SPRING 2012 - Volume 88, Number 1

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Summer 2012, Volume 88, Number 2

2012 Hall of Distinction

Bradie James, Young Alumnus of the Year & John Butler, Alumnus of the Year

A Message From the

Chancellor

Better Things Are Yet to Come Since becoming LSU’s chancellor nearly four years ago, I have been asked each year to reflect on the previous and to give my thoughts on the future of Louisiana’s flagship institution. Without fail, I say, “Amazing things happened in (fill year in here), and I know that even better things are yet to come.”

Due to uncertainty over state funding for the past few years, my annual prediction is liberally seasoned with cautious optimism, but the faith I have in LSU’s faculty, staff, and student body is unwavering. You may ask how that is possible given such a fluid budgetary environment. It is because each year I’ve been here, the people who make up this unique and special university have had incredible successes. Below are but a few from 2011: • For the fourth consecutive year, LSU was ranked in the top tier of U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges.”

• LSU enrolled one of the largest, most diverse, and highest-achieving incoming freshmen classes in school history.

• Once again, our students were honored on a national level, as a Goldwater Scholar, a Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Fellow, and a Presidential Management Fellow were added to our impressive list of scholars.

• An LSU faculty member and graduate student discovered two new species of frogs in New Guinea. (See story on page 52.)

• An associate professor in geography and anthropology shared an Emmy for her work on an award-winning documentary.

• LSU was selected to partner with the University of Oklahoma to develop and run one of only eight U.S. Department of the Interior regional climate science centers.

• An LSU physics professor published the first textbook to cover loop quantum gravity material at the undergraduate level.

• LSU’s Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture once again ranked atop lists of the best programs in the U.S. according to DesignIntelligence, the leading journal of the design professionals. The undergraduate program was recognized as the top program in the country, while the graduate program placed second, only to Harvard.

• LSU’s Creative Writing Master of Fine Arts program was ranked 21st overall in the nation in Poets & Writers Magazine.

• LSU astronomers discovered the solution to a long-standing fundamental problem of astrophysics: what produces thermonuclear supernovae, tremendous explosions where the light is often brighter than a whole galaxy.

• LSU posted the second-highest graduation rate in the Southeastern Conference in football, according to the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate data, behind only Vanderbilt.

Finally, speaking of athletics, I would be remiss not to mention the success of our Tiger football team, which went undefeated in 2011, starting with the Cotton Bowl Classic in January and ending with its fourth SEC Championship in December. And although 2012 didn’t start on the most positive of notes for the team, just as in LSU’s world of academics, “Amazing things happened in 2011, and I know that even better things are yet to come.”

Michael V. Martin Chancellor

LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

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Publisher Charlie W. Roberts

Contents

Editor Jackie Bartkiewicz Copy Editor Brenda Macon Editorial Assistants Patti Garner Katie McCrocklin, Student Intern

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Features 18 Hall of Distinction Highlighting the 2012 LSU Alumni Association Hall of Distinction inductees were Alumnus of the Year John Butler and NFL linebacker Bradie James, who was recognized as the Young Alumnus of the Year. Others honored were designer and landscape architect Kurt Culbertson, telecommunication industrialist Joseph Fail, lawyer and cattleman David Means, awardwinning designer, writer, and educator James Richards, food manufacturing mogul Donald Welge, and retired businessman Claude West.

28 No Argument Here Of the many extracurricular opportunities offered at LSU, membership on the speech and debate team has several advantages.

Students learn organizational strategies, time management, and meeting skills in what their leader calls “trial by fire.” And the Mardi Gras Swing debate contest had student competitors dancing in the aisles at the evening awards ceremonies. The energy these students bring to their work is downright contagious.

In Each Issue 1 A Message from the Chancellor 4 President’s Message 6 LSU Alumni Association News 34 Around Campus 54 Locker Room 60 Tiger Nation

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Advertising Kay Heath Amanda Haynes Art Director Chuck Sanchez STUN Design & Advertising Contributors Ashley Berthelot, Ryan Buxton, Barry Cowan, Matt DeVille, Melissa Foley, Ginger Guttner, Bud Johnson, Brenda Macon, Judson Moore, Lisa O’Beirne, Amanda Paxton, Ben Wallace Photography Mike Anderson/US Sailing, Mark Claesgens, Patricia Cooper, Matt DeVille, Steve Franz, Fred Frey, Pam Hasegawa, Aaron Hogan, Larry Hubbard, Sam King, Randy Macon, Ron Moore, Eddy Perez, Jan Ramezan, Jim Zietz Printing Baton Rouge Printing

44 55 85

Editorial and Advertising Office LSU Alumni Association 3838 West Lakeshore Drive Baton Rouge, LA 70808-4686 225-578-3838 • 888-RINGLSU www.lsualumni.org / e-mail: jackie@lsualumni.org LSU ALUMNI MAGAZINE is published quarterly in March, June, September and December by the LSU Alumni Association. A contribution of $50 or more for an annual subscription includes membership in the Alumni Association.

Letters to the editor are encouraged. Please write to the address listed above.

LSU ALUMNI MAGAZINE reserves the right to edit all material accepted for publication. Publication of material does not indicate endorsement of the author’s viewpoint by the magazine, the LSUAA or LSU. © 2012 by LSU ALUMNI MAGAZINE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to LSU ALUMNI MAGAZINE, 3838 West Lakeshore Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70808-4686 The mission of the LSU Alumni Association is to protect, promote, and foster the welfare of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College and to create and nurture mutually beneficial relationships between the University and its alumni and friends. The Association, using the talents and resources of alumni and friends of Louisiana State University, supports the University in pursuit of excellence in teaching, research and public service to future and current alumni.

NATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michael H. Woods Chair, Shreveport, La. Jack Andonie Chair-Elect, Metairie, La. Guy Campbell III Past Chair, Monroe, La.

Cover: Bradie James, Young Alumnus of the Year, and John Butler, Alumnus of the Year.

Photo by Jim Zietz Design by Chuck Sanchez/STUN Design

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Scott L. Anderson, Monroe, La. Ted A Martin, Baton Rouge, La. Mary Lou Applewhite, New Orleans, La. Louis R. Minksy, Baton Rouge, La. Jon D. “Jay” Babb, Baton Rouge, La. Richard C. “Ricky” Oustalet, Jennings, La. J. Hals Benhard, Palmetto, La. John T. Shelton, Jr., Houston, Texas C. A. “Buddy” Brice III, Biloxi, Miss.

Carl J. Streva, Morgan City, La. Robert W. Dugas, Baton Rouge, La. Susan K. Whitelaw, Shreveport, La. Theresa M. Gallion, Tampa, Fla. Lodwrick M. Cook, Director Emeritus Ronald M. Johnson, Baton Rouge, La. Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Jan K. Liuzza, Kenner, La.

President/CEO’s

MESSAGE

Photos by Larry Hubbard

Hard Work, Support Make for Highly Successful Events In January, as we were making plans for the year’s events, the decision was made to locate LSU’s oldest living graduate, whom we would honor at the Golden Tiger Reunion in May. After an extensive search headed by magazine editor Jackie Bartkiewicz, this individual was located in Athens, Ga. H. Owen Reed, who turns 102 on June 17, earned three degrees from LSU, is professor emeritus of music, Michigan State University, and was a composer, author, and conductor.

During our search we located thirty-nine alumni ranging in ages from 102 to ninety.

Though Dr. Reed was unable to attend the reunion, many “Golden Oldies” took part in the events and are looking forward to next year’s get-together.

At this time we are in the midst of “chapter season,” with numerous successful events taking place across Louisiana and in Miami, Richmond, Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, and more. At all these events, the dedication and loyalty of LSU runs deep and true.

Though the travel is at times challenging – and tiring – the staff always return with a renewed spirit of dedication because of the excitement for LSU generated by our graduates and friends. These many events prove to be successful fundraisers for Association-sponsored scholarships and professorships, and we sincerely thank you.

We are already in the advanced planning for our fall events, with one of our most popular activities being the sports trips. This year we will be traveling to Florida, Texas A&M, and Auburn. The trips are selling out quickly and only a few spots remain.

Remember, there are eight home games this year, and we look forward to another great season.

The Hall of Distinction was the high point of the year. Eight individuals were inducted with John S. Butler being named the 2012 Alumnus of the Year and Bradie James named Young Alumnus of the Year. (See story on page 18.)

We welcome back to campus President Emeritus William L. Jenkins, who will serve as interim president while the search for a new LSU System president is underway.

In conclusion, we are mid-point in the budget year. Revenue and expenditures are steady and on budget, and if the trend continues, 2012 will be another outstanding year.

As always, we thank you, our friends and supporters, for making all this happen.

You are truly loyal, devoted Tigers.

Charlie W. Roberts President/CEO

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From Our Readers Dear Editor, What memories that issue [Spring 2012] brought back. First, the letter from Fred Frey, Jr. My wife and I were both in one of his dad’s classes; not sure but it may have been sociology.

Liked him a lot. Also in his letter he mentions Evans “Blackie” Howell who was also once on the boxing team.

Then your article on Cadets of the Old War Skule, which mentioned the ASTP program. A high school buddy and I both signed up for the program after we graduated from high school in 1945, and we were planning to go to LSU anyhow. Since we were only seventeen, we had to go in the ASTRP program (R=Reserve). By the time we got out of high school, LSU had discontinued the program, so they made us go to – of all places – Texas A&M. Took a few months of that place, then quit the program and joined the regular Army when I was old enough.

Went to LSU after.

But the best memory in the magazine for me was the championship boxing team picture with Freeman, Moss, and Peele. I remember standing in front of the old Field House, watching the parade they had for the returning champs. And we all smiled and cheered, and Pee Wee was sitting in that convertible holding a trophy that was almost bigger than him.

Most sports folks these days do not even know of the days when a lot of universities had great boxing teams.

Thanks for the memories.

Bob Dombourian (1952 BACH BUS)

Brenda and Jackie, I read the attached articles (“ROTC at LSU” and “Cadets of the Ole War Skule Keeping Traditions Alive”) in the spring edition of the LSU Alumni Magazine and wanted compliment you both on your work and thank you for spotlighting LSU’s ROTC programs.

I enjoyed the articles and appreciate the coverage on behalf of LSU’s ROTC program, as well as its cadets and cadre, past and present.

Thank you!

John Milazzo (1972 BACH HSS)

Dear Editor, I certainly enjoyed reading about Mr. Mike [Chambers] by Bud Johnson [in the Spring 2012 issue].

I was a student manager of the football team and knew Mr. Mike. I remember him starting the campaign for the tiger mascot. I helped unload the first tiger. The train stopped at LSU before it went on into Baton Rouge. We unloaded there.

George McCoy (1942 BACH AGR) LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

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LSU Alumni Association

news

10 Honored at Accolades Banquet Purple & Gold, Chapter Service Award Winners Recognized

Story and photos by Matt DeVille

Distinguished LSU alumnus Clarence Cazalot highlighted the list of honorees at the LSU Alumni Association Accolades Banquet held Feb. 3 at the Lod Cook Alumni Center.

The Accolades Banquet is an annual event at which the Association honors notable donors and its most valuable chapter volunteers.

“The LSU Alumni Association wouldn’t exist without the people who give generously to our organization,” said LSU Alumni Association President Charlie Roberts. “At the same time, our volunteers are equally as important because they are the ones who carry the LSU torch and promote our university across the country and around the world.”

Cazalot, current president and CEO of Marathon Oil Corporation, received one of five Purple & Gold awards given for generous financial donations made to the Association.

Other Purple & Gold recipients included the Credit Bureau of Baton Rouge, Elizabeth H. Ronn, the Greater Houston Alumni Chapter, and Van and Gail Whitfield.

First awarded in 1997, the Purple & Gold Award recognizes generous individuals who donate their time, devote their energy, and graciously dedicate resources to help the Association continue its mission to provide support to the University in various ways.

Dating back to 1987, the Chapter Service Award recognizes loyal service and honors the voluntary efforts of alumni and friends whose time, talents, and leadership contribute immensely to the Association’s mission to keep the spirit of LSU alive worldwide.

Recipients of 2012 Chapter Service awards are Chris Adams, Greater New Orleans; Brad Feller, Little Rock; Gary and Sarah Haynes, Webster/Claiborne parishes; Dr. John Gregory, DeSoto Parish; and Jeffrey Matens, San Diego.

Purple & Gold Awards Ann and Clarence P. Cazalot, Jr.

Ann and Clarence Cazalot, Jr.

Steve Uffman and Layne McDaniel.

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Ann and Clarence Cazalot, of Houston, are major donors to the LSU Alumni Association Alumni Fund and the University, particularly the College of Science, and to the Pelican Promise awards, which aid students from lowincome families.

Clarence Cazalot, a 1972 geology graduate, is chairman, president and CEO of Marathon Oil Corporation. He serves on numerous professional boards and is currently president of Spindletop Charities, Inc., trustee of the United Way of the Gulf Coast, and director of the Boy Scouts of America. He was inducted into the LSU Alumni Association Hall of Distinction in 2005, awarded an honorary doctorate from LSU in 2007, and inducted into the College of Science Hall of Distinction in 2010.

Ann Cazalot serves on the boards of the Susan G. Komen Houston affiliate,

the Memorial Hermann Hospital Foundation, and the Greater Houston Community Foundation.

Credit Bureau of Baton Rouge, Inc. The Credit Bureau of Baton Rouge, Inc., established in 1923, was a memberowned organization, with more than 1,700 members. The bureau sold its services and dissolved its operations in 2011. Proceeds were used to establish the Credit Bureau of Baton Rouge Foundation, whose mission is financial literacy. To date, the foundation has given out more than $4 million dollars in grants throughout the state.

The Credit Bureau’s generous $100,000 donation to the LSU Alumni Association Scholarship Fund was made in the name of the organization’s former CEO, Steve Uffman, a 1972 LSU graduate and president of the bureau from 1998 to 2005. Recognized for his numerous

contributions to the community and to the bureau, Uffman was responsible for many of the advancements in the credit reporting industry and for the establishment of the Credit Bureau of Baton Rouge Foundation.

Houston Chapter The 600-member Houston Chapter boasts a long history of alumni participation and its longstanding events – the Greater Houston Crawfish Boil, football kick-off party, and holiday party as well as other events such as the golf tournament and gumbo cook-off attract hundreds of Tigers and generate significant funds for the chapter and for Association programs.

The Houston Chapter partnered with the Dallas Chapter to “show their colors” with personalized LSU license plates, and the group is planning the inaugural LSU Houston Sport Clay Tournament to support its scholarship program. The chapter sponsors two professorships, a Top 100 Scholarship, a Chancellor’s Alumni Scholarship, and a “Foundation of Champions” Athletic Scholarship through TAF – which will be fully funded this year.

Chapter volunteers regularly assist the Office of Admissions in recruiting efforts at fairs and events in the Greater Houston area.

Elizabeth H. Ronn Elizabeth Ronn, of Palo Alto, Calif., former vice president of marketing at Procter & Gamble, earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from LSU in 1976 and holds an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business. She retired from P&G in 2009 and is now a partner in Innovation Portfolio Partners, LLC. Over the years, Ronn has been active in community affairs, volunteering with numerous philanthropic and civic organizations. She is currently a volunteer teacher in the Future Profits Program at Sequoia High School in Redwood City, Calif., and is an interviewer, fundraiser, and guest lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of business, on whose

Rachel Jenny, Tip Jenny, Julie Klibert, Craig Ceccanti, and Angel Ardoin.

management board she serves.

Ronn and her husband, Karl, a retired vice president of research and development at Proctor & Gamble, are generous donors to the LSU Alumni Association Alumni Fund.

Van and Gail Whitfield Van Whitfield, of Houston, a 1973 petroleum engineering graduate and COO of Cobalt International Energy, Inc., has more than thirty-six years of experience leading oil and gas production operations and marketing activities around the world. Prior to joining Cobalt, he served in leadership positions with CDX Gas, BP, ExxonMobil, and Amoco.

He is also a graduate of the Stanford University Executive Program.

Van and Gail Whitfield are longtime members of and generous donors to the LSU Alumni Association. They have a named room at The Cook Hotel and are major donors to the Alumni Fund. Van is a member of the Tiger Athletic Foundation and Petro-Tigers of Houston and also supports the College of Engineering and the LSU Foundation.

He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, API Upstream Committee, and Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and is an executive board member of Helix Well Containment Group.

Van and Gail Whitfield.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

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LSU Alumni Association News

Accolades Banquet Chapter Service Awards Chris M. Adams, Crescent City Chapter

Chris M. Adams.

Chris Adams, a 1994 business graduate, is owner of Adams Investment Services in Baton Rouge. While at LSU he was a member of Phi Kappa Alpha fraternity and a student worker at the LSU Alumni Association and the LSU Foundation. He says his fondest memory is his last day as a student worker: “It was the dedication of the Lod Cook Alumni Center. That night I served Gerald Ford a beer.”

A Metairie native, his LSU alumni efforts are focused on the New Orleans area through the Crescent City Chapter, which he joined in 1999. He has served as treasurer and a member of the chapter’s board since 2005. He is a speaker at the annual TAF/Alumni Association’s Tiger Tour and presents the chapter’s achievement awards to 4.0 GPA graduating seniors from the New Orleans area.

N. Brad Feller, Little Rock Chapter

N. Brad Feller.

Brad Feller, a 1975 LSU graduate, is president and vice president of sales and marketing for Lavender & Wyatt Systems, Inc., a privately held, family owned software company. A senior-level executive and corporate development specialist, he has also held leadership positions with IBM and other corporations. While with IBM, Feller John R. Gregory. restarted the Tulsa, Okla., alumni chapter and rallied Arkansas Tigers to restart the Little Rock Chapter, which he serves as president.

Feller coordinates the annual crawfish boil and represents LSU at area college fairs. During football season, he arranges weekly view-ins and organizes the bi-annual alumni tailgate party for the LSU-Arkansas game, an event that includes the Tiger Band and LSU cheerleaders. Last year he coordinated the chapter’s trip to the LSU-Oregon game and headed up efforts to collect funds for a donation to the Tiger Band.

John R. Gregory, DeSoto Parish Chapter John Gregory attended LSU at Shreveport for two years before being admitted to the School of Medicine at the Health Sciences Center at Shreveport. He earned his medical degree in 1977 and completed his internship and residency in orthopedics in 1982. He practices with Orthopedic Specialists of Texarkana in Texarkana, Texas.

Gregory is a charter member of the Desoto Parish Chapter and although a Texas resident is an avid Tiger fan and a generous supporter of both the chapter and the national LSU Alumni Association. He provides donations for the chapter’s signature golf tournament and also gives to the chapter-sponsored professorship and scholarships, one of which is the Tom and Barbara Gregory Top 100 Scholarship established by John and his wife, Diana.

