Cornerstone Winter 2013 and Spring 2014

LSU FOUNDATION

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WINTER 2013 and SPRING 2014

Membership Profile

Cornerstone EDITORS Lauren Brown Sara Crow ART DIRECTOR Virginia Otto-Hayes LSU Senior, Graphic Design CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Christy Kayser Arrazattee Adrienne Gale Ginger Guttner Mimi LaValle Zac Lemoine Aaron Looney Tim Rodrigue CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Andrea Laborde Barbier Harry Cowgill Ray Dry Lauren Duhon Ginger Guttner Aaron Hogan Elma Sue McCallum Eddy Perez James Ross Rachel Saltzberg Bruce Sharky Jim Zietz PRINTING TriStar Graphics Group, Inc To share feedback, please contact Sara Crow at scrow@lsufoundation.org or 225-578-8164. www.lsufoundation.org

www.facebook.com/ lsufoundation www.twitter.com/ lsu_foundation

FOUNDATION 2

Kay and Danny Williamson at a tailgate reception for LSU Foundation members

Opportunity for Growth

Dr. Danny and Kay Williamson were each destined for LSU. She, a Baton Rouge native, attended LSU Laboratory School (“U-High”) on LSU’s campus. He was raised on Tiger football on a farm south of Krotz Springs, La. “I never thought about it,” Danny shared, “never considered any place else.”

Danny initially studied to become a special education teacher. During his junior year, he decided to become a doctor. He took an extra year to complete his medical school requirements, graduated from the College of Human Sciences & Education, and headed east to New Orleans to study at LSU Health Sciences Center’s School of Medicine.

Now Texas residents, Danny said he and Kay routinely see how donors help universities grow. Watching prominent colleges receive “tremendous foundation support” from graduates after the institutions experience budget cuts led Danny to realize, “That’s how they’ve been able to not only survive, but to grow.”

Danny said that, because Louisiana struggles to provide adequate funding for education, donations are especially valuable. “It’s imperative that people who love Louisiana and who love the university have got to be on board in supporting the university through the foundation.”

The Williamsons primarily give back to the College of Science, through the Dean’s Circle Fund and the GeauxTeach program. “The Foundation, to me, is the most critical part of giving because it touches so many different parts of the university in so many ways,” Danny said. “It’s doing an excellent job. It just needs to continue to grow.” science.lsu.edu

(On the Cover) Over the span of its 153 years, LSU has experienced many changes. One of the more notable changes was its relocation from downtown Baton Rouge to the current campus in 1925. This black and white photo depicts the gates to campus circa 1920, before the move. The building pictured is Alumni Hall, parts of which were reused to build the current Journalism Building. Thank you to Barry Cowan, assistant archivist in Hill Memorial Library, and Jackie Bartkiewicz, editor of the LSU Alumni magazine, for sharing historical background on this image.

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

INSIDE CORNERSTONE Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 • Volume 25, Number 3

Behind every gift to the LSU Foundation is an individual or organization determined to advance the quality of education.

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6 4 WELCOME

President and CEO

5 EMPLOYEE HIGHLIGHTS

6 FEATURE

History of Philanthropy at LSU 8

PROFILES Meet Dr. Alexander Young Alumni Giving Back

14 FIELD EXPERIENCES

Thank You Book Summaries

18 CAPITAL PROJECTS

Business Education Complex LSU Olinde Career Center

22 COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

24 MATCHING GIFTS 26 CENTENNIALS

10 HONORING LOVED ONES

28 PLANNED GIVING

12 SCHOLARSHIPS

30 GOOD READS

34 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

David B. Means III

35 PROFESSORSHIPS 36 COLLECTIONS & EXHIBITIONS 38 CELEBRATING PHILANTHROPY Breaking New Ground Campaign ExxonMobil Shell Welcoming the Alexanders

THE MISSION OF THE LSU FOUNDATION IS TO FOSTER PRIVATE FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR LSU, THE LSU AGCENTER, AND THE LSU PAUL M. HEBERT LAW CENTER. Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

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Dear Friends,

As we look to 2014, the College of Engineering is nearing the successful completion of the Breaking New Ground campaign, a $100 million public-private partnership to renovate Patrick F. Taylor Hall and construct a chemical engineering facility. It is LSU’s largest ever such partnership, and Phyllis Taylor’s recent $15 million gift commitment to honor the legacy of her late husband, Patrick F. Taylor, is the largest gift ever given for the benefit of the college. The combined impact of Breaking New Ground donors, with Phyllis Taylor leading the way, will be truly transformational for LSU.

The changing landscape and needs of our university necessitate that the Foundation thinks innovatively about what we can do to increase philanthropic support for LSU. Last summer, we welcomed LSU President and Chancellor Dr. F. King Alexander. He has a strong background and history of success with fundraising, and we have quickly found him to be a supportive partner.

During the 2012-13 fiscal year, total fundraising by the Foundation was more than $30 million, exceeding our goal. Current fundraising results are well ahead of last year at this time, primarily because of the success of the Breaking New Ground campaign. As we work to double annual fundraising by 2016, increased endowment giving by donors is important because endowments provide perpetual funding—meeting the needs of not just today, but also tomorrow.

