordinator. Haley received her BLA from LSU and her Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) from the University of New Orleans. She is a licensed landscape architect and a certified planner, with over 20 years of professional experience.
Views the role of landscape architects as community leaders.
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Prior to teaching at LSU, Haley was the vice president for the Center for Planning Excellence, where she helped define organizational strategy in order to maximize the non-profit’s impact, oversee workflow and optimize staff productivity. Haley has practiced urban planning and landscape architecture at a variety of scales, from comprehensive planning to detail site design. She has been involved at all levels of design from concept to construction details, project and client management, and the creation and direction of a for-profit implementation program for a private non-profit. Throughout her career, Haley’s design work has incorporated both natural
systems and community engagement into every project despite the scale or location. Her varied work experience has given her a variety of perspectives and the context needed to be a creative problem solver. Haley is passionate about providing opportunities for civic engagement, strengthening neighborhoods, empowering residents to improve their environment, and fostering incremental shifts that add up to big changes. She is also obsessed with alternative transportation networks that make it safe and easy for pedestrians and cyclists to get around and access daily needs. Haley has a progressive view of the role of landscape architects as community leaders and is passionate about communicating our profession’s value on local boards and committees, in universities and schools, and nationally through the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). Haley is nationally recognized for her leadership in the profession and has served the ASLA at the national level as the vice president of communications, chapter president council chair, annual meeting host
committee co-chair, and on various committees. She has also served the local chapter as the chapter president and involved committee member. Haley was recognized as one of Baton Rouge Business Report‘s “Forty Under 40.”
Soo Jeong Jo Soo Jeong Jo is an assistant professor of architecture in the School of Architecture. She has a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech and is a licensed architect in France and South Korea. She is also a member of the Society of Building Science Educators (SBSE). Her research focuses on high-performance design based on building performance simulations (BPS) specifically for the early stages of architectural design. Her studies were presented in international architecture conferences and journals, including the Passive and Low Energy Architecture (PLEA) and the Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC) which awarded her the ARCC King Student Medal in 2019.
Along with her research, Soo Jeong has been trained as an educator through the Future Professoriate Certificate program offered by Virginia Tech Graduate School. Prior to her research and teaching, Soo Jeong was a practicing architect in Paris, New York City, and Seoul. During this time, she participated in various award-winning projects, both in architecture and urban planning, that include Hanwha Life Insurance Training Institute in Yongin, Korea, ORDOS 100 #39 Housing in Inner Mongolia, China, and Bedford Downtown Revitalization in Virginia, USA. Her professional experience sparked her research interest in sustainability and building performance, which finally led her to academia. Combining her backgrounds in research, teaching, and design, Soo Jeong explores the interactions between science and architectural design.
Explores the interactions between science and architectural design.
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Robyn Reed Robyn Reed is a designer, educator, and advocate for the practice of landscape architecture. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Robyn is a licensed landscape architect who joins the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture as an assistant professor after nearly twenty years in practice. Her research interests have emerged from her years in practice and focus on methods for better equipping cities and planners to integrate water into the urban fabric in more quotidian ways. Her work touches on material strategies as well as landscape theory to develop language and methods for cities to more proactively address climate change.
Develops methods for cities to more proactively address climate change.
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During her 20 years in practice, Robyn has worked at range of scales, from custom residential design in New England and San Francisco to community master planning in Chicago and Abu Dhabi. Her recent work has focused on the public realm in the Boston metro area, with built work in East Cambridge and the first phase of Fan Pier Park. A design leader, she has played a key role in several award-winning projects including the Collier Memorial at MIT and
the Connect Kendall Open Space Framework Plan while at Richard Burck Associates and Southworks/ Lakeside Community Master Plan and the Abu Dhabi University Education Park Master Plan while at Sasaki Associates. Robyn has taught for many years as adjunct faculty at RISD. While there she focused her studios on urban waterfront and riverine landscapes. In her teaching, she emphasizes the importance of conceptual design thinking at an urban scale and seeks to help students find the analytic and representational tools with which to explore, develop and express their individual visions. In addition to teaching at RISD, she has taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and in the architecture department at Roger Williams University. She has served on design awards juries for the Boston Society of Landscape Architects and DESIGNxRI and spoken at the national USGBC conference, the Boston Society of Architects and the Boston Society of Landscape Architects.
