LSU Alumni Magazine - Spring 2012

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Spring 2012, Volume 88, Number 1

A Message From the

Chancellor

Lots of Visitors to Our ‘Front Porch’ Sometimes, it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s that you played in the big game.

Although LSU did not prevail in the BCS Championship game on Jan. 9, there are some very distinct benefits to making an appearance in the national title game and having the kind of outstanding football season needed to get there.

First, there is the national exposure that comes with a successful football season that helps raise the profile of an institution when there is academic achievement to go along with it. In 2011, eleven of LSU’s football games were nationally televised, including the national championship game. That means that eleven times people all over the nation had a chance to see what LSU was about and on eleven occasions the University’s promotional television spot was seen by a national audience. By having an undefeated regular season and winning the Southeastern Conference championship game, LSU received a tremendous amount of national and international publicity, exposure for the LSU brand that the University could never have afforded to buy – especially in this era of budget cuts and diminished state support for public higher education.

The opportunity to promote LSU’s academic message in conjunction with its athletic message is invaluable. Throughout the regular football season and especially in the weeks leading up to the national championship game, LSU was able to promote its research and academic messages to media and to fans across Louisiana and beyond. As an example, during early January when all eyes were turned toward LSU, we announced significant research findings, including the discovery of the world’s smallest vertebrate

by Chris Austin of the Museum of Natural Science and the discovery of the origin of the thermonuclear supernova by Physics & Astronomy Professor Bradley Schafer.

Also, there is evidence that playing in the big game equates to an increase in student applications and in donations. After LSU played in the 2003 and 2007 BCS national championships, applications rose significantly, and donations to the University increased. Even before LSU’s appearance in the BCS title game, applications to LSU were up nearly 10 percent from this time last year. It appears that the Tigers’ outstanding regular season may have been enough to attract interest from prospective students. Moreover, our enrollment management staff held a recruiting event the day prior to the BCS game that attracted hundreds of prospective New Orleans area students.

Finally, when LSU plays in the BCS game, the University brings in additional merchandising revenues, proving that the national exposure and success of the football team inspires new fans and creates a desire for supporters to wear the University’s colors, creating exposure for us.

Losing a big game is always difficult, but when a university loses the BCS game, all is not lost.

It has often been said that big-time college athletic programs are the “front porches” of their universities. The more attractive is your front porch, the more people stop and look. This year, LSU had a lot of visitors to our front porch. Now we hope they’ll step inside.

Michael V. Martin Chancellor LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

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Publisher Charlie W. Roberts

Contents

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

a l u m n i

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Features

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30 ROTC at LSU LSU’s ROTC program has dwindled from several thousand cadets in the middle of the last century to a few hundred today.

But that relatively small number of cadets is outstanding, faring well in competition among universities with similar programs, excelling in military testing, and making their commanding officers very proud.

40 LBTC’s Student Incubator Program The Louisiana Business & Technology Center at LSU’s Innovation Park is a major avenue for job creation through smallbusiness incubators and is a cornerstone of the University’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The relatively new business incubator for students, one of just ten in the country, is a success others want to copy.

In Each Issue

24 50 72

1 A Message from the Chancellor 4 President’s Message 6 LSU Alumni Association News 44 Around Campus 50 Locker Room 58 Tiger Nation

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Art Director Chuck Sanchez STUN Design & Advertising Contributors Ashley Berthelot, Ryan Buxton, Barry Cowan, Matt DeVille, Melissa Foley, Ginger Guttner, Bud Johnson, Brenda Macon, Ben Wallace Photography Mike Bedgood, Ronette Boshea, Clearwater Aquarium, Matt DeVille, Ray Dry, Steve Franz, Larry Hubbard, Jeffrey Michael Lien, Matt Palazzolo, Eddy Perez, Jan Ramezan, Maria Sagot, Matthew Wiggins, 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. © 2012 by LSU ALUMNI MAGAZINE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to LSU ALUMNI MAGAZINE, 3838 West Lakeshore Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70808-4686 The mission of the LSU Alumni Association is to protect, promote, and foster the welfare of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College and to create and nurture mutually beneficial relationships between the University and its alumni and friends. The Association, using the talents and resources of alumni and friends of Louisiana State University, supports the University in pursuit of excellence in teaching, research and public service to future and current alumni.

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

Cover: LSU Pershing Rifles Color Guard Photo by Ray Dry Design by Chuck Sanchez/STUN Design

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

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

Jan K. Liuzza, Kenner, La.

President/CEO’s

MESSAGE

Photos by Larry Hubbard

Bigger and Better in 2012 Here we are in 2012. Another year of new challenges and faster solutions.

2011 was a very good year for the LSU Alumni Association thanks to the tremendous support of alumni and friends. Contributions increased, The Cook Hotel occupancy increased, sports trips grew, and more events were scheduled at the Lod Cook Alumni Center. The challenge is to keep the trend moving forward in 2012.

Our first major events this year were the Accolades Banquet and Chapter Leadership Workshop, both of which took place in early February. Eight honorees will be inducted into the Hall of Distinction on March 30, with John S. Butler as Alumnus of the Year and Bradie James as Young Alumnus of the Year.

On May 17 and 18 we will honor the Class of 1962 and our Golden Tigers who graduated more than fifty years ago. As a special recognition for the Golden Tigers, we are trying to locate LSU’s oldest living graduate. If you know of a graduate over ninety years of age, please call Jackie Bartkiewicz at 225-578-3370 or e-mail her at jackie@lsualumni.org.

Another major effort this year will be to increase membership in the Association.

Alumni membership is a major factor in U.S. News & World Report rankings, and it is imperative that we grow our numbers this year to advance in those rankings. Although our giving level is very high, our actual membership is low. Remember, if you belong to a local alumni chapter, your chapter dues do not include national membership.

There are 132 chapters around the world – and we want every one of those chapter members to be a part of the national association. It only takes $50. Visit www. lsualumni.org and click on Join to become a member.

If you are a member, we thank you – and ask you to urge other alums to step up and be counted. In this effort, we will be visiting many of you to personally thank you for your support. Cliff Vannoy, Jason Ramezan, Tracy Jones, Pam Matassa, Amy Parrino, and I will be making these calls. We hope you will welcome us to your home or business to find out more about the benefits of membership.

All in all, we are excited about another year of alumni involvement. This will be my twenty-eighth year with the Association and forty-eighth with LSU. Each year I continue to discover more and more about our great University. And in all these years I have learned that financial support goes a long way in building a greater LSU. Forever LSU

Charlie W. Roberts President/CEO

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From Our Readers

Reading the Winter 2011 edition of the LSU Alumni Magazine was a very memorable experience for me, especially the story about Carl Flores by his son John. I never met Carl, but I could fully relate to his story.

In the summer of 1948 I was eighteen and about to start my third semester, when my father, the dean of the University, advised that I should give serious consideration to my obligation of military service.

(He was a major in WWI.) A week later I was at Fort Hood, Texas, in basic training. Over the next five years, I learned to shoot every gun the army had, got a commission, went through flight school, participated in a police action in the Far East, got married to my girlfriend I met in the seventh grade, and returned to LSU and got my degree in 1957.

I began going to Tiger Stadium in 1936 and never missed a game. In 1959, when Billy Cannon made his run, my bride, Martha, went into labor, and we went directly from the game to the hospital. Jeannie Frey was born the next morning. When asked if I had decided on a name for that beautiful baby, I replied, “Sure – Billy Cannon Frey.”

Jeannie was the star of the nursery.

Now, for the purpose of this epistle. In 1971, LSU played Notre Dame in the first nationally televised college football game at night. I got my good buddy, Evans “Blackie” Howell (also an LSU alum and a pilot) to go with me so he could hold the plane in a steep bank while I shot the photos. Next I turned on the landing lights and did a fourturn spin. We returned to the airport and drove to the stadium. It was spooky; there was hardly a car on the street. Everyone was at the game or at a bar or at home watching the TV. I have been told that it was the most watched LSU game in history. High adventure and great fun.

Editor’s note: Fred C. Frey, Jr. – a Korean War veteran, aviator, and photographer – sent a copy of the stadium photograph to Carl Flores.

Fred C. Frey, Jr.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

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LSU Alumni Association

news

Alumni Golf Classic Benefactor Lod Cook Hits Opening Tee Shot

By Matt DeVille Photos by Larry Hubbard

John Shelton, Theresa Gallion, Lod Cook, and Stan Williams.

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Augusta National Golf Club honors the game’s greatest golfers by inviting past champions to hit a ceremonial first tee shot to open the Masters tournament every April. In years past, the trio of Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, and Byron Nelson entertained the patrons of Augusta by teeing it up at sunrise on Thursday to open the first round of the Masters. Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus continued the tradition of the ceremonial tee shot following the passing of the original big three.

The LSU Alumni Association spent the month of October recognizing Lod Cook, its greatest member and benefactor, with a number of honors and distinctions. On Oct. 7, Cook was saluted with a nod from Gov. Bobby Jindal proclaiming Lod Cook Day, and he received the key to the city of Baton Rouge from Major Kip Holden in conjunction with the tenth anniversary celebration of The Cook Hotel.

Among his many professional and philanthropic honors and accomplishments, Cook is a member of the prestigious Augusta National Golf Club. In the spirit of Augusta National and The Masters, the Association invited Cook to hit a ceremonial tee shot to kick off the 2011 LSU Alumni Golf Classic presented by AT&T. “I hope I don’t disappoint anyone,” said Cook, the 83-year-old former CEO of ARCO, as he hit a few balls on the driving range at the Oaks at Sherwood Golf Club in Baton Rouge.

Prior to the start of the tournament, eighty-plus golfers made their way to the No. 10 tee box for Cook’s ceremonial swing. After a brief introduction, Cook welcomed the golfers to the tournament, talked for a minute about his membership at Augusta, then teed up a bright white Titleist and took dead aim. “Let’s get a good one now,” Cook said as he nervously adjusted his grip.

The golfers applauded loudly as Cook dispatched a well-struck tee shot down the left side of the fairway. “Whew,” Cook joked as he bent down to pick up his tee.

A number of the golfers in the field weren’t LSU alums and had never seen Cook.

But, living in Baton Rouge, they were familiar with the famous name and listened intently as he told stories about playing one of the most famous golf courses in the world. “What a treasure,” said Layne McDaniel, 1981 LSU graduate and member of the Oaks at Sherwood Golf Club. “It’s not every day you get the opportunity to meet a member of Augusta National.”

Daniel Preston, the general manager and PGA professional at the Oaks, was equally in awe. “It was an honor to have Mr. Cook here today,” Preston said. “Having a member of Augusta National on our golf course – there aren’t many places that can say that.”

Championship team members Kaylor Timmons, Bo Nichols, Mike Cave, and Brent Strothers.

Thanks to Our Sponsors Title Sponsor: AT&T Major Sponsor: Woodrow Wilson Construction • Corporate Sponsors: Coca-Cola and Mockler Beverage • Hole Sponsors: Action Advertising, Baton Rouge Printing, Buffalo Wild Wings, Burkhead Family, Chad Lemaire, Cox Sports Television, Ivy and Archer Frierson Family, John Shelton, Liberty Mutual, Lyons Specialty, Maxwell Desselle, Mike Woods, Northwestern Mutual, Ramezan Family, Shreveport Physical Therapy, Theresa Gallion, Walk-Ons, and Woodrow Wilson Construction • Putting Contest Sponsor: Premier Sports • Hole-in-One Sponsors: Gerry Lane Enterprises and Liberty Mutual John Richards holds his prize check on the putting green.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

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LSU Alumni Association News

2012 Hall of Distinction Eight notable alumni will be inducted into the LSU Alumni Association Hall of Distinction on March 30.

Alumnus of the Year John S. Butler A distinguished scholar, lecturer, author, international business consultant, economic adviser, and CEO of one of the nation’s most prolific institutes for the creation of capital, John Butler holds the Herb Kelleher Chair in Entrepreneurship and the J. Marion West Chair for Constructive Capitalism at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a former member of the Association’s National Board of Directors.

Young Alumnus of the Year Bradie James Dallas Cowboys linebacker Bradie James launched his Foundation 56 in 2007 to honor his mother’s memory by helping others overcome breast cancer. He has teamed up with his alma mater to create the Etta James Memorial meet, a gymnastics event for breast cancer awareness that attracts thousands of fans and donors to the Maravich Assembly Center annually.

Kurt Culbertson Kurt Culbertson is chairman of the board and CEO of DesignWorkshop, a landscape architecture, urban design, and strategic services firm based in Aspen, Colo. He is a major supporter of the School of Landscape Architecture and was one of the driving forces in the fundraising campaign to raise $4,000,000 to name the school for its founder, Robert “Doc” Reich.

Joseph D. Fail Joseph Fail is president and majority stockholder of the family-owned Telephone Electronics Corporation, or TEC, a holding company for numerous telecommunications subsidiaries in the southeastern United States. He is a longtime supporter of the LSU Alumni Association, and the Joseph D. Fail room in The Cook Hotel and Conference Center bears his name.

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David B. Means III Active in DeSoto Parish business and civic endeavors, David Means served on the board of the DeSoto Parish Farm Bureau, DeSoto Soil and Water Conservation Committee, Community Bank & Trust, and the Louisiana Angus Association. He was named DeSoto Parish Alumnus of the Year in 2004 and the College of Agriculture Outstanding Alumnus in 2007.

James P. Richards, Jr. Co-founder and principal in TOWNSCAPE, Inc., a Fort Worthbased landscape architecture firm, James Richards is an award-winning designer, writer, and illustrator. His work spans landscape architecture, town planning, and urban design. He serves on the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture Advisory Board and was in the core group of alumni who raised money to name the school and to endow the Max Z. Conrad Lecture Series.

Donald Welge Donald Welge, of Chester, Ill., is perhaps most recognized for his chain of donut shops – Mary Lee Donuts. A major benefactor of the Department of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness, he received the College of Agriculture Outstanding Alumni Award in 2003 and served on the Dean’s Strategic Planning committee in 2009-10.

Claude O. West President of Westco Land, LLC, and West Foundation Inc., Claude West is a charter member of the Tiger Athletic Foundation and a past member of the LSU Foundation. An active member of the Webster Parish Alumni Chapter, he received an LSU Alumni Association Chapter Service Award in 1988.

LSU Alumni Association

2012 event Calendar March 25 30

Lod Cook Bridal Experience Hall of Distinction

April 16 24

LSU Alumni Golf Tournament Graduation Fair

May 5 11 17-18

Kentucky Derby Party Alumni/Hotel Board of Directors Meeting Golden Tigers Reunion

June 28

Retired Faculty/Staff Independence Day Celebration

August 10 10

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

September 1 8 12 15 17-18 28-29 29

LSU vs. North Texas (H) LSU vs. Washington (H) Fresh Fest LSU vs. Idaho (H) Graduation Fair Band Reunion LSU vs. Towson (H)

October 13

LSU vs. South Carolina (H)

November 1 3 10 13 16

Scholars Banquet LSU vs. Alabama (H) LSU vs. Ole Miss (H) Senior Ring Ceremony Alumni/Hotel Board of Directors Meeting

December 11 31

Retired Faculty/Staff Christmas Party New Years Eve Dinner

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

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LSU Alumni Association News

Homecoming 2011 Parade, Court Presentation, Gridiron Victory Highlight Homecoming Week

Story by Matt Deville and Melissa Foley Photos by Matt Deville

Mac Wallace, far right, with guests Wynn McMullen, Andy MacKenzie, and Karen Peterson wait for the parade.

2011 LSU Alumni Association board chair Guy Campbell waves to the crowd.

Future Tigers pose with Mike at the Andonie Sports Museum.

Chancellor Mike and Jan Martin throw beads to Tiger fans.

Former LSU football and baseball standout Chad Jones served as grand marshal of the 2011 Homecoming Parade.

It was a festive weekend on campus as LSU celebrated Homecoming Nov. 12.

Homecoming Queen Mo Isom and King Zachary Corbin.

Photo by Steve Franz/LSU Sports Information

Mike the Tiger and LSU Tiger Girls.

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A week of alumni events, reunions, and student activities culminated with the annual Homecoming Parade, which rolled through campus Saturday morning. Former LSU football and baseball standout Chad Jones served as grand marshal.

The No. 1 ranked Tigers rolled to a 42-9 victory over the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. It marks the first time since 1958 the Bayou Bengals have opened the season 10-0.

At halftime, LSU soccer standout Mo Isom, a broadcast journalism major from Marietta, Ga., was announced as the 2011 Homecoming queen, and senior Zachary Corbin, a finance major from Slidell, La., was crowned Homecoming king.

LSU’s Homecoming tradition spans more than a century. In 1910, LSU alumni gathered together for the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of LSU, the first recorded gathering of LSU alumni. It wasn’t until 1922 that Homecoming was associated with a home football game. And that year LSU graduates turned out to see the Tigers defeat Tulane, 24-14.

Three years later, on Oct. 10, 1925, LSU celebrated its first official Homecoming.

Festivities included a pep rally and concert, and the alumni had a special section reserved for them at the football game against Alabama.

In 1933, LSU selected its first Homecoming queen. Marguerite Bass was chosen by the student body president and reigned with a princess and seven maids. The University selected its first African-American Homecoming queen in 1991 with the election of Renee Boutte. The following year, LSU began selecting a Homecoming king to reign with the queen.

LSU Alumni Association

chapter calendar

April 21

Miami Chapter Crawfish Boil Eric Brumfield eric.brumfield@lsusouthflorida.com

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Las Vegas Chapter Crawfish Boil Kathy Fives kathyfives@sincitytigers.com

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Wilmington, N.C. Chapter Crawfish Boil Angie Ball ball@industrialpumpservice.com

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Jackson, Miss., Chapter Crawfish Boil Heath Aucoin heath.aucoin@gmail.com

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Houston Chapter Crawfish Boil Joshua Anderson janderson@ccmclending.com

May 5

Richmond, Va., Chapter Crawfish Boil Markie Russell carlmarkie@aol.com

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Orlando Chapter Crawfish Boil Toni Harrell orlandotigers@gmail.com

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Los Angeles Chapter Crawfish Boil Karen Lear krlear@yahoo.com

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Raleigh, N.C., Chapter Crawfish Boil Paul Heroy pheroy@yahoo.com

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Indianapolis, Ind., Chapter Crawfish Boil Susan Aycock lsuindianachapter@hotmail.com

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San Diego Chapter Crawfish Boil Adrienne Spelyng adriennespelyng@yahoo.com

July 14

DeSoto Parish Golf Classic and Banquet Gil Rew gillisrew@aol.com

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LSU Alumni Association News

Senior Rings Family Connections Make Ceremony Special

By Jackie Bartkiewicz Photos by Matt DeVille

Rob Landry, center, with his parents, Bobby and Terri Lyle-Landry.

