From the
President/Chancellor Alumni Success Reflects LSU’s Tremendous Value I want to share with you what an exciting fall semester it has been at LSU. The excitement and the school spirit on this campus, and among our alumni and fans, are contagious. But you already know this. However, what you may not know is, there have also been a number of academic and research accomplishments at LSU that have contributed to the excitement this fall: A new supercomputer, national faculty awards, and the creation of “LSU Discover,” a new undergraduate research program. But perhaps the most exciting thing to take place was the U.S. Department of Education’s national public forum held at LSU on Nov. 21 to discuss the new college value scorecard. The event, one of only four such forums in the nation, brought in national education policy leaders to discuss some of the key issues in higher education. Some of those issues included the escalating cost of higher education; the massive debt with which college students are graduating; emphasizing “value” when it comes to evaluating colleges; and examining the flaws in the popular college ranking systems. LSU was the perfect place to hold this forum for one key reason – LSU is one of the best universities in the nation for return on investment. LSU’s tuition is 25 percent lower than that of its peers; our students graduate with 24 percent less debt than the average college student; and our graduates annually have some of the highest starting salaries and mid-career earnings of any university in the nation. In other words, LSU is a tremendous value. Unfortunately, due to the lack of information in the college and university marketplace, there are many parents and potential students who equate institutional quality with a higher-than-average price tag. It’s time for higher education to start looking at things that really matter to most Americans, like affordability and return on investment. And it’s time that colleges and universities consider (or reconsider) why some of them are charging tuition that is equivalent to the typical family’s annual household income. LSU can be a model for the rest of the country in this area. LSU has long been providing a high-quality education for a modest cost, and the value of the LSU degree is evident in the success of our alumni. Perhaps this is why our LSU alumni are so passionate about this university. You have always understood the value of LSU in your lives, and to Louisiana. We are glad others are starting to measure real “value” and rates of return on investment in higher education. Few universities in the nation are positioned better to play a role in advancing this discussion. Geaux Tigers!
F. King Alexander LSU President and Chancellor @lsuprez
LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2013
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Publisher Charlie W. Roberts
Contents
Editor Jackie Bartkiewicz Advertising James Fisher Art Director Chuck Sanchez STUN Design & Interactive
a l u m n i
m a g a z i n e
Features
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22 The Only Way to Geaux Sports trips with the Traveling Tigers are great journeys that rely on teamwork, dedication, and an indomitable Tiger spirit that guarantees an excellent experience for travelers. The scale of travel ramped up considerably for the 2013 football season with the addition of travelers from the Tiger Athletic Foundation (TAF), which joined forces with the LSU Alumni Association this year. It’s first class all the way – and “The Only Way to Geaux.”
30 Deep Under Deep underneath the Whillans Ice Stream in West Antarctica lies Lake Whillans, a dark and mysterious subglacial lake. Since the lake was first described in 2007, scientists have been interested in drilling down through the 800 meters of ice that separate the lake from the icy surface of Antarctica in order to investigate whether it harbors life. The lake has never been breached by humans before – until now.
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In Each Issue 1
From the President/Chancellor
4
President’s Message
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LSU Alumni Association News
34 Around Campus 42 Focus on Faculty 44 Locker Room 46 Tiger Nation
Cover photo by Johnny Gordon. Design by STUN Design & Interactive.
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Editorial Assistants Patti Garner, Brenda Macon, Hannah McLain, Meagan McDaniel Contributors Paige Brown, Andrew Clark, Barry Cowan, Ed Cullen, Rachel Emanuel, Emily Herrington, Adrienne Gale, John Grubb, Bud Johnson, Kurt Anthony Krug, Norm Marcocci Photography Andrea Barbier, Brent Christner, Sara Clayton, Cassidy Nicola Daniel, Ray Dry, Andrew Eckles, Norma Jean Fochs, Steve Franz, Sonya T. Gordon, Johnny Gordon, Larry Hubbard, Eddy Perez, Renee Pierce, Rachel S. Photography, 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. © 2013 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 Jack Andonie Chair, Metairie, La. Gil Rew Chair-Elect, Mansfield, La. Michael H. Woods Past Chair, Shreveport, La. Scott L. Anderson, Monroe, La. Ted A Martin, Baton Rouge, La. Mary Lou Applewhite, New Orleans, La. Louis R. Minksy, Baton Rouge, La. Jon D. “Jay” Babb, Baton Rouge, La. Richard C. “Ricky” Oustalet, Jennings, La. Gil Rew, Mansfield, La. J. Hals Benhard, Palmetto, La. Beverly Shea, New Iberia, La. C. A. “Buddy” Brice III, Biloxi, Miss. John T. Shelton, Jr., Houston, Texas Guy Campbell III, Monroe, La. Carl J. Streva, Morgan City, La. Gregg Cordaro, Baton Rouge, La. Susan K. Whitelaw, Shreveport, La. Theresa M. Gallion, Tampa, Fla. Lodwrick M. Cook, Director Emeritus Ronald M. Johnson, Baton Rouge, La. Sherman Oaks, Calif. Jan K. Liuzza, Kenner, La.
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President/CEO’s
MESSAGE
With a Lot of Help from Our Friends As another year draws to a close, it is time again to give thanks to all our supporters. The LSU Alumni Association and its assets would not exist without the devoted and loyal support of our many alumni and friends. From its early beginnings – housed in a condemned building, reorganizing, and working through the Louisiana Ethics Commission to become a totally private entity – to where we are today has been an unbelievable journey. And many of you have been at our side all the way. To list those who stood strong with us would take a notebook, and more. Throughout the years, many friends (Alumni-by-Choice) have become tremendously involved in supporting the Association. Although not “official” alumni, they are devoted to this organization, and we owe them a great deal of thanks. And to our loyal alumni, you are the true meaning of Forever LSU. There is one month remaining for you to make your membership contribution. We are on target with the budget, and this final month is critical to support our programs, services, scholarships, and professorships. This is the first time in twenty years that Larry Jones will not be making his end-of-year requests. He is missed very much, and I know he would be counting on all of you to come through as we approach year end. Mark your calendars for May 20, 2014 – the twentieth anniversary of the dedication of the Lod Cook Alumni Center. We are already making plans to rededicate the facility and want you to be a part of the celebration. At the last meeting of the National Board of Directors, a program was approved to recognize the research efforts of assistant professors. Ten awards of $5,000 each will be presented annually to assistant professors to conduct research in their chosen areas. The program was endorsed by President King Alexander, and the first recipients will be selected in the spring of 2014. Again, your support of the Association made this program possible. A final thought. As we know, our official name is the LSU Alumni Association, which to many implies that to be a member, you must be an LSU graduate. Yet many of our supporters and members never completed their degree programs or even attended LSU due to wars, financial problems, family responsibilities, health concerns, or numerous other reasons. This fall, we asked a segment of our donors if they would perhaps prefer a more encompassing name, one that would more accurately describe our membership – such as Association of Former Students and Friends – Louisina State University. The response was absolutely 100 percent positive. The name Association of Former Students and Friends covers everyone – graduates, those who attended but never graduated, and of course, all our friends (Alumni-by-Choice). What do you think? Is this a change you’d like see? Would this be beneficial to you and to the Association? Drop us a line at info@lsualumni.org to share your thoughts.
Happy Holidays and Forever LSU,
Charlie W. Roberts President/CEO
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LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2013
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LSU Alumni Association
news
27th Annual Reunion The LSU Tiger Alumni Band
Photos by Johnny Gordon
More than 300 Tiger Band veterans took part in the 2013 LSU Tiger Alumni Band Reunion on Sept. 23-24, reuniting for a weekend of activities highlighted by one more appearance at an LSU football game. Friday events included a Golden Girls lunch at Juban’s and an evening social for participants and current Golden Girls at the Lod Cook Alumni Center. An early breakfast at Tiger Band Hall was followed by practice and rehearsal with the Tiger Band, and the group gathered again for a tailgate party at the Maravich Assembly Center before the game. At halftime, alums proudly took the field for another exciting performance on “Saturday Night in Tiger Stadium.”
By Adrienne Gale Photo by Rachel S. Photography
U-High Golden Girls Participating in their first LSU Tiger Alumni Band Reunion were former Golden Girls Charlotte Baker, Brittany Brady, and Caroline Sexton. All three are LSU Laboratory School (U-High) and LSU alumni.
Charlotte Baker, Brittany Brady, and Caroline Sexton.
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Sexton and Brady were the first known U-High graduates to be selected for the prestigious Golden Girl squad. Brady (2012 BACH AGR), a Golden Girl from 2008 to 2012, lives in New Orleans and is the account executive for St. Charles Avenue Magazine.
Sexton (2012 BACH H&SS) was on the Golden Girl squad from 2008 to 2011. She expects to graduate with a master’s degree in criminal justice from Southeastern Louisiana University in May 2014. Baker (2013 BACH HS&E) was a Golden Girl from 2009 to 2013 and served as captain in her senior year. She is a medical assistant at the Orthopaedic Clinic in Baton Rouge and plans to attend graduate school in a physician’s assistant program.
Scholarship Honors Band Alum The creation of a memorial scholarship honoring the late Terry Bourdier (1970 BACH HS&E, 1986 MAST HS&E) was announced at this year’s band reunion. Karen Bourdier, of Beaumont, Texas, along with friends and family, established the James T. Bourdier, aka Arnold Shako, Scholarship in honor of her late husband, a tuba player in Tiger Band. Bourdier also donated one of her late husband’s prized possessions – a Texas license plate bearing the name ASHAKO. According to band “legend,” Terry Bourdier used the word shako (the tall, cylindrical hat worn by band members) to create Arnold Shako/Arnauld Shakeaux, a fictitious member of the band and delighted in playing practical jokes under the pseudonym.
Making Music – The Homer Connection
LSU Alumni President Charlie Roberts and Karen Bourdier.
By Jackie Bartkiewicz
Homer High School students Wayne Richardson and Johnny Gordon likely never thought they would still be making music with their band director – Homer High alum Charlie Roberts – decades beyond graduation in the early sixties. They did just that at the band reunion in September – fifty years after leaving Homer High and nearly forty years after the three were reunited in Tiger Band. Roberts (1957 BACH HS&E, 1968 PHD HS&E), with a bachelor’s degree and memories of four years in Tiger Band, went back to Homer to join the faculty at his alma mater. Among his students were future LSU Tigers Richardson (1964 BACH HS&E) and Gordon (1970 BACH HS&E, 1972 MAST HS&E). In the stage band, dance band, and marching band, they helped to keep the spirit of the Homer High Pelicans alive through music. After seven years of teaching as a high school band director and having completed his master’s degree in music education, Roberts returned to LSU to pursue a Ph.D. He landed a gig as graduate assistant to new band director William F. Swor – and Tiger Band trombonist Richardson and percussionist Gordon were there to greet him. “I did not realize that I would spend the majority of my life here – on faculty and as an administrator – and enjoy a strong affiliation with the band,” said Roberts. Indeed, when he took the reins of institutional advancement in 1984, one of Roberts’ first goals was to bring Tiger Band alums back to campus. It’s been a huge success, with increasing numbers of veteran musicians joining young Tiger Band members for another “Saturday Night in Tiger Stadium.” “The reunions get better each year,” said Roberts. “I look forward to the weekend with my band ‘family,’ and the Homer connection this year was very, very special.”
Johnny Gordon, Wayne Richardson, and LSU Alumni Association President Charlie Roberts.
Wayne Richardson, Charlie Roberts, and Johnny Gordon at Homer High School.
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LSU Alumni Association News
VP for Development, Cook Hotel GM named Jason Ramezan and John Grubb were recently promoted to key positions in the LSU Alumni Association and at The Cook Hotel.
Jason Ramezan
John Grubb
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Association President and CEO Charlie Roberts announced the promotion of Ramezan to vice president for development for the Association and of Grubb as general manager of The Cook Hotel and Conference Center. Several other employees were also promoted. Ramezan replaces development officer Larry Jones, who died in May after 23 years of service to the Association. “Jason is a rising star in alumni circles and an excellent ambassador for the Association,” said Roberts. “He works extremely well with all our constituents and will make a significant impact on building relationships for the support of LSU.” Ramezan joined the Association in 2003 as director of on-campus events and was most recently vice president for alumni relations with responsibility for the sports trips, the chapter program, on-campus events for alumni and students, direct mail, and marketing. He also coordinated alumni participation in the annual Tiger Tour, a sports/ academic showcase sponsored by the Association, Tiger Athletic Foundation, and the LSU Foundation. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2002. Grubb joined the sales team at The Cook Hotel in 2011 as a liaison with the University and area companies. A native of Metairie, La., he moved permanently to Baton Rouge in 1984 as an LSU freshman and retired from the University after 20 years with the College of Science directing communications and alumni relations efforts. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mass communication from the Manship School of Mass Communication and previously worked as a graduate assistant writer, editorial assistant, and advertising sales assistant for LSU Alumni Magazine. “John’s extensive experience in working with the public and his attention to customer service and satisfaction will be invaluable in this position,” Roberts said. “We are delighted and very fortunate to have such a dedicated professional as part of The Cook Hotel team.” Also promoted were John Shorter, director/chapters and sports trips; Amanda Robichaux, assistant director/chapters and sports trips; James Fisher, director/ad sales and assistant director/chapters and sports trips; B.J. Bellow, assistant manager/The Cook Hotel; Tracy Jones, assistant vice president/development and director/mail, and affinity programs; and Thom Fronek, assistant vice president/development and special projects.
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LSU Alumni Association News
Chapter Events Carolinas Chapter – Dan LaFayette, president of the LSU Carolinas Chapter in Charlotte, N.C., presented the LSU Alumni Association with a check for $2,000 to be added to the chapter’s scholarship fund. “The Carolinas Chapter is continuously finding new and innovative ways to raise money in hopes of sending the best and brightest from their area to LSU,” said John Shorter, director of the Association’s chapter program. “Our congratulations go out to Dan and his dedicated chapter for successful efforts.”
Dan LaFayette, John Shorter, Amanda Robichaux, and James Fisher.
Neil Holhmann; Dan LaFayette, chapter president; and Kyle Walker, board member.
Carolinas SEC Kick-Off – The week before the college football season starts, local SEC alumni chapters have a 600+ person tailgating throwdown with each school setting up two pop-up tents. LSU Carolinas Chapter painted the “Eye of the Tiger” image onto a 6’ x 8’ piece of artificial grass, and members painted a tiger eye on canvas during the event. The painting was raffled off during the LSU v. TCU view-in.
Houston-area Tigers at the first Greater Houston Area Send Offs.
Texas Tigers – The Houston Chapter and the North Houston Chapter hosted two separate events for entering freshman students for the First Annual Greater Houston Area Send Offs. The new Tigers, along with their parents and friends, were welcomed into the LSU family by LSU representatives and volunteers. On hand were Darrell Ray, assistant vice chancellor/First Year Experience; Gaines Foster, dean of the College of Humanities & Social Sciences (H&SS); Jill Roshto, H&SS development director; and David Jenny, president, Houston Chapter. Nancy Krawl and Cheryl Fasullo, assisted by various committee members, chaired the event. Breakfast in Atlanta – The E.J. Ourso College of Business hosted a breakfast at the Buckhead Club on Sept. 17 to introduce LSU President King Alexander and Ourso College Dean Richard White to LSU Atlanta Chapter alums. Photo by Sara Clayton
Fred Fletcher, Don Smith, Krista Love, Dean White, President King Alexander, and John Davis.
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LSU-bound freshmen from Greater Atlanta.
Warren Quirret, Georgia recruiter; Don Broussard, Sarah Clayton, Josh Garland, LSU Family Association; Tracy Ferguson, Atlanta LSU family representative; Karen Larson; and Chris Tilley, chapter president.