In spring 2014, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges will visit LSU for its re-accreditation. As part of re-accreditation, LSU developed a Quality Enhancement Plan to enhance student learning by strengthening and expanding undergraduate research. The university implemented the four-year QEP, LSU Discover, last year; SACSCOC will gauge the LSU community’s awareness of it during the upcoming visit. We appreciate the commitment that many of you have to supporting undergraduate research at LSU.

On pages 6 and 7, we look back on the growth of the Foundation since its founding in 1960. Our assets have grown from around $60,000 in the early 1960s to more than $530 million today. Over the last 10 years, the Foundation has made more than $250 million in university-driven expenditures to support LSU: the units you support through gifts to us have invested more than a quarter of a billion dollars in the people and projects to which you have so generously given. Imagine what we can all collectively accomplish for LSU in our next 50 years—Thank you for your loyalty, generosity and passion.

Sincerely,

G. Lee Griffin (MS Business, 1962) President and CEO, LSU Foundation

Transition Advisory Team

LSU’s Transition Advisory Team submitted its final report to the LSU Board of Supervisors in July; it was the culmination of nine months of work and 50 meetings.

The 10-person team included G. Lee Griffin and new LSU Foundation board member Clarence P. Cazalot Jr.

LSU President and Chancellor Dr. F. King Alexander said, “Through this process, we have learned of the numerous opportunities for efficiency, self-sufficiency and collaboration that are all within our reach, many of which we are already implementing or are beginning that process.”

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Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

The team included five sub-committees and six task force groups made up of 114 faculty and staff members, students and stakeholders from across the campuses of LSU.

LSU 2015, from which the team was borne, seeks to bring together LSU’s resources to create a single, globally competitive LSU with statewide reach that is more efficient and more productive in the areas of educating its students, creating robust collaborative research, impacting economic development and conducting public service activities. lsu.edu/lsu2015

Leading by Example

Two LSU Foundation employees were recently recognized by Forum 35 for their promising futures in leadership and philanthropy. Adrian Owen, associate director of donor relations in the College of Science, and Lori Pilley, assistant director of donor relations in the College of Humanities & Social Sciences, were named to the 2013 class of the John W. Barton Sr. Community Leadership Development Program.

Since 2004, Forum 35, along with the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations, has coordinated the development program to train young professionals in nonprofit governance and leadership, and then match them with local nonprofit organizations for service on their boards of directors.

“To me, leadership is a strategic vision,” Owen shared. “I think good leaders have a clear idea of how to improve, achieve or execute something, and can clearly communicate that goal … I hope one day I can be like that, improving my community and helping others realize and fulfill their passions and potential in the process.”

Pilley said the program has helped her gain a stronger understanding of

what donors, faculty and alumni may consider when committing their time and resources to the LSU Foundation, explaining, “I feel the program has strengthened my ability to effectively communicate with donors about the important impact their contributions have on the future of the university.”

Both Pilley and Owen said they learned invaluable lessons from the program. “Board service makes you an ambassador for a nonprofit, and that is a very serious responsibility because people’s lives are affected by how you help steer an organization,” Pilley said.

“I hope this experience will help me in making future decisions about what organizations I support and how,” Owen said of the program, adding, “Just agreeing with a mission is not enough. An organization needs to be prepared to carry out that mission. I now feel well prepared to think critically and evaluate an organization before committing my service and support.”

Founded in August 1993, Forum 35 is a community of young, professional men and women working to improve Baton Rouge. forum35.org

Adrian Owen

Lori Pilley

Commitment to Excellence The first priority of the LSU Foundation’s strategic plan is “Invest in People.” The following colleagues have invested in themselves and, in turn, in the Foundation, by successfully pursuing the credentials of Certified Fund Raising Executive and Certified Public Accountant. We celebrate their excellence!

Bunnie Cannon, CFRE

Norisha Kirts, CFRE

Gretchen Morgan, CFRE

Steven Covington, CFRE

Laura Lanier, CFRE

Raychel Roy, CFRE

Gina Dugas, CPA

Ann Marie Marmande, CFRE

Theresa Russo, CPA

Emilia Gilbert, CFRE

Jeffery McLain, CFRE

Mila Sexton, CFRE

Karen Deville, CFRE

Anthony Meyer Jr., CFRE

Kate Spikes, CPA

Betty Karlsson, CFRE

Wayne Miller, CFRE

Anne Marie Tolson, CPA

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

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A History of Philanthropy at LSU

(Clockwise from Top Left) Former Louisiana Gov. Huey P. Long and LSU students celebrate the university’s rich military heritage. • The evolution of today’s campus • LSU classroom in 1960 • Students sketch in the Quad.

• 1930 Gov. Huey P. Long dedicated $9 million of state

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funds for LSU’s expansion and increased the university’s annual operating budget to $2.8 million. The massive building program expanded the physical plant and added departments. Within eight years, the school rose from 88th in the nation to 20th, adding 226 faculty, 4,000 students, and a winning football team. LSU transitioned from a small, “third-rate” school to the 11th-largest state university in the nation.