“I was thrilled to be able to carry on his legacy this way.”

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Most of the 250 class rings given out at Senior Ring Ceremony were shiny new ones. And most of the soon-to-be graduates in the audience were in their early twenties.

There were two exceptions. A 1951 LSU senior ring was nestled in one of the shiny rosewood ring boxes, and a 1981 graduate sat among the honorees.

Rob Landry, of Mandeville, La., a December 2011 mass communication graduate, put a vintage ring on his finger at the ceremony held Nov. 15 at the Lod Cook Alumni Center. The ring had belonged to his grandfather, James “Jim” Lyle (1951 BACH EDUC), who died in 2010.

“The ring meant the world to my grandfather, and for me to have it in my hands and put it on my finger was an overwhelming feeling,” said Rob Landry. “I was thrilled to be able to carry on his legacy this way. I couldn’t think of a better way to honor him than to wear his ring with the same amount of pride that he did.”

Lyle, a native of El Dorado, Ark., attended LSU on a football scholarship, playing defensive end from 1947-50. He was a member of the Cinderella Team of 1949 – Tigers who defeated three conference champions, Rice (Southwest), North Carolina (ACC), and Tulane (Southeastern) – and played Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl game, Jan. 1, 1950.

“Dad always said he wanted Rob to have his ring,” said Terri Lyle-Landry (1980 BACH HSS).

She has part of her dad’s ring, too.

“The ring had to be resized because dad wore a size twelve ring; Rob’s is nine and a half. I asked the jeweler what he did with the gold he cut out, and when he said he

usually kept it, I said, ‘No, no, no!’ and had it made into this,” she said, pointing to an initial pendant with the letter “L.” Rob Landry’s father, Bobby Landry (1976 BACH HSS, 1979 MAST BUS), was also on hand for the ceremony.

Surprise!

Senator-Elect R.L. “Bret” Allain II (1980 BACH ENGR), of Jeanerette, La., expected to sit with his wife, Kim, to watch their daughter, Emma, receive Mike the Tiger poses with Emma Allain and her father, Bret Allain. her senior ring. Mom and daughter had other plans.

“My children and I wanted to surprise Bret with his LSU ring at the ring ceremony,” said Kim Allain.

And they did! Until the family arrived at the Lod Cook Alumni Center, Bret Allain didn’t know that he would be sitting among the honorees, rather than in the audience.

“My dad never got a ring when he graduated from LSU in agricultural engineering, so my mom and I decided to surprise him – even though he said he didn’t want one,” said Emma Allain. “It was a memorable moment to share with my dad especially because we will both have engineering degrees as second- and third-generation LSU graduates.

I decided to get a senior ring to have a reminder of all of my accomplishments at LSU, and now my dad can have one too.”

Even as Bret Allain jokingly murmured to his wife and daughter, “I’ll get you back for this,” he admitted to being delighted.

“I couldn’t afford to buy a ring when I graduated,” he said. “I was very touched that my family surprised me at the ring ceremony with my LSU ring. It was even more meaningful sharing the ceremony and being presented with my daughter.”

Michelle Owens and Stephen Owens.

Pre-School through College Twins Michelle Owens and Stephen Owens, of Metairie, La., both May 2012 graduates, followed each other across the stage to receive their rings from Mike the Tiger.

“The ring ceremony was very family oriented, even more so for me,” said Michelle Owens, an elementary education major. “The ceremony was special in that it was the first time that my twin brother and I were recognized simultaneously for our academic achievements at LSU.” Stephen Owens, who will earn a degree in mass communication, echoed her sentiments.

“It was very special for me to receive my LSU ring at the same time as my sister,” he said. “We graduated from pre-school together. Now we’ll graduate from college together.”

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LSU Alumni Association News

Traveling Tigers BCS in the Big Easy Not a Total Downer

By Matt DeVille Photos by Matt DeVille and Jan Ramezan

A Tiger Band welcome at the Sheraton.

While the “big game” turned out to be a drag for Tiger fans, the New Orleans experience was not a total loss. More than 500 LSU supporters joined the LSU Alumni Association for a weekend of food and festivities leading up to the BCS National Championship game.

Headquartered at the Sheraton on Canal Street, fans were treated to first-class service by the Association’s staff. “We hope everyone had a great time,” said Jason Ramezan, vice president of alumni relations. “Obviously the game didn’t turn out like we wanted, but we hope everyone enjoyed themselves while they were here.”

Upon arrival, Traveling Tigers received a “swag bag” filled with an assortment of gifts and goodies provided by the Association and its generous championship sponsors, Raising Cane’s, Walk-On’s and Jane Olson M.D. The Association hosted a number of events including a hospitality suite, a Sunday welcome reception sponsored by Raising Cane’s and a gameday tailgate party at the Hyatt co-hosted with the Tiger Athletic Foundation.

“Everything went just as we planned,” Ramezan said. “We wish that the outcome of the game would have been different, but we feel as if everyone had a great time. The Tigers still had a great season, and we look forward to another season of success for Coach Miles and the Tigers in 2012.”

Bill Conti, Jaye Brice, Rachel Wade, Charlie Roberts, and Buddy Brice.

Jeff Ramezan and Chrystal Musgrove sample the tailgate treats.

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Rosemary and Bill Wilhelm with Bill and Judy Hoffman.

Ronald and Shirley Burkhead, Tootie Anderson, and Cyndi Anderson.

LSU Alumni Association News

Coach of the Year – LSU Coach Les Miles was named the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year at a special ceremony held at the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans prior to the BCS Championship game. Miles, joined by winners Rob Ash of Montana State University; Tim Beck of Pittsburg State University (Kan.); and Glenn Caruso of the University of St. Thomas (Minn.), were selected through fan votes cast in December at coachoftheyear.com and ballots cast by elite selection committees composed of national media and College Football Hall of Fame players and coaches.

LSU Alumni Association President Charlie Roberts, Karen Brack, and Tony Rotondi, Liberty Mutual’s assistant vice president and managing director of affinity marketing.

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you r A lu m n i Dol l a r s at Wor k

Cate Brooks

Freshman Mass Communication – Public Relations Atlanta Chapter Scholarship Charles L. Jones Flagship Scholarship Charles P. Quirk and Sheldon Beychok Global Leaders Scholarships

My parents thought I was crazy when I said I wanted to go to school in Louisiana.

When they asked why, I had no real answer except, “It just feels right.” The second we stepped on campus in November 2010, they understood, and I knew I couldn’t be happy at any other college. Growing up outside of Atlanta, I had planned on going to school in Georgia. LSU was the only out-of-state school I applied to. However, as soon as my scholarship letter came in the mail a month after my visit, the cards just fell into place. I got a phone call from my childhood best friend who moved away when we were eleven. She surprised me by saying that she was going to LSU too and wanted to room together. I met my current boyfriend of six months at an LSU function in Atlanta in March of my senior year.

Now that I am officially an LSU student, things keep getting better. Through my sorority, Chi Omega, I’ve learned how warm and welcoming the people of Louisiana can be. But the most important thing I’ve learned since I’ve come to school? How to correctly spell GEAUX! www.LSUalumni.org/contribute 1-888-RING-LSU

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

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LSU Alumni Association News

Story and photo by Matt DeVille

LSU Alumni Association, Raising Cane’s Make a Dream Come True During December 2011, tickets to the BCS National Championship game were a hot commodity for LSU and Alabama fans alike.

As fans scrambled to obtain that elusive ticket to the historic championship matchup, prices rocketed into the thousands of dollars on the Internet.

As expected, passes to see the Tigers and Tide in New Orleans became one of the most sought-after tickets in sports history.

With that in mind, popular fast food chain Raising Cane’s announced plans to reward one lucky customer with tickets to the big game. Raising Cane’s officials fulfilled a Baton Rouge area resident’s dream of attending the BCS National Championship with a ticket package provided through a partnership with the

Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden, left, and LSU Alumni Association President Charlie Roberts present Iraqi war veteran Patrick McClure with tickets to the BCS Championship game.

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LSU Alumni Association. The package included two tickets to the sold-out championship game and a two-night stay at the Sheraton New Orleans.

Raising Cane’s could not have selected a more deserving recipient of this special prize package. Patrick McClure of Plaquemine, La., was the winner of the Caniac Club giveaway.

An LSU graduate and Iraqi war veteran, McClure was notified when a friend saw his name posted on Raising Cane’s Facebook page. McClure works nights at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine and was headed home to sleep when he received the time-sensitive call. “It’s pretty exciting” said McClure. “I didn’t believe them at first; I thought they were just messing with me. It’s just a good, good thing.”

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LSU Alumni Association News

2011 LSU Legends Named Tureaud Alumni Chapter Hosts Legends Forum

By Matt DeVille

Legends Forum panel moderator Jan Barker-Alexander, standing, with panelists, from left, Xaviera Leon, Kim Hunter Reed, Ivory Toldson, and Ernest Chachere.

Accepting a donation from Baton Rouge attorney Eulis Simien, right, are Brandon Smith, Tureaud Alumni Chapter president; Rachel L. Emanuel, vice president; and A.P. Tureaud, Jr.

From left, Rachel L. Emanuel, vice president of the Tureaud Alumni Chapter; LSU Legends Joyce M. Jackson and Allen F. Lee; and Brandon Smith, chapter president.

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The third annual LSU Legends Forum included the announcement of the A. P. Tureaud, Sr., Endowed Scholarship, a salute to the 2011 Legends, and a panel examining the future of public education in the state of Louisiana and across the nation. The theme of the event, hosted by the A. P. Tureaud, Sr., Black Alumni Chapter at the International Cultural Center Nov. 11, was “Louisiana Education: Progress, Hope, or Failure.”

Baton Rouge attorney Eulis Simien, Jr. (1982 JD), presented a $2,500 donation to the chapter, which along with a recent $2,500 from the A. P. Tureaud family helped establish the A. P. Tureaud, Sr., Endowed Scholarship.

Presented as 2011 LSU Legends were Allen F. Lee, retired associate professor of veterinary neurophysiology at the School of Veterinary Medicine, and Joyce M. Jackson (1972 BACH MDA, 1974 MAST MDA), director of the LSU African & African American Studies Program, associate professor of geography and anthropology, and affiliate faculty member of Women’s and Gender Studies.

Lee, the first African-American faculty member at the vet school, retired in 2005 after thirty years of teaching and continues to mentor students. He also served as adviser for Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He earned his D.V.M. from the Tuskegee Institute in 1967 and his

Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in 1978. Instrumental in the formation of LSU Black Scholars, Lee and other program founders believed it was important to raise awareness about the outstanding accomplishments of African Americans on campus. With no financial support or sponsors, Lee and his cofounders personally funded the program.

He was among those recognized with a Special Founders’ Tribute during the program’s twenty-fifth year in 2010.

Formerly director of the LSU in Sénégambia Study Abroad program and the interim director of the Louisiana and Caribbean Studies program, Jackson’s research interests center on African American performance-centered studies, sacred and secular rituals in Africa and the African diaspora, cultural and community sustainability, women’s agency, and the roots of jazz in rural and coastal Louisiana. She was instrumental in locating LSU’s first black students who were honored at the first reunion of LSU black alumni held in 1988. A charter member of the Tureaud Alumni Chapter, she was also a valuable resource for the chapter’s documentary, Journey for Justice: The A. P. Tureaud Story. While at LSU, Jackson was one of the first black students to join Sigma Alpha Iota, a professional music fraternity, and the Coed Affiliate Pershing Rifles. She was also a charter member of the first black sorority on campus, Iota Theta Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, Inc.

A Rockefeller Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, Jackson earned her Ph.D. in folklore and ethnomusicology from Indiana University, Bloomington.

Panel moderator Jan Barker-Alexander (1989 BACH HSS), associate dean of students, director of the Black Community Services Center, and resident fellow of Ujamaa House at Stanford University, moderated the panel.

Representing the 1950s was panelist Ernest Chachere (1995 MAST EDUC), professor emeritus of education at the University of New Orleans. Others were Kim Hunter Reed (1987 BACH MCOM, 1995 MPA) chief of staff for the Louisiana Board of Regents; Ivory Toldson (1995 BACH HSS), associate professor at Howard University, senior research analyst for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and editor-inchief of The Journal of Negro Education; and Xaviera Leon (2011 BACH HSS), a Teach for America teacher.

Geaux Lunch – A couple of dozen Austin, Texas, Tigers gathered for the Austin Alumni Chapter’s first Geaux Lunch at Iron Cactus in October. Guest speaker for the event was former WBRZ-TV news anchor and LSU alum Andrea Clesi, who was visiting daughter Meredith Cranch in Austin. “This was our first Geaux Lunch,” says Kathy Nugent-Arnold, “We plan to hold them twice a year as an opportunity for our members to socialize and network. We plan to have these as a weekday lunch, in addition to our Happy Hours, game viewings, and annual events, such as the fundraiser and crawfish boil.”

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

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LSU Alumni Association News

Snapshots

Top Scholars – LSU’s top scholars, their parents, and the donors who made their scholarships possible were honored Nov. 10 at the annual Scholars Banquet.

The University’s top ten entering freshmen received Chancellor’s Alumni Scholarships, funded through the LSU Alumni Association from an endowment made in the memory of Ola and Ruth Cain by Gordon A. Cain and Mary H. Cain. They are Benjamin Christian Birk, of Slidell, La.; Nathan Ross Blanchard; James Taylor Hamilton, Kristi Lynn Godwin, Nathan Ross Blanchard, Benjamin Christian Birk, Chancellor Mike Megan Pauline Fitzgerald, of Covington, Martin, William Rufus White III, Katherine Elise Herbert, and David Ortlieb Stewart.

La.; Kristi Lynn Godwin, of Toney, Ala; James Taylor Hamilton, of Tampa, Fla.; Katherine Elise Herbert, of Denham Springs, La.; Keller Montgomery Quinn; David Ortlieb Stewart; Paxton M. Turner; and William Rufus White III, of Woodstock, Ga. Also recognized were the Flagship Scholars whose awards are funded through the Association by gifts from individual donors, organizations, and alumni chapters.

The 1969 Tiger football team, kneeling, from left, Bobby Joe King, Chaille Percy, Mike Demarie, coach Dave McCarty, Jack Jaubert, Mike Anderson, George Bevan, trainer Joey Melancon; standing, Loyd Daniel, John McCann, Richard Picou, Art Cantrelle, Mike Wright, Ron Estay, Robert Ryder, Steve Egge, Arthur Davis, Louis Cascio, Lonny Myles, John Nagle, and Tracy Ladd.

1969 Tigers Mike Hillman (13), George Bevan (42), and Robert Ryder (79) were honorary captains at the LSU-Auburn game.

Photo by Mike Bedgood

Photo by Ray Dry

1969 Tigers Honored – The Andonie Sports Museum honored the 1969 team at a reception on the morning of the LSU-Auburn game. Forty-two years ago, LSU defeated Auburn 21-20 in one of the most memorable games played in Tiger Stadium.

Beat Arkansas! – Three noteworthy Tigers, Mike Duhon, Lod Cook, and Doug Moreau, get ready for the Razorbacks at The Cook Hotel prior to the Nov. 25 game. Duhon and Moreau were members of the 1966 Cotton Bowl Champions who beat Arkansas 14-7 in Dallas, Jan. 1, 1966.

Photo by Larry Hubbard

22 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

you r A lu m n i Dol l a r s at Wor k

Cate Brooks

Freshman Mass Communication – Public Relations Atlanta Chapter Scholarship Charles L. Jones Flagship Scholarship Charles P. Quirk and Sheldon Beychok Global Leaders Scholarships

My parents thought I was crazy when I said I wanted to go to school in Louisiana.

When they asked why, I had no real answer except, “It just feels right.” The second we stepped on campus in November 2010, they understood, and I knew I couldn’t be happy at any other college. Growing up outside of Atlanta, I had planned on going to school in Georgia. LSU was the only out-of-state school I applied to. However, as soon as my scholarship letter came in the mail a month after my visit, the cards just fell into place. I got a phone call from my childhood best friend who moved away when we were eleven. She surprised me by saying that she was going to LSU too and wanted to room together. I met my current boyfriend of six months at an LSU function in Atlanta in March of my senior year.

Now that I am officially an LSU student, things keep getting better. Through my sorority, Chi Omega, I’ve learned how warm and welcoming the people of Louisiana can be. But the most important thing I’ve learned since I’ve come to school? How to correctly spell GEAUX! www.LSUalumni.org/contribute 1-888-RING-LSU

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

23

LSU Alumni Association News

Snapshots

Bobby Freeman, Pee Wee Moss, Crowe Peele, and Don Landry.

Photo by Ray Dry

Boxing Champs – LSU fans on campus for Homecoming had a rare treat – to meet and hear from Tiger boxing champions Pee Wee Moss, Crowe Peele and Bobby Freeman at the Andonie Sports Museum. The program paid tribute to LSU’s 1949 National Championship team and the Tigers’ individual champions. Moss, who won the NCAA featherweight title in 1949, lost only one match in his entire career at LSU. He was the runner-up in the 1948 NCAA bantamweight division. Peele won the NCAA heavyweight title in 1955. Freeman, two-time NCAA runner-up in his weight class, won three Sugar Bowl titles, the only college boxer to do so, and went on to serve as lieutenant governor of Louisiana. Don Landry, author of Boxing: Louisiana’s Forgotten Sport and former athletics director and basketball coach at Nicholls State, moderated the program.

