LSU Alumni Magazine - Winter 2011

a l u m n i

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Winter 2011, Volume 87, Number 4

Lod’s Big Day Plus: Band Reunion, Tigerama The Right Note Gordon A. Cain Center STEM Skills for K-12 The Dairy Store From Smart Cows Meet Nikki Caldwell New LSU Lady Tiger Coach

A M essage F rom the

Chancellor

Proud to Call You Alumni I recently addressed a group of engineers, chemists, and businesspeople at the Louisiana Chemical Association/Louisiana Chemical Industry Association annual meeting in New Orleans. During that talk, I shared with attendees all the ways that LSU is providing a return on investment to the state of Louisiana, its citizens, and its major industries. Now I’d like to share that same message with you.

First, LSU provides a return on investment to the state. Despite receiving less state funding than ever before in its history, LSU is still performing at a high level.

Enrollment is up 3.5 percent during the past three years, even though the number of high school students in Louisiana is shrinking. In fact, the fall 2011 freshman class is the fourth largest in LSU history. This indicates that Louisiana’s best high school graduates find real value in an LSU degree. We also attract outstanding students from out of state. The University has again been ranked in the top tier of universities by U.S. News & World Report, and other rankings show that the College of Engineering and the creative writing master of fine arts program, among others, are nationally ranked.

Numerous faculty and student academic and research awards also demonstrate LSU’s progress.

Then there is the return on investment for students. By graduating from LSU, students are vastly improving their lives. Research shows that college graduates have better employment rates and salaries than those who have not completed college. But students also receive other benefits by attending LSU, such as the chance to perform undergraduate research, opportunities to start their own businesses with help from the student business incubator, and fellowship and internship programs that provide students with the experience they need to secure quality jobs upon graduation.

LSU faculty members receive a return on investment because the University helps bring their research to life. Our faculty are conducting groundbreaking research that leads to patents, new inventions, and new business endeavors. By assisting them in bringing their research into the marketplace, LSU is providing them with a value added to their jobs in academia.

This kind of entrepreneurship provides a return on investment to the business community and the state’s economy. Entrepreneurship generates new businesses and new products, both of which drive the economy, and it also aids a number of different industries by contributing to the development of their fields. And of course, by producing quality graduates who are prepared to enter the workforce and become leaders, LSU is providing a return on investment to companies and industries across the state, the nation and the world.

With this in mind I’d like to offer my congratulations and thanks to all of you who earned one or more degrees from LSU. Your impact reaches farther than you know.

You are contributing to your fields, to the economy, and to the very fiber of our society, within Louisiana and far beyond. I hope you are as proud to be Tigers as we are to call you our alumni.

Michael V. Martin Chancellor LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

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Publisher Charlie W. Roberts

Contents

Editor Jackie Bartkiewicz Copy Editor Brenda Macon Advertising Kay Heath Amanda Haynes

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Features

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24 Lod’s Big Day LSU philanthropist Lod Cook was on hand to help celebrate the tenth anniversary of the opening of The Cook Hotel Oct. 7. His day began with a 5 a.m. TV appearance and ended near midnight after Tigerama.

In between he was joined by well-wishers for a festive lunch – complete with top-notch entertainment – topped off with accolades from Gov. Bobby Jindal and Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden.

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32 Tigerama Tigerama 2011 sealed its place in LSU history as a premier music event and for the first time served as a scholarship fundraiser for the School of Music and Tiger Band. More than 5,000 fans and supporters turned out to show their support for LSU’s music programs.

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36 STEM STEM skills – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – are some of the most difficult courses to teach and yet some of the most important for our country’s future development. LSU’s Gordon A. Cain Center for STEM Literacy is providing the vision and leadership in interdisciplinary educational research and practices through programs that support and enhance literacy in STEM fields and helps channel that talent into Louisiana schools.

In Each Issue 1 A Message from the Chancellor 4 President’s Message 6 LSU Alumni Association News 40 Around Campus 52 Locker Room 54 Tiger Nation

Cover: Lod’s Big Day. Photo by Matt DeVille Design by Chuck Sanchez/STUN Design

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Art Director Chuck Sanchez STUN Design & Advertising Contributors Ashley Bertholot, Ronette Boshea, John Boudreaux, Ryan Buxton, Barry Cowan, Matt DeVille, John W. Flores, Norm Marcocci, Bill Martin, Judson Moore, Harriet Robinette,Ben Wallace, Bill Martin, Seth Medvin Photography Mike Bedgood, Mary Kay Bertaut, Mark Claesgens, Matt DeVille, Steve Franz, Larry Hubbard, Lifetouch Photography, Eddy Perez, Jan Ramezan, Rachel Saltzberg, Trudi Schrieber, Alice Stout, Jim Zietz Printing Baton Rouge Printing 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. © 2011 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 Guy Campbell III Chair, Monroe, La. Michael H. Woods, Chair-Elect, Shreveport, La. Gregory J. “Gregg” Cordaro Past Chair, Baton Rouge, La. Scott L. Anderson, Monroe, La. Jan K. Liuzza, Kenner, La. Jack A. Andonie, Metairie, 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. Charles H. Moniotte, Baton Rouge, La. J. Hals Benhard, Palmetto, La. Richard C. “Ricky” Oustalet, Jennings, La. Patricia C. “Pat” Bodin, Houston, Texas 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.

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P resident /CEO’ s

MESSAGE Photos by Larry Hubbard

Thank You!

As we come to the end of another year, we offer a tremendous “Thank You” to our alumni and friends who have generously supported the Association. Our chapter program continues to grow (now at 130), Association membership is increasing, reunions are well-attended, the Andonie Sports Museum is enjoying standing-room-only crowds on home-game weekends, and The Cook hotel is an increasingly popular place to stay.

The hotel celebrated its tenth anniversary Oct. 7 (see story on page 24) at an event attended primarily by donors and supporters who made the hotel a reality. In his remarks, Lod Cook reflected on his early love for LSU and how this affection for his University was the impetus for him to become involved with the Association.

A group referred to affectionately by the Association as the Significant Six were also on hand for the anniversary celebration. These individuals at an important time in the construction of the hotel signed the note that made funding available for completion of the facility. The Significant Six recognized at the event were Lod and the late Carole Cook, Kent and Yvonne Anderson, Ted and Alethia Martin, Sue and the late Bert Turner, Sugar and the late Dalton Woods, and Sonny Anderson. To these individuals we offer tremendous thanks.

We have approximately one month remaining in the year. It is urgent that you continue your support of and membership in the Association. It takes only $50 to join, and membership greatly assists LSU in maintaining and advancing in U.S. News & World Report rankings. We sincerely ask you as alumni and friends to “join up” and then ask other alumni and friends to do the same. This contribution is more than membership – it is important link to continued national recognition of your university.

Remember – to support the Association, your check/donation should be made ONLY to LSU Alumni Association-Alumni Fund. No other designation will be credited to the Association to ensure your membership and support.

I take this opportunity to offer a special thanks to the LSU Alumni Association National Board of Directors and The Cook Hotel Board of Managers for their dedication and support of the organization. They give generously of their time and talents and provide tremendous leadership and vision for our growth.

Finally, a very special thanks goes to the Association staff. Because of their dedication and untiring efforts, we are able to attain our goals year in and year out.

Whether the occasion is a 5 a.m. live television show or a 3 a.m. return to the hotel after an away football game, or a sold-out event at the hotel or the Lod Cook Alumni Center, they are always willing and always smiling. Without them we could not have accomplished what we have. I thank them profoundly for their unbelievable loyalty.

Forever LSU,

Charlie W. Roberts President/CEO

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From Our Readers Dear Jackie, We enjoyed this issue [Fall 2011] highlighting the LSU Union. While we were at LSU, it was under construction and we only got the use of the post office when it moved to the "new union" the last couple of months we were in school. The [Huey P. Long] Fieldhouse and the bookstore coffee shop were THE places, especially for those commuting to classes.

Our days at LSU are some of our best memories.

Our LSU education has served us well.

John, an agricultural engineer, worked in research, development, and practical applications for a period of time and traveled all over the world before going into business as a farm equipment dealer. I was a bacteriology major and briefly worked in a research lab at a Marquette University Medical School until moving to Texas. I began an enriching career with the Agricultural Research Service of the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture in basic and applied research in plant pathology, cereal chemistry, and – in the last twentytwo years – plant genetics. I'll retire on Dec. 31, seventeen days short of forty-six years of service (our research facility is being consolidated to Arkansas due to federal budget reductions).

Keep up the good work . . . and thanks, Faye & John Seaberg

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LSU A lumni A ssociation

news

By Matt DeVille Photos by Matt DeVille and Larry Hubbard

“What a special weekend . . . I cannot wait to go back next year!”

Color Guard alumnae Jessica Stafford, Jennifer BakerRodrigues, Jaime Robeson, Jennifer Robinson Poché, Heather Kubala Luquette, and Lyneé Burleigh Boackle.

2011 Color Guard members Lauren Broussard, Jessie Cali, and Lorin Willoughby with band director Roy King.

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LSU Alumni Band 2011 Color Guard Celebrates 40 years

At the halfway point of the 2011 college football season, the LSU Tigers were undefeated (6-0) and ranked No. 1 in the nation.

While Tiger Town was abuzz with excitement about the team’s dominating start, fans are less than thrilled with the notion that with success comes a great deal of daytime football. Everyone knows LSU is at its best in Tiger Stadium under the lights, but those opportunities have been scarce in 2011. Fans have had to kick-start the tailgating a little earlier this season, but it hasn’t been an issue.

Another group of Tiger fans that had to adjust to an earlier schedule than usual was the LSU Alumni Band.

The LSU Alumni Association hosted the 25th edition of the Tiger Band Reunion Sept.30-Oct. 1. In years past, the reunion was held in conjunction with a non-conference home game, which always ensured the game would be played at night. In recent years, reunion participants requested the chance to perform during halftime of an SEC game.

This year, the Association obliged.

Unfortunately, kickoff for the LSUKentucky game was moved up to 11:30 a.m. to accommodate a national television broadcast on the SEC Network – resulting in a very early wakeup call for the Alumni Band members.

“Obviously the early start wasn’t what we were hoping for,” said Brandli Roberts, director of on-campus events for the Association. “The morning kickoff cut into some of our usual gameday festivities, but everyone set the alarm clocks a little earlier on Saturday morning, and it turned out to be a great day.”

A festive Friday night cocktail party and reception at the Lod Cook Alumni Center turned into an early Saturday morning as the Alumni Band reported for rehearsal with the current Tiger Band at 6:30 a.m. Following a two-hour rehearsal under the direction of LSU Alumni Association President/CEO Charlie Roberts and former Tiger Band Director Frank Wickes, the scene moved to Tiger Stadium for the real thing. “It wasn’t the earliest we’ve done this,” said Roberts, who founded the band reunion in 1986. “I can recall a few years back when Mother Nature forced us to go even earlier.”

Hurricane Katrina resulted in the cancellation of the 2005 Tiger Band Reunion. Three years later, with Hurricane Gustav bearing down on the Louisiana coastline, kickoff was bumped up to 10 a.m. for the season opener versus Appalachian State. “That was an experience,” said Jason Ramezan, vice president of alumni relations.

“It was really early that year, so we figured 11:30 should be a piece of cake this time around.”

Marty Sixkiller, the 2010 Young Alumnus of the Year, made his first ever appearance with the LSU Alumni Band.

“I cannot believe I waited nineteen years to finally attend the LSU Alumni Band Reunion!” Sixkiller said. “It was great seeing good friends again and experiencing the camaraderie all over again, reminiscing over some of the best years of my life.”

And while Sixkiller enjoyed his first trip back, Ron Johnson, a member of the LSU Alumni Association National Board of Directors, got back in action for the first time in a few years. “I took a few years off, but it was fun to be back out there,”

Kim Dastugue, Mike Aertker, and Stephen Orkus visit during the Friday evening reception.

Golden Girl alumnae at practice.

Johnson said. “In life, money can buy just about anything. However, there are some things money can’t buy. This experience is definitely one of them! It was like 1968-72 all over again!”

Two years ago, the LSU Golden Girls celebrated their golden anniversary, as 200 former members returned to take part in halftime festivities. This year, another band auxiliary group celebrated an anniversary, as the LSU Color Guard toasted forty years as part of the Tiger Band.

More than 120 former color guard members participated and received a special anniversary flag used during the halftime show. “What a sight, that was on the field,” said Wickes. “That was really something. To have that many of them here, it was impressive.”

It doesn’t matter if one is a member of the band, Golden Girls, Color Guard, or a majorette, the Alumni Band Reunion is always an emotional event for those taking part.

Sixkiller, who was a percussionist in the Tiger Band from 1986-88, said he is already making plans to come back. “I cannot believe I still got goose bumps the size of golf balls when I marched onto the field in front of 80,000-plus fans to play pregame with the alumni band,” Sixkiller said. “What a special weekend organized by the LSU Alumni Association! I cannot wait to go back next year!”

Marty Sixkiller during Saturday morning rehearsal.

Tuba player Brian Petters warms ups as the sun rises.

Ron Johnson waits for practice to begin.

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LSU Alumni Association News

By John Boudreaux Photo by Larry Hubbard

That Warm Air Sound As we were growing up in Baton Rouge, LSU football was a big part of our lives. But I was captivated by each performance of the Tiger Band. I witnessed Thomas Tyra’s Dietzel Engine, the debut of the Golden Girls, and Bill Swor’s first pre-game show with high peaks and delayed pivots. When I started playing trumpet in the seventh grade, I knew I wanted to be part of “The Golden Band from Tigerland” and make “that warm air sound.”

My Tiger Band experience was priceless – what a ride! When I graduated in 1972, I never imagined that I would march in another halftime show in Tiger Stadium, but then I became a member of the Alumni Band. My debut with this group of former band members was in 1997 – what a thrill!

Every year we get to recapture what was the most visible commitment to excellence of our LSU experience. Each year the excitement of the band reunion exceeds my expectations. There is no atmosphere like Tiger Stadium filled with 91,600 of your closest friends. My usual spot in the front row of the formation may induce some added pressure, but the front row perspective is awesome in several respects. I love to hear the full impact of the Alumni Band sound, and I not only can hear the crowd but also can see the reaction of the crowd, drum majors, and band directors. Tiger fans really show their appreciation and make us feel like celebrities.

I share each reunion with my dad, Buddy Boudreaux, who played in the band in 1936 under Castro Carazo. His stories from that era are always interesting, and he has a real appreciation for the evolution of Tiger Band through the years. I enjoy reconnecting with those alumni with whom I shared the Tiger Band experience, especially those from the 1970 “All Alumni Band members John Boudreaux, left, and his father, American College TV Band” under Bill Swor.