Allison Young Allison Young is assistant professor of contemporary art history in the School of Art. A specialist in postcolonial and contemporary art of the Global South, she received her B.A. (2009) in art history and anthropology from Brandeis University, and her M.A. (2012) and Ph.D. (2017) from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (NYU). Allison’s research centers primarily on African and African-Diasporic artists and art histories, with focus on South African art, British art and visual culture, biennials and curatorial practice, and questions surrounding migration, transnationalism and political engagement in contemporary art. She has previously taught courses in art and design history and theory at Parsons, The New School for Design, and Loyola University, New Orleans. She has published scholarly articles on South African artists Gavin Jantjes (Art Journal, 2017) and Penny Siopis (Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture, 2015). She has also contributed writing
to numerous exhibition catalogues, including an extended essay on the work of Remy Jungerman for The Measurement of Presence, the Dutch Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale (2019); on Robert Pruitt for Queen: From the Collection of CCH Pounder (2018); on Juliana Huxtable for Out of Easy Reach (2018); and on several international artists for the Short Guide of All the World’s Futures, the 56th Venice Biennale (2015). Her arts criticism has been featured on platforms such as Artforum.com, Apollo International, ART AFRICA Magazine and Wallpaper*, and she has served as Contributing Editor of Global Modern and Contemporary Art for Smarthistory since 2015. Before joining LSU, Allison was Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow for Modern and Contemporary Art at the New Orleans Museum of Art, where she curated andpublished an exhibition catalogue for Lina Iris Viktor: A Haven. A Hell. A Dream Deferred (2018).
Specialist in postcolonial and contemporary art of the Global South.
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Dana
Dana Mitchell Assistant Dean of Recruitment & Diversity As the Assistant Dean of Recruitment & Diversity, Dana is responsible for representing the College of Art & Design at in-state and out-of-state recruiting events. She coordinates College participation in Universitywide recruiting events, and promotes LSU art & design programs with community-based organizations. Dana worked at the LSU School of Architecture for 18 years before assuming her role as assistant dean. There she recruited students in historically underrepresented groups to the discipline of architecture. She is the founding advisor for the LSU chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS). “It is my goal to introduce students from historically underrepresented groups to architecture, landscape architecture, interior design and art,” she says. “I hope to make the same impact in the College that was made in the School of Architecture, by increasing the
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number of minority students in that program—just on a broader scale. It is my desire to see increased diversity in all of the programs in the College of Art & Design.” “The College of Art & Design is home of disciplines that create and change the landscapes of our communities and cities. I want young people, who may have never thought they could do anything to change their environment, to be exposed to these disciplines. They need to know they can make an impactful difference in their communities and the world with a stroke of a pencil, a brush, a key and their imaginations.”
“I want young people to know they can make an impactful difference in their communities and the world.”
$870,921
PUBLICATIONS:
43
PRESENTATIONS:
61
EXHIBITIONS: Beyond teaching, instructing, and advising students and fulfilling administrative and university responsibilities, the 52 full-time faculty members of the College of Art & Design participated in a variety of research projects and creative initiatives. These figures are based on faculty activity reports for the 2019 calendar year.