Make a Joyful Noise – Christmas came early to The Cook Hotel as members of the Schola Cantorum choir from the LSU School of Music serenaded guests and staff in the lobby of the hotel Dec. 2 with a selection of Christmas Carols to kick off the holiday season.

Photo by Ronette Boshea

24 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

Thank You! – There was no agenda or special program planned. No press releases or photo opportunities. The LSU Alumni Association and The Cook Hotel simply wanted to say “thanks” and did so.

President Charlie Robert and Chancellor Mike Martin hosted a holiday lunch on Dec. 21 at the The Cook Hotel to thank members of the local media for their yearround help in promoting University and LSU Alumni Association events.

Chancellor Mike Martin, 104.5 ESPN’s Matt Mascona, Tiger Rag editor Ben Love, Advocate photography manager John Ballance, WBRZ news anchor Michael Marsh, and Charlie Roberts.

Photo by Matt DeVille

A “Country Princess” Visits – LSU Alumni Association President/ CEO Charlie Roberts visits with music education alumna Mimi Brower Sneed, of McComb, Miss., and her son and daughter-in law, Bobby and Sherrie Brown, during Sneed’s fall trip to Baton Rouge to promote her book, The Life of a Country Princess (see Tigers in Print, page 66).

Charlie Roberts and Mimi Brower Sneed, seated, with Bobby and Sherrie Brown.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

25

LSU Alumni Association News

Snapshots Illustrious Alums – Three notable alumni were recognized as part of the Peoples Health Illustrious Alumnus program at Tiger home football games last fall. Richard Lipsey was honored at the Auburn game, Jimmy Maurin, of Hammond, La., at Western Kentucky, and Roger Ogden, of New Orleans, at Arkansas. The award recognizes LSU graduates who have demonstrated the value of their educations by a history of achievement throughout their careers.

Richard Lipsey and Cliff Vannoy, executive vice president/COO of the LSU Alumni Association.

Photo by Grant Guitierrez

26 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

Peoples Health CEO Warren Murrell, Jimmy Maurin, and Cliff Vannoy, executive vice president/COO of the LSU Alumni Association.

Peoples Health CEO Warren Murrell, Roger Ogden, and Cliff Vannoy, executive vice president/COO of the LSU Alumni Association.

Photo by Grant Guitierrez

Photo by Matt DeVille

Dear Fellow Alums,

know some of them. d to not get it. Perhaps you wear the purple and gol s and supporters. They Many LSU Tigers just do fan as es elv r, they ms gea the U fy LS nti g and caps to ide t beyond buyin They buy LSU T-shirts off the playing field. Bu and on ner LSU p win a kee p is U hel ners because LS hirt, they could brand themselves as win e less cap and one less T-s on of t cos le. litt the a r h Fo y. wit do a lot to the Universit U Alumni Association and don’t contribute a dime s, they could join the LS les or ce proud of its alums and pri t as is tha U r Fo LS . t ssed by the fact tha in the winner’s circle pre im am I , ine here gaz Ma i LSU Alumn year, I saw Tigers everyw As I read each issue of the visiting out-of-state last e hil W ter. t nonma tha a if alm ne ir what could be do latter are of the ent for LSU. Just think former students as the tem sta c bli pu ir the g and gold, makin proudly sporting purple etic energy. Look out! could be turned into kin rgy my mission to help Tigers ene directed potential airman, I am making it Ch nd t the Fu nal tio Na 2 iation’s 201 to impress upon them tha As the LSU Alumni Assoc ional Association. I want nat the h ers oug mb thr U me se LS ally urge tho come home to h fellow alums. I especi everywhere wake up and 0 lly alive when uniting wit ica am dyn With more than 220,00 es ay! com tod ual up n association to sig power of the individ al ion h nat oug the thr of y ers ult fac mb who are not me er to support the of local alumni chapters iation. By joining togeth soc As al of ion ure nat fut the the t ed vely impac 000 have join to students, we can positi graduates, only some 12, providing scholarships and s ard aw ng chi tea professorships and University traditions. k about preser ving the cherished accomplished and to tal Louisiana and LSU, while to look at what we had ed her gat s der ds lea fun er se apt rai ssible to o Parish Ch nking it would be impo Not long ago, our DeSot chapter’s early years, thi the d alle rec scholarships, and one we 100 as p d To ghe two future goals. We lau rship scholarships, ade Le ht kets, eig ded fun e Today we hav it? It’s not for football tic for even one scholarship.

Museum. Why do we do rts Spo nie to do ue An tin the con rt and want to o help suppo it because we love LSU professorship, and we als personal interests. We do h wit do to ng thi a e and it doesn’t hav ition r.

Association, many in add port through our chapte express this love and sup LSU brand by joining the the of p nt shi cou ner can ow k we too pe er of alums counts, and I ho Last year a record numb n is vital. Every person tio ipa tic the par to e ive giv act o ur alumni wh T-shirt! Yo process. The number of to purchasing that cap and U.S. News & World Report the in al top tier in 2008. To stay tic cri the is o rt int po ke rankings. LSU bro on you. Alumni sup the on t pac im ect dir a amount - has ms who contribute.

University - regardless of rease the number of alu inc st mu we her hig there - and to rise Geaux Tigers,

Gil Rew

ntistry

1978 LSU School of De

ced Rewards Membership

Enhan org to check out our new P.S. Visit www.lsualumni. month.

Join for a little as $10 per

Program.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

27

LSU Alumni Association News

Larry Simoneaux and Agnes Titkemeyer.

Snapshots

Bill Trotter, Thom “Santa Claus” Fronek, Lorry Trotter, Beti “Mrs. Claus” Pekmezi, and Chancellor Mike Martin.

’Twas the Season – The LSU

From left to right, David Williams, Warren Murrell, and Colin Hulin of Peoples Health with LSU Alumni Association Vice President Jason Ramezan.

Christmas elf Cassie Hutchinson with, from left, Rosemary Wilhelm, Don Franke, Cliff Vannoy, and Dorothy Howell.

Alumni Association hosted its annual Christmas gala for retired faculty and staff at the Lod Cook Alumni Center Dec. 6. Peoples Health sponsored the event, which attracted more than 250 former employees. Guests were treated to a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus, dinner, caroling, and door prizes, and in the spirit of the season contributed more than $2,000 to benefit the Food Bank of Greater Baton Rouge, a project supported by the LSU Faculty & Staff Retirees Club.

Photos by Matt DeVille and Larry Hubbard

Chancellor Mike and Jan Martin at the New Years Eve gala.

Happy New Year!

Ringing in 2012 – The Lod Cook Alumni Center was lively with music, dancing,

Nashville recording star David St. Romain provided entertainment for the New Years Eve bash at the Lod Cook Alumni Center.

and plenty of good food and and refreshment as The Cook Hotel hosted Kickoff 2012 at The Cook, the hotel’s inaugural New Years Eve celebration. Nashville recording star David St. Romain was the featured entertainment as more than 200 partygoers took advantage of the special offer that included a night’s stay at the hotel, a three-course dinner, open bar, and live entertainment. “We’ve already had more than fifty people book for next year,” says Stacey Messina, marketing director at The Cook Hotel, who coordinated the event.

Photos by Matt DeVille

28 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

29

P r e pa r i n g C a d e t s f o r Leadership, Service, & Life

By Brenda Macon

Photos by Ray Dry

M i l i ta ry H i s to ry a n d T r a d i t i o n at LS U Military training at LSU has a long and illustrious history. In fact, the University was founded as a military school in 1860 – with William Tecumseh Sherman as its first president – and was strictly military until the twentieth century: Only after 1900 were non-military students allowed to take courses. Until 1969, military training was mandatory at LSU. As a land-grant institution, LSU was obliged under legislative acts of 1862 and 1890 to require students to take at least two years of military science courses.

Students arrived on campus aware of this requirement, which meant, among other things, taking part in the weekly review on the Parade Ground, sometimes showing up for classes still wet with sweat from daily physical training, and wearing dress uniforms to class two or three times a week. Cadets also endured some relatively good natured hazing from upperclass cadets: Among these freshman humiliations, they had their heads shaved when they first arrived on campus and, for quite a stretch during the decades prior to 1969, were required to attend the first home football game in their pajamas. The cadets called this the “P. J. game.”

Then, in 1968, John Maginnis, at the time a staff writer for the LSU student paper, The Daily Reveille, began a campaign to make ROTC voluntary on campus. Having discovered that ROTC leaders had no authority to require attendance at the game, Maginnis printed his finding in the Reveille and set off a movement among the students to eliminate the ROTC requirement. In April 1969, after months of student protests, petitions, and discussions, the LSU Board of Supervisors voted to abolish the ROTC requirement.

From several thousand cadets, the program dwindled first to a few hundred and then to less than one hundred. Today, the program has a combined total of 177 students in the Army and Air Force units. More than thirty LSU students are enrolled in the Southern University Naval ROTC program and take part in many LSU ROTC-sponsored events.

However, that relatively small group is outstanding, faring well in competition among universities with similar programs, excelling in military testing, and making their commanding officers very proud.

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Army ROTC commander Lt. Col. John Wright.

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“Yeah, We’re Still Here!”: The Future of Military Leadership Assured Lieutenant Colonel John Wright, on a three-year assignment that began in July 2009, leads the Army ROTC program.

Originally from Franklin Parish, Wright enlisted in the Army right out of Gilbert High School and served in a variety of assignments before enrolling at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. After he received his degree, he continued his Army career, specializing in logistics and the military supply chain. He was selected as one of the top candidates to become a military science professor by the Army board that oversees university ROTC programs and given his choice of programs on the list of open three-year assignments.

He chose LSU and, when discussing the history of ROTC at the University, he comments, “Yeah, we’re still here – ROTC will always be a part of LSU.” Wright derives great joy from seeing young, “saucer-eyed” freshmen become confident, responsible adults. Currently 106 cadets participate in Army ROTC, and thirty-three of those are on full fouryear scholarships with Army contracts.

“They’re so young when we first see them,” Wright says. “Some of them arrive on campus very shy but really come out of that shell as they go through the program. For example, one student was very quiet and awkward when he first got here, and now he’s one of our best cadets, a confident young man with great leadership potential.”

“Another cadet has proven herself to be a one-woman powerhouse,” Wright continues. “During competition last October, she participated in an eight-mile march. At some point during mile one, she

32 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

stepped in a hole and twisted her ankle, but she never stopped. She finished the march, and we had to make her sit down and let us take a look at the foot. We took her to the local hospital and discovered that it was fractured, but she still didn’t want to give up. She’s an example of the amazing cadets we have.”

“The hardest part for me,” Wright continues, “is knowing that I won’t be here when the students who arrived at the same time I did graduate. It feels like I’ll be leaving the work unfinished.”

After twenty-four years in the Army, Wright plans to retire after his assignment at LSU ends in June 2012 and enter the civilian workforce.

Air Force Lt. Col. Marston McKeon, current commandant at LSU, is a native of Ohio and a graduate of the Air Force Academy. She is in her second year of a three-year appointment and has been on campus since July 2010. She has high praise for Baton Rouge, LSU, and especially the students in ROTC. Currently seventy-one cadets are taking part in Air Force ROTC. “The cadets are so professional, and I’m very proud of them. I’m not concerned at all about the future leadership in the Air Force,” McKeon says. “We may have fewer cadets than LSU has had in the past, but the cadets we have are outstanding.”

During the first two years of ROTC, students can, in McKeon’s words, “try us out.” She sees this as an opportunity to attract the very best officer candidates because students who remain in the program are highly motivated and know what they want and what they have to do to reach their goals. Budget cuts to the

military in general means fewer ROTC scholarships are available, so those few are highly competitive.

“Our philosophy is to interest the qualified rather than qualify the interested,” she explains. “Because our resources are limited, we look for cadets who are top students, physically fit, and have excellent leadership potential. Those students who stay with the program have all of those qualities.”

All sophomore cadets selected for continuation in the AFROTC program attend Field Training (AFROTC “boot camp”) in the summer between their sophomore and junior years. A few outstanding performers are invited to return the following summer as cadet training instructors. After their first two years, cadets spend their junior year in intensive leadership training and their senior year learning about different commands and areas of service.

The curricula in Military Science & Aerospace Studies also provide cadets with a broad range of practical information, including knowledge of the United States Constitution, government processes and agencies, and as McKeon explained, “a smattering of everything” civic and military. McKeon also teaches a juniorlevel, non-ROTC leadership class and has had great feedback from her students, who comment that “everyone should take this.” She uses what she terms “the military definition of leadership: integrity, service before self, and excellence in all we do” as her philosophy in the class.

Photo by Eddy Perez.

Continuing Traditions and Honoring Heroes At the time of our conversation, McKeon was preparing for another aspect of ROTC service at the University, activities associated with Veterans Day in early November. The annual event, LSU Salutes, culminates in the induction of distinguished LSU veterans into the Military Hall of Honor.

A number of military dignitaries participated in last fall’s events. At a special ceremony in Memorial Oak Grove John Milazzo, Jr., then president of Cadets of the Ole War Skule, spoke about the need for all who benefit from veterans’ dedicated service to show appreciation in tangible ways. He urged those in attendance to consider hiring veterans, visiting and volunteering at VA hospitals, and donating to veterans’ organizations.

Also speaking was retired Louisiana National Guard Major General John Basilica, Jr., who emphasized that today’s military is an entirely volunteer force involved in two wars and several other operations. He pointed out that military personnel represent less than one percent of the U.S. population and that fewer than ten percent of U.S. citizens are veterans.

“They answered the call when our country needed them the most and when the stakes couldn’t be any higher,” he said.

“They didn’t get to pick the time or place, but they were ready.”

General Ann Dunwoody, a graduate of the University of Alabama and the first female four-star general in military history, was keynote speaker at the luncheon recognizing the 2011 Hall of Honor

inductees. “Let’s make this Veterans Day not only an opportunity to remember our past but also an opportunity to make a commitment to the future,” she said. “A commitment to embrace this generation

of veterans, in our colleges, in our places of employment and in our communities – and I know this university is doing just that.”

C

ommandant’s Luncheon General Ann Dunwoody, second from left, Commanding General, Army Materiel Command, and the country’s first female four-star in any of the military branches, was the keynote speaker at the Commandant’s Luncheon honoring LSU Military Hall of Honor inductees and their guests. The event was part of the University’s annual LSU Salutes observance. With Dunwoody are, from left, John Milazzo, then president of Cadets of the Ole War Skule; Maj. Gen. Skip Philips, past president; Dunwoody’s husband, Col. Craig Brotchie; Capt.

Alton E. Ross, commanding officer of Naval ROTC at Southern University; and Lt. Col. Marston McKeon, commander, Air Force ROTC at LSU.

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S t u d e n t s i n ROT C

H

all of Honor Twelve LSU alumni who distinguished

themselves in their military, professional and personal endeavors were inducted into LSU’s military Hall of Honor during 2011 LSU Salutes festivities. The inductees were, seated from left, John Laborde, representing the family of the late Norman V. Kinsey; Dr. Dexter A. Gary; Mary McCowan, representing her late father, Paul M. Hebert, Sr.; Phyllis Love Mayo, representing her late father, Lloyd F. Love; James Brown, representing his late father, Lt. Col. Ralph T. Brown; and Lt. Col. Ralph W. Stephenson, Jr.; standing from left, Greg Dalferes, representing his late father, George L. J. Dalferes; Richard D. Chappuis, Jr., representing his late father, Col. Richard D. Chappuis, Sr.; Judge Billy H. Ezell; Capt. Carl F. Weiss; Stephen Chappuis, representing his late father, Brig. Gen. Steve A. Chappuis; and Lane A. Carson.

Commandant of Cadets Lt. Col Marston McKeon.

Photo courtesy LSU AFROTC

Members of Scotch Guard participate in LSU Salutes activities and other special events throughout the year.

34 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

Students in ROTC and its auxiliary groups also took part in the banquet at which Dunwoody delivered her address, socializing with the veterans and military officials who attended, and leaders of the cadets addressed the audience.

One of the surprising requests from this year’s student leaders was a call to the veterans in attendance to share their stories. The current ROTC students are enthusiastic about their program and are curious about the experiences of those who have served before them. When they are asked about their own experiences, they give an almost universal answer: The program fits. “I have always wanted to serve, but I also wanted to go to college,” explains Robert Brown, an Army cadet majoring in geology. “ROTC was a perfect fit for me.”

Brown feels that the program has made him both physically and mentally “tougher” and has given him a sense of purpose.

Others, like Army cadet Robert Spears, are drawn to the leadership training and opportunities to participate in special programs, such as Bengal Raiders, Pershing Rifles, Arnold Air Society, and the Air Force Association. Spears, a kinesiology major, plans to be a physical therapist, working with the Wounded Warrior program.

Cadet Paxton Haydel chose LSU and ROTC in part because of the “rich military tradition” at the University. A criminology major, he is also a leader in the Bengal Raiders.

Many cadets know before they arrive at LSU that they want to serve their country in the military. Their patriotism, idealism, and passionate beliefs come through loud and clear when they discuss their reasons for participating in ROTC. “I knew in

Yeah, we’re still here – ROTC will always be a part of LSU

high school that I wanted to serve my country as an officer in the Air Force,” explains John Presswood, an industrial engineering major. “I felt that was where God was calling me to be.”

Air Force cadet Matthew Carpenter, a history major with a passion for flying, agrees. “I have always felt a very strong desire to serve my country,” he recounted.

“I believe that the values this country were founded on are worth defending, and if my service requires me to give my life in their defense, it would be worth it.”

Service Auxiliaries a n d Sp e c i a l U n i t s One way cadets are supported at LSU is through two auxiliary units that are attached to both the Army and Air Force programs. The Army Scotch Guard and the Air Force Silver Wings participate in LSU Salutes activities, as well as several other events throughout the year. These organizations are open to all students.

Scotch Guard was founded in 1962 by Col. Dale Swindle as an honorary women’s auxiliary organization to Army ROTC. Collette DeJean, with the rank of colonel and title of commander, is the current student leader of the group. She and her group take great pride in their roles as representatives of the University and participate in a number of events both on and off campus.