Buddy Boudreaux.

Over the years, I have made many new friends who were in the band at different times under the same or different leadership. I have enjoyed getting to know past and current band directors, assistant band directors, drum majors, and current band members – and especially the trumpet players. I always try to remember that every year there are alumni participating for the first time. Tiger Band gives us all a unique bond.

Every aspect of the reunion is fun. We remember the good times along with the effort and commitment that is a Tiger Band tradition. Although “The Alumni Band from Tigerland” puts on the same show every year, some people in Tiger Stadium are seeing it for the first time. It is very important that we do our very best to display that commitment to excellence that drives every show.

Each year as we march off the field, I realize how special the show was and how quickly it was over. But I cannot wait to do it again. (Maybe next year we can play “Tiger Rag.”) I truly love Tiger Band with all of its traditions. I will be back next year to make that “warm air sound.”

John Boudreaux (1972 BACH HSS), of Collierville, Tenn., played in the Tiger Band from 1968-72.

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2012 Calendar of Events February 2

The Accolades Banquet (Chapter Workshop and Purple & Gold Awards)

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Alumni/Hotel Board of Directors Meeting

4

Chapter Leadership Workshop

13 -15 Graduation Fair

March 30

Hall of Distinction

April 8

Lod Cook Bridal Experience

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Senior Ring Ceremony

May 11

Alumni/Hotel Board of Directors Meeting

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Golden Tigers Reunion

June 28

Retired Faculty/Staff Independence Day Celebration

August 10

Annual Meeting and Past Presidents/Chairs Luncheon

September 12

Fresh Fest

17-18

Graduation Fair

28-29 Band Reunion

November 1

Scholars Banquet

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Senior Ring Ceremony

15-16

Alumni /Hotel Board of Directors Meeting

December 11

Retired Faculty/Staff Christmas Party

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LSU Alumni Association News

Traditions of Giving John and Rose Ann Shelton

By Ben Wallace Photo by Larry Hubbard

John and Rose Ann Shelton in the Shelton Gift Shop.

John T. Shelton, Jr., has given his share of pennies to the University, but he would be the first to tell you the copper colored coins are almost 98 percent zinc.

The 1994 LSU Alumni Association Alumnus of the Year served as vice chairman, vice president, director, and chief operating officer of the Texas-based petrochemical firm Texas Olefins Company until his retirement in 1996. Now, he divvies up his time among board meetings, the golf course, and Tiger football games.

“Rose Ann and I have held season football tickets for longer than I can remember,” says Shelton.

The Fayette, Miss., native graduated from high school in a class of ten, but his smalltown roots provided the foundation for a forty-plus-year career in the petrochemical industry, where he served as plant manager for both Texas Olefins and Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), the same company for which another notable LSU alumnus, Lod Cook, served as chairman and chief executive officer. The John & Rose Ann Shelton Gift Shop welcomes visitors to The Cook Hotel, allowing Shelton and Cook to share more than careers at ARCO. Shelton, of Houston, graduated from LSU in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree. in chemical engineering. Post-graduation, he fulfilled his two-year Army ROTC commitment before attending night business classes at the University of Houston and gaining experience in the petrochemical industry. He also earned a J.D. from the South Texas College of Law. But Shelton has never forgotten his home in Baton Rouge. He still shares LSU season football tickets with his former roommate, longtime friend, and fellow Hall of Distinction member Robert “Mac” Wallace.

The Sheltons have three children, Sharon, Shirley, and John “Tom” Shelton III. Sharon earned an M.B.A from the University of Southern California and currently resides in Los Angeles. Shirley and Tom are attorneys residing in Houston and Austin, respectively.

Shirley and her husband, John Meredith, have two children, Ben and Mason, whom John and Rose Ann enjoy seeing as often as possible.

“We are very fortunate to live only five minutes away from our two grandsons,” says Shelton. “And although we often see them during their sporting events and other activities, the highlights of the year are trips to Baton Rouge and LSU.” Shelton says his grandsons learned at an early age to enjoy the electric atmosphere of a Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.

“Anytime they know they’re going to stay with us for a few days, the first question they ask is, ‘Are we going to LSU?’” 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.

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LSU Alumni Association News

Chapter Events Grand Ole Tigers Twenty “Grand Ole Tigers” from the Atlanta Alumni Chapter, many of whom have been active in the chapter for more than forty years, gathered on July 30 to share LSU stories of “then and since.”

Sarah Clayton, who shared some of her “tons of LSU memorabilia” – magazines, videos, books, and pictures – as door prizes, hosted the event.

Attending were Bev and Leo Crochet, Sarah Clayton, David and Laura Jones Danda, Byrd and Alice Ball, David Bergeron, Don and Betsy Broussard, Don and Remer Waguespack, Pete Lorio, Ron Abadie, Bob and Barbara Fitzgerald, Keith Lancaster, and Linda and Charles Curtis.

The Grand Ole Tigers.

Each Tiger had a story to tell. Don Waguespack recalled being run over by Billy Cannon when both played high school football, and Don Broussard talked about meeting Gaynell Tinsley. Byrd Ball shared his secret for getting through physics and physics lab and recalled that his mom was the housemother at Acadian dorm, where Clayton lived in the mid-sixties. Bob Fitzgerald boasted that he graduated from LSU law school before he got his undergrad degree, and Pete Lorio, who was a javelin thrower while in college, remembered that he just missed hitting several football players on one of his throws!

Jill Roshto, director of development for the Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute, was a special guest at the gathering. She spoke about the SEI program and the successfully completed Forever LSU campaign.

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Atlanta View In – Twenty-one Atlanta Tigers gathered at Adele’s Cajun Restaurant in Roswell, Ga., to enjoy great food and football while watching LSU take on the Kentucky Wildcats on Oct. 1.

Gena Soileau, Bill and Karen Brack, Jim Soileau, and Charlie Roberts.

Scholarship Donation – Several members of the San Diego Alumni Chapter dropped by the Lod Cook Alumni Center Oct. 7 to present a $55,000 check, representing the proceeds from the group’s annual crawfish boil held May 29, to LSU Alumni Association President/CEO Charlie Roberts. The money benefits the chapter’s scholarship fund and the LSU Alumni Fund.

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LSU Alumni Association News

Winning golfers, from left, Tommy Potter, John Gregory, Danny Gray, and John Phillips.

DeSoto Hosts Annual Golf Classic

Award winners Kyle McDonald, who received the Lodwrick Monroe Cook Award; Fred Binning, DeSoto Alumnus of the Year; and Tommy Craig, recipient of the DeSoto Chapter Purple & Gold Award.

The DeSoto Parish Alumni Chapter held its tenth annual Dr. Donald Taylor Golf Classic & Banquet at Cypress Bend Golf Resort on July 9.

This year’s event featured forty-three teams in two flights in the morning and the afternoon.

Banquet guest speaker Dr. Tommy Casanova.

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The tournament was preceded by a hamburger cookout at the resort on Friday night with food catered and donated by Billy Bennett of Billy B’s Restaurant in Mansfield, La. Music was provided by Cody Cooke & the Bayou Outlaws, sponsored by Scott & Amy Atkins, and a classic LSU game film was spotlighted in the resort theater for diehard Tiger fans. Other sponsors were Judge Charlie Adams, Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle, and Aaron Edwards.

First-place teams were Nagle, Nagle, Britton & Bankson, first morning flight; Gilcrease, Ley, Melton & Pendleton, second morning flight; McDonald, Smith, McInnis & Brumley, first afternoon flight; Huff, Cooke, Smith & Choat, second afternoon flight. First-place teams received custom LSU golf bags for each player; second-place team players won $50 gift cards to the Pro Shop at the Cypress Bend Golf Resort; and members of third-place teams received certificates

for a free round of golf at the resort’s course, which is featured on the Audubon Golf Trail.

Guest speaker at the tournament banquet was former Tiger great Dr. Tommy Casanova, an ophthalmologist in Crowley, La. Casanova regaled the crowd with anecdotes and tales from his days as a leader of the Tiger football team and invited his former teammate John Nagle to the podium to share favorite memories of their days at LSU. Several awards were made during the banquet. Fred Binning, of Mansfield, La., was named DeSoto Parish Alumnus of the Year, and was honored by chapter members Jeff and Amy Garsee, who read a public tribute to his lifetime accomplishments and accolades.

Kyle McDonald, of Ruston, La., founding president and CEO of Argent Financial Services, Inc., was presented the Lodwrick Monroe Cook Award.

The award imparts both distinction and gratitude to the recipient, recognizing lifetime achievements that mirror the accomplishments and character of one of DeSoto Parish’s favorite LSU sons, Lod Cook.

Tommy Craig received the chapter’s inaugural Purple & Gold Award for his compassionate and unwavering service to the chapter.

Jeanne Christian received special recognition for her dedication to the organization as well as her generosity and giving spirit. To honor her and her late husband, Chris, the chapter established the Chris and Jeanne Christian Scholarship, which will be awarded annually to a DeSoto Parish student entering LSU. Proceeds from the events benefited the chapter’s scholarship fund, and the chapter made a donation to the Andonie Sports Museum.

Boston Boil – LSU alumni passed a good time at the chapter’s crawfish boil held on April 23 at the Baseball Tavern.

“We ordered more than 600 pounds of crawfish for the boil this year,” says Ashley Bordelon, chapter president. In February, alumni and friends gathered for the SEC Pub Crawl.

Front, from left, Theresa McCabe, Christine Nguyen, Michelle Chaison, Cori Mykoff; back, Nicholas Rosato, Justin Gravois, Eric Alexander, and Ashley Bordelon at the SEC Pub Crawl.

Brian Ledet, past social chair; Ashley Bordelon, president; Magan Munson, vice president; and Dean Carucci, treasurer.

Photo by Micaila Britto

Final Stop – The LSU Tiger Tour rolled into the Capital City on July 28, the final stop on the 2011 itinerary. Quarterbacks coach Steve Kragthorpe and baseball coach Paul Mainieri were the featured speakers at the event, which was hosted by the Greater Baton Rouge Alumni Chapter. The Tiger Tour, sponsored by the Association, Tiger Athletic Foundation, and LSU Foundation, hits the road around the southeast each spring and summer to give Tiger fans a chance to visit with Tiger coaches and learn about the successes of student-athletes on and off the playing field.

Photos by Larry Hubbard

William and Fran Beck with Joe Carvalhido of the Tiger Athletic Foundation.

Steve Tope, left, with the Bullock family – Jennifer, David, and Dana – of Lebanon, Ohio. The family was in Baton Rouge to check out LSU as a possible college destination for Dana.

Paula Dupuy and Jim Dumigan.

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LSU Alumni Association News

By Harriet Robinette

“Seeing fellow Tigers, meeting new Tigers, and reuniting with Tiger pals from the past.”

Random shots of Tiger fans at the Alumni Dallas tailgate party.

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WOW! What a Tailgate LSU Alumni Dallas played host to 1,800+ people from around the country at the Tigers’ season opener against Oregon on Sept. 3.

Fans traveled to Dallas from California, Arizona, New York, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada – and, of course, Oklahoma, Louisiana,Arkansas, and other parts of Texas – for the event. It was great seeing fellow Tigers, meeting new Tigers, and even reuniting Tiger pals from the past.

Folks began arriving at 10 a.m., and all of a sudden J. Gilligan’s was transformed into a sea of purple and gold. Tents went up, misters were turned on, the DJ started off with “Pregame” – and Tiger fans went wild. Food and libations flowed, as did the chant, “Geaux Tigers.”

Tigers watched other games on the JumboTron and TVs set up in the tented areas.

Shuttles ran to Cowboy Stadium and buses came from sponsor hotels. It was a beautiful day for a party. The game provided Tiger fans with the perfect ending.

The revenue earned from the tailgate party enabled the chapter to add more than $20,000 to the scholarship fund to complete its fifth fully endowed scholarship and send yet another student from the DFW area to our beloved LSU.

Sweet Send Off – The Central Florida Chapter hosted its Annual Sweet Send Off on July 16, treating four entering and three returning LSU students from the area to an evening of treats, gifts, and “inside information.” “Each student received an LSU cinch bag filled with LSU binders, cups, pencils, pom poms, and gift certificates from Rotolo’s Pizzeria, Balfour House, Raising Cane’s,

and CC’s Coffee House. Sweets were provided by members and a local bakery in Winter Park, The Flour Shop,” says chapter member Karen Jones. “We shared our memories and favorite places while they shared what they are excited about.” Jones also gives a shout out to chapter members Chip Castagnos, who helped organize the event, and Kathleen McGinley, who baked goodies.

New LSU students, front, from left, Jazmine Pinder, Summer Stripling, and Lauren Barroso; back, Harrison Gordon, Rick Duran, David Kingsford, and Chris Eicher.

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LSU Alumni Association News

Traveling Tigers More Than 700 Travel to 2011 Cowboys Classic

Story and photo by Matt DeVille

Cowboys Stadium served as the backdrop for the 2011 LSU-Oregon game.

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There were many ways to describe the 2011 Cowboys Classic.

For the LSU Tigers and Oregon Ducks, it was simply the season opener. Many national pundits dubbed it “the” non-conference game of the college football season.

A matchup of preseason top five teams, the No. 4-ranked Tigers were playing their second straight game in Cowboys Stadium. LSU defeated Texas A&M on the same field in the Cotton Bowl last January. No. 3 Oregon was once again on a national stage pitted against one of the SEC’s top teams. Last January, the Ducks fell to the Auburn Tigers in the BCS National Championship Game.

No doubt it was going to be a tough ticket. Anticipation had been building for over eight months as Tiger fans clamored to make plans for Labor Day weekend in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

And by the time game weekend arrived, the Tiger invasion was on. Almost 70,000 LSU fans made the trip to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The Tiger faithful quadrupled that of the Oregon followers who again faced the daunting task of meeting one of the top teams from the nation’s toughest conference.

The LSU Alumni Association’s Traveling Tigers were there in full force. In fact, the charter trip to the Oregon game was one of the biggest ever for the group. “We had two airplanes, twelve buses, and a number of fans who made their way to the game on their own,” said Jason Ramezan, Association vice president and director of the Traveling Tigers. “We had almost 700 travelers on this trip.”

And as with all of the Association’s Traveling Tigers trips, no detail was overlooked.

Travelers enjoyed deluxe accommodations at the Omni Fort Worth and upon arrival were treated to behind-the-scenes, guided tours of Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. On game day, the Association co-hosted a tailgate party with the Tiger Athletic Foundation at Eddie Dean’s, a popular local barbecue restaurant.

More than 1,000 Tiger fans attended the tailgate party.