February 20, 1960 LSU Foundation Chairman Murphy J. Foster began the first meeting of the Board of Directors by stating, “The possibilities are unlimited for what such a foundation could do.”

1961 The Foundation Board of Directors elected Louie C. Reinberg as the first director of the Foundation.

1963 The first annual report of the Foundation announced $66,132 in total assets and the Foundation established a physical presence, maintaining offices on campus in Pleasant Hall.

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

• 1985 Donors’ giving histories were transferred from

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index cards to a computer database. Revised policies governing access to donor mailing lists, security of donor information, and other measures to modernize Foundation operations were established.

1993 The Endow an Oak program was introduced to improve the poor health of many of LSU’s oaks, for which declining care was an unfortunate consequence of budget limitations. The new program addressed the growing care needs created by both maturing and newly planted trees.

1997 LSU’s first ever capital campaign, The LSU Campaign, launched as a joint effort among the Foundation, Tiger Athletic Foundation, Alumni Association and university “friends groups.” The campaign reached its $150 million goal in 1999, two years ahead of schedule. By the end of the fourth year of the six-year campaign, donors had given $255 million, exceeding the original campaign goal by 70 percent.

(Clockwise from Top Left) The late Steele Burden was a master landscaper and arborist who planted many of LSU’s live oak and magnolia trees—valued at more than $50 million—in the 1930s. • Lee Griffin, then chair of the LSU Campaign, addresses supporters at the successful end of the campaign, in 2003. • LSU’s Working Group for the Nicholson Gateway Project interacts with three physical models with interchangeable pieces. • In November 2010, Forever LSU Campaign leadership announced that the campaign had not just met, but exceeded, the $750 million goal.

• 2006 The Foundation, Tiger Athletic Foundation and

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Alumni Association again came together for a common goal: raise $750 million to support the university. In a historic show of generosity, more than 60,000 LSU alumni, friends and corporations united to give a total of $798 million. The campaign strengthened the university’s endowment, funded programs that enrich student life, modernized research facilities, equipped laboratories, and initiated and supported new academic opportunities on campus and in locations worldwide.

2012 The Foundation launched a four-year strategic plan with a twofold vision: 1. Increase the amount of total annual fundraising from the current $30 million per year average over the last 10 years to more than $60 million per year by 2016. 2. Increase the LSU Foundation endowment from $330 million to $425 million by 2016 and to $680 million by 2022.

Today The Foundation continues to strengthen and expand its support of LSU, guided by the four priorities

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of its strategic plan: Invest in People; Redesign Organization and Operations; Strengthen Cross-Campus Collaboration; and Execute Large-Scale Fundraising Efforts. More than 360 Foundation members provide leadership and operational funding to the Foundation.

Additionally, a team of more than 70 works daily to foster private financial support for LSU, The LSU AgCenter and the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. A 27-member Board of Directors is led by Chairperson Gary L. Laborde.

Tomorrow The Foundation anticipates that, in 2014, it will break ground on a building of its own, kicking off the construction phase of LSU’s Nicholson Gateway Project. This prominent, accessible location will improve visibility and awareness, directly impacting the Foundation’s ability to increase fundraising. With the LSU Foundation positioned across from Tiger Stadium, LSU will send the message that academic fundraising is a vital part of LSU’s future.

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

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Meet Dr. Alexander Barely half a year into his LSU career, President and Chancellor Dr. F. King Alexander has proved (multiple times over) that he is exactly what LSU needs—and that funding for the university is a top priority.

5 THINGS TO KNOW:

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“Hi. Let me help you with that. You’ll love it here! Welcome home,” read the purple shirt he wore this year on LSU’s Move-in Day. He visited with families across campus while helping to tow their students’ belongings up flights of stairs in residential halls.

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In 2011, Alexander was selected by President Obama to serve on a domestic policy committee, providing counsel on higher education policy.

As a participant, he emphasized the importance of institutional efficiency and effectiveness, re-enrolling college drop-outs, and redefining the term “land-grant university” for the 21st century. “We need a new federal and state partnership, like the initial one, that uses federal funding or incentives to reverse states’ disinvestment in higher education,” Alexander said.

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Since landing in Louisiana, he has leapt to meet students, alumni and donors, both locally and nationally, along with LSU chancellors, deans, directors and researchers. Alexander listens carefully to everyone he meets, responding to both praise and concerns for LSU.

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He believes in quality, affordable education and has said, “LSU is a great bargain and value. Its affordability is a strong advantage, especially with TOPS and all the other types of student aid available ... Because LSU is so affordable, its students graduate with less debt, making the rate of return for LSU grads probably among the best in the country.”

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Fieldon King Alexander was born in Kentucky, was raised in north Florida, and bleeds purple and gold.