“I have a strong military history in my family and was so glad to have a way to help give back,” DeJean says. “To quote Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle, ‘There is nothing

stronger than the heart of a volunteer.’ I truly believe this, and I think this is what makes Scotch Guard, as well as ROTC, Cadets of the Ole War Skule, and our military as a whole such a powerful force.”

The Captain Frank S. Hagan Chapter of Silver Wings, founded in 1958 at LSU, is one of the largest chapters in the nation.

Formerly called Angel Flight, it is a national, co-ed, professional organization with the mission to develop effective civic leaders through community service and education about national defense. The student leader of Silver Wings at LSU is Benjamin Bickle, who was originally an Air Force ROTC cadet and has also served as the president of the Arnold Air Society.

“Silver Wings is a great service organization,” explains Bickle, a computer engineering major. “We not only support the community in general, but also support students that have decided to take an oath to defend our country. After I left the AFROTC program, I wanted to stay active in the cadet community and support my friends as they moved through the program.” Membership in Silver Wings allowed him to do just that.

Kyrie Deslatte, a kinesiology major, is also an active member of Silver Wings.

“I come from a family who is very supportive of the military in all branches,” Deslatte explains. “Within my immediate family, my uncle was an airman who flew in Desert Storm, and my grandfather was a chef in the Navy. Being raised in an environment where we cherish our freedom because we have family members

who have fought and died to protect our most basic rights gives you a very solid respect for the military in all of its endeavors. I decided to participate in Silver Wings because of this basic belief, and I saw it as my way to give back to a military that does so much for us.”

Some Things Change, Some Remain the Same Research for this article has shown me an important reason why ROTC is still strong at LSU. Everyone involved – veterans and members of Cadets of the Ole War Skule, military science and aerospace studies faculty, commanders of the programs on campus, and students in ROTC, and the auxiliary organization – all exhibit a passion and love for their country and for their colleagues that surpasses any other activity on campus. Bonded together for life, these dedicated folks make a compelling case for becoming part of their inner circle, for supporting those in active service, and for continuing the traditions of “integrity, service before self, and excellence in all that [they] do.”

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

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Cadets of the Ole War Skule

Keeping Traditions Alive

By Brenda Macon

SU’s long history of training military personnel, from “buck privates” to generals, is a source of pride for many alums. One organization on campus, Cadets of the Ole War Skule, provides an avenue for them to get together and to give back to the University in a variety of creative ways.

The group, whose membership is open to anyone who has a connection to the University and the military, was established in 1955 by former cadets who attended LSU when the school was still located in downtown Baton Rouge. The organization is headquartered in the base of the Campanile and hosts several events to celebrate, commemorate, and educate others about the contributions of many of LSU’s students, former students, alumni, faculty, and staff in the defense of our nation.

All members have some connection to the University and with the military, but that connection has a broad range. Some attended LSU but enlisted before they graduated, often in time of war because service to their country trumped all else. One example of such a member is William J. “Billy” Heroman, who first arrived on the LSU campus in Autumn 1941. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Sunday, Dec. 7, of that year, Heroman and most of the other cadets in his class knew they would enlist. “They made it easy for us,” Heroman recalls. “They set up an enlistment station in the Field House. Almost all of us went there and signed up.”

Not only did LSU provide a convenient place to enlist, the University was also a site for the Army’s Specialized Training Program (ASTP), a comprehensive and intense preparation program for the best of these new enlistees. Heroman remembers feeling lucky because he had done well enough on the military’s testing to remain on campus in ASTP for his training while awaiting his orders to deploy. “We were part of the smartest unit in the Army,” he explains. “We were all very young – eighteen or nineteen years old – so they called us ‘smartass youngsters’ and ‘battle babies.’”

36 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

He was sent to Italy in 1942 and served throughout the war.

In 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge, he had been serving on the front lines for two months when he and his platoon were captured by the Germans.

“We were assigned to a foxhole,” Heroman remembers of his time at the front before he was captured. “You get to know your buddies pretty well that way – three of us in that foxhole, one keeping watch while the other two tried to sleep – and one of my buddies was Jewish. His name was George Goldman. When we were captured, we all had to line up next to the trenches. The first thing the Germans did was check our dog tags – our IDs indicated ‘C’ for Catholic, ‘P’ for Protestant, and ‘H’ for Hebrew.

We knew what they did to the prisoners with ‘H’ on their tags. I had been carrying my rosary beads with me ever since we got to the front lines, so before the German officers got to us, I gave George my rosary beads and we hid his dog tags. So I guess he was saved by the rosary!”

For four months, Heroman remained in captivity in a small German village that was frequently strafed by Allied planes (“We came nearer to being killed by those planes than by the enemy!”). Then one day the Russians reached their encampment.

“A big old Russian tank – with a woman driver! – liberated us,” he comments. He had lost forty-five pounds and had some health issues to overcome, but he was finally going home.

When Heroman returned to Baton Rouge, he decided to go into the family business rather than continue at school. In 1955, following in the footsteps of three generations of Heroman floriculturists before them, he and his wife, Janet, opened Billy Heroman’s Flowerland, Inc. Today, the business is the largest floral business in Louisiana.

John Milazzo, immediate past president of Cadets of the Ole War Skule.

Cadets of the Ole War Skule members Billy Heroman and Denver Loupe.

It was through business with Heroman’s first floral shop that Denver Loupe, another member of Cadets of the Ole War Skule, met Heroman. “In the 1950s, football games were still almost formal social events on campus,” Loupe explains. “The ladies would dress up, and their dates would give them corsages. Billy Heroman’s was where we all went, so I spent a lot of Saturdays picking up flowers, and I got to know Billy that way.”

Loupe was not in ROTC at LSU. In fact, he attended Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, La., for the first year of his college education. Then he entered the U.S. Navy and served on a destroyer escort in the years following World War II. “During my time on the ship, we went through the Panama Canal, and I was assigned to take the helm. Anyone will tell you that I have a hard time steering a pirogue, but I navigated that escort through the Canal!” Loupe marvels. “Somehow I managed.”

Loupe returned to Northwestern for two more years and transferred to LSU in his senior year, completing his agriculture degree on the G.I. Bill. He continued his education, earning both master’s and Ph.D. degrees at LSU, specializing in sugar cane studies. Well-respected in this area of great importance to the Louisiana economy, Loupe made his career at LSU within the LSU AgCenter’s Cooperative Extension Service, remaining for more than forty years, including seventeen as vice chancellor.

A member with a different experience is John Milazzo, who was in the Air Force ROTC program at LSU from 1966 to 1968.

Milazzo served in the U.S. Army in 1969 and 1970 with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. He returned to LSU and graduated in 1972. Since then, he has worked in banking and has served as president and chief executive officer of Campus Federal Credit Union for twenty-seven years. “I firmly believe,” Milazzo

remarks, “that had it not been for my LSU education and military experiences, I would not have attained the professional success I have.”

He credits his membership and his active involvement with Cadets of the Ole War Skule to his good friend, Dan Walsh, retired executive director of the Division of Continuing Education, and a charter member of Cadets of the Ole War Skule. “Before I knew it,” says Milazzo, immediate past president of the organization.

“I was a member and nominated to its board.”

Milazzo has high praise for the member base and its commitment to continuing the traditions of the Ole War Skule: “Today Cadets of the Ole War Skule is committed to supporting the Corps of Cadets and LSU’s proud military tradition. Through its efforts, LSU’s cadets have advocates in every sector of business and industry. We have people who have attained the rank of General and people, like me, who were enlisted personnel. All are equal in the ranks of Cadets of the Ole War Skule and are tied together in the desire to see LSU’s ROTC program be preserved and prosper. We support the Corps by our donations and dues and by our time and efforts. Our desire is to let young people interested in pursuing a military career know of LSU’s rich contributions to our nation’s defense and to support them in their pursuits. We are committed to funding scholarships for these students and to preserving LSU’s priceless military heritage by building and maintaining a military museum in LSU’s Memorial Tower.”

ON THE WEB www.olewarskule.lsu.edu

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University Reaching Out to

Student Veterans

J.B. Davis Code Breaker

By Ryan Buxton

By Jackie Bartkiewicz

Among the diverse student population at LSU is a group with experiences unlike most of their peers – student veterans.

“They’re not the typical eighteenyear-old, first-year student. They have experiences that are vastly different than, to be completely honest, any of our students,” says Maggi Spurlock, a program coordinator with the First Year Experience and sponsor of Student Veterans of LSU, an organization that brings them together.

The group is young, and after three years is still finding its footing. Of the nearly 300 students who report using G.I. Bill benefits on campus, about forty student veterans are active in the organization.

They often break the mold of the average student and may be older and married with children, facts that, according to Spurlock, can make it hard for the organization to establish meeting times. But the time student veterans do find to spend together is meaningful.

“They can say, ‘Here’s what I’m struggling with, are you struggling with this? How did you handle that?’” she explains. “It’s also an opportunity to get together and do some fun things. They tailgate together.”

Spurlock said the organization continues to expand, and she hopes it will be able to realize the long-term goal of creating a physical space on campus at which student veterans can meet and feel at home, something other Southeastern Conference schools have done.

In the meantime, Spurlock finds satisfaction in what the organization can provide. “They’re just really appreciative that someone is taking the time to support them,” she says. “If they know there’s that one person they can talk to who can help them, it makes my day.”

Despite their differences from other Tigers, student veterans fit in perfectly on a campus where the deep-rooted role of the military is celebrated with honor. And that certainly isn’t lost on the students who have served our country. “Our student veterans are aware of that history at LSU, and they’re proud of that history,” Spurlock says.

Ensign Jackson Beauregard Davis arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Sept. 7, 1941. Three months later, to the date, he was caught up in a war that would change the world and in work that would change the course of the war.

Twenty-three-year-old Davis – holder of bachelor’s, master’s, and law degrees from LSU – was in law practice less than a year when he volunteered for service and received his commission in the U.S. Navy. “I entered the Naval Intelligence Service as an ensign and was immediately ordered to Pearl Harbor,” he says. “I was there at the time the Japanese attacked the Pearl Harbor naval installations.”

On Dec. 7, 1941, Davis was awakened in his hotel room by the first Japanese bombs dropped on the naval installations. “I hailed a cab; it took me on out to Pearl, where the war was started,” he recalls. (R.W. Norton Art Gallery Oral History Project.)

Davis was not injured during the attack, and he remained in Pearl Harbor for another four and a half years in naval intelligence. He was assigned to the Fleet Radio Unit working in traffic analysis, communications, and code breaking – deciphering coded messages sent by the Japanese. “My main duty was in communications for that office,” he recalls. “The initial success was obtaining information on the Japanese attack on Midway where our forces sunk four of the carriers that attacked Pearl Harbor.

But it wasn’t all war and work.

Davis married his college sweetheart, the former Rosemary Slattery, of Shreveport, La., on Jan. 15, 1944, in Waikiki. “We met while I was in law school and dated until I left for the service,” he says. “She continued her education and finished in the College of Commerce in 1943.”

Slattery had sailed for Hawaii in November 1943 to take a civilian job at the Fourteenth Naval District. “I sailed on the freighter Phillipa in a convoy of ships,” she explains.” The trip was eleven days long, and the ships had to black out at night because of the presence of Japanese submarines in the Pacific.”

The couple’s first child, Jackson B. Davis, Jr., was born in Honolulu in 1945, and Davis was released from duty as a lieutenant commander the following year. The family returned to the states, settling in Shreveport, and he once again took up the law. The Davises had three more children, Robert Slattery Davis, Rosemary Davis Lassiter, and Susan Davis Flanagan, who later earned a law degree from the Hebert Law Center in 1981.

A decade later Davis threw his hat into Louisiana’s political ring and was elected to the first of six consecutive four-year terms in the Louisiana Senate. “I served from 1956 to 1980, at times representing all of Caddo and DeSoto parishes and after reapportionment, parts of Caddo and Bossier parishes,” he says.

A champion of higher education, Davis was instrumental in the establishment of LSU at Shreveport in 1967.

Davis – who turns ninety-four on March 27 – practiced law until July of last year, and he and Rosemary are active in numerous community, civic, church, and social endeavors.

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ON THE WEB R.W. Norton Art Gallery

Ryan Buxton, a graduating senior in the Manship School of Mass Communications, is associate managing editor of The Daily Reveille.

ON THE WEB www.fye.lsu.edu

Army

Cadets Benefit from

Bengal Raiders T r a i n i n g

By Brenda Macon

A

Photo courtesy LSU Army ROTC

rmy ROTC commander Lt. Col. John Wright credits the Bengal Raiders, a group of cadets who put in extra time and activity in military training, for going the extra distance to become outstanding soldiers. The leaders put members through rigorous training

exercises that are roughly equivalent to the Army’s operations courses for future Rangers.

Paxton Haydel, the cadet who currently leads the Bengal Raiders, agrees with Lt. Col. Wright’s assessment of the group, commenting, “This organization strives to improve every aspect of a cadets’ career, especially physical fitness and tactical leadership.”

The group was formed at LSU in 1963 by Capt. James Burl Hansard, who created the organization to better prepare second lieutenants for Vietnam. Hansard served five years at LSU after his first tour of duty in Vietnam. He had lost several young second lieutenants during battle and was determined to find a way to train his young cadets for survival. After completing his assignment, Hansard returned to Vietnam, where he was killed on Oct. 23, 1968.

Cadets in Bengal Raiders today are faithful to the training that Hansard began. “Our organization consists of intense physical training and infantry tactics,” Haydel explains. “We currently have nine active members of the organization and twelve cadets who are still in training to reach active status. To achieve active status, a cadet must complete one year of instruction from the raider actives. The first semester trainees are in the ‘follow’ mode

and are led by their second semester trainees. The purpose of this is to allow the second semester trainees an opportunity to lead other cadets and prepare them for active status as an instructor and to also better prepare them for their general ROTC training.”

At the end of the semester, the cadets must pass a series of rigorous hurdles, including a written exam on tactics, a score of at least 270 out of 300 on the army physical fitness test, and the raider qualification course. The qualification course consists of a twelve-mile march, which must be completed in under three hours, a tactics lane, weapons knowledge, and practical application of military skills.

When asked about whether the Bengal Raiders prepares cadets for advanced training, such as Ranger school, Haydel has a strong affirmative: “I believe that this is the best organization to prepare you for it. I have talked to alumni of our group who have told me that, while in Ranger school, they often fell back on skills they had learned in the Raiders.”

Having this specialized training program at LSU is one more reason that ROTC is still going strong at LSU.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

39

By Ben Wallace • Photos by Matthew Wiggins

LBTC ’s

40 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

Student Incubator Program A Success Others Want to Copy

The Louisiana National Guard, Electronic Arts video game testers, and biomedical researchers are all part of one family housed about five miles south of LSU’s main campus – Innovation Park.

With more than 200 acres of property, LSU’s premier technology park serves as a research oasis where technological innovation and business enterprise form a union with the goal of creating jobs and discovering the possibilities modern technologies have to offer.

The Louisiana Business & Technology Center (LBTC) has a home at Innovation Park. A major avenue for accomplishing job creation involves the work done in the center’s 25,000-square-foot small-business incubator. “We take a person with an idea, help them develop a business model, and then help them start a business,” says LBTC and Innovation Park Executive Director Charles D’Agostino.

Since 1988 more than 10,000 jobs have been created through the incubator, which has established itself as a cornerstone of LSU’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. D’Agostino says the most valuable asset the incubator provides is free management counseling. “These people are really good at technology, but they don’t know anything about business,” he says.

The incubator currently provides space for a wide range of technological businesses. For example, Wetland Skimmers developed a cleaning device for oil spills in marshes, and Geoshield created a solar window film that helps cut energy costs for home and business owners. “This is America, you can start any business you want,” D’Agostino says.

Our mission

is to be a support system for student entrepreneurs.

No Idea ‘Too Raw’ In September 2010, the LBTC launched a business incubator for students. Just as LSU had one of the first business incubators in the 1980s, D’Agostino says LSU is one of some ten universities currently operating a student business incubator. “We unveiled it in San Jose and have received calls from more than fifty universities asking for advice. It’s a success others want to copy,” says D’Agostino.

The student incubator offers tenants a 1,200-square-foot workspace with computers, lockers, a kitchen, and access Left page: Charlie D’Agostino, executive director of the Louisiana Business & Technology Center, and Jennifer Fowler, director of the Student Incubator Program. This page top left: Jennifer G Fowler, Trevor Reeves, Sean Simone, and Thomas Cotton receive their award for Student Incubator Business of the Year from the Louisiana Business & Technology Center. Top right: Hurricake Factory co-founder Lexi DeBrock with Fei Tong, and Sean Simone. Bottom right: Charlie D’Agostino, executive director of the Louisiana Business & Technology Center, center, with students at the LSU Blowout Prevention Facility, which was testing a new technology in the oil field.

HydroFlame and other companies have access to LSU Resources through LBTC.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

41

S t u d e n t Incubator Statistics P r o v i d e d

resulting in

Current Activity at LSU Innovation Park L o u isi a n a B u si n e ss & T e c h n o l o g y C e n t e r

2005 National Incubator of the Year • 32 businesses • 155 jobs LSU Center for Bio-modular Multi-scale Systems • The National Center for Biomedical Research & Training • The Louisiana Army National Guard and Disaster Response Center • Electronic Arts (EA Sports) 350 game developers and testers • LSU Small Business Development Center • Louisiana Technology Transfer Office • Business Emergency Operations Center • Part of Stephenson’s Disaster Management Institute to the main incubator, which includes meeting and conference rooms. But, most importantly, it provides one-on-one consulting with LBTC counselors.

Jennifer Fowler, director of the Student Incubator program, says there’s no such thing as an idea that is “too raw.”

“We would love to help people when they first have their ideas because usually it’s easier from the beginning,” she explains. “But we want to help them through all the different stages, like finding a target market, developing a revenue model, creating cash flow, and brainstorming marketing ideas. Everyone brings a different skill set to the table, and we want to help them reach their goals.”

As of November 2011, the student incubator program had assisted thirty-one student businesses, resulting in forty jobs created and nearly half a million dollars of raised capital. More than forty students, both graduate and undergraduate, with majors ranging from anthropology to graphic design, have taken part in the program, including Sean Simone, co-founder and marketing and sales director of BluReach, LLC. “BluReach is an online marketing company that basically helps businesses create an online identity,” says Simone.