“This was such an amazing weekend,” Ramezan said. “We sold this trip out last February. I have never seen such a demand for spots on one of our trips. The only time I can ever remember it being like this was for the national championship game [in 2007].”

The perfect weekend was capped off by a perfect ending as the Tigers solidified their position as a legitimate national championship contender with a sound 40-27 thumping of the Ducks from the Pac-12.

Janet and Tommy Daigle, seated, with Mike and Renee Medine and Grace and Don Savoie.

Susan and Tom Aycock.

Tigers Take on Mountaineers – Some 200 Traveling Tigers followed Coach Les Miles to Morgantown, W.V., in September to watch the Fighting Tigers extend their winning streak with a 47-21 victory over the West Virginia University Mountaineers.

The group enjoyed deluxe accommodations at the Omni William Penn in Pittsburgh, Pa., and a tailgate party at WVU’s Milan Puskar Stadium before the game.

Photos by Trudi Schriber and Jan Ramezan

Paula and Paul Dupuy, front, with Gerald and Linda Garrison, Brad and Jo Lanehart, and Dorraine and Mark Wilson.

Left: Angelle Driggs, Craig Matherne, University of Tennessee Chancellor Jimmy Cheek, Terry Brown, and Mike Driggs. Center: Terry Brown with University of Tennessee President Joe DiPietro. Right: Heather Butler, Angelle Driggs, Mary Frances Matherne, Auburn Brown, and Kayce Pourciau.

Tigers, Vols, and Boudin – Acadiana-area Tigers traveling to Knoxville for the LSU-Tennessee game Oct. 15 made the acquaintance of two of the University of Tennessee’s top officials. The group was welcomed by UT System President Joe DiPietro, who was greeting gameday attendees in Circle Park. The LSU crowd tailgated with UT friends, providing some down-home Cajun fare for the spread. They happened upon UT Chancellor Jimmy Cheek’s pre-game party, introduced themselves to the chancellor, and invited him to pass a good time with them for some LSU-style tailgating favorites.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

19

LSU Alumni Association News

Snapshots Fulbright Administrators – Cliff Vannoy, center, executive vice president of the LSU Alumni Association, welcomes visitors from German universities to the Lod Cook Alumni Center on Sept. 20 for a tour of the center and the Andonie Sports Museum before meeting with Association and LSU Foundation officials. The group of Fulbright administrators of university career centers and alumni and fundraising offices took part in a week-long program sponsored by LSU and the German-American Fulbright Commission to learn about similar offices at American universities. Pictured are, front row, from left, Katrin Scheffer, Jessica Runte,. Ilke Kaymak, and Fakhera Heinrich; back, Julia Bromback, Daniela Siebe, Knud Ahlborn, Vannoy, Raffaella Delli Santi, Kristin Watzel, and Marianna Butalay. LSU Career Services coordinated the visit.

Photo by Larry Hubbard

Dr. Julie Morial, C.C. Lockwood, and Cliff Vannoy, executive vice president/COO of the LSU Alumni Association.

David Manship, James Carville, and Cliff Vannoy.

David Manship with John and Sylvia Laborde.

Illustrious Alumni – Peoples Health Illustrious awards were presented to several alumni at home games this fall. Peoples Health Executive corporate medical director Julie Morial presented awards to nature photographer C.C. Lockwood at the Northwestern State game. David Manship, publisher and chief operating officer of The Advocate, made the presentation to businessman and World War II veteran John Laborde at the Kentucky game, and political strategist James Carville received the award from Manship at the Florida game. The Peoples Health Illustrious Alumnus awards recognize graduates who demonstrate the value of their LSU educations through a history of civic and personal achievements.

Photos by Matt DeVille

Visiting from China – Twenty-four students from Beijing Sport University and the University of Shanghai for Sport were on campus this summer to take part in the Department of Kinesiology’s study abroad program for international students.

The program combines academic course work in sport management, ELOP (English Language Orientation Program), and a semester at Walt Disney World at a paid internship. Students take ELOP classes in the morning and sport management classes in the afternoon. The visiting students left LSU for Walt Disney World on July 24 and will complete their internships on Jan. 13, 2012.

Photo by Larry Hubbard

Lin Yang, Tingpu Li, Ye Luo, Jinxi Li, Zhuyue Peng, and Qingyu You.

20 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

Boots Garland at the Andonie Sports Museum.

Photo by Ray Dry

Billy Cannon visits with Grant Ethridge and his youngsters at The Cook Hotel.

Photo by Matt Deville

Demetrius Byrd, left, and Ciron Black sign autographs at The Cook Hotel.

Photo by Matt DeVille

Meeting the Fans – LSU’s unofficial humorist/sports historian, Boots Garland, entertained Tiger fans at the Andonie Sports Museum prior to the Northwestern State football game while Demetrius Byrd and Ciron Black, both members of the 2007 National Championship team, visited with fans and signed autographs across the way at The Cook Hotel. Before the Florida game on Oct. 7, former Tiger player John Ed Bradley, author of It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium spoke at the museum, and Tiger great Billy Cannon signed autographs at the hotel.

Dan Borné, aka “The Voice of Tiger Stadium,” with Bud Johnson, director of the Andonie Sports Museum, and author John Ed Bradley prior to the Florida game.

Photo by Mary Kay Bertaut

LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

21

LSU Alumni Association News

Snapshots Surprise! – Thinking she was meeting potential donors for lunch at the Faculty Club on Aug. 17, Dr. Mary Lou Applewhite entered the Chancellor’s Dining Room unaware that Chancellor Michael Martin, College of Science Dean Kevin Carman, and a couple of dozen other University friends were waiting to greet her with shouts of “Surprise!” and Happy Birthday!” A major University benefactor, Applewhite serves on the LSU Alumni Association National Board of Directors and is a member of the College of Science Executive Committee of the Dean’s Circle. Pictured are Dr. Mary Lou Applewhite, center, with LSU Alumni Association Vice President Mary Clare Horgan, and John Grubb, sales manager at The Cook Hotel.

No. 55 in Your Program, No. 1 in Your Heart – Larry Jones, development officer for the LSU Alumni Association, was an honorary captain for the Kentucky game on Oct. 1. Jones (No. 55) played for the Tigers as a center and linebacker, 1951-54.

Other honorary captains for the LSU-Kentucky game were Roy Winston (No. 60) and John Hazard (No. 75). Winston was a consensus All-America guard for the SEC championship Tigers of 1961. Hazard was an All-SEC offensive tackle for LSU’s SEC champions of 1986.

Photo by Mike Bedgood

Jamar Fisher, of New Orleans, poses for his graduation photograph. December 2011 graduates will wear new, “green” gowns made of recycled materials and boasting an embroidered LSU logo on the chest.

Graduation Fair – Hundreds of graduating seniors took advantage of onestop shopping for graduation needs at the Graduation Fair held on Sept. 19-20 at the Lod Cook Alumni Center, “I absolutely loved the fair,” said graduating senior Britney Rouse. “It gave me something to look forward to and made me realize that graduation really is just around the corner. It was so easy to get everything done since it was all in one place. I was able to order my class ring and Helping themselves to meat pies, wraps, cookies, and other treats are Brian Rogers, of Shreveport, La.; Katie announcements; purchase my cap, gown, Root, of Baton Rouge; Zaanan Wheeler, of Slaughter, and tassel; and join the alumni association La.; and Adrian Serio, of Baton Rouge. all while enjoying a light lunch with refreshments. The whole process was so easy and fun, and it felt so good to put on that cap and gown, even if was only to take a picture!”

Teaming up with the Association for the event were Unique Cuisine, Coca-Cola, Chick-Fil-A, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Jimmy Johns.

Photos by Larry Hubbard

Michael Nazario, of Leesville, La., tries on LSU rings at the Balfour table.

22 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

Scholarship Donation Honors Bordelon

A scholarship donation pledge honoring Ken Bordelon, third from right, was made to the LSU Alumni Association

by E Federal Credit Union on the occasion of Bordelon’s retirement in July. Pictured with Bordelon, from left, are Wayne Gauthier, associate professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness; Gail Cramer, head, Department of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness; Cliff Vannoy, executive vice president/COO, LSU Alumni Association; Richard “Rick” Bergeron, chairman of the board, E Federal Credit Union; and Matt Fannin, secretary-treasurer, Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness Alumni Association.

Photo by Larry Hubbard

A donation pledge by E Federal Credit Union honoring its retired chief executive officer, Ken Bordelon (1970 BACH AGR, 1977 MAST AGR), was made earlier this year to the Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness Graduate Student Alumni Scholarship Fund. Bordelon, of Alexandria, La., retired in July.

The annual $3,000 pledge funds a scholarship awarded to students pursuing master’s or doctoral degrees in agricultural economics and agribusiness.

Bordelon attended LSU on a scholarship from the Federal Land Bank, where he worked during summers. After graduation he joined the U.S. Air Force and served for six years as a navigator and weapons system officer. He served in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. With the aid of the GI Bill and a research assistantship, he pursued his master’s degree.

“I have always felt that my graduate school experience coupled with my military training offered me

opportunities that are few and far between for those of us from a very poor area of our state,” Bordelon says. “I am deeply thankful for those who inspired me to be a good leader and citizen. I am especially thankful to the board of directors at E Federal Credit Union who chose to honor me with this scholarship and hope it is received as a true token of my appreciation to the professors, staff, and fellow graduate students that helped me get the most out of the program.”

Bordelon began his career with Production Credit Association and after a brief stint as an economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, returned to the cooperative arena as the manager of USDA Federal Credit Union.

He joined E Federal in 1996 as chief financial officer and was promoted to CEO in 1998.

In 2007 Bordelon was awarded the Louisiana Credit Union League’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor that can be bestowed on an individual for his/her contributions to the credit union movement in Louisiana.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

23

By Matt DeVil Photos

by Matt le DeVille and

Larry H

ubbard

In the corporate world,

seldom does a businessman tip his hand in the board room. When making pressurepacked decisions or negotiating some billiondollar global merger, something as human as simple emotion is checked at the door.

Lod Cook knows this. As the former chief executive officer of ARCO, Cook seldom let his personal feelings enter into decision-making, especially while running one of the largest oil companies in the world.

The board room was one of few places he suppressed his emotions. Sometimes though, when discussing certain topics, you wouldn’t recognize Cook was one of the most powerful businessmen on the globe.

Two of those topics are his beloved Louisiana State University and his late wife, Carole.

LSU has been near and dear to Cook’s heart since his days as an undergrad in the late 1940s. In the mid1990s, Fortune magazine featured Cook on its cover, focusing on “CEO’s Favorite College Football Teams.”

As deep as his passion runs for the Ole War Skule, nothing trumps his love for Carole. Sadly, his wife of more than 30 years passed away suddenly in January 2010.

When he stepped to the podium at the tenth anniversary celebration of the Lod & Carole Cook Conference Center and Hotel Oct 7, Carole was at the forefront of his thoughts. “Carole is in my thoughts and memories all the time,” the 83-year-old Cook said while trying to control his emotions. “She shares with me this recognition that you have so thoughtfully and wonderfully granted.”

It was an emotional day for the LSU Alumni Association’s influential benefactor. Ten years earlier, President George H. W. Bush joined the Cooks for the grand opening and dedication of The Cook Hotel. A decade later, Association President and CEO Charlie Roberts hosted a star-studded luncheon in the Lod Cook Alumni Center honoring the Cook’s generous contributions.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

25

T

he recognition was well-deserved, considering that Cook’s generosity and love for his alma mater have forever changed the landscape of LSU – both physically and financially. His first major gift to the LSU Alumni Association came in 1993, resulting in the construction of the Lod Cook Alumni Center.

Seven years later, Roberts convinced Cook there was a need for an on-campus hotel, and the philanthropist made the initial contribution to begin building what is today known as The Cook Hotel and Conference Center at LSU. Roberts still calls it “the best sales job of [his] life.”

Cook poked fun at Roberts, who, over the last three decades, has become his closest friend and confidant. “Charlie’s vision for all of this is really how it got started,” Cook said, referring to the alumni center and hotel. “And he is hard to resist when he gets wound up. I used to tell Carole he’s the most expensive friend I’ve ever had . . . and he still won’t quit.”

Roberts and Cook grew up less than 100 miles apart in rural northwest Louisiana.

Cook called tiny Grand Cane, La., home while Roberts hailed from the sleepy town of Homer, La. Cook is seven years Roberts’ senior, but the two attended LSU at the same time. Cook received a mathematics degree from LSU in 1950, and after a tour of duty in the Army, returned to earn a degree in petroleum engineering in 1955. It was the second stint on campus for Cook when a fresh-faced Roberts was playing trombone in Tiger Band. But thirty years and thousands of miles separated the meeting of the two men that would impact the future of LSU forever.

It wasn’t until Roberts, who had worked with the Tiger Band, LSU cheerleaders, and in the Chancellor’s Office, was named the president of the newly formed University Relations and Development in 1984 that their paths crossed – at, of all places, an LSU football game. The Association’s Traveling Tigers program took its inaugural trip in the fall of 1984 to watch LSU dismantle Southern California 23-3 at the Coliseum in Los Angeles. Cook and Roberts met at a dinner on Sept. 27, 1984. “And the rest is history,” Roberts laughed.

A decade later, Roberts and Cook stood shoulder to shoulder with former presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush as the Lod Cook Alumni Center was opened. Another seven years later, Roberts’ dream of an on-campus hotel came to fruition – and again the “Cook” name was brandished across the façade.

26 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

ity and his n a m u h d n a y His integrit r LSU have o f m s ia s u th n relentless e treasures. r u o f o e n o made him

n Oct. 7 a who’s who of notables filed across the stage paying tribute to Cook’s contributions to LSU. LSU System President John Lombardi and Chancellor Mike Martin each toasted one of its most influential benefactors. “The entire LSU Tiger family is proud to call Lod Cook one of ours,” Martin said. “His remarkable success in business, his enormous generosity which brought us the Lod Cook Hotel and Alumni Center, the example he has set for others through his integrity and humanity, and his relentless enthusiasm for LSU have made him one of our treasures.”

Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden presented Cook with the keys to the city and proclaimed The Cook Hotel Day and Lod Cook Day in the capital city. Governor Bobby Jindal was unable to attend but officially proclaimed Oct. 7, 2011, Lod Cook Day statewide.

Those in attendance were entertained by noted trumpet extraordinaire and 2011 LSU Young Alumnus of the Year Graham Breedlove. He was joined by LSU alums drummer Johnnie Gordon, bassist Larry Hubbard and pianist Doug Pacas for an original arrangement of tunes called “LSU Medley.”

Roberts recognized a number of special guests, among them a group known affectionately as the Significant Six, guarantors for the construction of The Cook Hotel. They are Lod and Carole Cook, Kent and Yvonne Anderson, Ted and Alethia Martin, Sugar and the late Dalton Woods, Sue and the late Bert Turner, and R.L. “Sonny” Anderson.