Sweet Send Off Atlanta – LSU Atlanta hosted twenty-two of the more than fifty Metro Atlanta students headed for LSU last fall at its sixth annual Sweet Send Off reception held at St. Pius X High School in July. The excited young Tigers, accompanied by parents and friends, were welcomed into the LSU family by several chapter board members and volunteers and heard about LSU from current and former students. Josh Garland, assistant director of development for the LSU Family Association, and Tracy Ferguson, LSU family representative for Atlanta, were special guests. This year’s recipients of Atlanta Chapter scholarships are Sam Bonnie, St. Pius X High School; Meagan Molte, Blessed Trinity High School; Peyton Kelley, Westminster Schools; and Rachel Levenstiem, Northview High School.
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LSU Alumni Association News
By Norm Marcocci
Chapter Events D.C. Chapter Happenings
On June 1, the National Capital Chapter teamed up with other D.C.area Louisiana university alumni chapters for the tenth annual Bayou Fete, the largest crawfish boil east of Louisiana. With our sixyear-straight-sold-out crowd and beautiful Yankee summer day, we enjoyed 10,000 pounds of crawfish, jambalaya, corn, potatoes, andouille, and the ever-popular snow balls from LSU-alum-owned Bayou Bakery LSU alums gather with LSU Capitol Hill staffers and interns at the annual Capitol Hill Reception. of Arlington, Va. Entertainment included a moon bounce for the kids, a softball game among the universities, a playground, thirty acres of sprawling picnic area, and live Zydeco music by the Dixie Power Trio.
LSU alumni gather after playing in another funfilled season of softball, sponsored by the Capital Alumni Network.
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More than thirty alumni Capitol Hill staffers, interns, and LSU visitors to the nation’s capital gathered on June 12 for a Louisiana dinner at the Bayou Restaurant in Foggy Bottom. Throughout the summer, LSU participated in the Capital Alumni Network’s co-ed softball league on the National Mall. Aside from being the loudest and most festive team, one of our biggest victories included a rally in the bottom of the last inning to defeat Tulane – keeping the Tiger Rag in our possession. After games, we gathered at a local watering hole to cheer on our Tiger baseball team playing in the College World Series. The chapter sponsored its annual Capitol Hill reception at We the Pizza on July 24 for more than forty LSU alumni, staffers, and interns, and on July 27, some fifty alums attended a Washington Nationals baseball game at Nationals Ballpark – with the Nationals taking down the New York Mets 4-1. On Aug. 2, the chapter members were guests of the U.S. Marine Corps at the USMC Silent Drill Team evening parade at the Marine Barracks. The parade was followed by a gathering at nearby Molly Malone’s. The following day alumni families visited the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial to assist National Park Service employees in cleanup and maintenance. The chapter’s quarterly meeting – open to anyone who bleeds purple and gold – took place on Aug. 21, and the final summer event was the D.C. SEC Kickoff Party, which took place on Aug. 22 at Black Finn Saloon. Football season finds Tiger faithful at several view-in locations in D.C. and Virginia, and halftime includes a fundraising raffle of gift cards, merchandise, and items from D.C. Louisiana restaurants and Louisiana companies. An effort is under way to raise funds to endow the chapter’s first scholarship, and a kickoff party and golf outing – D.C. LSU Tiger Tee-Off – is tentatively set for May 19, 2014, at the Evergreen Country Club, in Haymarket, Va. For information on the golf tourney or any other chapter program, contact Norm Marcocci at 703-263-9771 or normlsu88@yahoo.com. You can also visit www.lsudcalumni.com or www.facebook.com/lsudcalumni. To sign up for the e-mail list, contact dclsualumni@yahoo.com. And remember, you can enjoy the full benefits of both the D.C. chapter and the national LSU Alumni Association for only $50 per year. To join, visit: https://membership.lsualumni.org/lsudc.
you r A lu m n i Dol l a r s at Wor k
Hannah McLain Tom D. Jones, Jr., and Evelyn H. Jones Endowed Flagship Scholarship Dr. Charlie W. Roberts Global Leaders Scholarship
My history with LSU is a little different than most of my friends’ experiences. Born and raised in Texas, I had never heard of Baton Rouge or LSU until the sixth grade, when my dad took a job at LSU. We had no connections to LSU and no family in Louisiana, and we trekked to Baton Rouge right after Hurricane Katrina hit. The new culture I encountered was unlike any other I’d experienced: die-hard fans advancing onto campus days before games, every inhabitable area staked out by purple-and-gold clad alumni, students, and children. It was impressive, and I wondered whether I would be a part of it someday. I had the good fortune of attending LSU Lab School, and over the years I learned more about LSU – the traditions, the academics, and the people. When it was time to apply for college, I thought I wanted to go to school somewhere else because I had already been on campus for six years. LSU was always a possibility, but I never thought I would end up here. I think the people at LSU and the LSU Alumni Association knew long before I did that I would love it here. The great financial opportunities, like TOPS and the Global Leaders Scholarship, drew me into LSU, as well as the Honors College and the Manship School of Mass Communication. I’ve just started my second year, and I have already established many deep connections. I have participated in research for mass communication; attended all of the home football games my first year; and joined The Refuge at The Chapel on the Campus, through which I had the chance to travel to China for two months last summer. I am very thankful to attend LSU, and were it not for the fantastic financial opportunities provided through groups like the LSU Alumni Association, I might not even be here. www.lsualumni.org 1-888-RINGLSU
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LSU Alumni Association News
By Rachel Emanuel Photos provided by Cassidy Nicola Daniel and Andrew Eckles
Tailgating before the game were, from left, bottom row, Joaneane Smith, Neshelle Nogess, Kimberly Robinson, Katrina Pete Dunn, Yosheka Gaston Green, Dianne Galatas, Jacquee Minor, Carolyn Collins, and Karen Beverly; middle, Beverly Williams Wanza, Yvonne Stallings, Felicia Harry, Charlotte Barrow Bertrand, Ivory Toldson, Jarred Williams, and Henry Tillman; back, John Horton, Gary Huntley, Don Lawhorn, Chris Hebert, Marlon Marshall, James Williams, and Joe Lee Lott.
Front, from left, Donald “Trey” Cravins III and Denni Cravins; back, Donald Cravins, Yvette Cravins, and Dominique Cravins.
“The reunion was unforgettable – the best I’ve ever attended! [It was a] humbling experience. It’s as though you placed us in a time machine and brought us up close and personal to the people and events that shaped each decade. It helped put in perspective everything black students have encountered there through the years. I am still going over in my head the stories the older alumni shared with us both during and following the program. Unbelievable! It brought back my spark for LSU! “ –Chante Pryer
Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne salutes the late Kerry Pouciau, the first black Student Government president.
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Chapter Events Honoring the Legacy of A.P. Tureaud, Sr. Marking the 60th anniversary of A.P. Tureaud, Jr., the first black undergraduate to enroll at LSU, the A.P. Tureaud, Sr. Black Alumni Chapter celebrated the history of breaking the color barrier at LSU during its 2013 Reunion Celebration on Sept. 6-7. Honorary chairpersons were Mayor Kip Holden; Cecilia Marshall, wife of the late Justice Thurgood Marshall; and Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League. LSU Alumni Association President Charlie Roberts welcomed guests to the reception for sponsors of the sold-out production Here’s To You, Mr. Tureaud! Friday at the Manship Theater. Special guests included Tureaud, Jr., and members of his family; wife Faye Darensbourg Tureaud; sons Alex Lucille Rucker Gaston, A.P. Tureaud, Jr., Yosheka Tureaud and Andrew (with wife Michelle Gaston Green, and Alfred Green III at the welcome party. and children Drew and Amanda), of Connecticut; sisters Carole, Jane, and Janet, of New Orleans; Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson and her daughter, Rachael Johnson; Judge Sylvia Cooks of the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal; LSU law professor Paul Baier; Interim Vice Provost Kenneth O. Miles, Equity, Diversity & Community Outreach; State Rep. Pat Smith; and Pearl Payne, the 95-year-old LSU graduate and wife of the late Lutrill Payne of Natchitoches, La., the successful plaintiff in the 1952 lawsuit that desegregated the LSU Graduate School. Payne was accompanied by her daughter and son-in-law, Carolyn and Herschel Payne of Atlanta. The show, which marked the first reunion of the LSU Gospel Choir and recognized the first and recently retired choir director Everrett Gordon Parker, was followed by a welcome party. Other events included an alumni authors book signing, a tailgating party, and attendance and view-ins at the LSU-UAB football game. Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity brothers Chris Hebert, Marlon Marshall, Marco Moran, and James Williams perform in a step show for the first time in twenty years.
Above left photo: Cheering on the Tigers were Alfred Green III holding son Malachi-Gaston Green, and Ava Ricks, daughter of Terri and Damiane Ricks and their son, C.J. Center: Jinx Coleman Broussard, seated, an LSU journalism professor and the first African-American to earn a degree in journalism from LSU, took part in the reunion book signing event at Barnes & Noble Bookstore on Saturday. Broussard is pictured with fan Betty Wells. Right: College of Human Sciences & Education Dean Damon Andrew and Pearl Payne, LSU’s first African-American female graduate. at the Manship Theatre.
“On Friday night at the Shaw Center for the Arts an outstanding production took place! It was a monumental feat to capture six decades of the legacy of A.P. Tureaud, Sr.; highlight the LSU Gospel Choir; honor retired choir director Everrett Gordon Parker; and showcase numerous events and noteworthy personalities, but [the production] did it! Yes, it was an impressive and memorable occasion and this brief e-mail is only the “tip” of what happened as Baton Rougeans gathered and celebrated this grand event that was the vision of [event planners].“ –Effie Carter
Thanks to Our Sponsors! Tureaud Legacy Level Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana LSU Alumni Association
Love Purple Level Louisiana Supreme Court Historical Society CWF “Give Greaux Campaign” Glen “Big Baby” Foundation Glenn Armentor Law Firm Jones Walker Kean Miller LLP College of Humanities & Social Science College of Engineering Office for Diversity Programs Visit Baton Rouge
Live Gold Level Dr. Dianna Abney and Dr. Sylvester James Gates Judge Ramona L. Emanuel and Rachel L. Emanuel Renesha Fountain Gordon, Arata, McCollam, Duplantis & Eagan Leo C. Hamilton Hammonds, Sills, Adkins & Guice, LLP Dean Emerita Laura Lindsay Liskow & Lewis, A Professional Law Corporation Louisiana Association for Justice Monjuni’s Italian Resturant Roedel Parsons Koch Blache Balhoff & McCollister Ayan and Mike Rubin Mary K. Scott Shiloh Baptist Church Charitable Foundation Kenneth West
Attorney Wanda Anderson Davis Janice Dupuy Attorney Fernin Eaton Perry Franklin Mamye Hall Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Hebert Allen Lee Office of Multicultural Affairs Paul M. Hebert Law Center Damon Andrew, Dean, College of Human Sciences & Education Saundra McGuire Kim Hunter Reed The Law Office of Terri Porche Ricks, LLC Attorney Roy Rodney Mark Roudane Shows, Cali, and Walsh LLP Sevetri Wilson, SGI
Media Sponsors Cox Communications WBRZ-TV The Advocate The Jim Engster Show
Bridgett Brister, registration chair, chapter presidents John Horton and Forrest Dent Smith; and Gideon Carter enjoy the tailgating.
Gail Grover performs an interpretive dance to “I Wanna Know What Love Is.”
Emcee Whitney Dawn Breaux, at podium, and Jan Barker Alexander introduce LSU’s first African-American homecoming queen Renee Boutte Myer, escorted by her husband, Malcolm Myer.
Student Volunteers African and African-American Studies (AAAS) Program Summer Scholars Black Male Leadership Initiative Fellows Program (LSU-BMLI) LSU African American Cultural Center Ambassadors Baton Rouge Community College LSU Libraries
Associate Athletic Director Verge Ausberry introduces President F. King Alexander, who welcomed those attending the musical production Here’s To You, Mr. Tureaud!
Purple & Gold Patron Level Bayou Research Institute Caryn Cossé Bell Attorney General Buddy Caldwell Georgia Dupre Chadwick Dotson Law Firm, LLC
Tailgating takes its toll, and future Tiger Jeremiah Owens grabs some ZZZZs.
Everrett Gordon Parker, the first director of the LSU Gospel Choir, now retired, takes a bow.
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LSU Alumni Association News
Snapshots
Lt. Col. Elward “Pat” Cortez and LSU Alumni Association President Charlie Roberts.
Purple & Gold at the Front – In 2011, Lt. Col. Elward Cortez, then-commander of the 27th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division COS Marez, Mosul, Iraq, requested an LSU flag to hang in the dining facility. When he returned to the states, he presented the flag – bearing the battalion’s insignia and the certificate verifying that the flag had flown during Operation New Dawn – to the Association. Cortez took the flag with him when he deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan, in 2012 as part of Operation Enduring Freedom and in late August returned it with insignia and certificate.
Professors, Donors Honored – Alumni professors and alumni departmental professors were honored by the LSU Alumni Association at a luncheon on Sept. 6 at the Lod Cook Alumni Center. Several deans and donors also attended the luncheon. Provost Stuart Bell brought greetings from the University, and Chancellor Emeritus James Wharton spoke at the event. The honorees, whose professorship stipends are underwritten by donor endowments and the Association, received silk scarves and ties from the Shelton Gift Shop.
First row, left to right, Karl Roider, Elizabeth Oliver, Marybeth Lima, Jeff Nunn, Ambar Sengupta, Sarah Liggett, Loren Marks, and Robert Tague; second row, Gary Byerly, George Stanley, Ravi Rau, Fran Lawrence, and Bill Demastes; third row, Bill Grimes, Robert Perlis, Stacia Haynie, and Lynn Kennedy; Bradley Schaefer, Robin McCarley, and Jane Cassidy.
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James Parker, Peter Ottsen, Dalton Choiniere, Ryckur Schuttler, and Jessica Alexander were the first to arrive – and the first to join the LSU Alumni Association – at the fall 2013 Grad Fair.
A soon-to-be grad poses in cap and gown.
Drew Terry, with Real Sports Fundraising, left, signs up new LSU Alumni Association members Benjamin Watt and O’Mar Finley.
Candid Campus photographer Patrick Niddrie, center, with Oliver Jones and Portia Johnson.
Greeters Paula and Paul Dupuy, left and right, with Garrin Main, Stephanie Watkins, and John Viviano.
LSU Barnes & Noble Bookstore employee Eary Williams, left, makes sure Amie Aguilar has her tassel for her graduation cap.
Fall Grad Fair – Graduating seniors took advantage of one-stop shopping for graduation needs at the Grad Fair held on Sept. 23-24 at the Lod Cook Alumni Center. The event takes the hassle out of graduation preparation by putting everything needed – caps and gowns, rings, photos, invitations, diploma frames, and more – all one place. More than 1,200 students visited, and 129 soon-to-be alums signed up for discounted membership in the LSU Alumni Association. Providing a quick lunch-on-the-go for the students were Unique Cuisine, Little Caesars Pizza, Jambalaya Shoppe, Walk-Ons Bistreaux & Bar, and Buffalo Wild Wings. Photos by Larry Hubbard
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LSU Alumni Association News
At the Andonie A Season to Remember
By Bud Johnson Photos by Ray Dry and Johnny Gordon
Jim Taylor and Joe May.
Kevin Shipp, Warren Morris, and Eddy Furniss.
LSU Legends make their way to the Andonie Sports Museum every fall. There they are greeted by the Tiger faithful, and they delight their fans with tales of games past, magic moments, and unforgettable teammates.
Jim Taylor, Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Home run hero Warren Morris.
Tommy Hodson and his former coach, Mike Archer, relived the “Earthquake Game” for Tiger fans.
Tommy Hodson, four-time All-SEC quarterback.
Charles Alexander with guests Debra and Robert Dow.
Charles Alexander, College Football Hall of Fame.