BluReach offers five core services, including Web site design, search engine optimization, social media marketing, e-mail marketing, and paid search advertising.

“We can really do as little or as much as a company wants, whether it’s just getting the site started or the upkeep and operation of the site as well,” Simone says.

A 2011 agricultural business graduate of LSU, Simone co-founded BluReach with Trevor Reeves, an economics major who graduated in May and runs the operations and finance side of the company. “We met in Marketing 3401 and started with one Web site project. We realized we worked well together and ended up buying out a third partner and hiring a few employees,” says Simone, whose company generated nearly $100,000 in revenue last year.

New Orleaneans Lexi DeBrock and Stuart Adams co-founded Hurricake Factory with a goal of developing a delicacy for Louisianans to enjoy during hurricane season.

When Hurricane Katrina hit, Adams, a civil engineering doctoral student, lost his house. “A portion of our sales will go directly to charities. We want to be out there helping people clean up and giving out cakes at the same time,” says DeBrock, Hurricake marketing director and an M.B.A. student.

Both DeBrock and Simone stressed the importance of the student incubator in growing their ideas into businesses, especially that of providing contacts. “Our mission is to be a support system for student entrepreneurs,” says Fowler, “Even if it’s just a space to get away from roommates, our job is to help them get a business started.”

ON THE WEB www.bus.lsu.edu/lbtc Ben Wallace, a student in the Manship School of Mass Communication, is the entertainment director/producer/anchor of The Ramen: The Soup for College Students on Tiger TV.

42 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

Congrats to the

lsu football team building

a g r e at s e as o n one game at a time

Making Louisiana Better One Brick at a Time.

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

43

Noteworthy

Around

campus

Geoffrey C. Clayton

Katrice Albert

Ed Holton

Bradley E. Schaefer

Kathleen Wylie

Geoffrey C. Clayton has been awarded the Ball Family Distinguished Professorship in Physics & Astronomy. Clayton earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto in 1977 and a master’s in 1979 from the University of Western Ontario. He returned to the University of Toronto to earn a doctorate in 1983. His past awards include the 2010 LSU Alumni Association Faculty Excellence Award and the 2001 LSU College of Basic Sciences Faculty Research Award. LSU alumni Alice and Byrd Ball established two Ball Family Distinguished Professorships in the department to recognize LSU faculty who have demonstrated outstanding achievements in the field and are nationally and internationally renowned as exemplary educators, scholars, and researchers in physics and astronomy.

Ed Holton, the Jones S. Davis Distinguished Professor of Human Resource, Leadership and Organization Development in the School of Human Resource Education & Workforce Development was selected by the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes for the ING Professor of Excellence Award. He was recognized during the LSU-Auburn football game in Tiger Stadium in October. Holton teaches approximately 100 student-athletes each semester in leadership development minor courses. He is known worldwide for his research in learning transfer and his instrument, the Learning Transfer System Inventory, or LTSI, which is the only validated tool in the world for the measurement of the barriers and catalysts to training transfer.

Katrice Albert, vice provost for Equity, Diversity & Community Outreach and adjunct faculty for counseling education in the College of Education, has been named to the Volunteers of America National Board of Directors. Albert will also serve on the governance and compensation committees. She holds a doctorate in counseling psychology from Auburn University, a master’s degree in counseling psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Xavier University of Louisiana.

Bradley E. Schaefer, professor of physics and astronomy, was invited to attend the Nobel Prize Award ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, in recognition of his contribution to this year’s Nobel Prize winning research in physics. The research has led to the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the universe due to an unknown form of energy embedded in the fabric of space. In 1999, two independent teams of researchers, the Supernova Cosmology Project, led by Saul Perlmutter from Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and the University of California, and the High-z Supernova Search Team, led by Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess with the Australian National University and Johns Hopkins University, respectively, published the same surprising discovery that the wellknown expansion of the universe was speeding up. Schaefer, a member of Perlmutter’s team, served as the observer on the WIYN telescope, located on Kitt Peak in Arizona, where he measured the brightness of all the supernovas. Schaefer also co-authored one of the papers that documented the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the universe, a result that was not anticipated.

Kathleen Wylie, deputy director of the National Center for Disaster Fraud, located at LSU, received the Attorney General’s Award for Meritorious Public Service during the Attorney General’s 59th Annual Awards Ceremony held in October 2011 in Washington, D.C. The award recognizes the significant contributions of citizens and organizations that have assisted the Department of Justice in the accomplishment of its mission and objectives. One Meritorious Public Service Award was presented this year. She received the FBI Director’s Award for Exceptional Public Service in 2006, LSU Outstanding Service Award in 2007, and FBI Exceptional Service in the Public Interest in 2008.

44 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

Tiger Trivia 1. Who was the first commandant of cadets?

William Tecumseh Sherman David Boyd

Francis W. Smith Anthony Vallas

James Moroney

Michael Khonsari

Kemin Zhou

2. Who was the first regular army officer to be detailed as commandant of cadets?

Lt. M.F. Jamar Capt. Troy Middleton

Lt. Sanderford Jarman Col. Nunez Pilet 3. When did the missile outside the Military Science Building arrive on campus?

1958 1962

1965 1969 4. What is the missile’s purpose?

It is a symbol of LSU’s entrance into the missile age

It is purely a decorative piece

Gary Byerly

Laura Lindsay

Five LSU researchers have been honored with the rank of Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS, the world’s largest scientific organization.

Having five AAAS Fellows in one year ranks LSU among the top 10 percent of universities with individuals receiving the honor – with 539 fellows selected from more than 230 institutions worldwide. LSU’s newest AAAS Fellows are James Moroney, Glenda Wooters Streva Memorial LSU Alumni Association Departmental Professor of Biological Sciences; Michael Khonsari, Dow Chemical Endowed Chair in Engineering; Kemin Zhou, Mark and Carolyn C. Guidry Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering; Huiming Bao, associate professor in the Department of Geology & Geophysics; and Gary Byerly, Richard R. & Betty S. Fenton Alumni Professor in the Department of Geology & Geophysics. Byerly assumed deanship of the Graduate School on Jan. 1.

Laura Lindsay will serve as dean of the newly formed College of Human Sciences & Education, which will include units from the College of Education, College of Agriculture, School of Social Work, School of Library & Information Science, School of Human Resource Education & Workforce Development, and School of Kinesiology, as well as the University Laboratory School. The college will house approximately 117 faculty members, seventeen undergraduate, and eighteen graduate degrees. Lindsay, who has been with LSU since 1979, was interim dean of the College of Education and has served as interim provost, vice provost, and associate vice chancellor in the Office of Academic Affairs and was associate dean and dean of LSU’s Junior Division, now known as the University College.

It is a training simulator for cadets

5. When did women first become ROTC cadets?

1906 1958

1969 1972 6. What is the purpose of the Memorial Tower?

To honor Louisianans who died To honor Louisianans who died in the Civil War in World War I

To honor Louisianans who All of the above died in World War II 7. What is the mission of the Bengal Raiders?

They are Mike the Tiger’s keepers They are an elite fighting force

based in India

They more fully develop and prepare They more fully develop and ROTC graduates for their role as prepare ROTC graduates for officers in the U.S. Army their role as officers in the U.S.

Marine Corps 8. Which LSU alumnus became an aeronautical advisor to Chiang Kai-Shek?

Claire Chennault John Archer Lejeune

Louis Reinberg Tom Dutton 9. Which dormitory was named for an LSU alumna killed in 1944 while saving other Marines from a burning building?

Evangeline Hall Laville Hall

Grace King Hall Pleasant Hall 10. How many Army generals became presidents of LSU after their retirement from the service?

Five Four

Three Two 11. How many times per day were cadet rooms inspected by the Commandant of Cadets in 1872?

One Two

Three Four 12. Who were the Sentinels?

An honorary women’s auxiliary of the Army ROTC organized in 1958

Elite members of the drill team

Cadets posted to guard duty around campus The flag bearers during military parades

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

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

Huiming Bao

It is a deterrent to terrorism

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

45

Carol O’Neil

Focus on

Faculty

Class of 1941 Alumni Professor

By Ryan Buxton Photo by Jim Zietz

Carol O’Neil has spent the last thirteen years as a professor of food and nutrition in the School of Human Ecology, but it took her a while to get there.

Before she studied nutrition, O’Neil earned a degree in zoology from the University of Arizona.

“I could not imagine majoring in anything else, and I couldn’t understand why anyone else would want to major in anything else,” she says. “Things obviously changed.”

O’Neil worked with a technician at the Tulane University School of Medicine before deciding to become a student again.

She obtained master’s and doctoral degrees in biology from Tulane and later a master’s degree in public health.

Once she began her work in nutrition studies, O’Neil found her place.

Her research interests include community nutrition, food security, and diet and health of lowCarol O’Neil income women. “We look at different foods and dietary patterns and ask, ‘Is the dietary pattern associated with improved diet quality?’” she explains.

O’Neil’s research informs dietary policy and helps set dietary guidelines, such as how many whole grains should be recommended for a person. This is important because most people don’t know exactly what a healthy diet should include.

46 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

“I’m not sure I’ve ever met someone who had a good grasp on what they needed to be eating,” O’Neil says. “Or if they did, they weren’t eating that way.”

While she says she never tells anyone what they should or shouldn’t be eating outside of a classroom capacity, her nutritional expertise does influence her own eating habits.

“If I’m in a grocery store, I always check the dates on food, I always check how things look,” she says. “I’m conscious of food availability and prices.”

A big component of O’Neil’s classes is service-learning. Her students have worked on teaching community nutrition courses for low-income adults and cancer patients as well as continuing education courses for other dieticians. She said working with different groups of people builds students’ understanding of the needs of others.

“A lot of students come from backgrounds where everybody can afford everything, and it is an eye-opening experience for students to understand that not everyone has the same advantages as they have,” she says.

In her spare time, O’Neil is an avid traveler. She counts Vietnam among her favorite destinations and says she’s never visited a place in Europe she didn’t like. She lived in South America for a year, and says she can speak “a little backstreet Spanish.”

Her tandem knowledge of nutrition and various cultures gives her a distinct advantage – she always knows what to expect when she orders food at an exotic restaurant.

“I can avoid making mistakes on menus,” she says with a smile.

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

LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

47

Focus on

research

By Ashley Berthelot Photos courtesy of Maria Sagot

Going Batty LSU Researchers Study Bat Behavior Aside from witches and black cats, bats are one of the creatures most synonymous with Halloween – and, perhaps, one of the most villainized mammals in existence.

Surrounded by dark superstition, including the allusion of vampirism, the real risk of rabies, and myriad other diseases, most people don’t give bats a thought beyond the initial reaction of disgust. But researchers at LSU are focusing on the softer side of bats. It turns out that, while most people don’t necessarily give much thought to where bats lay their heads, their roosting rituals and sites can reflect some disturbing trends in the world.

Maria Sagot, doctoral candidate in the department of biological sciences, and her major adviser, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Richard Stevens, have made great headway in finding out more about bat society. Bats aren’t always solitary creatures but actually can be quite social when operating within family units. “Tent-roosting bats tend to work in a harem formula,” says Sagot. “Groups tend to be formed by one male and multiple females.”

In other words, she explains, the males control the resource of safe housing, and the females and their offspring live under the care of a single harem-master.

“However, when a male has to fly farther and farther away to get food, he has to leave his harem for longer periods of time, allowing other males to interlope and mate within the harem,” she says.

Another possibility is that the females go to another male’s roost to mate. Originally, the researchers thought that there might be a correlation between the duration of the refuge and the stability of the Maria Sagot studies bat behavior and roosting habits. social groups of tent-roosting bats, but the opposite is true. Those building roosts with materials that have a short lifespan had the strongest community bonds. “What we eventually found is that out of fifteen tent-building bat species, all four living in communal tents built from short-lived herbaceous plants form the longest-lasting groups, many maintaining the same company for more than a year,” says Sagot.

The bats Sagot primarily studies build their roosts in the form of tents made out “Bats can be quite social of palm fronds in the tropics. While their natural habitat is the rainforest, recently creatures operating within more and more roosts have been reported in urban areas. “They have followed the family units.” vegetation as it became integrated into the landscaping models of urban communities,” Sagot says. “We have found that they are increasingly dependent upon the exotic coconut palm, which is only present in human-modified areas.”

This use of urban areas by these bat colonies added a new aspect to their research.

Unlike most fieldwork, which typically involves long periods spent in minimal shelter in exotic locations with little to no exposure to other people, this project involved lots of interactions with the local populations in both the Caribbean and Pacific sides of Costa Rica.

“We went from backyard to backyard, asking people if we could check for bat roosts in their coconut palms,” says Sagot. “It was a very interesting experience to watch people as they learned more. At first, people wanted to cut down their palms because they were scared of the bats. But later, as we returned, people grew more excited about the bats in their backyard, pointing out new things they’d noticed. It was an invaluable opportunity to be able to educate locals about these animals.”

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Bats are important to their ecosystems, particularly in the tropics. They’re pollinators, like bees, and seed disseminators as well and thus ensure the health and vitality of the biological diversity of the rainforest. “Being able to better understand what drives bats’ habitat selection will allow us a better understanding of the ecology of this area in general,” says Sagot. “Because we were able to explain the importance these bats have to their surroundings, people were able to embrace them instead of fearing them.”

While it might seem an odd thing to study, both Sagot and Stevens are fascinated by the creatures. And their partnership makes for a great team: she focuses on the behavioral impacts of biology, and he is a biogeographer, giving the team a well-rounded view of the animals they study. “Bats have more ecological diversity than all other mammals combined,” says Stevens.

“They can live in caves, palm trees, and anywhere in between.”

Did you know?

• There are more than 1,100 species of bats, with 350 found in the New World (essentially the Western Hemisphere).

There are around twelve species found in Louisiana alone.

• Bats are found on every large land mass except Antarctica.

• There are only three species of vampire bats and only in the New World. Only one of these actually consumes the blood of mammals.

• A single bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes in a single hour and can consume more than its body weight each night in insects.

• An anticoagulant derived from vampire bat saliva is now used to treat human heart patients and stroke victims.

• Nearly 40 percent of American bat species are in severe decline or already listed as endangered or threatened.

Losses are occurring at alarming rates worldwide.

• Bats are one of the world’s longestliving mammals for their size and can live more than a decade. Some species can live up to thirty years.

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

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Locker

ROOM

Tyrann Mathieu. Photo by Ray Dry

A Salute to the 2011 LSU Tigers The Undefeated SEC Champions

Morris Claiborne. Photo by Steve Franz/LSU Sports Information

Tyrann Mathieu, Cornerback • Bednarik Award Recipient • Heisman Trophy Finalist • Walter Camp Player of the Year Finalist • Walter Camp First Team All-America • SEC Defensive Player of the Year (AP) • SEC Championship Game Most Valuable Player Sam Montgomery, Defensive End • First Team All-America Will Blackwell, Offensive Guard • First Team All-America Brad Wing, Punter • First Team All-America Sam Montgomery. Photo by Ray Dry

Morris Claiborne • Thorpe Award Recipient

Les Miles • 2011 National Coach of the Year • Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year • Walter Camp Coach of the Year

• Nagurski Award Finalist

First Team All-SEC

• AFCA Coaches’ First Team All-America

• Will Blackwell

• Walter Camp First Team All-America

• Morris Claiborne

• SEC Defensive Player of the Year (AP, Coaches)

• Alex Hurst • Tyrann Mathieu • Sam Montgomery • Brad Wing

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2011 SEC Champions. Photo by Steve Franz/LSU Sports Information

Brad Wing. Photo by Ray Dry

Will Blackwell. Photo by Steve Franz/LSU Sports Information

Second Team All-SEC

All-SEC Freshmen

• Drew Alleman

• Odell Beckham, Jr.

• Ryan Baker

• James Hairston

• Michael Brockers

• Kenny Hilliard

• Chris Faulk

• Anthony Johnson

• Barkevious Mingo

• Brad Wing

• Eric Reid • Spencer Ware

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Post Season Re-Plays

Locker Room

By Bud Johnson

Winning in the regular season is no guarantee of success the second time around. LSU has played a re-match four times in its football history. In every instance, the regular season outcome was overturned in post season. The LSU-Alabama re-match was the fourth such pairing.

The Tigers played and defeated Texas A&M in the 1944 Orange Bowl after losing to the Aggies in the regular season.

Ole Miss beat LSU in the 1960 Sugar Bowl after losing to the Tigers in the regular season.

A most satisfying do-over occurred in 1997. Coach Gerry DiNardo’s Tigers had the distinction of playing Notre Dame twice, losing 24-7 in Tiger Stadium and beating the Irish 27-9 in the Independence Bowl at Shreveport six weeks later.

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One of four SEC teams to continue playing football during World War II, the Tigers fell to A&M, 28-13, in the third game of the 1943 season. Because of the war, the bowls had only a few teams to choose from. LSU’s 6-3 record and a recycled blocking back named Steve Van Buren made the Tigers an appealing choice for the Orange Bowl. Most prognosticators picked A&M to duplicate their earlier victory in the re-match.

The war had taken Tiger stars Al Dark, Sulcer Harris, and others from the fine team of 1942. Coach Bernie Moore had young players and Van Buren, a bruising ball carrier, recovering from late season injuries, to fashion a plan to upset A&M. Van Buren gained 160 of LSU’s 181 yards in the 19-14 Tiger victory – a clear indication of how much the team relied upon the future NFL running back. The game was broadcast around the world via Armed Services Radio.

The 1959 Tigers scored one of their most celebrated wins against Ole Miss during the regular season. Billy Cannon’s heroic 89-yard punt return for a touchdown and a last-minute goal line stand provided a 7-3 LSU masterpiece.

But the Sugar Bowl rematch with the Rebels was one that Tiger fans wanted to forget. The score and the one-sided nature of the Rebel victory were similar in many ways to the recent Alabama BCS triumph. The score was the same, 21-0.

LSU’s lack of offense was also identical.

