Fall 2016, Volume 92, Number 3 by LSU Alumni Association

Text

F ROM THE

PRESIDENT

Game-Changers: LSU Votes, Tuition Autonomy LSU is entering a season of game-changers – and I’m not just talking football. Like a proud parent, it is difficult for me to keep from bragging about the travails and triumphs of our students. This fall, we will support a studentcreated, student-led movement that will give our Tigers the opportunity to roar louder during elections than they have ever been able to before. Too often, they are deterred from voting because there is confusion about where and how to vote, and they live far away from their home polling area. This effort, dubbed “LSU Votes,” will allow our students to participate more fully in this presidential election than ever before. Speaking of the election, the November ballot holds potential for another transformational moment for LSU – a constitutional amendment to provide supervisory boards of Louisiana universities with tuition autonomy. Since 1995, the power of price control has rested within the Louisiana legislature … in fact, Louisiana is one of only two states to provide its governing body with that authority and is the only state in the country that requires a super-majority vote to adjust tuition. LSU’s Board of Supervisors represents constituencies across Louisiana, and its members already consider several factors in their decisionmaking, including academic quality and rigor, economic issues, federal and state financial aid offerings, and other items that could affect enrollment or competitiveness. This deregulation will de-politicize tuition decisions and allow LSU the ability to become an even more competitive flagship university than it is even today. Finally, our Academic Affairs team is guiding a strategic planning process, and we expect to be able to share the outcomes as early as January 2017. Currently, students, faculty, staff, and others are providing input that will help shape the final product. We have faced many challenges over the last six months and I don’t believe I’m overstating things when I say everyone is ready to move forward. This plan will give us the tools and the guidance necessary to ensure that LSU’s next steps are the best ones possible to position us for the coming years. Thank you, as always, for your continued loyalty and support. Tiger Nation is a critical element of what makes this university so strong, and we appreciate you more than you know.

Sincerely,

F. King Alexander LSU President @lsuprez

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Publisher LSU Alumni Association

CONTENTS

Editor Jackie Bartkiewicz Advertising Kelsey David Art Director Chuck Sanchez STUN Design & Interactive

A L U M N I ' M A G A Z I N E Features

18 Partnership for Life

LSU and Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center (MBPCC) have an ongoing partnership that benefits not only both institutions, their students, and their staffs but also the citizens of Louisiana – particularly those in the south and central parts of the state. This collaboration began years ago, first with the establishment of the medical physics program in the 1980s, and then with the hiring of two visionaries from Texas who saw the potential for building something great when they put their heads together. The partnership has expanded and improved both programs and has allowed levels of treatment and research that otherwise would not be possible.

30 Reassembling Tiger Town

When Clarke Cadzow isn’t running his shop, Highland Coffees, on Chimes Street, he’s ferreting out photographs of Tiger Town from the 1930s or interviewing the dwindling number of people who lived, worked, and hung out in the Depression eraresidential and business district just north of campus. Cadzow knows the addresses of those 400 places that shared walls or grew out of the demolition of predecessors. He can tell you where actresses Elizabeth Ashley (State Street) and Joann Woodward (3295 Carlotta Street) lived. He is trying to document the places where LSU’s winners of nine Pulitzer prizes lived as students or faculty. And he wants your help.

In Each Issue 1 4 6 40 50 52 58

The cover was From the President inspired by stained President/CEO Message glass created LSU Alumni Association News by local artists, which is featured Around Campus throughout Mary Bird Focus on Faculty Perkins-Our Lady of the Locker Room Lake Cancer Center. Design Tiger Nation by STUN Design & Interactive

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Contributors Cathy Cashio Bertrand, Barry Cowan, Ed Cullen, Mary Ellen Fleury, John Grubb, Ginger Guttner, Bud Johnson, Brenda Macon, Olivia McClure, Daphne Robinson, Meg Ryan Photography Robert Collins, Ray Dry, Steve Franz, Johnny Gordon, Larry Hubbard, Island Famous, Olivia McClure, Eddy Perez

Printing Baton Rouge Printing NATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jan K. Liuzza Chair, Kenner, La. Leo C. Hamilton Chair-Elect, Baton Rouge, La.

52 74

34 2015 Annual Report

Your LSU Alumni Association’s growth – a nearly 27 percent increase in 2015! – is made possible by the tremendous support and involvement of alumni, friends, and former students and a committed, energetic staff. We are a vibrant, multifaceted organization – one of the finest in the country – with facilities to match. Without a doubt, YOU are a major factor in the successes of the Association, and you should be very proud. We are pleased to share with you in this Annual Report an “at-aglance” overview of our major accomplishments in 2015.

Editorial Assistants Patti Garner, Karla Lemoine, Brenda Macon

Fred G. “Gil” Rew Immediate Past Chair, Mansfield, La. Jack A. Andonie Director Emeritus, Metairie, La. Lodwrick M. Cook Director Emeritus, Sherman Oaks, Calif. Mary Lou Applewhite, New Orleans, La. Louis R. Minsky, Baton Rouge, La. John D. “Jay” Babb, Baton Rouge, La. A.J.M. Butch Oustalet III, Gulfport, Miss. Karen G. Brack, San Diego, Calif. Richard C. “Rick Oustalet, Jennings, La. Stephen T. “Steve” Brown, Sherman Oaks, Calif. Oliver G. “Rick” Richard III, Lake Charles, La. Randy L. Ewing, Quitman, La. Beverly G. Shea, New Iberia, La. Kathryn “Kathy” Fives, New Orleans, La. John T. Shelton, Jr, Houston, Texas Matthew K. Juneau, Baton Rouge, La. Susan K. Whitelaw, Shreveport, La. Kevin F. Knobloch, Baton Rouge, La. Van P. Whitfield, Houston, Texas Ted A. Martin, Baton Rouge, La. Stanley L. “Stan” Williams, Fort Worth, Texas LSU ALUMNI MAGAZINE is published quarterly in March, June, September, and December by the LSU Alumni Association. Annual donations are $50, of which $6 is allocated for a subscription to LSU Alumni Magazine. Approval of Periodicals Postage Paid prices is pending at Baton Rouge, La., and at additional mailing offices. The LSU Alumni Association is not liable for any loss that might be incurred by a purchaser responding to an advertisement in this magazine. Editorial and Advertising Office LSU Alumni Association 3838 West Lakeshore Drive Baton Rouge, LA 70808-4686 225-578-3838 • 888-RINGLSU www.lsualumni.org / e-mail: jackie@lsualumni.org © 2016 by LSU ALUMNI MAGAZINE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to LSU ALUMNI MAGAZINE, 3838 West Lakeshore Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70808-4686 Letters to the editor are encouraged. LSU ALUMNI MAGAZINE reserves the right to edit all materials accepted for publication. Publication of material does not indicate endorsement of the author’s viewpoint by the magazine, the Association, or LSU.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

P RESIDENT AND CEO

MESSAGE

Investing in Tigers, Transforming Lives A few weeks ago, the University family welcomed the Class of 2020, the young men and women who will carry the spirit of LSU to the end of this century and into the next. Your LSU Alumni Association takes great pride in knowing that it has played an important role in attracting these future alumni to LSU through our partnerships with campus groups involved in recruiting efforts such as Spring Invitational, LSU On the Geaux, and LSU Bound. We immediately engage with these young Tigers through Orientation, STRIPES, and Freshman Food Truck Wround-Up, and we continue during the next four years to build on a relationship that will last throughout their lives. Our newest initiative, LSU Collegiate Club, in collaboration with the Tiger Athletic Foundation, provides students with social, networking, and volunteer opportunities, while raising awareness of the missions of both organizations. For a complete list of Future Alumni Engagement activities, see the 2015 Annual Report in this issue. A great many of these new Tigers are here because of you, alumni engaged in successful endeavors and ventures around the globe. Your example, your advice, your encouragement – and your support of the Association – are critical to keeping alumni young and old connected to their alma mater. Your gifts sustain the scholarships, professorships and faculty awards, and programs that touch all areas of campus life and are provided to the University at no cost. Membership in the Association has grown twenty-seven percent – from 13,245 members in 2014 to 16,803 strong. That’s good news, but not good enough. With more than 200,000 alumni, former students, friends, and supporters on record, our official enrollment should be much more robust. Our membership goal for 2016 is 20,016 members. As we enter the last quarter of the year, we urge you to encourage your LSU friends, family members, and business associates to become active members of LSU Tiger Nation by joining the Association. And, you can sign up with your local chapter – the Joint Membership Program gives you access to volunteer opportunities and benefits at both the local and national levels. Join today at lsualumni.org/membership. Alumni and friends can also support Association programs (which in turn support LSU) by patronizing The Cook Hotel – remember, every stay makes a difference, by booking events at our facilities, and by purchasing LSU memorabilia and apparel at the Shelton Gift Shop in the hotel. If you are already a member, we appreciate your support and encourage you to ask others to join you. If you are not, please join us. Remember, you’re not just writing a check, you’re “Investing in Tigers and Transforming Lives.”

Cliff Vannoy President and CEO

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LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

LSU A LUMNI A SSOCIATION

NEWS

Chapter Events

Karen Koelemay is ready to dig in.

Chapter President John Frazier, Conner Young, scholarship winner Rainey Charbonnet, Meagan Scherer, Cole Hayes, and Johnny Gros.

Denise White McLaurine, hosts John and Jennifer Lawhon, Chad Harris, and guest Mary Bailey.

Memphis Boil – LSU alums John and Jennifer Lawhon hosted some 200 Memphis-area Tigers at their home in April for the chapter’s annual crawfish boil on “Lawhon’s Pond.” Mulberry Jam, a great blue grass band, provided live music, and we consumed about 800 pounds of crawfish,” writes Kevin Koelemay. Future Tiger Rainey Charbonnet, a graduate of Hutchison School in Memphis, received the incoming freshman scholarship, and a $13,000 donation to the chapter scholarship fund was announced. ON THE WEB www.lsumemphis.org

From left, seated, Amy Jo Smith, Susan Gulley, Carman Kammann, Jeanne Fancher, and Garnetta Ducote; standing, Jim Decker, Mike Vermillion, Matt Ducote, Karl Kammann, Lee Fancher, Aaron Overall, Larry Gulley, Rachel Overall, Denise Vermillion, Anne Pecot, David Pecot, and Joey Ducote.

Fish Fry – The East Tennessee fish fry was held at the Whittington Creek Pool House in Knoxville in May, following the LSU-University of Tennessee baseball game. A Les Miles-autographed mini-helmet was raffled off, and Jay Ducote, outgoing chapter president, was presented with a helmet autographed by Billy Cannon. Newly elected officers are Bill Beckham, president; Dave Pecot, vice president; Susan Gulley, secretary; and Jim Decker, treasurer. ON THE WEB www.facebook.com/LSUAlumniEastTN

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Future Tiger Beckham Niemeyer and Michael Niemeyer.

Board members, from left, David Barr, Aaron Beam, Dawn Beasley, Dan Beasley, Phil Gagnet, and Leslie Gagnet.

South Alabama – It was “tails, tunes, and tailgating” at its best at the Baldwin Bengal’s “Boil on the Bay” in May. “It was our third annual boil, and we had our biggest turnout to date,” writes board member Paul Gagnet. “We moved the venue to Fairhope, Ala., right on the bay – a perfect setting.” Aaron Beam donated two tickets to raffle for the LSU-Alabama football game in November as part of the chapter’s fundraising efforts. ON THE WEB www.facebook.com/BaldwinBengals

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

LSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS

LSU Alumni Association President Cliff Vannoy and George Martin, who founded the Tampa Bay Alumni Chapter in 1983.

Young Tigers at the crawfish races.

Chapter Events

Irwin Prescott, Mike Prescott, Katie Prescott, Steve Bono, Jessica Smith, and Cameron Prescott pass a good time at the Tampa boil.

Tampa Bay – Tigers in St. Petersburg, Fla., passed a good time at the LSU Tampa Bay crawdad boil at Ferg’s Sports Bar in May. "Parties with a Purpose – raising funds for scholarships – have been a tradition in Tampa Bay for decades,” said LSU Alumni Association President Cliff Vannoy. “Thanks to the dedicated work of the executive committee of the chapter, the 2016 event saw a wonderful turnout, and it will add thousands to their scholarship fund.” Board member Mary Lou England writes, “Some 323 young and not-so-young alumni and friends gathered for fellowship, tall tales, shared memories, and plenty of crawfish, shrimp, and side dishes. There was also prognosticating for the baseball and gymnastic results – and making plans to head to Green Bay in September. We loved having Cliff and John [Grubb, Association vice president] join us and bring Tiger gear – it can be challenging to be a Tiger in Gatorland.” ON THE WEB www.lsutampabayalumni.org

Greater BR – Newly elected officers and board members of the Greater Baton Rouge Alumni Chapter gathered at the home of President Jim Parr in May, to approve the chapter’s constitution and by-laws and to begin planning the year’s events. ON THE WEB www.lsualumnigreaterbr.org/ contact.html

Greater Baton Rouge Chapter officers, from left, Beth Tope, social committee; Mary Raudabaugh, vice-president; Jim Parr, president; Sarah Clayton, secretary/treasurer; and Lee Cox, Alumni Fund committee.

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Markie Russell, Connie DeBaugh, Carey Lockhart, and Bill Bagley.

Janice Guidry takes a break from eating crawfish to pose for a snapshot.

Softball Tailgate, Crawdad Boil - Central Virginia LSU alums were well represented at the LSU vs. James Madison University matchup in the Women’s College World Series Super Regional game in Harrisonburg, Va., in May. “Lots of good softball today . . . good to see the women come through – great team to watch. Better get some softballs for the coach to sign,” writes Markie Russell, chapter treasurer. Also in May, Tigers in the Richmond, Va., area gathered at American Legion Post 354 for the chapter’s annual crawfish boil. Clement Bourg with Cajun Heat once again directed the seasoning of the crawdads, corn, and potatoes, and jambalaya and hot dogs were also on the menu.

Bill Balis, Todd Russell, Jessie Balis, Buddy Cox, Bill Bagley, Clement Bourg, Jerry Nini, and Stephen Lahaye.

ON THE WEB centralvalsu.com

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

LSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS

Chapter Events

Tulsa Tigers at Northeast Oklahoma Chapter’s “Party with a Purpose.”

Northeast OK – Tigers in the Tulsa area gathered at Kendall-Whittier Park in April to enjoy boiled crawdads and other Louisiana cuisine while raising funds for the chapter’s scholarship fund. Crawfish was flown in from Louisiana, and members cooked up other Cajun goodies to go along with offerings from Lassalle’s New Orleans Deli, Marley’s Pizzeria, and Raising Canes. Music, games, raffle items, and a Kid Zone playground added to the fun. ON THE WEB lsuneok.alumnispaces.com

Tigers in Indiana – Jim and Keli Welsh hosted some thirty LSU alumni and Tiger faithful at their home near Indianapolis for the Indiana Chapter’s crawfish boil in May, serving up live crawdads flown in from Kenner Seafood. ON THE WEB LSUIndianaChapter@hotmail.com

LSU alums gather for a photo op during the Indiana Chapter crawfish boil.

Crawdads in Windy City – Four hundred pounds of crawdads were served up from some forty Chicago Tigers at the chapter’s crawfish boil at the Standard Bar & Grill in May. ON THE WEB www.facebook.com/lsuchicageaux

A crawfish feast at the Standard Bar & Grill.

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LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

LSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS

LSU Orlandeaux Updates

By Paul West

Paul West, left, and Johnny Nguyen.

This Tiger trio can’t get enough of those crawdads.

Chapter President Debi West with grandson Reid West, a future Tiger.

The LSU Alumni of Central Florida crawfish boil at Bahia Shriners Pavilion this past April attracted 317 Tiger faithful and raised almost $12,000 toward the chapter’s Flagship Scholarship goal. We had a New Orleans band (Jeff Howell), a jump house, face painting, a crawfish race, and other fun activities. We boiled more than 1,200 pounds of crawfish to go along with corn, potatoes, gumbo, hamburgers, hot dogs, and plenty of desserts! A shout-out to Johnny Nguyen, owner of Little New Orleans Kitchen and Oyster Bar in Orlando, Fla. Johnny has been a major sponsor for our chapter and has hosted many of our football game view-ins and supplied free gumbo and seasonings for the last two crawfish boils. His staff boiled the crawfish in 2015, and they represent the chapter in the annual Gumbo Wars event that supports many local children’s outdoor charities such as the Hook Kids on Fishing program. Johnny was also a sponsor for our recent golf tournament. The Central Florida Chapter teamed up with Fountain Auto Mall, the event’s Gold Sponsor, for the chapter’s inaugural golf tournament held in June at MetroWest Golf Club. Tiger fan Dan Schexnayder, general manager of the dealership, sponsored a $1,000 donation, four hole-in-one prizes – including a new GMC Yukon Denali – and two teams. Ken Soday with Stellar Signs & Design donated the event banner and signage. Participants – due largely to our sponsors – had a great time, and we raised an additional $4,000 toward our $40,000 Flagship Scholarship goal. We have now reached the $32,000 mark! We recently sold almost 100 LSU vs. Florida football tickets to local Tiger fans and are looking forward to a great tailgate in Gainesville, along with view-ins at three locations. ON THE WEB www.lsuorlandeaux.com

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LIBERTY MUTUAL

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

LSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS

Snapshots

Graduating seniors were treated to a celebratory crawfish boil at the Lod Cook Alumni Center.

Crawdads and Cocktails â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Emily Carpenter, center, with dad Peter and mom Sheri, pose for a photo at Senior Happy Hour.

Kabrina Do and Emilia Marshall show off their new alumni tote bags.

Graduating seniors celebrated their soon-to-be-alumni status at the two events sponsored by the LSU Alumni Association last spring. Several hundred future alumni gathered at the Lod Cook Alumni enter on April 20 to pass a good time digging into mounds of mudbugs with all the trimmings. On May 11, graduates and their parents and guests were treated to a cocktail buffet and had Graduating seniors Candace Gage, Paris Scott, Basha the opportunity to explore the myriad Ball, and Brooks Singleton. opportunities available to them as new members of LSU Tiger Nation. Dozens of door prizes were handed out at both events, and many grads took advantage of the chance to officially join the Association. Photos by Johnny Gordon

Band Reunion October 14 & 15, 2016

LSU VS. SOUTHERN MISS For More Info, call (225) 578â&#x20AC;&#x201C;3838 or register at bandreunion.lsualumni.org for hotel reservations, call 225-383-2665 and ask for the band reunion rate

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LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

LSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS

Snapshots

Gail Kinney, Mary Jones, and Eunice and Arlo Landolt.

John Capdevielle, Denver Loupe, Jerry Juneau, and Odrie Ortego.

Jackie and Rob Eichelberer, Claire Moreau, and LSU Alumni Association Vice President for Development Rhett Butler.