Dr. Alexander and his wife, Shenette, were welcomed to LSU in August at a reception co-hosted by the LSU Foundation, the LSU Alumni Association and the Tiger Athletic Foundation. The Alexanders have three daughters: Kylie, Savannah and Madison.

“LSU has a lot to be proud of. We need to make sure everybody knows about it. We need to make sure everybody knows that they are also beneficiaries of each and every graduate that graduates from this institution.”

LSU President and Chancellor Dr. F. King Alexander LSU Executive Education Breakfast to Business event

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Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

Young Alumni Giving Back

NAME

Jill Hoffman

Jeff Lahr

Elizabeth Robinson

Bachelor of Arts, Political Science College of Humanities & Social Sciences, 1999

Bachelor of Science, Civil Engineering College of Engineering, 2000

PhD student, Oceanography and Coastal Science School of the Coast & Environment

Shreveport, La.

Denham Springs, La.

Shreveport, La.

GIVES TO

College of Humanities & Social Sciences Excellence Fund

College of Engineering’s Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

School of the Coast & Environment Community and Education Outreach

POSITION

Assistant Vice President, Federal Government Relations, for the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, Washington, D.C.

Development manager for a commercial real estate investment/ development firm in Austin, Texas

President of Coast & Environment Graduate Organization and graduate assistant in the School of the Coast & Environment

I give because I’m passionate about the university. It gave me four of the best years of my life. I recognize that times are tough for everybody economically, including the state and the university. I think it’s incumbent on all of us who love LSU, our alma mater, to do everything we can to make sure that current undergrads have the same level of experience that we did.

I give in order to preserve the legacy of my late wife, Erin, who was a graduate (BS and MS) of the LSU College of Engineering.

Endowing a scholarship in her name allows me, my family and friends, and her family and friends to focus our giving efforts not only on her, but also to the school that we—and she—loved. Erin was very proud of her time at LSU, and she recognized that her degrees provided the platform to pursue a career in engineering in a city that she enjoyed, Austin, Texas.

One of CEGO’s missions is to provide educational and outreach services to the LSU and Baton Rouge community. Each spring semester, CEGO puts together a crawfish boil fundraiser to support the Drew Wilbert Scholarship Fund.

This scholarship fund supports undergraduate students in science.

This scholarship helps CEGO, a graduate student organization, connect with LSU’s undergraduate community interested in science.

DEGREE HOMETOWN

WHY I GIVE

JEFF LAHR FAVORITE LSU MEMORY

If I had to pick one, it would be the bell tower chimes. I lived very close to campus for most of my time at LSU and every day, during every season and throughout the course of my time in school, I could hear the chimes. They became so routine and constant, literally like clockwork, that they became infused with most of my favorite memories made during my time at LSU. They were the first thing I noticed missing when I graduated and moved away.

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A Legacy of Student Support

Born in Hardt, Germany, in 1931, the late Dr. Johannes “Hans” Storz came to the U.S. as a Fulbright Scholar in 1958. After 24 years of education, research and teaching at several universities, he and his wife, Hannelore, moved to Baton Rouge so Hans could become head of the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine’s Veterinary Microbiology and Parasitology department.

During his 19 years at LSU, Storz developed a vaccine for a bovine gastrointestinal disease known as “shipping fever” and received an honorary PhD from the University of Zurich in Switzerland.

The Hannelore and Johannes Storz Graduate Student Excellence Fund was established this year by the Storzes’ children in memory of their parents. The fund will assist graduate students in gaining the experience Hans had, further benefitting the LSU SVM’s mission of pursuing educational excellence and groundbreaking scholarly research.

Throughout his career, Hans enjoyed collaborating with scientists from around the world, particularly with colleagues in Giessen, Germany.

He mentored many students and fellows and was an outstanding teacher, demanding excellence while conveying his passion for animals, science and learning.

Hans had a commanding presence in part because of his solid physical stature, but even more so because of his exuberance for life. His most defining feature, though, was a sharp and insightful mind adept at discerning facts and divining character.

Hannelore was a tremendous support to Hans and hundreds of students and faculty, and was an active member of the veterinary auxiliaries of the universities where Hans worked.

She was also a member of a service group for international students at LSU; she spent many years helping in the management of the Student Loan Closet, which was founded to assist international students with their

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housing and living needs.

The Storzes’ children established this endowment to continue their parents’ tradition of valuing students and interactions among scientists around the world. Gigi, eldest of the three, said that although Hans entered into veterinary medicine because of his interest in animals, he also made important discoveries to aid people.

The time Hans and Hannelore spent with students outside of the classroom, mentoring them and including them in their own family gatherings, made a profound difference in the lives of the Storzes and the students. LSU and Baton Rouge were large components of the Storzes’ lives for nearly 20 years. www.vetmed.lsu.edu

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

(Top) The Hannelore and Johannes Storz Graduate Student Excellence Fund will support veterinary students in their education and research.

(Bottom) Dr. Johannes Storz taught and researched at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine for nearly 20 years.

Making Note

Violet Blakewood Lux came to LSU as a sophomore in 1942. When World War II called many Tiger Band members overseas, she quickly joined the first class of females to play in the band the next spring.