76
FACULTY ACTIVITY
GRANTS:
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FACULTY ANNIVERSARIE 50 YEARS
12
25 YEARS
25 YEARS
Gerald Bower,
Lynne Baggett,
Marsha Cuddeback,
Professor of Art/Graphic Design
Professor of Art/Graphic Design
Professor & Director of School of Interior Design
ES 20 YEARS
10 YEARS
10 YEARS
Professor of Architecture
Assistant Dean of Student Services
Assistant Dean of Administration & Finance
Ursula Emery McClure,
Erin Schell,
Elizabeth Duffy,
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FACULTY HIGHLIGHTS TRACI BIRCH, assistant professor of architecture and
LAKE DOUGLAS, associate dean of research &
managing director of the LSU Coastal Sustainability Studio, was one of 20 scientists nationally awarded the 2019 Early Career Research Fellowships by the National Academies of Science Gulf Research Program. Her research addresses cultural resilience in coastal communities. Read more.
development and professor of landscape architecture, was awarded the 2020 Faculty Award for Outstanding Communication by Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) “for truly outstanding,innovative, and noteworthy work through communication.” Read more.
HALEY BLAKEMAN, assistant professor of
NILOUFAR EMAMI, assistant professor of architecture
landscape architecture, was named vice president of communications of the American Society of Landscape Architecture (ASLA). She was a panelist in the “Allies, Advocates and Stakeholders: Women in Leadership” presentation at the 2019 ASLA national meeting in San Diego, CA.
and A. Hays Town Professorship holder, received the 2020 ARCC Research Incentive Award from the Architectural Research Centers Consortium for a research project on how to use 3D printing in novel ways to narrow the gap between design and fabrication, titled “Flexi-Form: Design and Fabrication of Additive Flexible Formwork for the Design of Concrete Interlocking Modules.” Watch video.
MARSHA CUDDEBACK, professor and director of
the School of Interior Design was elected PresidentElect (2020) for the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC) Board of Directors.
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KELLY GREESON, associate professor of practice
of interior design, expanded the fall 2019 Design Paris study abroad program curriculum to include interior design topics along with architecture.
KELLI SCOTT KELLEY, professor of art/painting,
started the art collective Luminous Lookout with four Southern-based artists, whose work visualize narratives to inspire dialogue and critique. The exhibition Spectral Marauding was at the Redux Contemporary Art Center in Charleston, South Carolina February-April 2020. Read more. LESLIE KOPTCHO, professor of art/printmaking,
exhibited her work in the StateWide Exhibition of Printmakers at Magnolia Gallery-BRCC and Exploding the Codex: Artist Books in Special Collections at Hill Memorial Library Galleries, LSU Libraries, Special Collections. WILLIAM MA, assistant professor of art history,
curated the exhibition Gods and Things at the LSU Museum of Art, on display November 2019February 2020.
Watch: Bridging Engineering and Design with Niloufar Emami
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Faculty Highlights MALCOLM MCCLAY, professor of art/sculpture,
ROBYN REED, assistant professor of landscape
conducted the performance art piece titled “A Letter to the Sea” on Fanore Beach, Ireland. He debuted the solo performance, directed by Jeff Becker and produced by Mondo Bizarro theater company, at Catapult Theater in New Orleans in December 2019. Read more.
architecture, received a merit award and citation from the AIA Rhode Island 2019 Design Awards. She won the Bronze Architectural Design Award by Rhode Island Monthly in October 2019.
HYE YEON NAM, assistant professor of digital
art, and Brendan Harmon, assistant professor of landscape architecture, featured their work in the exhibition Shifting Datum at the Baton Rouge Gallery in summer 2019. Shifting Datum critically examines the relationship between New Orleans and changes relative to sea level, using robotics to demonstrate environmental change. Watch video.
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Watch: Hye Yeon Nam: Shifting Datum
MIKEY WALSH, associate professor of art/ceramics
and associate director of the School of Art, exhibited her work “Bittersweets” at Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital and Ann Connelly Gallery in summer 2019. JUN ZOU, associate professor of interior design,
was invited to facilitate a workshop at Hunan Normal University, Changsa, China, titled Light, the Metaphysical Force on Materiality; Reconstruction of Light in Daoism, in December 2019.