Best Dressed Patricia Territo and Rob Eichelberger.

Gayle Smith, Julia Hawkins, and Rita Culross.

Independence Day Celebration – LSU faculty and staff retirees gathered at the Lod Cook Alumni Center on June 28 to celebrate the upcoming Fourth of July holiday with an All-American fried chicken lunch and bingo. Guests joined May 2016 graduate Sarah Fruge in singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America” during the festivities. Photos by Johnny Gordon

Rose Martin, Cynthia Prestholdt, and Marjorie Whitehead.

Dot Rumfellow, Jerry Exner, Patti Exner, Donna Day, LSU Alumni Association President Cliff Vannoy, and LSU Faculty & Staff Retirees Club President Joy Bagur.

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‘Cap’-ing a Legend Whether you know him as Cap, Mr. John, Grey Eagle, or any of a host of other nicknames, John J. Capdevielle is a legend at LSU. Friends, family, former colleagues, and LSU Alumni Association and LSU Foundation staffers celebrated Capdevielle’s ninety-fifth birthday at the Lod Cook Alumni Center on May 6. The event also marked his retirement as the longest-serving docent at the center. Capdevielle (1942 BACH H&SS), longtime director of housing at LSU, Paul Murrill, standing with, from left, Denver Loupe, was one of the first University retirees John Capdevielle, and Kingston Eversull. to volunteer for docent duty when the center opened in 1994. He manned the front desk on Monday mornings for twenty-two years, greeting guests and assisting them with their inquiries about the building and the Association. Often joining him for coffee were friends that included a Boyd Professor, former chancellor, vice chancellor, director of human resources, and others representing decades of LSU institutional memory. During the celebration, Capdevielle Patrick Landry, John Capdevielle, and Henson Moore. was presented with an official LSU armchair bearing the inscription “With our heartfelt thanks and gratitude for twentytwo years of support and dedicated service to the LSU Alumni Association." Though officially “retired” from the role, visitors will still see his familiar face as he and his friends visit often, sharing stories of days gone by and a camaraderie forged over many years.

By John Grubb Photos by Johnny Gordon

John Capdevielle, seated center, with daughters Judy Girod, left, and Jan Gravolet; standing, son and daughter-in-law Ike and Pati Capdevielle, all LSU alums.

2016 GOLDEN TIGERS REUNION Honoring the Class of 1966 Reconnect with friends and classmates during a fun-filled day of activities.

September 29 - September 30, 2016 • Lod Cook Alumni Center For information, contact Brandli Roberts at 225.578.3852 or brandli@lsualumni.org

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

LSU AND MARY BIRD PERKINS CANCER CENTER TEAM UP TO BEAT CANCER BY B RENDA MACO N | P HOTOS BY LAR RY HUB BAR D

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LSU AND MARY BIRD PERKINS CANCER CENTER (MBPCC) have an ongoing partnership that benefits not only both institutions, their students, and their staff but also the citizens of Louisiana â&#x20AC;&#x201C; particularly those in the south and central parts of the state. This partnership is providing students with unique training opportunities, researchers with facilities and resources that are hard to find, and most important, patients with the latest innovations and techniques for improved outcomes in their cancer treatment. The design of the collaboration is to leverage the strengths of both institutions. The partnership gives MBPCC access to graduate students, multidisciplinary faculty, advanced computer technology, and all of the other advantages of University resources. LSU benefits by having access to clinical training for its students and clinical facilities for its faculty research. Both benefit by empowering faculty and students and providing them with opportunities to contribute to advancing patient treatment options. These advantages are fueling interest in maximizing collaboration. The partnership has expanded and improved both programs and has allowed levels of treatment and research that otherwise would not be possible. This collaboration began years ago, first with the establishment of the medical physics program in the 1980s, and then with the hiring of two visionaries from Texas who saw the potential for building something great when they put their heads together.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Chief of Physics Dr. Jonas Fontenot.

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY

Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center CEO and President Todd Stevens.

Things really started cooking when MBPCC CEO and President Todd Stevens (1988 BACH BUS) arrived at the cancer center in 1999 from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and previously U.S. Oncology from 1997 to 1999. Once he had the lay of the land, he began recruiting Dr. Kenneth Hogstrom, who was considering retirement from M.D. Anderson. Hogstrom had been with M.D. Anderson for close to twenty-five years and had reached what he thought was the pinnacle of his career. After having served for sixteen years as chair of the medical physics department there, he was ready for a new challenge. Stevens gave him reasons to build something great in Baton Rouge. The two of them put their heads together to develop a plan for the future of MBPCC even before Hogstrom officially had joined the staff. Those early meetings were primarily for planning Stevens’ strategy at MBPCC. Stevens valued and respected both Hogstrom’s business acumen and his knowledge of medical physics. During the course of the meetings, Stevens planted the idea of Hogstrom making a second career in Baton Rouge into their strategy. At the time, LSU had a medical physics program that had been around for a while, but it was small and not accredited. On the flip side, MBPCC had the resources for new technology but limited medical physics staff to expand its treatment program. Hogstrom knew how to bring the two programs into sync to create a partnership that would make both institutions stronger. Then, in 2003, the medical physics program director at LSU retired, so the physics department needed someone to fill that vacancy. Moreover, Hogstrom’s wife, a Louisiana native and an LSU alumna, was ready to move back closer to her alma mater. Hogstrom, who is originally from Houston, felt that Baton Rouge was close enough to his hometown that it would be like

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home. As if by fate, everything played perfectly into the plan to bring Hogstrom to Baton Rouge. Having been hired into two positions – serving as the chief of physics at MBPCC and as professor and director of the medical physics program in the Department of Physics & Astronomy – Hogstrom began to help Stevens implement their plans. At MBPCC, they increased and improved radiation therapy technology, equipment, and medical physics staffing to bring the center to the forefront of radiation therapy. Hogstrom knew and had worked with Stevens and many of the MBPCC radiation oncologists previously at M.D. Anderson, so he was a natural fit on the team, and the work went well, adding several state-of-the-art treatment options and new machines. That is where LSU’s medical physics program came into play. In his newly appointed director’s position, Hogstrom was charged to build the small program into a stronger, larger, and fully accredited field of graduate education at LSU. He, himself, had an even bigger goal: to have one of the best medical physics programs in the U.S. and in the world. Attaining accreditation for the graduate degree programs was critical to that goal, so he worked from his arrival in 2004 to make that happen. In 2006, the master’s degree program was accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs, Inc. (CAMPEP), and in 2011, the Ph.D. program was added and was accredited the same year. Also, Hogstrom negotiated that LSU and MBPCC jointly create an endowed chair for the program director, and in 2006, he became the inaugural holder of the Dr. Charles M. Smith Chair of Medical Physics.

THE PROGRAM TODAY

Hogstrom pointed out that what was once experimental is now the standard of care. To keep pace with the rapidly changing and progressing field of cancer treatment, both LSU and MBPCC must have adequate funding. For example, part of the plan that

One of the latest advances in equipment is the Versa HD Elekta that delivers a full dose of radiation in one or two arcs around the patient. Photo provided by Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center

leadership to the partnership. Both are sold on the benefits of he and Stevens discussed was to bring helical tomotherapy, an working together to make great things happen. effective and relatively recent type of treatment, to MBPCC. “This partnership is a win-win-win,” Newhauser commented. Stevens was able to find funding for this relatively new “We benefit from the clinical expertise at MBPCC; they technology, which gives students an edge because they are benefit from our research resources; and patients benefit training on the latest equipment. In addition to funding for from cutting edge treatment programs that arise from new new technology, having money for student support and faculty knowledge derived from the research. This partnership has research is critical to the program. “The challenge is to maintain gained a reputation nationally and internationally because of our fiscal resources so that we continue to move forward,” the work we are able to do together. Some of the best students Hogstrom commented. in the world are applying to our program “Our [M.S.] program is tougher because of the collaboration. Without than any other of its kind in the U. S.,” this partnership, we could not provide Hogstrom explained. “Ours is three This partnership is our students with this high quality years instead of the usual two years a win-win-win. This of education.” and requires a research thesis. We also partnership has gained Under their leadership, the medical require more courses. For example, we physics program has continued to offer three radiation therapy physics a reputation nationally address the needs of a field that is classes where most programs only have and internationally expanding as new technologies and one. All of this makes the program the because of the work treatments are introduced. The program best in the U. S., which is to say, in the now includes a CAMPEP-accredited world. Our graduates are so good that we are able to do radiation oncology physics residency they get offers when many from other component at MBPCC, which is a great programs struggle.” benefit for graduating M.S. and Ph.D. Hogstrom officially retired from LSU students. Medical physics is one of only in 2011, but he remains active as an two (the other is genetics) non-physician emeritus professor and still maintains medical disciplines certified under strong ties with both institutions, as the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), which he continues in a part-time capacity at MBPCC. The program requires completion of a residency program to sit for the board and the partnership have grown remarkably since 2003, and certification exam. The exam is administered by The American two new leaders are continuing the progress and successes for Board of Radiology, and board certification qualifies medical which both LSU and MBPCC have become known. Dr. Jonas physicists for clinical practice. Currently, about 300 medical Fontenot is the current chief of physics at MBPCC, and Dr. physics M.S. and Ph.D. degrees are awarded each year in the Wayne Newhauser is professor and director of the medical U.S.; only about 125 medical residency positions are available, physics program and holder of the Dr. Charles M. Smith Chair which means that competition for admission to those slots is of Medical Physics. Both bring experience, gravitas, and strong

Together.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Top left: Art adds beauty and warmth to the building; Top right: Dr. Kenneth Hogstrom, right, was instrumental in creating the partnership between LSU and the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, serving in leadership positions at both institutions. Dr. Wayne Newhauser, left, is the current director of the medical physics program at LSU, continuing the leadership that makes the program one of the best in the world.

intense. Students who receive their graduate training in the LSU program are given priority in the residency program at The quality of the students in the graduate program allows MBPCC through a matching service very similar to that used by for this advantage and also gives faculty researchers young physician residency programs. mentees who often come up with new ideas for existing The MBPCC residency program is a consortium that includes concepts. “Our students always have a fresh outlook,” programs at MBPCC in Baton Rouge, Willis Knighton Cancer Fontenot explained recently. “Student research projects are Center in Shreveport, and the University of Mississippi Medical determined by a number of factors, Center in Jackson, Mississippi. “The including ongoing research, clinical program is organized in a ‘hub-andneeds, funding, and student interest.” MBPCC plans to become spokes’ model,” residency program Wayne Newhauser concurred, director Fontenot explained. “Each year, commenting, “Students are crossour partners admit one resident in each pollinators. They talk with each other, facility, and we admit two. Currently, with other faculty, and with others we have nine residents. The program in the world to develop outside the program. They bring new is in high demand: 100 M.S. and Ph.D. technology for intensity ideas and perspectives that make the graduates applied for the four residency research better.” Both Newhauser and modulated bolus ECT. slots in 2016.” Fontenot agree that medical physics Newhauser added, “The talented students are very creative in devising students who receive this high quality education graduate from their projects, both M.S. theses and Ph.D. dissertations, often the program are able to save lives wherever they go. The quality finding new uses for existing equipment and techniques. of these graduates is well known in the field, and major cancer Fontenot added, “Graduate students have contributed treatment centers, like the Mayo Clinic, have eagerly hired LSU significantly to MBPCC research, which has advanced radiation graduates. However, many, close to fifty percent, elect to stay in therapy technology for its patients, as well as those throughout the Gulf region, and about twenty-five percent have remained the United States and world.” in Louisiana.

BOTTOM LINE: PATIENT CARE

The First

22 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Graduate Students have contributed significantly to MBPCC research, which has advanced radiation therapy technology for its patients, as well as those throughout the United States

and around the world Examples of how student research is benefitting survivors are numerous and include work in several areas. Radiation oncologists can better spare normal tissues in treating cancers in and adjacent to the brain. The medical physics team developed and applied methods that measure the accuracy of targeting disease in the head using image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT). This research enabled MBPCC medical physicists to use one of the machines in the MBPCC oncology unit called Brainlab to treat trigeminal neuralgia, a debilitating and painful condition. Also, patients receiving postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) now have better outcomes thanks to a technique developed by MBPCC medical physicists that uses rotational intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) to treat the chest wall. Research in this area is ongoing, with emphasis on breathhold techniques to further improve treatments and examination of long-term side effects. Treating cancer in the thorax and abdomen is also often impacted by the patient’s breathing, which means that the irradiated area becomes a moving target. MBPCC medical physicists have an ongoing research program in respiratory management to develop techniques for minimizing this problem. Recently, a deep-inspiration, breath-hold procedure that can reduce heart dose, and hence toxicity, was developed for use in radiating intact breast and postmastectomy breast cancers. Radiation oncologists can now use electron beams to irradiate superficial cancers of the nose, scalp, chest wall, and extremities with improved sparing of adjacent normal tissues and organs like salivary glands, eye, spinal cord, and lung. MBPCC medical physicists and LSU students have researched and translated bolus electron conformal therapy (ECT) technology through .decimal LLC (Sanford, Fla.) to approximately 300 radiotherapy centers in the United States. This research continues as MBPCC plans to become the first in the world to develop technology for intensity modulated bolus ECT. Another area of research at LSU that has gained national attention is the use of 3-D printing technology to identify and define tumors and isolate them from healthy tissue. This technology will initially be used in developing plans of treatment to target cancerous cells more efficiently, which will make treatment more tolerable for patients and can prevent potentially fatal side effects. The models developed in 3-D are personalized for each patient and provide detailed information about the location and other aspects of the tumors, which is especially important with tumors that require specialized reconstruction. To minimize the risk of treatment complications, especially those caused by the radiation treatment itself, verifying the radiation calculations with measurements is of utmost importance. Medical physicists have been aware that, while the

greatest percentage of the radiation used in treatment targets the cancerous tissue, a certain amount “leaks” to areas around the cancer. Until recently, scientists had no way of calculating how much or how great that leakage is. Lydia Wilson Jagetic, a Fulbright Scholar who recently developed an algorithm to calculate that leakage all the way to its outer edge, is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree at LSU. Training students in medical physics is, after all, to provide patients with the best care for the best possible outcomes. Through this partnership, the program’s research is helping define the standard of care, which translates to better patient care.

WORKING TOGETHER, MAKING DECISIONS FOR THE FUTURE Additionally, the center employs some of the most up-todate equipment, such as linear accelerators that contain CT scanners and rotational treatment delivery methods that reduce the amount of time required for treatment. One of the latest advances in equipment is the Versa HD Elekta that delivers a full dose of radiation in one or two arcs around the patient. These machines replace what Stevens termed “the four-field box” treatment that used to be standard and that was far less accurate and more invasive than today’s machines. “We’re practicing precision medicine,” Stevens commented, “and adhering to the spirit of the Hippocratic Oath to ‘do no harm.’ We’re working to treat only what needs to be treated without affecting surrounding healthy tissue.” Stevens referred to an article by Intel’s Andy Grove that appeared in the May 13, 1996, issue of Fortune. As Groves points out in the article, cancer research was often reported in a highly biased atmosphere that favored whatever the pet approach of the researcher was. That insular environment is giving way to one that allows researchers to share information in real time. “We’re seeing those walls break down,” Stevens explained. “A good research idea should be shared as easily as a review of a play. People want to solve the problem of improving patient care.” Collaborative research and cross-pollination of ideas will make that happen. Stevens encourages anyone who wants to support the LSU/ MBPCC partnership specifically and cancer research in general to advocate for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education at all levels, from kindergarten through college; support university research; invest in collaborative efforts like this one that include education and research; and encourage students to become researchers. “At MBPCC and LSU, your gift will go directly to benefit medical physics research and training.” Brenda Macon is a freelance writer and editor in Baton Rouge.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Helping Survivors Heal “Surrounding Patients with Everything They Need to Thrive” Larry Hubbard (1955 BACH A&D) has come to know the staff at Mary Bird Perkins-Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center quite well over the course of the last several years. He was diagnosed with cancer in his salivary glands more than six years ago, and more recently has undergone treatment for skin cancer. The cancer in his salivary glands required both surgery and subsequent radiation therapy. Despite the fact that a cancer diagnosis almost always comes with fear and anxiety, Hubbard has fond memories of the Cancer Center’s staff. “The atmosphere there, from my standpoint, was absolutely marvelous,” he reminisced. “I particularly liked and probably needed the friendliness starting at the front desk and pervading throughout the center.” That atmosphere has been meticulously created to enhance each patient’s treatment and ultimate recovery. The facility began a major renovation in 2012, which administrator Linda Lee (1982 MAST HS&E) has overseen with great care. “We tried to think of everything – bringing in natural light to show there is still a beautiful world out there. Because we recognize the importance of the nature elements in making our patients feel comfortable, we make sure that all of them have a view of the sky while they are undergoing chemotherapy here, which can take several hours,” she said. “We want patients to feel welcome, to feel embraced, from the very first moment they arrive – even before they enter the building.” Patients are treated as honored guests at the front of the building, with valets assisting them in the circular drive and escorting them inside to the two-story atrium. The focal point in the atrium is an original stained glass wall by local artist Stephen “Steve” Wilson (1975 BACH A&D, 1978 MAST A&D) that extends from the ceiling nearly to the first floor. The building was carefully designed to capture an abundance of natural light and to bring in natural elements, with glass, stone, and wood the most prominent materials. Throughout, artwork by local artists adds even more warmth and beauty to the space. Leaving lovely architecture and art aside for a moment, however, Lee gives full credit to the physicians and staff for the center’s successes and high quality of care. “The guts [the people] of this building were beautiful even before the building was pretty,” she said. “The staff here is amazing. We consider our patients to be survivors from the moment of the initial diagnosis, and our staff are deeply committed to being active and supportive participants in their care.” Hubbard’s experiences at the Cancer Center have convinced him that their approach works. Each of the main treatment areas houses a ship’s bell, and patients completing their treatment are encouraged to ring it on their way out of their last appointment as a symbolic gesture of celebration. They have completed treatment, they have survived and are thriving. When the bell rings, everyone – staff, patients, and visitors – all stop and applaud. Hubbard was finally able to ring that bell in March 2016. From top: 1. Larry Hubbard rang the “celebration bell” on his last day of treatment at Mary Bird Perkins-Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center; 2. Larry Hubbard survived two bouts of cancer and credits Mary Bird Perkins-Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center for helping him through that ordeal; 3. Many original works of art adorn the walls, hallways and treatment areas of the Cancer Center. This one, titled Waters of the World by Robert Rector, presents the viewer with a comforting sense of calm and serenity through its unique, multi-dimensional representation of our world’s waters; 4. This detail from the Meditation Art Wall, created by local artist Stephen “Steve” Wilson, greets guests as they enter the Cancer Center’s light-filled atrium on the first floor. The back of the piece offers an entirely different view on the second floor where it helps to enclose a meditation room where patients, family members and staff can spend a quiet moment of reflection.