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Gary and Sarah Haynes, Webster/Claiborne Chapter Gary and Sarah Haynes, of Minden, La. are Tigers by Choice.

Gary, a Louisiana Tech petroleum engineering grad, is owner of Walkmar Resources, and Sarah, a business alum of Northeast Louisiana University, is director of business development at Sarah and Gary Haynes.

Minden Medical Center.

Long active in community civic, social, and service organizations, the couple was urged by friends to get involved with the Webster/Claiborne Alumni chapter several years ago. Today, Gary serves as vice president and Sarah is secretary of the chapter. One or both of them serve in various capacities on the golf tournament, silent Jeffrey B. Matens. auction, decorations, food, and scholarships committees. They also are golf tournament sponsors and solicit, donate, and purchase quality silent auction prizes.

Jeffrey B. Matens, San Diego Chapter Jeff Matens earned a degree in speech education in 1977 and also holds a master’s degree from the Naval Postgraduate School. He retired from the U.S. Navy as a supply corps officer in 1994 and now works for Management Consulting, Inc. Matens joined the San Diego Chapter in 2003 and has served as president-elect and president. While president, the chapter began its incorporation process as the LSU Alumni Association of San Diego, Inc., and he served as its first president in 2009.

Matens has served on the crawfish boil, database, and scholarship committees and is an “LSU Ambassador” at college fairs in San Diego County. He also helped establish the San Diego/Imperial Counties Scholarship.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

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LSU Alumni Association News

The Wedding Experience Annual Bridal Show Informative, Fun

By Jackie Bartkiewicz Photos by Larry Hubbard

Newlywed Anne McConnell with dad Louie Bernard, of Natchitoches, La.

It was one-stop shopping at its best for the dozens of brides-to-be attending the fourth annual Lod Cook Alumni Center Bridal Experience on March 25.

Along with family and friends – and a few grooms-to-be – future brides visited with the twenty-five vendors promoting their products and services, picking up brochures, samples, and lots of good ideas for their special day. Guests also got an up-close look at bridal and weddingparty attire during Bridal Boutique’s Fashion show, and dozens of young ladies walked away with valuable door prizes provided by vendors and The Cook Hotel.

Making a special appearance at the show was recent father-of-the-bride Louie Bernard, of Natchitoches, La., whose daughter, Anne, and her husband, Ryan, held their wedding reception at

the Alumni Center in January. Bernard said his family wanted to participate in the bridal show to share with those attending the wonderful experience his family had at the Alumni Center and The Cook Hotel. His wife, Gayle, walked the runway in an elegant mother-of-the bride dress during the fashion show.

“No chef worth his salt would start a dish without the ‘trinity’ – onions, celery, and bell pepper,” Bernard told the audience, paying tribute to his “trinity” – sales director Tammy Brown, caterer Jenee Galjour, and event coordinator Lauren Regner. “These three ladies helped us make our wedding experience memorable.”

Noland Hall, the primary venue for the event, was decorated to resemble a reception setting, with tastings provided by the Association’s exclusive caterer, Unique Cuisine.

BOOK AN EVENT Contact Lauren Regner at 225-578-3838 or visit lsualumni.org.

Gayle Bernard.

Becky Soulier and Miranda Cardinale of Fleur du Jour with Dawn Diez, and Natalie Tucker, both of Baton Rouge.

Event coordinator Lauren Regner, in blue at center front, with fashion show models.

Paula Cappo, Meghann Young, Jennifer Young, and Margaret Young, all of Eunice, La.

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Kailia Gandy and Keener Gandy with Gay Boudreaux of Paper ’N Things.

Event artist Chris Turner.

“First Dance” exhibition by Ric Seeling Dance Studio.

Thanks to Our Vendors MB Portraits • Guillory Photography • Bueche Photography • Ocken Photography • Landry Photography • Bridal Boutique • Details & Rentals by Bueche • Salon Eden • After 5 Tuxedos • Ric Seeling Dance Studio • Narcissus Affair • Art by Christopher Turner • The Zoller System • Paper ’N Things • Dubois Expressions • Southern Embellishments • Baum’s Fine Pastries • Brew Ha Ha • X-pert DJ • Crown of Beauty • The Perfect Wedding • Fleur du Jour • It Works Body Wraps • Dove Wedding Displays by Renee • PartyBox Photo Booth

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LSU Alumni Association News

Memphis Alums Party for a Cause Memphis Alumni Chapter Tigers are especially proud of this year’s Mardi Gras party, and with good reason.

While marking the holiday, they also raised more than $4,000 for the National Transplant Foundation to benefit longtime chapter member Steve Collins.

Authentic Cajun cuisine prepared by members.

“Even though Steve was very active he was also suffering from congestive heart failure and ultimately needed a heart Masked revelers Karen Koelemay and Paola High. transplant, which he received on Nov. 29, 2011,” writes Catherine Gremillion.

“The surgery went well but not without complications. During the surgery he suffered injuries to his spinal cord that left him unable to walk. The doctors say he will need a year of physical therapy before they even know about long-term damages. Despite these challenges, Steve has remained optimistic and did not lose his sense of humor.”

Some 110 alumni and friends gathered for the event, which took place on Feb. 11 at Zaman Grotto.

“We were very proud to present the money to the Transplant Foundation on Steve’s behalf,” writes Gremillion. “And we also are so very grateful to everyone who donated items and those who attended the party and placed very generous bids on the items we had. There was a great band, authentic Louisiana cuisine cooked by our members, a beautifully decorated venue – and we all passed a good time, chère.”

She adds, “Before his surgery, Steve had a knife sharpening business, and his e-mail address is steve@onesharpdude.com.

I’m sure he would love to hear from any long lost friends he might have out there.”

Auction chair Tracy Agostin.

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Gene Simmons and date, aka Johnnie and KK Gross.

LSU Alumni Association

2012 event Calendar June 28

Retired Faculty/Staff Independence Day Celebration

August 10 10

Alumni/Hotel Board of Directors Meeting Annual Meeting and Past Presidents/ Chairs Luncheon

September 1 8 15 17-18 22 28-29 29

LSU vs. North Texas (H) LSU vs. Washington (H) LSU vs. Idaho (H) Graduation Fair LSU vs. Auburn (A) Band Reunion LSU vs. Towson (H)

October 6 13 20

LSU vs. Florida (A) LSU vs. South Carolina (H) LSU vs. Texas A&M (A)

November 3 10 15 16 17 16 24

LSU vs. Alabama (H) LSU vs. Mississippi State (H) Scholars Banquet Senior Ring Day LSU vs. Ole Miss (H) Alumni /Hotel Board of Directors Meeting LSU vs. Arkansas (A)

December 11 31

Retired Faculty/Staff Christmas Party Ringing in 2013 New Years Eve Dinner Dance

The LSU Alumni Association invites you to attend the

2012 Annual Meeting & Past Presidents/Chairs Luncheon 11:30 a.m.

Friday, August 10, 2012 Noland-Laborde Hall Lod Cook Alumni Center RSVP to Amy Parrino at 225-578-3835 or amy@lsualumni.org

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LSU Alumni Association News

Chapter Leadership Workshop Donations Reach Record-Breaking Total

Story and photos by Matt DeVille

LSU Alumni Association Chief Financial Officer Michael Garner, left, and Vice President of Alumni Relations Jason Ramezan unveil the grand total donation check.

Legendary LSU basketball Coach Dale Brown spoke to a group of more than fifty chapter representatives at the annual chapter workshop.

Dallas Chapter – Allison Kullenberg, Charlie Roberts, and Jennifer Morris.

DeSoto Parish Chapter – Tommy Craig, Amy Garsee, Jeff Garsee, and Charlie Roberts.

It was another record-breaking weekend for the LSU Alumni Association. In 2011, the Association collected more than $105,000 in scholarship money from chapter donations made at the annual Chapter Leadership Workshop. This year’s total topped that.

More than fifty representatives from twenty-five chapters across the country attended the 2012 workshop, held Feb. 4 at the Lod Cook Alumni Center, and when it was time for the check presentations, last year’s record total was a distant memory. The 2012 grand total – $131,984 – surpassed last year’s mark by more than $26,000.

“Wow!” said Jason Ramezan, vice president of alumni relations and director of chapter programs. “This is really exciting. Last year we challenged

our chapters to top that six-figure mark posted in 2011. They exceeded it by leaps and bounds. It is truly a testament to how hard our chapters work on their local fundraising projects.”

This year’s workshop was highlighted by a visit from legendary LSU basketball Coach Dale Brown. Brown, who spoke for more than an hour during the workshop’s opening session, then spent another two hours signing books and posing for pictures with the attendees.

Following the morning breakout sessions, chapter representatives were treated to an LSU basketball game in the Maravich Assembly Center. The Tigers defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks 71-65.

They then returned to the Alumni Center for afternoon sessions on membership, event planning, and travel. The day ended with a crawfish boil, sponsored by WalkOn’s Bistreaux & Bar.

Northeast Oklahoma Chapter – James Phillips, Charlie Roberts, and Scott Gentry.

Caddo/Bossier Parishes Chapter – Cooper Knecht and Charlie Roberts.

Crescent City Tigers – Tim Phinney, Charlie Roberts, and Jenette Phinney.

Panhandle Bayou Bengals – John Spurny, Larry Scheetz, Charlie Roberts, and Jason Ponti.

Greater Birmingham Chapter – Carla Carruth and Charlie Roberts.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Chapter – Jeff Shepard, Charlie Roberts, and Jeff Bertucci.

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LSU Alumni Association News

Snapshots

Graduation Fair – Graduation is an exciting but chaotic time for seniors, and the LSU Alumni Association steps up each semester to make it a little easier for the soon-to-be alumni. Some 1,200 students attended spring Graduation Fair at the Lod Cook Alumni Center Feb. 14-15 to take graduation pictures, order class rings and announcements, pick up caps and gowns, and check out for graduation. They were treated to snacks provided by Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches, Papa John’s Pizza, Coca-Cola, and Chick-Fil-A and also had a chance to become full-fledged members of the Association.

Photos by Larry Hubbard and Matt DeVille

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Giving Back – Staff members and friends of The Cook Hotel and Conference Center at LSU gave the gift of life during a hotel-sponsored blood drive for Life Share in January. The blood drive was organized by inside sales manager John Shorter with marketing and transient sales director Stacey Messina and outside sales manager John Grubb. On Ash Wednesday a team representing the hotel, the LSU Jeneé Galjour, Suzanne Shorter, John Shorter, Stacey Messina, John Kazusky, John Grubb, Sandy Plakidas, Alumni Association, and Unique Cuisine and Shirley Plakidas. donated personal time to give back to the community by serving 385 meals at the St. Vincent de Paul Dining Room. “It was an amazing and humbling experience,” says Grubb.”We highly recommend it to all who have a few hours to give.”

John Shorter, Stacey Messina, and John Grubb.

At the Bash – The LSU Alumni Association was well represented at the annual Tiger Gridiron Club Bayou Recruiting Bash held Feb. 1 at the Baton Rouge River Center.

Tracy Jones, Matt DeVille, Charlie Roberts, Kay Heath, Jason Ramezan, and Amanda Haynes.

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2012 Hall of

Distinction

John But ler Named Alumnus of the Y ear

M

ore than 300 people filled the Lod Cook Alumni Center’s NolandLaborde Hall for the 2012 LSU Alumni Association Hall of Distinction gala on March 30. The Association’s premier event of the year, the 2012 ceremony spotlighted the 47th Hall of Distinction induction class.

Leading the way for this year’s honorees were 2012 Alumnus of the Year John Butler and NFL linebacker Bradie James, who was recognized as the Young Alumnus of the Year. Other honorees were designer and landscape architect Kurt Culbertson, telecommunication industrialist Joseph Fail, lawyer and cattleman David Means, award-winning designer, writer, and educator James Richards, food manufacturing mogul Donald Welge, and retired businessman Claude West.

The evening began with a welcome from LSU Alumni Association President Charlie Roberts and opening remarks from Alumni Association National Board of Directors Chair Mike Woods.

Following the introduction of honorees, which included a champagne toast, 2011 Young Alumnus of the Year and world-renowned trumpeter Graham Breedlove entertained the attendees with an arrangement of LSU tunes.

James, an All-American linebacker at LSU from 1999-2002, was the first to be recognized. James spent nine seasons with the Dallas Cowboys and is now with the Houston Texans. Away from football, he raises money for breast cancer awareness through his “Foundation 56,” an organization he started following the death of his mother in 2007. Following his acceptance speech, James presented a check for $60,393 to Woman’s Hospital executives Teri Fontenot and Lynn Weill on behalf of Foundation 56.

A second presentation came later in the evening when Franklinton, La., councilman T.J. Butler presented his brother, 2012 Alumnus of the Year John Butler, with the key to the city. A distinguished scholar, author, educator, war hero, and musician, Butler addressed the gathering with an eloquent address, which began with a tribute to his 94-year-old mother, Johnnie Mae Butler, who was in attendance.

The first African-American member of the LSU Tiger Band and a Vietnam War Bronze Star winner, Butler has authored more than twenty books on entrepreneurship and has been a professor at the Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center of the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas for almost forty years. He thanked his parents and grandparents for his success in education and business, and talked about the importance of a college education in his family, saying that every family member since 1900 has earned a college degree.

Louisiana State University has a tradition of graduating students who go on to achieve national and international prominence. The LSU Alumni Association annually recognizes alumni who have distinguished themselves and the University through their careers, their personal and civic accomplishments, their volunteer activities, and their loyalty to their alma mater.

By Matt Deville | Photos of inductees by Jim Zietz | Collage Photos by Jason Brown

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John Sibley Butler Alumnus of the Year

A

distinguished scholar, lecturer, author, international business consultant, and presidential adviser, John Sibley Butler is professor of management and sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds the Herb Kelleher Chair in Entrepreneurship and directs the Kelleher Center for entrepreneurship. He also holds the J. Marion West Chair for Constructive Capitalism. As director of IC², Butler manages an institute that has, for more than thirty years, collaborated with the State of Texas, the United States, and investors to produce more than 280 companies and to generate more than a quarter of a billion dollars for business start-ups at home and abroad.

Butler, a fourth-generation college graduate, earned a bachelor’s degree from LSU in 1969 and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., in 1974. The Franklinton, La., native is a Vietnam veteran and was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor in Combat.

He has been a distinguished visiting professor at Rutgers University, the University of Southern Maine, Beijing University, China, and Ayoma Gaukin University, Japan. His research in the areas of organizational behavior, entrepreneurship, and new ventures has resulted in the publication of numerous books and garnered appearances on more than thirty radio and television programs and coverage in dozens of prestigious newspapers and magazines across the country.

Among his many awards and honors are the Austin Business Journal Tech Innovation Legacy Award, the National Coalition for Capital Champion of Small Business Award, the Booker T. Washington Legacy Award, the People’s Health Illustrious Alumnus Award, and appointment to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholar Board.

A longtime former member of the LSU Alumni Association National Board of Directors, Butler was instrumental in the development and continued success of the Austin Alumni Chapter and is a major donor to the LSU Alumni Association and The Cook Hotel.

Butler and his wife, Rosemary, have one son, John.

20 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

Bradie James Young Alumnus of the Year

B

radie James has been an influential game changer for most of his life – academically, in sports, and in business. He grew up in Monroe, La., where he was an All-State linebacker for the West Monroe Rebels and attended LSU where he made his mark as a member of the football team and earned his degree in criminology.

While playing for the Tigers, James was a two-time All-SEC selection, All-American his senior season, was chosen as a National Scholar Athlete, and was on the All-SEC Academic Honor Roll.

In 2003 James was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys. In 2007 he was named defensive captain and quickly became one of the Cowboys’ undisputed team leaders.

James established Foundation 56 in 2007 as a way to help fight breast cancer, the disease that took his mother. To date, Foundation 56 has donated nearly one million dollars to the cause, including contributions to fund breast cancer services at Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center and to buy mobile mammogram units for Woman’s Hospital. In October 2011, the foundation unveiled the Bradie James Resource Center in the Women’s Imaging Center at Methodist Dallas Medical Center. The resource center offers everything from fitted wigs and prostheses to social therapy programs and support groups.

A major supporter of the Academic Center for Athletes and the Tiger Athletic Foundation scholarship program, James has teamed up with his alma mater to create the Etta James Memorial Meet, a gymnastics event for breast cancer awareness that attracts thousands of fans and donors to the Maravich Assembly Center annually. This year marks the fifth year of the event, which includes a charity tailgate party to raise funds for the foundation.

James resides in North Texas with his wife, Star, and their son, Ace.

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Kurt Culbertson

K

urt Culbertson is chairman of Design Workshop, a landscape architecture and urban design firm based in Aspen, Colorado. In 2008, Design Workshop was named the Firm of the Year by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). He graduated from LSU in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture.

A Fellow of the ASLA and the Institute of Urban Design, Culbertson has received numerous awards for his work including ASLA National Honor awards for his design of Canyon Forest Village at the Grand Canyon and South Grand Boulevard in St. Louis, Mo., and his master plans for Flathead County, Mont., and the Bow Valley of Alberta, Canada. Other awards include Colorado Chapter ASLA Honor Awards for the Red Butte Ranch Residence, Aspen, Colo., and Chalalan Ecolodge in Madidi National Park, Bolivia, and a North Carolina Chapter ASLA Honor Award for the Inn on Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C. His Strategic Plan for Petra, Jordan, won the Pierre L’Enfant Award for International Planning from the American Planning Association in 2012.

A long-time supporter of the School of Landscape Architecture, Culbertson was one of the driving forces in the fundraising campaign to raise four million dollars to name the school for its founder, Robert “Doc” Reich.

He personally donated a quarter of a million to the Reich School. He also served as co-chair of the fundraising effort to endow the Max Z. Conrad Lecture Series in the Reich School, which held its inaugural lecture on March 1. A Fulbright Scholar, Culbertson was the Robert S. Reich Teaching Professor in the College of Art & Design in 2004.

He also serves on the Sigma Chi House Corporation.

Culbertson and his wife, Gene Anne, a 1976 LSU graduate and interior designer, have two daughters, Erin, a fashion designer in New York, and Sarah, an attorney in Tallahassee.

22 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

Joseph D. Fail oseph “Jody” Fail, a 1961 electrical engineering graduate, is president and chairman of the board of the family owned Telephone Electronics Corporation, or TEC, a holding company for numerous telecommunications subsidiaries in the southeast United States. TEC employs more than 240 people and provides services to more than 60,000 customers.

Fail holds Professional Engineering licenses in four states and is active in both the telephone industry and electrical engineering professional organizations at the local, state, and national levels. He is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers, Mississippi Engineering Society, and the Association of Communication Engineers. He is past president of the Eastern Borrowers Association and chairman of OmniBank.

He recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from OPASTCO, a national telecom organization.