One might expect the preparation of fine foods and delicacies for such a notable event, but Cook’s down- home influence and folksy appeal influenced the planning of the menu. Everyone enjoyed fried chicken and all the fixins,’ which is, of course, Cook’s favorite meal. Following the luncheon, Breedlove led a “second-line” to the lobby of the hotel for cake and ice cream sundaes.

Joining the Association were anniversary sponsors, including Dr. and Mrs. James Fleischhauer, Mr. and Mrs. Stan Williams, Community Coffee, Cox Media - Cox Sports Television, FTD - College Roses, Kleinpeter Farms Dairy, Mockler Beverage Company, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, Real Sports Fundraising, and Walk-On’s Bistreaux & Bar.

Photos clockwise beginning opposite page: 1: Lod Cook 2: Graham Breedlove, Charlie Roberts, and Lod Cook. 3: Lod Cook addresses guests at the tenth anniversary celebration. 4: Chancellor Mike Martin, Mayor Kip Holden, Lod Cook, Chancellor Emeritus Jim Wharton, and Charlie Roberts. 5: The Lod Cook family, from left, Jay Fangot, Kristie Fangot, Sarah Mitchell, Cook, Patti Chambi, Erling Chambi, and Sarah E. Mitchell. 6: Chancellor Mike Martin shows off his unique LSU jacket, a gift from Lod Cook.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

27

Lod Cook celebrated

throng of people, including the LSU The Day Begins ATiger Band, the Golden Girls, and

his eighty-third

Dave Nussbaum of WRBZ Channel 2 awaited Cook’s arrival at the Lod Cook Alumni Center. He was the featured guest on the 2uneIn morning show, which was on location to kick off a day dedicated to honoring him.

Nussbaum and Cook were joined on the air by LSU Alumni Association President/ CEO Charlie Roberts. As the band blasted popular LSU tunes through the still predawn air (much to the dismay of sleeping hotel guests next door), Cook was center stage on Baton Rouge morning television. He chatted about his days at LSU and his days after leaving the Ole War Skule and pointed out his grandson, Sam, is currently an LSU student. “I was talking to some of these Golden Girls back here and a few of them said they knew Sam,” Cook joked with Nussbaum. “I guess he is definitely doing something right here.”

After enjoying the Tiger Band’s playing of “Pregame,” Cook was whisked across town to his next engagement, as a guest on Baton Rouge talk show host Jim Engster’s radio show. Engster, a noted liberal political analyst, has been a fixture on the local airwaves for three decades. While Cook is well-known for his conservative views and close personal relationship with former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, he and Engster met in the middle for the thirty-minute visit.

Engster avoided politics for most of the interview focusing rather on Cook’s involvement at LSU as well as his business accomplishments, most notably the CEO of ARCO. One caller inquired about Cook’s relationship with investment genius and businessman extraordinaire Warren Buffett and his view on the wealthy paying more tax dollars to help cut the nation’s bulging deficit. Cook recalled a recent story when he drove Buffett to the airport in Los Angeles, then commented on his difference of opinion with Buffett’s view on taxation. He used as an example his son-in-law, Erling Chambi, a Peruvian immigrant who runs several medical clinics in southern California.

Cook said most people with means at the level which Buffett is indicating use their wealth to help stimulate the economy by creating jobs.

birthday June 17.

But you couldn’t tell it on the morning of Oct. 7. There was a spring in his step as the notable LSU alum and benefactor strolled through the cool morning air across the parking lot of The Cook Hotel and Conference Center at LSU. Even though the sun hadn’t peeked over University Lake and most of the guests in the hotel’s 128 rooms were still asleep, Cook was on the move.

28 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

By Matt DeVille Photos by Matt DeVille and Larry Hubbard

It was clear, even at eighty-three and almost two decades removed from the height of his professional career as ARCO’s CEO, Cook’s business mind was still as sharp as ever. at the Lod Cook Alumni The Celebration Back Center, the alumni staff was gearing up for the tenth aniversary celebration, complete with noted trumpet player and LSU alum Graham Breedlove, who traveled to Baton Rouge from Washington, D.C., for the event.

By 11:30 a.m., already seven and a half hours into his day, Cook was back on camera, this time being interviewed by the local NBC affiliate Channel 33. A few moments later, he was introduced in the Noland-Laborde Hall of the facility bearing his name.

He took the podium, reminiscing for some forty minutes about his days as a student at LSU, his relationship with Roberts, and his involvement with the Association. He talked candidly about his interaction and friendship with every U.S. president since Richard Nixon, except President Barack Obama. “I haven’t met President Obama,“ Cook said. “But if the new company I am currently working with, which is involved in healthcare, if it does well . . . I am sure I’ll meet him soon enough!”

Thunderous laughter and applause followed. afternoon nap followed, but it Winding Down An wasn’t long before Cook was on the move again, this time heading to the Pete Maravich Center for the School of Music’s annual extravaganza, Tigerama.

He headed back to the hotel for the night, but knowing Cook and his love for the Tigers, it probably was a restless one – considering No. 1 LSU still had to take on Florida the next afternoon.

There was no rest for the weary, that’s for sure.

Photos clockwise beginning opposite page: 1: WBRZ TV meteorologist Dave Nussbaum talks with Lod Cook on the early morning show “Breakfast with 2uneIn,” which aired from The Cook Hotel on Oct. 7.

2: The LSU Tiger Band and Golden Girls perform on the 2uneIn show. 3: Graham Breelove leads guests in a second line to The Cook Hotel. 4: Lod Cook cuts the cake. 5: Mayor Kip Holden proclaimed Oct. 7 Lod Cook Day and The Cook Hotel Day in East Baton Rouge Parish. 6: Lod Cooks chats with Jim Engster on WRKF’s Jim Engster show on the morning of Oct. 7.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

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LSU Basketball Waste Basket, $16 8. Wine Cork Stoppers, $14 9. Youth Football Uniform Set, $54 10. Purple Fleur de Lis Ball Ornament, $37; Eye of Tiger Ball Ornament, $37 11. Purple with Gold Fleur de Lis Ornament, $37 12. LSU Ball Ornament, $37 13. Baseball Cap Ornament, $12

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2011

32 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

Bassoon players Jason Heubusch, Page Liccioni, and Julianne Schenck.

Trumpet player Nigel Payne.

By Ronette Boshea Performance photos by Rachel Saltzberg

Tigerama 2011 sealed its place in LSU history as the premier music event of the football season.

Featuring the Tiger Marching Band, Golden Girls, Colorguard, and Wind Ensemble, Tigerama is an exciting, invigorating and inspirational experience; an annual concert that brings LSU history to aural life.

“Tigerama has come to hold a special place in the Baton Rouge community’s cultural life over the past thirty-one years,” Chancellor Mike Martin said. “It is a major event that showcases the Tiger Band and the School of Music, one of the most visible units on campus.”

Tigerama also has turned into a fundraiser for the School of Music and Tiger Band scholarships, which were lost to state budget cuts. An all-star crowd gathered to show their support for the music program at LSU, including Lod Cook, in town to mark the tenth anniversary of the campus hotel that bears his name and many from the Baton Rouge area business and civic community.

Donald McKinney received a hearty Tigerland welcome in his first appearance at Tigerama since becoming director of the Wind Ensemble. “I was overwhelmed by the support and response of the crowd,” McKinney said. “Tigerama is a unique event that demonstrates the rich history and community support that LSU has to offer. Their support left a huge impact on [me] and the students.”

Left Photo: Golden Band from Tigerland Director Roy King.

Golden Girls Hope Hanley and Danielle Hardy.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

33

Tigerama is an exciting, invigorating and inspirational experience.

During the first half of the show, the combined Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Winds were led by McKinney on the “LSU Rhapsody” and Eric C. Melley on “Slava!,” a piece by Leonard Bernstein.

A heart-rending performance of “God of Our Fathers” conducted by Tiger Band Director Roy King rounded out the first half of the concert. The integration of the Tiger Band horn section with the Wind Ensemble at the conclusion of their performance sent shivers through the crowd of 5,000 who attended.

The second half of the show belonged to the Golden Band from Tigerland, delivering on its promise of a year of halftime shows in one evening. The program offered an excellent mix of such traditional LSU songs and “In Defense of Liberty” combined with contemporary favorites from James Brown (“Livin’ in America”) to Journey (“Any Way you Want It”) to and closing with the crowd singing along to “Hey, Fightin’ Tigers” and “Fight for LSU.” “It was the best performance we’ve put together,” said King, who has been part of the Tigerama since his student days.

Tigerama 2011 was supported by the Tiger Athletic Foundation, the Office of the Chancellor, LSU Athletics, the College of Education, and the LSU Alumni Association, with corporate support from Coca-Cola of Baton Rouge, Mockler Beverage Co., Chef Don Bergeron Enterprises, Kleinpeter Dairy Co., Lamar Advertising, Benny’s Carwash, and WBRZ TV.

Kristen Roussel and Kaitlyn Robinson of the Colorguard.

Trombone player Eric Farrington.

Ronette Boshea marketing and communications coordinator for the School of Music.

Photos by Alice Stout.

Gil Rew and Lod Cook, seated, with Chancellor Mike Martin and Ed Poppell.

34 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

Tigerama Committee members Norman Deumite and Charlene M. Favre, center, with Shelley Favre Zeringue and Tiffany Favre.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

35

Sharing Knowledge Cain Center Helps Louisiana Science and Math Teachers From Across the State

By Ashley Berthelot & Photos by Jim Zietz

36 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

STEM skills – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – are some of the most difficult courses to teach and yet some of the most important for our country's future development.

A

leadership in interdisciplinary educational research and ccording to the Information Technology Industry practices that support and enhance literacy in STEM fields.

Council, a recent Organization for Economic “These programs are breaking down the walls between the Cooperation and Development, or OECD, study academic STEM research community and the K-12 classroom,” placed the science literacy of United States citizens well below says James Madden, co-director of the Cain Center, director of average, coming in behind twenty other countries – including the LAMSTI program, and professor of mathematics. “We are Finland, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Czech Republic, all teachers. Knowledge is for everyone – it’s time that we all put Ireland, Hungary, Poland, and France. The United States does our heads together to make the K-12 system better in our state.” even more poorly in math, coming in behind twenty-four Central Louisiana, often referred to as Cenla, historically other countries. has a high poverty rate in its parishes, particularly in rural With the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicting a gap of communities. Because of limited resources, school districts approximately seven million skilled workers by 2016, STEM often have difficulty providing education in this country a rigorous education in science, appears to need a drastic “We are all teachers. Knowledge is for everyone technology, engineering, and overhaul. Researchers at mathematics, or STEM. To – it’s time that we all put our heads together to LSU agree and have taken rectify this situation, LSU, action with two extremely make the K-12 system better in our state.” together with the Rapides successful programs Foundation, the Orchard focused on bringing highly Foundation, LSU-Alexandria, and the Louisiana Department qualified and driven STEM teachers into K-12 classrooms across of Education, have established CART. The program was funded Louisiana and making those teachers already in the classroom by an $8 million U.S. Department of Education grant with even better. matching and in-kind funds from LSU, the Rapides and Orchard CART, the Central Louisiana Academic Residency for foundations, and LSU-Alexandria, as well as participating Teachers, and LAMSTI, the Louisiana Math and Science districts, for a total of $16 million. This effort represents Teacher Institute, focus on finding and enhancing teaching a committed partnership of nine Cenla high poverty rural talent in STEM areas and channeling that talent into Louisiana school districts: Allen, Avoyelles, Catahoula, Grant, LaSalle, school systems. The programs are run by LSU’s Gordon A. Cain Nachitoches, Rapides, Vernon, and Winn.

Center for STEM Literacy, which has the vision of providing

LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

37

C

reating, Supporting STEM Teachers

CART is targeted at developing new teachers through finding individuals with degrees in relevant fields and offering them the training and academic, professional, and financial support necessary to become a certified teacher. After one summer of intensive training on LSU’s campus, these novice teachers are paired with a mentor at a Central Louisiana K-12 school where they spend the academic year gaining practical, hands-on experience in the classroom. After their second summer at LSU and successful completion of the program, students receive a Master of Natural Sciences degree, an offering of the College of Science, and are able to become certified and repay the support they were provided through a minimum of three years of service to the Cenla region.

“This is a new model that allows people who do not have education degrees to become teachers,” says Frank Neubrander, co-director of the Cain Center, director of CART, and Demarcus D. Smith Alumni Professor of Mathematics. “It’s difficult to get and keep science and math teachers in rural central Louisiana, so this program incentivizes teaching for qualified applicants. All of the participants in the CART program are good teachers. If any one of them taught my children, I’d be happy.”

LAMSTI, on the other hand, is a program developed to benefit existing science and math teachers in the East Baton Rouge Parish area. Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, or NSF, the program sponsors a special track of the Master of Natural Sciences degree. Designed for practicing middle and high school math or science teachers with at least one year of experience in the classroom, LAMSTI includes graduate course work designed to increase teachers’ knowledge and command of their subject matter and curriculum (factors that have been proven to increase student achievement), as well as preparation for service as lead teachers, mentors, and coaches. At the end of the twenty-seven months that participants spend in the institute, successful candidates receive

38 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

a master’s degree. NSF provides a total of $20,000 in stipends for each of the twenty-four students accepted into the LAMSTI program each year.

LAMSTI and CART run simultaneously throughout the summer, with students participating in intensive workshops and labs while also inspiring one another. Many of the gatherings focus on solving a presented problem, then going back through the steps involved in posing the same problem to grade school students, including a variety of conceptually motivated methods that lead to the same answer. In science-based groups, science candidates are shown methods and styles of STEM-based pedagogy that have been demonstrated to be effective by nationally-prominent science education research groups.

“One thing that has changed [in my teaching] has been to not only find a solution, but to find as many different ways to get a solution as possible,” says Bonnie Bergstresser, LAMSTI program participant. Bergstresser, who taught high school math at East Baton Rouge Laboratory Academy prior to its closure, now teaches at Episcopal. “That not only opens my mind mathematically but also helps me in terms of teaching. I often need [to present] multiple ways to solve a problem in order to reach every learner in the class.”

CART and LAMSTI participants benefit not only from exposure to new techniques in math and science but also from working in groups of other teachers, inspiring one another to think beyond the everyday and try new approaches to age-old classroom problems. And research supports the impact of these teacher training programs on state budgets. A study published in the prestigious journal Science, “Teachers’ Participation in Research Programs Improves Their Students’ Achievement,” shows that three to four years after completion, participating teachers’ students pass science exams at a rate significantly higher than non-participating teachers’ students. Also, the same article indicates that for every dollar invested in such programs, the immediate return rate is $1.14, with a long-term return of $10.27.