That’s where she met her late husband. That’s where they began to establish their legacy.

Violet and Turner Saunders Lux marched together in the band, which was then part of the ROTC program. In 1944, the war called them, too. Violet joined the Navy Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service. She was stationed in New York City, where she sang and entertained troops and new recruits. Turner was deployed in fall 1944 and by year’s end was part of the Allied forces pushing across France toward Germany. He lost a leg to a landmine in March 1945, shortly before his unit crossed the Rhine River into Germany.

While recovering from his injury, the couple married in December 1945.

Both Turner and Violet resumed their studies at LSU and completed their degrees. In 1948, they moved back to Baton Rouge, where Violet still lives.

Bond, one of their three children, decided to continue their legacy by joining Tiger Band in 1974 and, more recently, with an endowed oak celebrating Violet and Turner’s connection to LSU and Tiger Band.

Bond and his wife, Nita, considered endowing an oak for 10 years before deciding to honor their parents through two endowed oaks. “We really thought it was a nice way to honor our parents and say ‘thank you,’ and also help out the university,” Nita explained.

The first of their gifts, the oak honoring Bond’s parents, is a sapling outside of the new Tiger Band Hall.

Bond said he hopes the oak will inspire other band alumni to endow oaks around the building.

“The live oak endowment reminds me that I was a student when many of the stately oaks now around campus were planted,” Violet shared, continuing, “I can look at this oak and

Bond, Violet and Nita Lux, with family friend Cliff Vannoy, executive vice president/chief operations officer of the LSU Alumni Association, visited their endowed oak when the plaque was installed in May.

imagine it growing to be a grand, big tree inspiring those future generations of bandsmen.”

Bond and Nita will honor Nita’s parents through an endowed oak located near the French House, paying tribute to her parents’ commitment to the French program.

Endow an Oak was introduced in 1993 to improve the health of LSU’s 1,200-plus oak trees. Since then, donors’ support of the program has provided immediate and long-term funding for the care of LSU’s most treasured natural “residents.” www.lsufoundation.org/oaks

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

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Karen Egedy visits with Nathaniel Martin, recipient of the scholarship she established.

Life in Numbers

Math is a constant.

It was a constant throughout Charlie and Karen Egedy’s careers, in engineering and education, and in their retirement, when they each began a second career, this time he in education and she in engineering. And math was a constant this year when, after Charlie passed away, mathematics freshman Nathaniel Martin became the first scholarship recipient of the Charles R. Egedy, Jr. Science Residential College Enhancement Fund, established by Karen in Charlie’s memory.

“This scholarship has already helped me to make this semester better than I could have imagined,” Martin said. “But having this scholarship will make a big impact throughout my college career.”

Martin, who graduated from his high school in Covington, La., in just

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three years, said mathematics has been his favorite subject throughout school.

Meeting Martin affirmed for Egedy her decision to establish this memorial scholarship. “I’m very pleased he’s a math major. He couldn’t be nicer. I’m glad he is the recipient.”

Charlie earned a PhD in mathematics from LSU, where he taught mathematics courses in the Science Residential College after retiring from a career in engineering. Karen said that Charlie always put teaching first, showing his devotion to his students by mentoring many of them.

“He liked the idea of the residential college,” Karen shared. “It’s always fun teaching a class of students who have a skill level, where you actually get to teach the material and not just teach the background material.”

The Science Residential College,

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

housed in Evangeline Hall, opened in 2009 to help first-year students in the College of Science adjust to the rigors of college courses while making friends and getting to know faculty in a small college living-learning environment.

The scholarship, funded by generous donations by family and friends, will pay for the costs of the program.

Karen explained, “The SRC is a young program. I decided this would be a way to support a program he was very pleased to be associated with.”

Martin indicated that, one day, he may have more than math in common with the late professor. “Though I am not 100 percent sure what I want to do after graduation, I feel it is inevitable that I will continue my education until I become a professor. I find teaching to be a fulfilling job.” science.lsu.edu

(Above) LSU and SAU students spent two weeks collaborating on a landscape architecture project for Sichuan Province, China (Top Right). (Bottom Right) Scholarship recipient Kevin McKee

The World by Design

LSU is consistently recognized as one of the most affordable, highest value colleges in the U.S. Even so, six years of out-of-state tuition can be a substantial investment.

Landscape architecture student Kevin McKee, from Houston, said that receiving the Marguerite Conrad Memorial Scholarship allowed him to travel with six other students in Professor Bruce Sharky’s studio class on a two-week trip to Sichuan Province, China.

“It’s something I was really looking forward to,” McKee said. “This is my sixth year of college overall. It’s been a large burden on my family and me. But I know that what I’m doing is worth it.”

The class traveled to Ya’an, a city that, like most of China, is being heavily influenced by urbanization. As part of a new cooperative agreement, they met with students from Sichuan Agricultural University to collaborate on a semester-long landscape design project. The students worked in teams

to find ways to maintain and preserve farmland in the midst of urbanization, and increase efficiency and production in Ya’an.

