Spring 2015, Volume 91, Number 5

A L U M N I ' M A G A Z I N E Spring 2015, Volume 91, Number 1

PICTURE LSU

From the

PRESIDENT/CHANCELLOR Alumni Key to an Even Brighter Future There are many things to celebrate at LSU. We have seen our most academically gifted freshmen class arrive on campus, celebrated our highest graduation rate ever, received record-breaking donations from loyal alumni, graduated our most diverse class, and produced groundbreaking research that attracts industry and builds economic development for our state and region.

And that’s only beginning to scratch the surface of recent successes.

We have many reasons to feel optimistic about the future of our great university but for a single dark cloud – a potential $384 million shortfall in the state’s budget for higher education. The support of alumni and donors has allowed us to maintain our competitive edge despite a more than 54 percent reduction in state funding. Thanks to the generous support of our donors, who contributed more than $50 million to LSU, we recently began building our new College of Engineering complex. A $12 million gift from alumnus Roger Ogden will support our most academically driven students through the newly named Ogden Honors College, and a $40 million planned gift from another alum who wishes to remain anonymous will further support the College of Engineering, as well as enhance scholarships and facilities for our athletes. We thank all of you for remembering LSU and keeping us in your charitable giving plans.

Though it is early in the budget process, we are preparing for a variety of outcomes while working closely with the governor and state legislators to find solutions to our budgetary problems. With your help, we can impress upon them the tremendous value LSU provides through education, innovation, and economic development.

Here are just a few facts we hope you will share with others: despite the fact that LSU ranks 46th of 50 flagship universities in what we are able to spend on our students, our graduates rank 20th out of 50 in average early career salaries and 14th of 50 in average mid-career salaries. Our in-state tuition is 22 percent less than comparable flagship universities around the country, and even with increased admission standards, we continue to see record-breaking student interest and enrollment. In terms of economic impact for Louisiana, LSU annually brings $3.9 billion and nearly 37,000 jobs to Louisiana. And for every $1 the state invests in LSU, we provide an impressive return of $5.08.

The value of a university is best conveyed through its alumni and their impact throughout the world. Because of you, we have an incredible foundation to continue building and shaping LSU for decades to come. We hope you will share the impact LSU has had on your life. Thank you for all you have done and continue to do for your alma mater. Together, we will achieve an even brighter tomorrow for LSU and Louisiana.

Sincerely,

F. King Alexander LSU President and Chancellor @lsuprez

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

1

Publisher LSU Alumni Association

Contents

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

10

A L U M N I ' M A G A Z I N E Feature 28 Picture LSU Through the years, Jim Zietz has photographed people and places on campus that have become iconic in part because of the images he created of them. His talent and skill have earned him high regard and deep respect from everyone with whom he has worked. Given his long association with LSU – as a resident of the area, as a student, and then as the university photographer – who better than Jim Zietz could document LSU’s last four decades? In this issue, a few of Jim’s thousands of images – and writer Brenda Macon – tell some of the stories he collected over those decades.

44 The Honors Thesis: Great Investment, Great Return Students enrolled in the LSU Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College are expected to write an Honors Thesis in the senior year. This long-term independent research project is the capstone to the Honors curriculum and is an academic achievement in its own right. But what happens to the Honors Thesis after the student graduates?

Does the research get published or make an impact in the wider world? Do Honors College alumni get to use that undergraduate research in their postgraduate careers? The answer is often a resounding yes. Writer Liz Billet catches up with two alums whose Honors College work is having a major impact on their careers.

22

From the President/Chancellor

4

President’s Message

6

LSU Alumni Association News

50 Around Campus 60 Focus on Faculty 62 Locker Room 68 Tiger Nation Cover photo by Jim Zietz.

Design by STUN Design & Interactive.

2 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

PICTURE LSU

Photography Artistically Ann, Mark Claesgens, Luke Davis, Ray Dry, Steve Franz, Johnny Gordon, Larry Hubbard, Ashlynn McCormick, Stacey Messina, Eddie Nunez, Eddy Perez, Lauren Regner, Jim Zietz Printing Baton Rouge Printing

Jan K. Liuzza Chair-Elect, Kenner, La.

54 60 62

A L U M N I ' M A G A Z I N E Spring 2015, Volume

Contributors Liz Billet, Barry Cowan, Ed Cullen, Bud Johnson, Tara Kistler, Aaron Looney, Kent Lowe, Brenda Macon, Stephen Martinez

NATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS Gil Rew Chair, Mansfield, La.

In Each Issue 1

Editorial Assistants Patti Garner, Brenda Macon, Meagan McDaniel

91, Number 1

Jack A. Andonie Immediate Past Chair, Metairie, La. Lodwrick M. Cook Director Emeritus, Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Mary Lou Applewhite, New Orleans, La. Leo C. Hamilton, Baton Rouge, La. Jon D. “Jay� Babb, Baton Rouge, La. Ronald M. Johnson, Baton Rouge, La. Karen G. Brack, La Jolla, Calif.

Louis R. Minsky, Baton Rouge, La. C. A. “Buddy� Brice III, Biloxi, Miss. Richard C. “Rick� Oustalet, Jennings, La. Stephen “Steve� Brown, Sherman Oaks, Calif. Beverly G. Shea, New Iberia, La. Gregg Cordaro, Baton Rouge, La. John T. Shelton, Jr. Houston, Texas Randy L. Ewing, Quitman, La. Carl Streva, Morgan City, La. Kathy Fives, Las Vegas, Nev. Susan K. Whitelaw, Bossier City, La. Stan Williams, Fort Worth, Texas LSU ALUMNI MAGAZINE is a benefit of membership in the LSU Alumni Association. Annual donations are $50, of which $6 is allocated for a subscription the magazine. Letters to the editor and submissions of news items are encouraged. LSU ALUMNI MAGAZINE reserves the right to edit all materials accepted for publication.

Publication of materials does not indicate endorsement of the author’s viewpoint by the magazine, the Association, or LSU. Editorial and Advertising Office LSU Alumni Association 3838 West Lakeshore Drive Baton Rouge, LA 70808-4686 ĉĉĎĹĎÄ?đĹĊđĊđŊěŊđđđĹ

www.lsualumni.org / e-mail: jackie@lsualumni.org Š 2014 by LSU ALUMNI MAGAZINE. LSU ALUMNI MAGAZINE (USPS NO 14120) is published quarterly (March, June, September, December) by the LSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, 3838 W. Lakeshore Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70808.

Periodical prices paid at Baton Rouge, La. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to LSU ALUMNI MAGAZINE, 3838 West Lakeshore Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70808-4686

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

3

President and CEO

MESSAGE

2015 – A Banner Year It’s going to be a banner year for your LSU Alumni Association! Already a vibrant, multifaceted organization, we are proud to count ourselves among the best alumni associations in the country. Our programs allow current and future alumni, former students, and friends to stay connected to LSU and to each other, and we support programs that touch all areas of University life. This year – our 110th anniversary – we will enhance those programs and create new initiatives and collaborative efforts that will ensure even greater success and service in years to come.

We kicked off this endeavor last fall by improving two long-standing programs and creating a new tradition. In September, more than fifty chapter leaders gathered here for the Chapter Leadership Summit, formerly the Chapter Leadership Workshop held in early spring. New opportunities for volunteer engagement and leadership were enthusiastically discussed and adopted, and alumni chapter participation was reinvigorated, particularly through the Joint Membership Program. (See the Fall 2014 issue of LSU Alumni Magazine at lsualumni.org/alumni-magazine.)

In November, during a surprise visit to his office, we announced the 2015 Alumnus of the Year, Newton Thomas, and his fellow Hall of Distinction inductees (see page 13). The Hall of Distinction gala will feature performances by LSU virtuosos currently on campus to honor our outstanding graduates. Finally, on Dec. 18, the evening before winter commencement, a new tradition began as we toasted nearly 100 almost-new alums at the first Senior Celebration Happy Hour for graduating seniors and their parents.

In early January, two nationally recognized alumni professionals reviewed the Association’s operation, made assessments, and provided suggestions to better serve our constituents. Their findings will be presented to the National Board of Directors, and a five-year strategic plan will be written with emphasis on engagement, collaboration, and increased participation by alumni and friends.

Hospitality entrepreneurs are reviewing the operations of the very successful Cook Hotel with the goal of creating the ultimate customer experience. A major focus of the assessment will be on renovations. A multi-year plan of action will then be established to create accommodations and amenities that are second to none in the Baton Rouge area.

We have stepped up collaboration with University departments and future alumni organizations to create a culture of future alumni engagement. It starts when future alumni arrive on campus – and extends through a lifetime. The Association is a partner in such key first-year programs as STRIPES – during which students learn Tiger traditions, and Bengal Bound – LSU’s Official Welcome Week. In addition, we already have a partnership with the Baton Rouge Area Chamber and Louisiana Economic Development to fill job openings in the state with alumni who are eager to “come home.” And, preliminary plans are underway to create a network of alumni and friends in positions of authority to hire LSU grads first and to help these graduates throughout their careers.

It’s an exciting time for the Association and for you, its loyal friends and supporters.

We hope you will continue to share your energy, enthusiasm, talents, and resources as we pursue our vision for the future.

Geaux Tigers,

Cliff Vannoy President and CEO LSU Alumni Association

4 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

From Our Readers Editor, I am glad you did an article on the LSU Libraries’ Division of Special Collections and gave info on Jessica Lacher-Feldman’s efforts. I do wonder if the library and other areas at LSU are getting input from alumni. While I am glad to see the state’s history being preserved, I did find C-SPAN’s recent coverage of the Louisiana Book Festival interesting since some books gave info on the Long politics, including connection to the mafia and news about Bourbon Street I never got while at LSU. I am concerned with the support of archives/libraries since I work with the oldest homosexual – now LGBT or whatever – archives collections of ONE Incorporated which published the first national magazine, including two issues which had me (and my then-partner) on the cover. Although I sent copies of the magazine to the LSU Library, I do not think they have any copies, or even any LGBT material from the early days of the movement to gain equal rights for homosexual Americans. Our material is preserved now at the libraries at USC and CSUN, in the place where it started, Southern California. I am glad that Tulane has such material and that now, finally, there is an effort to save LGBT material for the state, in New Orleans.

Billy E. Glover (1955 H&SS) Bossier City, La.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

5

LSU Alumni Association

NEWS

Top Scholars Honored at Scholars Banquet

Photo by Johnny Gordon

Hannah Marie Lampo, second from left, recipient of the Judge D. Irvin Couvillion Endowed Flagship Scholarship, with her parents, Heather and Ben Lampo, and Couvillion.

Giuliano Edward Campesi, second from right, recipient of the Citizens Bank & Trust Company of Plaquemine Endowed Flagship Scholarship, with, from left, his parents, Michael and Kathryn Campesi, and Jim Purgeson of Citizens Bank.

6 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

Chancellor’s Alumni Scholars, from left, Cole S. Kirkpatrick, Katherine Anne Travis, James Joseph Mickler, Ryan Patrick Downey, Clarissa Elise Bruns, Matthew Kyle Blanchard, Amanda Erin Killeen, Grant Michael Landwehr, and Dawson Ryan Pool.

LSU’s best and brightest students – Chancellor’s Alumni Scholars and Flagship Scholars – and the donors who funded their scholarships were recognized at the Scholars Banquet Oct. 23 at the Lod Cook Alumni Center. President and Chancellor F. King Alexander and Honors College Dean Jonathan Earle were on hand to address the nearly 300 students, parents, and donors who attended this year’s event.

Receiving prestigious Chancellor’s Alumni Scholars awards were Cole S. Kirkpatrick, of Du Quoin, Ill.; Katherine Anne Travis, of Bethesda, Md.; James Joseph Mickler, of New Orleans; Ryan Patrick Downey, of Shreveport, La.; Clarissa Elise Bruns, of Shreveport, La.; Matthew Kyle Blanchard, of Baton Rouge; Amanda Erin Killeen, of Abita Springs, La.; Grant Michael Landwehr, of Covington, La.; and Dawson Ryan Pool, of Sulphur, La. These scholarships are funded through the Association from an endowment made in memory of Ola and Ruth Cain by Gordon A. Cain and Mary H. Cain.

To view and download Scholars Banquet photos, visit lsualumni.org/events.

Beverly and Jerry Shea with Kathleen Mathilde Edwards, recipient of the Beverly and Jerry Shea, Jr. Endowed Flagship Scholarship.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

7

LSU Alumni Association News

Annual Meeting Past Chairs Honored, New Board Members Named

Past chairs of the LSU Alumni Association National Board of Directors, from left, Dr. Louis Minsky, Gregg Cordaro, Jerry Shea, Dr. Jack Andonie, Jay Babb, Dr. Mary Lou Applewhite, Scott Anderson, and Hals Benhard.

Jerry and Beverly Shea, Rebecca and Hals Benhard, and Stan Williams.

Jeff Benhard, Kathy and Lou Fives, and Jan Liuzza.

8 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

Gregg Cordaro, Jay Babb, Gil Rew, Cliff Vannoy, Mary Clare Horgan, and Dr. Louis Minsky.

Past chairs of the LSU Alumni Association National Board of Directors were recognized at the Past Presidents & Chairs Luncheon on Nov. 7. The event was held in conjunction with the Association’s 2014 Annual Meeting.

Honored were Dr. Louis Minsky, 2007-2008; Gregg Cordaro, 2010; Jerry Shea, 1972; Dr. Jack Andonie, 2013; Jay Babb, 2005-2006; Dr. Mary Lou Applewhite, 1992; Scott Anderson, 1981; and Hals Benhard, 1994.

Elected to the board were Susan Whitelaw, of Shreveport, La., a partner in Whitelaw, Rice & Green CPAs; former state Sen. Randy Ewing, of Quitman, La., president of Ewing Timber; Karen Brack, of La Jolla, Calif., an engineer at Boeing Commercial Airplanes; Steve Brown, of Sherman Oaks, Calif., Western U.S. sales manager for Sundyne LLC; and Leo Hamilton, a partner in the Baton Rouge law firm Breazeale, Sachse and Wilson.

All candidates were elected unanimously. They will serve three-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2015.

“Leadership is critical to the success of any organization, and we are fortunate to welcome these outstanding, dedicated alumni to the board,” said Cliff Vannoy, Association president and CEO. “The Association and the University will benefit immensely from their expertise.”

Whitelaw, representing District 5, earned a bachelor of arts from LSU in 1971 and an accounting degree from LSU-Shreveport. She recently received the American Institute of CPAs Public Service Award for Individuals in recognition of her significant contributions to the community. She has served on the board since 2010.

“The LSU Alumni Association is the premier grassroots arm for graduates and friends of LSU,” said Whitelaw. “I feel so honored and privileged to not only be a part of this organization but also to be a board member. The Association in so many ways touches the lives of people worldwide through its outreach and ability to keep LSU forever in our hearts.”

Ewing, representing District 6, earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from LSU in 1966. He served as a state senator representing the 35th District from 1988 to 2000 and was senate president during his last term from 19962000. In 1999, Ewing was inducted into the E.J. Ourso College of Business Hall of Distinction. “I look forward to working with others who have benefited from our LSU experience in expanding the alumni base and strengthening our support for the University and serving future generations,” Ewing said.

Brack, at-large, earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at LSU in 1984 and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of California, Irvine, in 1988. In 1996, she received an LSU Alumni Association Chapter Service

Award and is a founding member of the board of directors of the San Diego Alumni Chapter. Over the past twenty six years, the chapter has grown to become one of the largest donors to Association scholarships and professorships. “I am excited to be on the board – an engineer and a proud alumna from outside of Louisiana,” said Brack.

“I hope to represent alumni chapters all across the United States.”

Brown, at-large, graduated from LSU in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.

Since 1990 he has held various leadership and management positions with Sundyne LLC. He joined the SoCal Alumni Chapter in Los Angeles in 1985 and served as president in 1996-1997. An active member of the organization, he received Chapter Service Awards in 1993 and 2000. “Being a recipient of an LSU Alumni Top 100 Scholarship and serving as president of the Southern California Chapter, I am honored to have an opportunity to serve on the national board,” said Brown. “The LSU Alumni Association is a great organization, and the goal is to make it an even better one.”

Hamilton, at-large, is a 1973 graduate of LSU and a 1977 graduate of the LSU Law School. A charter member of the A.P. Tureaud, Sr. Black Alumni Chapter established in 1989, he served as the first vice-president and president-elect and helped establish the chapter’s first endowed scholarship. “I am excited to join the national board, and I hope to be a part of expanding the scope of the alumni membership,” said Hamilton. “I’m encouraged that some of the new by-law changes will prompt many, who didn’t previously see the need for participation, to get on board. I think that all of us who bleed purple and gold want to do everything that we can to assist LSU to continue on its mission to be one of the top universities in this country, and alumni participation is paramount to achieving that goal.”

Ending terms on the board were Mike Woods, of Shreveport, La., who served for thirteen years; Hals Benhard, of Palmetto, La., twenty-six years; Guy Campbell, of Monroe, La., thirteen years; and Scott Anderson, of Monroe, La., twenty-one years.

Each served stints as board chair.

Thirty-year employee Mary Clare Horgan, vice president for administration, who retired in January 2015, was also recognized.

“These individuals were an integral part of the organization for many years, and they played major roles in our success,” said Vannoy. “Their willingness to share their time, talents, and resources was invaluable.”

Ex-officio officers elected to serve one-year terms are Vannoy, president; Mike Garner, treasurer; and Claire Drake, secretary.

Karen Brack, at-large

Steve Brown, at-large

Randy Ewing, District 6

Leo Hamilton, at-large

Susan Whitelaw, District 5

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

9

LSU Alumni Association News

Saturday Night in Death Valley Calls Tiger Band Alums Home

By Jackie Bartkiewicz Photos by Johnny Gordon and Ray Dry

The Alumni Band at practice.

Colorguard alumnae perform with the bands at halftime.