“We have some very dedicated faculty already participating in the program, but we hope to work with many more,” says Madden. “LSU faculty are extremely busy with research, teaching, and all the other demands of being faculty at a research university, but time devoted to these programs is of exceptional value, since it directly addresses the state’s biggest problem – the quality of our educational system.”

ON THE WEB www.cain.lsu.edu Ashley Berthelot is research editor in the Office of Communications & University Relations and editor of LSU Research.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

39

Noteworthy

A round

campus

Gina Costello

Christopher Mores

Gina Costello and Athena Jackson, of LSU Libraries Special Collections, have been granted additional funding for the Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers Project, or DLNP, which began with a similar grant to Special Collections in 2009. In July, the project received $285,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities, or NEH, to digitize an additional 100,000 pages of Louisiana newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 (see LSU Alumni Magazine Fall 2011). Between the two awards, the division has received a total of $636,380 for the project. The DNLP website links DLNP titles to NEH’s Chronicling America records. Louisiana is one of twenty-eight states to receive funds for the digital initiative. Costello, digital services librarian, is director of DLNP, and Jackson is project manager.

Christopher Mores, associate professor of pathobiological sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine, has received an award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to join the group Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study (MIDAS). This research network uses computational modeling techniques to understand better the spread of contagious diseases and to calculate the potential impact of public health measures.

Mores is the principle investigator for a project entitled, “Predicting vector-borne virus transmission and emergence potential.” The award will provide more than $3 million over the next five years for Mores and his consortium of researchers from LSU, Tulane University, and the University of New Mexico to investigate and predict the transmission and potential for emergence of various arboviruses, particularly dengue, which is transmitted by mosquitoes and almost exclusively affects humans.

40 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

41

Noteworthy

Around Campus

Dydia DeLyser

James Wilcox

Dydia DeLyser, associate professor of geography and anthropology, was associate producer on a documentary film related to her research on early women pilots, The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club, which was awarded a 2011 Los Angeles Area Emmy Award in the Arts & Culture/ Astrid Merget History category in August. The awards Chester G. Wilmot are given for broadcast achievements produced or solely financed and controlled by the Los Angeles television stations or cable television systems. The piece chronicles the thrilling life and extraordinary times of aviation pioneer Florence Lowe “Pancho” Barnes, one of the most colorful and accomplished women pilots of the early twentieth century, and an ill-behaved woman who made history.

James Wilcox, director of creative writing, received the 2011 Louisiana Writer Award from Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne and State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton during the Louisiana Book Festival on Oct. 29. The award, given by the Louisiana Center for the Book, recognizes outstanding contributions to the literary and intellectual life of Louisiana.

Photo by Colleen Heidenreich

Chester G. Wilmot, professor of civil engineering, was named Outstanding Civil Engineering Educator by the Baton Rouge Branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers during the group’s annual Past Presidents and Awards Luncheon. Wilmot teaches an impressive list of civil engineering courses, including graduate courses that specialize in transportation engineering, transportation policy and planning, and traffic operations and control.

His research interests include hurricane evacuation and traffic safety studies.

Astrid Merget, a professor in the Public Administration Institute, has been elected chair of the National Council for Science and the Environment, or NCSE, whose mission is to improve the scientific basis for environmental decision making, especially public policy.

Merget’s term began in July and will end in July 2013.

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LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

43

LSU Dairy Store

Around Campus

Creating Cool Treats, Making Memories

By Ryan Buxton Photos by Larry Hubbard

Dairy Store manager Chuck Boeneke.

44 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

After a long day’s work, indeed, all day long, LSU students, faculty, and staff know just the place for the perfect treat – the LSU Dairy Store.

Offering fresh ice cream and cheeses, as well as coffee drinks and sandwiches – all made with meats processed by animal science students – the Dairy Store is a cornerstone of LSU and a favorite spot for the campus community.

For biology freshman Ashley Bodin, the Dairy Store is more than just an ice cream shop – it’s a weekly ritual. “We go there every Friday and have ice cream Fridays,” Bodin says.

Allied health freshman Ciara Kraft hasn’t made it to the Dairy Store yet but knows she has to do it before the semester ends. “Then I’ll feel like an official LSU student and not like a freshman anymore,” she says.

With the holidays approaching, Dairy Store lovers can give their loved ones a taste of LSU with the gift of the store’s delicious cheeses. The store offers two types of locally produced cheeses, including cheddar and jalapeño Cajun spice, which can be ordered and shipped anywhere in the country, according to Charles “Chuck” Boeneke, professor of dairy science and manager of the Dairy Store.

According to Boeneke, many customers make Dairy Store cheese part of their holiday tradition. “We have a lot of people who mail order it, and they’ve been ordering from us for years and years and years,” he says. “They send it to their friends and family members who live in different states.”

The store’s cheese and ice cream are all made on campus by animal science and dairy science students who are able to learn as they work in the creamery. Both a teaching and research facility, the store is funded by LSU and the LSU AgCenter.

“We’re primarily student run,” Boeneke says. “We have two full-time civil service workers – one helps in the plant and one watches over the store. Other than that, it’s all students.”

Tiger Trivia 1. When did the Fighting Tigers use a letter-number system on their football jerseys?

Never 1952

1893 1958 2. How long did the letter-number system last?

One season Two seasons

Three seasons Four seasons 3. Which football coach was also a professor of military science?

Bernie Moore Troy Middleton

Lewis Sorley Lawrence “Biff” Jones

Bodin says she likes that the Dairy Store has an academic connection. “It’s nice to be supporting the program,” she says.

Boeneke began working in the store as a student in 1989 and has been on the Dairy Store team ever since.

“We’ve been here a LSU Dairy Store products include ice cream and cheese, among many other items. long time,” Boeneke says. “The store’s been where it is now since about 1972, so it’s been a part of campus for a long time, and even long before that it was part of not only the LSU campus but the Baton Rouge community as well.”

And with so many Tigers clamoring for a taste of the fresh foods, the Dairy Store keeps busy to meet the demand, producing about 20,000 gallons of ice cream per year. “And it sells as fast as we can make it,” Boeneke says.

The creamery devotes one month each year to making the annual supply of cheeses, during which the students produce about 4,300 pounds of cheese. It’s then packaged into 40-pound blocks, vacuum-sealed, and kept in the cooler until it’s sold by the pound, Boeneke explains.

But the store’s most important output may be the memories made there by generations of LSU students.

That’s the case for Bodin’s father, who gave her an earful about the shop before she came to LSU this semester. “My dad went to LSU, and when I decided to come here, the Dairy Store is the one thing he couldn’t [stop talking] about – not football or other things people normally talk about,” she says, laughing.

Ryan Buxton, a print journalism major in the Manship School of Mass Communication, is associate managing editor of The Daily Reveille.

5. How many volumes were in the library’s holdings in 1882?

1,000 17,000

50,000 75,000 6. Who was LSU’s first African-American faculty member?

Huel Perkins A.P. Tureaud

F.G. Clark Julian White 7. What part of campus is known as the horseshoe?

The area east of Highland Road Tiger Stadium before the south end

where Evangeline, Highland, zone was enclosed Annie Boyd, and Louise Garig dormitories are located

Raphael Semmes Drive in front The parking lot near Lockett Hall

of the Union 8. Who was the first woman to enroll at LSU?

Annie Boyd Harriett Spiller Daggett

Rebecca Olivia Davis Mercedes Garig 9. Where did women students live before dormitories were constructed for them on the present campus?

In boarding houses In the pentagon barracks on the

downtown campus

With their parents or guardians All of the above 10. According to The Students’ Hand Book of 1924/25, how was Hill Memorial Library described?

A quiet place for research A rendezvous for flappers and

jellybeans

The finest library in the South The home of manuscript collections

and rare books 11. What was the Scribblers Club?

Students interested in literature

and writing

Students interested in calligraphy 12. What was the Tigerette Corps?

A cheerleading squad

Baton twirlers

Graffiti artists Professional note-takers The flag corps A group of women students who learned first aid and volunteered in hospitals during World War II

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

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

Mark Rule, of Dallas, and Rachel Brown, of Jennings, La., serve up ice cream from the LSU Dairy Science Store truck. Both students are sophomore animal science majors.

4. How many faculty members did LSU have during the 1877-78 session?

Fifty Twenty

Four Two

LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

45

Around Campus

Photo Ops

Officials break ground for the Louisiana Digital Media Center.

Digital Media Center – Governor Bobby Jindal joined Electronic Arts Inc. head of worldwide quality assurance Mike Robinson, Chancellor Mike Martin, and Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden July 27 to break ground for the 94,000-square-foot Louisiana Digital Media Center. The center will eventually be home to 600 video game development workers and LSU’s Center for Computation & Technology. It will also be the new headquarters of the EA North American Test Center, which has been located on South Campus since 2008. The $29.3 million project will result in a three-story structure located between the John M. Parker Coliseum and the Louisiana Emerging Technology Center. It is expected to open in 2012.

Photo by Eddy Perez

Steele Burden Oak – In August, LSU Facility Services removed the majestic Steele Burden Live Oak located near the Natatorium. The eighty-year-old tree, which was struck by lightning in May 2010, died despite arborists’ efforts to save it. Acornpropagated saplings grown from the tree are holding up successfully, and Facility Services has contracted with a nursery to clone genetically identical saplings from cuttings taken from limbs of the Burden Oak. Salvaged pieces of wood are also being preserved and saved for future use. Burden, pictured with unidentified students, died in 1995 at the age of 95. For more information about preserving LSU’s iconic live oaks, visit www.lsufoundation.org/oaks.

Photos by Jim Zietz

46 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

Denver Loupe, Robert Barham, Terril Faul, and Ken Tipton.

Barry Keim and Bob Muller, seated, with LSU Faculty & Staff Retirees Club officers, from left, Don Franke, Shirley Mundt, Lorry Trotter, Denver Loupe, and Tom Burch.

Hurricanes and Whooping Cranes – Hurricane experts Barry Keim, professor of geography and anthropology and state climatologist, and Bob Muller, professor emeritus of geography and anthropology, provided a detailed history of hurricanes in the Gulf for members of the LSU Faculty & Staff Retirees Club at the group’s September meeting at the Lod Cook Alumni Center. In October Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham talked to club members about the safety of Gulf seafood and the promising future of re-establishing the whooping crane population.

Photos by Mark Claesgens

LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

47

Around Campus

Photo Ops 900 Pounds of Bronze – On Sept. 8, assisted by his mom, Lucille O’Neal, head coach Trent Johnson, and former coach Dale Brown, Shaquille O’Neal unveiled the 900-pound bronze statue of a young LSU player named O’Neal dunking the basketball. Several hundred fans, family, and friends were on hand for the event. “They almost caught me off guard with how big the statue was,” O’Neal said. “This right here will probably be in the top two moments of my life. I have won a lot of championships and awards, but I don’t think it compares to this day.” O’Neal played at LSU from 1989-92 and played nineteen NBA seasons before announcing his retirement in June. He will join TNT Sports as a studio analyst when the NBA resumes play.

Photo by Steve Franz/LSU Sports Information

Shaquille O’Neal and his mom, Lucille O’Neal.

48 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

Stage Advice – Academy Award winning actress Olympia Dukakis, star of such well known films as Moonstruck and Steel Magnolias, offered pointers to LSU theatre undergraduate and graduate students during a master class held Sept. 21 in the Music & Dramatic Arts Studio Theatre.

Photo by Eddy Perez

Olympia Dukakis visits LSU theatre students.

Bringing Home the Colors – In the spring of 2010 the LSU Alumni Association sent an LSU flag to Lt. Col. Elward P. “Pat” Cortez (1992 BACH A&D), who had recently assumed command of the 27th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 21st Cavalry Division on the compound COS Marez in Mosul, Iraq.

“It took all of two minutes to get the SEC fans going when I hung the flag in the compound dining facility,” said Cortez. Before the LSU-Auburn game, Cortez dropped by the Lod Cook Alumni Center to return the flag to President Charlie Roberts and Assistant Vice President Tracy Jones. He also presented a certificate attesting that the flag was flown in honor of “all LSU Alumni Association, past, present, and future” during Operation New Dawn.

Tracy Jones, Pat Cortez, and Charlie Roberts

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49

James L. Griffin

F ocus on

Faculty

Lee F. Mason Alumni Professor of Plant, Environmental & Soil Sciences

By Ryan Buxton Photo by Larry Hubbard

James Griffin is lucky. He works in a field offering eternal job security.

As long as people are battling the weeds that attack their plants, agronomists like Griffin will be researching how to ensure that plants win the battle. Weeds are so plentiful and diverse that there’s no such thing as eradicating them, according to Griffin.

“We are never going to deplete that reservoir of weeds,” he says. “The seeds can survive in that soil for so many years. All we can do is manage what we have.”

Griffin has been tackling the issue for more than thirty years, and with the weed-friendly southern climate, there’s plenty of work to be done.

Griffin grew up on a Mississippi farm, and by the time he got to college, he wanted to get as far from agriculture as possible.

He began his college career in accounting but found his way back to plants when he took a botany course and fell in love with the subject. He dove into agronomy and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Mississippi State University and a Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University.

And now there’s no place Griffin would rather do his work than at LSU, a land-grant institution that offers a dual appointment in teaching and research. Though teaching has become one of the most rewarding parts of his job, Griffin says James L. Griffin it was daunting initially. “The courses I had to teach were ones that I had taken fifteen years before as an undergraduate,” he says, “so it was a pretty steep learning curve at first.”

But he enjoyed the process and soon began working with graduate students. To date he has chaired or is currently chairing forty-two students who have finished their master’s or doctoral degrees. Over the years Griffin has garnered plenty of good reviews from his students, and he says it’s because his priority is connecting with and engaging them. “I always think, ‘If I were sitting out there as a student, would I enjoy this class? How would I feel if teachers did this to me when I was a student?’” he explains.

Griffin’s success in teaching was recognized in 2002 when he was designated the Lee F. Mason Alumni Professor. The honor is even more special, he says, because he knew and admired Mason. “When I was a young scientist, he was probably where I am now – thirty plus years in the field,” Griffin says.

Griffin has recently taken up the guitar again after not playing for twenty years following his time in a high school rock group, the River Bottom Band. He’s also been enjoying spoiling his two-year-old grandson.

After three decades of work in agronomy, Griffin says he’s found that life’s plan can often be surprising. “Life is strange.

You get sent down these paths, sometimes you hit a dead end and think, ‘What am I going to do now?’ Then something else opens up and you go in that direction,” he says.