Active in community and education efforts in his hometown, Bay Springs, Miss., Fail is a member of the Bay Springs Chamber of Commerce and the Bay Springs Baptist Church where he teaches Sunday school and serves as a deacon. He established the D.L. Fail Memorial Scholarship, which offers high school students a chance to continue their educations. He is a member of the board of William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Miss., of GuideStone Financial Resources in Dallas, and of the National Advisory Board for Snowmass Chapel in Snowmass, Colo. He also is the founder of Jazz in the Grove, Mississippi’s only outdoor jazz festival, held in Bay Springs.

A longtime, generous supporter of the LSU Alumni Association, the Joseph D. Fail Foyer in the Lod Cook Alumni Center is named for him.

Jody Fail and his wife, Nancy, have two daughters – Brandi Callison, an LSU alumna, and Joey Garner – and four grandchildren.

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David B. Means, III

D

avid Means, of Gloster, La., graduated from LSU in 1972 with a degree in agriculture and earned a J.D. degree from the Hebert Law Center in 1974. Thereafter he served his country in the U.S. Army and was honorably discharged at the rank of First Lieutenant.

Means has managed his home farm, Roseneath Plantation, for fortythree years, during which time he developed one of the most widely known herds of Purebred Angus cattle in Louisiana. He is active in the Louisiana Angus Association, serving on the board and as president.

Active in Gloster civic and church activities, he served as treasurer and was a member of the board of the DeSoto Parish Farm Bureau, served on the DeSoto Soil and Water Conservation Committee, and took a leadership role in the Community Bank of Louisiana, serving on the board of directors and the executive committee.

He has served for many years on the executive committee of the State Fair of Louisiana and has served as president of the organization. He is a deacon of Gloster Baptist Church, a leader for FAITH Evangelism Program, and has served on numerous church committees.

There is no doubt that Means “bleeds purple and gold.� An active member of the DeSoto Parish Alumni chapter, he was named DeSoto Parish Alumnus of the Year in 2004.

He is a member of the College of Agriculture strategic planning committee and was named College of Agriculture Outstanding Alumnus in 2007. He also serves on the board of directors of the LSU Foundation.

David Means and his wife, Elizabeth, also a 1972 LSU graduate, have a son, Jeffrey, and a daughter, Anna.

24 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

James P. Richards, Jr. ames Richards, national award-winning designer, writer, and educator, graduated from LSU in 1978 with a degree in landscape architecture. A co-founder and principal of TOWNSCAPE, Inc., a Fort Worth-based urban design firm, his career spans three decades and includes landscape architecture, town planning, and urban design projects in seventeen states.

Prior to 1994, Richards was a design principal and studio director for Johnson, Johnson and Roy, Inc. He has served as visiting lecturer and jury critic at numerous universities and as adjunct faculty at the University of Texas School of Architecture. His projects and teachings are informed by extensive travel, having studied and sketched hundreds of cities and projects in thirty-two countries across the globe.

A member of the Council of Fellows of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Richards received the 2008 ASLA Bradford Williams Medal for his writing on urban place-making and visual thinking. He serves on the board of the international nonprofit Urban Sketchers and is founder of Urban Sketchers Texas. His book, Freehand Drawing Renaissance, will be released January 2013.

Richards serves on the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture Advisory Board and was among the core group of alumni who raised money to name the school and to endow the Max Z. Conrad Lecture Series. He also donates his time to lecture and conduct workshops for landscape architecture students.

James and Patti Richards, a 1978 LSU alumna, have two daughters, Jessica Paolini and Cassie Richards, both of whom also graduated from LSU.

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Donald Welge

D

onald Welge, of Chester, Ill., has served as president and CEO of Gilster-Mary Lee Corporation since 1965.

He joined Gilster Milling Company in 1957, immediately after earning a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics and helped build the organization into a $900 million dry-food, private-label manufacturing company. He is perhaps most locally recognized for his partnership in the Mary Lee Donut Shop franchise company in Baton Rouge.

Welge is actively involved with numerous professional, community, and civic groups and has served on the boards of or as an officer of the Perryville, Mo., Chamber of Commerce, Chester Chamber of Commerce, the Okaw Valley Boy Scout Council, St. John’s Lutheran School, and Buena Vista Bank, currently serving as president of the bank’s holding company.

He was named Southern Illinois Business Leader of the Year in 1988, Chester Post Veterans of Foreign Wars Citizen of the Year in 1986 and 2001, and Chester Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 1992.

A major benefactor of the Department of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness, Welge has contributed generously to the department’s five scholarships and supports a professorship.

He has maintained strong ties with LSU, the LSU AgCenter, and the College of Agriculture and served for many years on the college’s alumni board. He received the College of Agriculture Outstanding Alumni Award in 2003 and served on the Dean’s Strategic Planning committee in 2009-10.

Don and Mary Alice Welge will celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary in August of this year. They have two sons, Rob – an LSU graduate – and Tom, both of whom are in business with their father, and four grandchildren.

26 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

Claude O. West

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laude West, of Minden, La., graduated from LSU in 1949 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and immediately began working with West Brothers Department Stores. In 1956 he joined his father to create West & Company of Louisiana, Inc., and together they led the company as it grew to thirty-nine stores in five states. He retired as president of the company in 1988 and today is president of Westco Land, LLC, and of West Foundation, Inc. West is active in civic and professional organizations and has served on the boards or as a member of the Minden Chamber of Commerce, Minden Lions Club, Louisiana Cattlemen’s Association, American Legion Post 74, Masonic Lodge, and Pine Hills Country Club, among others. He was named Minden Young Man of the Year in 1961 and Minden Man of the Year in 1975.

He is a member of the First Baptist Church and serves as a life deacon, chairman of the Board of Deacons, Sunday school director, and chairman of several committees, including the church building and Family Life Center committees.

West is a member of the LSU Stadium Club and was a charter member of the Tiger Athletic Foundation and past member of the LSU Foundation. An active member of the Webster Parish Alumni Chapter, he received an LSU Alumni Association Chapter Service Award in 1998.

Claude West and his wife, Leatrice, have been married for sixty-five years.

They have three daughters – Sandra Jackson, Peggy Waters, and Claudia Lee – and seven grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren.

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LSU Debate team has

Talent

28 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

Public speaking builds confidence, logic skills, and teamwork abilities. It’s great experience for the real world.

By Brenda Macon and Photos by W. Randall Macon

Of the many extracurricular opportunities offered at LSU, membership on the speech and debate team has several advantages. After all, skills gained in debate, public speaking, and dramatic monologues are perhaps some of the most versatile and useful in life beyond the University. Students learn organizational strategies, time management, and meeting skills in what their leader calls “trial by fire.”

LSU’s Mixon Lycaeum Speech and Debate Team members are all undergraduates and are currently led by Austin McDonald, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication Studies, along with volunteer coaches Erik Abshire, Eddie Gamboa, and Kevin Garner. The group’s faculty adviser is Associate Professor Stephanie Grey, also in communication studies.

The team is named for Harold Mixon, who was recruited to teach classical rhetoric in the 1960s and who led the debaters throughout the 1970s. Under his direction, teams traveled extensively and competed against Air Force, Georgetown, Harvard, and other national debate powerhouses. Today’s team owes its strong foundation and reputation for success to Mixon’s early leadership and fundraising prowess.

A rather informal collection of students from nearly every college on campus, the team begins its training the week before classes start in August. The students travel about ten times during the academic year to other universities for competitions.

Students on the team tend to be “busy” according to McDonald – they are Tiger Band members, class leaders, drama students – and very engaged in campus activities. McDonald, who attended the University of Alabama on a full speech scholarship as an undergraduate, has enormous respect for these students.

“I really appreciate the sacrifice that these students make when we travel,” McDonald comments. “They give up their

weekends several times during the fall and spring semesters to participate and compete. Unlike other schools, LSU has no scholarships for debate or public speaking, so these undergraduates are doing this just because they see the intrinsic value in what they’re doing – there’s no other compensation.”

The team competes in four or five “swings” (two tournaments in one weekend) each semester. Swings are more cost effective for the participating universities because they reduce the cost of travel.

Team members learn quickly how to conserve their monetary resources, and combining events is just one example. The team budget is $6,000 per year, so members find creative ways to raise funds to allow them to compete against schools – such as the University of Alabama’s team, which has an annual budget of $60,000 and thirty full in-state scholarships – with funding that is as much as ten times greater than LSU’s.

Most recently, members have used their gifts of persuasion to convince LSU Student Government (SG) that the speech and debate team should be included in receiving a percentage of the student “performance fees” that are collected at registration.

While SG agreed to support them, the team’s next step is to convince the funding committee of faculty and students who are tasked with selecting which campus groups receive these funds that speech and debate events are, indeed, performances.

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Even with its shoestring budget, the team has made inroads toward national recognition. From seventieth among ninety to 100 schools nationally in 2009, the team rose to twenty-fifth during the 2009-2010 academic year and was twenty-sixth the following year.

Despite having lost many of its senior members after the spring 2011 semester, the 2011-2012 team is holding its own while it rebuilds. During the 2011-2012 competitive season, the team had a total competitive speaking performance time of 4,422 minutes or 73.7 hours (not including rehearsals or showcase performances) and traveled a total of 5,515 miles. In nine months, they racked up more than seventy awards: fifty individual awards, seven regional championships, nine events qualified for nationals, and one top team award.

In fall 2011, LSU hosted its first annual Death Valley Swing, which required the team members to serve as staff rather than as competitors. Even this experience has its value, according to McDonald.

“When we host a tournament, team members learn how a tournament is organized from the inside,” he explains. “The Death Valley Swing is the weekend before Halloween, so the students have fun coming up with the theme, costuming, and getting into character.”

During the spring 2012 semester, the team participated in a total of four more swings and the American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament.

Earlier this year, the team also hosted the Mardi Gras Swing, which found its beginnings in the mid-1980s.

McDonald credits every student on the team for their successes this academic year: “I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished so far. That would not have happened without the efforts of every single person on the team,” he remarks. “We’re a scrappy bunch!”

Brenda Macon is a freelance writer/editor living in Baton Rouge and the former editor of Kaleidoscope, the magazine of the LSU College of Humanities & Social Sciences.

Her husband, Randy, is on the staff of Group Novak, LLC, an architectural firm in Baton Rouge, and is also a freelance photographer.

Beginning Top left clockwise Victoria Jones, competing for Ole Miss, and her brother Joseph Jones, a member of the William Carey team, vied against each other; LSU volunteer judge Erik Abshire; LSU Speech and Debate Team members, from left, clockwise, Dustin Danos, Stephen Varnell, Abby Beyer, Kevin Garner, Anthony Tan, Lauren Trahan, and Lauren Leist; Judges Frankie Glennis-Wattis and Vincent Kirkland; Grant Staples, a speech and theater instructor at Holmes Community College in Ridgeland, Miss., attended the Mardi Gras Swing to get ideas for building a program at his school.

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aking the

party count

Hosting the Mardi Gras Swing at LSU Football isn’t the only competitive activity at LSU that can generate excitement and energy among students. The Mardi Gras Swing had student competitors dancing in the aisles at the evening awards ceremonies, and the energy these students brought to their work was downright contagious. The student-led LSU Mixon Lycaeum Speech and Debate Team served as hosts to seventeen schools at this annual event that was held this year on Feb. 24-26 in Coates Hall. The three days of competition included both persuasive and performance opportunities, and alumni from the various schools served as judges.

In the world of debate and oral performance, a “swing” is a combination tournament that allows members of the teams to compete in both arenas of forensics: speech (including original speeches and performances of literature) and debate (individual and team). Because collegiate teams are almost always working on a limited budget and within the scheduling framework of the academic semester, combining the different types of public speaking and performance into a single weekend or three-day event maximizes the resources of these teams.

Students from schools such as the University of Alabama, University of Mississippi, George Mason University, Texas State University, William Carey University, and McNeese University converged on the LSU campus ready to compete.

Team members work together to support each other, but all of them know that each performs alone. While that solo act may seem daunting, they do have a safety net: Every team member’s performance – even on a bad day – can add to the team’s total points.

Family Competition One of the competitors knew he was going to have a tough time of it – but not because of the other competitors. Taylor McDonald, who was competing as a member of the University of Alabama team, is LSU Speech and Debate Team Head Coach Austin McDonald’s younger brother.

The two took time out during a brief break in the action to mug for the camera as only two performers could.

Taylor and Austin weren’t the only siblings represented at the tournament. Petal, Miss., natives Victoria Jones, competing for Ole Miss, and her brother Joseph Jones, who is a member of the

William Carey team, were vying against each other. Victoria’s coach, Debra Yancy, found the relationship inspirational.

“Victoria is very talented. She and her brother handle the competition like professionals – they support each other, but they compete to win,” Yancy commented.

Judges Frankie Glennis-Wattis and Vincent Kirkland talked about their experience with the Mardi Gras Swing as they enjoyed the jambalaya that the LSU team provided for the visitors. “I’ve been to this tournament eight or nine times,” Glennis-Wattis said. “I love this – it’s the highlight of the year!”

Skills for the Real World Glennis-Wattis, a 2002 alumna of William Carey University, is now an attorney and credits her experience as a member of the debate team when she was a student to her success in law school and in her career.

“Public speaking builds confidence, logic skills, and teamwork abilities,” she explained. “Debate gave me an edge in law school.

It’s great experience for the real world.”

Kirkland, who is currently in graduate school at William Carey, agreed: “I’m very impressed. This is my first year as a judge at this event, and I didn’t know the tournament was this in-depth. It crosses the whole spectrum of communication. The debate side is more intense, more political, more taxing, but it’s worth it. Speech can be a powerful tool.”

“The skills you can acquire or improve are benefits for life,” Yancy, the coach and judge from Ole Miss, added. “It takes effort, and not many people are willing to put in that effort. It’s hard work.”

LSU provided its own judges as well. One of those, 2005 alumnus Erik Abshire, an electrical engineer, continues to remain connected to the university primarily because of his attachment to the speech and debate team.

“When I first started volunteering with the team, it was because people who were my teammates were still competing. Even after they graduated, I kept coming back,” Abshire recalled. “I coach public address, handle logistics, and basically run errands when I’m not judging. The Mardi Gras Classic is my favorite event.”

Visiting, Learning, Networking Other visitors at the tournament had their own reasons to observe the event. Grant Staples, a speech and theater instructor at Holmes Community College in Ridgeland, Miss., plans to establish a team at his school, and he attended the Mardi Gras Swing to get ideas for funding and for building his program.

“This event is a great example of the ways in which students benefit from competition,” Staples commented. “I want my students to experience this – to get in on the ground floor of all this. We would be the only debate team at the community college level in Mississippi, and that would give us a certain distinction. I’m hoping to be able to bring a team from Holmes Community College to the Mardi Gras Swing next year.”

High school senior Meg Cox, from Lafayette, La., has committed to attend Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Ky., because that university’s speech team is the best in the nation. Cox, who has attended summer programs at George Mason University for several years, asked her brother, a coach at George Mason, for tips on preparing for collegiate competition, and he recommended that she attend the Mardi Gras Swing.

“It’s different from high school competitions,” she said. “It has definitely cemented my decision to continue in public speaking and debate.”

Cox found that she knew other people on several of the teams represented at the tournament. She and Davanté Lewis, from Lake Charles, La., and a sophomore competing at the swing for the McNeese University team, have become good friends through years of high school competition and camaraderie.

“That’s one thing I love about competing,” Lewis commented. “After a while, you get to know everyone – even your competitors – as friends. It’s a family feeling, like you have friends everywhere.”

Although the upperclass LSU students did not compete in the Mardi Gras Swing, they made sure that the visiting competitors and judges felt a warm Baton Rouge welcome. They served as guides, entertainers, runners, and announcers for the events. LSU students volunteering at this event were Abigayle Beyer, Lance Bordelon, Dustin Danos, Claire Fontenot, Kevin Garner, Eddie Gamboa, Hugh Hartzog, Lauren Leist, Lauren Trahan, Anthony Tan, and Stephen Varnell.

One of those, senior Lance Bordelon, was helping to direct the frantic activity during the peak hours of the tournament on Saturday and epitomized the energy and sheer exuberance of the LSU team members.

“Yeah, it’s crazy right now, but this is the big event for us,” he elaborated. “It’s fun to be on this side of the competition because it gives you a whole new perspective.”

In January 2012, Bordelon was nominated by his peers from District 6 roughly the area of the SEC) of the American Forensics Association to the All-American Team and will compete at the national tournament.

Saturday evening, Bordelon and his teammates hosted the awards ceremony for the day’s events by organizing a line dance and throwing Mardi Gras beads. All of the students from the various schools chimed in with their own versions of dance and performance. These talented and creative young people generated an energy and enthusiasm that made the event a celebration, whether they won or not, belying the intensity, emotion, and passion of their work earlier in the day. from top Davanté Lewis, a member of the McNeese State University team, visits with Meg Cox, who will attend Western Kentucky University; Brothers Austin McDonald, head coach of the LSU Speech and Debate Team, and his brother and competitor Taylor McDonald, a member of the University of Alabama team; Volunteers Hugh Hartzog and Abby Beyer with Coach Austin McDonald; Volunteers Lance Bordelon, front, and Kevin Garner throw beads during a celebration at the end of the tournament.

32 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

Congratulations

John Butler on this outstanding award.

You have given so much to so many.

This is a well deserved honor.

The Butler Family, The Griffey Family, and your friends, The Cunninghams and The Blakes, are truly proud of you.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

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Noteworthy

Around

campus

Stuart R. Bell

R. Kenton Denny

J. Gerald Kennedy

Ambar Sengupta

Stuart R. Bell, dean of the School of Engineering at the University of Kansas, has been named executive vice chancellor and provost, effective Aug. 1, pending approval by the LSU Board of Supervisors. Bell replaces John Maxwell Hamilton, who served a two-year appointment that began July 1, 2010. Bell has served in higher education for more than twenty-five years and has broad administrative experience encompassing departmental, school/college, university and system activities. He received his bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering and master’s and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University. He most recently served as dean of the University of Kansas School of Engineering. While he was dean, four new major centers were conceived and launched from the school with a total federal commitment of more than $70 million dollars.

J. Gerald Kennedy, Boyd Professor of English and former chair of the Department of English, has been selected to receive a Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award, a new SEC honor that recognizes professors from SEC universities with outstanding records in teaching and scholarship who serve as role models for other faculty and students. The winners, one from each SEC university, receive a $5,000 honorarium and become his or her university’s nominee for the SEC Professor of the Year Award.

R. Kenton Denny, the Judith Walker Gibbs Professor of Education and associate professor of special education programs in the College of Human Sciences & Education, was named Higher Education Professional of the Year by the Louisiana Council for Exceptional Children (LACEC). Denny works with students with severely challenging behavior and the teachers and schools that serve them. He was recognized at the LACEC Awards Ceremony at the Louisiana Super Conference in January.