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This year seemed special. Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Taylor, home run hero Warren Morris, and four-time All-SEC quarterback Tommy Hodson were there on three Saturdays in September. College Football Hall of Famer Charles Alexander came in October. Tiger Rag’s Jim Engster provided the thorough research and probing questions to help these honored guests recapture the past and delight Tiger fans, former players, and friends. Taylor, a six-time All-Pro, told stories about Green Bay’s glory days under the legendary Vince Lombardi. Taylor’s career highlights included five straight seasons as a 1,000yard rusher for the Packers. In Super Bowl I, he scored the first rushing touchdown. Taylor’s memory of that period kept his audience attentive for an hour. Morris, a mild-mannered banker from Alexandria, quietly relived one of the great moments in LSU sports history. Trailing by one run in the bottom of the ninth in the 1996 College World Series, the Tigers were down to their last out. LSU had the tying run on base. Morris came to bat. On paper, he was an unlikely hero. He had spent most of the season recovering from a broken wrist. He faced Miami All-American closer Robbie Morrison. Morris uncoiled from his left-handed stance on the first pitch and stroked a line drive into the right field stands. It was his only home run of the season and is the only walk-off championship-winning home run in College World Series history. In addition, it is the only two-out, ninth inning walk-off home run in a championship of any collegiate or professional level game. The home run also won Morris the 1997 Showstopper of the Year ESPY Award. Hodson, the only four-time All-SEC quarterback in LSU history, set the scene for the 1988 Earthquake Game against Auburn, just hours before he and his teammates were introduced to the crowd in Tiger Stadium. Alexander is still on a high after being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame this summer. And it showed. He is still proud to be a Tiger!
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LSU Alumni Association News
Photos by Johnny Gordon
LSU Ring Collection Growing Two additions to the LSU Ring Collection were made this fall. Philip G. Rivet donated the ring worn by his father, the late Nicholas Philip Rivet (1942 BACH AGR), and the ring belonging to the late Robert Max Neely (1952 BACH SCI, 1957 MAST SCI) was donated his widow, Ruby Neely, of Scroggins, Texas, and his daughter, Alison Gibbens, of Castle Rock, Colo. The LSU Rings are showcased in the lobby of the Lod Cook Alumni Center. To date, there are twenty-nine rings in the collection, representing the following years: 1906, 1919, 1927, 1930, 1931, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1945, 1948, 1950, 1952, 1957, 1958, 1961, 1969, 1970, 1977, 1981, 1985, 1988, 1989, and 2008. To donate your ring or that of a loved one, contact Jackie Bartkiewicz at jackie@ lsualumni.org or 225-578-3370.
Philip G. Rivet presents his father’s ring to LSU Alumni Association Vice President Jason Ramezan.
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LSU Alumni Association President Charlie Roberts accepts Robert Max Neely’s ring from his widow, Ruby Neely, and daughter Alison Gibbens.
Ruby Neely places her late husband’s ring in the new ring display case.
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Thanks again for a great time and for your help in getting our friend on the bus to the game. See you soon. Geaux Tigers!
–Gay Barron
Traveling
Tigers
T h e O n ly W ay to G e a u x
Sarah and I wanted to let each of you know how much we enjoyed the trip. It was very well organized and was a good time had by all. Most people do not know how much work goes into making a trip like that run smooth. It is very hard to do, especially trying to please that many people. –Gary and Sarah Haynes
By John Grubb | Photos by James Fisher, Johnny Gordon, John Grubb, Amy Parrino, Jason Ramezan, and John Shorter.
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Every great journey has a beginning, middle, and end. And sports trips with the Traveling Tigers are great journeys that rely on teamwork, dedication, and an indomitable Tiger spirit that guarantees an excellent experience for travelers. The
sports
travel
program,
started by the LSU Alumni Association in 1984, welcomed the Tiger Athletic Foundation (TAF) as a partner this year. “Our Traveling Tigers program has always been popular, and the trips get better every year, whether to regular season away games or post-season match-ups,” said Association President/CEO Charlie Roberts. “With TAF on board, we’ll be able to offer great travel packages to even more alumni and friends. The partnership is unbeatable.”
On the cover: Jason Ramezan, Charlie Roberts, Lod Cook, Sarah Mitchell, Katie Collins, Dr. Louis Minsky, Cathy Dardenne, Jay Dardenne, Lauren Regner, Mike Garner, Chrystal Musgrove, Ron Burkhead, Shirley Burkhead, Rosalind Sellers, Ralph Sellers, Steve Tope, Beth Tope, Amanda Robichaux, Wayne Mitchell, Denise Mitchell, and Thom Fronek.
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Thanks so much for orchestrating a great weekend! –Kathy Entes
The beginning
Planning, Traveling
Months of planning – booking hotel room blocks, deciding on various transportation options, and most importantly, securing the coveted game tickets – precede the first guest reservation. Once the assets are in place and the travel packages are built, staffers kick into overdrive, advertising and promoting the trips, making reservations, and – with painstaking patience and attention to detail – preparing travelers’ packets containing name badges, tailgate party wristbands, and game tickets. The scale of travel ramped up considerably for the 2013 football season. With the addition of travelers from the Tiger Athletic Foundation (TAF), which joined forces with the LSU Alumni Association Traveling Tigers this year, the group headed for the season opener totaled nearly 700 Tiger followers. Jason Ramezan has directed the Traveling Tigers program since 2006 and organized successful trips to the Cowboy Classic, just about every SEC school, and post-season bowls in Orlando, Dallas, Atlanta, and New Orleans. “Planning our trips, while certainly challenging, is very rewarding,” said Ramezan. “Our travelers become our friends, and it’s wonderful to see them enjoying themselves while
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following their team. My TAF colleague Joe Carvalhido and I had developed a partnership between the two organizations for the TAF Tailgate Party that precedes home games, and it’s been an amazing success. We knew we could make a Traveling Tigers joint venture work.” TAF President/CEO Ron Richard agrees. “The Traveling Tigers have been running trips for the LSU community for decades,” Richard said. “It is a first-class operation with a first-class staff. Our relationship with the LSU Alumni Association has never been stronger and will continue to grow with this great partnership.” As the sun rose over University Lake on Friday, Aug. 30, travel guests arrived at The Cook Hotel for a complimentary breakfast and check in prior to departing on the bus trip to Dallas. Little did they know that behind the scenes, transport began on Thursday, with Cody Sullivan and Sam Abu-Saleh traveling to Texas in a van loaded with merchandise and signage and Emily Berniard flying ahead to ensure the travelers’ smooth check-in at the Omni and Renaissance Worthington hotels. Many of the travelers on the TCU trip were seasoned travel veterans, including Janet and Johnny Fruge, who made the bus
trip to the Cowboy Classic in 2011. Also along on the trip were Albert “Putty” Laiche, brothers Steven and Justin Poche, and members of the Alleman family – Gizmo, Betty, and Ryan. Alumni staffers Meagan McDaniel, Jamie Bueche, B.J. Bellow, and John Grubb served snacks and visited with passengers as the Calco luxury motor coach cruised comfortably along Highways 190, I-49, and I-20, along with throngs of cars, trucks, and RVs – boasting LSU flags, magnets, and window stickers – headed west. The caravan signaled a huge presence of Tiger fans who would descend on AT&T Stadium – making the home of the Cowboys once again the den of the Tigers. As the bus was loading, vehicles carrying travel staff were making their way from the hotel to Baton Rouge Metro Airport to meet those traveling to Dallas/Love Field on chartered airplanes. Ramezan,
John Shorter, Amanda Robichaux, Shari Covington, and Trudi Schriber readied stations in the charter air terminal to receive guests as they arrived for their early morning departure. Among those traveling with President Charlie Roberts were Lod Cook, Association National Board member Dr. Louis Minsky and wife Lori, Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne and wife Cathy, and Greater Baton Rouge Alumni Chapter members Beth and Steve Tope. Half a dozen motor coaches were waiting at the Dallas airport to transport the hundreds of purple-and-gold-clad travelers to the Fort Worth hotels that became Baton Rouge West for the season-opening weekend. With travelers on their own Friday night, Dr. Vishal Sachdev and Dr. Pami Taylor, Dr. F. James and Rebecca Fleischhauer, and Stan and Carol Williams treated the staff to dinner Del Frisco’s.
Wanted to thank you and your staff for a most organized package to Cowboys Stadium. My husband Art and I were very pleased with the professionalism you showed. We have been Tiger fans since living in BR for thirty years, but we preferred to watch games in the comfort of our home. Now that we are aware of your organization, I am sure we will use your services again. You guys think of everything! –Beth Freedman
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This was our
The Middle
first trip with
Game Day
Before the sun rose over metropolitan Dallas, alumni staffers at both hotels were checking last minute details for the 7 a.m. breakfast buffet and setting up hospitality tables for travelers arriving by car. At the Omni, Amy Parrino and John Gauthier led the staff in the merchandise sales effort. And what an effort it was, selling more than $20,000 in Tiger gear from the Shelton Alumni Gift Shop in just two hours, including shirts, hats, stadium-approved bags, and a host of other LSU items. Trips on this scale required “all hands on deck,” and among those lending a hand with set-up, sales, information, baggage – indeed, whatever detail needed attention – were Association staff members Margot Ardoin, Lauren Regner, Tracy Jones, James Fisher, Thom Fronek, and Herman McKey, along with Kelly Landry and Hannah Chambers from TAF. By mid-afternoon, the Texas heat was on full broil, but the ever-ready Tiger faithful were just getting started as they
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loaded sixteen buses for the Traveling Tigers Tailgate Party in Arlington, Texas. More than 1,000 faithful fans enjoyed food and libations to the Southern-rock sounds provided by Baton Rouge native son David St. Romain before heading to the stadium. The Bayou Bengals manhandled the Oregon Ducks in Cowboys Stadium in 2011 and looked forward to kicking off yet another undefeated season in the massive venue. They would not be disappointed. The TCU signs and chants said Fear the Frogs, but it turned out to be Fear the Hat, Fry the Frogs. The intensity of the game in person was heightened, possibly due to anticipation of everyone who traveled and probably enhanced by the not-so-subtle luminescence of the gigantic screens hovering over the field like ever-present billboards demanding one’s attention. What the stadium lacks in acoustical ambience for the bands performing on field it makes up for in the total fan experience.
Traveling Tigers, and I thought everything was first class. You all did a great job in my estimation. Everything was on time and everyone was very helpful and accommodating. Congrats on a great trip even though it didn’t end like we wanted it to. –John and Debbie Daire
The end
heading home
As the game concluded and the victory secured, fans knew they’d been to yet another great, albeit late (ending at nearly midnight) experience. The return trip to the hotels by bus was both subdued and sublime as the exhaustion of the day mixed with the warm thoughts of fans whose team had just won another season opener, were undefeated in the Cowboys Classic, and who looked forward to week two in Tiger Stadium. After another early breakfast buffet, most travelers headed back to Baton Rouge, but for those extending the Labor Day weekend trip the pace was slower as they lingered over coffee and breakfast while observing the departures. As the bus neared Baton Rouge and the bridge was in sight, one thing was certain – the reins may pass into new hands, but the foundation built by the Association and TAF will carry the program – and the Traveling Tigers – on many great journeys ahead. Indeed, during the next two months, more than 400 Traveling Tigers hit the road – or took to the air – for jaunts to Athens, Ga., for the UGA game; to Starkville, Miss., to take on Mississippi State; to Oxford, Miss., for the Ole Miss match-up; and to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take the field with the Crimson Tide. Not all trips involve the number of attendant staff the TCU trip did, but they all require diligent attention to detail, hours of careful planning and preparation, and taking care of last-minute changes. It’s something the travel staff does well. For example, just a few weeks before the game in Cowboys Stadium, it was
announced that only clear plastic or vinyl bags would be allowed into NFL stadiums. Staffers immediately ordered clear tote bags emblazoned with the Association logo, and they were ready for travelers at check-in. Among the traveling faithful is a trio of grads who “view these trips as highlights of our year.” Dad Ronnie Bourgeois (1966 BACH BUS), of Baton Rouge, and sons Brent (1989 BACH BUS) and Lance (1993 BACH H&SS), of Baton Rouge and Wichita Falls, Texas, respectively, began taking the sports trips together in 2006 and do one or two trips each year. “We grew up with season tickets and tailgating, and these trips are an opportunity for us to go back in time,” writes Lance Bourgeois. “The three of us always have a great time together and a great time with your staff. You all do an incredible job of balancing all the details of the trip while making it look simple and seamless. That’s a skill!” Reservation lists are already filling up for the 2014 trips. “We’re planning five trips next year, three of which – Wisconsin, Auburn, and Arkansas – will be full-blown excursions,” said John Shorter, newly appointed sports trips director. “There are also trips for the Florida and Texas A&M games, and that one will include Thanksgiving dinner and Black Friday shopping at the Galleria in Houston.”
ON THE WEB http://lsualumni.org/traveling-tigers
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Deep underneath the Whillans Ice Stream in West Antarctica lies Lake Whillans, a dark and mysterious subglacial lake. Since the lake was first described in 2007, scientists have been interested in drilling down through the 800 meters of ice that separate the lake from the icy surface of Antarctica in order WRITTEN
By Paige Brown
Photos provided by Brent Christner
to investigate whether it harbors life. The lake has never been breached by humans before – until now. LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2013
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On Jan. 28, 2013, that objective was officially accomplished
by a team of U.S. researchers funded by the National Science Foundation, including Brent Christner, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, and Ph.D. student Amanda Achberger, in a project called the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling program, or WISSARD. “The scientists participating in WISSARD have a common interest in how water affects the properties of the ice stream and if it provides an environment for life underneath the West Antarctica ice,” Christner said. The logistics of the project were daunting. With set-up beginning in October, Christner’s team worked tirelessly to prepare and execute the project, which consisted of a narrow window of opportunity to pull water and sediment samples from the lake up through a narrow hole spanning 2,600 feet of ice – roughly twice the height of the Empire State Building – before the onset of the Antarctic winter. “These are not easy systems to work on, not only because they are in remote locations with harsh conditions but also because once you actually get there, you must penetrate nearly a kilometer of ice to do science,” Christner explained. Despite major challenges, the WISSARD project was successful in obtaining water and sediment samples from Lake Whillans. Over the U.S. winter, Christner’s team joined researchers from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and several other university collaborators in Antarctica. Collaboration has been a key component of the complex project. “There isn’t an
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‘X’ over this lake,” Christner said. “So when you go there, it is not obvious that there is a lake beneath you. Two years before we even arrived onsite to drill, a collaborating geophysical team had to use radar and seismic data to constrain the lake boundaries and characteristics. This data was instrumental in deciding where to drill.” Once the drilling site was located, Christner’s team and collaborators designed, constructed and tested an intricate system for accessing Lake Whillans without contaminating the lake itself or samples with bacteria or chemicals from the surface. The U.S. research team drilled using extremely clean, hot water to prevent contamination of the lake and samples retrieved. “This project required years of preparation and months to execute, all for four days of intense sampling of the lake,” Christner said. “And all of this had never been done before. Once drilling is done, the clock starts ticking, because the ice around the hole begins to freeze and close the hole. So we have a very
The research team could uncover ancient climate and biological records from a time when West Antarctica was ice free and part of the ocean. limited window of sampling opportunity.” The goal of the project was to retrieve pristine samples from the lake in order to test the hypothesis that the lake is an ecosystem for microbial life. “We are interested in how microorganisms that may be present are using nutrients in the system,” Achberger said. “These nutrients have been underneath the ice for hundreds of thousands of years potentially, so it is a really interesting system from that point of view. We are lucky in that we have many different individuals, interests, and goals coming together to understand how this system might be functioning as an ecosystem.” Even as Christner and Achberger were interviewed, water samples were being flown to LSU labs for analysis as researchers could only gather preliminary data. It looks promising. “There absolutely were cells there,” Christner said. “But microbes aren’t like most other organisms that you can identify simply by looking at them. Many microbes look very much the same, even identical, under the microscope. So when we get
the samples back, we will use DNA analysis to investigate and identify the genes of these organisms as a way to tell us what they are related to, and what they might be doing metabolically in the environment.” Christner’s team is interested in investigating how the organisms in the lake are making a living and where they are getting their energy. By examining the contents of the lake’s sediments, they could uncover ancient climate and biological records from a time when West Antarctica was ice free and part of the ocean.
Left photo: Researchers working on the borehole deployment platform. Right: On-site borehole water sampler, equipped with filters of different sizes to capture microbes from lake water.