Ryan Buxton, a print journalism major in the Manship School of Mass Communication, is associate managing editor of The Daily Reveille.

50 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

51

L ocker

ROOM

Nikki Caldwell Driven to Return Women’s Basketball to the Top

By Bill Martin Photo by Steve Franz/LSU Sports Information

Nikki Caldwell, Lady Tigers head coach.

“We are going to do all that we can to get to that next level, and by next level I mean championship rings.”

Beneath Nikki Caldwell’s smile is a competitive fire that has been instilled in her since she was a sixyear-old growing up and playing competitive basketball in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Her mother combined that drive with daily vocabulary that featured greatness and a relentless pursuit of perfection.

Today, it’s the fuel that drives the LSU women’s basketball team on a daily basis as the squad under Caldwell’s leadership is eager to put last year’s tough season behind them and return the program to the pinnacle of the sport.

“I’ve been part of this game, organized basketball, for thirty-three years,” says Caldwell, who was officially hired as the seventh women’s basketball coach in LSU history last April.

“I understood that in order to be better, you had to play against better competition. Growing up with an uncle that was a year older than me, Mike, and a cousin that’s a year under me, Marcus, I just always grew up where I was considered at a disadvantage. That competitive fire has always been there.

You have to have attention to detail,

52 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

because you have to figure out at a very young age, playing this game, how am I going to beat this guy?”

Caldwell spent six seasons as an assistant coach under legendary head coach Pat Summitt at Tennessee where she won a pair of NCAA championships.

She starred for the Lady Vols from 1990-94 and was a member of their 1991 NCAA championship squad.

It didn’t take the 39-year-old long to make an immediate impact in the head coaching ranks as she spearheaded UCLA to a 72-26 record in three seasons and was named 2010 Pac-10 Coach of the Year in just her second season as a head coach.

Since her arrival in Baton Rouge and with an already impressive resume, Caldwell has been the guiding force of returning the Lady Tiger program to national prominence. Season ticket sales surged in the days and weeks following her hire. She’s been in the public spotlight making numerous speaking and community service appearances geared at building a relationship with a fan base hungry for NCAA postseason, which returns to the Maravich Center next March.

“I’m excited for this year’s team because

I know they fell short of their goals last year,” Caldwell says. “We are going to do all that we can to get to that next level, and by next level I mean championship rings. I am honored to be the head coach here, but more importantly, I am honored to be a part of the LSU family.”

Practice began for the Lady Tigers on Oct. 6 where Caldwell’s up-tempo offensive and defensive philosophies were on full display. The exciting style of play, which Caldwell calls “organized chaos,” is geared at producing early offense and attacking opposing teams.

“We are going to run, run, and run,” Caldwell says. “I love up-tempo offense, but the cornerstone of our program will be our defensive play. To me, that is the difference in winning championships.

You have to be able to defend and you have to be able to rebound the basketball.”

Caldwell inherits a veteran squad with five seniors, and she brought in

a recruiting class that ranked 10th nationally by ESPN.com. Senior forward LaSondra Barrett heads into the season as a Wade Trophy and Wooden Award candidate. Caldwell has challenged the seniors to take a leadership role and create a lasting legacy.

“This group has a level of fight in them that we are going to tap into,” says Caldwell. “It is our job to dig a little further and pull it out. You always have to see more in them than they do themselves. If you can tap into that, and we will, it is going to be a special year for them. I want to make sure, right off the bat, our seniors understand they have one more shot at this.”

ON THE WEB www.lsusports.net Bill Martin is associate sports information director for LSU Athletics.

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53

T iger

NATION

1960s

George J. Flick Jr. (1963 BACH AGR, 1966 MAST AGR, 1969 PHD AGR), University Distinguished Professor of Food Science and Technology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Va., has been conferred the title University Distinguished Professor Emeritus by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. Flick laid the groundwork that led to Virginia Tech being named a Sea Grant College, established the Seafood Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Hampton, Va., the Aquaculture Extension facility in Saltville, Va., and the world’s first graduate program in health product risk management, which will graduate its first class in 2012. The recipient of numerous honors and awards and the author of 150 journal articles, fifty-two book chapters, and five books,

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 EDUC 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

54 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

Flick served the scientific community by planning, conducting, and publishing research funded by more than $20 million in external grants and contracts.

He held leadership positions in twentysix professional societies and was named Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and by the Institute of Food Technologists.

Nancy Hammatt (1968 BACH HSS, 1970 MAST HSS) was named CEO of the Advance Baton Rouge Charter School Association in June.

Advance Baton Rouge operates five charter schools in the Capital Region. Hammatt is secretary/ treasurer of the College of Education Peabody Society Alumni and Friends Board and a member of the Peabody Society Dean’s Circle. She was principal of Cedarcrest-Southmoor Elementary School in Baton Rouge for ten years before becoming a consultant with the Louisiana Recovery School District, or RSD. In 2005 she was named East Baton Rouge Parish principal of the year. Most recently, Hammatt was principal of the Tiger Challenge summer academic camp, offered by LSU Continuing Education and held at the LSU Laboratory School.

She was named a YWCA Woman of Achievement in 2006 and is a member of the Women’s Council of Greater Baton Rouge board of directors.

1970s

Clark H. Cole (1977 BACH A&S), head of the insurance coverage and litigation practice group in Armstrong Teasdale LLP’s St. Louis office, has been named Lawyer of the Year in the insurance law category in the 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Cole’s practice is divided between Missouri and Illinois, and he has

tried cases to verdict in thirteen different state and federal jurisdictions. Lawyers of the Year received top ratings by earning a high level of respect among their peers for their abilities, professionalism, and integrity. Cole received his J.D. from the University of Missouri School Of Law in 1980.

Theresa Gallion (1976 BACH HSS, 1982 JD), partner in Fisher & Phillips’ Tampa office, has been selected by her peers for inclusion in 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, honoring her for her work in management-side employment law and labor and employment litigation.

She has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America since 2006 and included in Florida Super Lawyers since 2007 and Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers since 2003.

Gallion is a member of the LSU Alumni Association National Board of Directors.

J. Stephen “Steve” Perry (1974 BACH HSS, 1978 MAST HSS), president and chief executive officer of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau, has been appointed by Gov. Bobby Jindal to a six-year term on the LSU Board of Supervisors. Perry, who was chief of staff under Gov. Mike Foster, will be one of two members representing Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District.

He studied at Moscow State University and completed the Senior Executives Program in State and Local Government offered by the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Perry serves on many national boards, including Destination Marketing Association International, Travel Industry Association, and the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board to the United States Secretary of Commerce.

56 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2011

Grover L. Porter (1973 PHD BUS), ofHendersonville, Tenn., has been appointed editorial adviser for the prestigious Journal of Accountancy. Porter is now retired after a fifty-year academic career as a professor of accounting at several universities, including the University of Tennessee, University of North Carolina, University of Mississippi, and University of Alabama.

Gregory Rich (1977 BACH AGR, 1985 DVM), owner of the West Esplanade Veterinary Clinic in Metairie, La., was awarded the Oxbow Animal Health Exotic Mammal Health Award at the annual conference for the Association of Avian Veterinarians. The award, the highest given to a veterinarian in this field, recognizes a veterinary practitioner who advances the field of exotic mammal medicine and care. He has served multiple terms as president of the Southeast Louisiana Veterinary Association, on the board of the Association of Avian Veterinarians, and was a founding member of the Louisiana Aviculture Society. He was a member of the Louisiana State Animal Response Team and Deep Water Horizon/BP Oil Spill Wildlife Response Team, as well as the Jefferson Parish Animal Welfare Committee and Southwest Veterinary Symposium Continuing

Education program. Rich has been given an Outstanding Alumnus Award by the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine and received a Service Award from the Association of Avian Veterinarians.

1980s

Kim Sydow Campbell (1986 BACH HSS, 1990 PHD HSS), professor and Derrell Thomas Faculty Fellow, has been named associate dean for assessment and continuous improvement in the Culverhouse College of Commerce at the University of Alabama. Campbell has published more than twenty-five research articles in peer-reviewed journals and edited collections, authored three books, and served as editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed research journal IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.

IEEE honored her with the Emily K. Schlesinger Award for Distinguished Service in 2007 and the Alfred N. Goldsmith Award for Contributions to Engineering Communication in 2009.

She was selected as a Fellow in the SEC’s Academic Leadership Development Program for 2010-11, and she is a former faculty member at the Air Force Institute of Technology and Auburn University.

Campbell’s specialty areas are health literacy, leadership communication, qualitative research methods, scholarly publishing, and technical communication.

Nathan Chapman (1982 BACH BUS) is founder and president of The Marketing Center, which was ranked by Inc. magazine in its fifth annual Inc. 500|5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastestgrowing private companies. The New Orleans-based marketing consulting firm and advertising agency specializes in helping attorneys build profitable Social Security Disability legal practices and is a leader in providing syndicated television campaigns for clients around the United States. The company grew 40 percent over a three-year period and generated $2.4 million in 2010 revenue.

Sidney E. Fuchs (1984 BACH ENGR, 1987 MAST ENGR), has been named president/CEO of MacAulay-Brown, Inc. (MacB), an engineering and technical services company supporting the U.S. defense and intelligence communities. He assumed his new duties Aug. 1. An industry veteran, Fuchs has more than twentyfive years experience in intelligence and national security, aerospace and defense, commercial IT services, and private equity. Prior to MacB, he was a corporate officer of Northrop Grumman Corporation and CEO and a director of

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Tiger Nation ATS Corporation, a government IT services provider. Before joining ATS, Fuchs was CEO and a director of OAO Technology Solutions, a global provider of managed IT services and solutions.

A former Central Intelligence Agency officer, he served at domestic and foreign posts and on assignment with the U.S. Air Force and National Reconnaissance Office and is a graduate of the CIA’s Special Operations and Training School.

In 2002 he was nominated by the White House and appointed by the Secretary of Defense to the National Defense University Board of Visitors, and in 2008 he was appointed to the Defense Science Board’s Intelligence Task Force.

He completed executive programs at the University of Virginia Darden School, the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Kevin Griffin (1989 BACH HSS) and his band, Better Than Ezra, went back to their roots in October with the release of their Death Valley EP, featuring a modern pop twist on traditional tailgating songs popularized by Tiger Band. Better Than Ezra was formed in the early 1990s while its members were students at LSU. Death Valley features a modern twist on classic LSU favorites such as “Hey, Fighting Tigers,” “Double Shot of My Baby’s Love,” “Hey Baby,” “Tiger By the Tail,” and “Chinese Bandits.” Also included are Better Than Ezra’s original songs “This Time of Year” and “Hell No!,” inspired by LSU football and their time at the University. For details, visit www.betterthanezra.com.

Photo by Rick Olivier

Thomas N. Tully (1982 BACH AGR, 1986 DVM, 1991 MAST in veterinary preventive medicine), professor of veterinary medicine and chief of zoological medicine in

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the LSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital & Clinics, received the T.J. Lafeber Avian Practitioner Award at the annual conference for the Association of Avian Veterinarians. The award, the highest given to a veterinarian in this field, is presented to an outstanding private practitioner who is advancing the quality of health care for companion birds.

Criteria for the award include, among other things, demonstration of clinical excellence, innovation, and compassion for avian patients. Tully is a Diplomate of the European College of Zoological Medicine (Avian) and the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners.

He played football for the LSU Tigers from 1978-81.

1990s

Edmund J. Giering IV (1990 BACH HSS, 1994 JD, 2005 MBA), general counsel of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, was appointed by Eli Jones, dean of the E. J. Ourso College of Business, to the Dean’s Advisory Council. Giering will serve as a member of the Endowment Committee.

Council members donate their time, talents, and resources to support the dean in his efforts to enhance the substance and image of the college.

Judson Haynes III (1999 PHD SCI), was elected vice president of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemist and Chemical Engineers, or NOBCChE, for 20112013. Haynes will serve as counsel to the president and assist with special

programs. Prior to being elected vice president, Haynes was the Midwest NOBCChE chairman for two-terms.

He was also appointed analytical GCO section head for the P&G’s Family Care Business on Oct. 1. While at LSU, Haynes studied under Boyd Professor Isiah Warner, vice chancellor for strategic initiatives. Haynes resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife, Dr. Sheila Haynes, and two children, Dean and Willow.

Abdul K. Mohammed (1992 PHD SCI) has been appointed dean of the College of Science and Technology at North Carolina Central University. Mohammed earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Benin in Nigeria in 1983. After receiving his doctorate at LSU, he taught chemistry at North Carolina A&T State University from 1993 to 20)0 and joined the faculty at Winston-Salem State University in 2005, where he was full professor and department chair. His research interests include exploring the use of light to facilitate decomposition of pollutants in water.

Jessica Woodman Monroe (1996 BACH HSS, 1999 MPA), director of state government affairs for Johnson & Johnson Worldwide Government Affairs & Policy, has been named in the “30 Pharma Emerging Leaders of 2011” by Pharmaceutical Executive Magazine. Monroe was also selected as one of ten to participate in a media panel in New York City in October when was recognized as a Pharmaceutical

Where Are You? 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.

Executive Emerging Leader. Monroe, who is based in Baton Rouge, covers four states for Johnson & Johnson. She serves on the E.J. Ourso College of Business Public Administration Institute Advisory Committee and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Alumni Advisory Board.

Michael Tullier (1994 BACH MCOM), who has spent the last ten years of his career at Auburn University, was recently named communications and marketing manager in the university’s Office of Development. In this role, he will serve the day-to-day and upcoming campaign communications

needs for the university’s fundraising professionals. Tullier, who earned Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) in 2003, serves as national chair of the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Accreditation Marketing Committee in addition to current and past leadership positions with the Universal Accreditation Board, Southern Public Relations Federation, and Public

In Memoriam 1930s Bernard Fedless Breaux, Sr., 1939 BACH, Aug. 2, 2011, Houma, La. Lessie Lee Landry Jones, 1936 BACH, Sept. 14, 2011, Denham Springs, La. Camilla Tison Rachal, 1935 BACH, 1937 MAST, July 28, 2011, St. Francisville, La.

1940s Robert J. Conrad, Attended 1942-43, Aug. 15, 2011, New Orleans, La. Pauline “Polly” Huddleston Hathaway Colvin, 1941 MAST, July 17, 2011, Alexandria, La Sara Helen Hair, 1942 BACH, July 27, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Anne Grayson Howe, 1941 BACH, Aug. 20, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Marshall Beauregard Gautreau, 1947 BACH, 1955 MAST, Aug. 30, 2011, New Orleans, La. Norman V. Kinsey, 1947 BACH, 1968 JD, Sept. 11, 2011, Shreveport, La. JonEtta McKeithen Meredith, 1949 BACH, Jan. 17 2011, Columbia, La. Gloria Carr McAdams, 1947 BACH, Aug. 4, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. James Lee Newman, 1947 Bach, July 27, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Alfred W. Platte, Jr., 1949 BACH, Sept. 7, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Robert Bruce Smith, 1941 BACH, July 1, 2011, Napa, Calif.