“Regional Resilience: Building adaptive capacity and community wellbeing across Louisiana’s dynamic coastal-inland continuum” – Traci Birch
The Invasion of Hama-Rikyo Gardens: The Unintended Losses of Japan’s Cultural Heritage through Post-Industrial Economic and Urban Development Landscape Design – Bruce Sharkey
Design Science of “Encyclopedia of China” – Richard Doubleday
The Enlightenment of Finance: The Banque Royale Ceiling and Its Aftermath – Darius Spieth
Validation of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Platforms for the Early Stages of Architectural Design – Soo Jeong Jo
Comparative Study of the Luminous Environments of Vernacular Architectures in China and the United States at 30th Parallel North – Jun Zou
Shadow Narratives: Interpreting the Landscape(s) of Slavery at the Forks of the Road; Architectures of Slavery: Ruins and Reconstructions – Kevin Risk
PUBLICATIONS
A Glimpse of Faculty Work
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STUDENT ACCOLADES The 2020 College of Art & Design Dean’s Medalists are: in the School of Architecture, Cornisha Lyons, BArch, and Andrea Barrios, MArch; in the School of Art, Sarah Alexander, BFA, and Ian Park, MFA;
in the School of Interior Design, Louise (Rainey) Charbonnet, BID; in the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, William O’Mahoney, Jr., BLA, and Hayden Hammons, MLA; and Petrouchka Moise, Doctor of Design.
Undergraduate The LSU 2020 CxC Distinguished Communicators included: Sarah Alexander, BFA; Rainey Carbonnet, BID; Madison Harrison, BID; Chunfeng (Austin) Lu, BLA; Kim Nguyen, BID; Olivia Ott, BFA; Kelsey Ralp BID; and Pei Yu, BArch.
The Parasite Lodge won first place in the Built2Last Resiliency in Design competition.
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For the second year in a row, students from LSU School of Architecture’s fifth-year comprehensive design course were awarded first place in an Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) National Design Competition. The project The Parasite Lodge by BArch students Caroline Arbour, Anne Kellerman, Brooke Strevig, and Christopher Washington III, won first place in the Built2Last Resiliency in Design competition. Kris Palagi, assistant professor of architecture, was the faculty advisor. Read more.
Interior design candidate Mattie Brown was a finalist in the 2019 Planning and Visual Education Partnership (PAVE) Student Design Competition sponsored by Bank of America. Art & Design students presented their undergraduate research at LSU Discover Day 2020. Interior design senior Rainey Charbonnet presented “The Museum of Lost Art and Monuments” andreceived the third place award for undergraduateresearch. Senior Kim Nguyen presented “New Orleans Immigrant Welcome Center,” and junior Cassidy Blank presented “What is the True Cost of Sustainability?” Kayla Hall, BFA candidate, is the first President’s Millennial Scholar of the College of Art & Design. The President’s Millennial Scholars Program (PMSP) is a newly created four-year retention and preparation program targeted to underrepresented student populations for success during and after college by providing access to transformational opportunities that might not be easily accessed. Read More.
Kayla Hall, President’s Millennial Scholar
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Student Accolades In February 2020, the Baton Rouge American Advertising Federation awarded ADDYs to LSU School of Art students and faculty, including two at the district level: the LSU College of Art & Design Quad Magazine Summer 2019 designed by BFA
students Sarah Alexander and Yerin Heo, and the LSU College of Art & Design Lecture Series Poster 2019-2020 by Yerin Heo won silver awards. At the local level, LSU art students Aline Moreaux, Lauren Leopold, and Lauren Nguyen won gold awards for brand designs. Interior design senior Kim Nguyen and junior Brandi Reed received multiple design awards for their submissions to the ASID South Central Student Work Competition 2020 in Hospitality, Healthcare, Institutional, Computer Generated Rendering,and Portfolio Design. Reed was a national finalist for her submission to the 2020 IDEC Student Design Competition, “Basic Needs Center for the Homeless: A Design Response Promoting Health and Wellbeing in your Local Community.”
LSU students at Chillennium competition, October 2019.