24 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

LSU ALUMNI MAKE AN IMPACT LSU has many points of contact at Mary Bird Perkins-Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center. From the phenomenal partnership that has expanded the medical physics program to the social workers who manage the care of patients every day, the University has touched the lives of every cancer survivor who walks through the doors of the center. Top left: Kristina Little becomes a part of the lives of the patients she navigates through treatment; Top right: Administrator Linda Lee.

dministrator Linda Lee (1982 MSW), recently commented, “Our staff are chosen for their compassion and capacity for kindness. It’s a privilege and a great responsibility to interact with someone who has had a diagnosis of cancer, and we take that very seriously. At all of our meetings, we figuratively put the patient in the center of the room. Keeping that patient in the middle of the meeting focuses and clarifies everything we do. We cloak our patients with an array of services to help heal not only their bodies, but their minds and spirit as well. Healing art, meditation, massage, and other mindbody programs enhance the effects of conventional chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. We understand that the patient’s positive outlook and reduced stress level help release hormones that stimulate the immune system and aid in healing.” Many of those staff members are LSU alumni, and one of them, Kristina Little (2004 BACH H&SS, 2011 MSW), became the first recipient of the Sister Linda Constantin Courage and Compassion Award in 2015. She worked with Professor Emily Elliott on

her Honors College thesis, which was on children, learning, and distraction. However, when she decided to pursue a graduate degree, she realized that one aspect of psychology that intrigued her was the role that environment plays in mental health, so she chose the field of social work. As she worked toward her master’s degree in social work, she also realized that she preferred to work with older adults, earning a certificate in gerontology for her work with aging patients, some of whom were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. In yet another shift in focus, Little reflected on the internship that she held in her foundation, or first, year of the graduate degree program. During that year, she worked with Cancer Services of Greater Baton Rouge. “I was fascinated by the science of cancer,” she recalled. “Not just the disease itself, but the entire field of oncology – the process of treatment, everything. I wanted to learn more.” Today, Little works with head and neck cancer patients who are undergoing treatment for some of the most disfiguring tumors among all the forms of

cancer. “I had no idea what I was getting into,” she remembered. “It took me about a year to understand thoroughly what these patients were going through, but those patients in that first year led me every step of the way. We all depend on the patients to teach us what to do to help them, and these people not only helped me learn what to do, they showed me strength that amazed and humbled me.” Linda Lee was also recognized recently for excellence in her profession, named one of eight Louisianians of the Year by myNewOrleans.com and Renaissance Publishing. She explained the connection between staff and patients, saying, “The intersection of the provider with the patient is a sacred engagement in which the patient entrusts his or her care to our team – ‘Here I am, mind and body. I need help. Please help me.’ That level of trust requires our compassion and commitment to providing the best care possible. Through this partnership, both patient and provider are changed. Those sacred engagements make you kinder and broaden your world.”

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Thinking

OUTSIDE

THE BOX W hen exceptional researchers see the need

for better techniques, they go beyond [their usual areas of expertise] to find answers.

Sometimes those answers are found by combining

unrelated and unusual bits of technology. In the case of Dr. Guang Jia, associate professor of physics, and Joseph “Joe” Steiner, a Ph.D. candidate who works with Jia, they pulled together radiation technologies, processes, and equipment from a variety of areas in medical physics to arrive at a better diagnostic tool for early detection of prostate cancer.

Dr. Guang Jia, left, and Ph.D candidate Joseph Steiner demonstrate the diagnostic apparatus that they developed.

Both Jia and Steiner recognized the deficiencies in standard prostate cancer diagnostic tools: False positives with PSA tests are in the range of eighty percent; digital rectal exams cannot provide definitive results; though CT scans yield high resolution images, they cannot differentiate soft tissue; and though MRI images can differentiate soft tissue, they have low sensitivity and low resolution and are noisy and slow. Since no one device or technique is ideal for diagnosing prostate cancer, Jia had the idea to combine several devices and techniques to create a new, more sensitive method. Jia was aware that using MRI imaging with an endorectal coil improves resolution, and he and Steiner wondered if using an endorectal detector with the CT platform would provide even better resolution. They were also familiar with digital breast tomosynthesis, which uses low-dose x-ray projections over a limited range to produce pseudo threedimensional images. The final piece of their puzzle was to find an additional sensor small enough to fit under the usually walnut-sized prostate to use with the endorectal probe; that small sensor was a dental x-ray plate, the same type used in many dentists’ offices for oral x-rays. Finally, using iodine as a contrasting agent provides for better contrast. Using these parts of existing technologies together enhances the benefits of each and ameliorates the down sides. With the device proposed by Jia and Steiner, resolution is ten times higher than using CT imaging alone. While the device is still in the prototype phase, tests using a phantom have yielded amazing results, potentially for both diagnosis and post-

26 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

treatment imaging of brachytherapy seeds. The device could also be used to detect recurrent tumors that may be suspected when the patient has rising PSA results several years after the prostate has been removed. Using a kumquat to represent the prostate and a Styrofoam plug embedded with brachytherapy seeds, Jia and Steiner imaged their test phantoms using standard CT equipment and using their proposed technique. The contrast in resolution is stark. Structures that are only shadows or not visible at all appear clearly in the experimental images; the brachytherapy seeds, which are barely detectable in the standard images are brilliantly illuminated in the experimental ones. This new detection method has the potential to advance the diagnostic protocols for prostate cancer and prevent needless additional testing and possibly unnecessary and drastic treatment. Biopsies, which present a significant risk to patients, would be prevented. Surgeries and unnecessary radiation therapy would be avoided. And perhaps equally important, patients would be saved from the anxiety of false positives – not knowing whether they actually have cancer or not and, even if cancer is detected, not knowing where the tumor lies, how aggressively it is growing (most prostate cancer is slow-growing), or which treatment option is best for an individual patient. Combining these four technologies – the endorectal probe system from MRI, the CT platform, digital tomosynthesis, and the dental x-ray sensor – to create a completely new process is one of the remarkable aspects of research in a university environment. Jia attributes educating his to his ability to bring

Dr. Charles M. Smith, right, visits with recipients of his gift to the medical physics program, from left, Dr. Wayne Newhauser who holds the Dr. Charles M. Smith Professorship in Medical Physics; Andrew Halloran (2011 BACH SCI, 2015 MAST SCI); and Lydia Wilson Jagetic, a current graduate student in the program.

these technologies together to solve problems. They bring fresh ideas and new perspectives into the classroom, and Jia accepts the challenge to keep abreast of the technology in his field so that he can provide them with the best instruction possible. “Teaching has helped me think of various modalities,” he explained. “Our students are the best! Take Joe [Steiner] for example. I give him the basic idea, and he can complete it by ninety percent without anything more from me.” Steiner graduated with a degree in physics from SUNY-Buffalo and subsequently worked in a position that required knowledge of mechanical engineering. This position gave him the opportunity to solve problems creatively and to design new equipment. The job also helped him understand that he needed something more. He discovered that, while physics seemed too theoretical, engineering was a little too applied for his taste, so he looked for graduate degree programs that would give him a little of both theory and application. “Medical physics is a happy medium,” he commented. “It gives me the opportunity to work with theory to develop applications, and that works for me.” Steiner’s experience with machining to create tools from new designs fits very well with his research with Jia. Jia received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University and is an ABRcertified diagnostic medical physicist. Jia has several years of experience in working with prostate cancer imaging as well as with joint cartilage imaging. His research at LSU and Mary Bird Perkins with improving diagnostic techniques for prostate cancer is yielding results with the development of a new device and technique. The research combines concepts and technology from at least four very different areas to address the issue of false positives with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests and digital rectal exams (DRE). His previous experience working with urologists and radiation oncologists led him to the understanding that diagnosticians needed a more sensitive device for detecting cancer in the prostate. Jia also cites the cooperation among units at LSU that have aided his research and understanding of how other fields impact his own. For example, Fakhri al-Bagdadi, associate professor in the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, has provided animal prostates to help the researchers have a better understanding of the anatomical structures they will be imaging, and Alumni Professor of Biological Sciences Dominique Homberger has given Jia insight regarding 3-D imaging of human anatomical structures. Jia and Steiner both work not only on the main LSU campus and at MBPCC but also at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, where they collaborate on additional research. Jia is also sold on the partnership that LSU enjoys with Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center and on the medical physics program itself. “Where I came from, the academic ranking is higher than that of LSU, but they don’t have a medical physics program,” he said. “Also, Mary Bird Perkins has a residency program that provides our own students with opportunity. Those things were very important in my decision to come to LSU.”

Making A Difference:

GIVING BACK TO SAVE LIVES DR. CHARLES M. SMITH (1951 BACH H&SS, 1955 MD-NO) practiced family medicine for thirty-five years in Sulphur, La. “I liked all aspects of medicine and chose not to specialize in a particular area. When I started, I practiced everything from pediatrics to geriatrics – delivering babies, making house calls, even treating chemical dependency. “After I retired, I had a tumor that could have cost me my life. The radiation, chemotherapy, and cancer treatment saved my life. Supporting the medical physics program at LSU is a way of giving back. Because of the wonderful relationship between the College of Science and Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, the medical physics program has really bloomed into the creation of a stateof-the-art training facility, and with their new physical plant, the community, the region, and the state will benefit. They’re educating and training medical physicists, but the scope of this collaboration is much broader than I initially thought and has far exceeded my expectations. We’re on the cusp of curing a lot of tumors. “Whether they contribute to the medical physics program or some other worthwhile effort, I hope other alumni will choose to give back to the University. We need more money in support of research. I would like to see alumni take an interest in some area at the University to support, no matter what it is.”

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Radiation Therapy Provides

RELI E F FOR MIKE V I BY G I NG ER G UT T N E R | P H OTO BY E D DY P E R EZ

Mike VI undergoing treatment at Mary Bird Perkins-Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center.

IN MAY 2016, MIKE VI was diagnosed with a spindle cell sarcoma (Mike was examined and had a biopsy after his caretakers noticed a slight swelling in his face). On May 28, Mike underwent radiation treatment simulation at Mary Bird Perkins-Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center to create the devices that were to be used to help position Mike for stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) and to acquire the CT images used to map the tumor in his face. On June 1, Mike received radiation therapy at the Cancer Center. According to Dr. David Baker, LSU’s attending veterinarian and professor

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at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine (LSU SVM), the swelling on the right side of Mike’s face has completely subsided, suggesting that the tumor responded to the radiation treatment. His attitude, weight, and appetite are normal, and he does not appear to be in pain. The precise, concentrated radiation dose was delivered in a single treatment and optimized to avoid damaging normal tissues surrounding Mike’s cancer. This treatment is not curative but should extend Mike’s life for perhaps one or two years and allow him to live comfortably for some time.

Eventually, the radiation-resistant cells remaining in the tumor will resume growth. The Cancer Center was selected to provide radiation therapy because of its longstanding relationship with LSU. For years, the cancer center’s medical physicists have provided consultation and approval for animals receiving radiation treatment at the LSU SVM. The Cancer Center offered the advanced technology and facilities necessary for Mike’s SRT treatments, which occurred outside of normal business hours. Ginger Guttner is director of public relations at the School of Veterinary Medicine.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

REASSEMBLING

TIGER TOWN

Clark Cadzow Is Saving the Neighborhood in Photographs

BY ED CULLEN 30 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Tiger Town historian Clarke Cadzow. Photo by Robert Collins

WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH CLARKE CADZOW (1985 BACH BUSINESS), who this minute is atop a stepladder fiddling with the frozen coffee drink machine at Highland Coffees?

hen Cadzow (the “o” is long) isn’t running his coffee shop on Chimes Street behind LSU’s Pleasant Hall, he’s ferreting out photographs of Tiger Town from the 1930s or interviewing the dwindling number of people who lived, worked, and hung out in the Depression era-residential and business district just north of campus. To what avail? Tiger Town has lost many of its buildings and houses to apartment and building development and parking lots. It took a social media campaign last year to help save Highland Coffees from a rent hike that might have meant the end of the twenty-seven-year-old coffee shop. Customers still come up to Cadzow to say they were part of the effort to save the shop because of what Highland Coffees means to them. “This is a passion,” Cadzow says, waving a hand at the ghosts of 400 businesses, boarding houses, apartments, and

residences that have come and gone on West Chimes, Highland Road, West and East State streets, and what is now University Shopping Center. He might get a book from his labor. “Think what you can do with this (folders bulging with photographs and notes) on a computer if you linked information to pictures.” The market for such a book is small. Cadzow doesn’t care. He wants to make a home for all the photographs of the places generations of LSU students, faculty, and merchants once called home. If there’s no book and developers eventually level what’s left of Tiger Town to erect apartments indistinguishable from ones in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Cadzow will continue to percolate. “It comes down to what you do with your life,” he says. Cadzow knows the addresses of those 400 places that shared walls or grew out of the demolition of predecessors.

Left page, clockwise, beginning top left: 1. Magoo’s bar, ca. 1974, Chimes St., where Chimes Textbook Exchange is now, years after the Kappa Alpha house was there. Original building; 2. Co-op Bookstore, ca. 1935, Chimes St., where Highland Coffees is now. Co-op founder W.A. Prescott, left, and early partner Nat Chestnut stand in front of the store; 3. Louie’s Dutch Mill, ca. 1941, Chimes St., where the Chinese Combo King parking lot is now. New restaurant owner Louis Sisk stands in front; 4. Chunky’s Moon Glow Hut ice cream shop, ca. 1936, Chimes St., where Slinky’s bar is now. Before, the Chimes Theater was there. Bike rider is unidentified; 5. Sitman’s Drugstore, ca. 1941, corner of Highland Rd. and Chimes St., where The Chimes restaurant is now. Original building; 6. Kean’s Cleaners and apartments, ca. 1940, where Studio 126 Salon and apartments are now. Original building.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Left: Kappa Alpha fraternity house, ca. 1930, Chimes St., where Chimes Textbook Exchange is now. Original building; Right: The General Store, ca. 1974, Chimes St., where Utopia Salon is now. Original building.

“A lot of times, addresses weren’t given for businesses in Tiger Town,” he says. “They’d say behind Smith or Parker hall or just off campus.” He can tell you where actresses Elizabeth Ashley (State Street) and Joann Woodward (3295 Carlotta Street) lived when they were LSU students. He has a picture of the house where Ashley lived. He’s looking for a photo of Woodward’s apartment, which was demolished, and trying to document the places where LSU’s winners of nine Pulitzer prizes lived as students or faculty. Some of the writers (Robert Penn Warren, Robert Lowell, Katherine Anne Porter, T. Harry Williams, Jean Stafford, and Peter Taylor) won more than one Pulitzer.

HE BEGINNING

Tiger Town began with a farmer who worked by the light of the moon. Antonio Losavio bought land on the northern edge of what was to become the present LSU campus. The university occupied the Pentagon Barracks and other buildings near the present Capitol downtown from 1886 until the move to the new campus was completed in 1932. The Gartness Plantation was purchased in 1918 as the site of LSU’s new home. Tiger Stadium was built on part of Losavio’s farm. Knowing his land was to be expropriated, Losavio bought land north of present-day Chimes Street in 1917. Losavio’s purchase was part of Magnolia Mound Plantation. He dubbed the part of his investment along Chimes Street “Campanile View.” The Campanile, or Memorial Tower, was one of the first buildings on campus. Smith Hall, now Pleasant Hall, blocked the view of the Campanile from Campanile View. The family used shovels and wheelbarrows to fill the low land that became University Shopping Center. Losavio’s grandson, Peter, remembers sitting in Tiger Stadium with his dad, Peter, Sr., under a full moon. “Dad said, ‘I hate full moons. When we farmed this land, we worked it night and day.’”

ORTH GATES

The Ranch restaurant, ca. 1941, corner of Highland Rd. and Chimes St., where Bengals and Bandits is now.

32 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Early Tiger Town businesses were built along Highland Road and Chimes Street. Professors and their families, townspeople, and students lived in houses on the east side of Highland between Highland and Dalrymple Drive. Over time, apartments were built on Chimes on the west side of Highland, as well as State and Lake streets. The new Louie’s restaurant is on Lake. Before he’s interrupted by a call from the man who’s supposed to keep the frozen coffee machine alive, Cadzow eyes the photographs and notes piled in the seat of a wrought-iron chair. “Now, we call this part of town North Gates,” he says. “People were confusing Tiger Town with Tiger Land.” Cadzow has nothing against sprawling Tiger Land south of campus, but, in his considered opinion, the best memories students have of their LSU days lie north of campus. The great-grandparents of today’s students remember south of campus as fields of crops or grazing cattle. “No one reminisces about their time south of LSU,” he says. “That’s a little bit of an exaggeration, but this is the part of their time at LSU they remember best.” Clarke, fifty-two, started trying to reassemble Tiger Town on paper and in photographs when he opened his shop in 1989. “I was interviewed by the Reveille, and

State St. homes in 1935. Called Professors Row at the time because so many of the homes were owned by LSU professors.

NO ONE REMINISCES ABOUT THEIR TIME SOUTH OF LSU. . . . THIS IS THE PART OF THEIR TIME AT LSU THEY REMEMBER BEST. I said, ‘This neighborhood has to be saved.’ I grew up in New Orleans, a city with a lot of history.” Why not the same interest in “The Drag” along Austin’s Guadalupe Street where Cadzow hung out while getting a master’s degree in social work at the University of Texas in 1988? “I know Baton Rouge better than Austin,” he says. “I opened the first specialty coffee shop in Baton Rouge. Coffee Call opened before I did, but they’re more known for beignets.” Tiger Town became a calling for Cadzow. “I wish I’d started ten years sooner,” he says. Alumni with the memories and photos Cadzow is after were students at LSU in the mid-1930s. Those who graduated at twenty-one in 1935 are turning 102. “Photos can’t be too small,” he says, slipping a photograph from a folder. “It can be just a photo of an unidentified person with a great building in the background.” The picture Cadzow entices from the folder is circa 1935. There is a young woman with her bicycle in the foreground. Behind her is one of the jewels of Cadzow’s photo collection, an image of Chunkey’s Moon Glow Hut Ice Cream. “We deliver. Phone 4969-W on Chimes Street.” And below that: “Blue Bird Ice Cream.” Eyeing the mountain of stuffed manila folders in the chair, a visitor wonders if Cadzow’s ever been called obsessive? “Not obsessive,” he says. “Diligent. How can you say you’re doing a history of the neighborhood but make only five or six phone calls?”