Angela Guillory

Ram Devireddy

Ambar Sengupta, professor of mathematics, has been named Hubert Butts Alumni Departmental Professor. A faculty member since 1991, Sengupta’s past awards include a 2011 Mercator Guest Professorship at the University of Bonn by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, or German Research Foundation. The alumni professorship is named in honor of Mathematics Alumni Professor Emeritus Hubert S. Butts and is presented to mathematics professors with reputations for excellence in undergraduate instruction.

Angela Guillory, assistant dean of students and director of the Office of Greek Life, was honored with the Sue Kraft Distinguished Service Award from the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors (AFA) for exhibiting high professional standards and achievement in fraternity/sorority advising and contributing countless hours to the betterment of the fraternal movement. The award is one of the top awards a fraternity/ sorority adviser can receive. Guillory, who has served in the office for more than nine years, advises the Panhellenic Council and Greek Board of Directors.

Ram Devireddy, associate professor of mechanical engineering, has been named a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Devireddy was recognized for having made seminal research contributions in the area of bioheat and mass transfer and more recently in the field of adult stem cell biopreservation and thermo-electric materials. Devireddy joined LSU in 2001. Fellow, the highest elected grade of membership in ASME, is conferred upon members with at least ten years of active engineering practice who have made significant contributions to the profession.

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Tiger Trivia 1. How many Tiger baseball players have been members of major league World Series champion teams?

10 7

4 14 2. Which former Tiger won the major league World Series as a manager?

Joe Bill Adcock Y.A. Tittle

Ron Guidry Alvin Dark George Z. Voyiadjis

Clinton Willson

Roy Keller, director of the Louisiana Technology Transfer Office located in LSU’s Louisiana Business & Technology Center, has been named a recipient of the Champion of Small Business Innovation Award given by the Small Business Technology Council. Keller was selected because he contributed to the Small Russell L. Carson Business Innovation Research (SBIR) reauthorization efforts. These efforts led to the SBIR reauthorization bill passage, which President Obama signed at the end of 2011.

George Z. Voyiadjis, Boyd Professor, Chair and Bingham C. Stewart Distinguished Professor of Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been awarded the Khan International Award for outstanding contributions to the field of plasticity over a period of twenty years. Voyiadjis has received numerous awards including the Educator of the Year Award from the Louisiana Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Nathan M. Newmark Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers for his contributions to the fields of structural mechanics and geomechanics.

Clinton Willson, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been elected president of the Baton Rouge branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). A longtime, active member, Willson has served on the ASCEBR Branch Board of Directors since 2006. He previously served as a director, secretary-treasurer, vice president, and president-elect.

Russell L. Carson, assistant professor of kinesiology, received the National Association for Sport and Physical Education’s 2012 Helen M. Heitmann Curriculum and Instruction Young Scholar Award during the National Convention of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) in March.

Carson was recognized for his exceptional contributions to research in the field of curriculum and instruction. In 2011, Carson received the Mabel Lee College/University Award from AAHPERD for accomplishments in his scholarship, teaching, and service.

3. When did the first Mike the Tiger arrive on campus?

1893 1924

1936 1958 4. When did the first human tiger mascot appear?

1926 1935

1959 1965 5. In 1966, the Dean of Men ruled that male students could be denied recognition in classrooms and refused service in dining halls for not wearing socks and for “sloppiness.”

True False

6. Who was the first director of the Sugar Experiment Station (now the Audubon Sugar Institute)?

William Dalrymple William Stubbs

William Dodson Charles Coates 7. What was Pleasant Hall called before it received its present name?

Jackson Hall and Lejeune Hall Sherman Hall and Boyd Hall

Smith Hall and Long Hall Smith Hall and Parker Hall 8. How many campus buildings have been named after John M. Parker, including the Parker Coliseum?

2 3

4 5 9. When was the Huey Long Fieldhouse and Pool completed?

1932 1935

1939 1941 10. What was the original purpose of the French House?

It was a dormitory It housed an immersion program

in French language and culture

It housed foreign exchange It has always been the home of students from France the Honors College 11. When did the French House open?

1922

1936

1926 1940

12. What is inside the cornerstone of the French House?

A Diamond Jubilee issue of A piece of wood from Fort

The Reveille de la Boulaye

A copy of the 1935 Gumbo A and B

B and C

Tiger Trivia is compiled by Barry Cowan, assistant archivist, Hill Memorial Library.

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

Roy Keller

LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

35

Noteworthy

Around Campus

Carl Sabottke, a junior chemical physics major, has been awarded the prestigious, nationally competitive Goldwater Scholarship by the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program Sophomore Zachary Fitzpatrick of Holden, La.; sophomore Corey Landry of Denham Springs, La.; and junior Tiffany Lemon or Opelousas, La., received Honorable Mention. All four students are members of the LSU Honors College and LA-STEM Research Scholars. Sabottke will graduate in May 2013 and hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience and to conduct research in theoretical neuroscience and teach at the university level.

Carl Sabottke

Tim Slack

Ying “Jane” Wang

Milen Yakimov

36 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

Tim Slack, associate professor of sociology, and Ying “Jane” Wang, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, received the University’s Rainmaker’s Emerging Scholar Award in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, respectively. The awards, which recognize junior faculty exhibiting success at the assistant professor level, were presented April 17 at the annual Rainmakers reception hosted by the Office of Research & Economic Development and Campus Federal Credit Union. Slack and Wang each received a one-time stipend of $1,000 and a plaque in recognition of their achievements.

Milen Yakimov, professor of mathematics, received the Rainmakers Mid-Career Scholar Award. The award, which recognizes a faculty member at the associate professor level or recently promoted to full professor who exhibits a sustained program of excellence and who have been at LSU for seven to ten years, was presented April 17 at the annual Rainmakers reception hosted by the Office of Research & Economic Development and Campus Federal Credit Union. Yakimov received a onetime stipend of $1,000 and a plaque.

Suzanne L. Marchand and Kalliat T. Valsaraj were named Distinguished Research Masters on April 19 during ceremonies at the Faculty Club. The event was sponsored by the Office of Research & Economic Development (ORED). The Distinguished Research Master Award provides winners a salary stipend and the University Medal – the symbol of exceptional academic accomplishment at LSU. Marchand, professor of history, received her bachelor’s degree in history from Berkeley and a master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. She is author of German Orientalism in the Age of Empire, recently honored by the American Historical Association’s prestigious George L. Mosse Prize and the American Library Association’s “Outstanding Academic Titles of 2010” list. Currently vice-president of the German Studies Association, which she will serve as president in 2013-14, Marchand also serves on the American Historical Association’s Committee on Committees and is the first U.S. representative on the German History Executive Board. She has also previously been selected as an LSU Rainmaker, received a prestigious summer fellowship at Collegium Budapest, received an American Council of Learned Societies, or ACLS, Burkhardt Fellowship for associate professors, and received many other honors, fellowships, and awards within her field.

Valsaraj currently holds several honorific titles, including the Ike East Professor of Chemical Engineering and the Charles and Hilda Roddey Distinguished Professor in Chemical Engineering. He also serves as associate vice chancellor of ORED. Valsaraj received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Calicut in India.

He went on to receive a master’s degree in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India, then completed his Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University. Prior to his administrative role at ORED, Valsaraj served as chair in the Cain Department of Chemical Engineering. Valsaraj has published more than 180 peer-reviewed journal articles and more than twenty-five book chapters and has presented his research at numerous conferences and invited presentations across the globe. He is responsible for a number of high-profile research grants and counts among his honors being named a fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Suzanne L. Marchand

Kalliat T. Valsaraj

James Honeycutt

Jacqueline Stephens

James Honeycutt, professor of communication studies, and Jacqueline Stephens, the Ron and Mary Neal Distinguished Professor in Biological Sciences and Claude B. Pennington, Jr., Endowed Chair in Biomedical Research, have received the Rainmaker’s Senior Scholar Award in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, respectively. The award, which recognizes faculty members whose work is comparable to the quality of that considered for the Distinguished Research Master award or Boyd Professor designation, is typically reserved for faculty who has been promoted to full professor and exhibit a sustained program of excellence as measured by significant contributions to his or her field of research or creative activity.

Honeycutt and Stephens each received a one-time stipend of $1,000 and a plaque. The awards were presented April 17 at the annual Rainmakers reception hosted by the Office of Research & Economic Development and Campus Federal Credit Union.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

37

Noteworthy

Around Campus

Eric Monday, the vice chancellor for finance and administrative services and chief financial officer at LSU, was named the Master of Public Administration Alumnus of the Year by the LSU Public Administration Institute. He graduated from LSU with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and subsequently enrolled in the M.P.A. program.

He is completing his Ph.D. at LSU. Monday, who was named one of Greater Baton Rouge Business Report’s Forty under 40 in 2008, has previously served in several other leadership positions for the University, including interim vice chancellor for Student Life and interim director for Emergency Operations.

Eric Monday

38 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

Several post-graduate programs are ranked in the 2013 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools.” In the new report, the College of Education saw its graduate program ranking improve sixteen places, moving from 116 in the 2012 report to 100 in the 2013 report. The LSU Flores MBA Program, part of the E.J. Ourso College of Business, gained ground both overall and among public institutions in the 2013 rankings. Overall the program improved eight spots, and among public institutions improved by six spots. U.S. News & World Report ranked the program at eighty-one overall and forty-one among public institutions. The College of Engineering graduate program moved up two spots in the overall rankings with each of the college’s departments also showing improvement in the ranking as well. The college moved from an overall ranking of ninety-five out of 184 programs in the 2012 report to a ranking of ninety-three out of 193 programs in the 2013 report.

In the ranking of Best Fine Arts graduate programs, LSU saw a fourteen-position improvement since its last ranking. The program ranked sixty-two in the 2013 report, tied with nine other universities. The ranking shows improvement from a rank of seventy-six in the 2009 report. The School of Art master’s program in ceramics was again among the top ten programs in the country, ranking at nine in the 2013 report.

In this year’s rankings for public affairs programs, the first updated rankings in three years, the Public Administration Institute was ranked seventy-three overall and fiftytwo among public institutions. Other University graduate programs that saw updated periodic rankings in the 2013 report include the School of Social Work, ranked seventy-nine; the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders master’s program in speech-language pathology, fifty-two; the Paul M. Hebert Law Center, seventy-nine; and the School of Veterinary Medicine, twenty-two.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

39

Around Campus

LSU 100 Fastest Growing Tiger Businesses

By Lisa O’Beirne and Amanda Paxton Photos by Ron Moore

The LSU Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute (SEI) hosted the second annual LSU 100: Fastest Growing Tiger Businesses on March 22-23. The LSU 100 was created by SEI in 2011, thanks in large part to the urging of SEI Advisory Board member Gregory Price. It is a highly competitive annual program that honors growing companies led by former LSU students.

The 2012 honorees are headquartered in eight states, and the former students studied in eight different colleges at LSU. The number two LSU 100 honoree, Immense Networks LLC, featured recent graduates Bret Esquivel (2007 BACH SCI) and Daniel Kattan (2008 BACH ENGR). Long-standing companies include Gilster Mary-Lee Corporation, founded in 1895 and reorganized in 1971, and Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips LLP, founded in 1912.

According to the independent accounting firm Postlethwaite & Netterville, the “The honoree companies 2012 LSU 100 companies collectively had an average annual compounded growth from employ thousands of people 2008-2010 of 12 percent, compared with the nation’s flat growth rate. The honoree and together earned $40.7 companies employ thousands of people and together earned $40.7 billion from 2009 to 2010. If these companies formed a country, it would be the ninety-ninth largest billion from 2009 to 2010. economy in the world.

Homeland Healthcare of Allen, Texas, was recognized as this year’s number one If these companies formed honoree.

Robert J. Byrnes, Homeland Healthcare’s president and Tiger leader stated, a country, it would be the “This honor means a great deal to me because it validates the fact that if you have ninety-ninth largest economy a vision, are willing to dedicate yourself to fulfilling that vision, surround yourself in the world.” with the best people, and work hard to achieve your goals, you will be successful. I have been blessed through my close association with LSU and by my strong personal and business relationships with other successful people.”

LSU 100 honorees were welcomed back to campus on March 22 for a reception at the Lod Cook Alumni Center, giving the Tiger leaders an opportunity to interact with fellow honorees and current entrepreneurship students. The following morning they had breakfast with the deans of their colleges and toured college facilities.

Harry and Frances McInnis and Kathy and Philip McInnis, McInnis Brothers Construction, and Lisa O’Beirne, SEI director of development, at the LSU 100 reception.

At the luncheon, the names of the companies and Tiger leaders were announced and counted down by the SEI Entrepreneurship Fellows. Each of the 100 honorees received an award and had a photograph taken with Chancellor Mike Martin.

The 2012 event was made possible with the support of David and Sandi Braddock; the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report; Gatorworks; the LSU Alumni Association; Postlethwaite & Netterville; and Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips LLP.

Number one 2012 LSU 100 honoree Robert J. Byrnes,

ON THE WEB www.lsu100.com or Homeland HealthCare, and number one 2011 LSU 100 honoree David Braddock, Broad Oak Energy. www.sei.lsu.edu

40 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

2012 LSU 100 and Their Tiger Leaders

Top 10 • Homeland HealthCare Robert J. Byrnes 1989 • Immense Networks LLC Bret Esquivel 2007 Darren Kattan 2008 • Technically Advanced Inc. Kurt Whitcher 2005 • Geocent Dr. Robert A. Savoie 1980 Lori Kent Savoie 1981 Dr. Felix H. Savoie, III 1978 William H. Langenstein, III 1974 Roland Vaughn Cimini 1984 Thomas J. Savoie 1985 Jeffery P. Tomney 1989 Maurice de la Houssaye 1985 Cynthia Cliebert 1980 • Worley Catastrophe Response Michael Worley 1984 • Indigo Minerals Keith E. Jordan 191979 • Petro TV Ethan J. Cheramie 1995 • Danos Hank Danos 1971 Eric Danos 1997 Paul Danos 1999 • The Olinger Group Jude A. Olinger 1990 • Gladden Sales Sterling W. “Buck” Gladden III 1979 • A Dog’s Day Out Charles W. Richardson 1959 • Abita Brewing Company LLC David Blossman 1990 Roy E. Blossman 1985 Troy Ashley 1996 • AIM Technologies Charles LeMaire 1983 Milton “Buck” Brignac 1984 • Alloy Metals and Tubes International Curt Kates 1976

• Answering Bureau Inc. dba Dexcomm Jamey Hopper 1979 • Arkel Constructors Johnny Fife 1976 Derek Fife 2000 • Associated Grocers J.H. Campbell, Jr. 1973 • B&G Foods Gregory J. Hamer 1968 Gregory Hamer, Jr. 1999 Tracie Hamer Hover 1993 Valerie Hamer LeBlanc 1991 • Baldone Reina Dermatology Rhonda Baldone 1989 Rachel S. Reina 1995 • Baton Rouge Physical Therapy Lake Rehabilitation Centers Richard E. Lane 1974 Gus L. Gutierrez 1986 Tyler J. Lafuci 1976 Dacia Alexander 1989 Melanie B. Sawyer 1981 • Beau Box Commercial Real Estate Beau Box 1990 • Bizzuka John Munsell 1982 • Cane River Pecan Company Jady Regard 1992 • Central Louisiana Capital Corporation Brian D. Campbell 1974 • C-K Associates Daniel Strecker 1981 Patrick Long 1974 • Coldwell Banker J. Wesley Dowling & Associates James D. “Jimmy’ Gosslee 1971 • Compucast Web Design Judy Weitz 1974 • Cypress Advisory Services Paul Palmer, Jr. 1980 • D. Honoré Construction Dwayne Honoré 1987 • Dana Brown & Associates Inc. Dana Brown 1979 • Design Workshop Kurt Culbertson 1976 • Doerle Food Services Carolyn Doerle 1980 • Dynamic Offshore Resources Matt McCarroll 1981 • Excalibur Exhibits Peggy Swords 1971 • Excelerant Christina Harper 1992

• F. H. Myers Construction Corporation Fred H. Myers 1970 Rachelle M. Albright 1995 Ryan P. Myers 1997 • Functionally Integrated Training & Therapy Gerald Drefahl 1995 • Gatorworks Brian Rodriguez 2006 Charlie Davis 2003 • General Informatics Mohit Vij 1997 • Geoshield Burns Mulhearn 2003 Beau Dingler 2005 • Gilster-Mary Lee Corporation Don Welge 1957 Rob Welge 1985 Tom Welge • Global Data Vault Will Baccich 1980 • Gulf Coast LTC Partners B.J. Bergeron 1993 • Gulf South Research Corporation Suna Adam Knaus 1988 • Gulfgate Construction J. Andre Soileau 1996 • Health Care Options Inc. Annette Austin 1996 • Hess Corporation William Drennen 1976 • Hollingsworth Richards Automotive Group Mike Hollingsworth 1983 Polly Lemoine 1982 Gaye Hollingsworth 1982 • Horizon Wealth Management Pete Bush 1990 Jeff Reboulet 1988 Brooke Gautreau 2003 • Imperial Fire & Casualty Insurance Company H. Marcus “Marc” Carter, Jr. 1978 • Internet Retail Connection Steven Musumeche 2003 • ISC Edward J. Rispone 1972 Jerry Rispone 1985 • JEB Design/Build Joseph E. Breithaupt, Jr. 1980 • JP Oil Company LLC Chris Van Way 1984

LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

41

Around Campus

2012 LSU 100 and Their Tiger Leaders

• Kean Miller Gary A. Bezet 1976 Ben R. Miller 1961 Charles M. McCowan 1964 Carey J. Messina 1978 Leonard L. Kilgore 1973 • Key Energy Services Dick Alario 1976 • Kimbrell and Associates William Clay Kimbrell 1981 Tracey V. Kimbrell 1994 • LaBorde Therapy Center Claudia LaBorde 1980 Mark LaBorde 1978 • Lipsey’s Richard A. Lipsey 1961 • Lisa D. Traina, CPA, LLC Lisa Delaville Traina 1982 • Lyons Specialty Company Hugh W. Raetzch, Jr. 1993 Jane Davis Dunlap 1967 Charles Schimmel 1993 Jodi Williams Buckner 1991 Ali Momenzadeh 1993 • Manasseh, Gill, Knipe & Belanger James P. Manasseh 1985 • McInnis Brothers Construction Harry McInnis, Jr. 1966 George E. McInnis 1968 Philip McInnis 1971 • Medistar Home Health Beth R. Denton 1977 • MESH Design Brian Hanlon 1984 • Netchex Will Boudreaux 1991 Stuart Ethridge 1992 • Pay-Less Supermarket Inc. dba Leblanc’s Food Stores Randal R. LeBlanc 1979 • Perry Dampf Dispute Solutions Robert J. Burns, Jr. 1988 John W. Perry, Jr. 1978 Robert S. Dampf 1979 Glen Scott Love 1980 Myron A. Walker Jr. 1976 • Perry, Atkinson, Balhoff, Mengis & Burns John W. Perry, Jr. 1978 Daniel R. Atkinson, Jr. 1987 Daniel J. Balhoff 1988 Joseph W. Mengis 1992 Robert J. Burns, Jr. 1988 Randi S. Ellis 1997