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LSU digital art students participated in the world’s largest student-led game design competition, Chillennium, hosted by Texas A&M University in October 2019. Competitors planned, designed and developed a video game within 48 hours, while being mentored by members of the gaming industry. Read more.
Graduate MLA Hayden Hammons and Lake Douglas, professor of landscape architecture, were selected as CSI Research Fellows for the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s 2020 Case Study Investigation (CSI) program. The research project investigates the Lafitte Greenway in New Orleans. Petrouchka Moïse is the first graduate of the Doctor of Design in Cultural Preservation program. Her dissertation focused on designing a digital environment to build awareness of the artistic contributions made by people of Haitian descent.
Watch: Q&A with Petrouchka
The Queeramics Symposium, held October2019, drew together members of both the queer and ceramics communities to examine issues of identity, culture and theory within each. The event created by MFA candidate Ian Park and assisted by associate professor of art Andy Shaw was the first of its kind held at LSU, raising awareness about art and the LGBTQIA+ community. Read more.
Queeramics exhibition. Photo by Charlie Champagne.
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COMMUNITY ENGAGEME Protecting Louisiana from COVID-19 In response to the global shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, LSU faculty, staff, and students joined the worldwide effort to create PPE to donate to those in need. Chris Simon, digital fabrication laboratory manager and instructor of architecture, and Design Shop manager Mark Schumake, 3D printed and laser cut parts for face shields to donate in Louisiana.
workers providing care to the community. LSU staff safely delivered the thank you packages with energy bars and handwritten thank you notes from the student to Our Lady of the Lake and Ochsner hospitals to be distributed to frontline workers.
Thanking Healthcare Workers Face shield made by LSU design staff.
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The LSU School of Interior Design works with Louisiana healthcare facilities regularly, as part of the healthcare design curriculum in which students design facility improvements for local hospitals, partnering with the staff there to learn about their needs. So when the COVID-19 pandemic hit Louisiana in spring 2020, the students wanted to do something to say thank you to the many healthcare
Thank you care package for healthcare workers.
ENT Hearts From Home BFA senior Brynn Finney, graphic design concentration, designed the logo for the Hearts From Home campaign in Baton Rouge. In the midst of stay-at-home orders and social distancing, the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge launched the Hearts From Home campaign to encourage the community to display blue hearts on the windows of homes or businesses to let healthcare workers know they are appreciated as they fight the coronavirus on the frontlines. Finney designed the decorative hearts to be printed and displayed in solidarity.
Educating About Landscape Architecture Landscape architecture professor Bruce Sharky started brainstorming creative ways to address misconceptions about landscape architecture, and increase awareness about the profession. He tasked his class of landscape architecture students to communicate with different audiences about how landscape architects work to improve the world.
High School Connections The LSU School of Art, in conjunction with the College of Art & Design, hosted the sixth annual statewide juried art exhibition for high school artists. The exhibition showcased selected works from students representing talent from all areas of Louisiana. The annual exhibition is held at the LSU Foster Gallery, with winners announced at the closing reception, following a tour of the school.
Watch: LSU Landscape Architects work to help Louisiana Communities
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INTERDISCIPLINARY COL PPE for COVID-19 The production effort of personal protective equipment (PPE) at LSU during the COVID-19 pandemic has been an ongoing collaborative effort, bringing together the expertise of art & design faculty, staff, and students, to design and create PPE to donate to the Louisiana community. Chris Simon, digital fabrication laboratory manager and professor of architecture, has been 3D printing parts for PPE face shields, and laser cutting parts using digital fabrication technology while safely social distancing. Design Shop manager Mark Schumake and ceramics MFA Jessi Maddox (class of 2020) contributed to the production effort as well, collaborating design techniques. Simon coordinated with Dr. Dimitris E Nikitopoulos, professor of engineering, who collaborated with faculty across campus to construct the face shields. LSU faculty, staff, and students organized a PPE assemblyline effort in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center (PMAC), converting the space into a production facility. The interdisciplinary team created 1,600 PPE gowns in
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the first week, bringing together experts in different areas around the university to work on a number of projects to help protect Louisiana.