If Tiger Town goes, Baton Rouge loses a quarter of its historic districts which Cadzow lists as the Perkins Road Overpass neighborhoods and businesses, Mid-City, Downtown, and what’s now called the North Gates. The Kean’s Apartments building on Chimes Street west of Highland Coffees is begging for a renovation of its Art Deco design as smart apartments, he said. The building stands next to what was Chunkey’s, then the Chimes Theater (torn down in the 1960s), then Shortess Books, Tiger Town Jewelers, and now Slinky’s Bar.

ROPPING NAMES

Cadzow mentions Sparky Wade’s Dribble-In concessions, named for LSU’s first All-American in basketball; Dub Robinson’s tennis center, named for a former tennis coach; and Crowe Peele, an All-American boxer who ran a Texaco Station; as though Sparky, Dub, and Crowe might walk in for their afternoon cup of Joe. Former basketball coach Press Maravich, father of Pete, owned Maravich’s Maryland’s Fried Chicken on State Street next door to the Louie’s that preceded present Louie’s but not the Louie’s, the original Louie’s Dutch Mill, that was on Chimes. Cadzow uses the old names hoping an old Tiger will remember the box of photos he or she has tucked away. He hopes, too, the old Tigers will ask their young Tigers to scan the pictures and get them to him. (See contact information below.) Cadzow’s coffee shop has a Highland Road mailing address because he opened on the corner of Highland and Chimes in 1989, moving to his present location in 1996. The shop is in a building built in 1974 after a 1973 fire gutted a building that included the Co-Op Bookstore, The Library Bar, New Generation, New Orleans Lightweight Cycles, and Crescent Laundry. The front door frame of Highland Coffees was once the entrance to The Backpacker. Dale Mathews, owner and sole employee of the Backpacker in 1974, said in a 2007 Advocate story that the best thing about the outfitter’s location was its proximity to a health food café called Cornucopia. “One of my favorite things to do was to order an avocado and Brussels sprout sandwich from Cornucopia next door,” Mathews said. “When it was ready, one of the guys would knock on the wall to let me know.” Contact Cadzow at 225-336-9773 (shop), 225-266-1215 (cell), atccadzow@att.net, or walk into the shop at 3350 Highland Rd. '

ON THE WEB www.northgatesoflsu.com

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

LSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 2015 ANNUAL REPORT

OUR LSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION’S GROWTH

A 2015 FINANCIAL SNAPSHOT

– A NEARLY 27 PERCENT INCREASE IN 2015! – IS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE TREMENDOUS SUPPORT AND INVOLVEMENT OF ALUMNI, FRIENDS, AND FORMER

$34.8 MILLION

IN TOTAL ASSETS. The major portion of these assets is restricted, including an endowment of $17.1 million.

STUDENTS AND A COMMITTED, ENERGETIC STAFF. WE ARE A VIBRANT, MULTIFACETED ORGANIZATION – ONE OF THE FINEST IN THE COUNTRY – WITH FACILITIES TO MATCH. WITHOUT A DOUBT, YOU ARE A MAJOR FACTOR IN THE SUCCESSES OF THE ASSOCIATION, AND YOU SHOULD BE VERY PROUD.

$2.2 MILLION

IN TOTAL UNRESTRICTED DONATIONS.

$316,000

IN TOTAL RESTRICTED DONATIONS TO THE ENDOWMENT FUND.

THE ASSOCIATION HAS $13.2 MILLION IN PHYSICAL ASSETS such as the Lod Cook Alumni Center, The Cook Hotel, the Jack and Priscilla Andonie Museum, the Warren & Lorraine Pol Building, and the Sugar Woods building. Current cash, accounts receivable, and merchandise inventory total $3.3 million.

WE ARE PLEASED TO SHARE WITH YOU IN THIS ANNUAL REPORT AN “AT-A-GLANCE” OVERVIEW OF OUR MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN 2015. 34 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

$17.5 M $13.2 M INVESTMENTS

PROPERTY, PLANT, EQUIPMENT

$3.3 M

$.8 M

CURRENT ASSETS

OTHER

ENHANCING THE LIVES

OF THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST • 10 President’s Alumni Scholarships Full cost of attendance for four years; $2,000 study abroad stipend; $1,550 per year to earn through President’s Future Leaders in Research Program • 16 Global Leaders Scholarships - $2,000 study abroad stipend; $1,550 per year to earn through the President’s Future Leaders in Research Program • 174 Flagship Scholarships - $2,500 per year; $1,550 per year to earn through the President’s Student Aide Program • 4 International Student Scholarships $2,500 each • 25 Alumni Professorships $6,200 each • 11 Departmental Professorships $6,200 each • 10 Rising Faculty Research Awards $5,000 each • 4 Faculty Excellence Awards $2,000 each • 2 Teaching Assistant Awards $2,000 each • 1 Josephine A. Roberts Distinguished Dissertation Award - $2,000 • 1 Distinguished Dissertation Award $2,000 • 4 Phi Kappa Phi Non-Tenured Faculty Awards - $500 each

ENGAGEMENT, COLLABORATION, AND SERVICE EVENTS

• Alumni Tiger Band Reunion • Annual Meeting & Past Presidents/ Chairs Luncheon • Golden Tigers Reunion • Hall of Distinction • Retired Faculty/Staff Events • Scholars Banquet • Young Alumni Happy Hours • Chapter Leadership Summit

FUTURE ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT • Spring Invitational – with the LSU Office of Orientation • LSU On the Geaux and LSU BOUND – with LSU Undergraduate Admissions • Bengal Bound, STRIPES, and Food Truck Wround-Up – with LSU First Year Experience • Grad Fair – with LSU Barnes & Noble Bookstore and other campus units • LSU Ring Ceremony – with Student Life & Enrollment and LSU Finance & Administrative Service • Senior Stride – with LSU Student Government • Graduating Seniors Crawfish Boil • Graduating Seniors Cocktail Reception • LSU Collegiate Club – with Tiger Athletic Foundation

PARTNERSHIPS • Speakers: The Series - with LSU Student Government • Partners in Progress and Partners in Communication – with University Executive Council • “Come Home, Alumni” – with Baton Rouge Area Chamber and Louisiana Economic Development • Alumni Engagement Forum – with Staff Development Council

LSU TIGER NATION A GLOBAL COMMUNITY • 26.8% increase – Membership grew from 13,245 members in 2014 to 16,803 strong, thanks in large part to the Joint Membership Program, which provides local and national affiliation at one low price. • $275,000 – That’s the dollar amount alumni chapters contributed in both restricted and unrestricted gifts to the LSU Alumni Association. Over the last thirty years, chapters have given more than $3.5 million realized from “Parties with a Purpose” proceeds. • 130 chapters around the world. • New chapters in Seattle, Wash.; Tupelo, Miss.; Charleston, S.C.; Northwest Arkansas, Fayetteville, Ark.; and Paris, France. Revitalized chapters in Pittsburgh, Pa., and St. Tammany Parish.

THE COOK HOTEL • Replaced the Wi-Fi and wired Internet service, with the addition of full-bandwidth and password security provided by fiber optic cable. Gigabit switches, and access points throughout the hotel and the pool deck area. • Installed more than 200 all-digital HDTV channels. • Unique Cuisine, our exclusive caterer, assumed responsibility for daily breakfast at The Cook Hotel, offering a complimentary Continental breakfast and a Deluxe Hot Breakfast Buffet, plus a la carte items, including LSU branded Belgian-style waffles.

TIGER ADVOCATES Thanks to LSU Tiger Nation, LSU and Louisiana higher education escaped mid-year budget cuts as well as unprecedented budget reduction in regular legislative sessions in both 2015 and 2016. Now in its second year, the grassroots network continues to assume a proactive role to promote the value of the Louisiana’s flagship university. Our advocacy efforts on behalf of higher education continue throughout the year. To stay informed, visit www.lsualumni.org/tigeradvocates.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

N TIO NA ER TIG

ALUMNI & FRIENDS BY COUNTRY Algeria

Ghana

Oman

American Samoa

Greece

Pakistan

Angola

Guam

Panama

Argentina

Guatemala

Guyana

Paraguay

Haiti

Peru

Aruba

Papua New Guinea

1 1

Australia

Austria

Honduras

Philippines

Bahamas

Hong Kong

As you can see, our accomplishments in 2015 – and thus far in 2016 – are impressive. And there is more to come.

Bahrain

Hungary

Bangladesh

Iceland

Barbados

India

• After the last home game in November, a $3 million renovation of hotel guest rooms will begin, including expansion of the Fitness Center that will remove one guest room and conversion of the second-floor conference room into two additional king guest rooms.

Belgium

Indonesia

ON THE HORIZON

• The Lod Cook Alumni Center will also undergo changes this fall. The north wing will be vacated by the LSU Foundation, and those offices will be renovated to provide expanded space for the Association, as well as more rental space for conferences and special events. • The Andonie Sports Museum is undergoing a modest conversion to become a rental space for receptions and meetings while retaining the sports memorabilia and history that makes the museum unique on campus. • In all, more than 2,500 square feet of additional rental space will be added to the property, bringing the total to just under 15,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space available for events. Thank you for sharing your energy, enthusiasm, talents, and resources – we couldn’t do it without you!

GEAUX TIGERS!

Belize Bolivia, Plurinational State Of Bosnia-Herzegovina Botswana Brazil

Poland

Puerto Rico

Qatar

Romania

Russian Federation

104

Iran, Islamic Republic of

Saint Lucia

Ireland

Saudi Arabia

Israel

Senegal

Italy

Sierra Leone

Jamaica

Singapore Slovenia

3 1 21

Burundi

Japan

Cambodia

Jordan

South Africa

Cameroon

Kazakhstan

Spain

Kenya

Canada

Sri Lanka

Korea, Democratic People's Republic of 2

Suriname

Chile

Korea, Republic of

Swaziland

China

Kuwait

Sweden

Colombia

Lebanon

Switzerland

Costa Rica

Liberia

Taiwan, Province of China

Cote DIvoire

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

Tanzania, United Republic of

Croatia

Malaysia

Thailand

Cuba

Mali

Trinidad and Tobago

Cyprus

Mauritania

Tunisia

Czech Republic

Mauritius

Turkey

Denmark

Mexico

Uganda

Cayman Islands

184

Dominican Republic

Micronesia, Federated States

Ukraine

Ecuador

Mongolia

United Arab Emirates

Egypt

Mozambique

United Kingdom

El Salvador

Nepal

United States

Equatorial Guinea

Netherlands

United States Minor Outlying Islands 1

Ethiopia

Netherlands Antilles

United States of America

Fiji

New Zealand

Uruguay

Finland

Nicaragua

France

Niger

Georgia

Nigeria

Germany

Norway

262,628 2

Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of 154 Zambia

WE KNOW THERE ARE MORE TIGERS AROUND THE WORLD! Cliff Vannoy President and CEO

36 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

UPDATE YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION HERE: LSUALUMNI.ORG/FORMS/FORMS.ASP?P1=159

LSU ALUMNI & FRIENDS IN THE UNITED STATES & TERRITORIES NORTH DAKOTA 75

MONTANA 149

WASHINGTON 1,264

NEW HAMPSHIRE 179

VERMONT 103

MINNESOTA 506 OREGON 732

IDAHO 211

WYOMING 98

NEVADA 490

UTAH 342

MICHIGAN 1,013

IOWA 318

NEBRASKA 222

ILLINOIS 1,830 COLORADO 2,197

KANSAS 511

OKLAHOMA 910

NEW MEXICO 573

INDIANA 684

MISSOURI 1,209

PENNSYLVANIA 1,514

OHIO 1,234 WEST VIRGINIA 195

TENNESSEE 3,344

ARKANSAS 2,135 MISSISSIPPI 4,917 LOUISIANA 161,013

TEXAS 32,289

NEW YORK 2,434

KENTUCKY 808

CALIFORNIA 6,108 ARIZONA 1,100

VIRGINIA 3,534

NORTH CAROLINA 3,427

MASSACHUSETTS 1,117 RHODE ISLAND 122 CONNECTICUT NEW JERSEY 594 1,270 DELAWARE MARYLAND 192 1,755 D.C. 557

SOUTH CAROLINA 1,474

GEORGIA 5,468

ALABAMA 3,539

ARMED FORCES ARMED FORCES AMERICAS ARMED FORCES PACIFIC PUERTO RICO VIRGIN ISLANDS

FLORIDA 7,457

HAWAII 166

MAINE 165

WISCONSIN 524

SOUTH DAKOTA 71

ALASKA 167

41 2 14 251 11

LSU ALUMNI & FRIENDS IN LOUISIANA UNION 119

CLAIBORNE 135

LIVING ALUMNI

BY CATEGORY

CADDO 4,632

Lousiana

116,957

Out of State (but in US)

76,765

International

2,475

Lost

16,725

BOSSIER 1,258 WEBSTER 277 BIENVILLE 97

SABINE 178

NATCHITOCHES 574

BY AGE RANGE

GRANT 287

966

1940s

2,106

1950s

6,416

1960s

14,257

1970s

30,804

1980s

36,867

1990s

38,991

2000s

51,858

2010s

30,635 22

BEAUREGARD 432

CALCASIEU 3,706 CAMERON 40

RICHLAND 192

LA SALLE 182

JEFFERSON DAVIS 440

MADISON 110

TENSAS 123

CATAHOULA 130 CONCORDIA 299

RAPIDES 4,593

ALLEN 226

FRANKLIN 180

CALDWELL 91

WINN 96

VERNON 363

1930s

OUACHITA 1,972

JACKSON 87

RED RIVER 74

DE SOTO 257

LIVING ALUMNI

UNKNOWN

LINCOLN 534

MOREHOUSE W 196 CARROLL E 76 CARROLL 81

TANGIPAHOA 2,323

AVOYELLES 967

EVANGELINE 818

E W FELICIANA ST FELICIANA HELENA 1,031 986 77 POINTE EBR COUPEE 58,481 1,132 LIVINGSTON WBR 5,157 1,720

ST LANDRY 2,239

ACADIA 994

ST MARTIN 581

VERMILION 771

ASCENSION 7,700 ST JAMES ASSUMPTION 505 350

IBERIA 1,344

243 LAFAYETTE 7,321

IBERIA 1,245

ST TAMMANY 11,036 ST JOHN THE BAPTIST 841

IBERVILLE 1,577

ST MARY 822 UNKNOWN

WASHINGTON 619

TERREBONNE 1,694

ORLEANS 9,958

ST CHARLES 1,512

ST BERNARD 404

LAFOURCHE 1,811

JEFFERSON 13,551

PLAQUEMINES 510

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

38 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

A ROUND

CAMPUS

In Focus Science Hall of Distinction – The College of Science inducted honorees into its Hall of Distinction in April. The 2016 class includes Brig. Gen. Charles Chappuis (1974 BACH SCI, 1979 MD-NO), professor of clinical surgery at the LSU School of Medicine and chief of surgery and associate medical director at University Hospital and Clinics in Lafayette, La.; William “Bill” Daly, alumni professor emeritus of chemistry; William “Bill” Hamilton, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy; and Susan Murphy (1980 BACH H&SS), H.E. Robbins Professor of Statistics and professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan.

College of Science Hall of Distinction inductees William “Bill” Hamilton, William “Bill” Daly, Susan Murphy, College of Science Dean Cynthia Peterson, and Charles Chappuis.

Front row, from left, Cathy Giering, Phi Mu; Aimee (Sissy) Odom Bateman, Chi Omega; Sherri Hammond LeBas, Zeta Tau Alpha; Janet Vidrine, Delta Gamma; Dr. Martinique Waters, Sigma Gamma Rho; Kim Singletary, Kappa Kappa Gamma; Shelton Jones, Pi Beta Phi; Vera Olds, Kappa Delta; and Nell Patrick, Delta Delta Delta. Back row, Craig Winchell, Delta Chi; Brad Golson, Sigma Phi Epsilon; Chad Sabadie, Pi Kappa Phi; Brad Myers, Delta Kappa Epsilon; Dr. Joseph A. Lamendola, Theta Xi; Glen LaBorde, Phi Delta Theta; George D. Smith, Sigma Nu; Jerry E. Shea, Jr., Delta Tau Delta; John Barton, Kappa Alpha; David Laxton, Alpha Tau Omega; and Ronald “Tim” Brown, Alpha Gamma Rho. Not pictured, Valerie Bourgeois, Zeta Phi Beta; Kimmarie Dutton Quintana, Sigma Alpha; Keith Jordan, Kappa Sigma; and Lauren Whitman Burmaster, Delta Zeta.

Greek Excellence – Twenty-six individuals were recognized for outstanding accomplishments in their communities, their professions, and in their fraternities and sororities at the annual Greek Excellence Gala in March. The gala is part of the Greek Excellence program designed to celebrate the accomplishments of LSU Greek alumni as well as serve as a fundraising event for the LSU Greek community.

Edwin K. Hunter Chair – A landmark gift from LSU alumnus Edwin K. Hunter (1967 JD) to the College of Humanities & Social Sciences was announced in April. The Edwin K. Hunter Chair in the Traditions of Rhetoric and Argument in Communication Studies, made possible by a $1.8 million gift, is the largest endowed chair in university history. The investment was matched in part through the Louisiana Board of Regents Endowed Chairs for Eminent Scholars Program. Hunter, LSU Foundation President Stephen Moret; Edwin Foster Hunter; Edwin K. Hunter; President F. King Alexander; Ferdinand Leonard; and College of Humanities & Social Sciences Dean Stacia Haynie. president of the law firm Hunter, Hunter & Sonnier in Lake Charles, La., also has ventures in the development of medical devices, the oil and gas industry, and a water-bottling company in Kentwood, La. While at LSU, he was a member of the debate team, a writer for The Daily Reveille, and a key player in the organization of Free Speech Alley, now known as Free Speech Plaza. Photo by Eddy Perez

40 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

AROUND CAMPUS

In Focus

Tiger Twelve â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A dozen seniors were honored as the Tiger Twelve by the Office of the Dean of Students. The award recognizes future alumni who have maintained at least a 2.5 GPA and best exemplify the seven tenets outlined in the LSU Commitment to Community, a statement of LSUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basic principles as an academic community. The 2016 class includes Jonathan Brown, mass communication, Iowa, La.; Atianna Cordova, architecture, New Orleans; Katie Hogan, biological engineering, Choudrant, La.; Kat Latham, mass communication, Metairie, La.; Sarah 2016 Tiger Twelve honorees, from left, Andrew Mullet, Maria Munoz, Jonathan Brown, Atianna Lungaro, biological sciences and Cordova, Tori Marcel, Kat Latham, Andrew Mahtook, Chauncey Stephens, Joe Zerkus, Heidi Pittman, Sarah Lungaro, and Katie Hogan. biochemistry, Lake Charles, La.; Andrew Mahtook, finance, Lafayette, La.; Tori Marcel, psychology, New Orleans; Andrew Mullet, biochemistry and Spanish, Folsom, La.; Maria Munoz, landscape architecture, Centerville, Ohio; Heidi Pittman, elementary grades education, Lafayette, La.; Chauncey Stephens, elementary grades education, Gonzales, La.; and Joe Zerkus, biological and agricultural engineering, Fayetteville, Ga. Photo by Eddy Perez

42 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Noteworthy

AROUND CAMPUS

President F. King Alexander was inducted into the Boys & Girls Clubs (BGCA) Alumni Hall of Fame in May. The organization annually recognizes the accomplishments of former BGCA members who have distinguished themselves in and made major contributions to their fields.