Visiting in Tiger Stadium with Association President Cliff Vannoy, right, are, from left, Connie Cambre, of LaPlace, La., a former Golden Girl; Jason Ramezan, Association vice president; Ashley Wright, of Houston, a Colorguard alumna; Mary Bahlinger, current Tiger Marching Band drum major; and Cindy Thibodeaux, a former Golden Girl.

“Tiger Band is a family, and your Tiger Band friends are your friends for life.”

10 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

Former and current Golden Girls gather for a photo before the halftime show.

It has all the trappings of an annual get-together – the obligatory name tags, luncheons, and socials. But the Alumni Band Reunion is much more.

Old friends happily reunite, and new friendships are made. This reunion means uniforms – this year gold shirts and caps, khaki pants; hours of rehearsal Saturday morning; and, finally, the highlight of the weekend – a chance to perform at halftime in the lights of Tiger Stadium. It’s “Saturday Night in Death Valley,” and Tiger Band alums are part of the spectacular one more time.

More than 380 band alumni from 22 states, representing classes from 1936 to 2012, returned to campus Oct. 17-18 for the 28th Alumni Band Reunion, sponsored annually by the LSU Alumni Association in collaboration with the Tiger Marching Band.

“The Alumni Band Reunion is one of our favorite events and a favorite LSU tradition,” said Association President Cliff Vannoy. “The camaraderie is amazing. They’re a close-knit group with a special bond, and they are intensely loyal to LSU. Through the years, we have built a strong relationship not only with band alumni but also with the leadership and current students in Tiger Band.

It’s been a remarkable and rewarding experience for the Association.”

Expectations build as game time nears and band alumni leave the pregame tailgate at Maravich Assembly Center for the stadium. The collective

excitement quickens as the Tiger Marching Band steps onto the field. It turns to spine-tingling goose bumps as they hear the first four renowned notes of “Pregame,” and it gives way to wild cheering as the band salutes the four corners.

Shortly before halftime, reuniongoers leave their seats to pick up their instruments. Anticipation grows as they anxiously wait on the sidelines for the minutes on the clock to tick away the second quarter. The marching band begins the halftime show, and then – finally! – the LSU Alumni Band takes the field.

Alumni band drum major Carl Coutant, of Jacksonville, Fla., reprised a role he played with the Tiger Band from 1970 to 1972 and with the alumni band in the late 1990s. “It was a truly special experience,” said Coutant. “I hadn’t attended a band reunion in a number of years, and it was great to be back with the fans and friends in the Tiger Band – they’re the best in the world.”

Clarinetist Claire Cagnolatti, of Carrollton, Texas, echoed those sentiments. “Tiger Band is a family, and your Tiger Band friends are your friends for life,” Cagnolatti said. “It’s like going to a family reunion every year and seeing all of your ‘crazy cousins.’ No matter how long it’s been since you saw them, you pick up right where you left off with your Tiger Band friends.”

The performance at the LSUKentucky game found more than 700 current and former band members –

musicians, Golden Girls, Colorguard, and Tigerettes – stretched from 10-yard line to 10-yard line. Under the direction of former band director Frank Wickes, the combined Golden Band from Tigerland brought fans to their feet.

Drummer Roy King and his wife, Monya, an alumna member of the Colorguard, performed with their daughter, Olivia, an LSU junior and, like her mom, a Colorguard member. “It was an exciting performance,” said King, director of the Tiger Marching Band.

“The Alumni Band had the LSU faithful on their feet and cheering throughout the show. This was the largest group of alumni musicians we’ve ever had. And my wife, Monya, and I were proud to participate in this historic event and to join Olivia on the field.”

Former Golden Girl Rae Phillips summed it up. “The reunion weekend

Tom Cressionnie, Mary Lipps, John Hughes, and Katt Hughes visit at the Friday night social.

A bird’s-eye view of the Tiger Marching Band and Alumni Band 2014 performance.

is one of my favorite exciting things to do,” she said. “It is truly a reunion of many very special friends who share in the excitement of still being able to perform at LSU halftime with 102,000 fans in attendance. What a thrill! It also touches our hearts to know we are always welcome back at LSU.” Bubba Gagliano, Skipper Kendrick, John Domec, Sheila Bell, and Carl Coutant at the pre-game tailgate party in Maravich Assembly Center.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

11

LSU Alumni Association News

New Titles, New Faces The new year brought with it personnel changes at the LSU Alumni Association and The Cook Hotel and Conference Center at LSU, with individuals promoted to new responsibilities after proving to be outstanding team members.

Stacey Messina

Jaclyn Dagro

Jaclyn Walker

B.J. Bellow

Kelsey David

Stacey Messina was promoted in January to director of marketing and communications, with responsibility for marketing, advertising, and communications initiatives for the Association and The Cook Hotel. Messina joined the hotel team in 2010 as marketing director. She began her career at the Louisiana Office of Tourism in 1994. She has worked in the hospitality industry for more than twenty years, from management positions in hotel sales and marketing companies such as Sabre Hospitality to on-site hotel management at Fairmont Hotel in New Orleans, as well as New York, Frankfurt, and Barcelona. Messina graduated from LSU in 1991.

Jaclyn Dagro was named assistant general manager of The Cook Hotel. She started in the hospitality business in 2009, shortly after graduating from LSU. After working for an IHG corporate property for four years, she joined the hotel staff in 2014 as back office manager/inside sales.

Jaclyn Walker took over as back office manager/inside sales at The Cook Hotel.

Walker was previously the night audit manager at the hotel. She graduated from Appalachian State University in North Carolina in 2013.

Bradley “B.J.” Bellow, assumed new duties as assistant director of chapters. Bellow was a student worker at the Association from 2008 until his graduation in 2012. After graduation, he joined the hotel team as front office manager and became assistant general manager in 2013.

Kelsey David joined the Association in January as assistant director of marketing.

She was previously event sales coordinator for Ruffino’s Catering and assistant to the coordinator of LSU Football Operations. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from LSU in 2011 and 2013, respectively.

2015 REUNION

!ŬŎºÉŝ RęąÉƗƝ

%=9=J(9! R% 4ȞMM = ŻťƩā Reconnect with friends and classmates during a fun-filled day of activities highlighted by special recognition at LSU Spring Commencement.

8qȓ Żă· ƵȝŻā § 4Ŭ¹ ŬŬʼn ȞōƶŕŝĘ ÉŝƮÉƗ

For information, contact Brandli Roberts at 225.578.3852 or brandli@lsualumni.org

12 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

Newton Thomas Named 2015 LSU Alumnus of the Year Newtron Group founder, owner and CEO Newton Thomas has been named the LSU 2015 Alumnus of the Year. The announcement was made in a surprise visit to Newton’s office in Baton Rouge on Nov. 18, 2014. Thomas will be inducted into the LSU Alumni Association’s Hall of Distinction on March 27.

“The Alumnus of the Year designation is the highest honor awarded to a distinguished graduate of LSU,” said Cliff Vannoy, Association president and CEO. “The Hall of Distinction is our most prestigious event of the year, and in 2015 we have plans to make the event more spectacular than ever to recognize Thomas and his fellow inductees.”

2015 Alumnus of the Year Newton Thomas, second from left, with LSU Alumni Association President Cliff VanPresident and Chancellor F. King noy, Betsy Thomas, and President and Chancellor F. King Alexander.

Alexander and the Newtron Group staff were on hand to congratulate the very surprised honoree.

“The staff will be amazed when I say this,” said Thomas, “but I’m speechless.”

“LSU prepared me He credited the University Laboratory School and LSU for his success. “My entire for life.” educational experience was at LSU,” he said. “LSU prepared me for life.”

Thomas joins notable past Alumni of the Year such as former ARCO Chair Lod Cook; philanthropist Claude B. “Doc” Pennington; Tiger and professional basketball great Shaquille O’Neal; former Congressman and Forever LSU Campaign Chair Henson Moore; Academy Award-winning composer William “Bill” Conti; and businesswoman and philanthropist Laura Leach.

Also to be inducted are Young Alumnus of the Year track Olympian Lori S. “Lolo” Jones, of Prairieville, La.; Celtic Studios Executive Director J. Patrick Mulhearn, Baton Rouge; Vice President of Research at the University of Texas at Austin John Tinsley Oden, of Austin, Texas; Atlantic Company of America President David M. Suarez, of Young Alumnus of the Patrick Mulhearn Washington, D.C.; and SEC Associate Commissioner of Communications Herbert H. Year Lolo Jones “Herb” Vincent, Jr., of Birmingham, Ala. “Each year, the LSU Alumni Association recognizes alumni who have distinguished themselves through their careers, their personal and civic accomplishments and their loyalty to their alma mater,” said Vannoy. “Newton Thomas has excelled in all of these areas. He exemplifies the essence of a true Tiger, and we are delighted to honor him with this prestigious award.”

According to Gil Rew, chair of the association’s national board of directors, Hall of Distinction inductees are chosen by an anonymous committee and approved by the board.

John Tinsley Oden David Suarez “The selection committee is a blue ribbon panel of judges that includes loyal supporters and representatives of the faculty and staff,” Rew explained. “It’s a daunting task, given the high quality of nominees. This year’s slate of inductees has, indeed, set the bar a notch higher.”

Nominations for 2016 are being accepted now. Biographic information, along with letters of recommendation, can be sent to the LSU Alumni Association Hall of Distinction Committee, 3838 West Lakeshore Dr., Baton Rouge, LA 70808. A listing of past honorees can be found at lsualumni.org/annual-events/Hall-of-Distinction.

Herb Vincent

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

13

LSU Alumni Association News

Oliver Mack, one of the first African Americans to enroll at LSU in the 1960s, second from left, and Todd Schexnayder, chapter treasurer, present the chapter’s donation toward its first scholarship to Jason Ramezan, left, vice president of the LSU Alumni Association, and B.J. Bellow, assistant director of chapters.

Chapter Events

From left, A.P. Tureaud, Sr. Black Alumni Chapter Treasurer Todd Schexnayder, Vice Provost for Diversity Dereck J. Rovaris, Sr., 2014 LSU Legends Mary Evelyn Baszile and Gideon T. Carter III, A.P. Tureaud, Jr., Chapter President Rachel L. Emanuel, and Provost Stuart Bell.

Panelists, from left, Derrius Montgomery, Stand for Children Louisiana; Andrea Thomas-Reynolds, Pearson North America; Roland Mitchell and Kenneth Fasching-Varner, College of Human Sciences & Education; Herman Brister, Sr., East Baton Rouge Parish Schools; and attorney Gideon Carter III. Not pictured is Ron Johnson, East Baton Rouge Parish Schools.

LSU Legends – The A.P. Tureaud, Sr. Black Alumni Chapter honored two distinguished alumni during Homecoming weekend at its Sixth Annual LSU Legends Forum Reception.

Recognized were retired University administrator Mary Evelyn Baszile and attorney Gideon T. Carter III, president of the chapter. The event, hosted by the chapter and the College From left, Renee Boutee Myer, College of Human of Human Sciences & Education, took Sciences & Education; Social Chair Bridgett Brister place Oct. 24 in Peabody Hall. This and Special Events Chair Shaun Mena, who served as forum co-chairs. year’s discussion topic was “Education Reform in Louisiana: Progress or Regress.” The chapter announced the establishment of its first scholarship in the LSU Alumni Association with a donation of $12,000 toward a $20,000 endowment. The scholarship is named in honor of the African-American students whose enrollment in 1964 desegregated the LSU undergraduate program. The forum was sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana.

To find a chapter in your area, visit lsualumni.org/chapters.

14 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

$$ for Scholars – LSU Alumni of San Diego boosted its scholarship coffers significantly with $100,000 in proceeds from the chapter’s annual crawfish boil held on May 15 at the practice field at Qualcomm Stadium. “Our board voted to direct the entire amount to increase the corpus of our endowed scholarship,” writes Kathy Crossin, chapter president. “Our goal is to reach the point where our scholarship will pay all of the out-of-state tuition for a local student – from San Diego or Imperial County – who attends LSU.”

LSU Alumni of San Diego President Kathy Crossin presents a check for the chapter’s scholarship fund to, from left, LSU Alumni Association Vice President Jason Ramezan, National Board Chair Gil Rew, and President Cliff Vannoy.

Alabama Fish Fry – The Birmingham chapter held its annual Fall Fish Fry event at White Oak National Park on Nov. 1. Dozens of alumni faithful braved the 30-degree temperatures to celebrate all things LSU; enjoy great fried catfish, fries and hushpuppies; and hold a silent auction of Tiger items to raise money for the chapter’s scholarship endeavors. Representing the LSU Alumni Association and The Cook Hotel were Tammy Brown, sales director, and John Grubb, general manager.

Birmingham Tigers gather for the chapter’s annual fish fry.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

15

LSU Alumni Association News

Tiger tailgaters at Limelight Event Center in Nashville.

Chapter Events Music City Tailgate – Tiger Nation traveled to Nashville, Tenn., in December to watch the Tigers take on Notre Dame in the Music City Bowl. Hours before LSU’s heartbreaking loss on the gridiron, members of the Nashville chapter welcomed guests to a tailgate party at Limelight Event Center. “We heard from LSU Alumni Association President Cliff Vannoy, as well as a representative from the Nashville mayor’s office (officially neutral but secretly pulling for the Daniel Johnston, Association President Cliff Vannoy, Tigers!),” writes Courtney Nunnally, Nashville Chapter President Courtney Nunnally, and chapter president. “The event was Association Vice President Jason Ramezan take time out for a photo at the Music City Bowl tailgate part. highlighted by a visit from the Golden Band from Tigerland, and even Kevin Mawae came. Good times were had by all.”

Cochon de Lait – Some sixty-five LSU alumni and friends attended the Central Virginia chapter’s LSU-Alabama view-in and turkey fry/couchon de lait at Sam and Elaine Rosenthal’s home in Richmond, Va. “The pig was christened Nickie Satan, and she was delicious, “ writes Rosenthal. “We fried twelve turkeys, five chickens, two pork roasts, and a bunch of Snicker bars. Special thanks to Markie Russell, Bill Bagley, Terry Jarreau, and Stephen LaHaye for their help with the event.”

Terry Jarreau turns “Nickie Satan,” the main course at the Central Virginia chapter’s LSU-Alabama view-in.

Tyler Tigers – Tigers in Tyler, Texas, gather regularly for football view-ins, and plans are already in place for the Sept. 26 match-up between LSU and Syracuse. “Let’s be honest. You aren’t going to make the trek up to Syracuse, N.Y., for this one,” writes Robby Mayne, chapter president. “So why not spend that time cheering on your Tigers with the best and brightest LSU alumni and fans in the Tyler area?” For information, contact robbymayne@gmail.com.

Mallory Staats, Robby Mayne, Laura Carter, and Michelle McKenzie at the LSU vs. Mississippi State view-in.

16 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

San Antonio alumni and friends gathered at Encino Park Community Center for the group’s annual kick-off party and meeting.

LSU San Antonio – Tiger faithful in San Antonio hosted a Back to School/Get Acquainted event for area LSU-bound students and their families in July at the home of Barbara and Tommy Duhon. In August, members geared up for football season by taking part in the 3rd Annual SEC Picnic in Aggie Park. “Our tailgate was definitely the most popular as we served gumbo, boudin, and other Cajun favorites to our fellow SEC schools,” writes Julie Aillet, chapter secretary. At the group’s annual kick-off party, held at the Encino Park Community Center, in August, members planned events for the coming year and held a raffle to raise money for the chapter’s scholarship fund.

“We gathered for watch parties for every Tiger football game at River City Seafood here in San Antonio and had a great turnout for every game,” Aillet writes.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

17

LSU Alumni Association News

By Stephen Martinez

Brandon Guillory, Tucker Tremblay, D.C. Chapter President Stephen Martinez, April Anderson, Jill Wilbert, and Emily Lutz at the Wreaths Across America ceremony.

D.C. Tigers Giving Back The LSU Alumni DC Chapter has had a successful #TigersGiveBack campaign in the fall that included several community service projects.

The Tigers participated in the Wreaths Across America ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery by placing wreaths on the graves of fallen soldiers and heroes during the holiday season. We also participated in the annual SEC Toys for Tots Jill Wilbert places a wreath on a grave donation drive, which is a friendly during the Wreaths Across America fundraising/charitable competition ceremony in December 2014. among SEC university alumni groups in Washington. The LSU alumni group contributed more than 80 percent of all toys and cash raised for the event, winning bragging rights against the other schools for the rest of the year.

The chapter is planning another major service project and donation drive this spring to benefit the Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., a residential center that provides a home for sick children and their families while they receive medical treatments from the world’s leading biomedical research center.

The chapter formed its first recreational volleyball team to play in the Capital Alumni Network during the winter season. Just like the summer softball team, the Tigers – widely known for school spirit and hospitality – compete against dozens of other national university alumni chapters based in D.C. The recreational sports teams are open to any member of the chapter, and league registration fees and startup costs are paid for by the chapter as well.

Football season provided a lot of entertainment this year, and Tiger faithful routinely packed the bar at a downtown D.C. hotspot to watch the games every Saturday night.

During the season we hosted a professional networking happy hour with some of our SEC peers, designed and produced chapter t-shirts for our members to wear, and partnered with our new D.C.-based LSU admissions counselor to assist with high school recruiting and outreach efforts in the region.

To find an alumni chapter in your area, visit www.lsualumni.org/chapters.

18 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

YOU R A LUM N I DOL L AR S AT WORK

Jacob Lefort Freshman Industrial Engineering Tom D. Jones, Jr. and Evelyn H. Jones Endowed Flagship Scholarship

My story about becoming an LSU student is quite unlike many others. I am from Port Neches in southeast Texas, and while I always knew I wanted to go to LSU, it depended on whether or not I was able to earn a scholarship.