Photography & Preservation Johanna Warwick, assistant professor of photography collaborated with landscape architecture assistant professor Nicholas Serrano to teach the course ART 4941 Special Topics: Photography & Preservation in spring 2020. The course is a direct result of Warwick’s work The Bottom, a photography series investigation of the historic neighborhood Old South Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Assistant professor Serrano saw her lecture about the project in Greenville, SC in fall 2019 and the two proposed a collaborative course focused on the relationship of photography in preservation. “Seeing my work through the lens of being preservation, we became incredibly excited about the relationship between photography and conservation efforts,” Warwick said. “We built this course together with
LLABORATIONS the belief and goal that our students from different disciplines would be able to educate and collaborate with different areas of expertise, for joint goals.” The course was designed to investigate the historical role of photography in preservation, bringing together art and design students to examine the topics from different vantage points. Photography and landscape architecture students explored the topic of preservation through memorials, monuments, culture, climate and landscape. The students worked together researching and photographing sites in Baton Rouge that are on National Registers, and making recommendations for sites to be added. “This course covers the history, theory, and practices of historic preservation, with a particular focus on the historical geographies of the AmericanSouth,” Serrano said. “Students explore how to identify, investigate, and give voice to the historical narratives of spaces, places, and memoriesembedded in the built environment.”
In future semesters, Warwick and Serrano plan for the entire class to work together to research and document the historic Plank Road neighborhood in Baton Rouge and make recommendations to the city for architecture to be preserved. “We hope to run this course again in the future and address projects that we had to postpone due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” she said. This course contributed to the college’s goal of cross-collaboration between the School of Art and the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, merging the disciplines of art and design to work together to help solve problems in local communities.
By: Micah Viccinelli, BFA candidate
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NEW INITIATIVES Online Learning In March 2020, with the number of reported cases of COVID-19 rising rapidly in the state of Louisiana, LSU announced that as of the following week, all classes would move to online instruction. To adhere to social distancing recommendations to “flatten the curve” of the novel coronavirus infection rates as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control, students, faculty, and staff promptly left LSU’s campuses and transitioned quickly to a workingfrom-home model. Faculty were given a planning week and spring break to prepare to teach all classes online, using technology to deliver at-home instruction to students near and far. While across the many disciplines, faculty rose to meet the challenges of delivering content in a virtual setting, and continuing to provide the best possible educational experience given the unexpected circumstances, art and design faculty were faced with particularly challenging tasks: how to teach such inherently in-person subjects through a screen? How to manage studio courses, in which students work alongside each other to design and create physical works, which are then graded in an
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open critique forum? How to continue group projects, the grading process, the many idiosyncratic aspects of art and design fields? “It was an incredible challenge, and yet our faculty rose to the occasion and thought creatively about how to transition their classes into an online format,” said Alkis Tsolakis, dean of the College of Art & Design. “They continued to provide that direct instruction to students, and engage with the group through Zoom technology and other means.” “Due to the virtual format we were able to bring in guest judges for spring 2020 final critiques from across the country, esteemed professionals that normally wouldn’t be able to make it to review student work in person,” said Mark Boyer, professor and director of the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture. Darius Spieth, San Diego Alumni Association Chapter Alumni Professor, had already began to build online curriculum for his undergraduate art history course before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States.