Paige Brown is a graduate assistant in the Department of Research Communications in the Office of Communications & University Relations and a Ph.D. student at the Manship School of Mass Communication, where she focuses on science journalism and policy. ON THE WEB http://www.wissard. org/about or http://www.youtube. com/watch?feature=player_ embedded&v=Q8-HhJ6vrEA
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Noteworthy
Around
campus
Stephen David Beck, associate dean of the College of Music & Dramatic Arts; William A. Clark, chair of the Department of Political Science; and Roland W. Mitchell, associate director of the School of Education are among forty-nine faculty and administrators from Southeastern Conference universities selected as 2013-14 SEC Academic Leadership Development Program fellows. The program is a professional development program that seeks to identify, prepare, and advance academic leaders for roles within SEC institutions and beyond. Stephen David Beck
Roland W. Mitchell
Luis A. Escobar
William A. Clark
Barry Dellinger
Jessica Lacher-Feldman
Barry Dellinger, the Patrick F. Taylor Chair in the Department of Chemistry and director of the LSU Superfund Research Center, was awarded the 2014 American Chemical Society, or ACS, Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science and Technology. The award, sponsored by the ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry and the ACS journal Environmental Science and Technology, recognizes Dellinger for his pioneering research on the sources, origin, and environmental chemistry of combustion-generated pollutants. Luis A. Escobar, a professor in the Department of Experimental Statistics, recently received the 2013 American Society for Quality, Statistics Division, William G. Hunter Award. The award, presented annually in honor of Hunter, founding chairman of the division, recognizes substantial contributions to statistical consulting, education for practitioners, and integration of statistics with other disciplines, as well as demonstrated excellence in communication and implementing innovative applied statistical methods. Jessica Lacher-Feldman joined the LSU Libraries as head of special collections in June. A native of New York state, she holds an undergraduate degree in French studies and master’s degrees in history and library science (archives concentration) from the University at Albany. Lacher-Feldman was previously at the University of Alabama where she served for thirteen years as a faculty member in the W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library. Her latest book, Exhibits in Archives and Special Collections Libraries, was published in 2013 by the Society of American Archivists. Jared Llorens, Texas Tiger Tournament/Greater Houston Alumni Association Developing Scholar Professor and LSU Public Administration Institute faculty member, was named to editorial posts for two separate journals – Public Administration and Public Personnel Management. He will serve as one of only two U.S. editors for Public Administration, one of the field’s oldest journals. He also will serve on Public Personnel Management’s editorial board. Llorens, who joined the E.J. Ourso College in 2009, earned his Ph.D. in public administration from the University of Georgia in 2007.
Jared Llorens
William “Bill” Richardson
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William “Bill” Richardson, LSU AgCenter Chancellor, has assumed the new role of Vice President of Agriculture and Dean of the College of Agriculture. The move consolidates the college and the LSU AgCenter to better serve the state through more integrated teaching, research, and public service while creating more administrative efficiencies. The consolidation was approved by the LSU Board of Supervisors in September. Kenneth Koonce, former dean of the college, returned to the faculty in October. Over the past several years, LSU and the LSU AgCenter, which were separated in 1972, have discussed ways to combine academic units and expertise to capitalize on shared resources. Having a single identity for agriculture at LSU highlights the University’s commitment to agriculture in the state, creates a more robust program for students, and eliminates stakeholder confusion. In addition, it is anticipated that instructional and research opportunities for faculty and students will grow with an increase in interdisciplinary research involving agriculture.
Magdi Selim, a professor in the School of Plant, Environmental & Soil Sciences, received the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) Liebig Award, the highest award given by IUSS and the global soil science communities. He will accept the award during the 20th World Congress of Soil Science, to be held in Seoul, South Korea, in June 2014. The award consists of an engraved medal, a certificate, a $1,000 honorarium, and financial support to attend the congress. Selim is only the third recipient of the Liebig Award. George Z. Voyiadjis, chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been inducted into the Polish Academy of Sciences. The General Assembly of the Polish Academy of Sciences elected Voyiadjis, who also serves as a Boyd Professor and the Bingham C. Stewart Distinguished Professor of Engineering, as a foreign member for his leading position in science and his significant contribution to the development of cooperation with Poland. He was inducted during the International Conference on Computer Methods in Mechanics in August. Kristin Sosnowsky, associate professor of arts administration and chair of the Department of Theatre and senior associate dean for finance and operations and managing director of Swine Palace, has been named interim dean of the College of Music & Dramatic Arts. She fills the vacancy opened by Laurence Kaptain, who is now director of creative initiatives. Sosnowsky joined LSU in 2001 after three years as executive director of Brandywine Ballet Company in West Chester, Penn. In 1997, she received her Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale School of Drama, where she served as the associate managing director of Yale Repertory Theatre.
George Z. Voyiadjis
Magdi Selim
Kristin Sosnowsky
For the sixth year in a row, LSU has been recognized as one of the top universities in the country by U.S. News & World Report. In its 2014 edition of Best Colleges, LSU is ranked in the first tier for “Best National Universities.” LSU is ranked 68th among public universities and 135th overall. In the overall rankings, LSU is tied at 135th with five other schools, three public – Kansas State University, Ohio University, and University of Cincinnati – and two private – Hofstra University (N.Y.) and New School (N.Y.). LSU has received the 2013 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. This is the second year LSU received a HEED Award, and it was featured along with fifty-five other recipients in the magazine’s November issue. LSU was selected based on exemplary diversity and inclusion initiatives and ability to embrace a broad definition of diversity on campus, including gender, race, ethnicity, veterans, people with disabilities, and members of the LGBT community.
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Around Campus
In Focus
President F. King Alexander chats with Katherine and Dick Juneau.
Provost Stuart Bell, LSU Foundation President Lee Griffin, President F. King Alexander, Shenette Alexander, Tiger Athletic Foundation President Ron Richard, and LSU Alumni Association President Charlie Roberts.
Welcome, President Alexander – Friends of LSU welcomed President F. King Alexander to Baton Rouge on Aug. 13 at a reception sponsored by the LSU Foundation, LSU Alumni Association, and Tiger Athletic Foundation.
Photos by Andrea Barbier Jason Droddy, Dr. Mary Lou Applewhite, and Bob Bozeman.
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Tiger Trivia 1. What name did Tiger basketball star Chris Jackson take after he was drafted by the Denver Nuggets and converted to Islam? Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Metta World Peace None of the above 2. What position did current basketball coach Johnny Jones play as a member of the team? Forward Center Guard Point guard 3. What was Johnny Jones’s nickname as a player? Speedy The Bullet Johnny Rocket Fast Johnny 4. Who was LSU’s first basketball coach? Harry Rabenhorst Sparky Wade Bob Pettit Edgar Wingard Pictured with LSU President F. King Alexander, second from right, are former student body presidents Randy Gurie, Jenee Slocum, state Rep. Steve Carter, Gus Kinchen, Frank Foil, and Laurie White Adams.
5. Who is considered most responsible for the campus landscaping begun in the 1930s? Pike Burden Steele Burden Ollie Steele Burden Jack Burden 6. Which former faculty member and administrator was called “Mr. LSU” for his long service to the University? Fred Frey Fred Kniffen T. Harry Williams Henry Howe 7. What program replaced ROTC at LSU (and other colleges) during World War I? Army Specialized Training Program Scabbard and Blade The Bengal Raiders Student Army Training Corps 8. When did the LSU Agricultural Center become a separate campus within the LSU System? 1906 1958 1972 1988
ODK Reception – Among those attending the Aug. 15 ODK Alumni Chapter reception at Juban’s were several former LSU student body presidents. U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu was guest speaker at the event.
9. What function did the Parker Coliseum serve in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina? An emergency animal shelter A field hospital A staging area for supplies A shelter for medical personnel 10. What did the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 provide for land grant colleges like LSU? It enabled the establishment of It enabled the establishment of programs in veterinary medicine the Cooperative Extension Service It enabled the establishment It enabled the establishment of of ROTC coeducation 11. In what year did female students first outnumber males? 1906 1926 1935 1944 12. When was the LSU Textile and Costume Museum established? 1926 1956 1992 2001 Tiger Trivia is compiled by Barry Cowan, assistant archivist, Hill Memorial Library. Answers: 1:a, 2:c, 3:b, 4:d, 5:b, 6:a, 7:d, 8:c, 9:a, 10:b, 11:d, 12:c
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu and LSU Alumni Association 2007 Young Alumna of the Year Suzanne Perrone.
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Around Campus
In Focus
Jim Engster, Gary Timm, Gresdna Doty, Daniel Sher, Mary Sue Chamber, Wil Calhoun, and Alan Fisher.
M&DA Hall of Distinction – Louisiana Radio Network President Jim Engster joins LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts Hall of Distinction 2013 inductees Gary Timm, representing former School of Music Dean Everett L. Timm; Alumni Professor Emerita Gresdna Doty; former School of Music Dean Daniel Sher; Mary Sue Chambers, who received a bachelor’s degree in music education in 1951; Wil Calhoun, who earned a bachelor’s degree in theatre in 1984; and Alan Fisher, representing Alumni Professor Emeritus Claude L. Shaver. The awards ceremony took place Aug. 25 at The Club at LSU Union Square. Photo by Alice Stout
LSU Rural Life Museum Director David Floyd, LSU Vice Provost for Human Resources & Facilities Management Jane Cassidy, LSU Vice President of Agriculture Bill Richardson, John Noland of the Burden Foundation, LSU Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost Stuart Bell, LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens Resident Director Jeff Kuehny, LSU AgCenter Vice Chancellor John Russin, and Burden Foundation Board President Bob Hawthorne.
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Rebranding Burden – Officials from LSU, the LSU AgCenter, and the Burden Foundation gathered on Sept. 19 to announce the official rebranding of the Burden Center and the adjacent Rural Life Museum as the new Burden Museum & Gardens. During the event, held in the Ione Burden Conference Center, speakers discussed the process of rebranding the facility, including future plans for the respective entities located on the shared Burden Museum & Gardens site – the LSU Rural Life Museum, the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens, and Windrush Gardens. Part of the rebranding effort also includes a new website – www. discoverburden.com. Additional and more user-friendly changes will include uniform signage throughout the property, common hours for the entities at Burden, and a shared visitor’s center. Photo courtesy Sonya T. Gordon, LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens
Manship School Hall of Fame – The Manship School of Mass Communication inducted three new members into its Hall of Fame on Oct. 24 at the Renaissance Hotel. They were the late Kevin Patrick Reilly (2002 HON), former executive officer of the Lamar Advertising Company and sixteen-year member of the Louisiana House of Representatives; Dan Borne (1998 MAST MCOM), president of the Louisiana Chemical Association and the Tiger Stadium and Maravich Assembly Center public address announcer, also known as the “Voice of the Fighting Tigers”; and Jay Perkins (1988 MAST MCOM), Manship School journalism professor. Manship School of Mass Communication Dean Jerry Ceppos, Jay Perkins, DeDe Reilly, representing her late husband, Kevin Reilly, Sr., Jay Perkins, and Dan Borne. Photo by Renee Pierce
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Around Campus
Fall Fest moved from the Quadrangle to the Parade Ground this year.
In Focus
Fall Fest 2013 – More than 30,000 new and returning students, faculty, and staff were welcomed back to campus during Fall Fest on Oct. 11. This year the popular event moved from the Quadrangle to the Parade Ground, added an hour of celebration, and hosted a live hour of music by the CJ Solar Band. The entrance of the Golden Band from Tigerland, along with the Golden Girls and cheerleaders, marked the beginning of the festivities, which included a step show with performances by several LSU fraternities and sororities and the Legacy Dancers. Campus units and area businesses provided information and giveaways, and the event included games and activities, as well as food and drinks. Photos by Eddy Perez
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On the Run with Jeff Nunn
Focus on
Faculty By Emily Herrington Photo by Johnny Gordon
Geology professor Jeff Nunn.
“It’s really nice to have people as they literally walk in the door at LSU. In that first class, they’re sort of mine.”
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Professor Jeff Nunn is constantly running, both literally and figuratively. With two professorships – the Ernest & Alice Neal Professorship of Geology & Geophysics and the Andrew Clinton Pereboom Departmental Professorship in Ethology & Behavior in the Honors College – Nunn teaches four classes a year, is highly active in field research, and works to enrich earth science education in public schools. On top of that, he’s training for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in San Antonio, Texas. Though Nunn said he “foolishly agreed” to run the marathon for his daughter’s thirtieth birthday, he’s been maintaining a thirty-mile-a-week pace as training. He enjoys teaching all of his courses but says the one he gets the most out of is the honors introductory physical geology course. “It’s really nice to have people as they literally walk in the door at LSU and then be able to follow them through. In that first class, they’re sort of mine,” Nunn says. It’s a rewarding feeling to offer students their first exposure to the subject and see them enter the field afterward, according to Nunn. In one instance, he was working with data collected by BP that was provided to him through a former student. The BP employee told Nunn that taking his class led him to his current career. “It’s very satisfying to have that effect on someone,” he says. Nunn is currently researching the Bayou Corne sinkhole in Assumption Parish, which he calls “spectacular and scientifically interesting” on geological, geophysical, and engineering levels. The sinkhole developed overnight in early August 2012 and is currently about 25 acres wide and 750 feet deep. Microseismic activity, or microearthquakes, in the area has also been recorded.
“There are a lot of really interesting things to figure out,” Nunn says, such as how gas pressure influences micro-earthquakes. Nunn thinks it’s important that people understand how to manage natural resources wisely and recognize where they come from, which is why he’s passionate about earth science literacy outreach. Most students receive very little earth science in their schooling, he explains. To help combat that, Nunn holds summer workshops for high school biology teachers in which he takes them on field trips and provides lesson plans. Nunn has been at LSU since 1981, after receiving his Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Originally from Westbrook, Conn., Nunn has “mostly” adjusted to the quirks and mannerisms of the South. The South and Northeast are very different culturally and ethnically, he says. While he still hasn’t picked up locals’ favorite second-person contraction — “y’all” — he’s gotten used to being addressed as “Mr. Jeff ” as opposed to “Mr. Nunn” and other small regional tidbits only outsiders would notice. When he’s not running for marathon training or for a busy work schedule, Nunn enjoys spending his time visiting his grandchildren. With combined families after remarrying, Nunn has eleven grandchildren, most of whom are under the age of five. In 2012, his family welcomed four new grandchildren. Emily Herrington, a senior mass communication major in the Manship School of Mass Communication, is the former managing editor of The Daily Reveille.
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Things Are Looking Up for Johnny Jones
Locker
ROOM By Bud Johnson Photo by Steve Franz
You won’t recognize the LSU men’s basketball team this year. The Tigers are taller, more athletic, and tuba players are confined to the pep band.