Fortunately, I scored well enough on the ACT to earn an LSU Flagship Scholars Award, which covered enough tuition for my family to be able to send me to LSU. My decision to becoming an LSU student is definitely one of the best decisions I have ever made. I have been employed by the LSU Alumni Association as a student worker since I started school in the fall and consider myself fortunate to have such a good job. I have been able to attend almost every LSU home game this season, and I have made many great friends and connections through my fraternity, Delta Kappa Epsilon.

I am extremely grateful to be able to attend this outstanding university and for all the opportunities that are available to me now and will be in the future.

To donate to or endow a scholarship, visit www. lsualumni.org or call 1-888-RING-LSU

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

19

LSU Alumni Association News

Snapshots The Two Horsemen – Billy Cannon, who raises quarter horses, and thoroughbred owner Billy Baggett, discuss the horse business and the current LSU football season at the Andonie Sports Museum prior to the Ole Miss football game. Cannon is famous for the punt return that beat the Rebels in 1959, and, of course, the Heisman Trophy.

Baggett is known for his play in wins over three conference champions – Rice (14-7), North Carolina (13-7) and Tulane (21-0) in the Cinderella season of 1949.

Photo by Ray Dry

Friday Night Delights – Former Tiger Jacob Hester, left, was the VIP guest at the Andonie Sports Museum prior to the Alabama game. Two LSU grads who enjoyed his remarks were Gary Haynes, center, and Jim Engster, president of Louisiana Network, and master of ceremonies for the event.

Billy Cannon, left, and Billy Baggett

Denver Loupe, Jess Walker, John Capdevielle, and Evans Roberts.

Monday Morning Coffee Klatch – What better way to start the week than with coffee and conversation with old friends? Longtime Lod Cook Alumni Center docent John Capdevielle, former director of LSU student housing, greets a number of guests for coffee each Monday morning, among them, regulars Denver Loupe, former director of Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service; Jess Walker, Boyd Professor Emeritus of geography and anthropology; and Evans Roberts, former director of personnel. Capdevielle and Walker are members of the ’21 Club, formed in 2011 to honor a quarter of friends who were born in 1921 and were celebrating their ninetieth birthdays. Other ’21 Clubbers were the late Gene Tims, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering, and the late Oscar Richard, former director of public relations.

Photo by Lauren Regner

20 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

From left, Kirk Cerny, Purdue Alumni Association; Cliff Vannoy, LSU Alumni Association; Kevin Corbett, Kansas University Alumni Association; Leslie Cedar, University of Texas at Austin; Jeff Johnson, Iowa State University Alumni Association; William “T” Thompson, U.S. Air Force Academy Association of Graduates; Byron F. Marchant, U.S. Naval Academy Alumni & Foundation; Tom Faulders, University of Virginia Alumni Association; Amy Button Renz, Kansas State Alumni Association; Robert McClure, West Point Association of Graduates; Porter Garner, Texas A&M Association of Former Students; Joe Irwin, Georgia Tech Alumni Association; Chris Batchelder, Oklahoma State University Alumni Association; Loren Taylor, University of Illinois Alumni Association; Douglas Dibbert, University of North Carolina General Alumni Association; and Todd Saucier, University of Maine Alumni Association.

SGAF at Chapel Hill – Leaders of the Self-Governing Alumni Forum (SGAF) gathered at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Nov. 27-29 for their annual meeting. The nineteen-member group from across the country gathers each year to discuss trends and current practices required to sustain independent, or selfgoverning, alumni associations that receive no state or university funds.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

21

LSU Alumni Association News

Pictured with Santa Mike and Jolly Old Saint Nick are, from left, Association Vice President Jason Ramezan, Barbara Jackson, Libby Paxton, and LSU Faculty-Staff Retirees President Ken Paxton.

Linda and Abner Hammond pose with Santa Mike.

Snapshots

The Theatre Baton Rouge A Cappella Carolers.

Helping to kick off the holiday season were, from left, Wallace and Elaine McKenzie and Mary and Carruth McGehee.

Happy Holidays – Nearly 300 retired University employees kicked off the holiday season at the Retired FacultyStaff Christmas Celebration on Dec. 9 at the Lod Cook Alumni Center. Guests posed for photos with Santa Mike and Jolly Old Saint Nick during the cocktail hour, and the Theatre Baton Rouge A Cappella Carolers provided after-dinner entertainment. The ensemble wrapped up its Christmas carol program by inviting the audience to join them in a lively rendition of “The Twelve Days of Cajun Christmas.” In the spirit of the season, those attending donated nearly $3,000 to benefit the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, a project of the LSU Faculty & Staff Retirees Club.

Photos by Larry Hubbard

Steven and Anita Nicholson and Carolyn and Jack Haynes toast the holidays.

Madeline Hebert McLean and Vernon Triche took home prizes for their festive apparel.

Ringing in 2015 – Partygoers Sharla Dobbins, Kelly Miller, and Blythe Johnson welcome 2015 at the LSU Alumni Association’s annual New Year’s Eve celebration Kickoff at The Cook.

Call Stacey at 225.383.2665 to reserve for Kickoff 2016.

22 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

LSU Alumni Association President Cliff Vannoy; LSU President and Chancellor F. King Alexander; Ravi Rau, Robert Stobaugh Endowed Alumni Professor of Physics and Astronomy; Provost Stuart Bell; Gestur Olafsson, Julian R. & Sidney Nicolle Carruth Endowed Alumni Professor of Math; and Gary Byerly, Richard R. and Betty S. Fenton Endowed Alumni Professor of Geology.

Sarah Liggett, Donald and Norma Nash McClure Endowed Alumni Professor of English; College of Humanities & Social Sciences Dean Stacia Haynie, J.S. Annison, Jr. Family Endowed Professor of Political Science; Anna Nardo, Maj. Morris S. & DeEtte A. Anderson Memorial Endowed Alumni Professor of English; and Sharon Weltman, William E. “Bud” Davis Alumni Professor of English.

Alunni Profs Honored – Alumni Professors and Alumni Departmental Professors – along with professorship donors and college deans – were honored by the LSU Alumni Association at a holiday luncheon on Dec. 16 at the Lod Cook Alumni Center.

Also on hand for the event and giving brief remarks were President and Chancellor F. King Alexander and Provost Stuart Bell. Lisi Oliver, Greater Houston Chapter Alumni Professor of English, and Ambar Sengupta, Hubert Butts Memorial Alumni Professor of Math, walked away with door prizes, and the honorees received bottles of champagne. Alumni professorships are awarded for excellence in teaching, particularly undergraduate teaching.

Photos by Larry Hubbard

Bill Grimes, Emitte E. & David O. White Departmental Professor of Music; Griffin Campbell, J. Franklin Bayhi Alumni Professor of Music; Fran Lawrence, Gerald Cire & Lane Grand Williams Endowed Alumni Professor of Finance; and Dean of the College of Music & Dramatic Arts Todd Queen.

Frank Neubrander, DeMarcus D. Smith Endowed Alumni Professor of Math, center, with donors D.D. and Fran Smith.

Congratulations! – Emily Berniard, accounts receivable manager for the LSU Alumni Association and The Cook Hotel, and Brent Smith, engineering/ maintenance supervisor at The Cook Hotel, received the Louis and Lori Minsky Staff Leadership awards for their outstanding work performance in 2014. Berniard has been on staff for eight years and Smith for three. Berniard, along with four fellow employees, were recognized as top achievers Association President Cliff Vannoy, Emily Berniard, in a competition to recruit new Association and Vice President Jason Ramezan. members. Amanda Robichaux brought in the most money, Claire Drake signed up the largest number of new members, B.J. Bellow claimed the largest single donation, and Brandli Roberts, James Fisher, and Berniard received honorable mentions for their recruiting efforts. The awards were made at the staff Christmas luncheon on Dec. 17, an event sponsored annually

by Kent and Yvonne Anderson, of Monroe, La. Dr. Louis Minsky serves on the National Board of Directors.

Cook Hotel General Manager John Grubb, President Cliff Vannoy, and Brent Smith.

Photos by Stacey Messina

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

23

LSU Alumni Association News

Snapshots

Mary Clare Horgan, third from right, poses for one last photo with coworkers at her retirement party.

So Long, Mary – Coworkers, friends, and family gathered at the Lod Cook Alumni Center on Dec. 16 to bid farewell to longtime employee Mary Clare Horgan, who retired after thirty years of service with the LSU Alumni Association. After a year-long stint in the Office of the Chancellor in 1982-1983, Horgan joined the Association in 1984 as executive secretary and was later named vice president for administration.

Horgan says she doesn’t have specific plans for her next life adventure but plans to “drop by the alumni center and The Cook Hotel often for coffee and lunch.”

Photo by Larry Hubbard

LSU Alumni Association President Cliff Vannoy greets University Laboratory School middle school instructors Judith Gremillion and Adam Barrett, back row, and Hope Buras, Adele Dufrene, and Barbara Benton, front.

K-12 literacy specialist Ellen Daugherty hi-fives with staff greeters.

Celebrating Excellence – Faculty at University Lab School were welcomed through an “arch-of-arms” and treated to a special lunch courtesy of the LSU Alumni Association and The Cook Hotel in December to recognize their designation by the state of Louisiana as a 5 STAR School. The Dec. 18 event, which kicked off the holiday break, is sponsored annually by the Association Photos by Luke Davis Association and hotel staffers form a “tunnel” to greet K-12 principal Albert Camburn.

24 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

LSU Alumni Association President Cliff Vannoy, Mike the Tiger, and graduating senior Angela Perkins, of Shreveport, La., who received a bachelor’s degree in mass communication at winter commencement.

Senior Happy Hour – Winter 2014 graduating seniors were honored at the LSU Alumni Association’s inaugural Senior Happy Hour, an event for graduates and their families held at the Lod Cook Alumni Center on Dec. 18, the evening before commencement. While enjoying cocktails and dinner party buffet, the soon-to-be alums found “real world” information available from vendors such as Campus Federal Credit Union, Liberty Mutual, and Alumni Bridge; explored opportunities offered to alumni by Tiger Athletic Foundation; and gathered information on alumni chapters to join as they move to new cities across the country. On commencement day, staffers handed out LSU Alumni Association bumper stickers, koozies, magazines, and membership forms to graduates. Braving a cold, rainy day, staff attended nine of eleven ceremonies and engaged more than 1,500 new alumni. President Cliff Vannoy attended and spoke at five ceremonies, and The Cook Hotel General manager John Grubb read names of diploma recipients at the College of Science ceremony. To view and download photos from the event, visit www.lsualumni.org/events.

A Winter Treat – The much anticipated annual “dinner with the Sheas” took place at Café Des Amis in New Iberia, La., on Jan. 13. Jerry and Beverly Shea treat the staff of the LSU Alumni Association and The Cook Hotel to dinner every January. Jerry Shea is a past member of the Association’s National Board of Directors, and Beverly currently serves on the board.

Photo by Luke Davis

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

25

LSU Alumni Association News

Local + National Membership = a Win-Win for Alums and LSU When the National Alumni Association introduced the joint membership program, the Washington DC chapter was the first to adopt the concept. The chapter doubled its membership and LSU gained 100 donors.

Today, thirty-eight chapters – with more than 700 active members – take part in the program. The DC chapter remains the top affiliate chapter, followed by the Baton Rouge, Central Florida, Atlanta, and A.P. Tureaud chapters.

“The Joint Membership Program removes the hassle of managing chapter membership – and dues – while allowing DC alumni and friends to officially support both LSU and the chapter in one process,” said Brian Holoubek, former chapter president and member of the board.

What’s in it for chapters and their members? “A lot,” according to Vice President for Development Jason Ramezan. “Chapters retain a portion of the gift, and the national association provides autographed items for auctions, discounts on mailers, and much more.”

Benefits are many – from pre-game football tailgate parties at the PMAC and special membership events to discounts at The Cook Hotel, the alumni gift shop, hotel chains, and car rental agencies. Members are also eligible for home and auto insurance offers, credit and debit banking services, and they receive the quarterly LSU Alumni Magazine and monthly E-Letters.

Chapter membership is the best way to stay connected to and support LSU, according to Association President Cliff Vannoy. “Chapters are our lifeblood, and joint membership takes involvement to a new level,” he said. “As a chapter member you bond with others who have deep Tiger roots, and you support your alma mater through Association programs that enhance the value of an LSU education, as well as the lives of alumni and friends, faculty and staff – and future alumni.”

26 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

27

T

hrough the years, Jim Zietz has photographed people and places on campus that have become iconic in part because of the images he created of them. His talent and skill have earned him high regard and deep respect from everyone with whom he has worked. Given his long association with LSU – as a resident of the area, as a student, and then as the university photographer – who better than Jim Zietz could document LSU’s last four decades? In these pages, a few of Jim’s thousands of images tell some of the stories he collected over those decades. This particular collection is from the years in which Jim used conventional film cameras before digital cameras became the norm.

BY BRENDA MACON

28 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

PEOPLE

TO SEE . . .

Top: When five former LSU chancellors came together in the same place in February 1997, the moment just had to be recorded for history on film. Left to right, are James Wharton, who served from 1981 to 1988; Paul Murrill, from 1974 to 1981; Cecil Taylor, who was the first chancellor of LSU and served from 1965 to 1974; William Davis, from 1989 to 1996; and William Jenkins, who served as chancellor from 1996 to 1999 and was the interim chancellor in 2004-2005, 2008, and 2012-2013.

Center: C.B. “Doc” Pennington famously did not like to be photographed and always presented a challenge to those who were tasked with getting an image of him on film. Jim solved that challenge by waiting until Doc was absorbed in conversation; then he took this candid shot of Doc in his office in the American Bank Building in downtown Baton Rouge in May 1988.

Bottom: John McKeithen, former state legislator (1948 to 1952), public service commissioner (1955 to 1964), and governor of Louisiana (1964 to 1972), also served on the LSU Board of Supervisors from 1983 to 1988. Jim took this photo of McKeithen in March 1985. To McKeithen’s right sits fellow board member Patrick Taylor, who would later develop the “Taylor Plan,” now known as the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, or TOPS, which provides academically qualified students with state-paid tuition. Patrick F. Taylor Hall is named in his memory.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

29

PEOPLE TO SEE

This photo taken in May 1985 has its own bit of humor: In his own style, Chancellor James Wharton was inadvertently mimicking Huey Long’s pose in the painting behind him.

LSU has had its share of celebrity over the years, and the legendary literary journal Southern Review has had a role in that fame. In October 1985, Robert Penn Warren and Cleanth Brooks, the founders and original editors of the journal, returned to participate in a special conference to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the journal. Jim was on hand to take this photo that captures the warmth and friendship that the pair of author/editors still shared after all those years.

30 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

When poet Howard Nemerov visited LSU in October 1986, Jim was on hand to capture the moment. While Jim respected this man who had twice been the U.S. Library of Congress Poet Laureate, he was even more interested in the work of Nemerov’s sister, famed photographer Diane Arbus.

Top: When John Hope Franklin was the speaker at the LSU spring commencement, Jim was there. Franklin, a renowned historian and the author of several groundbreaking and influential books, including From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans and Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin, gave that commencement address on May 18, 1988.

Bottom: Jim’s work often takes him off-campus. He caught up with Civil Engineering Professor George Voyiadjis and his students from a materials science course in a hangar at the Baton Rouge airport for this photo.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

31

PEOPLE TO SEE Top: Over the years, Jim has cultivated friendships all over campus. He still has fond memories of working with George Edmonston, pictured here at the Pentagon Barracks in downtown Baton Rouge near the state capitol in June 1985. Edmonston was the editor of LSU Magazine at the time; he later left Louisiana to take a position at Oregon State University.

Center: Jim’s role as the campus photographer also gave him entry to fascinating classroom lectures. In this shot, Mary Manhein, director of the LSU FACES lab, explains a facial reconstruction to a group of students in February 1994. After more than 30 years at LSU, Manhein, whose nickname is “The Bone Lady,” will be retiring this year.

This photo of prominent artist Edward Pramuk was taken in the art professor’s studio prior to his retirement in 2000.

32 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

WHO BETTER THAN JIM ZIETZ

COULD DOCUMENT LSU’S LAST FOUR DECADES? Another friend, Michael Crespo, renowned painter and art professor pictured here in his studio in July 1998, was also a former director of the School of Art. Crespo died at age 63 in 2010.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

33

PEOPLE TO SEE

Clockwise from left, James Coleman, Alvin Bertrand, Meredith Blackwell, Dinos Constantinides, and William Cooper.

More than twenty years ago, Jim proposed the idea to then-Chancellor Bud Davis to photograph each of the Boyd Professors and to create a gallery of those portraits in Thomas Boyd Hall. For those Boyd Professors who had already passed, Jim pulled together photos from the LSU archives. These five portraits are representative of Jim’s photos for that project, which is ongoing.

34 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

Top: One of the perks of being a student photographer on campus and, later, a staff photographer is that Jim was given entrée to the many concerts that were held in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center during the 1970s. This one, from a concert by Eric Clapton in November 1976, is representative of those.

Center: Jim has fond memories of many of the people whom he photographed. Among those is A. Hays Town, who had become a renowned architect long before Jim met him.

The addition of the east section of Coates Hall was one of his projects. Coincidentally, Jim met his wife, Reni, in a filmmaking class in that section of Coates Hall. This photo was taken around 1990 in Town’s backyard, with a crape myrtle alley designed by Steele Burden in the background.

Another person that Jim recalls fondly is Steele Burden, whom Jim photographed on numerous occasions and who is pictured here in August 1993 under the live oak on campus that was called the “Burden Oak.” Burden planted this tree, which was the first tree to be endowed through LSU Foundation’s “Endow an Oak” program, approximately 50 years before the photo was taken. The photo also represents another first: Burden notoriously did not like to be photographed; this photo represents the first time Burden asked Jim to photograph him. Though both Steele Burden, who died in 1995, and the oak, which was struck by lightning in May 2010 and died in 2011, are now gone, they continue to be remembered in Jim’s photography.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

35

PEOPLE TO SEE

Top: During a historic moment at the opening of the Lod Cook Alumni Center on May 20, 1994, Jim photographed three former presidents and a former governor of Louisiana. From right to left are Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Edwin Edwards, Mack McLarty (Bill Clinton’s chief of staff), and Edwards’ then-wife Candy Edwards. Jim quips that people who request prints of the photo usually ask him to crop out all but the three former presidents.