• Petrotechnologies David Levy 1986 • Plains Exploration & Production Company James C. Flores 1982 • Preis & Roy Edwin G. Preis, Jr. 1972 • PreSonus Audio Electronics Inc. Jim Odom 1992 Brian Smith 1991 Alan Smith 1988 Mark Turner 1982 • Provident Resources Group Inc. Steve E. Hicks 1970 • Red River Motor Company George P. Fritze 1978 George Patton Fritze, Jr. 2006 Minou Fritze Olsan 2001 James N. Fritze 1991 • Research in Action, Inc. Dr. J.P. Beaudoin 2000 Sharon Beaudoin 1992 • Rickey Heroman’s Florist and Gifts/Landscape Richard B. Heroman 1976 Deborah S. Heroman 1977 • Roedel Parsons Koch Blanche Balhoff & McCollister Larry M. Roedel 1973 J. Kent Parsons 1981 John D. Koch 1976 Tom E. Balhoff ‘70 Stephen G. McCollister 1983 • Schumacher Group William Cliff Schumacher 1980 • SEMPCheck Services Inc. Archie R. Thompson, Jr. 1971 Katelyn Lee Thompson 2006 • Sexton-Hebert R. Gray Sexton 1966 Suzanne Fournet Sexton 1965 Eric-Todd Hebert 1992 • SGS Petroleum Service Corporation Brian Haymon 1985 • Sigma Consulting Group Miles B. Williams 1983 Mike N. Dooley 1974 Stephen J. Brasuell 1975 • Sigma Engineers and Constructors Daniel Kais 1990 Robert Olivier 2001 Donald Todd Drummond 1994 Chris Kafkallides 1986 Calvin “Trey” Landry 2005 Mike Dooley 1974

42 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

• Sparkhound Shawn Usher 1998 Mike Phillips 2000 • Stirling Properties James E. Maurin 1970 Gerald “Chip” Songy 1971 Lewis W. Stirling 1977 Grady K. Brame 1979 • Stonetrust Commercial Insurance Company Timothy W. Dietrich 1980 • STUN Design & Interactive Chuck Sanchez 1996 • T. Baker Smith Clifford Smith 1958 • Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips Harry J. “Skip” Phillips, 1972 W. Arthur Abercrombie, Jr. 1966 • TBG Partners Earl Broussard 1972 • The H Agency Lori Brignac Lee 1989 Winnie Brignac Hart 1989 • The Lemoine Company Leonard Lemoine 1979 • The Lofton Corporation dba Lofton Staffing Services Bart Lofton 1989 Bret Lofton 1987 Thomas Lofton 1960 • The Marketing Center Nathan Chapman 1982 • The Pangburn Group Brian E. Pangburn 1999 • TraceSecurity Peter Stewart 1992 • USA Technologies Stephen P. Herbert 1986 • Visual Risk IQ Joe Oringel 1987 • Window World of Baton Rouge James Roland 1971 For more information, contact Lisa O’Beirne at lisao@lsu.edu/225-578-0958 or Jarett Rodriguez at jtr@lsu.edu/225578-9083 or visit www.lsu100.com or sei. lsu.edu. Nominations for 2013 LSU 100 honorees open July 15.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

43

Around Campus

Steve Forbes, chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media, served as keynote speaker for the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Business Education Complex.

Photo Ops

Cutting the ribbon on the new Business Education Complex.

A New Home – Hundreds of distinguished members of the community and members of the E.J. Ourso College of Business family were on hand for the March 2 ribbon-cutting ceremony for the college’s new home, the Business Education Complex (BEC). Composed of four buildings totaling 156,000 square feet, the BEC provides learning and research environments, classrooms, labs, and offices. It includes a landscaped courtyard, two classroom pavilions, and an auditorium. Also included in the complex is the college’s SMART Lab, a 40-person financial trading room, equipped with the latest financial analytics and data.

Photos by Eddy Perez

44 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

Bill Cochran, Cathy Berry, Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, Shirley Mundt, and Don Franke.

Touring Tiger Band Hall.

LSU Retirees – Looking up at the tower where the band director observes the 325-piece practice formations of the Golden Band from Tigerland, LSU Faculty and Staff Retirees Club members stop to wave outside the new Tiger Band Hall complex they toured in February. In March, Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, accompanied by his chief of staff Cathy Berry, provided an entertaining look at Louisiana’s bicentennial.

Photos by Mark Claesgens

Rosemary Tripi Wong, James W. Firnberg, Diane McKernan, and Richard Lipsey.

Education Awards – Those recognized at the 2012 college of Human Sciences & Education awards banquet were James W. Firnberg (1959 MAST EDUC, 1969 EdD) and Rosemary Tripi Wong (1977 MAST EDUC), who each received an Alumni Distinction Award; Diane and J. Jerry McKernan (1969 BACH HSS, 2010 MAST HSS), honored with the Philanthropist Award; and Richard A. Lipsey (1961 BACH HSS) who received the Award for Outstanding Service on Behalf of the College.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

45

Around Campus

Rolfe McCollister, Sue Turner, Anthony Ravani, and Joseph Winkler.

Photo Ops Ourso College Hall of Distinction – Rolfe McCollister, Anthony Ravani, Sue Turner, and Joseph Winkler were inducted into the E.J. Ourso College of Business Hall of Distinction on March 2. McCollister (1978 BACH HSS) is president and founder of Louisiana Business, Inc., which publishes the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report, 225, inRegister, and Daily Report, among other publications. Ravani (1980 MAST BUS) is the principal attorney with Lotus Law Group, which he founded in 2007. He teaches a venture capital-backed entrepreneurial start-ups course at Seattle University School of Law. Turner (1947 BACH HSS) has an extensive record of memberships and activities associated with historical preservation and the arts. She serves on the LSU Foundation Board of Directors, is a trustee for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and is a trustee emeritus for the LSU Museum of Art. Winkler (1973 BACH BUS) is the chairman and chief executive officer of Complete Production Services. He joined Complete in June 2005, as president and chief executive officer and was named chairman in 2007.

Photo courtesy E.J. Ourso College of Business

Engineering Hall of Distinction – The College of Engineering welcomed inductees Zaki Bassiouni and Sidney E. Fuchs at its Hall of Distinction banquet on April 26. A professional petroleum engineer since 1964 Bassiouni, former dean of the college and holder of the Bert S. Turner Chair in Engineering, joined Sidney Fuchs Zaki Bassiouni LSU in 1977 and retired in 2008. He was a professor and chair of the Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering before assuming the deanship in 2004. Fuchs (1984 BACH ENGR, 1987 MAST ENGR), of Oak Hills, Va., is the president and chief executive officer of MacAulay Brown, Inc. (MacB), an engineering and technical services company headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, that serves the defense and intelligence communities.

46 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

Business Bootcamp – Eleven veterans recently graduated from the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities program offered at the LSU Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute. The eightday, free program provides cutting-edge training in entrepreneurship and small-business management to post-9/11 veterans with disabilities to assist them in pursuing the American dream of business ownership.

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the program, which was created at Syracuse University’s Whitman School. This was the first year that LSU was part of the program.

Front, left to right, Brandon Hern, Nick Green, Don Wilson, Robert Lancia, Derek Jackson, and Scott Boyette; back, Kelli Baker, Cynthia Torns, guest speaker Brian Iglesias, Kim Robinson, Don Henry, and Elmer Rivera.

Photo by Aaron Hogan.

Katrice Albert, vice provost of equity and diversity, and 2001 National PanHellenic Council alumni.

A Decade of Success – Members of the 2001 National PanHellenic Council (NPHC) pledge classes of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority celebrated A Decade of Success during the 2011 Homecoming celebration. More than 100 alumni gathered for the inaugural reunion event and raised more than $5,000 to support diversity initiatives at LSU. The group received notable contributions from fellow alumni and classmates Ryan Clark of the Pittsburgh Steelers; Robert Royal, formerly of the Cleveland Browns; and Mario Garner, former Student Government vice president. The funds will be used to support the African American Cultural Center and Spring Fest, an annual minority recruitment and retention program.

Congratulations

Kurt Culbertson for this distinguished award, immense contributions and extraordinary leadership.

from Design Workshop

LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

47

Photo Ops

Around Campus

Science Hall of Distinction – The

Larry Arthur

Frank Harrison

Dolores Spikes

James Wharton

48 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

College of Science inducted seven new members into its Hall of Distinction on April 20. This year’s inductees are Larry Arthur, Frank “Billy” Harrison III, the late Henry Howe, Ron and Dr. Mary Neal, Dolores Spikes, and James Wharton. Arthur (1966 BACH SCI, Henry Howe Ron and Mary Neal 1970 PHD SCI), retired CEO and chief scientist of SAIC-Frederick, is scientist emeritus at NCI-Frederick. Harrison (1976 BACH SCI, 1979 MAST SCI) is co-founder of Houston Energy, an independent oil and gas exploration company. Howe, who served as director of the School of Geology (now the Department of Geology & Geophysics) department and as dean of the College of Arts & Sciences (now the College of Humanities & Social Sciences), initiated geology summer camps for LSU students. Ron Neal (1974 BACH SCI, 1977 MAST SCI) co-founded Houston Energy, an independent oil and gas exploration company. Mary Neal (1975 BACH SCI, 1979 MD) practiced medicine for eighteen years with Obstetrical and Gynecology Associates in the Houston area. Both are members of the College of Science’s Dean’s Circle. Spikes (1971 PHD SCI) is president emeritus of Southern University System. Chancellor Emeritus Wharton (1962 PHD SCI) helped bring the Laser Interferometer Gravitational – Wave Observatory (LIGO) to Livingston Parish and created the first Office of Technology Transfer at any Louisiana university.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

49

James Wandersee

Focus on

Faculty

W.H. “Bill” LeBlanc Endowed Professor of Education

By Ryan Buxton

“Equally important to me, being based at a research university, are my opportunities to conduct . . . research that influences my profession and future science students globally.”

Jim Wandersee knows the importance of a good teacher.

That’s obvious from the fact that the respected researcher and W.H. “Bill” LeBlanc Endowed Professor of Education has created more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and presentations seen in fifteen countries and translated into six languages, believes the best thing about his job is being a graduate school professor.

And his long list of achievements shows he’s good at it.

Wandersee’s work has earned countless national awards, including his election as a lifetime Fellow in the world’s oldest active biological society, the Linnean Society of London. That honor took him to London’s Burlington House – to the room where Charles Darwin once lectured – to sign a membership book that dates from 1788.

As Wandersee discusses his significant accomplishments, he continuously credits the teachers and mentors who shaped his path, the first of whom was his fourth-grade science teacher. She involved students in basic science experiments and awoke in Wandersee a love for showing others how fascinating science can be.

“She was the inspiration for my life’s work, and thanks to her, I was off and running on my career path at age nine,” he says.

Wandersee earned his undergraduate degree at Minnesota State University, his master’s at the University of Wisconsin, and his Ph.D. at Marquette University. He has plenty of Jim Wandersee praise for his mentors, giving them specific credit for advancing his career and teaching him what excellence in the field looked like.

He lists his most important mentor as Cornell University’s Joseph Novak, whom Wandersee shadowed for eight summers as a post-doctoral student and whom he credits with introducing his work to the international community.

Now Wandersee is having that same impact on students at LSU. He has served as the major professor for more than fifty doctoral students, and he helps experienced science teachers earn advanced degrees that open up opportunities for them across the country and the globe.

Wandersee has intense passion for improving the quality of education in his field.

“Equally important to me, being based at a research university, are my opportunities to conduct, present, and publish science education research that influences my profession and, if multiplied by others, the classroom experiences of future science students globally,” he says.

His love for science permeates his free time as well. During his decade as a high school science teacher, which came before his thirty-three years as a college professor, he developed a love for science photography using specialized cameras, a hobby of his to this day. He also uses his visual eye to write illustrated articles for online publications in the United States and Singapore.

It’s obvious Wandersee loves science. He loves teaching it, researching it, and doing it all at LSU. But he has a simple way of describing the core motivation behind his extensive work: “It feels good to try to help make life better for people.”

Ryan Buxton graduated in May 2012 from the Manship School of Mass Communication with a degree in print journalism.

50 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

Leaps and Bounds

Focus on

research

Professor Discovers World’s Tiniest Vertebrate

By Ashley Berthelot

“Tiny frog called Paedophryne amauensis fits in center of U.S. dime.”

Chris Austin in the herpetology collection at LSU’s Museum of Natural Science.

Photo by Eddy Perez

52 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

LSU’s Chris Austin recently discovered two new species of frogs in New Guinea, one of which is now the world’s tiniest known vertebrate, averaging only 7.7 millimeters in size – less than one-third of an inch.

It ousts Paedocypris progenetica, an Indonesian fish averaging more than 8 millimeters, from the record. Austin, leading a team of scientists from the United States – including LSU graduate student Eric Rittmeyer – made the discovery during a three-month long expedition to the island of New Guinea, the world’s largest and tallest tropical island.

“It was particularly difficult to locate Paedophryne amauensis due to its diminutive size and the males’ highpitched, insect-like mating call,” says Austin. “But it’s a great find. New Guinea is a hotspot of biodiversity, and everything new we discover there adds another layer to our overall

understanding of how biodiversity is generated and maintained.”

Austin, curator of herpetology at the Museum of Natural Science and associate professor of biological sciences, is no stranger to discovering new species, having described numerous species previously unknown to science, including frogs, lizards, and parasites. The research, published in the Public Library of Science One journal includes a second species of diminutive frog newly named Paedophryne swiftorum that is only slightly larger than Paedophryne amauensis, averaging only about 8.5 millimeters in body size.

Austin’s work, supported by the National Science Foundation, highlights an interesting trend among the discovery of extremely small vertebrates. “The size limit of vertebrates, or creatures with backbones, is of considerable interest to biologists because little is understood about the functional constraints that come with extreme body size, whether large or small,” says Austin.

With more than 60,000 vertebrates currently known to man, the largest being the blue whale with an average size of more than 25 meters (75 feet) and the smallest previously being the small Indonesian fish averaging around 8 millimeters, there was originally some thought that extreme size in vertebrates might be associated with aquatic species, as perhaps the buoyancy offers support and facilitates the development of extremism. However, both new species of frogs Austin described are terrestrial, suggesting that living in water is not necessary for small body size.

“The ecosystems, primarily inhabiting leaf litter on the floor of tropical rainforest environments, that these extremely small frogs occupy are very similar,” says Austin. “We now believe that these creatures aren’t just biological oddities, but instead represent a previously undocumented ecological guild – they occupy a habitat niche that no other vertebrate does.”

Paedophryne amanuensis, the world’s tiniest vertebrate.

Photo by Chris Austin

ON THE WEB www.museum.lsu.edu/Austin/lab.html Ashley Berthelot is director of research communications for the Office of Communications & University Relations and editor of LSU Research.

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Homecoming

Locker

ROOM

Johnny Jones Takes Over as Head Basketball Coach

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

As an assistant coach.

An introduction from Joe Alleva.

Mama called. And Johnny came runnin’ home.

As a Tiger player in the 1980s.

“It was a natural tie to . . .

LSU basketball’s golden years.”

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Johnny Jones, LSU’s new basketball coach, has yet to field a team, but he already has some Tiger icons in his rooting section. Dale Brown. Shaquille O’Neal. Rudy Macklin. Ricky Blanton.

Joe Dean. Ethan Martin. Collis Temple, Jr. It was an emotional moment for these ex-Tigers when athletics director Joe Alleva selected Jones for the job. They are convinced that the right man has An embrace from Dale Brown. been chosen.

It was a natural tie to the past for many others who witnessed LSU basketball’s golden years.

It was a “dream come true” for Dale Brown. He coached Jones and relied heavily upon him as an assistant coach and recruiter. “The hiring of Johnny Jones will go down as one of the greatest moves in LSU basketball history,” Brown said.

The former LSU coach saw character traits in Jones as a college player that separated him from the rest. “When he was a freshman at LSU, I knew Johnny had many special qualities,” Brown said. “He knew the game. All the players respected him. He had a great sense of humor. He always put the team first. Johnny was a hard worker, bright, determined, and a very principled young man. He had two wonderful parents. He was a winner.”

Those traits helped him to become a success in coaching, first as an assistant to Brown at LSU and later as head coach at North Texas where he produced five 20-win seasons.

Why is his LSU background such a major positive?

Johnny is home. This is his dream job. He will not be looking elsewhere. Building a winner here means more to him than it does to others. Former players now feel more attached to the program. They are convinced he can recruit the players necessary to make LSU a more competitive force in the SEC and nationally.

“He has a passion for LSU,” says Alleva, the man who wanted him for the job.

Johnny’s deep LSU roots include experience as player on the 1981 Final Four team and as an assistant coach for the 1986 Final Four team. Although Jones is a Dale Brown disciple, he developed his own identity and his own philosophy after leaving LSU. He has gained the respect of many basketball people across the country as head coach at North Texas for eleven seasons.

National pundits like Tim Brando and Dick Vitale have hailed his selection, and here’s what some former Tiger greats say about Jones’ return to LSU: Ricky Blanton – “Johnny Jones has a great opportunity to bring back the excitement to LSU basketball that he once enjoyed as a player and assistant coach. Johnny has always been able to recruit because of his good personality and work ethic. One of his biggest strengths as a head coach is that he allows his players to maximize their talents.”

Shaquille O’Neal – “LSU has hired a man in Coach Johnny Jones that any player in this nation would want to play for. Johnny is a player’s coach and a man of his word.

My three years at LSU were the best three years of my life, and he was part of my development that I will never forget.”

Rudy Macklin – “He is a people person. He can walk into a room full of people and know everyone’s name before he leaves. He presents well. He explains issues in detail.

He can recruit with the best of them. I believe he will hit the ground running.”

Jones is the first LSU graduate to become the Tigers’ basketball coach since 1944-45 when A.L. “Red” Swanson, an assistant football coach, was in charge. Swanson, a twosport letterman as an undergraduate, coached three sports at LSU and later served on the LSU Board of Supervisors.

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

Back where he belongs.

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Locker Room

Olympic Medals – The Olympic medals of Glenn “Slats” Hardin are now on display at the Andonie Sports Museum. Billy Hardin, third from left, and Linda Hardin Caston right, presented their father’s Olympic medals to Dr. Billy Cannon and Dr. Jack Andonie, left, for display in the museum.

Slats Hardin won a gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. He won a silver medal in the 400-meter hurdles in the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. Billy Hardin, an LSU All-American and NCAA champion in the 400-meter hurdles in 1964, was a member of the Olympic team in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

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Locker Room

Dale Brown and Cox Sports Television reporter Eric Richey.