McKee shared about the trip, “I got a new outlook on the landscape architecture process. Collaborating with other students from a different country in the same professional sense [provides] two outlooks. It’s something I wasn’t exposed to before.”

Throughout the fall semester, the two classes maintained communication through email and presented designs to each other via Skype.

McKee said the experience taught him to always be open-minded and ready to “jump in,” and to be accepting and welcoming of others’ perspectives.

“It’s good to have multiple outlooks.

You learn more.”

The Marguerite Conrad Memorial Scholarship was established in 2003 as a non-endowed fund to be awarded to one student. Over the past decade, donors have continued contributions

to the scholarship, enabling more students to expand their education through travel abroad.

After he graduates in May, McKee plans to move back to Texas and work with a firm in residential landscape design. His experiences at LSU have affirmed his career decision. He shared of his hands-on learning, “This is what I want to be doing.” design.lsu.edu

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From left, cold case researchers Wilborn Nobles III, Gordon Brillon and Joshua Jackson review materials to build the program’s interactive website.

“Writing” Past Wrongs

In a world of instantaneous communication—Twitter, Facebook and headline tickers—timeliness is one of the most relevant aspects of modern journalism. The idea of getting the day’s top story first is paramount, so why did five LSU mass communication students spend a week digging through the National Archives in Washington, D.C., researching cold case civil rights murders in 1960s rural Louisiana?

The graduate and undergraduate students first traveled to D.C. in 2011 as part of the field experience capstone course taught by James Shelledy, the Manship School’s Fred Jones Greer Chair. Shelledy, who spent 30 years as an investigative reporter and editor for several newspapers before joining the Manship faculty in 2005, felt the opportunity was essential in educating today’s journalists.

The spring field trip to scrutinize

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the previously unseen 45-year-old FBI field investigations primarily focused on the 1964 murder of Frank Morris, a successful Ferriday, La., businessman and black civic leader who died when the Ku Klux Klan torched his shoe repair shop. The initial trip netted some 2,000 pages of mostly unpublicized material housed at the National Archives.

Since that initial trip, students participating in the Unsolved Civil Right-Era Murders project have spent countless hours poring through nearly 100,000 pages of FBI files (obtained under the Freedom of Information Act) and meeting with the FBI to help bring closure to unsolved murders by the Ku Klux Klan.

Graduating students in Shelledy’s capstone classes have filed dozens of Freedom of Information Act requests for FBI investigative reports and closed testimony to the House Un-American

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

Activities Committee, which investigated Klan activities from 1965-67.

Recently, to support the students’ work, the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation granted the LSU Foundation $25,000 to support investigative costs for the Unsolved Civil Right-Era Murders project, and to construct an interactive website for the files.

Shortly after the 2011 D.C. trip, participant Matthew Albright shared, “When people our age study the civil rights movement, the Ku Klux Klan and the horrible things that people did to each other, it sometimes seems like it happened so long ago—like something we read in history books alongside the ancient Greeks. I started to understand the people behind the headlines and the footnotes of history, and that was rewarding.” manship.lsu.edu

Up to the Challenge

Dr. Barrett Kennedy and Peggy Reily, like many Louisiana natives, are products of their community and its traditions. Born and raised in New Orleans, they grew up in families with a strong commitment to community service. As part of their upbringing, and through their experiences as kayakers and outdoor enthusiasts, they developed a lifelong love for Louisiana’s cultural and natural heritage, a passion they have lived out through community service. Now, Kennedy and Reily hope to give LSU students a chance to find their own passions through service.

Their intended gift to LSU’s Center for Community Engagement, Learning, and Leadership will establish an endowment fund that will annually generate income for CCELL, but the donation comes with a challenge: it will be provided only if a matching $20,000 is raised by the end of 2013.

“Our donation is to support CCELL, but we also see it as directly going to the community,” Kennedy shared, continuing, “We expect it to pay dividends. It’s an investment in developing student citizens through the experience of service to Louisiana communities. We also hope that students will develop a stronger connection to Louisiana through their servicelearning projects—a deep and enduring connection that compels them to be a force of positive change in Louisiana after graduation. They are the future, the state needs them, and our communities will grow and prosper through their best efforts.”

With educational backgrounds in architecture and heritage conservation (Kennedy) and forest and plant ecology (Reily), the couple has served multiple causes that support environmental and historic preservation, including the LSU Rural Life Museum, BREC’s Bluebonnet Swamp, the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and the national Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics.

As an LSU architecture professor, Kennedy, now retired, shared his passion for service by teaching service-

Husband and wife Dr. Barrett Kennedy and Peggy Reily are committed philanthropists whose recent challenge gift to CCELL will help promote philanthropy among LSU supporters.

learning classes in which his students, many from South Louisiana, were re-introduced to the communities they grew up in but too easily took for granted. For one community-based initiative, his architecture students worked with volunteers in New Orleans as they rehabilitated homes that had fallen into disrepair. The students learned that rehabilitation did not necessarily mean gentrification and displacement of traditional populations, but could also be a fundamental means to ensure the sustainability and continuity of historic communities.