Bottom: In May 1990, before Ronald Reagan delivered the spring commencement address, he visited the Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity house. A TKE himself, Reagan took the time to meet with LSU chapter members, and Jim was on hand to capture that moment.

36 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

Of course, the most important people on campus are the students, and Jim frequently captures the excitement and anticipation on the faces of students returning to campus in the fall. One such photo is this one from November 1998.

Top left: Some of Jim’s photos of the lovely LSU campus have become icons. This one taken in August 1985 of the Memorial Tower at dusk, with the moon in the background, is one such photo. Here’s a secret Jim recently revealed: The moon does not naturally appear in that part of the sky. Rather, it was added by an in-camera double exposure, a pre-Photoshop technique.

Bottom: Sometimes catching the moon in just the right place works, as this lovely shot of the moon over Thomas Boyd Hall proves.

Top right: Jim and his camera are always in demand on campus to document events, activities, people, and, of course, places. He was on hand to record this Fireman Training Program (now called Fire and Emergency Training Institute) session in April 1997.

. . . AND PLACES TO GO LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

37

PLACES TO GO

The Memorial Tower figures in many of Jim’s pictures.

In August 1991, he was experimenting with infrared photography when he took this beautiful shot in which the scene takes on a silvery glow.

38 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

This photo, taken from on top of the Memorial Tower in November 1982, shows Himes Hall in the foreground and Prescott Hall and part of Stubbs Hall across the quad in the background.

Top: Many of Jim’s photos were taken from high places: the tower, tops of buildings, airplanes, helicopters—even a hot air balloon. In August 1998, Jim took this shot of the Memorial Tower from a balloon piloted by the late Gail Smith, who was with the LSU AgCenter Cooperative Extension Service.

Center: Another photo taken from on high, this time atop Middleton Library, was this striking image of the Quad’s red tile roofs sparkling in the sun.

In this early morning aerial photo of the quad, Nicholson and Atkinson Halls are on the lower left, and Dodson Auditorium is at the center top.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

39

PLACES TO GO

Top: Caught in the act: Jim managed to take a photo of himself during a photo shoot on top of the Assembly Center in June 1986.

Bottom: In the midst of his duties as a staff photographer for the University, Jim manages to fit artistry into his work, often shooting quirky or unusual photos, like this unique view of the spiral staircase in the French House.

40 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

Top: Some of Jim’s images are not of people or places but, rather of the animals of LSU. Here, he was on hand when an owl, which had been injured and was rescued and treated at the LSU School of Veterinary Science Raptor Rehabilitation unit, was released back into the wild one early morning.

Bottom left: This photo of Mike V was taken in December 1996.

Bottom right: This photo, from November 1999, was made for a recruiting publication. The art director and owner of the Borzoi was Veni Harlan.

AND THEN THERE ARE ALL

THE NATURAL WONDERS

AROUND CAMPUS TO EXPLORE… LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

41

CAMPUS NATURAL WONDERS Top: One day, Jim received a call from the Rural Life Museum to come out to the gardens. Steele Burden was delighted to have purple and gold water lilies—hence, this lovely photo of LSU colors in bloom.

Bottom: While Baton Rouge’s climate is mild, Jim often caught the essence of the changing seasons in his photos.

Two examples—of fall and winter—are shown here. Even in South Louisiana, autumn trees are vibrant, and the lake in winter still attracts students and locals.

When it all comes down to it, nothing is more beautiful than a Louisiana sunrise . . . unless it’s a Louisiana sunset.

Top clockwise left to right: Louisiana sunrises.

Bottom: A Louisiana sunset.

Brenda Macon is a writer/editor in the LSU Office of Communications & University Relations and former editor of Kaleidoscope, the magazine of the College of Humanities & Social Sciences.

42 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

43

The

HONORS

Thesis

reat Return G a h t i w An Investment

BY LIZ BILLET

44 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

Students enrolled in the LSU Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College are expected to write an Honors Thesis in the senior year.

This long-term independent research project is the capstone to the Honors curriculum and is an academic achievement in its own right. But what happens to the Honors Thesis after the student graduates? Does the research get published or make an impact in the wider world? Do Honors College alumni get to use that undergraduate research in their postgraduate careers?

The answer is often a resounding yes.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

45

Kalena Thomhave in her element at the Baton Rouge Mid City Redevelopment Alliance.

Photo by Ashlynn McCormick

I

can’t tell you how often I hear from alumni – and employers – how instrumental the thesis project is to success after college,” said Ogden Honors College Dean Jonathan Earle. “Identifying a research problem and using methodological skills to solve it is a very true-to-life model of the real-world challenges all our graduates face.”

Take Ogden Honors College alumna Kalena Thomhave.

Since graduating from LSU in May 2014 with College Honors and a dual degree in political science and English, she’s been working at Mid City Redevelopment Alliance (MCRA), an economic development nonprofit in Baton Rouge. Thomhave’s Honors Thesis has been more than an accomplishment to be listed on her transcript. Her research on economic development and social mobility helped her to define her long-term career goals, secure her current position, and have a positive impact on local low-income communities.

As with many Ogden Honors College students, Thomhave was connected to research opportunities at LSU through an LSU Alumni Association work-study scholarship, which places first-year students in research positions with faculty members. “I had the Chancellor’s Future Leaders in Research scholarship,” Thomhave recalls. “So right away, as a freshman, I was thrown into research – first with the English department then later political science.”

Her changing interests were the result of her participation in the Ogden Honors College Louisiana Service and Leadership (LASAL) Program, which supplements the Honors curriculum with courses that explore Louisiana’s social, economic, and environmental issues, such as coastal erosion and rural poverty.

“With LASAL, you focus on Louisiana’s pressing problems,

46 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

Victor Lashley works in global trade for J.P. Morgan in New York City.

and I was really drawn to issues of poverty,” Thomhave said.

“Where I grew up, the attitude was, if you were poor, it was your own fault. The realization just came on like a train: that I could have been poor, you know. I was just lucky to have gone to a good public school and to live in the community that I lived in. I just didn’t understand that before I came to Louisiana. And it was the Honors College coursework that really made me consider how pressing these problems are.”

LASAL Scholars don’t just study these issues in the classroom – they travel to communities around the state to undertake service projects and meet with local leaders and residents. “I really remember our trip to Tensas Parish,” Thomhave said. “It’s one of the poorest parishes in Louisiana, one of the poorest places in the country. One of the students we met said, ‘Oh, well, when we’re hungry, we just go fishing.’

That just threw everything into perspective for me. When you’re driving down Dalrymple, and you see people fishing in the lakes . . .”

In her thesis, Thomhave focused on issues of social mobility.

She began working with Associate Professor of Political Science Belinda Davis to research the effects of social capital – the economic benefits of involvement in social networks and organizations, such as churches or neighborhood associations – on levels of poverty. “I wanted to see how social capital could affect community development,” Thomhave explained. “Those are two very abstract things, so a lot of my thesis work was trying to figure out how to measure that.”

“I was able to give Kalena access to data on Louisiana’s welfare-to-work program,” Davis said. “She used that data to examine whether or not social capital in a community

influences the amount of income women earned after they left the welfare-to-work program.”

Thomhave found women leaving welfare in parishes with higher levels of social capital had an associated income increase of $272 a year. “That didn’t seem like that much to me,” Thomhave recalled. “But then I brought that to Dr. Davis, and she pointed out it’s a lot of money considering the average post-welfare leaver has an annual income of $4,000.”

“Kalena learned about the importance of research methods, and how even a basic knowledge of statistics can help you answer a question,” Davis said. “And it helped her solidify her interest in pursuing work after graduation that focuses on lowincome communities.”

Which is exactly what she did. Her thesis successfully defended, she graduated and then spent part of the summer working with schoolchildren in Ecuador on a Volunteer LSU trip. She returned to Baton Rouge to begin working at MCRA. “My title is asset-building coordinator,” Thomhave said.

“I’m the coordinator of Bank On Baton Rouge, which is a program to get unbanked and underbanked people into the financial mainstream – banks and credit unions – and away from check cashers and predatory lenders.”

The program provides educational materials on traditional financial services to individuals who don’t typically use, and may even distrust, those services.

“Bank On Baton Rouge is an initiative that is capable of moving people out of poverty and placing them on a sustainable path to economic independence,” said MCRA Executive Director Samuel Sanders. “It’s important work because it’s not a handout – it’s an investment in people to help them achieve better outcomes for themselves and their families.”

In other words, Thomhave is working every day to respond to the disparities she uncovered in her thesis research. “I wanted to not only study why people move up,” she said, “but to actually aid people in moving up.”

Individuals living in low-wealth households may have had a discouraging experience with a bank in the past, according to Thomhave. “When you don’t grow up with an institution like that as part of your daily norm,” she explained, “you might not even know

Honors College Named in Honor of Donor’s Father, Son

I

n December 2014, LSU alumnus Roger Ogden made a transformational $12 million dollar gift to the LSU Honors College. The college has been renamed the LSU Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College, in honor of the donor’s father and son, who share the name.

At a naming ceremony held at the French House, Ogden spoke about his reasons for making this generous gift. “Our precious resources, when invested in the flagship university, can truly make a difference in lives – and those lives will make a difference in the future of this state,” he noted. “The mission of this residential Honors College is to offer a flagship public university experience with an Ivy League methodology of learning – small classes, undergraduate research, study abroad, and so on. The idea is to keep the best and brightest in, and attract the best and brightest to Louisiana.”

Ogden challenged others to invest in education in Louisiana, calling for alumni and supporters to “come to the table,” give back, and give to LSU. “It will be a wise investment that will be repaid many, many, many times over,” he said.

Ogden, a resident of New Orleans for more than forty-five years, is a recognized civic leader and philanthropist. He is the owner of Ogden Development Investments, co-founder of Stirling Properties, and founder of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans. Over the past four decades he has been deeply involved in LSU as both a volunteer and donor. He is a former chair of the LSU Board of Supervisors, on which he served for fourteen years, and in 2012 he established the LSU Honors College Roger Hadfield Ogden Deanship, also in honor of his son.

TOP RIGHT LSU President & Chancellor F. King Alexander (left) and Roger Ogden at the gift announcement on Dec. 12, 2014.

BOTTOM RIGHT LSU Student Body President Clay Tufts, left, and Ogden Honors College senior Erin Percevault unveil the new Ogden Honors College logo.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

47

People talk a lot about finding your tribe, and I found that at the Honors College. ”

things that we just assume everyone knows – like what a check is, and how to use it.”

“Kalena’s thesis research has absolutely prepared her for the work she is doing with Bank On Baton Rouge,” Sanders said.

“Her familiarity with the issues surrounding poverty make her keenly aware of the difficulty these individuals and families are facing, and that awareness makes her capable of considering and suggesting ways to reach and impact people who can benefit from the initiative.”

Thomhave has also been reworking Bank On Baton Rouge’s financial education materials using the recommendations set out in the thesis research of another Ogden Honors College alumnus, Victor Lashley. “Victor was in LASAL with me, and he was two years ahead of me,” Thomhave said. “He was a marketing major, and his thesis was a marketing analysis of Bank On Baton Rouge.

I remember going to his presentation at the Thesis Colloquium.

He had these maps of the payday lending institutions in Baton Rouge, and the poor areas were completely saturated with them.”

“I compared empirical marketing research on financial decision-making against what Bank On Baton Rouge had in place as its marketing plan at that time,” Lashley explained.

“And what Bank On Baton Rouge had in place was not aligned with what would be successful in reaching the targeted population. The language assumed the mechanics of banking services were already understood.”

Thomhave said that, when she began working on the program, “All the marketing materials read, for example, ‘financial institution.’ But real people don’t say, ‘Oh, I have to get to my financial institution before five’ – they say they have to get to their bank. And the brochures would have a family on the front – a mom and a dad and two kids– but that’s not the typical unbanked family in Baton Rouge. So if you can’t place yourself within the program, then what’s the point of it?”

“These were things I knew in an abstract way,” Thomhave said, “but Victor’s thesis had all of this written down, with citations and recommendations. It was something I could take to the steering committee and say, ‘What we’re doing is wrong, and this is why.’ And it worked! We’re changing the materials to

48 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

better reflect the issues that are important to our audience.”

In her spare time, Thomhave continues to work with Davis to expand her own thesis research. They’ve added measures to evaluate whether higher levels of income inequality in a community interfere with the effects of social capital and are preparing the paper for publication in a scholarly journal. “Dr. Davis is so great,” Thomhave said. “We work together, but it’s also still my own thesis. That’s what’s great about LSU, really.

The faculty are so open to students doing their own research.”

Thomhave hopes ultimately to attend a dual-degree graduate program to obtain a master’s degree in public policy and a master’s in social work. “With social work, you have the human side of issues, and then with public policy you have the research side,” she explained, “and that’s really important to me, to have both.”

Lashley, who lives in New York City and works in global trade for J.P. Morgan, cites his time in the Ogden Honors College as having a “long-term impact on my career path.”

“The hands-on curricular offerings, the dedicated staff of the Honors College – that was all essential to my personal sense of self and my professional preparedness,” he said. “My Honors College experiences helped to round-out my resumé and elevated my candidacy to a level beyond that of a typical marketing-degree holder.”

Thomhave also credits her experience as an Ogden Honors student, and her Honors Thesis research, as having helped to shape her future endeavors. “People say about the Honors College, ‘It’s a small liberal arts college experience at a research university,’ and when you first hear that, you’re like, oh, okay, cliché,” Thomhave said. “But it’s so true. So true. The Honors classes really do provide the opportunity to think critically about issues, to explore who you are and why you want to do the things that you do, and how you can contribute to the world in your own way.”

“People talk a lot about finding your tribe,” Thomhave concluded, “and I found that at the Honors College.”

Liz Billet is the communications coordinator for the Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College.

STUDYING ABROAD Academics, Travel, Adventure

BY HANNAH MCLAIN

I

’ve noticed that people usually have one of two things to say about studying abroad.

Those who did study abroad say that it was the best experience of their college career, and those who didn’t say that missing out was their biggest regret.

Having received the Global Leaders Scholarship from the LSU Alumni Association as a freshman entering LSU, I knew that I had a stipend to study abroad at some point. At the time, I didn’t know where, when, or for how long I would study abroad, but everything pointed to it as my next endeavor.

I spent last fall at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England, and I quickly found that what my friends and professors had told me was true: studying abroad is a phenomenal experience.

Though I was only there for three months, I gained a sense of what it’s like to live in another country and immerse myself in its culture, customs, and way of life. I developed close friendships with other exchange students from the United States – friendships form fast when you’re thrust into unfamiliar territory together – but I also met students from all over the world, including the English students who welcomed me into their country.

Because I arrived in the fall, I was grouped together with the “freshers,” or all of the new students on campus. The university dedicated an entire week called Freshers Week full of welcome events for students to get to know each other; I was grateful for this time because it created easy opportunities to meet people and make friends. I found organizations to join, like the show choir and a student group at a local church, and I also found some people who were interested in taking some weekend trips around Europe. The people I met, whether they were my flatmates, classmates, professors, or those friends that I still talk to almost every day since I left, made studying abroad more than just another trip or semester.

The social opportunities of studying abroad were rivaled by the academic opportunities. I’m a mass communication major concentrating in public relations, but I am also minoring in business, visual communication, and art history. While studying at Sussex, I took mostly art history courses because there were more classes available for that subject that would transfer back

to LSU. My classes had multiple lecturers who would teach on their area of expertise after assigning a range of relevant articles on each topic. One of the most surreal aspects of studying art in Europe was that I could see famous artworks in person after learning about them in class. I travelled to major cities like Dublin, Edinburgh, London, and Paris, and one of my favorite things to do in each city was visit the art museums. At the beginning of one week in November I learned about artist Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, the official portrait painter for Marie Antoinette, and a few days later when I was in Paris I saw some of her works at the Louvre and Versailles. I was looking forward to this intersection between academics and travel, but I was not prepared for the frequency of these exciting connections.

At the beginning of the semester, I was hopeful that my time there would be enjoyable and fulfilling, but I was also fairly nervous and ready to be back home in my familiar setting at LSU. I didn’t expect that at the end of the semester I would find it difficult to leave Brighton and the communities into which I’d been welcomed; I think that my hesitancy to want to leave is an indication that my time abroad was meaningful and worthwhile. The opportunity I had was largely made possible by the scholarships I received from the LSU Alumni Association.

I’m grateful for the generosity of alumni that allows students like me to embark on new endeavors and face new challenges at LSU and abroad. When I look back at my time in England, I will always remember how it was made possible by the scholarships I received.

I was looking forward to this intersection between academics and travel, but I was not prepared for the frequency of these exciting connections.

Hannah McLain, a junior in the Manship School of Mass Communication and the Ogden Honors College, has been writing for LSU Alumni Magazine since her freshman year.

TOP PHOTO: Hannah McLain visited Brighton Beach during her first week of study at the University Sussex in Brighton, England.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

49

Noteworthy

Around

CAMPUS

Luigi Marzilli

Charles F. D’Agostino

Wen Jin Meng

George G. Stanley

Harry Roberts

Carol M. Wicks

Kenneth Rose

Charles F. D’Agostino, executive director of Innovation Park & Louisiana Business and Technology Center at LSU, was elected president of the Association of University Research Parks (AURP), which represents more than 700 research and science parks worldwide. He has served three terms on the AURP board. D’Agostino was a 2010 Fulbright Specialist at the U.S. State Department and received the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Business Incubation Association. He founded the Louisiana Business and Technology Center at LSU in 1988 and started the LSU Innovation Park in 2009. He has been actively involved in research parks and incubators internationally for the past twenty-six years.