Lifetime Achievement – Former LSU basketball Coach Dale Brown was presented with a Lifetime Achievement by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association on March 30 in New Orleans. Brown’s two Final Four teams, the 1981 and 1986 Tigers, were also honored at the 2012 College Basketball Awards Breakfast prior to the Final Four.

Brown, an advocate of positive thinking, has written several books, including the recently released Getting Over the Four Hurdles of Life.

Photo by Sam King

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Tiger

NATION

1960s

Jerald J. Juneau (1960 BACH HSS) has been elected president of the Port of Greater Baton Rouge Board of Commissioners. Juneau is the former deputy secretary-treasurer for the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana and a retired U.S. Army colonel. The port governance body is a fifteen-member commission appointed by Gov. Bobby Jindal.

1970s

Leo C. Hamilton (1973 BACH HSS, 1977 JD), a partner at Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson LLP, Baton Rouge, is the 2011 recipient of the Louisiana Bar

Degrees BACH Bachelor’s Degree MAST Master’s Degree PHD Doctorate DVM Doctor of Veterinary Medicine JD Juris Doctorate

(LSU Law School) MD Medical Doctor

(LSU School of Medicine) DDS Doctor of Dental Science

(LSU School of Dentistry) Colleges/Schools AGR Agriculture A&D Art & Design HSS Humanities and 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

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Foundation’s President’s Award.

Hamilton served on the foundation’s board as treasurer and a member of the Community Partnership Panel.

William H. Langenstein III (1974 BACH BUS) has joined Chaffe McCall’s New Orleans office effective immediately.

Langenstein formerly served as managing member of Langenstein and Associates, which recently merged with Chaffe McCall. Langenstein currently serves as an honorary consul to the Republic of Korea. He is a member of the New Orleans Estate Planning Council and past chairman of the Louisiana Bar Association, Section of Taxation. He also sits on the boards of several companies, including Koerner Capital, LLC; IBERIABANK; Geocent LLC, and the Kavanagh Family Foundation. He is a member of the New Orleans Economic Development Advisory Committee, Louisiana Children’s Museum Early Learning Village Steering Committee, and the Metropolitan Crime Commission and serves on several nonprofit and community boards. He is a former board member and past board president of the New Orleans Board of Trade, WYES-TV, and the Louisiana Children’s Museum.

Langenstein is a 2004 graduate of the New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute and a former board member of the National Kidney Foundation. He earned a J.D. from Loyola University of New Orleans in 1977.

Ron Thibodeaux (1979 BACH MCOM), a writer and editor at the New Orleans Times-Picayune is described as “a noted chronicler of Cajun country.” He travels South Louisiana writing about Cajun

culture in all its aspects from killer hurricanes to men’s supper clubs, from dancehall fiddlers to alligator wranglers, from the uncertain future of Louisiana’s native French language to the challenges of keeping the Cajun experience authentic while marketing it to tourists.

Read about his book, Hell or High Water: How Cajun Fortitude Withstood Hurricanes Rita and Ike, in Tigers in Print (page 74).

Thibodeaux and his wife, Robyn (1980 BACH EDUC), live in Covington, La. Harold K. “Hal” Watson (1971 BACH HSS, 1974 JD) has joined Chaffe McCall’s Houston office.

He has more than thirty years’ experience in maritime and energy law.

Watson was previously a partner at Locke Lord, LLP and its predecessor firms, an associate of Vinson & Elkins, and a law clerk to the Hon. Alvin B. Rubin, U.S. District Court, Eastern Division of Louisiana. He has served as an adjunct lecturer in maritime law at Loyola University of New Orleans. The Texas Lawyer named him one of the five “go to” maritime lawyers in Texas, and he was named one of the three-dozen Super Lawyers in the field of insurance coverage in Texas. He is also regularly included in The Best Lawyers in America in maritime law. Watson sits on the planning committees for the Houston Marine Insurance Seminar and the Tulane Admiralty Law Institute, is secretary of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, and is a member of the Association of Average Adjusters of the United States. He formerly served as chairman of the Energy and Maritime Law Committee of the International Association of Defense Counsel and as a director of the Episcopal Foundation of Texas. He earned a Master of Laws from Yale Law School in 1977.

The name of the College of Education (EDUC) has been changed to the College of Human Sciences & Education (HS&E)

Anna Cheng Young (1978 MAST A&D) has been appointed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to the New Jersey State Board of Architects.

Young is one of two landscape architects on the thirteenmember board. She has more than thirty years’ experience with municipal, urban park, residential, cemetery, transportation, and historical site design.

In addition to general land use analysis, master plans, landscape plans, construction drawings and implementation, she also represents clients before municipal planning boards.

Young has served as chair of the New Jersey Landscape Architecture Examination and Evaluation Committee and as vice president of New Jersey Chapter American Society of Landscape

Architects (NJASLA). She holds a bachelor’s degree in horticulture from the National Taiwan University.

Photo by Pam Hasegawa

1980s

Jan Marie Barker-Alexander (1989 BACH HSS), of Stanford, Calif., associate dean of students, director of the Black Community Services Center, and resident fellow of Ujamaa House, an African Diaspora-theme undergraduate residence hall at Stanford University, was awarded the university’s Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for Distinctive Contributions to Undergraduate Education at the 2011 commencement services. BarkerAlexander was honored “for building a program at the Black Community Services Center that is recognized nationally for its support of the

scholarship, culture, history, and public service of black students on campus.” She was cited “for her commitment and work in support of the campaign that led to the construction of new facilities for the center and her singular efforts in making it a welcoming place for all students.”

She also was commended “for championing and supporting legions of Stanford students in her various roles – as associate dean of students, as director of the Black Community Services Center, as a freshman adviser, and as a resident fellow.”

Sabri Hakan Binbasgil (1986 MBA), of Istanbul, Turkey, was named CEO of Akbank TAS, a Turkish bank part-owned

by Citigroup Inc. He joined Akbank as an executive vice president in 2002 and initiated the bank’s restructuring program, which has transformed Akbank

Tiger Nation

into one of Turkey’s most customerfocused, modern, and innovative financial institutions. He has also held appointments as deputy CEO and board member at Akbank. Prior to joining Akbank, Binbasgil worked as a management consultant in the London and Istanbul offices of Accenture and as executive vice president at Pamukbank.

He also served on the board of directors of numerous local and foreign companies.

Marcel L. Debruge (1987 BACH HSS), a labor and employment attorney in Burr & Forman LLP’s Birmingham, Ala., office, has been ranked as a leading practitioner in the 2012 edition of Chambers USA. Debruge earned his law degree from the University of Alabama School of Law. Carmen Dessauer (1988 BACH SCI, 1993 PHD SCI), a cell signaling researcher with the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), has been named a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. Cell signaling examines the fundamental processes involved in physiology and disease and can lead to the identification of drug targets. Dessauer, a professor of integrative biology and pharmacology at the UTHealth Medical School, was one of 539 AAAS members awarded this honor in 2011 and was recognized in February at the 2012 AAAS Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Dessauer completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

John Grubb (1988 BACH MCOM, 1990 MAST MCOM) retired in July 2011 after twenty years as director of advancement with the College of Science to pursue a new

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career in the hotel management industry.

He is currently serving as outside sales manager for The Cook Hotel and Conference Center at LSU, a division of the LSU Alumni Association. John was a graduate student with the Association from 1988 to 1990 and has returned as a member of that family. Stay in touch at jwgrubb@lsualumni.org.

Keith G. Landry (1983 BACH ENGR) recently joined URS Corporation as a senior vice president and Global Oil & Gas Business line director in Houston. He was formerly a vice president of business development with CH2M HILL’s Energy & Chemicals Group. After working for a number of years as a project manager and business developer in a diverse set of industries, he will be responsible for the growth and stewardship of the oil and gas business for URS Infrastructure & Environment Division, including the development of strategies, setting growth priorities for serving the market, leading URS key client relationships, and leading a diverse group of client account managers and engineering and environmental practice leaders in the market. Landry and his wife of twenty-six years have two children, one of whom, Erin Landry Rife (2011 BACH BUS) recently married Steven Rife (2011 BACH BUS).

Bernard L. “Bernie” Malone III (1984 BACH ENGR), engineering director with Windstream and retired from Lucent Technologies Bell Labs, was awarded U.S. Patent #8,098,798 in January for “Logging Call Data For Failed Emergency Calls.” When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, Malone led a nonprofit, volunteer initiative known as the “Wireless Emergency Response Team” (WERT) to use telecommunications technology to help save lives and rescue victims. He

deployed special cellular technology on U.S. Coast Guard helicopters to hunt for cell phone signals of people stranded by flood waters in New Orleans. That work led to the discovery that since most Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) in South Louisiana were out of service and calls to E911 centers were going unanswered. The WERT team designed a solution to handle the outage by processing the call data, enriching it with geo-location data, and delivering it to the Louisiana State Police. The solution led to the patent just issued. He has a previous patent for a system for “Emergency Mode Operation in a Wireless Communications Network,” which he invented after leading the WERT team in a search for cell phone signals in the rubble pile at ground zero in New York after 9/11. Malone is the only person to have been awarded patents for inventions resulting from these two national disasters. He holds an M.B.A. from Centenary College of Louisiana.

Stephen Rolfe Powell (1983 MFA), professor of art glass at Centre College in Danville, Ky., received the Distinguished Educator Award from the James Renwick Alliance, a national nonprofit arts organization in March. The award recognizes those with an outstanding ability to increase student and public understanding, awareness, and appreciation for the rich history and traditions in the field. Powell exhibits his work nationally and internationally and has participated in workshops, demonstrations and lectures all over the United States, as well as in Russia, Ukraine, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. He demonstrated at several Glass Art Society conferences and at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. The highlight of his travels was an exhibition of his work at “Venezia Aperto Vetro” in the Palazzo Ducale in Venice, Italy, where he was one of only eight invited American artists.

Tiger Nation

Kim Hunter Reed (1987 BACH MCOM, 1995 MPA) has risen to national prominence as an associate with the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. Reed is one of fifteen professionals in the United States to be selected to participate in the national policy institute focusing on the pressing issues facing higher education in the country. She is currently chief of staff of the Louisiana Board of Regents and a higher education consultant. She was named the Distinguished M.P.A. Alumna

Where Are You?

of the Year by the E.J. Ourso College of Business in 2004.

David P. Sauls (1982 BACH ENGR) has been elected chairman of the board of GeoEngineers.

Sauls is a principal geotechnical engineer and business unit leader for the company’s Baton Rouge and Springfield, Mo., offices. He is based in Baton Rouge, where he provides designs for supporting infrastructure, develops new business, and helps steer the company’s future. He has twenty-eight

years of experience in geotechnical engineering, is licensed in thirteen states and Saskatchewan, Canada, and has received numerous awards for his technical achievements. He was a principal at Louis J. Capozzoli and Associates, Inc., for thirteen years prior to its merger with GeoEngineers in 2007.

His career has included geotechnical design performance of building foundations, industrial equipment, levees and dams, and foundations for municipal and transportation infrastructure. Sauls earned a master’s degree in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Who are you? Where are you? What are you doing? Tell us and share news of your new job or promotion, your wedding, honors, awards, new babies, and other celebrations with fellow alumni. Send your information, news items, and photos for publication to jackie@lsualumni.org or call 225-578-3370.

64 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

Tiger Nation

Cathleen Williams (1983 BACH AGR), an associate professor in the LSU AgCenter School of Animal Sciences, was named the 2011 winner of the Land O’Lakes/Purina LLC Teaching Award in Dairy Production, which is presented by the American Dairy Science Association to recognize outstanding teaching of undergraduate students in dairy science.

The national award is given to a member of the association who has been an active teacher for at least ten years. Williams has been a member of the faculty in the LSU AgCenter since 1998. She has received ten teaching and advising awards, including the 2010 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching-Council for the Advancement and Support of Education’s Louisiana

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Professor of the Year Award. A native of Bogalusa, La., Williams received her master’s degree from the University of Georgia in 1991 and her Ph.D. from Auburn University in 1998.

1990s

Perry Franklin (1992 BACH BUS, 1998 MBA), president of Franklin Industries LLC, was the second speaker in the LSU Flores MBA Program’s Distinguished Speaker Series 2011. Franklin Industries was honored as one of the 100 fastest growing Tiger businesses during the LSU 100 Awards luncheon in April 2011. The fifteen-year-old business is a public governmental and environmental affairs firm that offers services in public affairs,

project management, and emergency response/crisis management. Franklin was formerly executive director of MidCity Redevelopment Alliance, Inc. Kristina “Tina” Nelson (1998 BACH AGR), soil, water, and ecology laboratory coordinator for Central Park in New York City, was featured in the Feb. 21 issue of the New York Times. She has run the park’s soil lab for five years.

Jermaine Watson (1999 BACH HSS) is chair of the Capital Area Human Services District, a state board responsible for the care of persons within a nine-parish area who are mentally disabled. Additionally, Watson was elected to serve as secretary on a new 501c3 board, Phase One Program, which

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educates the community on issues of voter apathy, college education, and teenage pregnancy and mentors young black men in the Baton Rouge area.

Watson was recently re-elected to serve a two-year term as president of the Xi Nu Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He is ending a two-year stint as president of the Greater Baton Rouge Pan-Hellenic Council, the umbrella organization for the sixteen member organizations in the Baton Rouge area that routinely coordinates the “Ole School Greek Show.”

Sheara A. Williams (1994 MSW), associate professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, completed Programs in Professional

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Education Management Development Program at Harvard University in June 2011.

Melanie Lanaux Zaffuto (1992 BACH HSS), communications director for North Oaks Health System in Hammond, La., has received a Golden Pelican Award for Public Relations Practitioner of the Year from the Louisiana Society for Hospital Public Relations and Marketing. A twenty-year veteran of the health system, Zaffuto was cited for consistently demonstrating exceptional leadership in her role. Her nomination described her efforts to organize and implement seven grassroots outreach initiatives to generate awareness of the devastating

impact of Medicaid reimbursement cuts to community hospitals. Zaffuto’s efforts contributed to North Oaks’ recognition by the American Hospital Association as the 2011 Louisiana “Grassroots Champion.”

2000s

Danielle Lauren Borel (2011 BACH BUS) was named a 2012 College Woman of Excellence by the Louisiana Legislative Women’s Caucus Foundation. Borel received a $1,000 scholarship from the foundation. The award recognizes the exemplary achievement and contributions of extraordinary Louisiana women who personify excellence in leadership, profession, academics, community service, character, and integrity.

Tiger Nation

Brandi Bourg (2005 BACH AGR) has joined Mississippi State University’s Extension Service as a beef specialist.

Bourg was involved in the American Junior Simmental Association and state livestock program in high school and, while at LSU, was a member of the Livestock Judging Team and Block and Bridle Club and was a student worker in the beef unit. She earned her master’s and doctorate degrees from Texas A&M University and has experience in research and teaching.

Katie Burk (2008 BACH A&D) was promoted to mid-level designer for the Creative Services Department at National Public Radio (NPR) in Washington, D.C. Since starting at NPR as an intern in 2008, her work has received two silver and four

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gold ADDY awards as well as awards in both Print and HOW magazines. The branding team was honored with four ADDYs in March, of which two gold and one silver were her projects. Two of her NPR T-shirt designs have been picked up by a national retail chain. Burk is also a member of the Arlington Concert Band in Arlington, Va. She plays bass clarinet and is responsible for the band’s Web site.

Kyle Frederick (2006 BACH BUS) is director of food and beverage for Zoës Kitchen in Birmingham, Ala. Frederick worked from the ground up in the company, starting as a cashier in the restaurant’s Baton Rouge location while at LSU and securing a management position after graduation. As general manager, he led the company to doubledigit sales growth in 2008 and received the General Manager of the Year award

for exceeding peers in all facets of the business. He was promoted to his current position in 2009 and has led the successful openings of more than twentyfive Zoës Kitchens across the southeast.

He and his wife, Rebecca, have one child.

Joel “Jay” Fulmer (2007 BACH ENGR), a civil engineer in the Nashville engineering and architecture firm Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon, Inc., since 2010, has achieved the Professional Engineer (PE) designation. Fulmer is currently enrolled at Trevecca Nazarene University and is expected to receive an M.B.A. in October. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Mark Hill (2008 BACH HHS, 2011 GDCL, 2011 JD) is an associate at the law firm of Waits, Emmett, and Popp, specializing in maritime defense litigation. Some of

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Tiger Nation

Hill’s prior clerking experience was in the Baton Rouge district attorney’s office where he served as law clerk. During law school, he studied in France focusing on Louisiana’s Civil Law connection.

He won the Oliver Wendell Holmes Award for best seminar paper regarding the litigation between the Benedictine Monks in St. Joseph, La., and the state’s board of embalmers over the monks’ “right to work” by hand-crafting and selling caskets made at the abbey.

Bryan Jeansonne (2002 BACH HSS) has been elected to serve on the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee, the governing body of the Republican Party of Louisiana. Jeansonne is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Christensen Dore Jeansonne & Shahla law firm. The firm was formed in 2010 by

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former Congressman Jon Christensen, Jason Dore (2003 BACH MCOM, 2007 JD), Jeansonne, and Tarek Shahla (2007 JD).

Erica Kelly (2008 BACH HSS), of Ponchatoula, La., has received the Louisiana School Counselor Association (LSCA) Graduate Student Scholarship. The award is based on leadership, character, and academic excellence in a graduate program. Kelly has interned at Fontainebleau Junior High School and Loranger High School. As part of her award, she serves on the LSCA Executive Board. Kelly received a master’s degree from Southeastern Louisiana University this spring.

Dana Tumblin (2008 BACH MCOM, 2010 MAST MCOM) was selected as a

2011 Presidential Management Fellow, a prestigious award in a highly competitive program administered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. The program is designed to draw outstanding graduate, law, and doctoral students to federal service. Tumblin will work at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

2010s

Jeremy Miller (2010 BACH BUS) has been named marketing and development manager of the Folds of Honor Foundation, a charitable organization that provides scholarships for children and spouses of military service men and women killed or disabled while serving in the armed forces. Miller will help manage FHF’s corporate partnerships and assist with the development of the

organization’s marketing strategies. He has prior experience with ANNIKA Foundation based in Orlando, Fla., as well as Hope for Stanley, Restore Orlando, and Habitat for Humanity.

Miller also earned a bachelor’s degree in sports management from the University of Central Florida.