William T. Taylor, Jr., 1942 BACH, Sept. 26, 2011, Baton Rouge, La.

1950s John C. Allphin, 1954 BACH, Oct. 12, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. John G. Blanche, III, 1953 BACH, Sept. 6, 2011, Springfield, Va. Paul Carl Boudreaux, 1954 BACH, July 31, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Kenneth P. “Ken” Brou, 1959 BACH, Oct. 5, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Wallace H. Campbell, BACH 1950, July 14, 2011, Boulder, Colo.

B.J. Hopper, 1958 MAST, Aug. 22, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. James Mitchell Lampton, 1951 BACH, Sept. 15, 2011, Coldspring, Texas Edward G. Long, (1951 BACH, 1955 MD), Aug. 24, 2011, Palo Alto, Calif.

Robert William “Bob” McKenzie, 1952 BACH, 1954 MAST, Sept. 14, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Victor Bussie Doctor of Science Honoris Causa 1991 Former Member of the LSU Board of Supervisors Sept. 4, 2011 Baton Rouge, La.

Roy Dokka Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering Aug. 1, 2011 St. Francisville, La.

Leon Luther Parrish, 1955 BACH, July 16, 2011, Seattle, Wash.

Loxla Hill Stayton, 1951 BACH, Aug. 27, 2011, McKinney, Texas Betty Sullivan, 1957 MAST, August, 14, 2011, Colorado Robert R. “Roy” Taylor, Jr., 1950 BACH, Sept. 12, Gulf Breeze, Fla. Christopher Adams Twiner, 1955 BACH, July 26, 2011, Luling, La. Arthur Gene Worley, 1951 BACH, Aug. 25, 2011, Baton Rouge, La.

1960s Sidney “Poppy” Arboneaux, Sr., 1961 BACH, Aug. 31, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. George A. Daniels, 1963 MAST, July 30, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Donald Ray Kennard, 1960 MAST, Aug. 5, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Ronald Gary Kinchen, 1963 BACH, 1965 MAST, Aug. 17, 2011, Sugar Land, Texas Neva Foster Olsen, 1961 BACH, Retired Director, LSU School of Human Ecology, Sept. 6, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Charles Harwell Sheffield, 1962 BACH, Aug. 15, 2011, Kalispell, Mont.

Joyce C. Woodruff, 1968 BACH, Aug. 27, 2011, Mobile, Ala.

1970s Chester Glenn Allen, 1977 MAST, Professor of Landscape Architecture, July 30, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Mary Helen Mills Corkern, 1976 BACH, July 2011, Walker, La. Trudeau Joseph “Jay” Hogue III, 1972 BACH, Aug. 7, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Reneé Landry, 1975 BACH, Aug. 7, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Richard Alden Mayo, 1971 BACH, Aug. 6, 2011, Baton Rouge, La.

1980s Beverly Covington Bonifay, 1982 MAST, July 31, 2011, Prescott, Ariz.

Matthew “Matt” DeBosier, 1988 BACH, Sept. 8, 2011, Baton Rouge, La.

2000s Tanisha M. Allison, 2000 MAST, Aug. 9, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Aldrema Carter “Niecy” Vessel, 2003 BACH, July 21, 2011, Jackson, La. Jason Todd Williams, 2000 BACH, Aug. 7, 2011, Deerfield Beach, Fla. Douglas Gordon Holt Retired Professor of English Aug. 3, 2011 Little Rock, Ark.

John Louis Loos Chair and Alumni Professor of History Emeritus Sept. 25, 2011 Lafayette, 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.

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Tiger Nation Relations Council of Alabama. While at LSU, he served as director of public relations for Student Government and president of the LSU College Republicans. He is married to Dianna Davis Tullier, (BACH 1993 HSS), and they have three children.

2000s

Eliana Arvelo (2009 MBA), an alumna of the LSU Center for Internal Auditing, is the eighteenth recipient of the Institute of Internal Auditors’ Student Highest Achievement Award from LSU. The Student Highest Achievement Award is given to the top-scoring student, globally, during 2010. The Certified Internal Auditor designation is the only globally accepted certification for internal auditors and remains the standard by which individuals demonstrate their competency and professionalism in the internal auditing field.

J. Danielle Bachan (2007 BACH HSS) graduated in May 2011 from Northeastern University in Boston with a master’s degree in public administration and was awarded the President’s Call to Service Lifetime Achievement Award from the White House for completing more than 7,000 community service hours. She also represented Northeastern University in a round table discussion with President Barack Obama and senior White House staff members on education and health care policy from a bipartisan perspective.

She is currently a law student at New England School of Law in Boston.

Kristen Campbell (2001 BACH BUS), of Wilmington, N.C., is featured in the November 2011 issue of Prevention magazine as one of

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three “Skinnovators,” individuals who have created products to solve their own complexion concerns. Campbell’s Pearl Anti-Aging Cleanser, a product in her allnatural beauty line, Gluten Free Beauty (glutenfreebeauty.com), is included in the magazine’s Skin Smarts section titled “Pretty Brilliant.”

Russell J. “Joey” Coco, Jr. (2000 BACH ENGR, 2006 MBA), received the Outstanding Civil Engineer Award from the Baton Rouge Branch of the American Society of Civil Engineering during the group’s annual Past Presidents and Awards Luncheon.

Christopher Coombs (2005 PHD BUS), assistant professor of economics at LSU at Shreveport, has been appointed to the board of editors for International Advances in Economic Research, or IAER, and has been named book review editor for the Journal of Labor Research, or JOLR. LAER is a quarterly publication for economists, financial specialists, and scholars in related disciplines. JOLR is an internationally circulated journal that specializes in labor economics and industrial relations research. Coombs also serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, the Journal of Economics and Finance Education, and the Open Economics Journal.

Raj Diwan (2007 BACH SCI, 2011 DDS), a resident in the general practice residency at the LSU School of Dentistry Clinic at Earl K. Long Medical Center in Baton Rouge, is one of four students nationally to receive the first-ever Student Servant Leadership

Share Your News

Award – a $500 stipend – from the Academy of Dentistry International (ADI). The award recognizes senior dental students who have excelled in volunteerism and student leadership.

As a dental student, Diwan founded the student service organization “Making Impressions.” He recruited a leadership team and network of dental students and hygienists that helped more than 1,000 people through oral health screenings, provision of dental supplies, and one-onone education. The student volunteers helped the homeless population in the inner city, along with suburban parents, unwed mothers, and HIV/AIDS patients living in a hospice.

Mary Dykes (2007 BACH MCOM) has joined the Atlanta-based public relations and marketing firm Jackson Spalding as part of the company’s JS Creative team. She was appointed account executive for the national Primrose Schools advertising account. Prior to joining the firm, Dykes was an account executive at marketing agencies in Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C. Melissa Grand (2005 BACH HSS, 2009 JD) has been selected to the board of directors of Boys Hope Girls Hope of Baton Rouge, which helps academically capable and motivated children in need by providing value-centered, family-like homes, opportunities, and education through college. Grand is a member of Forum 35, a community of young men and women dedicated to improving Baton Rouge, and at Adams and Reese law firm serves as chair of the Holiday Star Project, a program coordinated by the Baton Rouge Bar Association, which

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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Tiger Nation sponsors underprivileged children in the community at Christmas. She is also a member of the firm’s “Belly Up with the Bar” team sponsored by the association.

Katherine “Kaki” Heiligenthal (2008 BACH MCOM) has joined MESH advertising and marketing firm, serving as client account services manager. Heiligenthal previously worked at Baton Rouge General Medical Center as a marketing and public relations consultant. During her four-year tenure, she contributed to campaigns recognized by the Public Relations Association of Louisiana, the Aster Awards hosted by Creative Images, Inc., and HealthLeaders. At LSU, she made both the Dean’s List and Chancellor’s List for academic merit and served as the

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vice president of fraternity development for Pi Beta Phi. Heiligenthal, an Austin, Texas, native, is an active member of St. James Episcopal Church and a provisional member in the Junior League of Baton Rouge.

Scott Levy (2004 BACH MCOM and HSS, 2010 JD) has joined Adams and Reese’s Baton Rouge office as an associate and as part of the firm’s special business services practice group. Levy, a summer associate with the firm in 2009, has experience in litigation, transactions, and governmental relations law. He was a former law clerk for the Hon. Timothy E. Kelley in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court and also served as law clerk in the Executive Counsel’s Office, Office of the Governor. Levy also worked in various positions with the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, the U.S. Department of Education, and

the White House Advance Team in the Office of Presidential Advance. He is an alumnus of Leadership LSU’s Class of 2004, served on the Chancellor’s Student Advisory Committee at the Hebert Law Center, and was the Law Center student representative with the 2009 “Belly Up with the Bar” committee.

Mary McMyne (2000 BACH HSS, 2002 MAST HSS) is among faculty members joining Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., this fall as an assistant professor in the School of English and Language Studies. Most recently, McMyne helped launch Pangaea, a literary and arts magazine published

by South Louisiana Community College in Lafayette, La., where she also taught on topics ranging from early British

literature to business writing. She won the 2007 Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society Faulkner-Wisdom Award and made the shortlist for, a novel in progress, The Lost Books, and a finished novel, Fire Exhausted respectively. She also holds a master’s degree from New York University.

Sarah Schram (2008 BACH BUS, 2010 MBA) has been named as director of the Office of Corporate Relations and Economic Development for the College of Engineering. Schram was formerly an assistant director in the college and previously served as a graduate assistant for the corporate and foundation relations.

Kasy M. Delapasse Page (2007 BACH HSS) recently completed U.S.Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Ill. The eight-week program included classroom study and practical instruction on naval customs, first aid, firefighting, water safety and survival, and shipboard and aircraft safety. The capstone event of boot camp is “Battle Stations,” an exercise that gives recruits the skills and confidence they need to succeed in the fleet, and its distinctly ‘’Navy’’ flavor is designed to take into account what it means to be a sailor.

Chais L. Sweat (2002 BACH HSS, 2007 JD) has joined Dykema Gossett PLLC in the firm’s business and commercial practice in Dallas. He focuses his practice in the area of general commercial litigation, hospitality law, and consumer financial services. Prior to joining Dykema, Sweat was an attorney with the law firm Sweat & Associates, PLLC. In law school, Sweat was a member of the school’s Trial Advocacy Board and the ATLA (AAJ) National Trial Advocacy Competition Team. He earned distinction as a member of the first-place team and was named the Top Overall Advocate in the Ira S. Flory Trial Competition. He also spent a semester as an extern with the Louisiana Department of Revenue.

BABY

BENGALS

Lee and Alicia Dugas, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, announce the birth of triplets Jackson Traverse, Shelby Mae, and Marlee Grace on May 3, their mom’s birthday! The babies arrived thirteen weeks early – each a minute apart and each weighing just over two pounds. “The children spent seventy days in NICU and were released on July 11, all on the same day,” says Alicia.

“Immediately after the babies were born Lee had to come up with a family password for the NICU – something we had to say each and every time we went to visit them.

Without even a moment’s hesitation it came out: "Geaux Tigers," though it was spelled “Go Tigers” here in the North. For seventy days, sometimes five times a day we said, “Geaux Tigers.” Lee Dugas attended LSU in 1984-85 and was president of the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill Chapter of the LSU Alumni Association while the couple lived in North Carolina before moving to Ohio.

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Tiger Nation

2010s

Jake Anderson (2011 BACH AGR), of Ethel, La., was selected as the winner of the 2011 American Dairy Science Association, or ADSA, Genevieve Christen Undergraduate Student Award in July. The award recognizes distinguished undergraduates focusing on leadership ability, participation in ADSAStudent Affiliate Division activities, local dairy science club activities, and involvement in the dairy industry.

Anderson served as president of the ADSA Student Affiliate Division, as an exofficio member of the board of directors and program planning committee, and as secretary/treasurer. He received the ADSA Student Affiliate Division Outstanding Student Award and the Outstanding Southern Regional ADSA Student Award. He served as Dairy Science Club president, social chair,

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and second vice president. Anderson is pursuing a master’s degree at LSU and plans a career either as a consulting nutritionist or extension specialist.

Martin A. “Marty” Chorkey (2010 MAST ENGR) received the Outreach Award from the Baton Rouge Branch of the American Society of Civil Engineering during the group’s annual Past Presidents and Awards Luncheon.

Anna Normand (2011 BACH SCI), of Opelousas, La., was awarded a $5,000 fellowship by the honor society Phi Kappa Phi. Normand received a University Medal for graduating with one of the highest grade-point averages in the class. Normand, a Louisiana Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or LA-STEM, Research

Scholar, also created Louisiana Marsh University, a service trip that took thirty LSU students to plant beach grass on Grand Isle. She plans to pursue a degree in wetland biogeochemistry and is a graduate student at the University of Florida’s soil and water science graduate program. She is only the second LSU student to receive the prestigious Udall Scholarship and is one of sixty recipients of the Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship.

Bradley Rinaudo (2011 BACH BUS) has joined Fielder Capital, a long- and shortterm equity hedge fund on Wall Street, as an analyst. He reads financial reports of small companies daily, models them out in Excel, and talks with management teams, customers, suppliers, and competitors. A Baton Rouge native and University Medalist, Rinaudo plans to gain experience in the field before starting a hedge fund of his own.

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Tiger Nation

By Seth Medvin Photo by Steve Franz/LSU Sports Information

“I didn’t want to leave my teammates . . .”

Profile

Louis Coleman Thriving in Big Leagues College athletes often will give up their last years of eligibility for a chance to begin their professional careers early. The aura of signing a professional contract and the risk of injury guide the final decisions. However, those who do make the leap essentially give up the chance of winning national championships and the opportunity to continue playing with their long-term teammates.

Former LSU pitcher Louis Coleman (2009 BACH AGR) represents the benefits of delaying a professional career for one last run. Coleman, drafted in the fourteenth round by the Washington Nationals after the 2008 season, returned to LSU for the 2009 season to help lift the Tigers to their sixth national championship.

“Coach [Paul] Mainieri was very kind and let me throw the last pitch in the College World Series,” Coleman says.

“That meant a whole lot to me. I couldn’t have written a better script. I always wanted to play for a national championship, and in my senior year it was perfect.”

Following Coleman’s 2008 junior season, in which he posted an 8-1 record, he had to decide if he was going to go pro or return for his senior season.

“I think one of the main reasons I came back was the guys in the club house,” Coleman says. “I didn’t want to leave my teammates and wanted to climb the mountain from the year before.”