President F. King Alexander

Alvaro Armas

Jerry Ceppos

44 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Alvaro Armas, a research associate in the School of the Coast & Environment, was chosen to participate in the 2017 class of Sea Grant Knauss Fellows in Washington, D.C. The fellowship, sponsored by the National Sea Grant College Program, provides a unique educational experience to students with an interest in ocean and coastal resources and national policy affecting those resources. The program matches graduate students with hosts in federal, legislative, or executive branch offices for one year. He will be hosted by the executive branch and continue the work he has conducted with fisheries and aquaculture since completing his research on tilapia at LSU. Jerry Ceppos, dean of the Manship School of Mass Communication, was named a Fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists in May, recognizing his extraordinary contributions to the profession. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With a forty-five-year career of accomplishments under his belt, Ceppos has been an advocate for the industry, from educating students on journalism ethics to fighting for diversity in the newsroom,â&#x20AC;? the society said in its announcement. Ceppos has been dean since 2011.

TIGER TRIVIA 1. When did LSU’s Medical Physics and Health Physics Program begin? 1931 1958 1980 2008

Charles Fryling

Lake Douglas, associate dean and professor of landscape architecture, was elevated to the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Council of Scott C. Hagen Fellows for 2016. Fellowship is among the highest honors the ASLA bestows on members and recognizes the contributions of these individuals to their profession and society at large as demonstrated by their works, leadership and management, knowledge, and service. Charles Fryling, associate professor of landscape architecture, was elevated to the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Council of Fellows for 2016. Fellowship is among the highest honors the ASLA bestows on members and recognizes the contributions of these individuals to their profession and society at large as demonstrated by their works, leadership and management, knowledge, and service. Scott C. Hagen, professor of civil and environmental engineering, holder of the John P. Laborde Endowed Chair for Louisiana Sea Grant Research and Technology Transfer, and director of the Louisiana Board of Regents-chartered LSU Center for Coastal Resiliency, was inducted into the University of Iowa Distinguished Engineering Alumni Academy in May, recognizing his personal contributions to engineering achievement, leadership, and service to the profession and to society. Hagen earned a bachelor of science degree from the university in 1993.

3. Who was the first chatelaine (the mistress of an elegant house) of the French House? Lizzie McVoy Joan C. Miller Helen Gordon Anita Morrison 4. How many students were enrolled at LSU when the campus moved to its present location in the fall of 1925? Approximately 400 Approximately 1600 Approximately 3200 Approximately 7500 5. When did enrollment break the 10,000 mark for the first time? 1947 1958 1964 1980 6. Women students currently outnumber men on campus. When was the first time this happened? 1906 1944 1960 1975 7. According to the Cadet Regulations of 1903, how much time was allowed for meals? 1 hour 45 minutes 30 minutes As much time as a cadet needed 8. According to the 1934-35 Student Handbook, if women students wanted to visit close relatives in town for a day or weekend, they had to get written permission from their parents. True False 9. When did the Tigers win their first Sugar Bowl? 1937 1938 1950 1959 10. Who did the Tigers play in their first Sugar Bowl appearance in 1936? Alabama Oklahoma TCU Ole Miss 11. When did LSU become a member of the SEC? 1922 1932 1947 1960 12. What was LSU’s first purpose-built library and when was it completed? Hill Memorial Library, 1903 Hill Memorial Library, 1925 The LSU Library, 1958 Middleton Library, 1979 Tiger Trivia is compiled by Barry Cowan, assistant archivist, Hill Memorial Library. Answers: 1:c 2:a 3:d 4:b 5:a 6:b 7:c 8:a 9:d 10:c 11:b 12:a

Lake Douglas

2. What was the purpose of the Pan American House (now Acadian Hall)? It was a cultural exchange center It was a women’s dormitory between students from the United States and Latin America. It was a cafeteria featuring It was a salsa dance club Mexican food

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Noteworthy

AROUND CAMPUS

Petra Munro Hendry, professor of education, received the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division B Lifetime Achievement Award in Curriculum Studies. The award recognizes a professional in the field of education who exhibits excellence in education research, demonstrates vast knowledge in his or her particular area of research, and has made valuable contributions to that area.

Joseph Ricapito

Petra Munro Hendry

James E. “Jay” Shelledy

George Z. Voyiadjis

Joseph Ricapito, professor emeritus of foreign language and literature, was inducted into the North American Academy of the Spanish Languages, or la Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española (ANLE) in March. By induction in ANLE, Ricapito becomes a corresponding member of the Real Academia Española de le Lengua Española, the Spanish Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, the highest level for a foreigner to achieve. James E. “Jay” Shelledy, professional-in-residence and Fred Jones Greer Jr. Endowed Chair in the Manship School of Mass Communication, was named the 2016 Educator of the Year by the Newspaper and Online News Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. The award honors professors for outstanding achievement in preparing journalism students, advancing journalism education, and promoting career development. Boyd Professor George Z. Voyiadjis, Boyd Professor, Bingham C. Stewart Distinguished Professor of Engineering, and chair of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, was inducted as a Foreign Member into the National Academy of Engineering of Korea. He was recognized for his leading position in

46 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

science and his significant contribution to the development of cooperation with Korea. President of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea Professor Young Ho Oh presented Voyiadjis with the certificate during the organization’s annual meeting in Seoul, Korea. LSU had a record high of ten current students or recent graduates recognized by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as 2016 Graduate Research Fellows, and nine others received honorable mention. NSF named 2,000 individuals, chosen from some 17,000 applicants, for this year’s awards, which provide three years of financial support within a fiveyear fellowship period – a $34,000 annual stipend and $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to the graduate institution. That support is for graduate study that leads to a research-based master’s or doctoral degree in science or engineering. Two LSU Online degree programs were recently ranked among the top twenty online programs in the county. BestColleges. com has ranked the master’s degree in education program eleventh overall, and Affordable Colleges Online has ranked the master’s degree in social work program twelfth overall. A team of five third-year School of Architecture students, led by Professional-in-Residence William Doran, won best in show at a design charette hosted by the Hattiesburg Arts Council. The council invited three student teams from regional universities – LSU, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and the University of Southern Mississippi – to propose designs for a new Community Arts Center in Hattiesburg, Miss. The project focused on the rehabilitation of the former Hattiesburg American newspaper building. Valencia Richardson, a senior in the Ogden Honors College and the Manship School of Mass Communication, was awarded a Fulbright Binational Internship, a program designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. She will be placed in an internship and take graduate classes in Mexico City for ten months. Upon completion, she plans to attend law school, focusing on civil rights law and voting rights. Chauncey Stephens, a senior in Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College and the College of Human Sciences & Education, was awarded a Truman Scholarship by the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. Recipients receive a $30,000 scholarship toward graduate school and the opportunity to participate in professional development programming to help prepare them for careers in public service leadership. Stephens plans to serve in AmeriCorps VISTA for a year before applying to graduate school, where she will pursue a dual master’s degree in social work and education. She is LSU’s eleventh Truman Scholar since 2003.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

AROUND CAMPUS

LSU AgCenter Scientists Develop Cataract-Reducing Eye Drops

Story and photo by Olivia McClure

LSU AgCenter scientists have formulated a nanoparticle matrix that could be used in eye drops to both prevent and treat cataracts, a leading cause of vision loss in older adults.

Cristina Sabliov, professor, and Carlos Astete, assistant professor in the Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering have found a way to use nanoparticles to efficiently deliver hydrophobic lutein and enhance its stability and antioxidant properties. This new delivery system can be used effectively in eye drops. Lutein is a naturally occurring yellow pigment known as a carotenoid. It can be found in numerous plants, including yellow flowers and corn, as well as egg yolks and animal fats. Lutein can also be found in the human eye. Studies have shown that dietary supplements can help replenish ocular lutein. But treatments using lutein have LSU AgCenter scientists Cristina Sabliov, left, and Carlos Astete have formulated a nanoparticle matrix that been limited in the past by the could be used in eye drops to prevent and treat cataracts. substance’s poor water solubility, its susceptibility to degradation, and its low absorption efficiency. “The nanoparticle matrix can deliver lutein to the eye as efficiently as an eye drop formulation,” Sabliov said. “Direct application of lutein to the eye in this formulation improves its effect against cataracts.” The nanoparticle matrix may enhance the benefits of lutein by preventing it “Lutein eye drops could offer from disintegrating before it collects in the eye lens, where cataracts occur, Sabliov an effective, non-surgical said. Improving lutein’s stability would also help it remain in the lens, potentially treatment option.” preventing future damage. “This new product would have the unique advantage of both being able to prevent cataracts before they start or to treat cataracts after they form,” she said. Cataracts are a common condition in older adults that causes the lens of the eye to become cloudy and block light from the retina. There were more than twenty-four million cases of cataracts in the United States in 2010, according to the National Eye Institute. The World Health Organization estimates the condition is responsible for almost 50 percent of blindness worldwide. Traditional treatment involves surgical removal of cataracts from the eye lens. The lutein eye drops could offer an effective, non-surgical, and more accessible treatment option. The AgCenter is in the process of patenting the technology. Olivia McClure, a graduate assistant in LSU AgCenter Communications, is pursuing a master’s degree in the Manship School of Mass Communication.

48 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

F OCUS ON

Dr. D: Tough But Fair

FACULTY By Meg Ryan Photo by Johnny Gordon

Alumni Professor Ram Devireddy.

“My benchmark is for engineers to get jobs. They should be employable.”

50 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Ram Devireddy is sometimes referred to by his students as “Doctor D.” The mechanical engineering professor’s nickname – suggesting that students are considered lucky if they receive a “D” in his class – seems harsh. But it is actually a term of endearment from the students who realize their teacher is tough but fair. Devireddy, holder of the Desoto Parish Chapter Endowed Alumni Professorship, has taught nearly the entire mechanical engineering curriculum – some fifteen different courses – during his years on faculty. He focuses primarily on thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and convective heat transfer, working with both undergraduate and graduate students. Devireddy explains to each new class his expectations that will help the students pass the course. Most difficult to explain, he said, is thermodynamics, a 2000-level class that is one of the first required mechanical engineering classes. Students often underestimate the workload and quickly fall behind. While the professor’s classes are considered difficult, he said every semester he receives an email from a past student thanking him for the challenge because it has paid off in their careers. They tell him to continue “pushing" his current students the way he did with their class. Devireddy gives credit to the entire faculty for his students’ successes. “I think our job is to train their logical thinking, and I think we do that,” he said. “My benchmark is for engineers to get

jobs. They should be employable.” According to Devireddy, about ninety percent of each year’s engineering graduates leave LSU with a job, and he expects the trend will continue, with employers continuing to reach out to the University for qualified applicants. “Employers know we are training these students . . . . It builds on itself,” he said. Outside of the classroom, Devireddy assists graduate students – and some undergraduate students – in lab research. He guides his students’ research by helping with ideas and giving a broad spectrum of topics, but for the most part, they’re on their own, he said. Devireddy refers to his research as an intersection of engineering, medicine, and biology. When he joined the faculty in 2000, he worked with the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species in New Orleans. He helped create a “frozen zoo,” a collection of frozen cells from endangered animals, in hopes of saving them from extinction. “It was a good fit between my research at that point in time and what was happening at New Orleans and at LSU,” he explained. His current research focuses more on stem cells, working to turn the cells into bone and preserve them. Devireddy changes his specific research topic every ten or so years, something he says all researchers should do. “You have to reinvent yourself; otherwise it gets boring,” he said. Meg Ryan, a senior in the Manship School of Mass Communication, is editor-in-chief of Legacy, a studentproduced quarterly magazine.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Talent or Tutoring?

L OCKER

ROOM

Offense Is the Talk of Tigertown

By Bud Johnson Photos provided by Steve Franz/LSU Sports Information

POSITIVE SLANT — Some observers believe that the 2016 football staff is the best ever assembled by Les Miles. New additions Dave Aranda, Dameyune Craig, and Jabbar Juluke combined with returning stalwarts such as Ed Orgeron, Cam Cameron, Jeff Grimes, Corey Raymond, Bradley Dale Peveto, and Steve Ensminger gives Miles a lineup of experienced and enthusiastic assistant coaches.

Tailback Derrius Guice.

“Fournette, Guice, Dupre, and Harris will make enough big plays offensively to make 2016 a memorable year for the Tigers.”

Quarterback Brandon Harris.

52 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

LSU’s new-look defense is all the rage in football circles. The Tigers hired this whiz kid from Wisconsin, Dave Aranda, who unveiled a 3-4 alignment in the opening game at Green Bay against his old team. For the LSU faithful, however, there is only one discussion: offense. What is going to happen with the offense? Nobody is telling. We know the pass receivers are excited. We know that the team spent more time on the passing game this spring. The offense has impressive weapons. Leonard Fournette and Derrius Guice are probably the best tandem of tailbacks in LSU history. Brandon Harris is a more confident quarterback. Receivers Malachi Dupre and D.J. Chark were the talk of spring football. When Travin Dural recovers from an injury, that threesome could stretch the opposition’s defense almost as well as Odell Beckham, Jr., and Jarvis Landry did a few years ago. LSU’s offensive coordinator Cam Cameron is no stranger to offensive wrinkles. Cameron was known as an innovative offensive mind in his days with San Diego and Baltimore in the NFL. But the Tigers haven’t had a productive passing game since the days of Zach Mettenberger. Is there a message there? As you turn the pages of LSU football history, you may be amazed how offensive production is tied to the talent of the triggerman. There was Y.A. Tittle in the 1940s. He led the 1946 Tigers to the Cotton Bowl, one of two teams to make it to a bowl in the ’40s. Tittle made the pro football Hall of Fame. Bert Jones was LSU’s only All-America quarterback. He played on three bowl teams and provided some big wins for LSU in 1971-72. Bert was recently elected to the college football Hall of Fame. Tommy Hodson was a four-time All-SEC quarterback in the 1980s. Matt Mauck quarterbacked the Tigers to a national championship in 2003 and Matt Flynn was the quarterback with the 2007 championship team. Both were redshirt seniors when they hoisted the trophy. Jones was a junior when he began to riddle SEC defenses. Tittle was a sophomore when he ignited the Tiger offense in 1945. Only Hodson was superb from the outset. If you listened to scuttlebutt in 2015 you must have heard the frequent use of the word DEVELOPMENT. “LSU doesn’t develop quarterbacks,” the experts repeated. Where were these experts when Flynn struggled as a sophomore and junior at LSU? And who was the coach in charge of quarterback development back then? Jimbo Fisher! That experience probably changed Jimbo forever. He decided to recruit only the finished product and leave the development to everybody else. What is development? Is it more consistent performance? Is it a reduction of mistakes? Why did it take four years for Flynn to develop? Why was Hodson so effective right away? Physical maturity? Emotional maturity? Natural ability? Or the guiding hand of a coach? How much do team components factor into the equation? A solid offensive line and outstanding receivers are important to the success of a quarterback. Remember Terry Bradshaw? Lynn Swann and John Stallworth, Pittsburgh receivers, climbed to the ladder to catch “incompletions” in Bradshaw’s developmental years with the Steelers. Bradshaw’s early interceptions were lessened by one of the greatest defenses in NFL history. The Steeler defense usually stopped the opponent after the turnover and the interception was forgotten. Bradshaw even sat a spell at Louisiana Tech before the light when on. So developmental struggles appear to be a problem in the best of families. Is it maturity or raw talent that is the key the development of a quarterback? It is probably a combination. Both are not always available in the same young athlete. Ever live in the same house with a teenager? Maturity takes its own sweet time. Brandon Harris, now a junior, had his best spring according to my sources. With arguably the nation’s best runner in Fournette, one of the best receivers in the SEC in Dupre, and an improved Harris throwing the ball, what elements are needed for the offense in 2016?

Wide receiver Malachi Dupre.

Wide receiver D.J. Chark.

Improvement at the quarterback position, which appears to have a solid backup in Purdue transfer Danny Eitling, would be a major step forward. An injury-free season for the men up front would strengthen the line play and provide consistency for the offense. Both areas are expected to improve as the season progresses. Enough to satisfy 100,000 coaches? Maybe not. But Fournette, Guice, Dupre … and yes, Harris will make enough big plays offensively to make 2016 a memorable year for the Tigers. Bud Johnson, retired director of the Andonie Sports Museum and a former LSU Sports Information director, is the author of The Perfect Season: LSU's Magic Year – 1958.

Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron. Photo by Ray Dry

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LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Is It the Shift . . . or the Shifters?

LOCKER ROOM

By Bud Johnson

Wide receiver Travin Dural.

When Knute Rockne invented the Notre Dame shift, his new offense was a sensation. The newspapers praised it constantly. Bob Zuppke, the Illinois coach who recruited and coached the great Red Grange, put the new offense into perspective when a Chicago Tribune writer asked him what he thought of the Notre Dame shift. "It's not the shift I like so much," Zuppke said. Defensive coach Dave Aranda. "It's the shifters." As the new LSU defensive coordinator settles in, a similar question arises. Will it be the schemes, or the players who execute it that will get the credit for the turnaround in Tiger defensive fortunes? Wherever he has been, Dave Arandaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s defense has put up good numbers. He seems to have gotten good results with a variety of alignments. I have never seen a good coach without good players. A couple of good recruiting classes back-to-back always seems to improve the creative capacity of a coaching staff. Bud Johnson, retired director of the Andonie Sports Museum and a former LSU Sports Information director, is the author of The Perfect Season: LSU's Magic Year â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1958.

Tailback Leonard Fournette.

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LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Two for the Price of One

LOCKER ROOM

By Bud Johnson Photos by Steve Franz

Defensive coach Ed Orgeon.

Receivers coach Dameyune Craig.