There was one difference: Three of LSU’s premier backs – all future pro players – Johnny Robinson, Warren Rabb, and Wendell Harris, who did not play, were nursing injuries. Robinson played with a broken hand, but was of little use offensively. Rabb had not played since a knee injury against Tennessee in November. Harris had a broken arm.

Mike and Mike

Locker Room

Mike Chambers Campaigned for Mascot in 1936

By Bud Johnson

Trainer Mike Chambers hoists a player.

Photo courtesy Jeffrey Michael Lien

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Mike the Tiger.

Before most of us were old enough to identify with a player or a coach, we became aware of Mike the Tiger. The Tiger mascot held my attention long before I was able to follow the game of football. I believe that is the case for most Tiger fans who saw LSU games as children.

Yet, many LSU fans of today have no appreciation of the origins of this important piece of Tiger history.

Mike the Tiger became reality because Mike Chambers, the LSU football team’s trainer, had an idea for a live tiger mascot in 1936. He put up signs, urging students to make donations. He talked to anyone who would listen about the project. His campaign for the tiger mascot took the campus by storm.

When it came time to name the mascot, only one name was put forward: Mike.

Seventy-five years ago, on Oct. 21, 1936, the animal arrived from the Little Rock, Ark., zoo. Classes were dismissed. When the student body was asked to name the tiger, they unanimously yelled, “Mike.”

Chambers was a well-loved trainer for the football team from 1934 to 1938, a period when LSU football attained national recognition. During that time, LSU won SEC championships in 1935 and 1936 and played in three straight Sugar Bowl games, 1935-3637. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1938. He met and married his wife, Margery Dyson of Alexandria, La., here.

Chambers was well respected in his profession nationally and internationally. In 192223, he trained Olympic diver Carolyn Smith, who won the gold medal in the 10-meter

platform diving event in the 1924 Olympics in Paris.

His first training job at the college level was at Iowa State, 1924-26, where he also served as boxing coach, and his teams won two championships during that period.

In 1928, he was the head trainer for the U.S. Track and Field team at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam. He became trainer at Georgia Tech in 1929 and that summer became trainer for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1939 he became the trainer for the UCLA football team, serving the Bruins through 1941.

Photo from The Louisiana Tigers by Dan Hardesty Chambers, who served in the U.S. Navy during World War I, re-enlisted in 1941 at the rank of commander. He served as regimental commander at the Recruit Training Command in San Diego and trained more than 7,500 naval recruits. He later served in three major campaigns in the South Pacific.

His final professional position in sports was as the trainer for the Sacramento Solons, an AAA baseball team in the Pacific Coast League.

In 1962 he was inducted into the National Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame, which he founded. In 2007, he was posthumously inducted into the Southeast Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame. He died in San Diego, Calif., on Dec. 31, 1975.

Chambers loved LSU and often told his friends about his experiences with the great Tiger teams of the 1930s. His last visit to the campus is believed to have been in 1968, when he was recognized on the field in Tiger Stadium. LSU paid tribute to the man who campaigned for a live tiger mascot.

He played football at the University of Illinois in 1920-21 as a guard, blocking for the immortal Red Grange. He served his country in two world wars. He served as a trainer in international competition.

But nothing, in his mind, could surpass having a tiger mascot named after him.

“Nothing, in his mind, could surpass having a tiger mascot named after him.”

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

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

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Tireless Research Finds Mike Chambers

Locker Room

By Bud Johnson Phot by Matt Deville

Robert Carnes.

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Robert Carnes solved a major mystery this year.

Over time, LSU had lost contact with a key figure of its colorful past – the late Mike Chambers, the man responsible for securing a live tiger mascot in 1936. Chambers, the popular team trainer of that period, had his name bestowed on LSU’s Tiger.

But no one seemed to know what had happened to Chambers.

In the eyes of Tiger sports history buffs, Carnes, a fourteen-year veteran of the LSU Alumni Association, provided a major service. He uncovered the facts about Chambers, who played a significant role in Tiger history.

After Chambers left LSU in 1938 for UCLA, what happened to him? Whatever happened to the man who had the idea of bringing a real tiger to Tiger Stadium?

Maybe Carnes’ master’s degree in archeology from Northwestern State University helped in this ten-year search. Maybe it was his stubborn streak. Carnes had been on the trail of Chambers since 2001. He did everything but excavate the Indian Mounds in pursuit of information. If he didn’t quiz you about this puzzle, consider yourself lucky.

No one urged him to make this search. Not the Alumni Association. Not the Athletics Department. Not the Andonie Sports Museum, where he is curator.

The project was not a part of his daily responsibilities. But every time he had a spare moment, Carnes would search the Internet. His curiosity became an obsession. He ran into one blind alley after another. Illinois, where Chambers played football with the great Red Grange, was no help. Ditto for the Los Angeles Times. What happened to Mike Chambers?

Anyone else would have taken up whittling. Not Carnes. Each discouragement seemed to make him more determined. He asked everyone, some several times, for suggestions or assistance in his search. So relentless was Carnes that co-workers walked in another direction when they saw him coming.

Years passed. The file marked Mike Chambers on Carnes’ desk had little new information. He persisted.

Finally, he found a helpful source -- David Baker of the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, the man responsible for the care and feeding of our Big Cat. “Dr. Baker put me in touch with Mike Chambers’ grandson, Jeffrey Michael Lien,” Carnes says. “I called Jeffrey, and he filled in all the blanks. He gave me Mike’s entire history after LSU – his Navy service in World War II, his other jobs in sports, when and where he died. I was on a high for weeks.”

Georgia Bradford of the Registrar’s office confirmed that Mike Chambers graduated from LSU in 1938.

“He seemed perfectly qualified for the LSU Sports Hall of Fame,” Carnes said. “And that said, we have nominated him for the Hall of Fame.”

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Tiger

NATION

1960s

Eugene D. Cizek (1964 BACH A&D) has received the 2011 James Marston Fitch Preservation Education Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Council for Preservation Education, or NCPE. The award, recognizing Cizek’s contribution to historic preservation education for more than forty years, was presented last October at the National Trust for Historic Preservation Convention in Buffalo, N.Y. A professor of architecture at Tulane University, Cizek has devoted his personal and professional life to upholding the diverse aspects of cultural heritage protection.

He earned Master of Urban Design and Master of City Planning degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a D.Sc. in City Building from the Delft Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Social Psychology from Tulane.

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

(LSU Law School) MD Medical Doctor

(LSU School of Medicine) DDS Doctor of Dental Science

(LSU School of Dentistry) Colleges/Schools AGR Agriculture A&D Art & Design HSS Humanities and Social Sciences SCI Science BUS Business EDUC Education ENGR Engineering M&DA Music & Dramatic Arts MCOM Mass Communication SCE School of the Coast

& Environment SVM School of Veterinary Medicine SW Social Work

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Mel Didier (1967 MAST EDUC), senior adviser to the Toronto Blue Jays, was named West Coast Scout of the Year at the 2011 Scout of the Year awards program.

Now in his sixty-first year in baseball as a player, scout, and administrator, Didier coached at the high school and collegiate levels, played with the Detroit Tigers, and began his professional scouting career with the Milwaukee Braves. He was scouting director with the Montreal Expos, director of player development for the Mariners, special assistant in the Diamondbacks general manager’s office, and senior adviser for the Texas Rangers. In 2008 he received the Legends in Scouting Award from the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation.

Rhea Gary (1961 BACH A&D, 1962 BACH AGR, 1979 MAST A&D) is the 2011 recipient of the Forum 35 Art Melt Louisiana Art Legend Award presented annually to a Louisiana artist. Art Melt recognizes artists for their considerable contributions to the Louisiana art community and public service to the state. For more than thirty years Gary has captured the splendor and magnificence of the Louisiana landscape, transforming the pristine beauty of the natural surroundings into dramatic color and form applied to canvas. Since 2003, she has devoted much of her time and dedicated much of her art to a vanishing treasure - the wetlands of Louisiana.

Collaborating with photographer C.C. Lockwood, she developed a project called Marsh Mission, and they spent a year working in the marsh and swamp areas painting and photographing. The body of art work created in the wetlands for this important and compelling ecological mission toured museums across the country for two years.

Neal Golden (1966 BACH HSS) has received a 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award from Florida State University College of Education, recognizing his scholarly, creative, and humanitarian achievements and service to his profession. Golden earned his Ph.D. from Florida State in 1977.

In 1966, Golden developed the first data processing/computer science course in a Louisiana high school. This culminated in 1975 with the publication of the first high school programming textbook, Computing Programming in the BASIC Language (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975). As chair of the Technology Committee of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), Golden was appointed to the first Mathematical Sciences Education Board of the National Research Council in Washington, D.C. He was also a pioneer in academic games, establishing the New Orleans league and playing a vital role at the national level. He is the founding President of the Academic Games Leagues of America, Inc. Melvyn Smith (1969 BACH AGR), principal of Mermentau Elementary School in Acadia Parish for the past thirtyfour years, accepted Louisiana’s 2011-2012 High Performing Elementary School award at the National Title I Directors Association and Distinguished Schools Program Conference in Seattle in January. Mermentau was selected from among 800 Louisiana schools. Through Louisiana’s accountability program, Mermentau Elementary has consistently been recognized for academic growth and student achievement. School Diggers, a national school ranking group, placed Mermentau’s elementary grades at twenty-fourth out of Louisiana’s 750 elementary schools and the middle school

Tiger Nation grades at eleventh out of 495 Louisiana junior high schools including gifted, magnet, and lab schools. Smith has been an adult education teacher for forty-two years. An elder at Bethel Baptist Church, he was instrumental in establishing Bethel Christian School and serves as president of its board of directors.

1970s

Jan Rhorer Breen (1973 BACH EDUC) has been named president of St. Joseph’s Academy (SJA) in Baton Rouge.

She will assume the position at the end of the 2011-12 academic year. A 1969 SJA graduate, Breen is currently director of communications at Catholic High School, a position she has held for twenty-seven years. She is active in the Baton Rouge community, having served

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in various leadership capacities with Young Leader’s Academy, the Junior League of Baton Rouge, Association of Junior Leagues International Board of Directors, Public Relations Association of Louisiana, Public Relations Society of America, Leadership Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce, and the YMCA. At SJA, she serves on the Public Affairs Committee and Alumnae Association’s Board of Directors.

Patricia Charpentier (1978 BACH MCOM), author of Eating an Elephant: Write Your Life One Bite at a Time (see Tigers in Print, page 66), was awarded first place in the 2011 Royal Palm Literary Awards, educational/informational division, at the Florida Writers Association’s annual conference in October 2011. Charpentier teaches, writes, edits, and publishes

personal and family history. A soughtafter presenter, she speaks throughout Florida and South Louisiana and offers workshops and ongoing courses, including online classes, in Central Florida. Visit her at www.writingyourlife.org.

Charles D’Agostino (1970 BACH HSS, 1972 MBA), executive director of LSU Innovation Park and Louisiana Business & Technology Center, was elected to the board and selected as second vice president of the Association of University Research Parks (AURP) at the group’s 2011 International Conference in New Orleans. D’Agostino served on the board for two prior terms in 1998-2004. The AURP is an international organization of more than 700 members that fosters innovation, commercialization, and

Tiger Nation economic growth in a global economy through university, industry, and government partnerships.

Dennis Dumas (1979 BACH ENGR) has joined Southern Petroleum Laboratories (SPL) as SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) engineer for its new data management service, SiteOnline. Dumas joins SPL with more than twenty years of experience overseeing oil and gas production measurement/automation, as well as twelve years in the SCADA and data communications service sector, including onshore and offshore production and pipeline systems.

Wayne Macaluso (1978 BACH BUS) has been named chief executive officer of DETEL Computer Solutions in Baton Rouge. Macaluso has more than thirty years of management experience in strategic planning, marketing and sales force development, and management in technology-based industries. Prior to joining DETEL, he was vice president of development at Wolf Creek Business Growth Institute and Regional Director of Gulf Coast Markets for PAETEC, a Fortune 1000 company. He served in the Gulf War and retired from the U.S. Army Reserves at the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Darlyne G. Nemeth (1970 MAST HSS, 1973 PHD HSS) has been elected co-General Secretary for the World Council for Psychotherapy, an international organization to promote psychotherapy, enhance conditions for mental health patients on all continents of the world, and cooperate with national and international organizations in

peacekeeping and conflict management measures to achieve and maintain human rights for all. She will serve a three-year term. Prior to her election in August 2011 at the World Congress in Sydney, Australia, Nemeth served as vice president of the United States chapter. She is in private practice in Baton Rouge at the Neuropsychology Center of Louisiana and is director of neuropsychology at Sage Outpatient Neurorehabilitation Services.

R. Patrick Vance (1970 BACH HSS, 1975 JD) a partner in and leader of Jones Walker’s Business & Commercial Litigation Practice Group, was installed as president of the New Orleans Bar Association and named Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2011. A member of the American Law Institute and the American College of Bankruptcy, Vance is also an officer and conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference. He is a member of the New Orleans Bar Association, American Bar Association, American College of Bankruptcy, American College of Bankruptcy Foundation, American Law Institute, LSU Honors College Advisory Council, National Bankruptcy Conference, and Southeast Louisiana Legal Services.

He has served on the New Orleans Bar Association Board of Directors.

Phillip R. Westmoreland (1974 MAST ENGR) will serve as presidentelect of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2012 and as president in 2013.

Westmoreland is a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at North

Carolina State University and executive director of the university’s Institute for Computational Science and Engineering.

He serves on the Industrial Advisory Committee of the Cain Department of Chemical Engineering at LSU. He earned his doctorate from MIT in 1986.

1980s

Cynthia Cole (1998 BACH HSS, 2001 JD) has joined Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP, Dallas, as senior counsel in the bankruptcy and restructuring area. Most recently a managing member at Cole & Company, PLLC, she also practiced for more than five years with Dallas-based Neligan Foley LLP. Cole has extensive experience in all aspects of corporate restructuring, insolvency, and bankruptcy representing clients across the U.S. and abroad. Named a “Rising Star” by Texas Monthly magazine in 2009, 2010, and 2011, she is a member of the Texas Young Bankruptcy Lawyers Association, Dallas Association of Young Lawyers, Dallas Bar Association, and the John C. Ford Inn of Court.

Susan Halsey (1980 BACH BUS, 1983 JD), of Jackson Walker’s Fort Worth, Texas, office was listed as one of the 2011 Fort Worth “Top Attorneys” in the November issue of Fort Worth,Texas, magazine. The magazine annually features the “Top Attorneys” in Tarrant County. The attorneys are chosen as the best in their field by their peers.

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

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Tiger Nation Patrick Hamilton (1984 BACH ENGR) has been named vice president of design and construction for Walmart Brazil. A tenyear Walmart veteran, Hamilton most recently served as vice president–international real estate and vice president-construction. Earlier in his career with the company, he held various leadership roles in facilities maintenance.

Before joining Walmart, Hamilton was vice president-engineering for Lord & Taylor Department Stores. He achieved the rank of lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy’s civil engineer corps and earned a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Hamilton and his family will relocate to Sao Paolo.

Kevin Hayes (1987 BACH HSS), a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Adams and Reese has been named the firm’s governmental relations practice team leader. Hayes, who joined Adams and Reese in 2009, focuses his practice on governmental relations, administrative law, and regulatory matters. He is a a former legislative staffer and lobbyist and previously served as general counsel to Louisiana State Sen. Ken Hollis and the Louisiana State Senate Commerce Committee. In 2008, he served as president of the Baton Rouge Bar Association, was treasurer and secretary, and served five terms on the board of directors. He is a recipient of the Outstanding Young Lawyer of Louisiana award from the Louisiana State Bar Association and the Judge Joseph Keogh Memorial Award from the Baton Rouge Bar Association. Hayes serves the Louisiana State Bar Association as House of Delegates liaison to the

board of governors, member of the House of Delegates, member of the Bar Governance Committee, board liaison to the Public Information Committee, and board member of the Louisiana Center for Law and Civic Education. He is also president of the Association of Louisiana Lobbyists.

Jim Hull (1985 BACH ENGR) has joined Georgia Gulf Corporation as vice president of manufacturing for chemicals operations. Hull will be based at Georgia Gulf ’s flagship chemicals facility in Plaquemine, La. and will have responsibility for chemicals operations at manufacturing plants in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Ontario, Canada.

Roy O. Martin III (1982 BACH ENGR, 1985 MBA), of Alexandria, La., has been appointed by Gov. Bobby Jindal to the Board of Regents as an at-large member. Martin is the president and chief financial officer for RoyOMartin Lumber Co. LLC, Martin Timber Company LLC, and Martin Companies LLC, familyowned forestry and wood-products manufacturing companies. He has been named to the LSU Alumni Hall of Distinction, the E.J. Ourso School of Business Hall of Distinction, and the College of Engineering Hall of Distinction Class of 2010-11.

Martin has served on several state government panels, most recently the Streamlining Commission.

David P. Norton (1984 BACH ENGR, 1989 PHD ENGR) has been named vice president for research at the University of Florida. He was formerly associate dean for research in the College of

Engineering. Norton joined the faculty in 2000 as an associate professor in the department of materials science and engineering. From 1991 to 2000, he was a research staff member in the Solid State Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He has published more than 300 articles in refereed journals and books, presented numerous invited papers and lectures at national and international conferences, and organized conferences and workshops in the areas of electronic oxides and laser processing.

He is a Fellow of the American Vacuum Society, the American Physical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the Materials Research Society and the Electrochemical Society.

Matthew V. Veazey (1998 MAST MCOM) served as master of ceremonies for the Next Generation Downstream Summit in Bremen, Germany, Dec. 12-14. Veazey is senior editor of DownstreamToday.com and Rigzone. com, Web sites that cover the oil and gas industry. He and his wife, the former Amanda Nikiel (1998 MAST SCI), are the parents of two children, Patrick and Emily. The family resides in Pittsburgh, Penn.

Rebecca Eddins Szelc (1985 BACH BUS) has joined Charles River Associates as a vice president in the financial accounting and valuation practice in Dallas. An experienced consulting and testifying expert on economic damages issues associated with a variety of commercial disputes, she was previously managing director of consulting at Bickel & Brewer. After graduating from LSU, she

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.