The perfect ending to his college career also reaped personal benefits for Coleman. He garnered national attention as he finished the season as a First Team AllAmerican and as SEC Pitcher of the Year. His accolades helped improve his draft stock significantly, and the Kansas City Royals drafted Coleman in the fifth round of the 2009 draft.

Coleman has excelled through the minors, registering eleven wins compared to five losses, eleven saves, and a 2.16 ERA in two-plus seasons in Single A, Double A, and Triple A. He made his major league debut for the Royals on April 22 and has appeared in thirty-eight games in relief.

“I enjoyed one of the best moments in my professional career the morning that I learned that Louis received the call to the big leagues,” Mainieri says.

Seth Medvin is a student assistant with LSU Sports Information

Anne and Paul Dieztel, Rhea Landry, and Ed Landry.

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Dream Come True – Ed Landry (1970 BACH SCI, 1972 MAST ENGR), of Encinitas, Calif., shares this photo of his mother, Rhea Landry, with former LSU coach and athletic director Paul Dietzel taken in Baton Rouge in May. “Mom’s three sons are all LSU grads, and all of us are fanatical football fans,” Landry writes. “However, my mom has us all beat. At ninety-five, she is not only crazy about LSU football but also closely follows baseball, basketball, softball, and track and field – you name it. When she was eighty-eight, I was visiting her and planned to take her to the LSU football game that Saturday night. It rained all day Friday and Saturday, and I had just about given up. About mid-afternoon on Saturday, with the rain still coming down, she asked me, ‘Do you think we can still go to the game?’ We did, and she sat out in the rain and enjoyed every minute, especially since we were sitting near the LSU band, which she adores. When we were boys, she had the biggest crush on Coach Dietzel. She finally had a chance to meet him recently at her church and was as giddy as a teenager.”

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Tiger Nation

Profile

Update Kyrgyzstan Editor’s note: Judson Moore (2007 BACH HSS) joined the Peace Corps earlier this year (see “Assignment Kyrgystan,” Summer 2011 issue of LSU Alumni Magazine). The magazine features carry brief updates on Moore’s experience, and his blog can be seen at JudsonLMoore.com.

“Where stately oaks and broad magnolias shade inspiring halls . . . “ What were once just words to me are now the essence of who I am – because I came from LSU. But inspiration, of course, comes from much more than the halls that bring “I will forever know and us together in the pursuit of higher understanding. It is the lushness of the Parade be grateful for where I Ground, the grandeur of the sporting facilities, the rich culture and legacy of the came from.” Tigers that came before us, and most importantly it is the memories of the things we did and the people with whom we did them.

LSU prepared me to live in this world to my fullest. Student Government gave me a tangible understanding of bureaucracy and practice with public speaking. Through Rotaract I became passionate about community outreach. In Greek Life I became a natural socialite. The list goes on. LSU did much for me and I am proud to represent my alma mater in the United States Peace Corps.

My work in Kyrgyzstan leads me in many directions. Working in mass media at a community radio station gives me a rare opportunity to work on a very large scale. From writing radio programs to writing grants, my responsibilities are broad, and at every step I am learning a lot.

I am now seeking funding to purchase ten iPads to be used by community journalists in the villages of west Kyrgyzstan. These fifty journalists are highly skilled at creating meaningful programs but have a difficult time leaving the villages to edit and deliver finished products. With iPads, they can take audio, video, photos, write to blogs, edit audio, and e-mail to complete content – without interrupting their family and work responsibilities.

In a part of the world where social and family responsibilities dictate all things, Judson Moore stands on the highway from the capital city Bishkek to his home in Talas. Behind him is a yurt, the traditional housing from the nomadic Kyrgyz tradition. this ability to broadcast information can be a game changer in the way people interact with their countrymen and the world abroad.

Using mobile devices for eLearning in the developing world is no new concept. But the iPad is very new technology, and this application is cutting-edge. It is very exciting to be a part of such a project, and I hope that as a successful pilot program, this can be an inspiration for how the developing world shares the richness of their cultures.

My service in the Peace Corps continues for another twenty months. My goal is to serve humanity throughout my life, and though I don’t yet know where that will take me, I will forever know and be grateful for where I came from.

Yours in service – and Geaux Tigers!

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Profile

A New Twist On Church Bingo

Anne Goade

Keeping children occupied during a church service is often challenging.

Ann Goade (1994 MAST AGR) has a solution to the problem. A stay-at-home mom and school volunteer, Goade lives in Anna, Texas, with her husband, William, and their children, Lawrence, age twelve; Rachel, age ten; and Gracie, age eight.

“I wondered whether coloring sheets were the best way to teach my children to actually listen and participate in the service,” says Goade.

So, she created Big Church Bingo, a phone app to encourage children to listen to what is being said during a church service by listening for key words used in the game.

“To play,” she explains, “a grid of words you might hear in a worship service will appear randomly each game.

As you hear a word and tap on it, the icon will darken.

Once you darken icons in a row – horizontally, vertically, or diagonally – you get a ‘bingo.’

Big Church Bingo keeps track of points, each bingo equaling one point, and parents may choose to implement a reward system for points. The word bank and icons can be customized – words can be added, and photos can be used for each word’s icon.

“Searching for the right item to represent a word can be a fun, family activity,” Goade says. “And the children are excited to see their own smiling faces representing the word children.”

ON THE WEB www.bigchurchbingo.com

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Profile

Tiger Nation

Memories of a Real Tiger

By John W. Flores

Carl V. Flores, ca. 1954. Courtesy photo

My father, Carl Flores, was a student at LSU in Baton Rouge in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

He arrived at seventeen for the first time in September 1948, from his boyhood home in the hills of North Louisiana – along with his longtime and equally naive friend, John N. Gallaspy, fifteen when he graduated.

They arrived in a heavy rain and finally made it to Tiger Stadium where their assigned room was on the top floor at the end of a long hall. All freshmen and ROTC cadets were assigned four to each non-air-conditioned room.

Now eighty, my dad said it was tough to get through school on a full-time academic schedule and part-time work at the State Motor Fuel Lab – and he did not have a car.

As an engineering student, he found that nothing was easy. But the cafeteria food was good and school activities were super for two country boys – and the coeds were pretty.

Later, my dad became a member of Sigma Chi fraternity – not a legacy either.

He was handsome, personable, had a great sense of humor, and was liked by just about everybody.

The Korean War broke out when my dad was into his second year at LSU. He was, like all the young male students, an ROTC cadet. He received an ROTC commission as an Army 2nd Lieutenant and was sent to Fort Hood, Texas. By this time his older brother, Dr. Adolph Flores – also an LSU man – was leaving for his second tour of sea duty in the Navy in the southeast Asian theater. Dr. Adolph had just finished residency in internal medicine at LSU Medical School when Uncle Sam called. Fortunately for my dad, he left his very nice Buick with him so dad got his first nice car – a big break.

While at Fort Hood, my dad met my mother– a young college student from Abilene who’d come with her roommate, Dorothy, for a weekend in a nearby town. Dorothy was dating my dad’s buddy, Lt. Jim Day, just back from combat in Korea.

They introduced my dad to Helen Fry, and two years later, in the summer of 1956, they were married and stayed together until her death on Sept. 11, 2003. They had four kids, including me, the first boy and second born.

After his tour was over, my dad immediately got a job as a young engineer at Chance Vought Aircraft in Dallas – later part of the LTV conglomerate. He was heavily involved in production of combat aircraft for the Vietnam War, work for NASA, commercial airplane work for Boeing, Douglas, and Lockheed, and development of Stealth technology, before retiring in 1992. He successfully ran a large portion of the company and was considered “world class” in his profession.

Today my dad still works, but his career for the past two decades is decidedly different. As a gentleman farmer on a small ranch outside Grandview, Texas, he spends his time around cattle and grandkids and still loves to watch Tiger football on TV. And I just know he still has quite a few stories of his days at LSU yet to tell.

John W. Flores is a writer in Albuquerque, N.M.

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Profile

Tiger Nation

Louisiana’s New State Flag

By Ben Wallace

Glen Duncan has redesigned Louisiana’s state flag.

“This flag was a citizen-led effort. . . and I think that’s what made it very powerful.”

Glen Duncan had a vague notion that it was a striking state flag but for the most part thought it was just a nice symbol.

“The brand was out of control,” says Duncan of the state’s symbol. “I can take you to four or five different versions flying over this city right now.

It was clearly a brand that had not been managed. It was a symbol that had not been protected.”

Duncan (1988 MAST MCOM), president of the Southern Public Relations Federation and the American Advertising Federation of Baton Rouge, is a former geologist, meteorologist, television producer, and writer, but he’s primarily a branding specialist. And that’s why, beginning back in 2009, he was allowed to follow through on his request to act as a citizen volunteer in redesigning the official state flag and seal of Louisiana.

The Louisiana state flag waves mostly blue with a brown pelican picking open her breast to feed her young in an act called “vulning.” The state motto sits inscribed underneath and reads: “Union, Justice, Confidence.” But until a year ago, nuanced versions of the image flew everywhere, with subtle-to-drastic variances in backdrop color, motto font, and pelican size.

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The pelican flag has been around for several hundred years, but because of the Civil War, the first quasi-official versions didn’t pop up until 1861. It took another fifty years for former Gov. W.W. Heard to sign into legislation a bill formally declaring the Pelican Flag the official state flag of Louisiana in 1912.

The flag’s modern tale begins in 2006, when David Joseph Louviere, an eighth grader working on a social studies project, noticed differences in the number of blood droplets located on the pelican’s chest. He then wrote two letters to his state representative, which acted as catalysts for a bill in the 2006 legislative session specifically calling for the state flag to display three drops of blood.

Former Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed the bill into law that year.

When Duncan found out in 2009 nothing further had been done to solidify the flag’s official description, he decided to take action. “My first thought was that what our state needed was official digital files of the image,” says Duncan, “So exact copies could be sent everywhere quickly and easily.”

He then called a friend in the printing business, Curtis Vann, Jr., to help him revamp the flag’s design in a campaign to create a singular state flag. “The challenge I had was to incorporate

realism into the design of the flag while staying within the boundaries of the written law,” said Vann in Duncan’s published version of the story, A Modern History of the Louisiana Flag.

Duncan and Vann put together a design for then Secretary of State Jay Dardenne and worked closely with him in creating the new flag. “Talk about the nick of time,” says Duncan. “The day Jay was sworn in as Lt. Governor, he accepted the flag. If we would’ve been just days later, we would’ve had to start that relationship over and may have lost the chance of a lifetime.”

According to Duncan, state law describes the limits, necessities, and qualifications for the state flag but falls well short of being sufficient. The new specifications created by Duncan’s team allow flag makers to replicate the design exactly and with ease.

Duncan thinks the flag has come a long way from being just “a nice symbol.” “I actually picture some lady or some man sewing the first flag somewhere,” says Duncan. “I think of 200 years of history,

of the governors that chose the pelican as our early symbol, and the debate that occurred during the Civil War.” The new flag was unveiled in November 2010. Duncan has seen it flying from Monroe to Baton Rouge to New Orleans, and members of a group of “Pelican Spotters” notify him when the new design pops up around the state. But since the state does not require replacement of old flags, it could take decades for the new design to become prominent.

“This flag was a citizen-led effort,” says Duncan. “It didn’t come from a department somewhere. It didn’t come from a contractor or an agency of government. It came from the citizens, and I think that’s what made it very powerful.”

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.

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Tiger Nation

Profile

Tigers Around the World

Atop Kili – Hanna Bauer (2008 BACH SCI), in the green jacket, and fellow climbers Dr. Matthew Berniard, Aimee Berniard (2007 BACH BUS), John Scott Thompson, and Dr. Elizabeth Hudnall pose for a photo on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Not pictured but also making the climb were Dr. Erin Barnes (2007 BACH SCI) and Dr. Courtney Rome. Bauer, a fourth-year medical student at LSU Health Sciences Center at Shreveport, and her student colleagues are founders and managers of a 501c(3) nonprofit organization called Support for Humanitarianism through Intercontinental Projects, or SHIP, which promotes humanitarianism and volunteerism in medicine.

In February the group spent a month in Kenya providing medical assistance in rural Bungoma Village. They ended the mission with a climb to Uhuru peak, shown here, the highest point in Africa and the top of the tallest freestanding mountain in the world. To learn more about SHIP, visit www.shipcares.org.

LSU in Nevada – Brad Mabry, of Elko, Nev., wrote in July: “My brother and I, along with two buddies, went camping and trout fishing for three days in the Ruby Mountains in Elko. We were in such beauty, and it dawned on me we should submit a photo to the magazine since we are all LSU alumni, and I had my LSU shirt on.”

From left, Cameron Bigler (2006 BACH BUS), of Shreveport; Brad Miller (1997 BACH HSS, 1999 MAST MCOM), of Dallas; Mabry (2003 BACH BUS); and Scott Mabry (1998 BACH BUS), of Nashville, Tenn.

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Congrats to the

Cook Hotel on its

10

th

anniversary

Making Louisiana Better One Brick at a Time.

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Tiger Nation

Profile

Tigers Around the World LSU Flag Survives – Don Ray George (1968 BACH ENGR), of Dripping Springs, Texas, shares a photo of a Tiger flag that survived the Bastrop, Texas, fires in September. “Although my friend’s home and all of his possessions burned in the Bastrop fires, the Tiger flag survived,” George says. “It flew just as you see it when the fire ravaged everything around it.” The friend, Thomas Ellis, is a Texas Aggie who has “been converted into an avid Tiger fan,” according to George. “He attends at least one game a year in Baton Rouge and bought the display in the RV lot at the Florida game before giving it to me to fly at my lake house. We intend to fly it until it is no longer recognizable!”

LSU in Yellowstone – Sarah Clayton (1967 BACH HSS) met University of New Orleans alum Jason Landry ’84, of Evansville, Wyo., at Yellowstone National Park in August. “I spotted Jason in his LSU championship shirt, introduced myself, and we had a nice chat,” says Sarah.

Skiing Switzerland – John Olson (1985 BACH BUS), of Duri, Indonesia, shares a photo of son Benjamin – in LSU attire – skiing on the Matterhorn while on vacation from Leysin American School in Leysin, Switzerland, where he just started his junior year of high school. John’s wife, Stacey (1986 BACH ENGR), is vice president of heavy oil for Chevron’s Duri Field. “I am a stay-athome expat dad to our two school-aged girls who live with us,” Olson says.

Share your photos of “LSU sightings” across the country and around the world. Send to jackie@lsualumni.org.

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PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAI D Baton Rouge, LA PERMIT 159 Louisiana State University and A&M College 3838 West Lakeshore Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70808