Johnny Jones reeled in a recruiting class that was rated in the top ten. Three of those recruits ranked among the top seventy-five players in the country, adding size and versatility to a roster that needed injections of each. Two power forwards – Jarrell Martin (6-9) and Jordan Mickey (6-8) – and point guard Tim Quarterman (6-6) are the reason for the buzz. Martin is versatile enough to play inside and outside. He handles the ball well for a big man. He can score facing the basket, and he can bring you out of your seat with a dunk. The Baton Rouge freshman continues to grow. Jones expects his game to keep pace. Mickey is one of the best athletes on the team. He has a seven-foot-three wingspan and immediately gets your attention as a shot blocker. Quarterman is equally at home at point guard or the wing positions, providing depth and athleticism on the perimeter, which should strengthen LSU’s pressure defense. Although the added size and the ability of several athletes to play more than one position allow LSU to play more pressure defense, Jones is cautious about his youngsters. “I think they will go through the same process as a lot of other guys,” Jones said. “It’s going to take them time to adjust to this level of play.” He is more comfortable in discussing his three returning starters – All-SEC forward Johnny O’Bryant (6-9), who led Head men’s basketball coach Johnny Jones. the Tigers in scoring and rebounding last season; point guard Anthony Hickey (5-11), the SEC leader in steals, and senior Andre Stringer (5-9), LSU’s best three-point marksman. “I think other teams are going to be required to put a lot of attention on Johnny, which will benefit the other guys on our team,” Jones said. “At the same time, the other guys on our team will allow Johnny a little more freedom than last year to execute, pass, and shoot the ball.” “To have a seven-footer who Jones is pleased with Stringer’s development. “I’m a firm believer that you have to measure the guys around the heart, and he has a big heart,” Jones said. “I really can run and jump is very like guys who can put the ball in the hole and he does it as well as anybody. He has special. I can see him getting tremendous leadership.” a lot of quality minutes.” Senior Shavon Coleman (6-5) will probably spend more time on the wing this season since Jones has loaded up on inside players. “I think he will start at the three or the four,” Jones said. “He will be more perimeter oriented this year. That will be beneficial to him, and it will benefit us because it gives us more experience out there.” Coleman, and two sophomore wing players, Malik Morgan (6-5) and Shane Hammink (6-7), will be key figures in the Tigers’ pressure defense this year. Two more newcomers will be battling for playing time inside – junior college transfer John Odo (6-9) of Nigeria and seven-foot freshman Darcy Malone of Australia. “Odo has done a tremendous job defending and being active around the basket,” Jones said. “. . . he will be a significant contributor to the team.” Malone is the seven-foot white guy on this year’s team. Unlike the departed Andrew del Piero, he runs the floor well, has a nice shooting touch from outside, and is likely to play as a freshman. And he doesn’t play a musical instrument. “To have a seven-footer who can run and jump is very special,” Jones said. “He is able to face up from outside and really shoot the basketball. I can see him getting a lot of quality minutes.” Bud Johnson, director of the Andonie Sports Museum, is a former LSU Sports Information Director and author of The Perfect Season: LSU’s Magic Year – 1958.
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LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2013
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Tiger
NATION
1940s
John P. Laborde (1947 H&SS, 1949 JD, HON 1995), of New Orleans, received the 2013 Pope John Paul II Award at the Catholic Foundation annual dinner in November. The award recognizes stewardship exhibited by a Catholic layman of high moral character and exemplary values who has rendered unselfish volunteer service to the institutions and programs of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The recipient must also have volunteer board service and hands-on ministry.
1950s
Jack A. Andonie (1958 BACH SCI, 1962 MD), of Metairie, La., received the 2013 Spirit of Charity Award from the Medical Center of Louisiana Foundation in October. The award is presented annually to a 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 H&SS Humanities & Social Sciences SCI Science BUS Business HS&E Human Sciences & Education ENGR Engineering M&DA Music & Dramatic Arts MCOM Mass Communication SCE School of the Coast & Environment SVM School of Veterinary Medicine SW Social Work
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physician whose career began or was nurtured at Charity Hospital and who has made a significant contribution to medicine and provided exceptional medical care to the community. The recipient of numerous professional and civic awards, Andonie’s most heartwarming project was establishing a free women’s clinic in Granada, Nicaragua, the only permanent, free clinic in the country. Andonie is chair of the LSU Alumni Association Board of Directors. Gary Gerard Hymel (1959 MAST MCOM) was inducted into the Den of Distinction of the Loyola New Orleans School of Mass Communication. Hymel was editor of The Maroon, the student newspaper at Loyola, a reporter and political columnist for the New Orleans States-Item, Louisiana correspondent for Time magazine, and chief of staff for U.S. House majority Leader Hale Boggs and Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, Jr., with whom he wrote the book All Politics Is Local. He was senior vice president of Hill and Knowlton Worldwide and in retirement served four years on the Louisiana Board of Ethics. He and his wife, Winkie, have eight children and sixteen grandchildren, one of whom – Amelie Provosty – is a sophomore in the LSU College of Arts & Design. Gerald L. Walter, Jr. (1958 BACH ENGR, 1962 JD), an attorney with Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was included in Best Lawyers in America for 2014 in the area Baton Rouge Litigation-Environmental.
1960s
W. Arthur Abercrombie, Jr. (1966 BACH BUS, 1969 JD), an attorney with Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was named Baton Rouge Personal Injury Litigation Lawyer of the Year in Best Lawyers in America for 2014.
William A. “Bill” Callegari (1963 BACH ENGR), of Katy, Texas, will retire from the Texas House of Representatives in January 2015. Callegari, who represented District 132, was elected to state office in 2000. He chairs the House Committee on Pensions and House Research Organization and is a senior member of the Natural Resources Committee. He created the Texas Hurricane Center for Innovative Technology and was a twoterm chairman of the Government Efficiency and Reform Committee. He is a board member of the Texas Conservative Coalition and the Texas Legislature Party Caucus and has been honored for his efforts in defense of the sanctity of human life by numerous prolife, pro-family organizations. Callegari received a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Houston in 1972. The William A. Callegari Environmental Center at LSU is named in his honor, and he was recently inducted as a Fellow in the Texas Engineering Foundation. He and his wife, Ann, have been married for fifty years. They have four children and eleven grandchildren. Eugene R. Groves (1967 BACH H&SS, 1970 JD), an attorney with Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was included in Best Lawyers in America for 2014 in the area Baton Rouge Commercial Litigation and Litigation-Construction, Real Estate and Trusts & Estates Lawyer of the Year. Bernette Joshua Johnson (1969 JD), chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, was awarded the Joan Dempsey Klein Award by the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ) on Oct. 10. The award is presented to a judge who brings distinction to her office and to NAWJ as exemplified by its founding mother, Justice Joan Dempsey Klein of
California’s Second District Court of Appeal. As the 2013 recipient, Johnson joins a distinguished list of recipients that includes U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia Sotomayor. J. Clayton Johnson (1965 BACH SCI, 1969 JD), an attorney with Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was included in Best Lawyers in America for 2014 in the area Baton Rouge Oil & Gas Law Lawyer of the Year. Doyle Z. Williams (1962 MAST BUS, 1965 PHD BUS) received an American Accounting Association (AAA) inaugural Lifetime Service Award recognizing his contributions to
accounting education over a sustained period of time. Williams served as coordinator for the area of accounting at Texas Tech University, chair of the Department of Accounting at the University of Southern California (USC), and founding dean of the School of Accounting at USC, followed by two years as interim dean, then dean, of the USC School of Business. He served as dean of the College of Business, which became the Walton College of Business under his deanship, at the University of Arkansas, and was later a senior scholar in accounting at Kennesaw State University. His professional offices and leadership service appointments include serving as president of the AAA, chair of AACSB International, chair of the Education Change Commission, executive director of the Accounting Doctoral Scholars Program, and board
member of the American Institute of CPAs. Williams has authored or coauthored forty-nine articles and several monographs and has contributed to more than ten books. His recognitions include the AICPA’s Gold Medal Award, the AAA’s Outstanding Accounting Educator Award, induction into the LSU College of Business Hall of Distinction, Texas Tech University’s Life-time Achievement in Accounting Education Award, and the Hall of Distinction Award (Long Purple Line) from Northwestern State University. In 2012, he was named to the Journal of Accountancy’s “125 People of Impact in Accounting Since 1887.” He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Northwestern State University of Louisiana in 1960.
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Tiger Nation
1970s
David Bonday (1974 BACH BUS), founder and chief executive officer of LUBA Workers Comp, has been appointed by Gov. Bobby Jindal to the Louisiana Educational Television Authority as an at-large member. Robert L. Coco (1979 BACH ENGR), an attorney with Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was named Baton Rouge Commercial Litigation Lawyer of the Year in Best Lawyers in America for 2014. Vicki M. Crochet (1977 BACH H&SS), an attorney with Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was included in Best Lawyers in America for 2014 in the area Baton Rouge Employment Law-Individuals and Management and Labor LawManagement Lawyer of the Year.
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Dudley DeBosier (1977 BACH BUS, 2000 JD), managing partner of Dudley DeBosier Injury Lawyers, was selected to the 2014 Super Lawyers Louisiana Rising Star List. Super Lawyers recognizes attorneys who demonstrate excellence in the practice of law. Nancy C. Dougherty (1974 BACH H&SS, 1979 JD), an attorney with Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was named Baton Rouge Education Law Lawyer of the Year in Best Lawyers in America for 2014. James L. Ellis (1971 BACH H&SS), an attorney with Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was named Baton Rouge Energy Law Lawyer of the Year in Best Lawyers in America for 2014. Heyward G. Jeffers III (1972 BACH MCOM) won the 2013 Distinguished Military Honor Award presented by the Folds of Honor Foundation. The award, given in memory of fallen Louisiana
military hero, Staff Sgt. William Austin Daniel, honors a life of service to the country and state and is presented annually to a Louisiana military member or veteran who supports the betterment and welfare of other military members, veterans, and the community. Jeffers, staff attorney for the Louisiana Senate, handles Veterans Affairs for the senate. He has assisted in writing resolutions honoring more than 150 fallen heroes and has authored legislative bills that help veterans and their families in matters such as death and disability benefits, finance, education, and housing. He volunteers with Blue Star Mothers and Gold Star Families to recognize armed forces personnel across the globe. A Vietnam veteran, Jeffers served in the U.S. Army from 1967-1971. He received a J.D. in 1992 from Southern University Law Center. He and his wife, Diane, recently welcomed their first grandchild, Nadene Evelyn, the first child of son Stephen and his wife, Kristyn.
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Tiger Nation
Edward Jeffries (1972 MD) was recently named chief operating officer for Baton Rouge General Physicians. Jeffries has served as chief medical officer of Baton Rouge General Physicians since 2009. In addition to his current role as chief medical officer for the network, Jeffries is certified by the American Board of Family Practice. He has practiced family medicine in the Baton Rouge area for more than thirty-five years and served in various roles including president of the Louisiana Academy of Family Physicians and chief of family medicine at Baton Rouge General. Van R. Mayhall, Jr. (1971 JD), author of Judas the Apostle has learned that the iUniverse five-starred novel has been reviewed by Kirkus Reviews and called “A solid thriller with an invigorating religious theme!” J. Michael Parker (1974 BACH BUS, 1978 JD), an attorney with Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was included in Best Lawyers in America for 2014 in the area Baton Rouge Mass Tort Litigation/Class Action Lawyer of the Year.
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Kenneth E. Peacock (1977 MAST BUS, 1979 PHD BUS), chancellor of Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C., has been appointed chairman of the finance committee of the American Council on Education (ACE) Board of Directors finance committee. He also is a member of ACE’s Commission on Internationalization and Global Engagement. His three-year term on the board concludes March 2015. Peacock received his undergraduate degree in accounting at Mars Hill College. Harry J. Philips, Jr. (1972 BACH H&SS, 1983 JD), a partner in Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was included in Best Lawyers in America for 2014 in the area of Commercial Litigation and LitigationBanking & Finance Lawyer of the Year. Ben Scalise (1979 BACH MCOM) has been promoted to chief executive officer of IVIS Public Sector Consulting, a nationwide government services company providing support to the Department of Defense and several civilian federal agencies. Clients include the U.S. Air Force, Missile Defense Agency, Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, and
General Services Administration. Fredrick R. Tulley (1970 BACH H&SS), an attorney with Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was named Baton Rouge Commercial Litigation and LitigationBanking & Finance and Bankruptcy Lawyer of the Year in Best Lawyers in America for 2014. Susan K. Whitelaw (1971 BACH H&SS), a partner in Whitelaw, Rice & Green CPAs LLC, in Shreveport, La., has received the American Institute of CPA (AICPA) 2012 Public Service Award for Individuals. The annual award honors members of the AICPA who have made significant contributions to their communities. She received the award at the fall meeting of the institute’s governing council in Los Angeles. A longtime volunteer with The ARC, Whitelaw is currently annual support committee chair of The Arc of Caddo Bossier’s Foundation Board, is the board’s vice president, and has volunteered as a classroom assistant in The Arc’s Goldman School. She also served on the board of The Arc of the United States. She serves as treasurer for the Hap House board and the Louisiana Disabled Persons Housing Corporation, chaired the Feist Weiller Cancer Center’s annual ball, and served on the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Task
Force. Whitelaw is a member of the National LSU Alumni Association Board of Directors.
1980s
Anne J. Crochet (1980 BACH MCOM, 1983 JD), a partner with Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was included in Best Lawyers in America for 2014 in the area Baton Rouge Environmental Law and Litigation-Environmental Lawyer of the Year. J. Charles Dabadie III (1987 BACH ENGR), plant manager for ExxonMobil Chemical Company Baton Rouge Plastics, has been appointed to University College’s Advisory Board. Dabadie joined
ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge Chemical Plant as the mechanical department head and in 2012 was appointed security, safety, health & environmental manager. He transferred to the Baton Rouge Plastics Plant as plant manager on Aug. 1. Dabadie began his career with Ethyl Corporation in Orangeburg, S.C., as a maintenance engineer. He joined ExxonMobil in 1989, holding various engineering and supervisory assignments – start-up manager, ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge Polyolefins PolyPropylene Line 1; polypropylene operations manager; global polyethylene blow molding product technology manager; and site operations manager. Dabadie serves on the board of Baton Rouge Green and is a past member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Society of Plastic Engineers. He and his wife, Rachel, have four daughters, Lauren, Maggie, Suzanna, and Mary.
Brett P. Furr (1983 BACH H&SS, 1986 JD), an attorney with Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was included in Best Lawyers in America for 2014 in the area Baton Rouge Litigation-Real Estate and Real Estate Law Lawyer of the Year. Ann M. Halphen (1983 BACH EDUC, 1986 JD), an attorney with Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was named Baton Rouge Health Care Law Lawyer of the Year in Best Lawyers in America for 2014. Susan Halsey (1980 BACH BUS, 1983 JD), an attorney in Jackson Walker’s Fort Worth office, was selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America for 2014 in the area of real estate law and was named a 2013 Super Lawyer by Thomson Reuters.
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Tiger Nation
Norman L. “Norm” Marcocci (1988 MPA), of Fairfax, Va., was selected Knight of the Month for September 2013 at the Edward Douglass White Knights of Columbus Council in Arlington. He was recognized for hosting a Washington Nationals baseball outing that has sold out each of the past four years and a King Cake Party that benefits KOVAR, a charity dedicated to helping the intellectually, physically, and developmentally challenged in Virginia. It was the third time Marcocci, a 4th Degree Sir Knight, received the honor. He is currently pursuing a degree in information systems technology at Northern Virginia Community College. Marcocci is secretary of the LSU Washington, D.C., Alumni Chapter and is spearheading the effort to raise money to endow the chapter’s first scholarship. Philip John Meric (1985 BACH AGR) has been a contractor for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers since 1997. He is a database software developer and was recently the leader on the book The Fortress of New Orleans, A Photographic Tour of the Largest Civil Works Program in U.S. History. (See Tigers in Print, page 58) Meric lives in New Orleans with his wife,
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Annette, and their son, Philip, a sophomore at Jesuit High School. Susan Murphy (1980 BACH H&SS) was named to the 2013 class of MacArthur Fellows by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She is one of twenty-four exceptionally creative individuals with a track record of achievement and the potential for even more significant contributions in the future. Fellows receive a no-stringsattached stipend of $625,000, which provides maximum freedom for recipients to follow their own creative vision. Murphy is the H.E. Robbins Professor of Statistics, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry, and a research professor in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She is developing new methodologies to evaluate courses of treatment for individuals coping with chronic or relapsing disorders such as depression or substance abuse. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina and was affiliated with Pennsylvania State University prior to joining the University of Michigan faculty. She is a principal investigator at the Methodology Center of Pennsylvania State University.
Colonel Thomas B. Plunkett III (1980 BACH H&SS, 1983 JD), U.S. Army (Ret.), left, recently officially swore in his son, Second Lieutenant Thomas B. Plunkett IV (2012 BACH M&DA) into the U.S. Army. Following initial officer training, 2nd Lt. Plunkett will be assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky. V. Hugh “Chip” Price, Jr. (1980 DVM), of Shreveport, La. was elected vice chair of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Executive Board in July. He is a professor of molecular and cellular physiology and professor of emergency medicine and director of animal resources at the LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport. Prior to joining the university in 1984, Price was a National Institutes of Health Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Missouri. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1970 to 1974 and in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1982 to 1984. From 1984 to 2007, he served in the U.S. Reserve as a laboratory animal veterinary officer at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Chemical Defense at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. He retired
from the military in 2007 at the rank of lieutenant colonel. Price has served as president of the Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association (LVMA), as a member of the LVMA Board of Directors, as the alternate delegate from the LVMA to the AVMA House of Delegates, and on the House Advisory Committee. He was president of the American Association of Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS) and a member of the AALAS Board of Trustees. He is a member of the Professional Advisory Committee of Southland Home Health Care and has served on the Caddo Parish Animal Control Advisory Board. Price received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Southern Methodist University in 1969.