Craig’s Versatility a Major Asset Les Miles made some significant changes to his football staff between seasons. The off-season additions appear to have strengthened the staff in both recruiting and on-the-field coaching. Some observers say this could be the best staff that Miles has assembled at LSU. Miles brought in Dave Aranda, a new defensive coordinator, from Wisconsin. This hire was the most dramatic, capturing the attention of national media. Ed Orgeron, the defensive line coach, also assumed the responsibility of recruiting coordinator, replacing Frank Wilson. Jabbar Juluke not only replaced Wilson as runnings back coach but also took over Wilson’s favorite recruiting region, the fertile New Orleans area, which produced current offensive stars — running back Leonard Fournette and receiver Malachi Dupre. Dameyune Craig, the new receivers coach from Auburn, may well be the sleeper of Miles’ realigned coaching staff. He has excelled as a recruiter wherever he’s been. He was receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator at Auburn. He was the quarterbacks coach at Florida State. Craig may be the receivers coach, but his work with LSU quarterback Brandon Harris during the spring has not gone unnoticed. Harris believes he has benefited. The two had a built-in relationship. They know each other pretty well from the time Craig spent trying to recruit Harris to Auburn. This is what Harris told Jim Kleinpeter of NOLA.com: "I know that Coach Craig came from an offense with a lot of options, and I feel that he has come in and helped us a lot. I feel that by the time the season comes around, our offense will be deadly in every aspect. I'm just ready to continue working and getting better every day." On what aspect of the game that he has improved the most, Harris made this comment to Kleinpeter: “I think the biggest thing he has helped me with is understanding the quarterback's perspective of things. He was a quarterback himself, so he knows what quarterbacks want to see. He also knows how to make it easier on us to be able to catch more balls." Craig’s experience as a record-setting quarterback at Auburn and the insight he developed as an offensive coach at Florida State and Auburn will be useful for the Tigers going forward. He still holds several Auburn passing records, including completions (216) and passing yards (3,227) for one season. At Florida State, Craig recruited Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston for the Seminoles. Craig helped reel in the No. 1 and No. 2 recruiting classes for Florida State in 2011-2012. He was chosen ACC Recruiter of the Year in 2012 by Fox Sports Net and rivals.com. He helped develop E.J. Manuel and Christian Ponder. Both were NFL first round draft picks.

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Dream Job Meets Great Opportunity Jabbar Juluke always dreamed of coaching at LSU. He was a New Orleans boy. He had played at St. Augustine. He had coached the Karr Cougars to a 14-0 record and a state championship in 2012. He had ties to Leonard Fournette and his family. After a successful high school coaching career, Juluke spent three seasons as the running backs at Louisiana Tech. And less than one month on the staff at Texas Tech. In the middle of the 2016 recruiting season, Frank Wilson, LSU’s running backs coach and recruiting coordinator, became the head coach at Texas-San Antonio. It didn’t take long for LSU’s Les Miles to connect the dots. • Jabbar Juluke’s ties to New Orleans would be an asset in recruiting. He was highly respected by the coaches in the area. • He had been successful as a high school coach and at Louisiana Tech. Juluke was invited for an interview. On the second day, Miles made him the offer. Juluke soon became a member of the LSU family. “There’s no question he’d be able to fit in,” LSU coach Les Miles said when Juluke was introduced to the media. Fit in? This is the kind of man Miles added to his staff when he welcomed Jabbar Juluke aboard. After being offered the job as LSU’s running backs coach, Juluke told Miles that he first wanted to call Kliff Kingsbury at Texas Tech. Kingsbury probably knew he was going to lose a bright young assistant to LSU. When Kingsbury got on the line, he asked Juluke, “Did you take the job?”

“Coach, I have been offered the job,” Juluke said, “but the first thing I want to do is thank you for giving me the opportunity to coach at Texas Tech. This LSU job is the one I have always dreamed about. I hope you will understand.” In the midst of a major event in his life, Juluke was concerned about the feelings of his coach at Texas Tech. When he was introduced at LSU, Juluke said, “I am excited about the opportunity to coach here.” He has the opportunity to coach outstanding running backs such as Derrius Guice, Darrell Williams, Nick Brossette, and Fournette, the Heisman Trophy candidate. What kind of advice does he give Fournette? “I talk to him like I do the other backs,” he says. “I tell them all to be humble. I tell them all to be grateful to God for the talent they have been given, and to use it in the best interest of their team.” With all the media focus on LSU’s high profile running backs, does Juluke believe the fullbacks get overlooked? “The fullbacks are such an integral part of the offense at LSU,” Juluke says, “you can bet the running backs haven’t forgotten them. And their coaches emphasize their value to the team at every opportunity. “We have some excellent fullbacks in J.D. Moore and Bry’Kiethon Mouton … athletes I have been familiar with since I was at Louisiana Tech.”

Running backs coach Jabbar Juluke. Photo by Ray Dry

Bud Johnson, retired director of the Andonie Sports Museum and a former LSU Sports Information director, is the author of The Perfect Season: LSU's Magic Year – 1958.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

T IGER

NATION

1940s

Jeff D. Hughes, Jr. (1949 BACH AGR) was named an Outstanding Alumnus of the College of Agriculture during an awards ceremony in April. Hughes worked as a forest professional for Gaylord Container and its successors for fifty-one years before retiring in 1986. His involvement in forestry continued as he began his second career as a consultant to Weyerhaeuser.

1950s

Degrees BACH MAST PHD SPEC DVM JD MD DDS

Joakin Giralt “Keeno” Mestre (1950 BACH ENGR) is retired and living in Houston with his wife, Pola. Their son, “J,” a graduate of Rice University, is an

Bachelor’s Degree Master’s Degree Doctorate Specialist Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Juris Doctorate (LSU Law School) Medical Doctor (LSU School of Medicine) Doctor of Dental Science (LSU School of Dentistry)

Colleges/Schools AGR Agriculture A&D Art & Design C&E Coast & Environment H&SS Humanities & Social Sciences SCI Science BUS Business HS&E Human Sciences & Education ENGR Engineering M&DA Music & Dramatic Arts MCOM Mass Communication SCE School of the Coast & Environment SVM School of Veterinary Medicine SW Social Work

58 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

anesthesiologist in Tallahassee, Fla. Daughter Polly graduated from Texas A&M and earned a master’s degree in occupational therapy from Texas Women’s University, and daughter Ana Marie, also an Aggie grad, did a year of post-graduate studies at Miami University of Ohio Luxembourg. The couple has five granddaughters. Mestre retired as manager of international marketing for the Specialty/Performance Chemicals Business Center of Texaco Chemical Company. Prior to this, he was area sales manager for Texaco Chemical Company in the Additive Business Center group. He began his career with Royal Dutch Shell Group in Cuba, then joined Armour Chemical Company in Chicago and also worked for Jefferson Chemical Company in Houston. Mestre immigrated to the United States in 1961 with his wife, his three small children, a young nephew, and an elderly aunt. He writes: “I feel that through my family’s contribution to American society, I have given back, somewhat, for the confidence placed in me and my family in 1967 during our U.S. citizenship procedures.”

1960s

Neal Golden (1966 MAST H&SS) was a member of the author team that wrote the book The 1966 Green Bay Packers, published by the Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA) in conjunction with MacFarland Publishers. The book was written for the 50th Anniversary of the first Super Bowl champions. Golden interviewed and wrote the biography of LSU great Jimmy Taylor, the All-Pro fullback on that team, as well as some of the game summaries and the article on Super Bowl I. The book was unveiled at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., at the annual meeting of the PFRA July 7-9, 2016.

Richard Lipsey (1961 BACH H&SS) was honored by the Ducks Unlimited (DU) Baton Rouge Chapter in April for his commitment to and lifelong passion for waterfowl and wetland conservation. The Major Sponsor Tribute Event formally announced the dedication of two major DU undertakings, the Creole Marsh Project in Cameron Parish and another on Saskatchewan, Canada, as duckbreeding grounds. W. Henson Moore (1961 BACH H&SS, 1965 JD) was honored as a Louisiana Legend at the Louisiana Legends Awards Gala and Auction in May. Moore chaired the Forever LSU Campaign, the most successful fundraising effort in LSU history. He retired as president and chief executive officer of American Forest & Paper Association in 2016. He was previously a partner in the Washington office of Bracewell & Patterson, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, deputy chief of staff for President George H.W. Bush, and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Louisiana’s Sixth Congressional District. Charles S. “Charlie” Weems (1965 BACH BUS, 1969 JD) was honored as a Louisiana Legend at the Louisiana Legends Awards Gala and Auction in May. Weems is the senior member and president of Gold Weems in Alexandria, La. He served on and was twice elected chair of the LSU Board of Supervisors, serving from 1991 through 2008. He was the initial chair of the SEC Conference of Chairs and is a member of the LSU Foundation and an

officer of the Tiger Athletic Foundation. Weems spearheaded Central Louisiana’s effort for a four-year LSU-Alexandria and served as president of the LSUA Foundation from 2012 to 2015.

1970s

Ralph Bender (BACH BUS 1976), chief financial officer of Manship Media, was named the 2016-2017 the chair of the Board of Directors of the Society of Louisiana Certified Public Accountants. He also serves as chair of Capital Area United Way and chair of the Media Financial Management Association.

Ruffin Cordell (1975 BACH ENGR), a principal in Fish & Richardson’s Washington, D.C., office, was named to “Intellectual Property (IP) Trailblazers” by The National Law Journal for his “deep passion and perseverance in pursuit of their mission” and for “having achieved remarkable successes.” Cordell is considered one of the top IP attorneys in the country, trying cases before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), and has handled well over fifty ITC cases, many involving multijurisdictional disputes at both ITC and in the federal district courts.

Vicki M. Crochet (1977 BACH H&SS, 1980 JD), labor and employment practice group leader at Taylor Porter law firm, was ranked in Louisiana Labor and Employment/ Band 2 in the “Leaders in Their Field” listing in the Chamber USA 2016 Directory. Kurt Culbertson (1976 BACH A&D), CEO and chair of Design Workshop’s international practice in Aspen, Colo., received a 2015 ASLA Medal, the American Society of Landscape Architects’ highest award. Culbertson is a longtime leader in

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LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

TIGER NATION

sustainable development, and communities from around the world have benefitted socially, economically, and aesthetically from his projects. His skill at navigating difficult but important projects to build broad consensus is clearly recognized by the profession through seven national ASLA awards and dozens of regional and state ASLA Awards. Culbertson has also served as a mentor to hundreds of landscape architects and demonstrated a lasting dedication to landscape architecture education. He was inducted into the LSU Alumni Association Hall of Distinction in 2012. Judy Capdevielle Girod (1971 BACH A&D), director of interior design at Lothrop Associates, an architecture and interior design firm in White

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Plains, N.Y., was installed as 2016-2017 president of the Decorators Club in New York City. The century-old club is an organization of professional women interior designers, architects, educators, decorative arts specialists, design editors, and industry executives in the New York Metropolitan area. Girod was invited to membership in 1998 and has served on the club’s board of directors. Florent Hardy, Jr., (1974 PHD HS&E), Louisiana state archivist, accepted on behalf of Louisiana State Archives the Historical Preservation Leadership Award at the 2016 Louisiana Culture Awards ceremony in May. The award recognizes the best efforts to highlight and cultivate the state’s rich cultural resources.

Harry J. “Skip” Philips, Jr. (1972 BACH H&SS, 1983 JD), managing partner with Taylor Porter law firm, was ranked in Commercial Litigation/ Band 2 in the “Leaders in Their Field” listing in the Chamber USA 2016 Directory. John W. Portwood, Jr. (1977 BACH SCI, 1980 DDS) received the Louisiana Dental Association (LDA) 2016 Distinguished Service Award, the organization’s highest honor given to individual members. Portwood has been an active member and officer in the LDA, the American Dental Association (ADA), and the Greater Baton Rouge Dental Association (GBRDA) for more than

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TIGER NATION

thirty-five years. Most recently, as the 2015 local co-chair and 2016 clinical chair of the Louisiana Mission of Mercy (LaMOM), he helped provide free dental care to almost 1,500 people in two days performing over $1 million worth of care. Portwood volunteers with Baton Rouge Community Clinic and Habitat for Humanity projects. He has master’s degrees in financial planning and finance and is a certified financial planner (CFP), chartered financial consultant (ChFC), and chartered life underwriter (CLU). He is an Academy of General Dentistry Master, a Fellow in the International College of Dentists, and a Fellow in the American College of Dentists and the Pierre Fauchard Academy. He and his wife, Sherrie, have three children, Meredith, Sabrina, and John III. Fredrick R. “Fred” Tulley (1970 BACH H&SS), a partner in Taylor Porter law firm, was ranked in Commercial Litigation/ Band 1 the “Leaders in Their Field” listing in the Chamber USA 2016 Directory. Harold "Hal" Watson (1971 BACH H&SS, 1974 JD), a partner in the Houston office of Chaffe McCall, was recently elected as president of the Maritime Law Association of the United States. He previously served as first and second vice president and secretary of the organization. A frequent lecturer, he serves on the planning committees for the Tulane Admiralty Law Institute and is a member of the Association of Average Adjusters of the United States. He formerly served as chairman of the Energy and Maritime Law Committee of the International Association of Defense Counsel and as a director of the Episcopal Foundation of Texas. The Texas Lawyer named Watson as one of five "go to" maritime lawyers in Texas, he was

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recognized as a Super Lawyers in the field of insurance coverage in the state, and he is regularly included in the Best Lawyers in America in maritime law. He earned a Master of Laws from Yale Law School in 1977 and is admitted to practice in Louisiana, Texas, and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fifth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court.

1980s

Stacy Smith Brown (1986 BACH BUS), a partner in the Houston office of Thompson & Knight, was recognized for specific expertise in the area of Industry Focus: Energy: Transactions: Oil and Gas in the 2016 The Legal 500 US directory. James Burnett (1983 BACH A&D), president of the Office of James Burnett, in Solana Beach, Calif., received a 2015 ASLA Medal, the American Society of Landscape Architects’ highest award. Burnett was recognized for his exceptional design work that has yielded some of the most recognized and beloved urban environments in the world, among them, Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, Sunnylands Center and Gardens in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and The Park at Lakeshore East in Chicago. His office received the ASLA Firm Award in 2015. Anne J. Crochet (1980 BACH MCOM, 1983 JD), environment practice group leader at Taylor Porter law firm, was ranked in Environment/Band 1 in the “Leaders in Their Field” listing in the Chamber USA 2016 Directory.

Brett P. Furr (1983 BACH H&SS, 1986 JD), an attorney with Taylor Porter law firm, was ranked in Louisiana Bankruptcy and Restructuring/Band 3 in the “Leaders in Their Field” listing in the Chamber USA 2016 Directory.

1990s

Brian E. Anderson (1995 MSW, 1999 BACH A&D), associate professor of social work at Jackson State University (JSU) in Jackson, Miss., was appointed to a three-year term on the Commission on Educational Policy (COEP), the national accrediting body of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) effective July 1. Anderson has been with the JSU School of Social Work since 2011 and currently teaches in the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) program. He previously served as program director in the BSW program at Mississippi College. Don K. LaBorde, winemaker at Paraduxx winery in Napa, Calif., attended LSU for three years in the mid-nineties before earning his wine science degree from Charles Stuart University in Australia. He joined Paraduxx in 2014. After finishing Charles Stuart, he was named assistant research winemaker at Australia’s National Wine and Grape Industry Center, then was the enologist at Napa Valley’s Trefethen Family Vineyards. In 2008, he joined Francis Coppola Winery as winemaker and in 2011 moved to Duckhorn Wine Company as associate winemaker for Sonoma County overseeing the Decoy label, for which he was soon named winemaker. LaBorde, a native of Lake Charles, La., shares his

adventures with his best bud, Cooper the Golden Retriever.

School of Education Women in Education Leadership program.

Monica Terrell Leach (1991 BACH AGR) was recently appointed senior associate vice chancellor for the Division of Enrollment Management and Academic Affairs at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). She was previously associate vice chancellor of the division. Leach joined NCCU in 2014 after serving for almost twenty years in a variety of leadership roles, including assistant dean for academic affairs, tenured associate professor, and assistant vice provost for enrollment management at other institutions. She earned master’s and doctoral degrees in education from North Carolina State University and is a 2016 participant in the Harvard Graduate

Lawrence A. Melsheimer (1996 BACH BUS, 2002 JD), a partner in the law firm Thompson & Knight, was elected to the board of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators for a one-year term. Melsheimer is in the firm’s international energy practice group in the Dallas office. His practice is concentrated on international and oiland gas-related transactions, strategic commercial and business advice on crossborder transactions and investment projects, and dispute resolution matters.

Jay Montalbano (1999 BACH BUS), a partner with Hannis T. Bourgeois in Baton Rouge, was elected to a two-year term as a member atlarge of the Board of Directors of the Society of Louisiana Certified Public Accountants. Hampton Rutland (1999 BACH SCI), who describes himself as “a husband, father, woodworker, outdoorsman, videographer, and urologic surgeon,” spent part of his summer shooting the inaugural episode of “Louisiana River Builds,” which is expected to air on the DIY network in late September or early October. Rutland, whose medical practice is in West

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TIGER NATION

Monroe, La., spends his spare time remodeling camps and houseboats on the Ouachita River and is the founder of Louisiana Moving Pictures (LAMP), a boutique video production company producing creative and compelling webbased content for business and personal applications. Visit at louisianamovingpictures.com and Hampton Rutland on YouTube. Kimberly Lewis Robinson (1993 BACH H&SS, 1995 MPA, 1998 JD), secretary of the Louisiana Department of Revenue, was named the 2016 Master of Public Administration by the Public Administration Institute. A tax attorney with Jones Walker in New Orleans, Robinson served under former Gov.

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Kathleen Blanco as special counsel focusing on revenue, economic development and insurance issues and was assistant secretary for legal affairs in the revenue department and an assistant to former revenue secretary Cynthia Bridges. S. Talmadge Singer II (1999 BACH H&SS), of New Orleans, was promoted to principal at Advantage Capital Partners. Singer joined Advantage in 2007. He was previously associated with the corporate and securities section of Thompson & Knight. He graduated from Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University (SMU) and was a member of the SMU Law Review Association.

Ronald J. Ventola II (1992 BACH ENGR, 1995 JD), an intellectual property attorney, has joined the Philadelphia, Pa., office of Panitch Schwarze & Nadel as counsel. Ventola began his legal career in New Orleans and later moved to the Philadelphia area, working with the law firm Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis.

2000s

Amy Brittain (2009 BACH MCOM) is part of the Washington Post staff recently recognized with a Pulitzer Prize for â&#x20AC;&#x153;its revelatory initiative in creating and using a

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

TIGER NATION

national database to illustrate how often and why the police shoot to kill and who the victims are most likely to be.” Brittain’s main contribution to the Pulitzer Prize-winning project was a piece titled “On Duty, Under Fire.” She also contributed to “Different Shooting, Same Police Officer.” Brittain was a reporter for The Daily Reveille for four years while at LSU. She earned a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and held internship positions with the International Center for Journalists, the Christian Science Monitor, the Arizona Republic, and MLB.com. Her first full-time job as a reporter was with The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. She joined the Post in 2013 as an investigative reporter. David W. Brown (2002 BACH SCI) has signed a major deal with Custom House, an imprint of HarperCollins, to publish his next book, One Inch From Earth. The book concerns NASA’s mission to Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, and features, according to the publisher, “persevering scientists as its heroes, the planet Mars as the villain, and an unlikely savior in the form of a Tea Party congressman in search of a second Garden of Eden.” The world rights for the book were sold in a deal negotiated by Stacia Decker of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency. Jeremy Corbett (2001 BACH ENGR) is cofounder/owner of newly established Kilcor Construction in Atlanta, Ga. Corbett previously worked for the Conlan Company, Commerce Construction, and Evans General Contractors. He and his wife, Rebecca “Becky” (2000 BACH AGR), have three sons, five-year-old Carter, three-year-old Patrick, and oneyear-old Brady. The family resides in Alpharetta, Ga.