64 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

joined Citicorp Credit Services in New York City and was then a partner in the Financial Advisory Services Practice with Deloitte in Dallas for ten years. She provided expert testimony in commercial lawsuits, mediations and arbitrations, assisted Fortune 500 clients in recovery from natural and man-made disasters, and served as a leader in the firm’s women’s initiative for the advancement and retention of high talent women. Szelc serves on the Hockaday School Board of Trustees and resides in Dallas with her husband, Rick, and daughter Camille.

1990s

Allen T. Capdeboscq (1996 BACH ENGR) has been named vice president of financial and capital planning at Peabody Energy. He previously served as vice president of business development and played a lead role in Peabody’s acquisition of Macarthur Coal.

Johnny Domiano (1993 BACH HSS), a litigation partner with Adams and Reese, has been named board vice president of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southeast Louisiana for 2012 and 2012 chair-elect of the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Domiano has served on the chamber’s board since 2008 and is a graduate of the Leadership Jefferson Class of 2008. In the legal arena, he is past vice-chair and chair of the American Bar Association’s Admiralty and Maritime Law Committee.

Joseph Moses (1994 BACH A&D) was chosen Coach of the Year of the women’s team for the 2011 All-Louisiana collegiate cross country team for the fourth time.

Moses guided Xavier University’s women to a 13-6-1 record against NCAA Division I opponents and a school record of fortyone victories. Three of his freshmen combined for eight of the twelve fastest 5K times in Xavier history, including the three fastest. The top two 6K times were run this year. Moses also won the state coaching award on the women’s team in 2006, 2008, and 2009 and on the men’s team in 2006, 2007, and 2008. He is the only Louisiana coach to win the women’s award more than twice.

Charles L. Quinn (1996 PHD) and the Ocmulgee Symphony Orchestra, which he established in 2007, have received a $10,000 National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) grant. The grants are part of the NEA’s Challenge America FastTrack (CAFT) program that supports

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Tigers in Print Patricia Charpentier (1978 BACH MCOM) Eating an Elephant: Write Your Life One Bite at a Time Patricia Charpentier’s book Eating an Elephant: Write Your Life One Bite at a Time helps break down the elephantsized task of putting a life on paper into quick, easy-to-understand bites.

Learn a little Cajun French and get a glimpse into South Louisiana culture with Charpentier as she uses examples from her background to walk the reader through writing his/her life story. Be encouraged, be inspired, be entertained, be guided in reading Eating an Elephant.

Visit www.writingyourlife.org.

Timothy E. Rodrigue (1998 BACH MCOM) Vlad Dragwlya: Son of the Dragon Timothy E. Rodrigue’s first major work, the historically based fiction novel Vlad Dragwlya: Son of the Dragon, recounts in frightening detail the life of fifteenth-century Romanian Prince Vlad III, the real-life inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. According to Rodrigue, assistant director of Alumni & External Relations for the LSU E. J. Ourso College of Business, the book provides a mature look at the driving reasons behind the mentality of a man who, by some accounts, eliminated onefifth of his country’s population. Yet, he was also extolled by one pope as being Christianity’s greatest defender during a time when the Ottoman Empire was on the verge of overrunning Europe. Visit www.dragwlya.com.

Mimi Brower Sneed (1961 BACH EDUC) The Life of a Country Princess One day in the 1930s a country princess was born. She blossomed and reigned in her “perfect” world of the Old South, and the love and devotion of her immediate and extended family helped create a princess-like life. Life of a Country Princess (Five Star Printing) chronicles Mimi Brower Sneed’s life growing up in Mississippi: Christmas parades, the Metropolitan Opera, the Memphis Cotton Carnival, vocal concerts, professional modeling, and falling in love and marrying “her

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Memphis guy.” The “princess” life continues: Julliard Conservatory and singing with the St. Louis Symphony and the Memphis and Mississippi operas.

Eventually faced with disappointments and adversities, her determination, hard work, and toughness are exemplified through her faith in God. Glynn Young (1973 BACH MCOM) Dancing Priest Glynn Young’s first novel, Dancing Priest (Dunrobin Publishing), is the story of Michael Kent and Sarah Hughes and a love born, separated, and reborn in faith and hope.

Michael Kent: A young man studying to become a priest finds love and learns that faith can separate. A university cyclist seeking Olympic gold finds tragedy, death, and heroism. A pastor thousands of miles from home seeks vocation and finds fatherhood. Sarah Hughes: A young woman living abroad finds love and loses family. A university student meets a faith she cannot accept.

An artist finds faith and learns to paint with her son. Young, director of Online Strategy & Communications for Monsanto Company in St. Louis, earned a master’s degree from Washington University in 1988.

Linda Colquitt Taylor (1974 BACH EDUC, 1978 MAST EDUC) The LSU Alphabet Book Linda Taylor’s first book, The LSU Alphabet Book (Tate Publishing Company and Enterprises LLC), introduces preschoolers and beginning readers to LSU. Using each letter of the alphabet, the book features LSU landmarks – such as the Assembly Center, the LSU War Memorial, and Mike the Tiger – to tell the LSU story with delightful, simple rhymes and colorful illustrations. When visiting the campus, young readers will recognize the buildings and areas unique to LSU. The LSU Alphabet Book is not only a teaching tool but also a treasured keepsake for future Tigers. The spirit of the Tiger Nation is alive in this alphabet book that creates a passion for and dedication to LSU. Available in April only at www.tatepublishing.com.

Suzanne Perron (1991 BACH AGR) Designing in Ivory and White After working alongside Vera Wang, Carolina Herrera, Anna Sui, and Ralph Rucci in New York, Suzanne Perron returned to New Orleans to open her own custom design business, specializing in once-in-a-lifetime gowns for brides, debutantes, and Mardi Gras royalty. Designing in Ivory and White (LSU Press) captures the rise of this talented designer, from her first Singer sewing machine to her success on Seventh Avenue to her post-Katrina move to a city in need of “something beautiful,” as well as her design technique and meticulous craft.

Perron shares her process from start to finish, from using draping and pattern making to transform a sketch into a three-dimensional form to hand sewing intricate beading, lace, embroidery, and flawless hems. Perron was the 2007 Young Alumnus of the Year.

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Tiger Nation projects from small- and mid-sized arts organizations that extend the reach of the arts to underserved audiences – those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability. The Ocmulgee Symphony Orchestra, in Cochran, Ga., provides classical music to residents of the Central Georgia area. The orchestra’s April concert will feature the world premiere of Yellowstone, a concerto for violin and orchestra set in Yellowstone National Park where composer Jett Hitt, a student at LSU in 1994, works as a third-generation cowboy and outfitter.

Visit yellowstone.ws/ywomovie.mov

2000s

L. Cole Callihan (2002 BACH BUS) is a litigation associate in the New Orleans office of Adams and Reese, where he was formerly a summer associate. Before attending law school, Callihan worked in

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investments and financial services and as an accounting specialist for the Louisiana Department of Education. He also interned with the Louisiana Department of Treasury. He received his J.D., cum laude, from Cumberland School of Law, Samford University, in Birmingham, Ala., in 2011.

Scott Cheatham (2002 BACH BUS, 2005 JD) has been elected to partnership with Adams and Reese. Cheatham has been practicing in the firm’s New Orleans office since 2005 and focuses on bankruptcy law. As a member of the commercial restructuring and bankruptcy team, he has represented debtors and creditors in Chapter 7, 11, and 13 bankruptcies. He has also litigated cases involving bankruptcy and contractual disputes, complex tort claims, and oil and gas matters. He is licensed to practice in Louisiana and Texas.

Luke Falgoust (2008 BACH BUS) has joined the New Orleans office of Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrère & Denégre as an associate in the firm’s business and commercial transactions practice group. A graduate of Pepperdine University School of Law, he served as a judicial extern to the Hon. Ernest M. Robles of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.

Micah Fincher (2008 BACH ENGR, 2011 JD) has joined the Baton Rouge office of Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrère and Denégre as an associate in the firm’s business & commercial litigation practice group.

Fincher’s previous experience includes an internship in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and an externship in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Ginger Gibson (2008 BACH MCOM) has joined the staff of Mediawatch as a national politics reporter. She was previously at The (N.J.) Star-Ledger,

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where she chronicled the Chris Christie governorship and state politics. She also covered politics and government for The (Del). News Journal, drawing notice for her aggressive coverage of Christine O’Donnell in the 2010 U.S. Senate race.

While at LSU she worked for The Daily Reveille and interned at the News Journal and the Times-Picayune.

Kevin Gieseke (2007 BACH HSS, JD 2011) is a litigation associate in the Houston office of Adams and Reese. He has experience in litigation, including insurance defense and employment law.

Gieseke clerked at several law firms in Louisiana, working on employment arbitration laws and workers’ compensation cases, researching the authority of the United States Coast Guard in the Outer Continental Shelf, and dealing with Louisiana open meeting laws. He also studied abroad in Europe.

Graham H. Ryan (2007 BACH BUS, 2011 JD) has joined the New Orleans office of Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrère & Denégre as an associate in the firm’s business and commercial litigation practice group. Before joining the firm, he was a judicial extern to Justice John L.

Weimer of the Louisiana Supreme Court.

He also studied at Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 in France and received an award for his studies on the constitutional aspects of the European Union.

Ashley Stokes (2001 DVS, 2003 PHD), associate extension veterinarian in the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Science at the University of Hawaii, is the recipient of the 2012 Ka Pouhana (Mentor) Award. The award recognizes an outstanding mentor in the college whom students feel has gone beyond the call of duty and has done an outstanding job in guiding them. Stokes serves as faculty adviser of two student organizations, the Pre-Vet Club and the Rotaract Club. She was recognized for focus on interactive learning experiences that engage her students; efforts in providing activities, mentoring, and advising to help her students prepare for veterinary school; and for encouraging students to set higher goals for themselves. Stokes received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama in 1993 and

served as an assistant professor at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine from 2004-09.

Lauren Lopresto Tafaro (2001 BACH HSS, 2004 JD) has been elected to partnership with Adams and Reese law firm. Tafaro joined the firm in 2007 and serves on the labor and employment team, drawing on her diverse experience in insurance defense, toxic tort, and personal injury litigation and also focusing on insured employment claims. In addition to litigation, she has provided human resources guidance and counseling, prepared policies and procedures for employers, and drafted employment, severance, and noncompetition agreements. Tafaro has represented employers in administrative proceedings before state and federal agencies.

John Venuto (2000 BACH ENGR) and his wife, Allison Morrow, established a new business, Ducks in a Row Personal Organizing, last year to help clients with home, moving, small business, and personal organization to help clients find more time to spend on their own interests. Visit them at ducksinarowpersonalorganizing.com.

OOPS! Jake Anderson (2011 BACH AGR), winner of the 2011 American Dairy Science Association Genevieve Christen Undergraduate Student Award, was incorrectly identified as a resident of Ethel, La. He is from Athens, La. We regret the error.

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BABY

BENGALS

Donnie and Claire Hatty Crye (2003 BACH MCOM), of The Woodlands, Texas, announce the birth of their son, future Tiger Linden Paul, on Jan. 1, 2012. Linden arrived weighing 8 lbs. 14 oz. and was 21 inches long.

Hayden Tyler Broussard was born on Aug. 6, 2011, to Beau Broussard (2004 BACH HSS) and his wife, Neesa. The Broussards are both in the U.S. Navy and stationed at Fort Meade, Md. Hayden’s grandparents are Moe (1993 BACH BUS) and Kathryn Seal (1974 BACH EDUC, 1997 JD) Lirette, of Houma, La., and his great-grandfather is Haskell L. Seal (1948 BACH AGR, 1951 MAST AGR).

Matthew Landry (1999 BACH ENGR) and his wife, Jaclyn Price Landry (2000 BACH MCOM), announce the birth of their son, Samuel James, pictured here with big brother Joseph Michael. Samuel was born on Nov. 22, 2011, weighing in at 7 lbs. 8 oz., and he was 20.63 inches long. The family resides in Baton Rouge.

In Memoriam LSU System President Emeritus Allen A. Copping died on Dec. 1, 2011. Copping, the system’s third president, guided the establishment of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and LSU’s management takeover of Louisiana’s public hospitals. A New Orleans native, he studied dentistry at Loyola University in New Orleans, receiving his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1949. He served in the U.S. Navy for five years during the Korean War. After discharge, he returned to New Orleans where he maintained a private dental practice before going into medical education and rising rapidly through the administrative ranks. He was head of the Loyola University School of Dentistry Department of Dental Anatomy from 1956-1970 and served as associate dean and then dean of the LSU School of Dentistry from 1971-1974. He was named chancellor of the LSU Medical Center in New Orleans in 1974 and appointed as the LSU System’s third president in 1984.

He retired in 1999.

1930s

Margaret Knobloch Hannaman, 1938 BACH, Dec. 6, 2011, Fort Smith, Ark. Trent Lane, 1938 BACH, Oct. 20, 2011, Baker, La. Alcide Joseph “Roby” Robichaux, Sr., 1939 BACH, Baton Rouge, La.

1940s

Edmund A. Brummer, Jr., 1949 BACH, Yorktown, Va. Mary Edith Dupuy, 1948 BACH, Nov. 13, 2011, San Francisco, Calif.

Alvin N. Hunt, 1942 BACH, Oct. 18, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Grace Ellen Slattery Johnson, 1942 BACH, Dec. 13, 2011, Shreveport, La. Ruth Oswalt Kendrick, 1942 BACH, January 1, 2012, Homer, La. Mildred Ruth Floyd Lamont, 1946 BACH, 1968 MAST, Dec. 4, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Murray F. Landry, Jr., 1949 BACH, Jan. 8, 2012, Labadieville, La. Frederick “Fred” Larsen, 1942 BACH, Nov. 17, 2011, New Orleans, La. Thomas Jefferson “Tom” McDaniel, Jr., 1947 BACH, Jan. 9, 2011, Zachary, La. Mildred “Millie” Voorhies Menton, 1940 BACH, Dec. 13, 2011, Baton Rouge, La.

1950s

Lionel Herbert Abshire, 1951 BACH, Dec. 30, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Charles Russell Allor, 1958 BACH, 1964 MAST, Nov. 13, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Noblet Beryl Huye Barry, 1956 BACH, Nov. 13, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Ronald James Couvillon, 1957 BACH, Dec. 23, 2011, Port Allen, La. Archie Lee LeJeune, 1952 BACH, 1954 MAST, Dec. 2, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Tom Fore Phillips, 1952 JD, Dec. 3, 2011, Sunshine, La. Stanley Shaw, 1950 BACH, 1951 MAST, 1961 PHD, Jan. 14, 2012, Baton Rouge, La. Roy Murray Talley, 1955 JD, Oct. 31. 2011, Austin, Texas Arnold H. Bouma Professor Emeritus of Geology & Geophysics Dec. 16, 2011 College Station, Texas

Clarence Elton Hall Professor Emeritus of Industrial Engineering Dec. 16, 2011 Baton Rouge, La.

1960s

James Laurent Barousse, 1962 BACH, Oct. 18, 2011, Pensacola Beach, Fla. John Charles “J.C.” Patrick, 1966 BACH, 1968 MAST, Nov. 17, 2011, Prairieville, La. Gail Breidebach Poché, 1967 BACH, Nov. 2, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Frederick Ray “Fred” Schmeeckle, 1967 BACH, 1970 BACH, 1971 PHD, Oct. 31, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Ludwika Waldron Yoes, 1967 BACH, Dec. 3, 2011, Baton Rouge, La.

1970s

James Conlon, 1971 MAST, Dec. 15, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Ethel Juliet Dobrowolski, 1973 BACH, 1976 MAST, Nov. 20, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Thomas “Tom” Paulsen Hall, 1974 BACH, Sturgeon Bay, Wis. Jim T. Huff, Jr., 1977 BACH, Aug. 10, 2011, Waterproof, La. Jan Lee Merrill, 1979 BACH, Dec. 3, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. James K. “Kenny” Morgan, 1973 BACH, Nov. 20, 2011, College Station, Texas Benjamin Wakefield Mount, 1974 JD, Chairman, LSU Board of Supervisors, Dec. 3, 2011, Lake Charles, La. Juan Roca, attended 1972-1974, Dec. 8, 2011, Metairie, La. John W. Shiver, Sr., 1973 BACH, Dec. 28, 2011, Pass Christian, Miss.

Elizabeth Ellen “Betty” Carter Stokeld, 1971 BACH, Dec. 27, 2011, Baton Rouge, La. Kerry Joseph Triche, 1977 BACH, 1980 JD, Nov. 4, 2011, Baton Rouge, La.

1990s

Karl William Leonards, 1993 BACH, December 2011, Crowley, L a.

Miles Richardson Professor Emeritus of Geography & Anthropology Nov. 14, 2011 Baton Rouge, La.

Harlon Dwain Traylor, Sr. Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness Dec. 19, 2011 Baton Rouge, La.

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

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Saving Winter Alum Helps Dolphin with Prosthetic Tail

By Ginger Guttner

Winter propels herself through the water with the aid of a tail-fluke prosthesis.

Courtesy Clearwater Aquarium

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In December 2005, a three-monthold dolphin became entrapped in a crab trap line near Cape Canaveral, Fla., in the Indian River Lagoon.

“Her mother had likely learned to scavenge the bait from crab traps, and as Winter lingered above she became entrapped in the float line,” said Dr. David Kilpatrick [1988 DVM], a veterinarian at Southside Veterinary Hospital in Vero Beach, Fla. What happened to Winter’s mother is unknown; when rescuers came to the scene she was nowhere to be found. The movie, Dolphin Tale, tells the story of Winter’s rescue and recovery.

Winter was sighted by a fisherman who contacted local authorities. Kilpatrick was the veterinarian on the team of marine mammal stranding responders from Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and Hubbs-Seaworld Research Institute that helped rescue the dolphin.

“Clearwater Aquarium . . . was able to accommodate her and so we began the

slow drive across the state in a specially fitted truck for transporting injured marine mammals,” says Kilpatrick.

“Winter remained stable during her transport, and we arrived in Clearwater near midnight. She was placed in a special pool set up for her and provided with constant attention as she was far too weak to swim unattended.”