Michael L. Smith (1981 BACH BUS, 1983 MBA) has been named president and chief executive officer of Oglethorpe Power Corporation. The appointment was effective Nov. 6. Smith has served as the president and chief executive officer of Georgia Transmission Corporation since 2005 and has over thirty years of energy industry experience. During his tenure at Georgia Transmission, assets grew from $1.4 billion to $2.0 billion, and the company set records for improved reliability and service to its members. Prior to joining Georgia Transmission as senior vice president and chief financial officer in 2003, Smith served as executive director of the Committee of Chief Risk Officers, a nonprofit trade association committed to compiling best risk management
practices and standards for the energy industry that he co-founded in 2002. Before that, he held a variety of finance, managerial, and risk management positions in the energy industry. John Stewart (1989 BACH BUS), a partner at Altus Wealth Management in Baton Rouge has managed client relationships and provided client service as an investment adviser for twenty-one years. Stewart teaches a course, “Financial Strategies for Successful Retirement,” through the LSU Division of Continuing Education and offers securities and investment advisory services through Geneos. He received an M.B.A. from the University of New Orleans in 1991.
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Tiger Nation
1990s
Robert W. Barton (1990 BACH H&SS), an attorney with Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was named Baton Rouge Commercial Litigation Lawyer of the Year in Best Lawyers in America for 2014. Jesse Daigle (1994 BACH BUS), a partner at Altus Wealth Management in Baton Rouge, was inducted into the Catholic High School Grizzly Greats Athletic Hall of Fame. Daigle was a three-year starter in football and baseball during his time at Catholic High and took all-state honors in both sports. As a quarterback at LSU, he lettered in 1990, 1991, and 1992 and currently ranks third in single-game passing yards. Ryan Hubbs (1997 BACH BUS, 2001 MBA) received the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (AFCE) 2013 Hubbard Award, presented for the best feature article in Fraud Magazine. Hubbs, president of the Houston AFCE chapter, won the award for his April 2012 article, “Find Deviant Behaviors, Find Fraud? Human Resources Issues Could Uncover Worse Crimes.” Amy C. Lambert (1992 BACH H&SS, 1996 JD), an attorney with Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was included in Best Lawyers in America for 2014 in the area Baton Rouge Commercial Litigation Lawyer of the Year. Amy Groves Lowe (1992 BACH H&SS, 1994 MAST H&SS, 1997 JD), an attorney with Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips, was included in Best Lawyers in America for 2014 in the area Baton Rouge Education Law Lawyer of the Year.
Clarissa A. Preston (1994 BACH H&SS), governmental affairs adviser in the Baton Rouge office of Adams and Reese, has been elected to the board of the National African American Insurance Association (NAAIA). Preston is an American Bar Association-approved certified paralegal and commissioned civil law notary public. She has earned the Associate Professional in Insurance Regulation (APIR) designation through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and maintains a Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) Designation with the National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research. She is the immediate past lieutenant governor of Division 8B of the Kiwanis International Louisiana-Mississippi-West Tennessee District and is the 2011-2015 Division 8B coordinator for the Kiwanis Worldwide ELIMINATE project. She is on the leadership team of the University of Phoenix Alumni Association Baton Rouge Chapter and is the chairperson of its career mentor program. She is a member of the Louisiana Lobbyist Association, the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board hearing committee, a tutor with Boys Hope/Girls Hope, and a Reading Friend for Volunteers in Public Schools. Preston holds an M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix. Ivory Toldson (1996 BACH H&SS) has been named deputy director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The appointment was made by President Barack Obama on Sept. 20. Toldson is an associate professor at Howard University, a senior research analyst for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation,
and editor-in-chief of The Journal of Negro Education. He was on the faculty at Southern University before joining Howard. He conceptualized, developed, and authored the Breaking Barriers series for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and was lead author of The Quest for Excellence: Supporting the Academic Success of Minority Males in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Disciplines. Toldson earned a master’s degree in education from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Temple University. He also received formal training in applied statistics from the University of Michigan and held visiting research and teaching appointments at Emory University, Drexel University, and the Morehouse School of Medicine.
2000s
Ashley Ballard (2003 BACH BUS) and Angela Hayden (2007 BACH AGR) have created a new one-stop resource for moms in the Baton Rouge area with Red Stick Moms Blog, which launched in October. The new site, part of the national City Moms Blog Network, connects moms to information and parenting perspectives unique to the community and brings them together through events, partnerships, and networking. As part of the City Moms Blog Network, Red Stick Moms Blog has some twenty sister sites from across the country, including New Orleans Moms Blog. Visit at www.redstickmomsblog.com and @redstickmoms.
Share Your News Share news of your new job or promotion, your wedding, honors, awards, new babies, and other
celebrations with fellow alumni. To submit an item and photos for publication, e-mail jackie@lsualumni.org or call 225-578-3370.
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LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2013
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Tiger Nation
Jeffrey K. Coreil (2006 BACH BUS, 2009 JD), an attorney with NeunerPate, of Lafayette, La., received a Louisiana State Bar Association 2013 Crystal Gavel award recognizing his outstanding work and efforts in providing pro bono legal services. Coreil provides legal assistance to the Homeless Experience Legal Protection (H.E.L.P.) program and the Protective Order Panel of the Lafayette Volunteer Lawyers organization. In recent years he has taken on a number of pro bono cases for lowincome families and assisted more than two dozen domestic violence victims. Jesse Delerno (2009 BACH MCOM, 2011 MAST HS&E) is production manager for the advertising and development team at Deveney Communication. Prior to joining Deveney, he worked for four years in LSU Athletics, managing publicity and marketing functions for the swimming and diving teams and the women’s tennis programs and assisted with the baseball team. His 2010-11 swimming and diving media guide was voted “Third in the Nation” by the College Sports Information Directors of America and the top Olympic sports guide in the state by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. Scott Gaudin (2004 BACH BUS) has joined Investar Bank as senior vice president to manage its market in West Baton Rouge. He previously was director of business development at Iberville Bank and banking center manager for MidSouth Bank. Gaudin, a resident of Port Allen, La., is a member of the executive committee of the West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce board and chair of its government affairs committee. In
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addition, he is on the board of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, the Iberville Foundation for Academic Excellence, and the LSU National L Club and a member of the Plaquemine Rotary Club. He was a director and vice president of development for Forum 35, a youngleadership organization in Baton Rouge. Bryan Jeansonne (2002 BACH H&SS), a Baton Rouge attorney, was appointed by Gov. Bobby Jindal to serve on the East Baton Rouge Parish Board of Election Supervisors. Allen Richey (2004 BACH H&SS) received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in May. He recently joined McKinsey & Company, Houston, as an associate. Jordan A. Roberts (2008 BACH SCI, 2012 MD) received the College of American Pathologists (CAP) Foundation Leadership Development Award at the college’s annual conference in October. The award applauds his quest to further integrate pathology services into the changing framework of patient care and to deepen his understanding of the links between health policies, patients, providers, and pathologists. Roberts, an anatomical and clinical pathology resident at Houston Methodist Hospital, presented two research poster abstracts at the conference, has two papers submitted for peer-review publication, and also is co-author of a “Case of the Month” published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Louisiana State Medical Society. Melody Robinson (2003 BACH BUS) has joined Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana as digital customer experience administrator. She serves as webmaster for the A.P. Tureaud, Sr., Chapter of the LSU Alumni Association.
2010s
Ashley Braud (2013 BACH AGR), of Baton Rouge, completed a dietetic internship at Camp Victory in Leesville, La., in July. The camp, cosponsored by the American Diabetes Association and Louisiana Lions Club, helps children ages 11-14 with diabetes learn how to manage their disease. Completing a dietetic internship is a step toward attaining the credential of Registered Dietitian after graduation from college. Emily Nickens (2013 BACH AGR), of Ponchatoula, La., completed a dietetic internship at Camp Victory in Leesville, La., in July. The camp, cosponsored by the American Diabetes Association and Louisiana Lions Club, helps children ages 11-14 with diabetes learn how to manage their disease. Completing a dietetic internship is a step toward attaining the credential of Registered Dietitian after graduation from college. Douglas Secrest (2013 BACH BUS) was named by the Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation as the 2013 Esther R. Sawyer Research Award winner. The award is presented to individuals who are entering or who are enrolled in a graduate program in internal auditing or business at an IIA-endorsed internal audit program and have written a manuscript on a specified topic related to modern internal auditing. Secrest, an alumnus of the LSU Center for Internal Auditing program, was a University Medalist and one of two E.J. Ourso College graduates to be certified as a Distinguished Communicator from the Communication Across the Curriculum program. W. Andrew Shockey (2013 BACH ENGR), a Chancellor’s Alumni Scholar, has been accepted to the Georgia Tech-Emory Joint Biomedical Engineering program and is attending Georgia Tech this fall. Shockey is one of thirty-five
students selected for the program, which includes graduates of MIT, Cornell, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Texas A&M, and other major universities. Stephanie Spinella (2012 BACH BUS, 2013 MAST BUS) has joined Zehnder Communications as research and analytics strategist. She conducts and analyzes marketing research for clients such as Visit South Walton, Farmers Insurance, and Gulf Coast Seafood. Spinella previously interned at the LSU Foundation, and she served as president of the LSU Chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals.
BABY
BENGALS
Michael H. “Mike” Woods (1980 JD, 1999 MAST SCI) and his wife, Tracie (1979 BACH H&SS), of Dallas, are proud grandparents of a Emory Merritt Collins, born on Sept. 16, 2013, and of Evelyn Laine “Evie” Collins, born on April 1, 2012, to Drs. Cliff and Katherine Woods Collins, of Dallas. The girls’ paternal great-grandparents are Sugar Woods and the late Dalton Woods (1941 BACH ENGR, 1948 MAST SCI), of Shreveport. Mike Woods serves on the LSU Alumni Association National Board of Directors. Benjamin Richard (2001 BACH AGR) and his wife, Julianna Dawes Richard (2005 BACH BUS), announce the birth of their daughter, Madelyn Estelle, on May 12, 2013. Madelyn weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 21 inches long. She was welcomed home by big sister Adelle. Julianna is the business manager-grants in the E. J. Ourso College of Business. Madelyn’s maternal grandparents are John L. Dawes who completed his postdoc at LSU in 1969, and Mary Lynn Hartman Dawes (1969 BACH H&SS) of Longview, Texas. Kristin Bourgeois Smith (2006 BACH BUS) and Brian Smith (2007 BACH H&SS) announce the birth of their daughter, Zoey Elise, born at 6:18 p.m. on Sept. 10, 2013. Zoey weighed 6 lbs. 13 oz. and measured 20 inches long.
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Tiger Nation
Tigers in Print Christopher E. Cenac, Sr. (attended 1964-66, MD 1971) Livestock Brands and Marks: An Unexpected Bayou Country History 1822-1946 Pioneer Families Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana (University of Mississippi Press) Researching the original brand registration of his great-grandfather Pierre Cenac for his book Eyes of an Eagle, Dr. Christopher Cenac, Sr., discovered a serendipitous trove of local history in the form of long-forgotten volumes in the Terrebonne Parish Courthouse in Houma, La. Three ledger books emerged through the efforts of the local Clerk of Court and became, in themselves, a glimpse into the citizenry of the area’s early agrarian foundations. The ledgers held an unprecedented set of the original livestock brands and marks of bustling bayou cattle country. Each entry furnished a record of the progression of settlement of the parish, because at the dawn of the parish’s founding in 1822 and for decades afterward, virtually everyone owned livestock that needed identification. The registration of a brand often served as the family’s calling card upon making Terrebonne Parish home. The book not only shares the actual registration treasures of all 1140 brands in the brand books but also chronicles a short history of laws governing animal identification and documents advances in forms of ownership identification, and familiarizes the reader with both ancient and more recent livestock breeds that received brands and other marks recorded in those three ledger books.
58 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2013
John A. Graves (1965 BACH ENGR) Philip J. Meric (1985 BACH AGR) The Fortress of New Orleans - A Photographic Louisiana poet Carlos Colón channels the Tour of the Largest Civil Works Program in life of “The King” – Birth of a Rock Star, U.S. History (Evans-Graves Engineers) Matinee Idol, Family Man, Appetites, and As the Greater New Orleans area began On The Road – in contemporary haiku, to recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. Army focusing less on syllabic structure and Corps of Engineers adopted a mission more on content. A few samples: to repair, design, and construct a fivea piece of straw parish perimeter hurricane defense in tousled hair system unlike any other in the world. Louisiana Hayride And they pledged to do it in a mere six molasses moon years or “break our backs trying.” The a peanut butter Fortress of New Orleans is a visual record and ’nanner sammich of representative parts and pieces of not myself tonight the Hurricane and Storm Damage my belt missing Risk Reduction System, a true flooda rhinestone and-surge defense system comprising David G. Baker (2009 MPA) traditional earthen levees and floodwalls Mike the Tiger: The Roar of LSU as well as state-of-the-art flood(LSU Press) control components that are viewed as engineering marvels. It is a book of hope, In a completely updated and visually renewal, and reconstruction. Thousands stunning new edition of Mike the Tiger, of men and women helped in this historic veterinarians David G. Baker and W. Sheldon Bivin tell the story of this famed effort. Millions of man-hours, tons of dirt and concrete, and miles of steel were mascot from the Civil War origins of used to construct this defense system LSU’s fighting tiger tradition to the in the hope of reducing the risk from a present age of social media. They share priceless behind-the-scenes anecdotes as catastrophic event in the future. they chronicle the reign of each of the six Judy Wintle Reynolds Mikes. The book features 200 photos, (1960 BACH EDUC) and in the “More about Mike” section, A Blue Jay’s Choice (AuthorHouse) the authors field the most commonly If you have ever found and rescued a baby asked questions about Mike’s care and lifestyle. Baker has been Mike’s primary animal, then this story will touch your heart. It is about the friendship, trust, veterinarian since 1996; Bivin was his and loyalty a boy experiences with his primary care vet from 1976-1996. two “found” pets, and it lets you witness both the joy he shares with these animals and the difficult decisions he must face. This story is based on a real blue jay. Carlos Colón (1977 MAST HS&E) Haiku Elvis- A Life in 17 Syllables (or Less) (Laughing Cactus Press)
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In Memoriam 1930s Lila May Heck Moreau Bennett, 1933 BACH H&SS, Oct. 2, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Lufra Joseph Trahan, 1934 BACH ENGR, Aug. 22, 2013, Morgan City, La. Emmett C. Wells, Jr., 1936 BACH ENGR, Sept. 25, 2013, San Antonio, Texas
1940s Warren F. d’Aquin, 1949 BACH BUS, Aug. 6, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Annie Wall Bowman, 1944 BACH HS&E, Sept. 1, 2013, New Iberia, La. Joline McMahon Faxon, 1949 BACH MCOM, Sept. 16, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Claude Lewis Fussell, 1949 BACH ENGR, Oct. 12, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Albert L. George, 1948 BACH ENGR, Sept. 6, 2013, Lafayette, La. John William Holeman, 1943 BACH ENGR, 1948 MAST ENGR, Sept. 7, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Mary Eleanor Hollis, 1946 MAST HS&E, Aug. 14, 2013, Hendersonville, Tenn. Clara Campbell Holmes, 1940 MAST, Aug. 21, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. William J. Hughes, Jr., 1948 BACH ENGR, Sept. 6, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Billijune Few Langford, 1943 BACH H&SS, Sept. 30, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. J. Burton LeBlanc, Jr., 1937 BACH H&SS, 1942 JD, July 26, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Sammy Ray, 1942 BACH SCI, Oct. 13, 2013, Galveston, Texas Otha C. Roddey, 1947 BACH ENGR, May 12, 2013, Carlsbad, Calif. Richard Prescott Sr., 1956 BACH SCI, Oct. 9, 2013, St. Francisville, La. Nina Nichols Pugh, 1945 BACH H&SS, 1948 JD, Sept. 30, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. William Thomas “Bill” Welsh, Jr., 1942 BACH H&SS, July 16, 2013, Baton Rouge, La.