Experiential education is a common theme in the initiatives Kennedy and Reily support. Their recent challenge gift to CCELL is a testament to their belief in community service and hands-on learning. CCELL facilitates

LSU service-learning classes, in which students complete service projects that reinforce course learning goals and introduce them to important social issues. More than 3,500 LSU students participate each year in service-learning projects that range from tutoring in public schools to coastal restoration to fundraising for nonprofit organizations.

“The endowment is a testament to the fact that CCELL is making a huge contribution, not only to the education of LSU students, but to Louisiana,” Kennedy explained. “It will be an indication that CCELL is going to be here a long time—contributing to the university’s mission and living it out in ways that are relevant and absolutely critical to the mission of a major land grant university.” lsu.edu/ccell

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

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Dr. Daniel Burba, professor of veterinary surgery, works with a student in the Equine Health Studies Program.

Supporting Equine Health Research

Since its dedication in 2011, The Charles V. Cusimano Equine Physiology and Pharmacology Laboratory has been home to summer scholars’ and graduate students’ projects. The lab is named for Charles Cusimano of New Orleans, a friend of the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine who is a horse owner and equine enthusiast.

The laboratory is central to the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine Equine Health Studies Program’s core research efforts. There, collaborative studies are conducted in the areas of vascular and nonvascular physiology and pharmacology as they relate to laminitis and airway diseases, pain management, gastrointestinal diseases, and reproduction.

Recently, Cusimano was honored through the new Cusimano Laboratory Research Support Fund, established

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with a $25,000 gift made by another friend of the school. The gift will fund equine studies, including graduate students’ research in the lab named for Cusimano, as part of the Equine Health Studies Program.

The EHSP is the premier equine biomedical center in Louisiana and the South. The program, together with the equine clinic at the LSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital, provides state-ofthe-art diagnostic and therapeutic solutions for critically ill and injured horses in Louisiana and the surrounding area.

Cusimano and Dr. Mike Strain, Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture & Forestry, worked tirelessly to secure funds to establish the EHSP from tax revenue generated from slot machine proceeds at Louisiana racetracks. Dr. Peter Haynes, dean, said the funding for the program made sense because

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

“the funds are generated from the horse racing industry and will be used to enhance and support the equine health needs of the industry.”

Cusimano’s commitment to the university stems from connections to LSU that are nearly 70 years deep. He attended LSU on a football scholarship, lettering for four years and playing in the Cotton Bowl in 1946 and the Sugar Bowl in 1950 before graduating with a BS in petroleum engineering in 1951.

Cusimano is a former member of the LSU Board of Supervisors who began his service in 1974 and served as chairman in 1995-96. He was admitted to the LSU Law Hall of Fame in 1987 and the LSU Engineering Hall of Distinction in 1999. In addition, he helped establish religious centers on each of LSU’s campuses. www.vetmed.lsu.edu

Rock Solid

For nearly a century, LSU students and professors have trekked to a rustic camp facility in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, south of Colorado Springs, Colo. The Department of Geology & Geophysics in the College of Science has used the site for field courses since 1928, making it one of the oldest continuously operating field camps in the U.S.

The 1300-acre, “all-inclusive” Charles Barney Geology Field Camp is equipped with its own permanent living and dining quarters. The field camp program, named in honor of 1949 LSU engineering graduate Charles Barney, spans six weeks and includes classwork and fieldwork for freshmen and seniors.

Students participate in lectures, exams and laboratory exercises, all while spending time in the field. In addition to geology majors, the field camp is shared by LSU petroleum engineering students, and is also open to students from other universities.

Eighty-five years of weather and use have taken their toll on the cabins, prompting several generous geology alumni to fund renovations of the site.

“It’s something that ought to be preserved. It should be promoted,” said Armour C. Winslow, a 1957 alumnus and donor to the field camp, which he attended while working toward his master’s in geology. Winslow described the camp as an outlet for potential geologists to gain field experience that is different from the experience they have along the Gulf Coast.

Winslow hopes the renovations will help to preserve the camp against the weather, fires and floods that frequent Colorado. “It’s an institution in itself,” he shared, adding, “If you’re going to be a geologist, you ought to be experienced in natural occurrences of geological phenomena.”

Winslow said his work at LSU was a primary factor in being able to begin his geology career immediately after he graduated. “Ever since, I’ve been very grateful to [LSU] and its geology faculty of the 1950s.”

For each visiting student and

Participants in the LSU Geology Field Camp, 1960

Cabins at the Geology Field Camp were recently renovated.

teacher, the field camp offers a learning experience beyond the classroom, as it explores the complex natural structures and mechanisms of the earth. It is not

only a high-quality environment for teaching, but also a valuable recruiting tool for LSU’s geoscience programs. geology.lsu.edu

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

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“LSU College of Business students have quickly accepted the Business Education Complex as their new home. The modern design, along with team rooms, welcoming commons areas, an Ideation Lab and extraordinary technology, have created new opportunities for the College of Business. The rotunda and auditorium have allowed the school to host various functions, speakers and other events that have aided in the professional development and learning opportunities of the students.�

Sarah Hebert Lilley Flores MBA Association President

Business Education Complex Update The Business Education Complex opened in 2012, but opportunities for enhancement abound in the new home of the E. J. Ourso College of Business. Visit business.lsu.edu/BEC to learn more or to make a gift.