“I was approached in Fall 2019 – before coronavirus – by LSU Online to develop ART 1001 for their curriculum,” he explained. “This entailed writing up my lecture notes in text format and converting the content with the help of LSU Online staff into one giant website of text and images. I am very proud of the fact that all of the texts and all of the content is genuinely mine, was custom-tailored for the class, and was produced by LSU for LSU students exclusively.” The course is by far the one class on campus with the largest enrollment, with about 1,750 students currently enrolled. “I have taught ART 1001 in person in the Cox Auditorium on campus for about twelve years now,” Spieth said. “In order to make the online ‘twin’ more engaging, I am currently recording all of my lectures, so that students have a choice of studying the materials on the website or watching the video, or a combination of both.” Yet the ongoing challenge is to recreate the classroom experience across subjects. “Admittedly, art history classes lend themselves much better to
an online format than, for instance, studio classes in the School of Art or School of Architecture,” he said. “There is a specific body of content that needs to be delivered and it can be delivered in a variety of ways: in person, but also in written format, video format, web-based formats, etc. “But then again, art history, like so many other disciplines, thrives on personal interaction. Some amazing things happen if you have discussions with so many people. So the goal in the future is to make the experience more interactive.” As art & design faculty look to the future, they continue to plan classes that can be adaptable to both in-person and online settings, to adjust to changing realities. “As always, we will think creatively, and rise to the challenge,” said Dean Tsolakis.
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NEW FUNDS & PROJECTS New Funds HAYES INTERIOR DESIGN EXCELLENCE FUND
Established by Thad Hayes (BLA ’78) as a flexible fund to support faculty development, student scholarships and travel awards, and pursue other strategic opportunities in the School of Interior Design. MARK BOYER SCHOLARSHIP FOR LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Established by Mark Boyer (MLA ’96), professor and director of the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, is a planned gift for a new scholarship with preference for students who are first-generation or non-traditional students, or a veteran of the U.S. armed forces. STOUFFER DESIGN EXCELLENCE FUND
Watch: The Best Gig: Mark Boyer
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Established by Jeff (BArch ’84) and Gayle Stouffer, the flexible fund will support interdisciplinary programs across the College of Art & Design; for example: “option” studios open to severaldisciplines,
S Projects giving students exposure to specialized topics in design and a unique opportunity to work with crossdiscipline teams on large-scale projects. BOYCE FAMILY FACILITIES FUND
Established by the Boyce Family, the fund will support capital projects within the College, including a proposed future student gallery and store in the Design Building.
ROBERT REICH SCHOOL OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE FACULTY DEVELOPMENT FUND
Through a gift from Dana Brown, BLA ’79, the faculty development fund has been used to provide start-up funding for new faculty and will be used to support professional development research opportunities. COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN GENERAL SCHOLARSHIP FUND
MICHELLE AND TOM KING SUPPORT FUND IN INTERIOR DESIGN
Established by Michelle (BID ’87) and Tom King (BS ’85), it will provide a flexible endowment for activities and curricula, especially those relating to the impact of design on human health and wellness.
Established in the spring of 2020 before LSU Giving Day in anticipation of the critical need across the College for flexible scholarship funds. The fund was seeded by several donors on Giving Day, including Jim (BLA ’83) and Kim Burnett, and Nadine Carter Russell (BA ’67), whose generosity allowed the College to extend emergency financial assistance to several students experiencing hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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PROJECTS Special Thanks To Video Sponsors:
Watch: LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, A Legacy of Excellence
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Jim and Kim Burnett Jeff, Wendy, and Will Carbo Rene Fransen and Edward Bonin Joey and Susie Furr CARBO Landscape Architecture Shannon Blakeman Zach Broussard Mike Lanaux Michael Percy Thad Hayes and Adam Lippin Keith LeBlanc and Kelly Monnahan Tim Orlando Doug Reed and William Makris Bill and Ashley Reich Bob and Diane Reich Barbara and Mickey Freiberg Betsy and Newton Thomas Jim and Patti Richards Seth Rodewald-Bates Chip and Jennifer Trageser
Thanks to Generous Donors:
Thanks to Mural Sponsors:
James and Kim Burnett Robert and Courtney Dampf Dean and Kristen Duplantis Roderick Parker and Courtney Taylor Alexandra Pearson David and Lee Ann Rattan Nadine Carter Russell Tipton Associates
Coleman Partners Architect Buddy and Lauren Ragland Gary and Lisa Gilbert Dale and Diane Songy Tipton Associates Ken and Patricia Tipton Trahan Architects Trey Trahan Kenneth Miles Rachel Emmanuel, Ph.D. Michael Robinson and Don Boutte A.P. Tureaud Sr. Chapter of the LSU Alumni Association Laura Lindsay, Ph.D. and Wendell Lindsay Jr. RHH Architects SOMA Design Consultants Inc. Bryan Hudson
JULIAN WHITE ATRIUM MURAL
The Julian T. White Atrium Mural was commissioned by the College of Art & Design to honor LSU’s first Black professor, who taught architecture from 1971– 2003. The mural was completed in February 2020 in the LSU Design Building Atrium, for future generations of students to enjoy.