BABY

BENGALS

Future Tiger Thomas Allen Jones (20?? BACH) arrived on March 2 to proud parents Chris (2007 BACH ENGR) and Tara Ballard Jones (2005 BACH HSS), of Baton Rouge. Thomas’s grandparents are Troy and Lynn Ballard, of St. Francisville, La., and Tracy (1976 BACH HS&E, 1977 MAST HS&E) and Candy Rusk Jones (1978 BACH HS&E, 1988 MAST HS&E), of Baton Rouge. Tracy is assistant vice president of development of the LSU

Alumni Association. Great-grandparents are Richard “Dickie” (1956 BACH SCI) and Jenny Prescott and Henry (1966 BACH HS&E, 1966 MAST HS&E) and Betty Rusk.

Aaron Smith (2006 BACH BUS) and Erika Cheramie Smith (2005 BACH HSS) announce the birth of future Tiger Shelby Lynn Smith at 2:50 p.m. on Feb. 1.

Shelby weighed in at 9 lbs. 1 oz. and 20 3/4 in. The Smiths reside in New Orleans.

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.

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Tigers in Print Max Z. Conrad (1961 BACH AGR) Landscape Architecture and New Orleans: Room for Only One? (LSU College of Art & Design) – The recently released memoir Landscape Architecture and New Orleans: Room for Only One? by Max Z. Conrad, professor of landscape architecture, recounts the birth of the profession of landscape architecture in Louisiana.

The book was edited by Lake Douglas (1972 BACH A&D). In the late 1950s, Conrad, a transfer student, stumbled into the office of Robert S. “Doc” Reich, who was teaching in the Department of Horticulture and starting a program in landscape architecture. Conrad was one of the first students. At this time landscape architecture was a relatively unknown profession in Louisiana, but soon, in a remarkable series of events, graduates of LSU’s fledgling program began getting work, first in Baton Rouge and later in New Orleans. It is from these early projects that the profession grew and gained public recognition. Today the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture is consistently ranked as one the nation’s best programs, and its alumni are professional leaders with practices throughout the world.

Lake Douglas (1972 BACH A&D) Public Spaces, Private Gardens - A History of Designed Landscapes in New Orleans (LSU Press) - Landscape architect Lake Douglas’s Public Spaces, Private Gardens provides an informative look at two hundred years of the designed landscapes and horticulture of New Orleans and a fresh perspective on one of America’s most interesting and historic cities. Using

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written accounts, archival data, historic photographs, lithographs, maps, and city planning documents, the author explores public and private outdoor spaces in New Orleans and those who shaped them. His survey from the colonial period to the twentieth century finds that geography, climate, and multicultural character of its residents have made New Orleans unique in American landscape design history.

French and Spanish settlers, Africans and Native Americans, as well as immigrants from Germany, Ireland, Italy, and other parts of the world all participated in creating this community’s unique public and private landscapes.

Ron Thibodeaux (1979 BACH MCOM) Hell or High Water: How Cajun Fortitude Withstood Hurricanes Rita and Ike (University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press) – Americans will long remember 2005 as the year of the hurricane. In the midst of that turmoil, one of the decade’s most imposing hurricanes set itself apart from all others. It was, for a time, the largest hurricane ever measured within the Gulf of Mexico, and one of the strongest Category 5 hurricanes ever recorded. But this is not the story that most Americans think they know.

This was not Hurricane Katrina. This was Rita, which clobbered communities across the entire 250-mile coastal foundation of Acadiana, America’s oneof-a-kind Cajun country. As soon as Rita trailed off the National Weather Service radar, it also disappeared from the American consciousness. While New Orleans remained headline news, the communities hit so hard by Rita were

all but forgotten and left to fend for themselves. But fend they did. Members of this predominantly Cajun population did what their Acadian forebears had done for centuries before them – adapt, survive, and thrive in hostile environments.

Orlando Rodriguez (1983 BACH HSS) Vote Thieves: Illegal Immigration, Redistricting, and Presidential Elections – Every ten years political representation in the U.S. House of Representatives is reapportioned among the fifty states. The process began anew with the 2010 census, which is counting the nation’s population as the basis for reapportionment. The decennial census has a history wrought with failures and inaccurate counts.

In Vote Thieves, geographer Orlando J. Rodriguez shows how our current method of apportionment creates an incentive for illegal immigration and polarizes our political system. Historically it caused the end of the Federalist Party, bolstered slavery, disenfranchised African Americans after Reconstruction, fostered segregation in the South, denied voting rights to women, and disenfranchised voters in the presidential election of 2000. This issue affects all U.S. residents, legal and illegal alike. Recent history has triggered a growing suspicion among Americans that their political system is flawed. Vote Thieves explains a singular flaw that voters suspect but cannot put in plain words and gives them the information they need to petition for a more responsive political system.

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Robert B. Stobaugh (1947 BACH ENGR) Starting from Arkansas: Four Continents, Four Companies, Four Kids (Robert Stobaugh) – After thirteen books including the best-selling Energy Future, Robert Stobaugh, professor emeritus, Harvard Business School, and member of the LSU Alumni Association 1987 Hall of Distinction, has published a memoir of his life before Harvard. Starting from Arkansas: Four Continents, Four Companies, Four Kids is a lavishly illustrated account of Stobaugh’s rising path from a smalltown boyhood with prosperous but eccentric parents to the expatriate posts he filmed with an 8-mm camera.

The book brings to life an LSU where students went on strike over a good night kiss and Stobaugh’s freshman hazing was softened because of his good grades.

The book depicts his work at Standard Oil’s Baton Rouge refinery and vividly portrays the Stobaughs abroad dealing with Venezuelan traffic enforcement, wily Bahraini rug dealers, and a London flu epidemic. The narrative relates the family’s return to the U.S. where Stobaugh abandons corporate success for academia. The story ends with their arrival in Massachusetts where their six-year-old informs his parents, “These people talk funny.”

Darlyne G. Nemeth (1970 MAST HSS, 1973 PHD HSS) Living in an Environmentally Traumatized World: Healing Ourselves and Our Planet (ABC-CLIO) – When environmental damages are caused by natural or humanmade events, there are long-term effects.

This eye-opening and unprecedented book explains the ongoing turmoil in the environment while presenting ways to alleviate its effect on humankind’s physical and mental health. Darlyne Nemeth’s Living in an Environmentally Traumatized World: Healing Ourselves and Our Planet discusses recent environmental events and examines the reasons why the resulting changes are inevitable. The authors assert that people experience six universal stages when they suffer from environmental trauma: shock, survivor mode, basic needs, awareness of loss, spin and fraud, and resolution.

The book presents coping strategies for navigating negative ecological shifts and provides a plan of action for responsibly managing the environment. Profiles of indigenous people who endure under environmental adversity provide real world examples of survival. Contributing authors include LSU Professor Emeritus Robert Muller, retired Associate Professor Robert Hamilton, and Donald Nemeth, (1977 PHD SCI). Hamilton was also a co-editor.

Wink Dameron (1942 BACH HSS) Conversations with My Grandfather – In Conversations with My Grandfather Wink Dameron Blair records the words spoken to her as a nine-year-old child living in her grandfather’s three-family home during the Great Depression.

Her grandfather, Judge Louis Bingham Claiborne, was a member of Louisiana’s noted Claiborne family (Governor William Charles Cole Claiborne was appointed governor of the Louisiana

Territory in 1803 and first governor of the State of Louisiana in 1812). Judge Claiborne’s words include accounts of the Civil War, his frequent visits to the White House, and many incidents in Louisiana’s history.

Christopher E. Cenac, Sr. (attended 1964-66, MD 1971) Eyes of an Eagle: Jean-Pierre Cenac, Patriarch (University Press of Mississippi) – Christopher Cenac’s history of a French family’s founding legacy in the seafood industry of south Louisiana begins in 1860, when JeanPierre Cenac sailed from Bordeaux, France, to begin his new life in the city with the second busiest port of debarkation in the United States. He arrived in New Orleans just as the Civil War began. Neither Creole nor Acadian, Pierre took his chances in the rural Terrebonne Parish, and his resolute nature, unflagging work ethic, steadfast determination, and farsighted vision earned him a place of respect he could never have imagined when he left his native country. How he forged his place in this new landscape echoes the life journeys of countless immigrants yet remains uniquely his own. His and his family’s stories exemplify the experiences of many nineteenth-century immigrants to Louisiana and the experiences of their twentieth-century descendants.

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Profile

Tiger Nation

Alum’s Clothing Company Fills Niche Marcus Mire (2004 BACH BUS), owner of a CPA firm in Lafayette, La., along with his wife, Stephanie, and their friends, Rye and Lainey Tuten, have launched a children’s clothing company called JV Clothiers to fill a void in the boys’ collegiate apparel market.

By Tim Rodrigue

Stephanie, Lola Kate, Hudson, and Marcus Mire

“After much research, we learned that no company was producing high-quality collegiate attire for young boys. Our son had an LSU jersey, but we couldn’t find highquality ‘preppy’ attire,” Mire explains. “Simply put, JV Clothiers was started by two moms and two dads who wanted more for their sons in terms of collegiate wear.”

According to Mire, the inspiration for becoming an entrepreneur began during his years as an undergraduate at LSU. “I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur,” Mire says. “I took several classes that helped me, including an entrepreneurship course, and I was constantly surrounded by others who motivated me. I met so many people with different creative ideas, and my dream was to own my own business and inspire others to do the same one day.”

Within a week of developing the idea for JV Clothiers, the team formed an LLC, obtained a tax identification number, and secured a domain name. They received approval from the Collegiate Licensing Company, LSU, and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette to produce boys’ gingham and solid-colored shorts, polo shirts, and belts with the schools’ logos. Mire considered this a significant step for JV Clothiers because more than 2,500 companies are already licensed to produce a wide range of products, leaving room for only those companies with a new or unique product, as well as the necessary production and distribution capabilities.

“Our plan is to continue to add schools to our line-up,” says Stephanie Mire (2004 BACH MCOM), director of marketing and brand management for JV Clothiers. “We were very surprised to learn that there was such a void within universities for this young boys’ market, and we know there are many other parents wanting to dress their sons in their school colors.”

ON THE WEB www.jvclothiers.com Tim Rodrigue is assistant director of alumni and external relations in the E.J. Ourso College of Business.

Profile

Emanuel, Tureaud Receive NAACP Award Rachel L. Emanuel (1977 BACH MCOM, 1990 MAST MCOM), director of communications and development support at the Southern University Law Center, and retired educator A. P. Tureaud, Jr., 2011 Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa of Ridgefield, Conn., received the Louisiana State Conference NAACP’s Alexander P. Tureaud Black Citizenship Award at the group’s annual state awards ceremony in January.

From left, Raphael Cassimere, parliamentarian, Louisiana State Conference NAACP; Alexander P. Tureaud Black Citizenship medal co-recipients A. P. Tureaud and Rachel L. Emanuel; and Ernest L. Johnson, president, Louisiana State Conference NAACP.

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The award cited Emanuel and Tureaud for heralding the career of attorney Tureaud in their biography, A More Noble Cause: A. P. Tureaud and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Louisiana, as well as their pioneering careers that have advanced the progress of African Americans. Both were also instrumental in the formation of the A. P. Tureaud, Sr., Black Alumni Chapter at LSU. This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the establishment of the award created to memorialize the work of A. P. Tureaud, Sr., the legendary civil rights attorney, not only in Louisiana, but also across the American South. This award, in the form of a medal, is the highest honor given by the State Conference.

In Memoriam Charles Fred Burley (1940 BACH AGR), of Dallas, died on Feb. 26, 2012. “Colonel Burley, a founding member of the Dallas Alumni Chapter, was an ardent supporter of the chapter’s LSU scholarship program and one of the scholarships was named in his honor. Burley was a “slugging outfielder” on the 1939 LSU Tigers first SEC Championship baseball club, and he set a batting average record of .429 which still stands. He helped start a program that has generated more than 200 scholarships for baseball players and was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995. He served in World War II and later was CFO for HomeVestors.

1930s

John W. Barton, Sr., 1939 BACH, 1999 HON, March 3, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Malva Haynes Huson Brown, 1937 BACH, 1972 MAST, Feb. 16, 2012, Charleston, W.Va. Herman Hamric Holloway, Jr., 1939 BACH, Jan. 17, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Elena Rodgers LeBlanc, 1937 MAST, Retired LSU Laboratory School and College of Education Faculty, March 19, 2012, Haslett, Mich.

1940s

Shelton Joseph Braud, 1942 BACH, 1963 MAST, March 15, 2012, Marksville, La. Thomas James “Jim” Callender, Jr., 1948 BACH, Feb. 20, 2012, Port Allen, La. Reymond Houston D’Armond, 1949 BACH, 1962 MAST, March 3, 2012, Denham Springs, La. Claude Jennings “Pete” Hale, Jr., 1942 BACH, March 1, 2012, Fairfaix, Va. Elsie Hebert, 1945 BACH, 1948 MAST, Professor Emerita of Mass Communication, March 10, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Harland Brasher Hundley, 1949 BACH, Jan. 19, 2012, Shreveport, La. Hans-Alex Kaufman, 1948 BACH, April 17, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Rouge Gus Daniel Levy, 1947 BACH, March 11, 2012, New Orleans, La. Clydelle Shrock Mauldin, 1940 BACH, Jan. 14, 2012, Goodman, Miss.

Thomas N. Russell, attended in the early 1940s, March 3, 2012, Jacksonville, Fla. Bruno Joseph Savoia, 1942 BACH, 1952 MAST, March 16, 2012, Donaldsonville, La. Matsy W. Shea, 1948 BACH, Feb. 25, 2012, Dumas, Ark. Robert Bruce Smith, 1941 BACH, July 1, 2011, Napa, Calif.

Dorothy Jean “Dotty” Philipps Stuart, 1946 BACH, April 7, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Eugene F. Tims, 1943 BACH, Professor Emeritus of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Feb. 2, 2012, Baton Rouge, La.

1950s

Renieri “Ray” Antonutti, 1952 BACH, March 4, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Fred G. Benton, Jr., 1950 JD, Feb. 2, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Wray Foster Birchfield, 1954 PHD, Retired Professor of Plant Pathology, March 7, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Nelson A. “Nellie” Bourgeois, 1950 BACH, Feb. 23, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Duffy Joseph Brown, 1954 BACH, April 16, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. William Denis Brown III, 1955 BACH BUS, 1955 JD, March 7, 2012, Monroe, La. Leon Duke Calvit, Jr., 1951 BACH, Feb. 13, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Robert F. Dinnean, 1958 MAST, 1974 PHD, April 10, 2012, Conroe, Texas Robert Joel Finley, 1957 BACH, March 23, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Mary Elizabeth Worrall Frissell, 1953 MAST, March 4, 2012, Columbia, Mo. Edward William Gassie, 1951 BACH, 1958 PHD, March 3, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Mary Elizabeth Warner Harvey, 1951 BACH, Feb. 13, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Marietta Barham Lanoux, 1955 MAST, Feb. 2, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Thomas G. Latour, 1958 BACH, 1961 MD, Feb. 15, 2012, Maurice, La. C.C. Matirne, 1951 BACH, 1955 MD, Aug. 11, 2011, Crowley, La. Joseph Jerome “Jerry” McKernan, 1959 BACH, 2010 MAST, April 20, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Samuel Bernard “Sammy” Nunez, Jr., 1957 BACH, Jan. 15, 2012, New Orleans, La. Leonard O. Odom, 1954 BACH, March 3, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Wilton Phillips, Jr., 1950 BACH, April 13, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Albert Frederick “A. Fred” Peterson, Jr., 1950 BACH, Feb. 18, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Marie Bickham Alumna-by-Choice Feb. 19, 2012

Carl Corbin Member of the “Reveille Seven” Aug. 19, 2011 New Orleans, 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.

John Dennis Professor Emeritus of Theatre Jan. 27, 2012 Baton Rouge, La.

Betty Carolyn Cook Harrison Professor Emerita of Human Resource Education & Workforce Development Jan. 31, 2012 Magnolia, Ark.

Thomas E. Pope, 1957 MAST, March 3, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Hector Manuel Rivero, 1958 BACH, Jan. 15, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Fred Wayne Rogers, 1954 BACH, March 13, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Charles W. Row III, 1950 BACH, March 29, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Victor A. Sachse III, 1951 BACH, 1955 JD, Feb. 27, 2012, Baton Rouge, La.

1960s

William Ray “Bill” Benham, 1961 BACH, 1968 MAST, Feb. 21, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Hopkins Payne Breazeale III, 1966 BACH, March 11, 2012, Sarasota, Fla. Huey Patrick Brown, 1963 BACH, April 7, 2012, Port Allen, La. R. Scott Capps, Jr., 1969 BACH, Jan. 15, 2012, Wichita, Kan. Lee Stanton Eilers, 1960 BACH, Jan. 19, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Robert Glen Graves, 1960 BACH, March 23, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Thomas P. Hall, 1968 BACH, Jan. 28, 2012, Sturgeon Bay, Wis. Walter W. Johnson, 1966 BACH, March, 27, 2012, New Orleans, La. Richard Watts Langford, 1963 BACH, 1963 JD, Jan. 26, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Sue Marsh Martin, 1960 MAST, Jan. 17, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Mark Henry McCune, 1965 BACH, Feb. 18, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Brent Wickliffe Fenet McGinley, 1962 BACH, Feb. 1, 2012, Lake Charles, La. Clarence Harvell “Deets” Powers, Jr., 1960 BACH, March 17, 2012, Clinton, La. John Roy Scardina, 1962 BACH, 1967 MAST, April 17, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Powell Martin Smith II, 1965 BACH, March 12, 2012, San Antonio, Texas Marilyn Smallwood Thornton, 1966 BACH, April 16, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Anne Kathleen Wade, 1966 MAST, March 13, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Minor Quigley “Buddy” Woodward III, 1963 BACH, March 1, 2012, Kenner, La. Jack Edward Yelverton, 1963 JD, April 7, 2012, Baton Rouge, La.

1970s

Barry Wane Babb, 1979 BACH, Jan. 16, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. John D. Caldwell, 1978 MAST, Jan. 29, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Trudy Leah “MiMi” Janney Gremillion, 1971 BACH, 1992 MAST, Jan. 16, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Trudeau Joseph “Jay” Hogue III, 1972 BACH, Aug. 7, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Steven Daryl Payne, 1974 BACH, 1979 MD, March 17, 2011, Hopkinsville, Ky. Ann May Torregrossa, 1971 BACH, 1975 MAST, April 17, 2012, Baton Rouge, La.

1980s

Maureen Coakley Daniels, 1980 MAST EDUC, Feb. 12, 2012, Baton Rouge, La.

1990s

Eric lars Anderson, 1992 BACH, April 20, 2012, Orlando, Fla. Vallery Yvette Bibbins, 1997 BACH, 2001 BACH, Jan. 7, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Glyn Dale “Trey” Harding III, 1998 BACH, Feb. 29, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Lisa Jo Bertman Pate, 1994 MAST, 1999 PHD, Jan. 24, 2012, Owings Mills, Md.