1950s Edgar Benton “Ed” Aucoin, Sr., 1951 MAST HS&E, July 13, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Leon S. August, 1950 BACH SCI, 1952 MAST SCI, 1957 PHD SCI, Oct. 8, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Herman J. Carpenter, 1952 BACH ENGR, Aug. 24, 2013, Covington, La. Luther F. Cole, 1950 JD, July 26, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Harry Conrad, 1952 BACH SCI, Oct. 20, 2013, The Woodlands, Texas Doris W. Daigle, 1951 BACH ENGR, Sept. 29, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Robert Louis Dombourian, 1952 BACH BUS, July 19, 2013, River Ridge, La. Gerald Roland Dyson, 1954 MAST ENGR, Sept. 3, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Walter L. “Barney” Garner, Jr., 1955 BACH HS&E, 1968 MAST HS&E, Aug. 6, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Wilbur Amiss Kean, 1953 BACH ENGR, Sept. 1, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Gerald Francis Lofaso, 1952 BACH H&SS, 1954 JD, Sept. 8, 2013, Jennings, La. Robert Neil Loupe, 1958 BACH AGR, 1964 MAST HS&E, Aug. 24, 2013, New Roads, La. Clayton Rogan Mahaffey, Sr., 1951 BACH ENGR, Sept. 29, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Bernard Louis Malone, Jr., 1959 BACH ENGR, 1973 JD, Sept. 3, 2013, Baton Rouge, La.
Martha McVay “Marty” Monrose, 1957 BACH H&SS, Aug. 24, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Willard Joel Pevey, 1952 BACH H&SS, 1957 MD, Sept. 23, 2013, Bogalusa, La. Edward Bane Robert, Jr., 1956 BACH H&SS, Aug. 29, 2013, New Orleans, La. Elizabeth Gail Bryant Robillard, 1958 BACH AGR, 1996 MAST AGR, Aug. 13, 2013, New Roads, La. Louis H. Russell, 1950 BACH ENGR, July 22, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Kenneth W. Tipton, Sr., 1955 BACH AGR, 1959 MAST AGR, Aug. 26, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Warren Virgets, Sr., 1953 BACH HS&E, Aug. 21, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Joseph Lee Waitz, 1957 BACH BUS, 1959 JD, July 16, 2013, Houma, La. Mary Elizabeth Wood, 1950 BACH H&SS, Sept. 25, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Evie Fountain Young, Jr., 1951 BACH AGR, 1953 MAST AGR, Oct. 12, 2013, Amite, La.
1960s Hal Brown, Jr., 1963 BACH ENGR, Aug. 28, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. John Stone Campbell, Jr., 1961 JD, Aug. 21, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Herman “Mack” Ingle, Jr., 1961 MAST ENGR, Sept. 7, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Lauralie Normand Munson, 1965 MAST H&SS, Sept. 22, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Leland Cornelius Ricks, Jr., 1966 BACH HS&E, 1970 MAST HS&E, Aug. 6, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Sheffield Spring, Jr., 1964 BACH BUS, Oct. 15, 2013, Baton Rouge, La.
1970s Warren Wilfred Gallaspy, 1970 BACH H&SS, Aug. 10, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Gregory D. Goldstein, 1973 BACH HS&E, Aug. 13, 2013, Livingston, La. John H. Hilton, 1976 BACH H&SS, 1980 MD, Aug. 2, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Jamie Bennett Kraft, 1973 BACH H&SS, Aug. 8, 2013, Winnfield, La. Harris P. “Paul” Lambert, 1978 BACH H&SS, July 10, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Starr Freeman Murray, 1977 BACH A&D, July 21, 2013, Potomac Falls, Va. Denise Marie Uzee, 1978 BACH H&SS, 1981 MAST HS&E, Sept. 23, 2013, Hammond, La.
1980s Jay S. Brohn, Sr., 1988 BACH ENGR, Oct. 1, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Charles R. Gates, 1983 BACH HS&E, Sept. 23, 2013, Oxford, Miss. Kevin Gerard Hebert, 1981 BACH A&D, Sept. 23, 2013, Brusly, La. Stephanie Murray Lemoine, 1989 BACH H&SS, 1991 MSW, July 20, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. John B McArthur III, 1981 BACH H&SS, Oct. 17, 2013, Baton Rouge, La. Katherine Mary Sylvester, 1984 BACH BUS, Aug. 6, 2013, Baton Rouge, La.
1990s Marion Emily Deane Drummond, 1992 MAST A&D, Aug. 24, 2013, Baton Rouge, La.
2000s Robert Dean Brunson, 2002 MAST H&SS, Sept. 23, 2013, Zachary, La.
Paul Dietzel Former Head Football Coach and Athletic Director Sept. 24, 2013 Baton Rouge, La.
William Heard “Bill” Wright, Jr. Alumnus-by-Choice July 24, 2013 St. Francisville, 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.
60 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2013
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Profile
Tiger Nation
On the Road with Hazy Ray By Ed Cullen
Michael Hayes (2013 BACH M&DA) sweltered in his LSU Band uniform at afternoon football games early in the season. What he remembers best, though, is the exhilaration of night games in a packed Tiger Stadium.
A few days after Hayes graduated in May 2013, he moved to New Orleans to assume the alter ego of P. Michael Hayes II, CEO and cofounder of the five-member band Hazy Ray. Hayes was back in New Orleans in August after a tour that took the band to thirteen states. “We started May 28, finished July 28, two solid months on the road, living out of the van, crashing with friends and family all over the country,” Hayes said. The band performed in Colorado, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The band played closer to home in the fall with gigs in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Houston. At a show Nov. 21 at Chelsea’s in Baton Rouge, the band released a free, five-song CD. The music may be downloaded at www.hazyray.com. His last day in Baton Rouge before starting a summer tour, Hayes talked in a quiet Highland Coffees about his seven years at LSU. “I auditioned at Baylor, TCU, and Texas A&M,” said Hayes, a College Station, Texas, native. He chose LSU after spending summers in Baton Rouge his sophomore and junior years of high school. “LSU set the bar very high,” Hayes said. “Summers, I studied with Joe Skillen (tuba and euphonium), Frank Wickes (then-director of bands), and Seth Orgel (French horn).” As an undergraduate, Hayes studied with (trumpet teacher) Brian Shaw and played in the LSU Jazz Ensemble under Shaw. He earned a bachelor’s degree in music performance (euphonium and trombone). On the road, Hayes doesn’t run into many musicians with performance degrees. “No one’s ever said I wasted my time, but it’s not that common,” he said. “A degree is something to fall back on when you go out into the world of music.” Hazy Ray’s Michael Hayes. Hayes plays trombone and sings a little in Hazy Ray. The trombone has a natural quality in ensembles, Hayes said. “In popular music, having a trombone and an upright base is very different.” “We hear a lot, ‘You guys are different. You’re playing different covers than other bands and in a different style.’ It’s music everyone knows, but it sounds like OUR band,” Hayes said.
For a complete list of events, visit www.lsualumni.org/events/eventscalendar2.asp
62 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2013
Hayes wishes he’d taken business courses at LSU, but he didn’t. “If I had it to do over, I would or I’d take a second major.” His entrepreneurial side made him look upon Hazy Ray as a business, first. “A small percentage of us get it, have the confidence and are willing to put it all into a company,” he said. “If you start a business without thinking you’re going to make money, you shouldn’t start the business.” Over spring break, the band did nine shows in Baton Rouge; Coconut Creek, an hour north of Miami; Gulf Shores, Ala.; and Tampa and Palm Bay, Fla. “We brought tents and sleeping bags, but we ended up staying with family and friends,” he said. Joining Hayes in Team Hazy Ray are co-founder, lead singer, and rhythm guitarist Joshua ‘Ray’ Summey, Houston; Mitch Curtis, upright bass, Akron, Ohio; drummer Willie McCullen, Houston, and lead guitarist Ryan Noormohamed, Midland, Texas. Hayes is 25. Ages of the band members range from 22 to 29. Road trips have been educational: “We learned we could do it,” Hayes said. “We liked our performances. And we didn’t want to kill each other.”
“I auditioned at Baylor, TCU, and Texas A&M. LSU set the bar very high.”
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Profile
Tiger Nation
Creating a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Ecosystem By Andrew Clark
Iceland entrepreneur Bala Kamallakharan
“I don’t have an end in mind,” he said of his ultimate plans with Startup Iceland. “I want to build a vibrant community.”
64 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2013
In the blink of an eye, the entire landscape of Iceland changed in 2008. No, it wasn’t a volcano eruption that forever altered the country. Rather, the small island nation suffered a financial meltdown of epic proportions, crippling the nation’s economic infrastructure, including the banks. Just two years before the collapse, Bala Kamallakharan (1998 MAST BUS, 1999 MAST BUS) moved to Iceland to take an executive director position at Glitnir, one of the country’s largest banks. After the collapse, he had to make a career change – an opportunity he seized in a big way. With a passion for preserving the environment – coupled with a love of entrepreneurship – Kamallakharan has created a life that satisfies both of those desires. These days, he is the CEO of GreenQloud, a company that focuses on environmentally friendly cloud computing. Additionally, he’s the founder of Startup Iceland, an initiative that aids new companies in the nation. With a father who was an entrepreneur, Kamallakharan said launching Startup Iceland was only natural. His goal is to create what he calls a “sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem,” which he aims to do by creating a community among the country’s entrepreneurs. Each of the past two years, Kamallakharan has organized a conference in Reykjavik, replete with speakers from a spectrum of industries, presentations from entrepreneurs, and a “hackathon,” during which teams try to find a solution to a particular problem that has the potential to be developed into a business. In his eyes, Iceland has become one of the most perfect places to create this kind of entrepreneurial network, considering its access to renewable energy sources—not to mention its location just a few hours between the US
and continental Europe. “I don’t have an end in mind,” he said of his ultimate plans for Startup Iceland. “I want to build a vibrant community.” When it comes to day-to-day life with GreenQloud, which is powered entirely by Iceland’s renewable energy resources, Kamallakharan said his responsibilities run the gamut. “A CEO has to do three big things,” he said. “First, you have to make sure you have a world-class team. Second, you have to have enough money in the bank. And third, you have to focus on building strategy and aligning all the stakeholders to that strategy.” Kamallakharan stressed the importance of running a business with a focus on being environmentally friendly as the world continues to use up limited non-renewable energy resources to run its daily operations. “It’s obviously very important from our point of view when two-percent of the carbon emissions in the world are from the information and communication technology industry,” he said. “And that number will double. We have to change that. Energy sources are very important.” For Kamallakharan, it’s not exactly surprising that he’s chosen a career where he has his hands in two different fields. During his LSU days, he received a master’s degree in both economics and international trade and finance, as well as in information sciences. In fact, he found his time in Baton Rouge to be an invaluable investment for his diverse career in Reykjavik. “One of the biggest values to me was the classes I took,” said Kamallakharan. “All of the economics courses taught me about risk, cost and benefit, and my technology classes helped me gauge and use technology much more objectively.” Andrew Clark is a freelance writer based in Boston.
Profile
Faraway Looks with John Jackson Miller By Kurt Anthony Krug Photo by Norma Jean Fochs
a l u m n i
For John Jackson Miller (1992 MAST H&SS), writing comic books and writing novels are distinctively different. “[Writing comics is like writing] a movie script, where someone else is doing all the visualizing. In a novel, I’m able to think more about the details of what characters are thinking and the less visual things like the politics and philosophy behind the stories. The LSU studies were helpful,” said Writer John Jackson Miller. Miller, of Wisconsin. He continued, “I was studying the Soviet Union when the USSR collapsed on my dissertation! So I finished my master’s and moved into the working world as a writer. But the LSU studies came in handy a decade later when I successfully sold my first comics series – Crimson Dynamo, about the first Russian superhero – to Marvel Comics. So it proved to be worthwhile!” Dynamo led to a one-year run on Marvel’s Iron Man. He pitched a single story for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for Dark Horse Comics, which is licensed to publish comic books based on George Lucas’ iconic space opera. A single story turned into writing the monthly series long term, eventually leading to prose novels, including Star Wars: Knight Errant and Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith. His latest novel is Star Wars: Kenobi, which bridges the gap between 2005’s Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope, chronicling Obi-Wan Kenobi’s (played by Alec Guinness and later Ewan McGregor) exile on Tatooine. Wanting nothing more than to watch over the infant Luke Skywalker from afar and keep to himself, ObiWan finds himself protecting the locals from Tusken Raiders and battling Jabba the Hutt. “I had actually developed the story for Kenobi – which is really a Western set on the planet Tatooine at the beginning of [his] sojourn there – as a possible graphic novel several years earlier. The story (was) better suited for prose, though, and so years later I spoke about it with the publishers at Random House,” explained Miller. “The rest is history – the book opened at No. 12 on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list in August. I’m thrilled we were able to do the story. It’s very different – told mostly from the [perspective] of the settlers and Tusken Raiders who encounter him – and really feels like an old Western.” Other recent projects include Star Trek: Absent Enemies, featuring Capt. William Riker from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and an original novel Overdraft: The Orion Offensive. “Unlike Kenobi, which is a full-length novel, Absent Enemies is a novella (following) the adventures of William Riker, former first officer of the Enterprise who captains the U.S.S. Titan now. His wife, Deanna Troi, is on board, as is Tuvok from the Voyager TV series,” said Miller. “My career certainly didn’t go in the direction I imagined when I was studying under great professors like Eugene Wittkopf and Wayne Parent, but I learned a lot that I’m still drawing upon.”
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Profile
Tiger Nation
Joe Nagata: Warrior By Bud Johnson
Football Tiger Joe Nagata. Photo from LSU 1943 Gumbo
66 LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2013
For the late Joe Nagata (1951 BACH AGR), the year 1944 was like no other. Before his twentyfirst birthday, Nagata played a strategic role in LSU’s first bowl victory, and he fought with the most highly decorated unit in American military history, the famous 442nd Regimental Combat Team. On Jan. 1, 1944 – the height of World War II – Tiger coach Bernie Moore inserted Nagata, a Japanese-American, at fullback in the Orange Bowl game against Texas A&M. Nagata was not your proto-typical fullback. He was a slender, 165-pound wingback. It was his ball-handling skills and footwork that Moore wanted in the lineup rather than a fullback, whose strength was blocking and power running. It was a surprising move by the LSU staff. Steve Van Buren, who would later be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was LSU’s primary weapon. In the third game of the regular season, Texas A&M focused its defense on stopping Van Buren, and A&M won, 28-13. World War II shut down many college programs, so the Orange Bowl scheduled a rematch between the Aggies and LSU’s 5-3 Tigers. Van Buren, one of the nation’s most productive running backs, was the drawing card. Moore hoped that tweaking the Tiger offense might puzzle A&M the second time around. Nagata took direct snaps from center in LSU’s version of the Notre Dame box. He stepped forward, pivoted left or right, and handed off to Van Buren. This action froze the A&M linebackers for an instant, allowing Van Buren to capitalize on his explosive speed. This ploy, as well as Nagata’s occasional bursts up the middle on the spinner series, provided the necessary distraction. Van Buren gained 160 of LSU’s 181 yards rushing. The Tigers won 19-14, a satisfying victory for Moore and his collection of 4-Fs. The Orange Bowl trip was one of the highlights of Nagata’s LSU years. Just getting back to Baton Rouge was
a challenge for the team. War-time troop movements kept the Tigers from returning by train, so Baton Rouge banker Lewis Gottleib solved the problem by purchasing eighteen used cars to transport the players. He later sold the cars at his automobile agency. Nagata enjoyed telling of the eventful ride home.”We ran out of gas rationing stamps and couldn’t buy gas,” Nagata once told this writer. “At every gas station we came to, we had to beg the station manager to sell us one gallon of gas, then go across the street and beg another station to sell us a gallon of gas. We did that repeatedly. It took us a lot longer to get home. “Our car broke down at one point,” Nagata said. “It took a couple of days to get it fixed. But we enjoyed swimming in the Gulf of Mexico while we were waiting.”