Luigi Marzilli, chair of the Department of Chemistry and the William White Tison Professor of Chemistry, was awarded the 2014 Southern Chemist Award, given annually to one outstanding chemist in the Southeastern United States. Marzilli was recognized for his contributions in elucidating the roles of materials in biology and medicine and his advancement of young scientists. Previous LSU recipients are Boyd Professor Emeritus William Pryor and Boyd Professor and Philip W. West Professor of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry Isiah Warner. Marzilli also holds the Charles Holmes Herty Medal, the oldest award recognizing chemists in the southern region since 1933. He joins sixteen other chemists to receive both the Herty and Southern Chemist awards and is the second chemist in sixty-four years to receive both awards the same year.

Wen Jin Meng, Gerald Cire and Lena Grand Williams Professor of Mechanical Engineering, was named Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), a status of high professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. Meng, founder of Enervana Technologies, a Baton Rougebased start-up, is an inventor or co-inventor on seven U.S. patents. He is among 414 NAI Fellows representing more than 150 research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutions.

Harry Roberts, director of the Coastal Studies Institute and Boyd Professor in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences; George G. Stanley, professor in the Department of Chemistry; and Carol M. Wicks, the Frank W. and Patricia Harrison Family Professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society. Each Fellow is elected by their peers for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. LSU currently has thirty-five AAAS Fellows.

Kenneth Rose, associate dean of research and professor in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, received the American Fisheries Society Award of Excellence for his work in population, food web, and ecosystem modeling of aquatic systems. The award recognizes not only his research but also his collaborative spirit and sound knowledge.

Bradley Schaefer, professor of physics and astronomy, shared the 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics “for the most unexpected discovery that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, rather than slowing down as had been long assumed.”

The award recognizes his collaboration with fifty other researchers on the discovery, which also won a Nobel Prize in 2011. The award was founded by entrepreneur Yuri Milner in 2012 to honor important contributions to the world’s understanding of

50 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

physics. Categories for life science and mathematics discoveries have been added.

Winners for each category receive a $3 million prize – more than double the amount for the Nobel. Once the funds are divided among all collaborators, Schaefer will receive $32,787 for his involvement in the research.

Hsiao-Chun Wu, the Michael B. Voorhies Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering, was named a Fellow by the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE), the institute’s highest level of membership. Known as a subject matter expert in the areas of digital video broadcasting and wireless systems, Wu’s research has played a critical role in digital television technologies and fourth generation communication technologies such as 4G-LTE cellular networks. Wu is also an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer.

Bradley Schaefer

Hsiao-Chun Wu

LSU’s accreditation has been reaffirmed by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral degrees for the next decade. The reaffirmation process began in June 2012 with initial meetings between SACSCOC representatives and University leadership.

In June 2013, a steering committee composed of LSU administration, faculty, and staff submitted a compliance certification. A SACSCOC committee conducted an offsite review in November 2013 and sent to LSU a report of its findings. In March of 2014, the SACS On-Site Reaffirmation Committee visited LSU to review any areas of noncompliance and to evaluate LSU’s Quality Enhancement Plan, or QEP, a key component of the reaffirmation of accreditation process. After receiving the SACS committee’s final report, University officials in September submitted a response for final review.

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi – the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines – recently recognized the LSU chapter of Phi Kappa Phi as a Chapter of Excellence, the highest commendation a chapter can receive from the organization. The award is given to chapters that excel in recognizing and promoting academic excellence in all fields of higher education and engaging the community of scholars in service to others.

For the second straight year, LSU’s numbers in the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) as reported by the NCAA remained at an all-time high for the University with a score of 81, which continues with the trend that has seen the school’s GSR score improve, or remain the same, since the inception of the report in 2005. Two sports led LSU with perfect scores of 100 – women’s golf and women’s tennis, while volleyball (92), women’s basketball (92), gymnastics (92), women’s swimming (92), men’s golf (92) and men’s swimming (92) all recorded scores of at least 90 percent.

The undergraduate and graduate programs at the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture have once again received top rankings from DesignIntelligence magazine. The November/December 2014 issue of “America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools” ranked the undergraduate program as number one in the nation and the graduate program as number five in the nation for 2015. The school’s undergraduate and graduate programs have been consistently ranked within the top five in the nation for more than a decade, and 2015 marks the fifth time the undergraduate program has held the No. 1 position since 2007. DesignIntelligence also publishes the rankings of the top five undergraduate and graduate schools by region, and LSU is ranked as the number one landscape architecture school in the South for both its graduate and undergraduate programs.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

51

Around Campus

McNair Scholars Program Vet Finds His Future in Quantum Physics

By Aaron Looney Photo by Eddy Perez/University Relations

McNair Research Scholar Todd Moulder.

“The McNair program has me conducting research, presenting at conferences, and looking at a Ph.D.”

52 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

Todd Moulder strives for intelligence, whether in a university classroom or laboratory or in the field as part of the U.S. Armed Forces. With the assistance of the Ronald E. McNair Research Scholars program, operated through LSU’s University College, the Alexandria, La., junior has been able to continue his pursuit of knowledge in the challenging world of quantum physics.

Using a computer model, Moulder takes photons and shoots them at a perfect 45-degree angle at a beam splitter, which is a reflective mirror, with a 50 percent chance it will pass through and 50 percent chance it will reflect off the mirror.

“We start with one photon and throw it in there with one beam splitter, then two more beam splitters on the paths created,” he explained. “We keep on doing this. At the very bottom, we have detectors which sense where the photon has landed. It’s probabilistic, so we do it lots of times to create a nice probability distribution to associate. Funny things happen, like alternative paths interfering with each other to decrease or increase their probability of landing somewhere, even to the point of complete destruction. It’s kind of like the Plinko game from ‘The Price is Right,’ with the photon playing the role of the chip. There’s a nice bell curve of probability at the bottom, but it doesn’t always happen for certain cases of these beam-splitter levels.

This is something we’re not used to, so it’s interesting to see how this is happening.”

Jonathan P. Dowling, professor and Hearne Chair of Theoretical Physics and codirector of LSU’s Horace C. Hearne, Jr. Institute for Theoretical Physics, has served as Moulder’s mentor. He said that all of his undergraduate researchers have been accepted into Ph.D. programs. Joseph Givens, director of the McNair program, said Dowling and professors like him who volunteer their time are vital to its success.

TIGER TRIVIA Moulder’s path to LSU was different than most, coming to the University after serving in the Louisiana Army National Guard for seven years. He began his military service in the guard’s 528th Engineering Battalion, based in Monroe, as a medic. From there, he moved to a similar position with the guard’s Recruit Sustainment Program and later as a Supply Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) and Training NCO to assist with monthly drills. Two years later, he accepted a position in human intelligence with the 415th Military Intelligence.

“He really opened my eyes to the theoretical quantum stuff,” Moulder said of his platoon sergeant. “I was there doing my regular job, but in my off time I was reading these quantum papers and some weird theories that got my mind going. Upon mobilization, he told me, ‘Look, if you’re really interested, get into physics.’ In January 2011, I started at LSU.”

First Aid Moulder said that the McNair Research Scholars program has helped him achieve firsts not only for himself but also his family and hometown. “As far as I know, no one from the town I’m from pursued and went into physics as a career,” Moulder said. “It’s a small town. No one in my family had even considered pursuing a bachelor’s degree.

Now, the McNair program has me conducting research, presenting at conferences and looking at a Ph.D.” “Todd saw this as a way to change his trajectory, appreciating Alexandria but wanting to see the world in a different way,” Givens said. “I think there are many stories like that at LSU. That’s what McNair is about – giving students the opportunity to make these kinds of things happen for themselves. That’s why we provide the funding, so they can focus on the research instead of getting another job. We cover conference travel expenses because we feel that’s a great opportunity for them to share their research and network.”

Moulder said he feels that LSU has given him the proper tools and assistance to achieve his dreams. “It’s great to have someone like Dr. Dowling, who knows the business and tells me to play with these ideas,” he said. “I have the McNair program, which shows me how to conduct research and encourages me to move forward. And with Veterans Affairs, . . . [I] have support from people who understand who I am and what I’ve been through.”

Aaron Looney is a media relations editor in the Office of Communications & University Relations.

1. How many NCAA Final Four appearances have the men’s basketball team made?

Four Five Eleven Twelve 2. How many NCAA Final Four appearances have the Lady Tigers basketball team made?

Two Four Five Eight 3. What was the women’s basketball team called before they became the Lady Tigers?

The Tigresses The Ben-Gals The Bengal Belles The Tigerettes 4. Who coached LSU’s first baseball team in 1893?

Charles Coates Harry Rabenhorst Edgar Wingard E.B. Young 5. How many baseball players’ and coaches’ numbers have been retired?

One Two Three Four 6. Which baseball coach’s number has been retired?

Harry Rabenhorst Jim Smith Smoke Laval Skip Bertman 7. How many Women’s College World Series appearances have the Lady Tigers softball team made?

One Two Three Four 8. When was the first magazine or journal featuring news of the Alumni Association published?

1905 1926 1935 1958 9. When was LSU Press established?

1860 1942

1935 1958

10. Which literary journal did LSU publish jointly with Southern Methodist University to help keep it afloat during the Great Depression?

Texas Monthly Texas Literary Review Southwest Review Ladies Home Journal 11. Which two LSU professors helped in question 10?

Cleanth Brooks & Robert David Boyd & Thomas Boyd Penn Warren Henry Howe & Richard Russell Charles Pipkin & Thomas Austin Kirby 12. Which LSU president led troops during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II? Campbell Hodges Paul Hebert Harold Stoke Troy Middleton Tiger Trivia is compiled by Barry Cowan, assistant archivist at Hill Memorial Library.

Answers: 1a, 2:c, 3:b, 4:d, 5:b, 6:d, 7:c, 8:a, 9:b, 10:c, 11:a, 12:d

Military Intelligence

LSU LSUAlumni AlumniMagazine Magazine||Winter Spring 2015 2013

53

Big Day Record

Around Campus

LSU Team Breaks World Record

By Tara Kistler

The Tigrisomas Birding Team in Moyobamba with their local hosts and representatives of their sponsor, Conservation International.

A Slaty-backed Chat-Tyrant.

Striped Owl, a local species found in the Mayo Valley.

The LSU Tigrisomas Birding Team broke the world’s Big Day Record by identifying 354 bird species in twenty-four hours in October 2014. The previous record, held by renowned LSU ornithologist Ted Parker and thengraduate student Scott Robinson, was 331 species.

Big Day Peru was initially scheduled to begin Oct. 16, but after two weeks of scouting the Andes Mountains and Mayo Valley in northern Peru and mapping an efficient route for their record-breaking attempt, Tuesday, Oct. 14, proved to be the ideal day.

The team – made up of LSU Museum of Natural Science doctoral students Michael Harvey and Glenn Seeholzer, Museum Research Associate Dan Lane and Peru native Fernando Angulo – began its birding adventure at midnight and had identified nine species by 4 a.m., including the Long-whiskered Owlet, Lyre-tailed Nightjar, Plumbeous Rail, and the Mitred Parakeet. The team’s final bird, an Oilbird, was identified at 9:45 p.m.

No strangers to national awards, the Tigrisomas took top honors in the 2012 and 2013 Birding Rally Challenge in Peru, besting several of the world’s top birding teams.

They also hold the Louisiana State Big Day record of 222 species.

Breaking Parker and Robinson’s record was not the only goal of LSU Big Day Peru.

The event is one of the major fundraisers for the museum’s discovery-based research on biological diversity in the threatened habitats of the Andes Mountains and the Amazon Basin. LSU Big Day Peru was sponsored by LSU, Conservation International Peru, prom perú, the Tabasco Corporation, and Eagle Optics.

Tara Kistler is a media relations editor/writer in the Office of Communications & University Relations.

ON THE WEB museum.lsu.edu; www.facebook.com/LSUBigDay; @lsubigday; and blog.aba.org/2014/10/open-mic-tackling-the-world-big-day-record

FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF FALL EVENTS, VISIT www.lsualumni.org/events/eventscalendar2.asp

54 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

55

Around Campus

In Focus

College of Engineering Dean Rick Koubek, Phyllis Taylor, Jonathan Martin, Harry Longwell, President and Chancellor F. King Alexander, Gov. Bobby Jindal, LSU Foundation President Lee Griffin, Ron Cambre, and Provost Stuart Bell.

Engineering Groundbreaking – Ground was officially broken on Nov. 17, 2014 for the $110 million renovation of Patrick F. Taylor Hall and construction of a chemical engineering addition. Once finished, the expanded facility will be one of the largest free-standing engineering buildings in the U.S. Initiated by a public-private partnership, Gov. Bobby Jindal announced in 2012 his administration’s support of the expansion with $50 million in capital outlay funding for the project providing the college raised the remaining funds through private donations. In response, the “Breaking New Ground” capital campaign was launched in 2013, with a $15 million gift commitment from Phyllis M. Taylor to honor the legacy of her late husband.

Scheduled for completion in the fall of 2017, the total amount of academic space for the College of Engineering impacted by this project will be 462,150 square feet.

LSU Retirees – Mike VI’s personal

Bill Brown, Rose Mary Territo Wilhelm, Dr. David Baker, Marion Territo, and Jerald Juneau.

veterinarian, Dr. David Baker, spoke to the LSU Faculty and Staff Retirees Club Oct. 13, 2014, with insights and history about Mike. A major challenge, according to Baker, was finding a suitable replacement for Mike V in 2007 while avoiding shady dealers. Some 1,000 fans showed up as “Roscoe” became “Mike” when he entered his new home for the first time. On Nov. 10, members heard from political analyst Jim Nickel, Bill Cochran, Freddie Martin, Jim Nickel, who spoke on Election Day results and Denver Loupe, and Joan Benedict. predicted that the 2015 legislative session “will focus on the budget and not much else.” Retirees meet on the second Monday of the month during the academic year. All LSU retirees and their spouses are invited to join. Contact lsu.faculty.staff.ret.club@gmail.com.

Photos by Mark Claesgens

56 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

LSU Alumni Association National Board of Directors Chair Gil Rew throws treats to Homecoming Parade spectators.

Board Chair Gil Rew poses with Homecoming King Bradley Williams and Queen Chi Nguyen after Rew presented each of them with an LSU Ring.

Homecoming 2014 – the University community celebrated Homecoming 2014 with eight days of events Oct. 19-26, including a Tiger win over the Ole Miss Rebels and the crowning of Homecoming King Bradley Williams and Queen Chi Nguyen. Among the dozens of activities taking place were the CANapalooza Canned Food Drive and Blitz Build, Where’s Mike? Activity Find, the Little Tiger Spirit Competition, Spirit Walls at Free Speech Plaza, Splatterbeat, the presentation MARCH by Congressman John Lewis sponsored by University College, Field Day, Homecoming Pep Rally and Rave, Homecoming Concert, Battle of the Bands, Greek Lawn Decoration Competition, LSU African American Cultural Center Tailgate, and the Homecoming parade.

Parade-goers enjoy prime seating in front of the Lod Cook Alumni Center.

Photos by Johnny Gordon and Jim Zietz

Future Tiger Dane Carvalhido.

Lod Cook chats with Coach Les Miles at The Cook Hotel.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

57

Around Campus

In Focus

Lisa A. Lauxman, director, 4-H National Headquarters, USDA; Pam Van Horn, president, National Association of Extension 4-H Agents; Terril Faul, Louisiana National 4-H Hall of Fame inductee; Christina Alford, executive vice president, National 4-H Council.

4-H Hall of Fame – Terril Faul, former state leader of Louisiana 4-H was among fourteen individuals from across the country inducted into the National 4-H Hall of Fame last fall. He was recognized for his significant contributions to Louisiana 4-H, and he is the twelfth person from Louisiana to be honored.

Left to right, front row, Lt. Col. Wayne Macaluso, Brig. Gen. Karlynn P. O’Shaughnessy, Col. James Gregory “Greg” Jolissaint, and Brig. Gen. Dale E. Webb; back row, Cadets of the Ole War Skule President Richard Lipsey, Lt. Col. William Geary Mason, Col. Patrick R. Bossetta, Maj. Gen. Lee K. Levy II, Brad J. Juneau, and President and Chancellor F. King Alexander.

Leading the Conversation – As the nation celebrated Veterans Day 2014, LSU paid tribute to its military history at LSU Salutes, an event sponsored by LSU and Cadets of the Ole War Skule. As part of the weekend-long celebration, eight distinguished alumni were inducted into the military Hall of Honor during ceremonies at the LSU War Memorial on the Parade Ground. The honorees were Louisiana National Guard Col. Patrick R. Bossetta, of New Orleans; retired U.S. Army Col. James Gregory “Greg” Jolissaint, of Woodstock, Md.; Brad J. Juneau, of Leesburg, Va.; U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Lee K. Levy II, of Washington, D.C.; the late retired U.S. Army Col. Joseph A. Macaluso, of New Orleans; retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. William G. “Geary” Mason, of New Orleans; retired Brig. Gen. Karlynn P. O’Shaughnessy, of Holly Springs, N.C.; and retired Brig. Gen. Dale E. Webb, of Anniston, Ala. Photo by Ray Dry

58 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

59

William G. Haag

Focus on

FACULTY

LSU and Poverty Point

By Ed Cullen

Suzanne Turner, left, professor emeritus of landscape architecture and owner of Suzanne Turner Associates, a Baton Rouge landscape architecture firm, and her mother, Sue Turner, a longtime Baton Rouge historical building preservationist, get a tour of Poverty Point from William Haag around 1976.

Photo provided by Boyd Professor of Geography & Anthropology Jesse Walker

UNESCO World Heritage site Poverty Point.