2000s

Nathan Bryant, 2001 MAST, Feb. 18, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Daniel Ryan Couvillion, 2008 BACH, March 31, 2012, Greenwell Springs, La. Aaron D. Istre, 2003 BACH, March 24, 2012, Vinton, La. Nathan W. Gottfried Professor Emeritus of Psychology Jan. 16, 2012 Baton Rouge, La. Elsie Elizabeth O’Neal Holmes Alumna-by-Choice February 16, 2012 Austin, Texas

Virgie Mary Heck Ret. Director of Student Employment March 17, 2012 Baton Rouge, La. Arthur J. Riopelle Boyd Professor Emeritus of Psychology Feb. 11, 2012 Houston, Texas

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Tiger Nation

Caroline’s Cart

By Melissa Foley

Drew Ann Long launched Caroline’s Cart to make shopping a little easier for parents and caregivers of children with disabilities.

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Parents know taking their children to the grocery store can be a challenge.

But imagine the challenge that not being able to take your children to the grocery store would be. That is the challenge facing the parents of special needs children who have outgrown traditional shopping carts.

LSU alumna Drew Ann Long’s (1991 BACH BUS) special needs daughter, Caroline, who was born with Rett syndrome and requires the assistance of a wheelchair, inspired her to design a shopping cart for special needs children and start her own company to manufacture the carts. From her initial sketches on her dining room table, through the roll out of the carts this summer, Long’s journey has been a labor of love.

“I just saw an unmet need in the retail world,” says Long. “There are carts for every group out there, but there is nothing for special needs children. I knew there was a huge need because there are special needs children in every community in the United States.”

After almost a year discussing it with her family, Long knew the need existed for a new type of shopping cart and decided to take action.

“In 2008, I said, ‘okay, I’m doing it,’” said Long. “I literally started at my dining room table with pen and paper and drew out a design of what I thought would serve a large market. I thought the more people that can use it, the better chance that retailers will provide it.”

Founding Parent Solution Group, LLC, the former stay-at-home mom took her sketches to the engineering department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, near her residence in Alabaster, Ala. She also met with an Indianapolis engineering design firm, Indesign, and they created the prototype of what is now Caroline’s Cart.

“After sketching out the design on paper, I went to UAB’s engineering department and told them what I wanted to do and wanted their opinion on what I needed. It’s not hard; it’s just a shopping cart,” Long says.

Designed to look similar to a traditional shopping cart, Caroline’s Cart has a seat designed for older children and adults. It has specially designed handles that swing away, allowing easy access to the seat. With the occupant facing the cart operator for improved interaction, the seat contains an adjustable harness and gives the handler the ability to steer the cart and shop normally.

“This is like history being made. No product exists like this anywhere,” says Long. “I had to sell this idea to manufacturers and retailers. This has been a long struggle for a mom in smalltown Alabama trying to do something that’s never been done, learning as she went, about how to bring a product to market.”

Despite limited marketing, many retailers have contacted Long about ordering the carts, and the first ones should be available in stores by early summer.

“We have all the manufacturers lined up. We have orders for the cart. The carts are in production,” says Long. “I think that people will begin seeing Caroline’s Carts in stores in June. We are very close.”

Long hopes one day Caroline’s Carts will be available to help the parents and caregivers of special needs children worldwide, and she is well on her way to accomplishing that goal.

ON THE WEB www.carolinescart.com Melissa Foley is an editor in the Office of Communications & University Relations.

Profile

History Lessons Reap Fiscal Rewards

Tiger Nation

By Ryan Buxton Photo by Patricia Cooper

A unique group of University donors is improving LSU’s future by looking to the past.

It’s an innovative type of fundraising that began in 2001, when a few friends started what they call the History Club. Twice a year they come together to enjoy each other’s company and host an LSU history professor who provides a lesson on anything from the Louisiana Purchase to the Middle East.

“We have a little social time – cocktail hour, get the steaks going. Then we eat, and at the end of the meal, we pull chairs around and find a convenient place for the speaker,” says the group’s founder, Mike Miller (1972 BACH HSS).

“He’ll give his talk for thirty minutes to an hour, and then we ask questions.”

It’s a treat for the members, and they enjoy it even more knowing their good times benefit LSU. Each man pays annual dues of $1,000 that go straight to the school’s Department of History.

The club’s meetings are more than worth it to Miller, a construction technology alum and owner of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning company Star Service.

“It’s a substantial amount per year, but guys my age can afford that, or a lot of them can,” he says. “The $1,000 is enough money to do some good, but it’s not so much to break the bank.”

But it does add to the history department’s reserves. Since its founding in 2001, the History Club has raised about $170,000 to enrich the academic endeavors of graduate students and faculty, Miller says. The History Club’s success is evident in its growth. After starting with just six members, membership has Jack Brabham, Dan West, Mike Miller, Frank McLavy, and Bill Cooper swelled to twenty-six in 2012, meaning the history program can expect $26,000 this year.

And they have plenty uses for it, according to Department of History Chair Victor Stater.

“The dues that one person gives are enough probably to help two graduate students do whatever they need to do in research for a year or fund a trip to an archive for a week or ten days,” he explains.

Stater praised the group and its importance to the history program, and that importance is the reason Miller hopes to expand the group’s reach and open satellite clubs around the state and beyond. He’s encouraging others to follow the History Club’s lead and bring it to their own cities for history or their own disciplines.

“You don’t have to have twenty guys – that’s taken us eleven years,” he says. “What if you have six or seven or ten in New Orleans, Lafayette, Shreveport, Lake Charles, Houston, or Jackson?”

Miller said he thinks LSU professors would be happy to make a slightly longer trip if it means more funding for their departments. “If we could increase the income to $50,000 or $60,000 a year, it could help propel this department into a whole new tier,” he says.

Members don’t even have to be LSU alumni. Of the History Club’s twenty-six members, ten never attended LSU – they just love the camaraderie and getting to learn something new.

And for those who need yet another reason to start their own clubs, Miller offered one final perk: “We get to ask all the dumb questions we want, and there’s no test.”

Ryan Buxton graduated in May 2012 from the Manship School of Mass Communication with a degree in print journalism.

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Tiger Nation

LeBlanc Wins Spot on 2012 Paralympic Sailing Team

By Ben Wallace Photo by Mick Anderson/US Sailing

In 2008, Mark LeBlanc (2008 BACH ENGR) fell two feet short of a U.S. Paralympic Sailing Team qualification, losing a triple tiebreaker to eventual bronze medalist, John Ruf.

“It was heartbreaking,” says LeBlanc. “You’re doing so well and then one mistake and you’ve lost. It was a six-month culmination where all I did was eat, sleep, and sail.”

Four years later, LeBlanc clinched his 2012 Paralympic berth by finishing as the top American in trial regattas held in south Florida Paralympian Mark LeBlanc. this past January, beating Ruf in both contests. “I was the second American in the first regatta, then the top American in the second event,” LeBlanc explains. “The finishes were Ruf seven, me eight; then, in the second event, it was me eight, Ruf eleven. Adding up the scores I had sixteen points; Ruf had nineteen. I won the trials.”

The regatta, to be held in Weymouth, England, will feature sixteen singlemanned vessels competing from Sept. 1-6 in roughly two races each day.

In spite of being born without a left forearm, LeBlanc grew up in constant competition with his twin brother, Allan, participating in baseball, soccer, and basketball. LeBlanc’s mother, Barbara, says Mark’s being a twin, combined with his unyielding determination and perseverance, helped her and her husband normalize his life from the beginning. Mark also has a sister, Elisabeth.

“He was always so confident,” says the mother of three describing Mark’s aptitude in problem solving from an early

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age. “When he was two years old, he tied all the doorknobs in the house together.

He taught himself to tie his own shoes, and he really figured out whatever it was he wanted to do on his own.”

“He was able to overcome whatever limitations he might’ve had,” she adds.

“He is very meticulous in his analytical thinking,” says U.S. Paralympics Sailing Coach Betsy Alison. She describes sailing like chess, with constantly changing variables, which she says Mark has become quite adept at handling, and that makes him an exceptional sailor.

Mark’s father, also named Mark, says they never told their son he couldn’t do anything. “He’s a smart kid. I’d like to say all my kids got my wife’s brains,” he says.

The sailing genes likely came from dad, who held his own Olympic sailing campaigns in 1968 and 1972, finishing one spot short of qualifying in 1968.

Mark graduated from Jesuit High School in New Orleans, where he trained with other classmates, including his brother, at the Southern Yacht Club while competing nationally, and at LSU he helped run a sailing club that also competed nationally.

Today LeBlanc is a civil engineer with Shaw Coastal, Inc. LeBlanc must raise more than $130,000 for the Paralympics competition and already has major sponsors the Albemarle Foundation and the Olympic Sailing Association at New Orleans on his team.

LeBlanc’s mother, father, and soonto-be-wife Caroline hope to travel to Weymouth to watch Mark compete.

They may have trouble though, since the competition does not allow spectating boats, and in Mark’s words, “[We] look like ants running around from the tops of hills.”

Ben Wallace, a student in the Manship School of Mass Communication, is the entertainment director/producer/ anchor of The Ramen: The Soup for College Students on Tiger TV.

PROUD SUPPORTER OF THE

LSU Alumni Association Making Louisiana Better One Brick at a Time.

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Remembering with Fred

Tiger Nation

1929

May 15, 1965

June 15, 2011

For readers who enjoyed Baton Rouge photographer Fred C. Frey, Jr.’s (1957 BACH BUS) 1971 photograph “The Night the Irish Came to Death Valley” (Spring 2012 issue), here are a few more pictures to take us back in time – along with some of Mr. Frey’s delightful asides.

“Speaking of pictures, enclosed are three shots of LSU. I took the 1965 and 2011 photos and would love to claim the 1929 picture, but it just so happened that I had not been born. Photographer unknown. Please use the photos as you see fit.

“Speaking of the past, when I was in school (1947) and you had a date with a coed, you went to her dormitory and presented yourself to the housemother before the young lady was allowed to go out.

“Time does pass, rules and places do change. I thought the old way was better, but as my sociologist dad would say, ‘Boy, you are a cultural lag – get with the times.’”

Serving Southwest Louisiana’s transportation needs for over 6 decades.

CHEVROLET • CADILLAC FORD • LINCOLN • TOYOTA

JENNINGS, LOUISIANA www.bubbaoustalet.com 84 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

Fred C. Frey, Jr. Editor’s note Barry Cowan, assistant archivist in Hill Memorial library, says of the 1929 photograph, “I’d “be willing to bet Jasper Ewing took this image. He was doing a lot of work for LSU at this time.”

Profile

Eve’s Apple Entices Customers for Two LSU Alumnae Baton Rouge is hardly the first place one would consider an international style hub, but one local enterprise is helping to put the city on the fashion map.

Sari Laborde Turner (1981 BACH BUS) and Michele LaCour Percy (2005 BACH AGR) have found a way to bring the latest in clothing designs together with cutting edge computer technology to give Internet shoppers a better online experience. The two partnered in 2009 to create Eve’s Apple, an Internet fashion that is the only one of its kind in the U.S. to use 360º auto spin technology with ghosted effect to give customers a comprehensive view of each product. This new technology, used by only one other site worldwide, was introduced on the site in April 2011 and almost immediately increased sales by a substantial percentage, with a 40 percent spike in the first week alone.

Both Turner and LaCour had definite ideas about the way they wanted the site to work, and they were determined to find the best technology available to accentuate the company’s products and to celebrate the designers they represent.

They also knew that they preferred a “ghost effect,” which is a threedimensional image without a model or a mannequin, to achieve the visual element of their goals. Turner researched a variety of new technologies, which she combined to implement their online business plan.

“We found one component in eastern Europe, where the technology was used to highlight industrial manufacturing parts,” Turner explains. “Each product is photographed individually, and these images give the illusion that the product is rotating. The different technologies are timed together to maintain image integrity. What you see on the site, we have created. We do everything here – nothing is outsourced – so we know our products.”

The high-tech marketing strategy is a reflection of the way these women see the fashion industry as a whole. Both

understand and appreciate the way designers use technology to enhance fashions, and that knowledge has a profound influence on their selection of the clothing lines they sell.

“Technology is not just in marketing but also in the production of fabrics and materials that designers use,” LaCour comments. “Technology allows designers to produce their work using unique fabrics at reasonable costs. Designers are also incorporating value-added elements, like convertible clothing, into their lines.”

Despite the high-tech nature of their sales and marketing tools, both women stress that southern hospitality is one of their advantages.

“We want to keep the personal touch in the business,” Turner remarks.

“We had that in our boutiques, and we wanted people to have that in their Internet experience. Customer service is a huge priority,” adds LaCour.

The entrepreneurial duo travel around the country to find just the right fashions to feature on their site. “We’re directly involved in buying for the company.

We’re always looking for new and emerging designers,” Turner explains.

One thing has impressed them as they travel: Some of the brightest and most promising design staff are LSU graduates.

The discovery was not really a surprise for either. Both are LSU graduates – Turner in marketing and LaCour in fashion merchandising – and every member of their staff at Eve’s Apple has either graduated from LSU or is currently a student at the University.

By Brenda Macon

Sari Turner and Michele LaCour.

ON THE WEB www.evesapple.com Brenda Macon is a freelance writer/editor living in Baton Rouge and the former editor of Kaleidoscope, the magazine of the LSU College of Humanities & Social Sciences.

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Tiger Nation

Alumnus Getting an Education of His Own

By Lyndsi Lewis

Eric Triche.

In Sheikh Zayed City, an affluent suburb of Cairo, Egypt, Eric Triche (2001 BACH EDUC) teaches language arts to sixth and seventh graders at the American International School in Egypt-West Campus (AIS). The school has been one of Egypt’s leading schools since it opened its doors to its first 240 students in 1990 and today has more than 1,200 students from forty-one countries.

Despite his extensive experience teaching in the U.S., Belgium, and Japan, Triche admits living in the developing Egyptian nation presents a new set of challenges, including dismally slow postage and banking systems and unreliable and expensive Internet access.

“I sometimes feel like I’m living in the Dark Ages,” he says. “I have to constantly remind myself these are exactly the sorts of challenges I wanted and from which I will grow the most. I have visited developing countries, but this is the first time I’ve lived in one. The most challenging adjustment for me has been directly linked to the lack of efficiency in things that we, as Americans, have come to expect and now take for granted.”

In January, just a month after signing his teaching contract, Triche watched as a violent and highly publicized political revolution erupted in Egypt. He admits to feelings of significant apprehension but was never deterred.

“I was seriously concerned, as were all of the new hires,” he says. “Our administration did a great job of constantly communicating with us and keeping us updated on things. It was very clear to me that the school’s priority during this situation has been teacher safety. We are all strongly committed to what we are doing here in Egypt.”

Despite the obstacles, Triche insists his experience in Egypt has been nothing but positive. “I’m thoroughly enjoying life here,” he says. “The people are amazing. The weather is almost always beautiful, and the cultural exposure is endless.”

A thirty-two-year-old Lafayette native, Triche graduated summa cum laude in elementary education, earned a master’s degree magna cum laude from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium in 2004, and an education specialist certificate summa cum laude from the University of Virginia in 2009.

Throughout his international studies and teaching over the past decade, Triche credits LSU with providing him with the necessary foundation and skills that make him an effective and successful educator. “I have always said that the College of Education’s teacher preparation program is the foundation for who I am as a teacher,” he says. “There’s a reason that I was strongly recruited at graduation. So many recruiters told me that the people they hire from LSU are always top-notch.”

“I think the most valuable aspect of my teacher training was the way I was provided actual classroom experiences very early on,” he continues. “In my four years of training, I got to see so many different teachers, classrooms, and situations. It made me really understand that teaching is a science and an art.”

ON THE WEB www.lsu.edu/coe/etp Lyndsi Lewis is a public relations intern in the College of Human Sciences & Education.

86 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

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Tigers Around the World

Carla White, Diane Thomas, and Carole Linville.

Tigers at Thoth – LSU graduate student Carla White, of Richmond, Va., along with cousin Diane Thomas and mom Carol Linville took part in the Krewe of Thoth parade that rolled through Uptown New Orleans on Feb. 19. “I love my Tiger hat, and the guys on the floats got a real laugh out it too,” writes White.”It was a blast showing off my Tiger pride!”

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Looking for 1963 ROTC Cadets Several members of the 1963 Air Force ROTC class are trying to locate the following members for a get-together in November 2013. If you have contact information for any of the following individuals, get in touch with Bob Cole at rcole437@cox.net.

• Amond, Wayne J.

• Hill, Lynn T.

• Boudreaux, John E

• Keith, Adrian S.

• Bruhl, Glyndon A.

• Landaiche, Allen W.

• Carney, Thomas P.

• Lewis, Donald W.

• Coco, Eugene C.

• Posey, Aubrey L.

• Duggan, Patrick D. • Greenwald, Everett L

• Pressburg, Joel E. • Reynolds, Earl C.

• Griggs, Johnny

• Simonton, Sammie

LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

87

Tiger Nation

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Update Kyrgyzstan Greetings Tiger Nation,

Peace Corps volunteer Judson L Moore.

I am proud to report that I am now celebrating the one-year anniversary of my arrival to my site in Talas, Kyrgyzstan. Over the last year I have engaged in many activities, learned a lot about myself, and worked hard to help others learn skills useful to their own endeavors.

Among my activities have been coat and blanket distributions, English clubs, computer and Internet trainings, community beautification projects, grant-writing seminars, event management trainings, and numerous cross-cultural exchanges. As rewarding as all this has been, I am now gearing up for summer camp, which will likely be the most meaningful activity I will carry out.

In July I will be directing a summer camp for twenty-eight high school students in the beautiful Besh Tash National Park in the scenic mountains near my home in Talas.

The theme of this camp will be HIV/AIDS education and the development of life skills related to relationships and making healthy decisions.

Kyrgyzstan is developing in areas of health education and struggles with the practice of bride-kidnapping. By bringing young boys and girls together at this camp we will help them make healthy life choices and encourage them to engage in a mixed-gender dialogue, something that can be difficult to do in the rural areas of this region.

The format of this camp has proven to be a successful way for Peace Corps volunteers to make a great impact in Kyrgyzstan for many years. Students from the region look forward to the opportunity to be selected for this camp and have high expectations of its outcome. Meeting this expectation will require me to leverage all the skills and knowledge I have obtained over the years. This challenge thrills me!

I have had a wonderful and meaningful first half of my Peace Corps service, and I am prepared to finish strong in the second half.

While I continue to conduct trainings in the aforementioned areas, I find that I am just now beginning to grasp the real needs and desires of the Kyrgyz Republic.

I expect that the next year will be one to remember!

Yours in Service, Judson L Moore US Peace Corps 2011-13 Volunteer, Talas Kyrgyzstan +996.770.760045 // JudsonLMoore.com PS: You can monitor my service online at http://KyrgyzMedia.com and on Twitter @media_KG.

88 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012

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