By: Micah Viccinelli, BFA candidate
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IMPACT I would like to take this time to thank you for recommending and awarding me the Art & Design General Scholarship. I am beyond honored to be a recipient. I am currently junior, going in to my third year of the architecture program. I am also minoring in photography. After graduation, I plan to work in a firm and work towards licensure. I am also considering furthering my education by obtaining a master’s degree in architecture. My dedication to the subject has thus far allowed me to obtain a 4.011 GPA and a few certificates of achievement. I am currently the historian of the Gamma Beta Phi honors society, the merchandise chair of Phi Sigma Pi honor fraternity and an ambassador for the African American Cultural Center.
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I am an international student from Zimbabwe. My parents have sacrificed a lot to be able to send me to LSU and I am extremely grateful for their constant support. My home country is currently going through a rough time economically and politically, and so being awarded this scholarship has lessened the financial burden, especially with assisting my parents in paying off last semester’s balance. I am tremendously grateful and appreciative of your kindness. Thank you again for your kindness and generosity. Sincerely, Mandisa Ndhlukula, Junior, Architecture
My name is Shade Winfrey; I am a rising third year student of RRSLA and another aspiring landscape architect benefiting from your generosity. Your contributions lift financial burdens for so many students, and help us focus on what really matters. No, but really – as an aspiring renaissance woman, I decided on landscape architecture because of the wide base of knowledge needed in both natural science and eye for design. In just the past two years, I have learned everything from composition to Louisiana ecology to endless amounts of software and so much more. I am going to need another tool belt, because my old one was not big enough. It is easy to talk about helping those in need, but to step forward with
contributions during COVID really means the world. Your investment in my future has changed the entire course of my summer. I can enjoy the weather, sketch and try to find a job rather than worrying if I can afford groceries or car repairs. I am incredibly lucky to be part of the LSU Design community. Everything we do as designers and people is an opportunity to improve our community and change someone’s life. That’s why I’m here. I’ll press on becoming the best landscape architect I can be, so – one day – I can change someone’s life for the better, like you did mine. Thank you. Sincerely, Shade Winfrey
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Impact
Thank you so much, this is wonderful news! It feels as though the hard work and energy I have been putting out into the universe is being returned to me. I feel truly blessed. I have scheduled summer courses and I am so excited to be able to continue my education at LSU thanks to you and all of those supporters and alumni rooting for us students. I am so grateful to be a part of the LSU community. Love purple, bleed gold.
When I received the letter of your generosity, I was amazed and so very grateful. These past months have been incredibly difficult and to have this financial gift has truly humbled me. My time at LSU has been wonderful, and to end my time as a graduate student with this support makes me even prouder to enter the world as a LSU alumni. This money will help me to finish my time at LSU, and have the ability to plan for my future endeavors. To all who have made this possible, thank you!
Junior, Landscape Architecture Warm regards, Clare Samani, Master of Fine Arts Candidate
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DEVELOPMENT FUNDS GRAND TOTAL:
$17,688,850
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Louisiana State University 102 Design Building Baton Rouge, LA 70803
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The LSU College of Art & Design’s mission is to educate a diverse student population to become creative thinkers who, through their creative professional work, contribute to making a better world.
Design by Coby Naquin, BFA Candidate