Euthanasia is a serious consideration in these cases. Injuries to wild dolphins often require long term care in rehabilitation facilities, and the acclimatization to human care and feeding often makes return to their wild environment impossible.

“It was apparent that the rope entrapment of her peduncle [tail] and fluke [tail flipper] had severely compromised the blood supply to the area, raising the high probability that necrosis [tissue death] and loss of the tail fluke were likely,” Kilpatrick explains.

“Winter was calm and relaxed when handled and examined in the water,”

he says. “Although I knew retrieving her from the water and placing her in a captive environment would likely preclude her ever returning to her native life in the wild, Winter was now an orphan and helpless as a direct result of human activities, albeit unintended.”

Getting the dolphin to Clearwater Aquarium was the beginning of an extensive effort to save her life.

Despite round-the-clock care, the tail fluke and last two vertebrae deteriorated and eventually separated from the tail, which rendered Winter unable to propel herself through the water with up and down motion of the tail,” says Kilpatrick.

“After many arduous trials and failures, the dedicated efforts of the Clearwater Aquarium and Hangar Prosthetics and Orthotics, Inc., were eventually able to develop a tail-fluke prosthesis for Winter that would both adhere to her body without irritation and yet withstand the incredible forces of propelling a 400-pound dolphin through the water.”

A remarkable group of volunteers and staff at the aquarium and Hangar Prosthetics are credited with Winter’s longterm rehabilitation and recovery.

“After Winter’s tail fluke was lost to disease, intensive efforts were made to devise a prosthesis that Winter would tolerate, could withstand long immersion in saltwater, and was of great overall durability,” Kilpatrick explains.

Solving Winter’s prosthetic needs provided new insights in the field of human prosthetics.

“Winter continues to serve as a source of inspiration for individuals with disabilities of Dr. David Kilpatrick, center, discusses the care plan for a pygmy all ages as well as the public at sperm whale with marine mammal stranding volunteers and EMS responders in Ft. Pierce, Fla. large,” says Kilpatrick. “In giving Winter the benefit of the doubt we have helped not only her but [also] ourselves.”

Ginger Guttner is director of public relations for the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine.

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LSU Alum Blossoming on Bloomers

By Ben Wallace Photo provided by Matt Palazzolo

When Nathan Frizzell (2003 BACH MDA) moved to Hollywood in 2003, someone told him success in the entertainment industry usually comes in either two or ten years. Eight years later, at twenty-nine, Frizzell has a starring role on the new Web series Bloomers plus appearances on CSI: NY and Betty White’s Hot in Cleveland to add to his blossoming résumé.

“It’s not an easy living out here; it’s a struggle, but I’ve learned and grown so much,” says Frizzell, who now acts, produces, and writes for The Blank, a Los Angeles theater company directed by Noah Wyle, best remembered as Dr. John Carter from E.R. Frizzell grew up in New Orleans and first acted at the age of seven. As a freshman political science major at LSU, Frizzell auditioned for You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and landed the role of Linus. He switched his major to theater with a concentration in performance, which mostly deals with voice work and spin movements, the latter a talent he showcased during a 2011 Coors Light commercial.

While at LSU, Frizzell hosted a KLSU talk show, Dirty Laundry, which aired at 7 a.m. on Sundays, or in Frizzell’s words, “even before the jazz show.”

After graduating, he met with John Dennis, a professor and mentor, who convinced him to pursue his acting career fully. Shortly after arriving in California, Frizzell met Matt Palazzolo, creator of Bloomers.

Nathan Frizzell as Ross on the Web series Bloomers “Working with Nathan is really cool because a lot of actors are really high maintenance, but he’s chill,” says Palazzolo, who co-stars as one of Frizzell’s friends on Bloomers. “He shows up on set early knowing all of his work and is always ready to roll. He even showed up with a horrible flu one time.”

Frizzell’s staunch work ethic and toughness are rooted in the family. His father, Tommy, played linebacker at LSU under the legendary Charlie McClendon. His mother, Lisa Keiffer, was an LSU cheerleader and competed on Survivor: Vanuatu.

“My parents have pictures of me barely out of the womb with LSU clothes on,” says Frizzell. “So I’ve been a fan as long as I can remember.”

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

ON THE WEB www.bloomerstheseries.com

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Profile

The Adventures of Jergnome and Mar-ree

By Jackie Bartkiewicz

When football season rolls around each year, Dennis Charles (1974 BACH HSS) goes into story-telling mode with two tiny friends, LSU gnomes Jergnome and Mar-ree.

Together they capture the spirit of competition between the LSU Tigers and their weekly gridiron rivals.

“I try to do a little game-day theme each week,” Charles says of the gnomes who appear in scenes around the house and on the lawn.

He started the project in 2009.

Jergnome arrived first, standing next to a sign that read simply, “Geaux Tigers Beat Dawgs.”

Mar-ree came along in 2010, for the Vandy game, and daughter-in-law Puja Verma Charles made a Internet home for the gnome couple.

The themes became a little more elaborate – “Mar-ree: Look Jergnome, that goofy War-tiger-eagle flew into the

glass again. Jergnome: Aw Mar-ree, he's trying to hide from the whippin' he's gonna get in Tiger Stadium!” and “Hey, Mar-ree! I hooked one of dem Florida Gators! It's a big one! Get the gun!

CHOOT 'em, Mar-ree, CHOOT 'em!”

Charles, a New Orleans native and Baton Rouge resident until 2005, worked for BASF in Geismar, La., for twentyeight years. When he retired, he and wife Diana ( attended 1972-1974), moved to Candler, N.C. “We have a little mountain home a few miles off the Blue Ridge Parkway,” he says. “I guess the gnomes got their start because I had a lot of spare time.”

The couple has three children, Ella (2001 BACH BUS); Amanda, a 2002 Louisiana Tech graduate; and Sam, a 2005 Georgia Tech alum.

ON THE WEB

www.lsugnomes.com

Jergnome: Mar-ree, the Tigers got you a Christmas present, but you can’t open it until Jan 9th! Merry Christmas and a Happy National Championship New Year from Mar-ree and Jergnome!

There’s a storm heading for N.C. – its name’s not Earl – and it’s gonna knock the “tar” off some “heels.”

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Houston Astros Co-Owner Credits Success to Life Lessons

By Ann Marie Marmande

As a young boy growing up in New Orleans, John Havens (1978 BACH SCI) cheered for the Saints and the Houston Astros and frequently asked – more like begged – his father to take the family on road trips to Astros games.

Today, as the Astros co-owner, president of Seismic Exchange (SEI), owner of Cal-a-Vie Health Spa, and a LSU supporter and community activist, Havens credits much of his success to the values and ethics his parents instilled in him.

PC and Dee Havens moved to Houma, La., from Mississippi in the late1940s when PC heard that seismic jobs were available, and he started SEI in 1975. Today the company has the largest 2-D seismic database in the country and one of the largest 3-D seismic U.S. onshore databases. SEI has more than 300 employees, with locations in Houston, New Orleans, Dallas, Corpus Christi, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Denver.

Among the most important lessons Havens learned from his father are to treat all people – regardless of their position – the way he would like to be treated, to keep his word, and to do the right thing all the time so he never has to look back. Havens says that his mother is very driven and has the “eye of the tiger.” When she put her mind to achieving something, she worked relentlessly to accomplish it. These lessons were the foundation of Havens’ Terri and John Havens future success.

One of Havens’ memorable LSU experiences was attending the six-week Geology Field Camp outside of Colorado Springs, Colo. Membership in Kappa Sigma was also a defining experience, one Havens says led him to mature as he became an active member and balanced high expectations and the trust of his fraternity brothers, especially through his role as rush chairman.

The Havens family has many LSU connections.

Older sister Debbie (1973 BACH EDUC, 1975 MAST EDUC) taught tennis at LSU for several years. Cathy (1981 BACH MCOM), his younger sister, introduced Havens to her little sister in Tri Delta, Terri Authement (1982 BACH MCOM), now John’s wife, The couple and their three children, Prentiss, Davis, and Mallette, lived in New Orleans before moving to Houston following Hurricane Katrina.

Through the Young Presidents’ Organization and Cal-a-Vie, John met and soon became good friends with Jim and Franci Crane. In 2011, Jim Crane became the lead investor in the purchase of the Astros and invited Havens to participate. The deal was finalized in November 2011, and Havens, as the second largest investor in the Astros, is now the team’s vice-chairman.

To LSU students with big dreams, Havens says, “No matter where you come from or however humble your beginnings, if you hang around good people and lead your life in the right direction, good things can and will happen. The real secrets to success are hard work, becoming immersed in your field, and being the best you can be.”

That leaves us with just one question for John: When will the Astros change its spelling to Astreauxs?

Ann Marie Marmande is senior director of development for the College of Science.

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Update Kyrgyzstan Greetings Tiger Nation,

As the New Year gets its start in this winter wonderland of Central Asia, I find myself drowning in opportunity for service in 2012.

In a partnership with U.S. Air Force soldiers from the Manas Transit Center in Bishkek (the gateway for American soldiers entering and leaving Afghanistan), I worked to distribute 1,500 coats and blankets to needy children.

Operation Warm & Dry� was a military humanitarian mission partnering with Peace Corps volunteers and our counterparts to bring warmth to those who most need it, and the project had great impact.

With only eighteen months left, I am starting to feel the time crunch. Searching for ways to make an impact before I leave, I have started to turn my goals from more than the development of one community radio station to the development of all independent and community media throughout the Kyrgyz Republic.

I participate in national conferences of community media outlets on a regular basis in the capital city, and a reccurring issue is the need for a virtual information Kyrgyzstan Peace Corps volunteer Judson Moore holds a youngster wearing a new coat in exchange where discussions can continue beyond an orphanage in the village of Pakrovka. the conference, media can be uploaded/downloaded, journalists can connect with each other, and stories can be shared with the world.

The major problem is that many of these journalists have poor access to the Internet and lack the facility to create Web sites. They do, however, have great technical ability, are good writers, and have at least some level of Internet access.

So I came up with a solution.

I am building a network of Web sites to unify Kyrgyz independent and community media under one Internet brand. The site will be part social network, part Web hosting solution, and 100% Kyrgyz media. With the ability to share information with each other, file-sharing, hosting their own sites, and having the world access their work, I believe that this can be an excellent resource for bringing more of Kyrgyzstan to the world. Visit http://kgmedia.jlm.me to see the development of this site.

I wish you and yours a prosperous 2012 and encourage you to work for the betterment of the community in which you live!

Yours in Service, Judson L Moore US Peace Corps 2011-13 Volunteer, Talas Kyrgyzstan +996.770.760045Â // www.JudsonLMoore.com

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n e w G e ar For The New Year!

THE SHELTON GIFT SHOP 3848 West Lakeshore Drive • 225.383.0241 (Located in the lobby of The Cook Hotel)

Shop Online: shop.lsualumni.org LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

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Profile

Saviour of Endangered Rhinos LSU Alumna Vies for International Honor Poachers, disease, civil wars, heat, cold, rain, drought, pollution, ignorance, indifference. Those are just some of the challenges faced by the twenty-nine conservationists who have devoted their lives to saving the Earth’s endangered species and who have been nominated to receive the biennial Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading award for animal conservation.

See You in the Georgia

Terri Lynn Roth (1991 PHD AGR) is one of them.

Roth, the Cincinnati Zoo’s vice president of conservation and science and director of the zoobased Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW), has been nominated for her accomplishments in solving the mysteries of Sumatran rhino reproductive biology while converting a struggling worldwide breeding program into the spark of hope for the species’ recovery.

Throughout her career, Roth has successfully bridged the gap between field-based conservation programs and parallel programs based in zoos. Her work resulted in the first Sumatran rhino calf born in human care in 112 years at the Cincinnati Zoo, a feat they have repeated two more times, and Roth is now working in Indonesia to ensure that the Terri Lynn Roth and Suci. successful Cincinnati model can be replicated in the rhino’s native country.

CREW’s world-renowned rhino research team recently produced the first-ever Indian rhino calf through artificial insemination.

The work of all the Indianapolis Prize nominees spans the globe, representing a range of species and locales. Six finalists will be announced this spring, and the winner will be announced during the summer and honored at the Indianapolis Prize Gala Sept. 29.

In addition to receiving a $100,000 prize, the recipient is also awarded the Lilly Medal, an original work of art that the winner’s contributions to Dome…AGAIN! signifies conserving some of the world’s most threatened animals.

L S U AT L ANTA Al u m n i & F a n s

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Suits and Sneakers – Chancellor Mike Martin accepts an $18,000 contribution for the Summer Scholars Program and the Black Male Leadership Initiative (BMLI) Fellows Program from former LSU basketball player and NBA Charlotte Bobcat Tyrus Thomas at the Homecoming football game. The funds were raised at the Suits and Sneakers gala, which benefited the Tyrus Thomas Foundation (TTF) and the BMLI program. The foundation was formed to cultivate and improve the Greater Baton Rouge, Charlotte, N.C., and Chicago communities by implementing programs for youth outreach, enhancing the community through development, and supporting other organizations with similar initiatives and goals. Most recently, Chancellor Mike Martin, student Michael Carpenter, Tyrus Thomas, Jaime Thomas, and alumna Sevetri Wilson.

Photo courtesy LSU Sports Information TTF partnered with BMLI, whose mission is to improve the recruitment, retention, graduation, and participation rates for black male students through mentoring, leadership development, and academic support, a purpose that goes hand-in-hand with Thomas's philanthropy work in South Baton Rouge.

Greater New Orleans Chapter of LSU Alumni Association and TAF Supporting LSU Academics and Athletics Since 1947

LSU Alumni of San Diegeaux

would like to congratulate the Fighting Tigers on winning the SEC.

crescentcitytigers.com

Greater Baton Rouge LSU Alumni Association Salutes the Tigers on a Championship Season!

Join us in supporting LSU academics and athletics.

Top 100 Scholarships support area students.

For more information, contact Beth Tope 225-819-0128.

Y o u r succ e ss w as c e l e b r at e d b y t h e fa n s i n S a n D i e g o. www.lsusandiego.org

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LSU Alumnus Knows Which Wich is Which

By Erika McManus

Guy Harper (2008 MBA) is the owner of the recently opened Which Wich Superior Sandwiches in Baton Rouge.

Harper’s inspiration to open the shop came when he was working in New York for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. While on a business trip to Dallas, Harper ate at the original Which Wich shop and was intrigued by the concept. He says he has always aspired to own and run his own business.

“I always said being an entrepreneur from Louisiana presented itself with the best and worst things about our state,” Harper says. “Louisiana lags behind most places when it comes to new, fresh ideas and restaurants. We aren’t exactly the first target location for national brands to expand to. I wanted to bring a whole new concept to the state. I became solely focused on finding that one idea that I could bring home.”

According to Harper, the LSU Flores M.B.A. Program gave him the tools to understand a successful business.

“Coming back to LSU for my M.B.A.was a big turning point and really got me focused more on the accounting side of running a business, as well as the entrepreneurial side,” Harper says.

Which Wich’s competitive strategy comes from its revolutionary ordering system. Guests use red Sharpies to mark up pre-printed menus on sandwich bags. They select a sandwich from one of ten categories and then choose the type of bread, size, cheese, spreads, and vegetables.

The sandwiches are prepared to guests’ exact specifications and delivered in personalized sandwich bags. After they’ve enjoyed their “wiches,” guests are encouraged to draw on their bags with the same red Sharpies and hang their “artwork” on the community wall.

Harper hopes to open other locations across Baton Rouge and Lafayette in the future.

Erika McManus is a graduate assistant in the E.J. Ourso College of Business Alumni & External Relations office.

82 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

Tiger Nation

Profile

Tigers Around the World Gift for Dad – Jordan Paige Badeaux, a seventh grader at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, La., purchased an autographed copy of Dale Brown’s book, Getting Over the Four Hurdles of Life, at her school’s annual fundraiser, Christmas at Coteau. She gave the autographed book and the photo above to her father at Christmas. Jordan is the daughter of Dr. Damian Badeaux, a 1994 graduate of LSU Medical Center-Shreveport, and Shannon M. Badeaux (1994 BACH AGR).

Luke as Les – Kasey Windels (2002 BACH MCOM), an assistant professor in the College of Communication at DePaul University, sent along this photo of her son, Luke, taken at Halloween.

“He dressed up as Les Miles,” she wrote.

“We are living in Chicago now, so we did this because we knew the family in Louisiana would get a kick out of the pictures. Amazingly, several people recognized ‘Les’ on Halloween.”

Jordan Badeaux and Dale Brown.

Luke Windels, aka Les Miles.

LSU New Zealand – Dotty Farwell (1958 BACH EDUC, 1973 MAST EDUC) spotted an LSU pennant while traveling in New Zealand last year. She writes, “We were on the western coast of New Zealand’s South Island and stopped for a snack. I was amazed to see an LSU pennant on the wall along with many state license plates and the South African flag.” Farwell worked in the LSU Alumni Federation (now Association) office while a student from 1954-58. “I ran the Addressograph machine, stamping address plates in the office, making the top pay of fifty-six cents per hour,” she says.

An LSU pennant occupies a prominent spot on the wall of a restaurant in New Zealand.

Tegucigalpa View-in – Jeffry J.

Jeffry Handal (2003 BACH ENGR, 2005 MAST ENGR)and Francisco Rosa (2002 BACH ENGR).

Jorge Handal (2010 BACH HSS), Eduardo Sierra (2003 BACH HSS), Akram Mustafa (2003 BACH ENGR), Jeffry Handal, Rigo Funes (2003 BACH ENGR, 2006 MAST ENGR), and Benjamin Medina.

Handal, a convergence specialist in LSU’s University Networking & Infrastructure, caught the BCS Championship game in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, while visiting family and friends. He writes: “A big group of alumni from several generations was at a new sports bar called Radio House. All the tables in the place were packed with fans cheering for LSU – even those from other universities. We stayed until the end waiting for a miracle”

Share your photos of “LSU sightings” across the country and around

the world. Send to jackie@lsualumni.org.

84 LSU Alumni Magazine | Spring 2012

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