The Reality of War The inconvenience of war as a civilian soon transformed into the reality of war as a combatant for Nagata. The Nisei, Japanese-Americans, were allowed to enlist in the Army and be assigned to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. By the fall of ’44, Nagata was fighting in the mountains of northern Italy with the 442nd, trying to dislodge the Germans from Italy’s “Gothic Line,” a series of mountainous fortresses defended by 2,300 machine-gun nests and preventing the Allies from entering the Po River Valley, where the Allied superiority in tanks would be exploited. In twenty months and in seven major campaigns in Italy, France, and Central Europe, the 442nd was awarded 18,143 individual metals – including 9,486 Purple Hearts – for an outfit with a maximum strength of 4,500 men. “I was no hero,” Nagata told Marty Mulé of the Times-Picayune. “They kept telling us to take the high ground, and the high ground always had a lot of Germans.” Nagata was awarded the Bronze Star and the Infantry Combat Medal, two decorations always associated with combat. He was involved in three
campaigns with the 442nd Regimental Combat team, including the Po Valley campaign, and awarded eight medals in his tour of duty.
Back to School and Football After the war, he completed his education at LSU and returned to Eunice to build an enduring reputation as a teacher and coach at Eunice High School and St. Edmund High School. Before Joe went to war, Jen Brown, an eighth grader, made the trek to Tiger Stadium with her brother-in-law to see the pride of Eunice play for the Tigers. Little did she realize that No. 11 would one day become her husband. She met Nagata at a dance after he returned to LSU to complete his degree. “He was tall, handsome, and polite,” she recalled. “I knew he was the one.” They were married in 1949. Joe became an assistant football coach at Eunice High. “I didn’t know anything about
football,” Jen said. “But I soon learned that he was very devoted to his job, and apparently he was very good at it.” Although Jen was soon immersed in the activities of the Eunice Bobcats, there was little conversation about Joe’s participation in World War II. “He didn’t talk much about the war,” she said. “But he did tell me that he was afraid. He said he fought with the bravest men he ever met. He said the Japanese-American soldiers from Hawaii were the toughest. Their parents were in camps, detained by the federal government. Joe said those men were determined to prove that they were true Americans and good soldiers.” In twenty-three seasons as head football coach at Eunice High and St. Edmund, Nagata’s teams won 142 games, six district championships, made the state playoffs eleven times, and reached the state finals twice. He died in 2001.
“He passed along that patriotism to his team and his children.”
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Louisiana Tiger Bait
Selected Recipes from L.S.U. Alums... Available at the LSU Alumni Gift Shop located in the lobby of The Cook Hotel 225.383.0241 shop.lsualumni.org
Reserve books toyour Just in t day... for Chri ime stmas! LSU Alumni Magazine | Winter 2013
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Profile
Tiger Nation
Joe Nagata: Warrior Eunice recently celebrated his memory by naming a high school football jamboree in his honor – the Joe Nagata Memorial Jamboree.
Remembering Joe
Joe Nagata in World War II. Photo from LSU 1944 Gumbo
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His widow, Jen, the mother of three and the grandmother of five, is still playing golf at 84. She proudly shows visitors Joe’s medals and stacks of his photographs as football player, soldier, and high school coach. Jen enjoys telling stories about Nagata’s time as a high school football coach and his relationship with his players and coaching rivals. And about his patriotism. And about how he passed along that patriotism to his team and his children. Jen heard first-hand how the FBI came to Eunice after the attack on Pearl Harbor to investigate the Nagata family and their business, the Eunice Market, a small produce store. “The FBI confiscated a short wave radio and about $385.00 and closed the store for three days during their investigation,” Jen said. “But there was no bitterness by any member of the family. From what I have been told, the townspeople were more upset about the investigation than the Nagata family. Clearly, the Nagatas were no security risk. There were no racial remarks directed toward the family by people in Eunice. The citizens of the town stood up for them.”
Joe’s senior season in high school, 1941, brought special honors to the young athlete. He was selected to the all-state football team and chosen to play in allstar games in Texas and Louisiana. All of this brought special pride to his family – and to the town of Eunice. The FBI didn’t realize that Joe Nagata of the Nagata family was a local football hero who was headed to LSU on a football scholarship. The FBI was unaware of the priorities in Cajun Country – even after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan. “Before I married Joe,” Jen recalled, “some women in the Chatagnier community, where I went to school, asked my mother if she was going to allow her daughter to marry a Japanese. She replied, ‘I know him. I think he is a fine man. God made him, and God made me. I don’t see a problem.’” Randy Vidrine played for Nagata at Eunice High and came to appreciate the special qualities of the man. Beyond the practice field and the classroom, they enjoyed friendly games of chess. “Coach Nagata had an impact on thousands of students,” Vidrine said. “Especially those who played for him. He was always focused. Of all our coaches, Coach Nagata was the best. He could inspire you to play hard. Everyone who played for him knew that he respected
us as individuals. He was tough. He was demanding. But you knew that he cared for you. I respected him even more when I found out he had fought with the 442nd Combat Team in World War II. I had an interest in military history and had read a lot about the 442nd. I believe his service with the 442nd made him a stronger person.” After Vidrine’s service in the 82nd Airborne in Vietnam, the bond between the two became stronger. They were no longer coach and player – or opponents in chess. They were men who had known the horrors of war. They had both lost friends in combat and seen men at their side killed by enemy gunfire. “They train you to be a soldier,” Vidrine said. “But in a war you become a warrior. Coach Nagata was a warrior. He rose to the rank of staff sergeant and squad leader in a short period of time.
That was certainly an indication of his performance in battle and his leadership ability. The 442nd had more esprit d’ corps than any other unit. They wanted to prove that they were just as good as any other American, and just as good a soldier as anyone else. They fought with more ferocity.” Bud Johnson, director of the Andonie Sports Museum, is a former LSU Sports Information Director and author of The Perfect Season: LSU’s Magic Year – 1958.
TO U g n i l S e v a r L T THE
Jen Nagata displays her late husband’s medals. Photo by Ray Dry
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LSU Alum is New Chief of SEC’s Fort Worth Office By Ed Cullen
Kristi and David Woodcock.
“They didn’t want me to leave, but no one said, ‘This is a dumb move.’”
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David Woodcock (1992 BACH BUS) changed careers two years ago to small fanfare from his four children. “You’re going to be head of LSU?” said then-10-year-old Charlie Woodcock. Charlie’s older siblings knew Woodcock’s going to the SEC wouldn’t mean moving to Baton Rouge from their home in Austin, Texas. The move was, in fact, to Fort Worth where Woodcock, then a partner in the 750-lawyer firm of Vinson & Elkins, had been named director of the regional U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission office, which oversees federal securities enforcement in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas. Woodcock doubts it registered with his children, who are 16, 13, 11, and 8, when, this summer, he was made chairman of the SEC’s enforcement division financial reporting and auditing task force. The career move meant leaving a firm that catered to some of the world’s most powerful corporations to become the government’s chief detective in a region whose jurisdiction includes Exxon Mobil, Wal-Mart, and ConocoPhillips. There are more than 750 investment advisers and 15,000 broker-dealer branch offices in the Fort Worth jurisdiction, big responsibilities for Woodcock at a fraction of what he was making at Vinson & Elkins. Profits per partner at Vinson & Elkins might top $1.2 million a year. Woodcock makes $200,000 a year with the SEC. “I love coming to work,” said Woodcock, whose wife, Lake Charles, La., native Kristi Rose Woodcock (1992 BACH H&SS), an occupational therapist, encouraged him to take the SEC job. Woodcock inherited a mess at the SEC’s Fort Worth regional office. The previous director resigned under pressure from Congress and the SEC’s inspector general for the office’s mishandling of cases that included the fraud investigation of Houston financier R. Allen Stanford. The failed tycoon was eventually convicted of running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. Woodcock hired twenty additional employees for the now 124-member Fort Worth office. “It sounds corny,” Woodcock said, “but people work well together here.” Investors have to do their homework, he said, but they have to be able to “trust the people bringing investments to them.” Woodcock’s move from big law firm to the SEC didn’t surprise former LSU classmate John Caverlee (1993 BACH BUS), who earned a degree in accounting a year after Woodcock. “David is the rare combination of theoretician and practitioner,” said Caverlee. “He’s a CPA and a lawyer. He’s also a devoted husband and father. Most of all, he’s a thinker with a conscience.” Caverlee, a lawyer at Alston & Bird in Dallas, and Woodcock were classmates at the University of Texas School of Law. After graduating from LSU, Woodcock worked at Ernst & Young in Birmingham for a year as an auditor, then three years at Price Waterhouse in Houston in information systems and risk management before getting his law degree in 2000. While colleagues and others familiar with the workings of the Fort Worth SEC office thought Woodcock was taking the job from hell, Woodcock called the post of director his “dream job.” His predecessor was criticized for ignoring big cases in favor of smaller cases that would boost the office’s statistics, according to Mark Curriden, former legal affairs writer for the Dallas Morning News and founder of TexasLawbook.net, an electronic news source for Texas business lawyers. Curriden was senior communications counsel at Vinson & Elkins. Woodcock’s challenge is motivating his staff to work hard in the face of a daunting workload. Curriden quotes a Woodcock colleague at Vinson & Elkins who said Woodcock’s ability as a “trend spotter” was something the SEC desperately needed. “They didn’t want me to leave,” Woodcock said. “But no one (at Vinson & Elkins) said, ‘This is a dumb move.’” “This job has real meaning,” he said.
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Tigers Around the World LSU Roarks – Frances Prichard
Frances Roark with her great-grandson, Stuart Roark.
Roark (1965 MSW), who turned 92 in November, poses for a photo with her great-grandson, eight-year-old Stuart Roark, a possible fourth-generation LSU Roark. Stuart’s family tree also boasts dad Chad Stuart Roark (1992 BACH H&SS) and mom Laura Vigil Roark (1993 BACH A&D); his late grandfather, Vernon E. Roark, Jr. (1973 BACH MCOM), and grandmother Derrie Boyd Roark Perez (1970 BACH H&SS, 1976 MLS), of Tampa, Fla.; and his greatgrandfather, the late Vernon E. Roark (1949 BACH BUS).
Backpacks and Yaks – Sophomore mass communication major and magazine editorial assistant Hannah McLain joined a group from the The Refuge, a Chapel on the Campus ministry, for a summer project in China, during which some of them backpacked through rural towns and villages in Sichuan Province. “We were looking for minority groups who speak their own distinct languages, and our translators conducted surveys and made recordings,” McLain writes. “As we traveled by van along curving mountain roads, we came upon a tourist stop where yaks, decorated with the garb of the people, were tied up next to the road. My leader knew how much I wanted to see one, so she asked the driver to stop. We each paid 10 yuan - about $1.50 USD - and took turns sitting on one and posing for pictures.” Lucky for us, she was wearing LSU shorts!
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Tigers Around the World Fighting Tigers in the Alps When Jim Arbour’s (1977 BACH BUS) brothers and sisters visited him and wife Candy (1978 BACH BUS) in Magden, Switzerland, in August, he arranged for the Magden Maennerchor (Men’s Choir) to entertain at an informal concert. The choir, which will celebrate its 175th jubilee in 2015, is the oldest continually operating organization in Magden.
“I purchased purple and gold ties for them and worked with our choir director on the music for ‘Hey, Fighting Tigers,’ writes James, who is a member of the choir. “Most of the choir members do not speak any English. We also sang ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’ and some traditional Swiss/German songs.” Making the trip to Switzerland for “Arbours in the Alps 2013” were Peter W. Arbour (1970 BACH H&SS, 1974 JD) and Alice Ford Arbour (1971 BACH H&SS), of Houston; S. Vincent Arbour and Kathryn “Kit” Acree Arbour, of Mobile, Alabama; Ann Frances Arbour Olyniec and Peter Michael Olyniec (1979 MBA), of Houston; Mary Grace Arbour Miller (1971 BACH H&SS) and Ray Miller, of Atlanta; and Julia Arbour McClanahan (1971 BACH HS&E), of Atlanta. The Arbours moved from Houston to Basel, Switzerland, in 2003 with Ciba Specialty Chemicals. In 2008, he joined Syngenta, also headquartered in Basel. “We’re enjoying sharing Tiger spirit across the pond,” Jim writes.
Candy and James Arbour.
Magden Maennerchor (Men´s Choir).
ON THE WEB http://youtu.be/-rUB99OXwRA
Peter W. Arbour, Alice Ford Arbour, S. Vincent Arbour, Kathryn “Kit” Acree Arbour, Ann Frances Arbour Olyniec, Peter Michael Olyniec, Mary Grace Arbour Miller, Julia Arbour McClanahan, Ray Miller, Jim Arbour, and Candy Arbour wait to board the Glacier Express train to Zermatt, Switzerland.
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Tigers Around the World Running of the Bulls – LSU alum Grant Russell (2008 BACH ENGR) joined friends from Southeastern Conference and Big Ten universities for the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, on July 7. “It was our first run, and we ran three times during the festival,” writes Russell. “I would go back in a heartbeat; it was like Mardi Gras on steroids.”
Jeremy Owens, Evan Marshall, Justin Smith, David Porter, Kevin McCoy, Grant Russell, and Drew Verner.
Riding for LA in France – Arthur R. “Art” Richter (1983 MAST AGR) and wife Pamela Kay “PK” (1981 BACH H&SS), share news about their daughter, Kendell, a fifth-year senior in kinesiology at LSU. “In June, Kendell represented the USA at the La Nocturne International Mounted Games competition in St. Sauvant, France,” Art writes. “Kendell is the first rider from Louisiana and first female rider from the South to make this team. She wanted a picture of her French pony with her LSU flag at the competition site.”
Milestone – Edgar L. “Ted” Cox (1947 BACH AGR) and his wife, Mary Louise, celebrated their seventieth wedding anniversary on Aug. 15. Cox writes: “After World War II – in the spring of 1946 – we lived in a mobile home in a trailer court in Baton Rouge. We moved into a hutment for GIs on the lake that September, and in January 1947, we moved into a duplex on Highland Road. We had a two-and-a-half-year-old son, John, who later attended LSU. Just wondered if anyone remembers the little hutments that were built for married WWII GIs.” Write to Ted at edgarcoxe92@yahoo.com
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Tigers Around the World
Kayla Nolan in Nepal.
Nepal Adventure – Kayla Nolan’s (2010 BACH SCI) three-week trip to Nepal in 2012 was supposed to include an eleven-day Mt. Everest Base Camp trek – but she made only nine days of the journey. “Due to a medical emergency, I was evacuated off the mountain and spent two days in a local hospital – but only after I made it to base camp!” she writes. “I also did an elephant back safari and Asia’s second highest bungee jump at 550 feet.” Nolan left an LSU flag at Cafe Danphe Bar, the world’s highest pool bar and restaurant, in Namche Bazaar, Nepal. “The extra day I spent in Namche Bazaar for acclimatization happened to be Thanksgiving Day,” Nolan writes. “A few other American travelers and I celebrated the first Thanksgiving dinner in Namche history, complete with chicken, cabbage, potatoes, Spam, and apple pie! We actually looked into breaking or setting a record for the highest recorded Thanksgiving dinner.”
Get Licensed – The LSU License Plate Program has generated more than $3 million since its inception in 1992; in 2012, it generated $444,286. In Louisiana, $25 of the $26 annual fee goes to scholarship funds. Currently, non-revenuegenerating plates are available in Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas. A second Texas plate, released in September 2010, generates $5 per year per plate in royalties for the University. Visit http://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/lsucom/lsu-license-plate-program. To share a photo of your special plate with readers, send it to jackie@lsualumni.org.
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