LiDAR data courtesy of FEMA and the state of Louisiana; distributed by “Atlas: The Louisiana Statewide GIS,” LSU CADGIS Research Laboratory, Baton Rouge, La. Map courtesy of the Poverty Point Station Archaeology Program.

“The smooth-talking, witty, big man in his field was proud to become one of the first Alumni Professors.”

60 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

A Kentuckian by birth and LSU professor by choice, the late William G. Haag played an important role in what led to Poverty Point’s becoming a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage site in the fall of 2014.

One of the first four faculty members to be named an LSU Alumni Professor in 1966, Haag did two things that would eventually earn the almost 4,000-year-old Poverty Point site in West Carroll Parish worldwide acclaim. He formalized the archaeological methods by which the site’s history would be unearthed to tell the story of its prehistoric inhabitants. And, as Louisiana’s first state archaeologist, Haag was adamant that Poverty Point remain the property of Louisiana and not, as was twice proposed, be handed over to the federal government.

Haag’s influence as the state archaeologist and an interpreter of Poverty Point’s artifacts made it possible for Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, whose office includes the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, to count coup at the Oct. 11, 2014, celebration of Poverty Point’s designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As one official speaker that day at Poverty Point put it, “One day a bus is going to pull in here full of people from China.” The impact of international tourism on this economically depressed part of Louisiana isn’t lost on Dardenne, the man in charge of tourism for the state, or on the small towns near Poverty Point.

Because of Haag, it was Louisiana – not the federal government – that fought for and won Poverty Point’s designation as a World Heritage Site. Dozens of people worked on the project, from Diana Greenlee, adjunct professor of archaeology at the University of Louisiana-Monroe and Poverty Point station archaeologist, to project manager Nancy Hawkins in Baton Rouge. Hawkins is archaeologist manager in the Office of Cultural Development in the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism.

It would have tickled Haag that the October ceremony at Poverty Point was more like a North Louisiana family reunion than a United Nations event. More than 600 people crowded the Visitor’s Center grounds, availing themselves of free soft drinks and food in a festival setting. If you eavesdropped on some of the conversations, you heard festival-goers talking knowledgeably about the hunter-fisher-gatherers of Poverty Point. Other visitors had seen TV commercials and newspaper ads for the free prehistoric dwellers carnival. On the appointed day, they’d jumped into cars with children, dogs, ice chests and big hats to drive to the dedication ceremony near the town of Epps.

Once you start to appreciate the work required to move the dirt required to construct the site’s six mounds and miles of raised concentric circles, someone tells you that the acres of plaza over which La. Highway 577 runs and where 600 people are standing was also land elevated by the people of Poverty Point. Standing in what was once the grand plaza of the Poverty Point people, you realize the monumental effort required to move that much dirt, millions of cubic yards of soil, in woven baskets.

It takes reading, study, and going there to get the point of Poverty Point. There’s much to read, from the simple language of books for children, to books and magazine stories for laymen, to doctoral theses and articles in anthropological journals. You might start at www.LaStateParks.com or www.crt.state.la.us/archaeology. Next April, look for Poverty Point – Revealing the Forgotten City from LSU Press.

Haag, an LSU professor of anthropology from 1952 to 1978, joked that his salary was doubled when he was appointed to a second term as state archaeologist. The position paid nothing. The smooth-talking, witty, big man in his field was proud to become one of the first Alumni Professors, an honor and pay hike made possible by the LSU Alumni Association (then the LSU Alumni Federation).

He talked to civic groups because he enjoyed the give and take of public speaking

and because talking about pre-historic man’s intelligence and ability to adapt was, to Haag, akin to preaching. One of the organizers of a group Haag addressed gratis bragged that speakers from out of town got $500. All Haag got for his talk was the rental paid on a mandatory tuxedo.

In the early 1950s, J.A. Ford found an aerial photo that revealed Poverty Point’s concentric circles. An early colleague of Haag’s, Ford became head of Works Progress Administration archaeology in Louisiana while working on his master’s degree in anthropology in 1938 at the University of Michigan.

Haag, with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology from the University of Kentucky and a doctorate in vertebrate paleontology and anthropology from Michigan, was curator of the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Kentucky in 1937 and head of WPA projects in his native state.

One night in a motel room during a field trip in the 1950s, Ford showed Haag the aerial photo he’d come across. “At least, that’s the way I always heard it,” said Alaric “Ric” Haag, Haag’s youngest son.

“Do you know where this is?” Ford asked Haag, the two men peering at concentric circles visible in the aerial photo but not apparent at ground level.

“You’ve been there,” Ford told Haag.

Farmers in the northeastern part of West Carroll Parish near the town of Epps had been finding “Indian artifacts” for many years. That night, Ford and Haag were looking at land once part of Poverty Point Plantation through new eyes.

Archaeological findings suggest that Poverty Point’s prehistoric inhabitants lived on the manmade ridges (concentric circles), played games and held ceremonies on the vast plaza between Bayou Macon and the largest of five mounds. Investigation suggests the ridges and mounds were a grand design.

Some investigators think the design was influenced by Poverty Point people’s observations of the heavens. The big mystery is, where are the remains of the thousands of people who worked and lived there from 1700 B.C. to about 1100 B.C.?

His father was willing to shed theories, including some of his own astronomical thoughts on Poverty Point people, as more plausible theories came up, said Alaric Haag, a systems administrator in the Coastal Studies Institute’s Earth Scan Laboratory – who works in the building where his father taught.

He recalls that when he was a child, his father took him on a “dig” in Magnolia Woods, the Baton Rouge subdivision where the family lived. William Haag, famous thinker/digger known worldwide for his work on the bones of prehistoric, domesticated dogs and pioneering work at Poverty Point, called the investigation at the end of Castle Kirk Drive “The Ricky Site.”

Ed Cullen, an LSU journalism graduate, is author of Letter in a Woodpile, a collection of his essays for National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.”

He’s retired from the Baton Rouge Advocate where he wrote the Sunday column “Attic Salt.”

The Alumni Professorship

Arthur Colmer

William Haag

Kenneth Klaus

James Payne

In 1966, the then-LSU Alumni Federation, through its annual Alumni Fund, provided the financial resources to create “four special professorships [that] carry additional prestige and financial compensation. . . . [T]he new program calls for the creation of four ‘Alumni Professorships,’ which recognize teaching abilities of distinguished LSU faculty members.” (LSU Alumni News, March 1966).

The first “four special professors” were Arthur R. Colmer, Alumni Professor of Microbiology; William G. Haag, Alumni Professor of Geography & Anthropology; Kenneth B. Klaus, Jr., Alumni Professor of Music; and James P. Payne, Alumni Professor of Economics.

Today, the LSU Alumni Association supports more than three dozen Alumni Professors with annual stipends of $6,200.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

61

Family Makes Its Mark on LSU Sports

Locker

ROOM

Robinson Tennis Stadium Pays Tribute to Coach

By Bud Johnson Photo by Johnny Gordon

Three descendants of legendary LSU tennis coach Dub Robinson, Dr. Tom Robinson, Hannah Robinson, and Johnny Robinson, survey the new Robinson Stadium.

Each excelled in Tiger athletics. Tom was undefeated in SEC competition in 1958, winning the No. 2 singles championship. Johnny won the No. 5 singles title in the SEC tournament in 1958. He and Tom teamed up to win the No. 2 doubles championship in the 1959 SEC tournament. Johnny was a star halfback on the Tigers’ national championship football team of 1958 and an NFL all-star defensive back for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Hannah, Johnny’s granddaughter, was All-SEC second team for the Tigers in 2008.

LSU tennis has come a long way, baby! In the late 1950s, the Robinson family was LSU tennis. W.T. “Dub” Robinson (1936 BACH HS&E, 1943 MAST HS&E) was the coach. His sons, Tom (1959 BACH H&SS, 1963 MD) and Johnny (1961 BACH H&SS), usually won their singles match and teamed up to win in doubles. Tom was the No. 2 singles champion in the Southeastern Conference in 1958 and undefeated in the SEC that year. Johnny won the SEC’s No. 5 singles in 1958. The Robinson brothers were the SEC’s No. 2 doubles champion in 1959. But their success on the court was somewhat diminished by their surroundings.

In that day, LSU’s tennis home was an asphalt surface near University High. The team dressing room was a 1930s Ag field shack behind court #3. The visiting team dressed in the U-High gym.

A state of the art stadium is being built on Gourrier Lane for the Tigers’ men’s and women’s teams. The new home for LSU tennis is as good as it gets. Six indoor and twelve outdoor courts – players’ lounges, locker rooms, coaches’ offices, athletic training facilities – plus seating, rest rooms, and a concessions area for fans. It is one of several facility upgrades designed to separate LSU athletics from the rest. The expected completion date is April.

The name on this building – W.T. (DUB) ROBINSON STADIUM – pays tribute to one of LSU’s pioneer coaches and teachers, a man whose memory is cherished by all who knew him, his family, and the current LSU administration – Coach Dub Robinson.

The indoor courts will cover approximately 75,000 square feet, large enough to house the entire department of athletics when Dub coached his boys in the 1950s. W.T. (Dub) Robinson Stadium puts LSU tennis in an elite category. Its namesake was also one of a kind.

There are countless stories that illustrate Dub’s tenacity, courage and competitive fire. This is a family favorite. His wife, Jewel, was in the hospital in Houston in 1966.

Coach Robinson went out to his car in the middle of the night to put money in the parking meter. He had his trunk open when a robber stuck a gun into Coach’s back and said, “I won’t hurt you. Just give me your wallet.”

Robinson picked up his tennis racket and said, “You’re right! You won’t hurt me!”

He started chasing the guy. The robber climbed on the trunk of car and in “selfdefense” shot Coach in the abdomen and ran. Robinson chased him for two blocks, realized he was losing blood, and went to the emergency room. Coach became an instant celebrity around the hospital, walking the halls and visiting other patients.

He coached Tiger tennis teams from 1948 to 1979. At his retirement, his tenure was the longest of any LSU coach in any sport. His compensation was $250 per semester.

He used his station wagon to transport the team to out-of-town competition. Each team member received two shirts, two pairs of shorts, a pair of shoes, and a racket each spring. There were only three scholarships for tennis in those days.

“He believed he could teach anyone anything – and make them like it. [He] could take thirty students on one court and make each feel like they received individual instruction.” The Early Years

Dub was one of twenty-one children. His father had a general store and a farm in Forest, La., in East Carroll Parish, and Robinson spent a lot of time in his youth picking cotton and working in the fields. He lettered in five sports at Forest High and was the runner-up in Louisiana high school tennis singles. A teacher convinced him to work his way through LSU. He came to LSU in the fall of 1931. He survived by waiting tables in the cafeteria in the basement of Hatcher Hall. As a sophomore, Robinson won the “LSU Box-off,” a tournament open to the entire male student body. His win enabled him to get a boxing scholarship and become LSU’s welterweight boxing champion. After graduation, he was invited to try out for the U.S. Olympic boxing team in 1936. It was at the height of

62 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

the Depression; Dub decided to get a job. Robinson married his college sweetheart, Jewel Meredith, LSU’s 1935 Agriculture Queen.

After teaching at Forest High School and serving as principal at Lake Providence High School, Dub came back to LSU. He directed the physical fitness program for new Army recruits from 1942 to 1945. In 1943, Coach Robinson also began teaching in the Health & Physical Education department and completed work for a master’s degree.

The W.T. (Dub) Robinson Stadium.

His teaching skills and his demeanor were legendary. He taught handball, boxing, gymnastics, tennis, and health to physical education majors, and H&PE activity classes required by all majors at the time.

He was noted for his challenges to his students on the first class meeting and his life lessons to anyone who would listen. “If anyone can beat me in handball,” Robinson told his handball class, “you will get an automatic A and won’t have to attend another meeting of this class.” None of his students ever beat him. Few people ever did.

Malcolm Patterson, a former member of the physical education department, remembers Dub well. “Everyone respected Dub as a teacher,” Patterson said. “His speech and his mannerism commanded your attention. His intensity and skilled instruction made it impossible not to concentrate completely. Dub Robinson was the classic Master Teacher.”

Sharing His Vision Coach was interested in young talent. Each summer for twenty years, he offered tennis lessons at LSU to Baton Rouge youth. Beginner lessons were from 7 to 8 a.m., intermediates from 8 until 9, and advanced from 9 until 10. He made $15 per student per session, which ran for six weeks, three times a week. Then, starting at 10 a.m., he taught all tournament players free.

At least three generations of tennis players got their start with Coach Robinson at the old courts behind the Panhellenic Building adjacent to Evangeline Hall. “Dad’s greatest gift as a teacher was his enthusiasm,” Tom says. “He believed he could teach anyone anything – and make them like it. Dad could take thirty students on one court and make each feel like they received individual instruction.”

He often shared his wisdom with his sons Tom and Johnny and his grandsons. “Some of Dad’s teachings, which he lived, are always with me,” Tom said. “Be a gentleman when you win; be a man when you lose. If you lose, hurt so bad that you work harder, so it won’t happen again. Prepare, sacrifice, and give your best. Bring out the best in others. Have faith in the Lord and study His Word. Always respect your mother.”

Johnny shared these memories of Dub: “I believe the most lessons learned from my Dad on tenacity were from the fishing trips we took. I never saw Dad give up on anything. His fishing trips were joyful but exceptionally challenging. He was the best lure caster in the world. If you could not negotiate around the trees in the swamp it was going to be a bad day for you and him.

It was bad for him because he would be getting your lures out of trees. He could cast under hand, sideways and every cast known to man without hanging up. I loved to see him fish.”

He often told his grandchildren, “What you do at LSU is important. But what you do after LSU is more important.” Coach Robinson’s clan certainly made their mark on the outside world.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

63

Locker Room

After Tom graduated from the LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans in 1963, he completed his internship and flight training in the U.S. Air Force. He served as a flight surgeon in Vietnam.

He was both the Air Training Command and Military Airlift Command tennis champion and played on the USAF tennis team at the All-Service tennis tournaments. Upon leaving the Air Force, Tom completed his ophthalmology residence in New Orleans and began practice in Alexandria, La. He retired from his practice after thirty-five years.

This year he was persuaded to supervise the ophthalmology residents part-time at The Robinson family was LSU tennis in 1958-1959. Johnny, Dub, and Tom, left to right, brought home championships from the SEC tournament. the Alexandria VA hospital. In 1977, Tom began going to Mexico on eye mission surgery trips, four or more times a year for over thirty-seven years. His 150 plus trips have provided 15,000 eye surgeries.

Johnny, a star halfback on the 1958 LSU national championship football team, played with the Kansas City Chiefs for twelve seasons. He was an NFL all star for eight seasons. He played in the first Super Bowl and was a member of the Chiefs team that won Super Bowl IV in New Orleans. He is a member of an exclusive club that won both a college and a professional national championship. After retiring from the pros, Johnny became the tennis coach and defensive backfield coach at Northeast State (now UL-M) in Monroe. He soon noticed a greater need for Monroe. He bought a large, two-story house with acreage on the Ouachita River and founded the Johnny Robinson Boys Home. With help from former LSU and Kansas City players, he created an environment for safe growth for troubled youth. He has cared for boys from abusive homes, who cannot fit into the foster care system and would otherwise be sent to adolescent reform school. For thirty-five years, he has been “Dad” to over 2,000 boys who grew up in the Johnny Robinson Boys Home.

The latest member of the Robinson clan to make her mark at LSU and beyond is Hannah Robinson, Johnny’s granddaughter. She was ranked No. 1 in Louisiana junior girl tennis for eight years and was in the top 10 in the South her senior year in high school. In 2008 Hannah was 2nd Team All-SEC and All-Louisiana. She was ITA Scholar Athlete for four years at LSU. She graduated cum laude from LSU (2010 BACH BUS, 2014 JD). She earned the CALI Award for highest grade average in legal research and writing while in law school, and she is now an associate at Kean Miller law firm in Baton Rouge.

Coach Robinson was a Tiger until the end. Diagnosed with leukemia, he played in a tennis tournament and went fishing the day before he entered the hospital. He died at M.D. Anderson in December 1987.

His memory is alive with his family. Twenty to thirty family members gather each Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and Fourth of July. And no celebration is complete without several stories about Coach or beloved Papaw.

Daphne Robinson contributed to this story.

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

64 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

65

Brown, O’Neal Enter Hall of Fame Together

Locker Room

By Kent Lowe Photo by Eddie Nunez

Their careers and lives have been so tied together ESPN is working on a special movie about their relationship. It seems only fitting that on Nov. 23, 2014, LSU player-icon Shaquille O’Neal and LSU legendary Coach Dale Brown were inducted together into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in ceremonies at the historic Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midlands.

They were part of a star-studded induction group that included All-Americans and NCAA Champions Grant Hill of Duke and Darrell Griffith of Louisville, NAIA star Zelmo Beaty from Prairie View A&M, Final Four Coach Gary Williams of Maryland, and contributors Howard Garfinkel and Glenn Wilkes, Sr. O’Neal played three years for Brown at LSU (1989-1992) and averaged 22 points, 14 rebounds, and five blocks. He was a first-team All-American and national player of the year as both a sophomore and junior.

Brown won 60 percent of his games during his 25-year career at LSU (19721997). He took the Tigers to the NCAA Final Four in 1981 and 1986 and was the national coach of the year in 1981.

LSU is already represented in the Hall

by Bob Pettit, Pete Maravich, Tex Winter, and Joe Dean, Sr., the last to go in two years ago as a contributor.

Shaquille O’Neal and Dale Brown “hold court” at the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

66 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

Kent Lowe is associate director of LSU Athletics. Eddie Nunez is senior associate athletic director.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

67

Tiger

NATION

1970s

David R. Cassidy (1972 BACH H&SS, 1975 JD), an attorney in the Baton Rouge office of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, was named to the 2015 edition of Louisiana Super Lawyers in the area of Tax. Mike Czerwinski (1971 BACH ENGR), of Keller, Texas, was named chief financial officer at NetAmerica Alliance in May. For the past two years, Czerwinski was acting CFO at Net America while maintaining his role as vice presidentfinancial services at CHR Solutions, a consulting firm providing services to rural telecommunications providers.