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Stephen W. Grant, Jr. (2007 BACH BUS) has joined the Houston office of Thompson & Knight as an associate in the corporate and securities practice group. He was previously an associate at Vinson & Elkins in Houston. Grant received his juris doctorate from Tulane University School of Law in 2010. Chad Hanna (2006 MAST SCI, 2008 PHD SCI), assistant professor of physics at Pennsylvania State University, was featured in the Penn State Eberly College of Science June 2016 issue of Science Journal discussing the detection of gravitational waves by the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors. Hanna started studying gravitational waves in the summer of 2003 as an undergraduate physics student at Penn State, joined the LIGO Scientific Collaboration in 2004, and returned to Penn State as a faculty member in 2014. Josh Johnson (2005 BACH ENGR) was promoted to vice president for business development at Summit Industrial Construction in Pasadena, Texas. He is responsible for sales and operational activities for Summit’s Gulf Coast offices and leads the company’s business development strategy teams throughout the country. Jason MacMorran (2002 MAST BUS), a director with P&N Consulting in Baton Rouge, was elected to a new two-year term as a member at-large of the Board of Directors of the Society of Louisiana Certified Public Accountants.

2010s

Brandon Coffee (2015 BACH A&D), a visual effects artist with Digital FX in Baton Rouge, won an American Advertising Federation Gold Award for his short film, “Kevin & Bert” in June. The film, entered in the animation or special effects student category, was created as Coffee’s senior thesis project. James R. Duffy (2010 BACH H&SS), a captain in the U.S. Army and an Apache helicopter pilot, took company command of the 1-227 Attack Reconnaissance Battalion in Fort Hood, Texas, in May. (See Baby Bengals, page 68, for more news about the Duffy family.) Ross Hammons (2013 BACH H&SS) has been named policy director of the Mississippi Public Service Commission Southern District. Hammons is a recent graduate of Mississippi College School of Law. Prior to the appointment, he interned with the commission’s general counsel.

Three Named to LSU Board of Supervisors Governor John Bel Edwards appointed three individuals to the LSU Board of Supervisors in May. Their terms will expire on June 1, 2022. J. Stephen Perry (1974 BACH H&SS, 1978 MAST H&SS), president and CEO of the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, was reappointed as an at-large representative. James M. Williams (1995 BACH H&SS), a partner in Chehardy Sherman Williams, of New Orleans, holds a juris J. Stephen Perry. doctorate from Washington and Lee University. He represents the 2nd Congressional District. Glenn Armentor (1977 JD), founder and general partner of Glenn Armentor Law Corporation in Lafayette, La., represents the 3rd Congressional District. He earned a bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in political science from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

James M. Williams.

Glenn Armentor.

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BABY

BENGALS Robert James Broussard II (2005 BACH ENGR) and Molly Kinchen Broussard (2005 BACH BUS), of Zachary, La., announce the birth of their son, Davis Bernard, born on April 1, 2016. Davis weighed 7 lbs. 3 oz. and measured 20.5 inches long. He was welcomed home by big brothers Rhett and Hudson.

James R. Duffy (2010 BACH H&SS) and his wife, Jordan, welcomed their son, James Braun, on May 12, 2016. James, born at 1:42 a.m., weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. and was 20 inches long. He was welcomed home by big sisters Chloey and Allison. (See Class Notes, page 66, for more news about James R. Duffy.) David Aaron Smith (2006 BACH BUS) and Erika Cheramie Smith (2005 BACH H&SS) announce the birth of their daughter, Bella Lacey, at 8:51 a.m. on Jan. 19, 2016.

Bella weighed 9 lbs. 6 oz. She was welcomed home by big sister Shelby Lynn. The family resides in Cut Off, La. Proud parents Charles Travis "C.T." Taylor (2006 BACH BUS) and Jamie Edwards Taylor (2001 BACH BUS, 2009 MBA) announce the birth of their first child, Caroline Elaine, born January 2, 2016. Caroline Elaine is the third grandchild of paternal grandparents R. Gary (1975 BACH BUS) and Linda Colquitt Taylor (1974 BACH HS&E, 1978 MAST HS&E). All of the Taylors reside in Baton Rouge.

OOPS! Baby Bengal Caroline Elaine Taylorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s photo in the summer issue was inadvertently switched with a baby photo that ran in a past issue. Carolineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s four-month photo is above. The magazine regrets the error.

68 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

TIGER NATION

WEDDING

BELLS

Jordan Anastacia Shepherd (2012 BACH BUS, 2013 MAST BUS), and Ryan Taylor Hodgins (2012 BACH BUS, 2015 MAST BUS) were united in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in New Orleans on May 21. A reception followed at the Audubon Tea Room. The happy couple celebrated their marriage with a honeymoon to Switzerland, Italy, and France before returning to Baton Rouge where they reside.

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Kevin Garner (2011 BACH ENGR) and Hannah Bradley, a 2011 University of Texas engineering graduate, were married on March 12 at Di Amici Upscale Events in Webster, Texas. Kevin is a flight controller and Hannah a structural engineer at the NASA Johnson Space Center. The couple lives in League City, Texas. The newlyweds enjoy travel, attending comic cons, and watching college football.

Tigers in Print John Gregory Brown (1982 MAST H&SS) A Thousand Miles from Nowwhere (Lee Boudreaux Books/ Little, Brown) Fleeing New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina approaches, Henry Garrett is haunted by the ruins of his marriage, a squandered inheritance, and the teaching job he inexplicably quit. He pulls into a small Virginia town after three days on the road, hoping to silence the ceaseless clamor in his head. But this quest for peace and quiet as the only guest at a roadside motel is destroyed when Henry finds himself at the center of a bizarre and violent tragedy. As a result, Henry winds up stranded at the ramshackle motel just outside the small town of Marimore, but it’s there that he is pulled into the lives of those around him: Latangi, the motel’s recently widowed proprietor who seems to have a plan for Henry; Marge, a local secretary who marshals the collective energy of her women’s church group; and the family of an old man, a prisoner, who dies in a desperate effort to provide for his infirm wife. Christopher Everette Cenac, Sr. (1971 MD-New Orleans) Hardscrabble to Hallelujah: Volume I Bayou Terrebonne (University Press of Mississippi) This book represents the first time that the known history and a significant amount of new information has been compiled into a single written record about one of the most important eras in the south central coastal bayou parish of Terrebonne. The book makes clear the unique geographical, topographical, and sociological conditions that beckoned

the first settlers who developed the large estates that became sugar plantations. This first of a planned four-volume series chronicles details about founders and their estates along Bayou Terrebonne from its headwaters in the northern civil parish to its most southerly reaches near the Gulf of Mexico. From that nineteenth century period up to the side effects of World Wars I and II, Hardscrabble to Hallelujah describes important yet widely unrecognized geography and history. Today, cultural and physical legacies such as ex-slave-founded communities and place names endure from the time that the planter society was the driving economic force of this fascinating region. Nancy Mayo Wertz (1969 BACH H&SS) WWII Army Infantry Training, Texas Style (Stephen F. Austin State University Press) WWII Army Infantry Training, Texas Style covers U.S. Army infantry training at Camps Fannin and Maxey in 1943 and 1944 and presents unique perspectives on the day-to-day life of Private Dean H. Olson, a young man mature far beyond his teenage years. It provides insight into the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) at LSU – a program designed to create new officers – and on the 99th Infantry Division’s deployment to the North Ardennes in Belgium shortly before the Battle of the Bulge. Olson was selected for ASTP because was an exceptional student at LSU, and he was among a handful of soldiers who saw training at both camps. His thoughtful letters to his parents bring to life the experiences of a young soldier during this time in our nation’s history.

OOPS! Rebecca Shore, author of Developing Young Minds: From Conception to Kindergarten, was incorrectly identified as an Alumna-By-Choice in “Tigers in Print” in the spring issue. Shore earned a bachelor’s degree in music education in 1980. The magazine regrets the error.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

TIGER NATION

In Memoriam 1920s

1960s

Roy Clifford Evans, 1923 BACH HS&E, May 1, 2016, Baton Rouge, La.

Lionel A. Boudreaux, 1965 BACH AGR, Nov. 7, 2014, Marrero, La. Wayne Patton Bunch, 1962 BACH, May 2, 2016, Kerrville, Texas Charles E. Domma, 1960 BACH AGR, May 21, 2016, Gonzales, La. Joseph Frazer Gaar, Sr., 1966 MD-NO, June 1, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Jay Irvin Green, 1969 BACH A&D, April 19, 2016, Houston, Texas Sheldon D. Kinchen, 1961 MAST HS&E, April 16, 2016, Albany, La. Carroll John Macalusa, 1960 BACH ENGR, July 1, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Carol Rita LeCoq Mochette, 1965 BACH HS&E, June 17, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Richard B. Nevils, 1969 JD, May 13, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Rodney Charles Olivier, 1965 BACH ENGR, April 19, 2016, San Antonio, Texas Mary Ruth Strasser Rivero, 1960 BACH HS&E, May 8, 2016, Coppell, Texas Jerome Joseph Safer, 1961 BACH AGR, April 20 2016, Birmingham, Ala. Gordon Kilgore Slack, 1963 BACH H&SS, 1969 MAST H&SS, May 28, 2016, Jackson, La. Jeffrey Cone Thomas, 1965 BACH H&SS, May 23, 2016, Baton Rouge, La.

1930s

Bert E. Crowder, 1938 BACH ENGR, Oct. 16, 2015, Houston, Texas

1940s John Earle Blanchard, 1943 BACH MCOM, July 15, 2016, Mansfield, La. Elizabeth “Betty” Grayson Curet, attended 1947-48, granddaughter of LSU President Thomas Duckett Boyd, May 23, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Louis Douglas Curet, 1947 BACH H&SS, 1950 JD, June 9, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Murry Decoteau, 1941 BACH AGR, May 14, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Mary Gallaher Frey Eaton, 1947 BACH H&SS, May 24, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Phoebe Vickers Fairly, 1943 BACH AGR, May 4, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Robert Newton Helm, 1949 MD, May 20, 2016, New Roads, La. James F. Hudson, Sr., 1942 BACH AGR, 1945 MAST AGR, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics, April 28, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Ellis C. Magee, 1949 BACH H&SS, 1951 JD, June 26, 2016, Covington, La. Mary L. Gray Read, 1948 BACH H&SS, March 27, 2016, Williston, Fla. Robert L. “Bob” Roland III, 1946 BACH H&SS, 1949 JD, June 25, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Catherine June Heroman Scheffy, 1945 BACH BUS, June 8, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Jack Carrol Toler, Jr., 1949 BACH H&SS, June 19, 2016, Baker, La

1950s Robert M. Beddingfield, 1955 BACH AGR, April 25, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Jack Claunch, 1951 BACH HS&E, 1952 MAST HS&E, April 23, 2016, Jena, La. Louis Henslie “Lou” Faxon, Jr., 1958 BACH ENGR, June 25, 2016, "Baton Rouge, La. Eunice Audra Fisher, 1959 BACH HS&E, 1961 MAST HS&E, June 1, 2016, Denham Springs, La. Louis Benedict Gaudin, 1956 BACH ENGR, June 25, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Mary McLendon Hammer, 1951 BACH BUS, May 31, 2016, St. Gabriel, La. Billie Kathleen Hooten, 1958 HS&E, June 24, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Roy J. Hotard, Jr., 1959 BACH ENGR, May 24, 2015, Port Allen, La. George Michael Irwin, 1955 BACH ENGR, June 15, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Bobby Louis Kilpatrick, 1954 MAST AGR, June 7, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Sydney Cecile “Shu Shu” Minvielle, 1957 BACH HS&E, June 27, 2016, New Iberia, La. Jarvis Donald Morgan, 1959 MAST HS&E, June 6, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Richard Elliott Phillips, Sr., 1956 MAST ENGR, June 7, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Wyeth A. Read, 1951 BACH HS&E, April 30, 2015, Williston, Fla. Norman E. Warren, 1959 BACH H&SS, May 2, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Thomas Leonard Wulff, 1959 BACH BUS, May 12, 2016, New Orleans, La.

1970s Fred J. Acosta, Sr., 1974 BACH H&SS, June 28, 2015, Denham Springs, La. Claire Moreaux Blondeau, 1976 BACH H&SS, April 27, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Martha Evelyn Bourland Burch, 1971 MAST HS&E, July 5, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Titus Lloyd Crasto, 1973 BACH ENGR, June 18, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Ronald J. DeLouise, 1977 BACH H&SS, May 21, 2016, Baton Rouge, La Patricia L. Hingle, 1972 BACH HS&E, 1976 MAST HS&E, 1994 CERT HS&E, May 7, 2016, Prairieville, La. Michael Thomas Huber, 1978 BACH BUS, May 28, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. John Dawson”Slim” McConnell, 1971 BACH BUS, 1974 BACH H&SS, May 28, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Caroline C. Norton, 1971 BACH H&SS, 1977 JD, April 25, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Patrick R. Pickens, 1971 BACH ENGR, 1973 MAST ENGR, June 7, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Llewellyn “Allen” Proctor, Jr., 1977 BACH H&SS, 1981 MD-New Orleans, April 14, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Carlos Anthony Scardina, 1970 BACH AGR, 1971 MAST AGR, May 7, 2016, Montgomery, Ala. Judy Bond Stewart Sweeney, 1973 BACH H&SS, May 12, 2016, Baton Rouge, La.

1980s Harvard Lane Brian, 1988 BACH H&SS, June 21, 2016, Slaughter, La. John Mathieu Gatti, Jr., 1980 BACH AGR, April 20, 2016, Boca Raton, Fla. Clyde L. Rougeou, Jr., 1980 DDS, May 23, 2016, New Iberia, La.

If you would like to make a gift to the LSU Alumni Association in memory of a family member, friend or classmate, please contact our office for additional information at 225-578-3838 or 1-888-746-4578.

72 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

Robert William Stockstill, Jr., 1984 BACH BUS, 1987 JD LSU, June 8, 2016, Baton Rouge, La.

1990s Warren Joseph DeCuir, 1990 BACH, H&SS, June 15, 2016, Chicago, Ill. Joey James Edward Johnson, 1993 BACH BUS, May 19, 2016, Ethel, La. Paige Williams Peterson, 1994 BACH H&SS, May 5, 2016, Baton Rouge, La.

Warren Orndorff Eyster Retired Professor of English May 23, 2016 St. Gabriel, La.

Anthony “Tony” Gustwick Former Vice President, LSU Alumni Association May 10, 2016 Sherman, Texas

Owen Gay Wall, 1990 BACH, H&SS, June 9, 2016, Baton Rouge, La. Stuart “Stu” Waterman III, 1999 BACH H&SS, May 13, 2016, San Rafael, Calif.

2010s Laceé Brooke Richard, 2016 BACH H&SS, June 8, 2016, Baton Rouge, La.

Sally Thompson Kuzenski Retired Director of LSU News Service June 3, 2016 Santa Rosa, Beach, Fla.

Glen Helmstetter Alumnus-By-Choice Managing Partner, Copeland’s Atlanta Supporter LSU Atlanta Chapter April 27, 2016 Duluth, Ga.

A memorial donation was made by William Scheffler in the name of Lionel A. Boudreaux.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

PROFILE

TIGER NATION

A Memoir Our Mom in World War II Havana By Mary Ellen Fleury

From left, Catherine Agaisse, Alberto Villamil, Dorothy "Wink" Dameron, Rafael Tamargo, Irma Lee Pittman, and Pepe Levy at the Tropicana in August 1944.

Dorothy "Wink" Dameron, Elaine Herring, and Catherine Agaisse send Christmas greetings.

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My brother, Tom, and I knew, of course, that our mother, Catherine Agaisse Wallace (1942 BACH HS&E, 1948 MAST MLS), had spent nearly a year in Havana, Cuba. Growing up, we spent hours looking through the crumbling scrapbook with the small black-and-white Brownie snapshots of mostly unknown people. Sorting through her papers after she died in 2015 at age ninety-three, we found a treasure of fifty-three letters she had written while in Havana to her parents in Ponchatoula, La. Initially reading the letters simply as a way to identify people and places in the album, we ultimately Front, Ola Lee Hudson, Barney Cross, Pat Lassalle, went on a journey with the young woman Dorothy “Wink” Dameron, and Catherine Agaisse; back, Marjorie (Mrs. J.A.) Thompson, Professor John who would later become our mother – A. Thompson, Elaine Herring, and Irma Lee Pittman at learning a lot about her, as well as about Sloppy Joe’s Bar in August 1944. (Editor’s note: According to one of Catherine Agaisse’s letters, Barney World War II Havana, a time when there Cross is Mrs. Thompson’s sister.) were few tourists. Our mother arrived in the summer of 1944 with a group of twenty-two young LSU women, mostly students. She and her two buddies, Dorothy “Wink” Dameron (1942 BACH H&SS) and Elaine Herring (1943 BACH BUS), were a little older and had already been working. Accompanied by John Thompson, director of LSU’s Division of Latin American Relations and his wife, Marjorie, they attended summer school at the University of Havana. Being fun-loving American girls – they referred to themselves as girls – they were invited everywhere, both in chaperoned groups and, for the older girls, on dates. They had a shameful amount of fun considering a war was on (Mother acknowledged this fact several times in her letters). Outings were often dances with U.S. servicemen, including officers from the Batista and San Julián air fields, Coast Guard cadets on training cruises in the Gulf, and cocktail parties at the homes of prominent Cuban authors, professors, and lawyers. (Professor Thompson was well connected.) While tourists may have been mostly absent during the war, the girls and their dates still managed to go to most of the wellknown Havana night spots, such as Sloppy Joe’s, Montmartre, and the Zombie Club. At the Tropicana with their Cubano dates, they chatted with Xavier Cugat, who was sitting at the next table, and snagged the autograph of the famous Latin band leader. Two of their three Tropicana dates also happened to be LSU alumni – Rafael Tamargo (1941 BACH H&SS) and Alberto Villamil (1941 BACH SCI) – the third, Pepe Levy, was from Georgia Tech. While the Army’s Batista air field was just outside of Havana, the Navy’s so-called secret San Julián air field on the western end of the island required an eight-hour train ride, typically with Navy-supplied musicians on board for the entertainment of female guests, as well as weekend stays in the officers’ guest quarters. Once the other LSU students returned to Baton Rouge in August, Mom and her friends became what might be considered “call girls,” in the literal, not naughty, sense. Need a date? Call Cat, Wink, and Elaine. Anytime dates or escorts were needed for visitors (U.S. businessmen, especially those in sugar and rice agriculture, or military pilots, stranded while their planes were being repaired), the American Embassy or the officers’ clubs would call them. In fact, the three of them became such regulars that they were invited to work at the embassy. Wink and Elaine accepted, but our mother resumed her teaching career at St. George’s, a British school in Havana.