Degrees BACH MAST PHD SPEC DVM JD MD DDS

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 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

NetAmerica Alliance assists rural wireless telecommunications companies with the design, construction, and operations of wireless systems with a particular focus on working with Sprint to fill out the Sprint coverage of rural areas in partnership with rural carriers.

Paul M. Hebert, Jr. (1970 JD), an attorney in the Baton Rouge office of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, was named to the 2015 edition of Louisiana Super Lawyers in the area of Family Law. Eve B. Masinter (1979 BACH H&SS, 1982 JD), an attorney in the New Orleans office of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, was named to the 2015 edition of Louisiana Super Lawyers in the area of Employment & Labor.

Van R. Mayhall, Jr. (1971 JD ), an attorney in the Baton Rouge office of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, was named to the 2015 edition of Louisiana Super Lawyers in the area of Business/Corporate.

Robert McCashin (1971 BACH M&DA, 1972 MAST M&DA), director of orchestras and professor of conducting and violin at James Madison University (JMU) in Harrisonburg, Va., received the 2014-2015 College of Visual and Performing Arts Distinguished Teacher Award. McCashin, now in his fortysecond year of teaching at the college

level, has been at JMU for twenty-three years. He previously was on faculty at the University of Texas at Arlington and Texas Wesleyan University. His experience as a professional violinist began in 1964 when he auditioned for and won a position with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra at age sixteen.

While at LSU, he studied with Dinos Constantinides, and he later completed the doctoral degree in musical arts from the University of Arizona. He is a popular guest speaker for seminars, master classes, and presentations to professional teachers/conductors throughout the U.S., has more than fifty published compositions and arrangements, and is co-author of New Directions for Strings and A Scale in Time.

Abe Munfakh (1970 BACH ENGR), founder, president and CEO of Munfakh & Associates, in Plymouth, Mich., has been appointed to a three-year term on the Henry Ford College Foundation board of directors. Munfakh is chairman of the Arab American and Chaldean Council in Lathrup Village, where he recently was re-elected for a third three-year term. He worked for more than thirty years at Ayres, Lewis, Norris & May, Inc., in Ann Arbor, eventually serving as president.

A registered professional engineer in Michigan, Indiana, and Louisiana, he has served as president of the Schoolcraft College Foundation board in Livonia and served on the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce, Northville Chamber of Commerce, Michigan Board of Professional Engineers, the Michigan Board of Architects, and other community and political organizations. He holds a master’s degree in civil engineering and management from the University of Michigan.

SHARE YOUR NEWS Share news of your new job or promotion, your wedding, honors, awards, new babies, and other

celebrations with fellow alumni. To submit an item and photos for publication, e-mail jackie@lsualumni.org or call 225-578-3370.

68 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

Emile “Chip” Troxclair (1979 BACH ENGR ), has been named vice president of Mississippi Power of Kemper development with responsibility for leading the Kemper County energy facility project, Plant Radcliffe, through the final stages of construction and startup, into ongoing commercial operations. With more than thirty-four years of industry experience, he has held numerous leadership positions throughout his career, including vice president for the gasification technology business for CB&I. He was involved in the design, startup, and operations of Dow Chemical’s first commercial coal gasification facility and later served as plant manager for Destec Energy’s Wabash River IGCC power plant.

1980s

Robert L. Atkinson (1980 BACH H&SS, 1983 JD), an attorney in the Baton Rouge office of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, was named to the 2015 edition of Louisiana Super Lawyers in the area of Health Care.

Gerald D. “Jerry” Hebert II (1985 BACH A&D), president at GraceHebert Architects, has been appointed to LSU University College’s Advisory Board. Hebert and his wife, Linda (1995 BACH HS&E), have three children – David (2008 BACH A&D), also with GraceHebert; Andrea Hebert Buttross (2011 BACH HS&E);

and Daniel, an anticipated May 2015 mechanical engineering graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Donna W. Howell (1988 MLIS) retired as director of the Mountain Regional Library System in Young Harris, Georgia, on Nov. 30, 2014. She earned a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Western Carolina University and a specialist in Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina.

Keith M. Jones (1982 BACH BUS) was promoted in October to the rank of rear admiral.

He is the first AfricanAmerican Flag officer in the history of the U.S.

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND Now in Hardback

THE LSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE SIXTH PRINTING of the

LOUISIANA TIGER BAIT

SELECTED RECIPES FROM L.S.U. ALUMS...

AVAILABLE AT THE LSU ALUMNI GIFT SHOP LOCATED IN THE LOBBY OF THE COOK HOTEL 225.383.0241 shop.lsualumni.org

RESERVE BOOKS TOYOUR Just in t DAY... for Chri ime stmas!

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

69

Tiger Nation

Navy Supply Corps (Reserve Component), which has been in existence since 1795. During his career, Jones has served in active duty and reserve leadership and staff positions in seagoing and shore units and in multiple overseas recalls to active duty in support of Operation Southern Dawn, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation New Dawn. From 2011 to 2012, he was the commander of Navy Expeditionary Support Group Forward MIKE and U.S. 5th Fleet Task Group 56.3 at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. He served on the Secretary of the Navy’s National Navy Reserve Policy Board and has been Chief of the Supply Corps Diversity Council.

He was the first Supply Corps reserve officer to receive the Vice Admiral Robert F. Batchelder Award from the U.S. Navy League. Jones is a qualified Seabee Combat Warfare Officer with multiple personal awards and unit, campaign, and service awards. Commissioned through Officer Candidate School in 1984, he holds an M.B.A. from California State University-Bakersfield and has completed educational programs at Navy War College, National Defense University, and University of North Carolina KenanFlagler Business School.

Allen Naugle (1986 BACH ENGR) has joined HMS Global Maritime as director of safety, quality, and environment and is headquartered in the company’s corporate office in New Albany, Ind. He brings twenty-eight years of engineering leadership experience to the job, including twenty-one years serving as an officer in the U.S. Air Force.

Prior to his position with HMS Global Maritime, Naugle was director of operations for TEAM Integrated Engineering, Inc. He retired from the military as a lieutenant colonel in 2007 after years of involvement in bioenvironmental engineering projects around the world. Naugle earned a

70 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

master’s degree in environmental engineering sciences from the University of Florida and attended Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College, Air War College, and Air University through the Air Force.

Fred J. Rubin (1983 BACH BUS) was named senior vice president and chief credit officer of PenFed, the Pentagon Federal Credit Union.

Phil Turnipseed (1986 MAST ENGR), science adviser for water programs at U.S. Geological Survey, Southeast Region, was named an at-large trustee of the American Academy of Water Resource Engineers (AAWRE). He served as the center director of the USGS National Wetlands Research Center in Lafayette, La., and was previously the principal USGS liaison to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, International Joint Commission, and Environment Canada Ministry.

Turnipseed began his USGS career in 1987 as a civil engineer with the Mississippi Department of Transportation and has worked at USGS science centers in Mississippi, Texas, Virginia, and Louisiana. He has authored or co-authored more than eighty peerreviewed reports, posters, and scientific papers and received the Department of the Interior Superior Service Award (2006) and the USGS WRD Unit Award for Excellence for his service and contributions.

Balaji Yelamanchili (1988 MAST ENGR) joined Symantec Corp. as executive vice president and general manager of enterprise security products. He brings more than twenty years of software development, product marketing, and

general management experience to his new role. Yelamanchili came to Symantec from Oracle, where he was senior vice president overseeing the company’s analytics and performance management products. Prior to Oracle, he was a senior vice president and co-general manager at EMC, in the content management and archiving division. He holds an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

1990s

Cullen J. Dupuy (1990 BACH BUS, 1993 JD), an attorney in the Baton Rouge office of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, was named to the 2015 edition of Louisiana Super Lawyers in the area of Personal Injury-Medical Malpractice.

Emily B. Grey (1997 BACH H&SS, 2000 JD), an attorney in the Baton Rouge office of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, was named to the 2015 edition of Louisiana Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in the area of Health Care.

Joaneane A. Smith (1997 MBA) is president and CEO of Global Commerce and Services in Harvey, La. The company, a Certified Hubzone, SDB, Minority, and Economically Disadvantaged Woman-Owned Small Business, was ranked No. 1 among the 2014 LSU 100 Fastest Growing Businesses. Other recent awards include the 2014 Outstanding Entrepreneurial Leadership Award by Congressman Cedric Richmond, the 2014 Washington Technology Fast 50, and the 2014 Inc. 500.

J. Kevin Stockstill (1992 BACH BUS), founder and principal attorney of J. Kevin Stockstill, Attorney at Law in Lafayette, La., has been named a 2015 Louisiana Super Lawyer by Thomson Reuters.

Benton L. Toups (1997 BACH H&SS, 2000 JD), an attorney in the Washington, D.C., office of Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog was recognized

by Business North Carolina as part of the magazine’s Legal Elite program. He was listed in the area of Employment Law. Ashley B. Vinson (1999 BACH H&SS), of San Francisco, was named a partner at Akin Gump. As a member of the

firm’s litigation practice, she principally represents insurers and financial services companies in class actions and other high-stakes litigation matters.

Vinson received her J.D. from Harvard Law School.

2000s

Frank Collins III (2007 BACH H&SS), was named deputy chief of staff to Florida Gov. Rick Scott in November 2014. Collins most recently served as communications director for Scott and prior to that was deputy communications director in the governor’s communications office.

Before moving to Florida, he was policy coordinator for the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and worked in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s press office in numerous positions, including press secretary.

Anna Dearmon (2008 BACH MCOM) has joined DEVENEY in New Orleans as an account executive. She specializes in crisis and industry public relations.

Prior to joining DEVENEY, Dearmon served as communications director for several Louisiana state government agencies, including the Louisiana Housing Corporation and Department of Natural Resources.

Jonathan D. Howell (2009 MAST H&SS), a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and deputy commander of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, Miss., retired in December 2014 after twenty-one years of

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

71

Tiger Nation

military service. He was previously executive officer for the 50th Engineer Company (Assault Float Bridge) in the Republic of Korea; deployed to Iraq from 2007 to 2008 as a combat adviser to the Iraqi Army and head of the Iraq Area Office in the USACE Middle East District; and worked with the U.S. State Department and the governments of Iraq and Kuwait in merging the Iraq and Kuwait Area Offices into the Gulf Area Office. He joined ERDC in 2013 to serve as program manager in the directorate of public works and is a registered Project Management Professional and certified Engineer-in-Training with the State of Georgia. Howell received a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and holds a degree from the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. His decorations include the Bronze Star, the Bronze Order of the DeFleury Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, and the Combat Action Badge, among others. Howell and his wife, the former Irina Syromiatnikova, reside in Clinton, Miss., with their daughter and newborn son, along with Irina’s mother, Natalia.

Eric B. Landry (2002 BACH BUS, 2006 JD), an attorney in the Baton Rouge office of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, was named to the 2015 edition of Louisiana Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in the area of Banking.

Allie Prest (2002 BACH HS&E) was promoted to assistant dean for undergraduate academic services in the College of Music & Dramatic Arts (CMDA). She has been at LSU since 2009, first as an academic

72 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

counselor in the College of Science, then as a CMDA counselor. While teaching middle and high school students, she earned a master’s degree in gifted education at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, La. Kevin Roig (2009 BACH H&SS, 2012 MBA) has been named deputy chief of staff and communications director for newly elected Louisiana 6th District Congressman Garret Graves. Roig most recently served as campaign manager for the congressional campaign, and he was previously client manager of General Electric’s healthcare division in South Louisiana hospitals. Roig is married to the former Renee Regan (2009 BACH BUS).

Jennifer D. Sims (2004 BACH BUS, 2007 JD) has been named a partner in the Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson law firm. Sims serves as city attorney for the City of Central and counsel for the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors. She has served as an adjunct instructor of sports law at in the E.J. Ourso College of Business. Sims is admitted to practice in all Louisiana and Mississippi state and federal courts.

2010s

Danielle Borel (2011 BACH BUS, 2014 JD) joined Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson’s Baton Rouge office in the commercial litigation and healthcare sections. She interned at the firm before becoming an associate. A Moot Court and Trial Advocacy Board Member during law school, she served as articles editor and junior associate for the Louisiana Law Review and was class president of the Student Bar Association.

BABY

BENGALS

Aaron Crousillac (2005 BACH ENGR) ) and his wife, the former Jenna Hatty (2006 BACH H&SS, 2009 JD), welcomed future Tiger Benjamin Paul on Sept. 30, 2014, at 6:10 p.m. Benjamin weighed 6 lbs. 8oz. and was 20 1/4 inches long.

The family resides in Baton Rouge.

Henry Hartman Jones, born Oct. 23, 2014, was welcomed home by his big brother, Thomas Allen.

Proud parents are Chris (2007 BACH ENGR) and Tara Grace Jones (2006 BACH H&SS). Henry’s paternal grandparents are Tracy (1976 BACH HS&E, 1977 MAST HS&E) and Candy Jones (1978 BACH HS&E, 1988 MAST HS&E), of Baton Rouge, and his maternal grandparents are Troy and Lynn Ballard, of St. Francisville, La. Robert Levasseur (2011 BACH BUS) and Portia Bridges Levasseur (2010 MAST MCOM) welcomed a daughter Simone Carol on Oct. 29, 2014. Simone was welcomed home by big sis Eleanor. The family resides in Morris Plains, N.J. Photo by Artistically Amy. Brad Mathews (2005 BACH BUS) and his wife, Maria (2005 BACH H&SS, 2008 MAST H&SS), announce the birth of their son, Nicholas Andrew, on Aug. 16, 2014. Nicholas weighed 8 lbs. 11 oz. and was 21 ½ in. long.

His maternal grandparents are former LSU Professor of Music Victor and June (1973 BACH SCI, 1980 PHD SCI) Klimash, and his maternal great-grandfather is Thomas C. Walachy (1951 MAST M&DA). Maria is a research associate in the E.J. Ourso College of Business.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

73

Tiger Nation

Tigers in Print Marla Dean (2005 PHD M&DA) and Manuel Carreon Simple Machines (Slaughter House Press) What happens when the unbreakable is broken? In the novel Simple Machines, Michael Carreon and Marla Dean follow the path of Master Sgt. Joseph Carreon, a leader of a Special Operations unit, during his seventh deployment in the Afghanistan conflict. It is a brutal and revealing look into this secret world and tracks the progression of post-traumatic stress disorder as a respected warrior is pushed to the limits of human endurance. Simple Machines is not for the faint of heart or those seeking a hero. It is a realistic journey of an American soldier’s battle with his own mind and the fury of conflict.

James Stephen Lindsey (1969 BACH BUS) Take Charge of Your Healthcare Management Career: 50 Lessons That Drive Success (Health Administration Press) Success isn’t something you are born with – it is carefully cultivated and mastered. And a job, when it works well, can fit like a glove and provide immense personal and professional satisfaction. In their book, James Stephen Lindsey and Kenneth R. White provide fifty succinct lessons

74 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

to guide students as they begin their careers in healthcare management and help them achieve success and professional fulfillment, whatever their role. Each lesson outlines traits, behaviors, and skills needed to maximize strengths; master career success; and achieve the perfect job fit and concludes with helpful exercises that will prompt self-reflection and recommended resources for additional information. Written in a conversational style, the lessons broadly cover three major areas: managing yourself, managing your job, and taking charge of your career.

Michael L. Ryan (1964 BACH BUS) Don’t Manage ’Em – Lead ’Em! (iUninverse) In a briefcase of practical, by-thenumbers approaches to leading associates in the workplace, Michael Ryan leads managers on a quest to become leaders. Through case studies, statistics, and secrets he discovered during a fifty-year career, readers learn how to recruit, attract, and retain excellent employees; create a workplace that encourages employees to motivate themselves; counsel, coach, and constructively resolve conflicts; stay out of trouble with lawyers and government agencies; and communicate effectively in writing, orally, and nonverbally. Ryan

offers insights on becoming a better listener, balancing work and life, and implementing the necessary changes to accomplish your goals. While books and manuals sit on a shelf and collect dust, a briefcase is kept handy and carried around. Readers will keep this guide near at all times – and will be on their way to becoming leaders.

M.O. Walsh (1998 BACH H&SS) My Sunshine Away (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) It was the summer everything changed.

My Sunshine Away unfolds in a Baton Rouge neighborhood best known for cookouts on sweltering summer afternoons, cauldrons of spicy crawfish, and passionate football fandom. But in the summer of 1989, when fifteen-yearold Lindy Simpson, free spirit, track star, and belle of the block, experiences a horrible crime late one evening near her home, it becomes apparent that this idyllic stretch of southern suburbia has a dark side, too. M.O. Walsh juxtaposes the enchantment of a charmed childhood with the gripping story of a violent crime, unraveling families, and consuming adolescent love. Acutely wise and deeply honest, it is an astonishing and page-turning debut about the meaning of family, the power of memory, and our ability to forgive.

TIGER GEAR

FOR THE NEW YEAR! GIFTSHOP.LSUALUMNI.ORG THE SHELTON GIFT SHOP 3848 West Lakeshore Drive Baton Rouge, LA

1.

2.

225.383.0241 (Located in the lobby of The Cook Hotel) 3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

9.

15.

1 THE GAME LSU STATE PURPLE CAP $24.00 2 CUTTER AND BUCK MEN’S GOLD TATTERSOL SHIRT $63.00 3 GIRL’S WHITE LOLA JACKET $41.00 4 THE GAME SAFARI STRAW HAT $39.00 5 LANDES FIGHT SONG TOTE $29.00 6 TIGERBAIT COOKBOOK $19.95 7 COLLEGE KIDS YOUTH GREY WAFFLE TEE $22.00 8 COLUMBIA WOMEN’S FLEECE GOLD JACKET $60.00 9 GARB INFANT PURPLE AND WHITE ONESIE $32.00 10 GAMEDAY PURPLE AND GOLD TIGER STRIPE BOOTS $60.00 11 MIKE THE TIGER BOOK $22.95 12 WOMEN’S LONG SLEEVE SPIRIT TEE $42.00 13 NIKE WHITE | Spring 2015 75 LSU Alumni 1FIT Magazine TODDLER JERSEY $50.00 14 COLUMBIA WOMEN’S PURPLE FLEECE JACKET $60.00 15 TOP OF THE WORLD GOLD BOOSTER CAP $26.00

Tiger Nation

In Memoriam Rita Wetta Adams (1941 BACH EDUC) passed away on Nov. 21, 2014. A longtime member of the LSU Alumni Association, she generously donated funds to establish two Chancellor’s Leadership scholarships in her name as well as the Robert Thomas and Rita Wetta Adams Top 100 Scholarship. Adams also supported the LSU War Memorial, Tiger Plaza, The Cook Hotel & Conference Center, and the Jack & Priscilla Andonie Sports Museum.

Jeremiah William “Jerry” Affolter, Jr. (1942 BACH ENGR) passed away on Dec. 18, 2014, in Baton Rouge. After a forty-year career at Exxon, Affolter

performed consulting work worldwide. His dedication to LSU included funding for the Department of Chemical Engineering Jay Affolter Endowed Professorship and the establishment of a scholarship in memory of his wife, Betty Meade. A member of the LSU Foundation Laureate Society, the George M. Graham Laureate Society, and the LSU Alumni Association, he was a recipient of the Association’s Purple & Gold Award for outstanding philanthropy and service to the Association and LSU. He worked on behalf of the College of Engineering, helping to procure special equipment and supporting connections between Exxon and engineering students. In 1970 he received the A.B. Patterson Award for Outstanding Management in Engineering in Louisiana.

1936 Joseph Morris Schendle, 1936 BACH H&SS, Dec. 20, 2014, Dallas, Texas

1940s Jules E. Avrard, Jr., 1943 BACH AGR, Aug. 20, 2014, Birmingham, Ala. Walter Bliss, Jr., 1947 BACH ENGR, Nov. 4, 2014, Denham Springs, La. Ouida Seal Bourke, 1946 BACH AGR, Dec. 15, 2014, Baton Rouge, La. Virgus Ray Cardozier, 1947 BACH AGR, 1950 MAST AGR, Nov. 2, 2014, Austin, Texas Patricia Farr Carroll, 1942 BACH HS&E, Dec. 24, 2014, Baton Rouge, La. John T. Carter, 1949 BACH ENGR, Jan. 14, 2015, Lake Jackson, Texas Vivian Blanche Cazayou, 1942 BACH HS&E, 1943 MAST HS&E, Dec. 2, 2014, Baton Rouge, La. Robert Conway, 1948 BACH BUS, Oct. 26, 2014, Baton Rouge, La. Albert Troy “A.T.” Furr, 1947 BACH ENGR, Dec. 23, 2014, Baker, La. Teresa Aubin Hemphill, 1948 BACH HS&E, 1950 MAST HS&E, Nov. 19, 2014, Baton Rouge, La. Lewis E. “Ed” Miremont, 1949 BACH ENGR, Jan. 20, 2015, Baton Rouge, La. William Lee Moreland, 1948 BACH H&SS, 1950 MAST H&SS, Dec. 17, 2014, New Orleans, La. Nettie Reed, 1942 BACH HS&E, Oct. 11, 2014, Clinton, La. Ellen Manley Kerksieck Schaefer, 1944 BACH BUS, Jan. 4, 2015, Ladue, Mo Ruth H. Sylvest, 1947 BACH AGR, 1951 MAST AGR, Nov. 24, 2014, Baton Rouge, La.

1950s Elizabeth Franklin Burg, 1953 BACH HS&E, Jan. 4, 2015, Baton Rouge, La. Joan B. Chapin, 1959 MAST H&SS, 1971 PHD H&SS, Professor Emeritus of Entomology, Dec. 30, 2014, Greenville, N.C. Robert B. Crawford, Jr, 1950 BACH ENGR, Jan. 8, 2015, St. Francisville, La. Robert Thomas Collier, Sr., 1951 BACH ENGR, Nov. 19, 2014, Beaumont, Texas Thomas Daigre, 1956 BACH BUS, Nov. 3, 2014, Plaquemine, La. Shirley Mae Peacock Decker, 1950 BACH HS&E, Nov. 22, 2014, Zachary, La. Louis Albert Favaron, 1952 BACH AGR, 1962 MAST AGR, Nov. 21, 2014, Sicily Island, La. John Robert Gooch, Sr., 1953 BACH H&SS, Nov. 29, 2014, Baton Rouge, La. Margaret Goodwin, 1957 BACH HS&E, Nov. 11, 2014, Baton Rouge, La.

Robert Maynard “Bob” Grodner, 1959 PHD H&SS, Professor Emeritus of Food Science, Nov. 29, 2014, Baton Rouge, La. William Nesbit, 1957 BACH BUS, Nov. 8, 2014, Baton Rouge, La. Hubert C. Owen, 1950 BACH H&SS, 1954 MD, June 4, 2014, Zachary, La. Jack P. Tourres, 1958 BACH HS&E, Dec. 21, 2014, St. Gabriel, La. Mary Lou Trawick Winters, 1956 BACH HS&E, 1957 MAST HS&E, Nov. 18, 2014, New Orleans, La.

1960s Billy Clayton Causey, Sr., 1968 BACH HS&E, 1978 MAST HS&E, Jan 6, 2015, Clinton, La. Ted Jambon, 1964 BACH H&SS, 1969 BACH HS&E, 1972 MAST AGR, Nov. 8, 2014, Baton Rouge, La. Thomas Arthur “Tom” Manning, Jr., 1961 MAST ENGR, Professor of Civil Engineering, Oct. 12, 2014, Gloucester, Va. Martha Reid Mitchell, 1965 MAST AGR, Dec. 26, 2014, Baton Rouge, La. Carlos Montolo, 1968 BACH A&D, Oct. 12, 2014, Baton Rouge, La. Calvin L. Robbins, Jr., 1969 BACH BUS, Nov. 9, 2014, Baton Rouge, La. Meryal A. Smith, 1964 BACH HS&E, Jan. 2, 2015, Huntsville, Ala. Denver Charles Tullos, Jr., 1968 BACH AGR, Oct. 8, 2014, Bogalusa, La Lida M. Leon Ziegler, 1963 BACH ENGR, Oct. 2, 2014, Stevenson Ranch, Ca.

1970s Charles Blaize, Sr., 1973 JD, Nov. 10, 2014, Houma, La. Marilyn DeLoach, 1974 BACH HS&E, 1979 MAST HS&E, Nov. 1, 2014, Baton Rouge, La. Louis Victor Gibson, 1969 MSW, Dec. 22, 2014, Greenwell Springs, La. Josie Newman Nelson, 1977 MAST HS&E, Dec. 12, 2014, Baton Rouge, La. Norwood Calvin Richardson, Sr., 1976 BACH H&SS, Nov. 17, 2014, Baton Rouge, La.

1980s Byron James Becnel, 1985 BACH ENGR, 1996 MAST ENGR, Dec. 13, 2014, Gonzales, La. Megan Melancon Parrish, 1985 BACH H&SS, 1990 MAST HS&E, 2000 PHD H&SS, Dec. 10, 2014, Macon, Ga. Kevin Rozas, 1988 BACH SCI, Nov. 5, 2014, Atlanta, Ga. John Stafford, 1982 BACH ENGR, Nov. 16, 2014, Baton Rouge, La.

1990s Joseph Ray Guitreau, Jr., 1991 BACH SCI, Nov. 27, 2014, Baton Rouge, La. Bryan Watts, 1990 BACH A&D, 1995 MAST A&D, Nov. 17, 2014, New Iberia, La.

Charles Lee Martin Vice President Emeritus, LSU System Dec. 26, 2014 Baton Rouge, 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.

76 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

Profile

Grad’s Global Company Keeps Close LSU Ties A born designer, Jim Odom (1992 BACH ENGR), co-founder of PreSonus Audio Electronics, got from LSU what he needed to bring to life the schematics in his head.

Odom, who grew up in Baton Rouge, started PreSonus in 1995 with fellow LSU electrical engineering graduate Brian Smith (1991 BACH ENGR). The company’s name combines “premier” with “sound.” PreSonus makes a variety of products for the professional musician, producer, sound mixer, garage band guitarist, and church minister of music on a budget.

Odom’s time as record producer and guitarist – he’s got gold records and a platinum from work with Louisiana’s LeRoux – allows him to design with performance and cost in mind. Among the magazine awards PreSonus has won are publications that include Pro Audio Review and Keyboard. The company’s products also have won the praise of Worship Leader Magazine and Church Production.

What do church musicians like about PreSonus? “Simplicity,” Odom said. “The minister of music doesn’t have to hire someone to explain it to him.” Performance counts, too, with a church group or top professional sound engineers.

Texas-based recording guru Paul Anthony “Pappy” Middleton has mixed and recorded live concerts for The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Elton John, and Bonnie Raitt. He’s worked on command performances for the Queen of England and for performances at the White House. Known as the “analog dog” on tour, Middleton likes the digital technology of PreSonus. “It sounds good, it works easy, it interfaces easy, and I don’t know what else you could ask for,” Middleton says in a blurb on the PreSonus website. When keyboard player John Cleary asked Middleton for a quick mix after a show, the sound engineer used PreSonus gear to provide Cleary a mix the next day. “He said it was one of the best-sounding, live recordings that he’d ever heard,” Middleton said.

At age eleven, Odom was building crystal radios before moving on to HAM radio.

He cut his commercial electronics teeth in an uncle’s sonor business, Hydro Graphics.

“I’d take products apart and check circuitry,” Odom said. Six years later, Odom was off to Berklee College of Music in Boston to study jazz. He was in Boston three semesters before transferring to Loyola in New Orleans.

PreSonus started in Odom’s garage in 1995 and moved to the second floor of Causey’s Furniture downtown where it spent the next four years. An employee in the Causey days recalls selling a piece of gear over the telephone in the morning, then building and shipping the product that afternoon. Today, PreSonus’ Highland Road building is home to most of the company’s 190 employees and includes a production studio where employees can be found jamming on their lunch hour.

With design, production, and marketing spread among U.S., Chinese, British, and German cities, PreSonus was named four years ago as one of the 5,000 fastest growing companies in the country. The company was also named one of the LSU 100: Fastest Growing Tiger Businesses in 2012, 2013, and 2014.

Odom likes to hire LSU grads in engineering and other disciplines that include business, accounting and education. “We look for LSU grads from the Capstone Design Program in which multiple (LSU) colleges work together to produce products,” he said.

Odom, 53, hasn’t forgotten his student days when he struggled with calculus while holding down three jobs, being married, and having two children in his mid-twenties.

He graduated in electrical engineering at age thirty. At his busiest, Odom said he wasn’t going for GPA but the knowledge that would get him where he wanted to go.

His senior year, however, he made the dean’s list.

By Ed Cullen

PreSonus Audio Electronics co-founder Jim Odom.

Photo courtesy of PreSonus

“We look for LSU grads from the Capstone Design Program in which multiple LSU colleges work together to produce products.”

Ed Cullen, an LSU journalism graduate, is author of Letter in a Woodpile, a collection of his essays for National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.” He’s retired from the Baton Rouge Advocate where he wrote the Sunday column “Attic Salt.”

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

77

Profile

Tiger Nation

Steve Scalise Elected House Majority Whip

By Ed Cullen

U.S. Rep. Stephen Joseph “Steve” Scalise (1989 BACH SCI) is in a position as majority whip to win friends for Republican legislation and punish those who don’t go along. The former computer systems engineer, a constant critic of President Obama, occasionally gets heat from the Tea Party faction of the Republican Party. Scalise seems comfortable in the role of trail boss.

The political term “whip” may come from fox hunting where “whipping in” refers to riders’ responsibility for making sure the hounds don’t stray from the pack.

Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008, forty-nine-year-old Scalise’s party made him majority whip six years later. When Scalise assumed the office of majority whip in August 2014, he became the first member of Congress from Louisiana to hold his party’s majority whip position since Hale Boggs was the Democrat’s majority whip from 1962 to 1971.

Scalise served three terms in the Louisiana House of Representatives, starting in 1995 when he succeeded fellow Republican Quentin Dastugue, who made an unsuccessful bid for governor. Scalise served in the Louisiana Senate from January to May 2008, leaving to take his seat in Congress from New Orleans’ First District, the congressional seat Jindal vacated when he was elected governor.

As 2014 was winding down and Scalise was gearing up for his prominent role in a Republican-controlled Congress, a blogger in Alexandria in late December unearthed a twelve-year-old appearance by Scalise at a gathering of House Majority Whip U.S. Rep Steve Scalise photographed in the Old House Chamber ultra conservatives with ties to former KKK leader David following his election race. Photo courtesy of Steve Scalise’s office Duke. Though the blogger couldn’t say what Scalise said in the speech, additional reporting by newspapers and television led to Scalise’s saying he had addressed the group.

Top Republicans in Washington were quick to say that Scalise would keep the “Scalise is the first member of majority whip’s job, accepting his apology for speaking to EURO (European-American Congress from Louisiana to Unity and Rights Organization), a group founded and led by Duke. While critics hold his party’s majority whip expressed disbelief at the congressman’s claim to have not known he was addressing supremacist’s conference, others, including some black colleagues, took him position since Hale Boggs was aatwhite his word when he said, “It was a mistake I regret, and I emphatically oppose the the Democrat’s majority whip divisive racial and religious views groups like these hold.” from 1962 to 1971.” At the time of the speech to EURO, Scalise was a state representative speaking around the state on issues before the Louisiana House. Scalise said his staff should have vetted EURO before he agreed to address the group at the Landmark Hotel in Metairie.

A longtime political observer says he likes Scalise, though the observer’s politics differ from Scalise’s. The same sentiment was expressed by Bob Mann, a former Democratic press secretary in the U.S. Senate and now a professor of mass communication in the Manship School. “I like Scalise personally and always have. I find him to be a decent, engaging guy,” Mann said. “While I’m not crazy about his politics, it’s great for Louisiana that we have him in this position. I hope he stays there for a long time, protecting Louisiana in D.C. We have very little power or seniority these days, so we need him.”

Considered by some to be a hard-boiled conservative, Scalise was the leadership’s candidate for the Republican Study Committee (RSC), and he sacked the prominent

78 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

operative at RSC who was egging on the antileadership wing groups. If that makes Scalise sound like a moderate, check out his running battle with the White House on everything from amnesty for immigrants and the Keystone Pipeline to Obama’s overture to Cuba. Scalise says his criticism of the president on Cuba has to do with Obama’s not consulting Congress and with rewarding Cuba’s past “bad behavior.” The proposed Cuba policy shift began with the release of an American contractor jailed in Cuba since 2009 and three Cubans convicted of spying in the U.S. in 2001.

The third highest Republican in the House (behind the speaker and the majority leader), Scalise caught it from some Republicans for helping pass a spending bill in December that the Republicans said didn’t go far enough to block the president’s policies on immigration. With Republicans in control of Congress, they can force the President to make decisions, Scalise said.

“Patience,” he tells his critics. “President Obama encouraged a do-nothing Congress; that’s about to change.”

What he considers the disappointing leadership of former Gov. Edwin Edwards during Scalise’s student years at LSU pushed Scalise toward politics. “Ronald Reagan is my political hero,” he said. A politician worthy of elected office combines leadership with shared vision and the ability to make that vision happen, according to Scalise.

The Republicans will have a “deep bench” for the next presidential election, Scalise said. He mentions Jindal but adds Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin, and Indiana governor Mike Pence. For the Democrats, there is Hillary Clinton, of course, but Elizabeth Warren, senior U.S. senator from Massachusetts, is a comer, he said.

Asked about support for LSU, Scalise said that’s the legislature’s responsibility but adds that the University needs “a better funding stream.” The need to fund other universities in the state waters down support for the state’s flagship university, he said. “Reward those schools that do a good job,” he said.

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

ADVERTISE

WITH US! MORE THAN

70,000

READERS FOUR ISSUES ANNUALLY COMPETITIVE RATES For more information visit www.lsualumni.org/magazine or contact Kelsey David at 225-578-4529 or kelsey@lsualumni.org

Ed Cullen, an LSU journalism graduate, is author of Letter in a Woodpile, a collection of his essays for National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.”

He’s retired from the Baton Rouge Advocate where he wrote the Sunday column “Attic Salt.”

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

79

Tiger Nation

Tigers Around the World Happy Birthday – Michele Aura Reynolds (1983 BACH BUS) shares a photo of twins Ella Kate and Anna Clare Dodd, of Katy, Texas, celebrating their third birthday in gameday attire.

Ella Kate and Anna Clare Dodd.

Four Generations – “Four Capdevielle generations were accounted for at Thanksgiving,” writes proud granddad John J. “Ike” Capdevielle II (1978 BACH A&D), standing. Pictured with Ike at the family gathering were great-granddad John J. Capdevielle (1942 BACH H&SS), new dad Thomas Michael “Mic” Capdevielle, and future Tiger Cruz Michael Capdevielle.

John Capdevielle, Ike Capdevielle, Mic Capdevielle, and Cruz Capdevielle.

80 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2015

Periodicals POSTAGE PAID Postal Permit USPS 14120 Louisiana State University and A&M College 3838 West Lakeshore Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70808

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL CHAPTER AND N AT IO N AL AS S O CI A T I O N

VISIT WWW.MEMBERSHIP.LSUALUMNI.ORG

TO BECOME A MEMBER TODAY!