With full time jobs, things began to settle down a bit for them. They became friendly WHAT THEY WERE READING with other young ex-pat women from The Pageant of Cuba the U.S. and England. They volunteered by Hudson Strode, 1934 at the local little theater on productions Victoria Grandelet benefiting children victims of the war and by Henry Bellamann, 1943 the United Nations Junior Group. They I Never Left Home established the Havana American Girls by Bob Hope, 1944 Society (H.A.G.S.), a social and service Our Hearts Were Young and Gay club. The ex-pat community was so small by Cornelia Otis Skinner & that their light-hearted newsletter, The YatEmily Kimbrough, 1942 A-Ti-Yat, was mimeographed by the wife of the local New York Times correspondent. WHAT THEY WERE WATCHING With few tourists around, the hotels (ON THE BIG SCREEN) had become residential hotels, and that’s Sweet Rosie O'Grady where Cat, Wink, and Elaine lived (with Mr. Skeffington an Embassy discount), along with a number of wealthy Jewish refugees who were waiting to return to Europe or for visas to enter America. Bridge was the social currency of the day, and Mom and her pals played a lot of bridge in the hotel lobby with refugees who used the opportunity to learn or improve their English. They used the opportunity to brush up on their college French, the language more commonly spoken by the refugees than Spanish. The three became particularly close to an older Hungarian couple living across the hall. They invited the Szilasis for cake, and the couple thanked the girls with a charming poem in English. The girls and their refugee neighbors also waited out the scary Category 4 hurricane of October 1944 on the third floor of the Hotel Presidente. “Never will I forget the dignified Szilasis eating cold beans, potted meat, and half-done potatoes,” Mom wrote. Our Mother pointedly refrained from becoming too attached to any one young man in Havana. The atmosphere in Havana was just “too amorous and too glamorous.” This was wartime, after all, and the consequences of love could bring devastating heartbreak. However, our mother did have one very exciting month-long romance with the embassy’s legal attaché. Jack West was charming, sophisticated, handsome, and a dreamy dancer. From her first date with him, to a stuffy tea dance at the Havana Country Club, she was smitten. Later dates included going to the more adventurous Tony’s bar, which required peephole approval before being admitted, and up to his apartment to see his etchings, although she was safely accompanied by Ambassador Braden’s daughters and their escorts. As Jack drove her around town, she couldn’t help but be impressed by the fact that the police and the Cubans saluted him. In spite of all his wooing, once she declined his overtures, the dates ended. (Her words to her parents: “He no longer wants to keep the relationship platonic.”) Still, he subsequently wrote her a letter of reference for the carnet she needed to stay and teach in Havana. Unknown to her at the time, a web search now reveals that he was a successful undercover Nazi spy hunter in Brazil for the FBI’s Special Intelligence Service (SIS) and had moved to Havana to run the program there. The three girls returned to Louisiana right before the war in Europe ended. It was palpable in Mom’s letters the excitement and concern for her brother Charlie and Louisiana friends, who would soon be coming home. Also unknown to the girls (but revealed by another web search) was that among their new friends at the San Julián naval air field, one group had been practicing long distance flights over water in anticipation of delivering the atomic bomb across the Pacific to Japan.

WHAT THEY WERE SINGING Based on the typed and handwritten lyrics in her scrapbook, here are some of the songs Catherine and her friends sang as a group - in their apartment, on the train, during the hurricane, in bars, wherever the mood struck them. “Don't Fence Me In” “Accentuate the Positive” “Ragtime Cowboy Joe” (they wrote their own lyrics to this one – see below) “Bell Bottom Trousers” “Stormy Weather” “Aquellos Ojos Verdes” And, of course, Christmas carols, which they practiced around their hotel piano Sung to tune of "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" We're out to do the very, very best we can for every single - and we mean single - service man We'll brush your teeth, comb your hair Trace your girl right back to the cozy, cozy lap of that 4F millionaire And when the long, long day is almost through You're feeling gay or feeling blue Just send Habana an SOS We'll get you out of any mess Cause time won't lag – when you're with a HAG A HAG's the thing for you – we really mean it A HAG's the thing for you! (HAG=Havana American girl)

Mary Ellen Fleury, of New Orleans, retired in 2013 as director of advancement research at Loyola University.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

PROFILE

TIGER NATION

From Tigerland to Galveston, Dreams Come True By Cathy Cashio Bertrand Photo by Island Famous

When Dennis Byrd, Sr., was a teenager in Galveston, Texas, in the 1950s, he followed Galveston high school sports. Only one thing could top local games, and that was LSU football. On Saturday nights, Byrd’s ear was bent toward a transistor radio listening to LSU football play-by-plays. “I loved hearing the excitement of the Tigers,” he said. “I dreamed of seeing a game.” His dreams were delayed a few years. He married a schoolteacher, Denise Emmitte; had two children, Dennis and Ashley; and enjoyed a forty-year career as a warehouse worker and toll bridge manager. Dennis Byrd, Jr. (2001 BACH BUS) was inspired by his father’s work ethic and love for LSU and influenced by his Uncle John Emmitte’s career in international business. “LSU had what I was looking for, a degree in international trade and finance,” the younger Byrd said.

The Best Years College took an unexpected turn. “You always hear people say college years were the best of their lives,” the younger Byrd said. “That wasn’t true in my first two years.” While others enjoyed campus life, he commuted, worked, and studied between Baton Rouge and Galveston. “I scheduled classes so I could work at The Spot (restaurant) in Galveston from Friday through Monday and take classes in Baton Rouge on Tuesday and Dennis Byrd, Jr., and his dad, Dennis Byrd, Sr. Thursday,” he explained. The grueling schedule took its toll until he received a life-changing offer. “My Arabic language professor, Hatem ‘Hat’ Bachar, told me to contact track coach Pat Henry about a scholarship,” he said. Bachar, a former Olympic decathlete from Tunisia, came to LSU to teach French but “The best place to watch filled the slot for an Arabic language teacher and served as a volunteer track and field LSU football is in Death coach. “When Coach Henry asked me if I knew a trustworthy student who could be Valley, but the second equipment manager, I knew Dennis was the one,” he said. “Dennis was a trustworthy best place is at the ‘Byrd student with drive, determination, and good character. It was a pleasure to teach him and be his mentor.” Dome’ in Galveston.” Henry asked Byrd what he knew about track and field. “I told him I didn’t know anything about that, but I knew everything about work, and if he would give me only a week on the job, I’d prove myself,” the younger Byrd said. Henry hired him. “He’s the kind of guy you want for that position,” Henry said. “He’s dependable. If I gave him something to do, I knew it would get done. He was a great help to me.” Landing the job improved the younger Byrd’s schedule, allowed him to participate in campus life, and provided other benefits. “I traveled with the track team and made friends all over the country,” he said. “My last two years at LSU were the best years.”

Degree in Hand After graduating, the younger Byrd purchased The Spot restaurant near Galveston’s seawall. “We have a good product, what I call island casual beach food – half seafood and half burgers,” he said. He added Squeeze Rita’s & Tequila’s, Sideyard, Rum Shack, and Tiki Bar to The Spot. He also purchased an independent beachfront hotel in 2014 and began a multimillion- dollar conversion to a Doubletree Hotel by 2015. He plans to open a Holiday Inn Express next to The Spot in early 2018 and invites Tigers to contact him on The Spot Facebook page.

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While leading his team of nearly 300 employees, he cherishes life with Michelle Edgerly, the mother of his children, Sawyer and Hayden. He also keeps in touch with Bachar and LSU track and field friends.

Tigerland to Byrd Dome The elder Byrd finally made it to Tiger Stadium with friend and long-time LSU supporter Eddie Maples. They cheered for Galveston natives Charles Alexander, an LSU All-American, SEC champ, and Cincinnati Bengals running back, and Eric Hill, an LSU and Arizona Cardinals linebacker. “We love to tailgate,” the elder Byrd said. “It’s like Mardi Gras at a football game.” The Byrds say the best place to watch LSU football is in Death Valley, but the second best place is at the “Byrd Dome” in Galveston. A tiny-scale version of Tiger Stadium, the “Byrd Dome” is housed in the elder Byrd’s garage. It features seven flat screen TVs, LSU flags, Geaux Tiger signs, and an “eye of the tiger” stamped on the gridiron floor. A spread of food and beer – from The Spot – serves the tailgate crowd. “It’s a dad’s dream come true for my son to attend LSU,” the elder Byrd said. The younger Byrd is grateful. “When I hear the Fighting Tiger Band march into the stadium, I always get the same feeling I had fifteen years ago as a student. There’s a pride we all recognize.” LSU alumna Cathy Cashio Bertrand is owner of Creative Solutions for You, a marketing and communications company in Galveston, Texas.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

TIGER NATION

PROFILE

Dub’s Legacy Six great-grandsons of Coach W.T. “Dub” Robinson (1936 BACH HS&E, 1943 MAST HS&E) MS '43), LSU tennis coach from 1946 to 1977, and his wife, Jewel (1936 BACH HS&E, 1944 MSW), are attending LSU this fall. The cousins – all high school-lettered athletes – are fourthgeneration Tigers whose extended family boasts forty-six degrees.

From left: Matthew Robinson, Ragan Robinson, Dub Robinson, Will James Robinson, Jake Whelen, and Fischer Robinson. Photo by Daphne Robinson

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“All their lives, the grandsons heard stories of Papaw's early days as LSU’s welterweight boxing champion and his tennis-coaching years, when he would drive the LSU tennis teams to SEC matches in his old station wagon, always stopping along the way to fish a stream or bayou,” wrote Daphne McNeill Robinson (1967 BACH HS&E), grandmother of five of the young men. “They remember attending matches in the former

tennis stadium – named for their greatgrandfather and fondly called ‘The Dub’ by players.” Already at LSU are Matthew Joseph Robinson, Jr., of Monroe, La., a senior majoring in sports management; Richard Ragan Robinson, of Houston, a junior in petroleum engineering; and William Thomas “Dub” Robinson II, of Houston, a sophomore in construction management – and, family members say, as avid a fisherman as his namesake great-grandfather. Newly arrived Tigers are William James “Will James” Robinson, of Hattiesburg, Miss., who plans to major in business; John Kelley “Jake” Whelen, of Houston, a mechanical engineering major also enrolled in the Ogden Honors College; and John Fischer Robinson, a recipient of the Houston Touchdown Club's ScholarAthlete Award and a President’s Alumni

Scholarship, also is enrolled in the Ogden Honors College, majoring in biological engineering. The cousins' grandfathers were both LSU Tigers in the late 1950s. Matthew is grandson of Johnny Robinson (1960 BACH H&SS) – who played football from 1957 to 1959 and was halfback on the 1958 national championship team – and Sandy Chudy Robinson (1962 BACH H&SS, 1966 MAST H&SS). Ragan, Dub, Will James, Jake, and Fischer are grandsons of LSU tennis great Tommy Robinson (1959 BACH H&SS, 1963 MD-NO), who play in the late 1950s. He was the undefeated SEC tennis singles champion in 1958 and SEC doubles champion (#2) with brother Johnny in 1959.

Matthew’s parents, Matt Robinson & Kelley Robinson Garner are “both ULM grads, but sister Hannah (2010 BACH BUS, 2014 JD), a varsity tennis player, is a Tiger!” said Daphne. Ragan, Dub, and Fischer are the sons of Steve (1987 BACH H&SS) and DeeDee Fagan (1987 BACH BUS, 1990 JD) Robinson. Will James is the son of John M. (1978 BACH BUS) and Jennifer Maughan Robinson, and Jake’s parents are Ken (1978 BACH BUS) and Susan Robinson Whelen (1984 BACH H&SS). “They have worn purple and gold and yelled 'Geaux Tigers' all their lives. Their college choice was inevitable,” Daphne said.

“They have worn purple and gold and yelled ‘Geaux Tigers’ all their lives.”

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

TIGER NATION

Tigers Around the World Expats in Korea – LSU alumni expats

Shaunda Johnson and Laura Ybarra.

Laura Weems Ybarra (2009 BACH MCOM), her husband, Rene Ybarra (2010 BACH BUS), and Shaunda Johnson (2015 BACH MCOM) recently met at Dalseong Park in Daegu, South Korea. The Ybarras are currently stationed in South Korea with the U.S. Army, and Johnson teaches English in South Korea. “We were visiting Dalseong Park in Daegu, and in the pohotograph we are standing in front of the Gwanpungnu Pavilion,” Laura writes. “Dalseong Park also is home to Daegu Zoo, so of course we posed Owen, Rene, Nathaniel, and Laura Ybarra with with the Tigers, too.” Laura, a public Shaunda Johnson. relations consultant and advocate for young adult cancer survivorship issues, earned a master’s’ degree in public relations from Ball State University in May. During her time at Ball State, she received the Paul Allen Bennett Graduate Student Scholarship.

Rally Possum – Sarah Clayton (1967 BACH H&SS) and friends Cindy Cowell and Jan Sellars pose for a photo in their #RALLYPOSSUM shirts at a spring baseball game.

Cindy Cowell, Sarah Clayton, and Jan Sellars.

Looking Ahead – Future LSU Tiger Ella Adams was excited to watch her brother, Cavanaugh Adams, graduate in May.

Ella Adams at Spring 2016 commencement.

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LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

TIGER NATION

Tigers Around the World

Working Vacation – Several School of Renewable Natural Resources alumni assisted with a mangrove restoration project during a summer reunion in Jamaica. The outreach project – Jamaican Awareness of Mangroves in Nature – was sponsored by the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation and the University of the West Indies Discovery Bay Marine Lab. The group, whose careers span wildlife, fisheries, environmental science, African wildlife conservation, and coastal ecology, included Heather Brand (2006 BACH AGR), a conservation biologist; Tamra Dardenne (2016 BACH AGR), an environmental technician; Heather Brand, Matt Trumbull, Tamra Dardenne, Ann Commagere Hijuelos, Jason Hijuelos, Ann Commagere Hijuelos (2006 Kayla Dibenedetto Kimmel, Tim Kimmel, Lauren Hart Thayer, Justin Wilder Thayer, and Rachel Villani. BACH AGR), a coastal ecologist; Kayla Dibenedetto Kimmel (2006 BACH AGR, 2009 MAST AGR), a fisheries biologist; Tim Kimmel (2008 BACH AGR, 2010 MAST AGR), an environmental scientist; Lauren Hart Thayer (2008 BACH AGR), an environmental specialist; Justin Wilder Thayer (2006 BACH AGR), a wildlife biologist; and Rachel Villani (2007 BACH AGR, 2010 MAST AGR), a coastal ecologist.

Michelle and Richard Ducre at Mount Rushmore.

Way Out West – Richard Ducre (1993 BACH ENGR), wife Michelle (1992 BACH H&SS) and son, future Tiger Davin, of Carl Junction, Mo., visited the Black Hills and the Badlands of South Dakota on a summer family vacation. Highlights of the trip were Mount Rushmore, Wall Drug Store, Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park, and Needle Eye. “Our fifteen-year-old had fun with Pokemon Go,” writes Michelle. “It got him exploring at each site and exercising to hatch eggs.”

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Strength from Within â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Alvin Roswell (2014 BACH H&SS) took the bronze medal at the World Classic Benchpress Championships competition in South Africa in May. His score was enough to propel the U.S. team to the overall victory, edging out Japan for the title by one point. Roswell, night property manager at The Cook Hotel, is in his third year as a coach of the LSU powerlifting team, and he runs the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website, lsupowerlifting.com. World Classic benchpress bronze medalwinner Alvin Roswell.

Alvin Roswell kept friends and family up to date via Instagram.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

TIGER NATION

Ramírez Family Returns for Visit J. Raúl Ramírez (1957 MAST SCI), of Ponce, Puerto Rico, returned with several family members – all LSU Tigers – to visit Louisiana last spring. He shares the experience with readers:

Teresa Mariana Ramírez-Cintrón, Cecilia M. Ramírez-Cintrón, J. Raúl Ramírez, Carmen Pilar Ramírez, and Ysabel Colón.

This past March, part of my family visited the beautiful LSU campus at Baton Rouge. It brought us many pleasant memories of our student years at LSU. Including myself, we are three generations of LSU students – daughter Teresa Mariana RamírezCintrón (1981 MAST H&SS, 1985 MBA), daughter Cecilia M. Ramírez-Cintrón (1982 BACH SCI), daughter Carmen Pilar Ramírez (attended 1980-1984 MCOM), and granddaughter Ysabel Colón, a current student. Here are some details about our studies and how LSU gave us the tools to define our lives and help our communities. I earned my master’s degree in biochemistry and am the president and director of Laboratorios Ramírez, Inc., a clinical laboratory in Ponce. Teresa obtained two degrees and also worked as a teaching assistant in the Department of Foreign Languages, a research assistant in the business school, and a graduate assistant and programmer analyst in the then-Department of Administrative Information Systems. At present she is an enterprise project manager with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Puerto Rico. Cecilia worked in the computer science department while studying for her degree. She is the customer relationship manager and business analyst with Evertec, Inc., in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the largest information technology services provider in Puerto Rico, with presence in Latin America, and among the top companies in the U.S. for financial IT services. Carmen studied journalism in the early eighties. She lives in Tampa, Fla., and is a product life cycle coordinator at Cott Beverages. Ysabel is pursuing a degree in English with a major in rhetoric, writing, and culture. She expects to graduate in 2017 and wants to study law. We are all proud Tigers, gratefully indebted to LSU for the intellectual tools given to us.

Memories – While sorting through

T.J. Walker’s LSU Alumni Federation Life Membership certificate.

her late grandfather’s keepsakes, Jaclyn Walker found her late grandfather’s LSU Alumni Federation Life Membership Certificate. Terrance James “T.J.” Walker (1941 BACH ENGR) paid $5.00 for a lifetime membership on Dec. 27, 1945. The life membership plan, established in 1943, was phased out over the next several decades and replaced with an annual donation to the LSU Alumni Fund. There are still some 2,000 members on the lifetime membership list. The Federation was renamed the LSU Alumni Association in 1987.

WHAT’S YOUR VOLUNTEER PASSION? Send a photo of yourself “in action” and tell Tigers Around the World how and why you share your time and talents with others.

84 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2016

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