Fast Facts •

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The Business Education Complex includes approximately 156,000 gross square feet of learning and research environments, including classrooms, labs and offices for faculty and college administration.

The rotunda is home for the college’s student services, professional programs, institutes and administration.

The Commons is a 3,500-square-foot central atrium providing students with study space, Internet access and areas for group meetings. Convocations, guest speakers, alumni functions and other events that bring together students, faculty and friends as a community are held in the atrium.

The auditorium seats 300 students and guests for conferences, guest lecturers and student symposia.

The Executive Dining Area provides a professional area for meals and snacks, and a dining area for the Executive MBA Program, Executive Education and special events.

The undergraduate and graduate wings, each arranged in four pavilions, house classrooms for courses and faculty offices for their academic departments.

The two wings include 22 radial and case-style tiered classrooms designed for discussion and learning and equipped with the latest in audiovisual equipment, plus 15 smaller rooms for seminars and breakouts.

The SMART Lab, a 40-person financial trading room, is equipped with the most up-to-date financial analytics and data.

Community Coffee sells coffee and light fare.

Bloomberg Terminals

The Business Education Complex is equipped with a Securities Markets Analysis Research and Trading Lab, a financial lab that offers students and faculty access to realtime financial data, professional research tools and leading analytic software. The lab functions as a high-tech, hands-on classroom, complete with Bloomberg Terminals.

The college started with two terminals of the software that provides news, quotes and information on markets, equities, fixed income, currencies, portfolio analytics, mutual funds and economics. A small group of dedicated alumni and friends collaborated to commit $30,000 per year to fund an additional terminal.

The generosity of this gift made LSU eligible to receive nine additional terminals from the Bloomberg Educational Foundation, bringing the total number of terminals to 12.

Students now have the opportunity to use the software at any time, and can obtain their Bloomberg online training certification before graduation.

SAS

After using SAS Analytics in teaching and research for more than 30 years, LSU partnered with the business analytics software company to launch a Master of Science in Analytics to meet the workforce demands of this growing field. The program, housed in the Department of Information Systems & Decision Sciences, is a combined effort between the department and the College of Agriculture’s Department of Experimental Statistics.

LSU graduated its first class of students with advanced analytics degrees in 2013, with impressive results. Nearly all of the 16 students received job offers before graduation, averaging two offers per student.

“We looked at job placement to judge the success of our program, and this has been a great year for hiring,” said Ken Koonce, former dean of the College of Agriculture. “We had several companies come to us looking for people, but we just didn’t have enough students to meet the demand right now.

We strive to get there.”

More than 100 students applied for entry into the 2014 class; 33 were selected. The overwhelming interest has sparked buzz about creating an Analytics Institute and an analytics PhD program.

From Dean Richard White

“Although we are just over a year removed from the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the BEC, we have already experienced tremendous benefits because of this state-of-the-art facility. In addition to being able to host almost all of the college’s functions on campus now, we have witnessed impacts on a variety of fronts.

“When U.S. News & World Report announced its 2014 rankings, the LSU Flores MBA Program jumped 20 spots overall, and is now 31st among the nation’s public institutions. Our Bloomberg Businessweek undergraduate program ranking improved overall by two spots, and we are now ranked 59th among public institutions. Earlier this year, Eduniversal, a worldwide organization, ranked our master’s of public administration program in the top 20 in all of North America. Additionally, our master’s of finance program was ranked in the top 40 in North America.

“Our college also has a tremendous staff that works tirelessly behind the scenes. We have gone from hosting an event or function maybe once every three days or so in Patrick F. Taylor Hall to hosting, on average, an event a day in the Business Education Complex. That is only possible due to the work of our small but talented staff, who have taken on more duties and continue to simply get the job done.”

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

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On the Job

Scholarships

In 2011, the Olinde family announced a $1.5 million gift to help build the LSU Olinde Career Center. Several corporations and individuals have joined the Olindes in providing support for the new career center to serve students, and the product of their gifts is slated to open in the LSU Student Union in April 2014. careercenter.lsu.edu

For more than 25 years, Career Services has assisted students and alumni in choosing careers, obtaining career-related work experiences, developing job search skills, and securing employment or admission to graduate or professional school.

Currently housed in two locations on campus—in the basement of Coates Hall and on the first floor of Patrick F. Taylor Hall—Career Services provides a space for employers to connect with prospective employees. Casual meet-and-greets take place in the employer greeter room, which is currently shared by employees and student workers.

Employers hold on-campus interviews with students in cubiclestyle pop-up rooms in Patrick F. Taylor Hall. The Quad location hosts career tools for students, including resume building, webinars, financial management counseling, and a library of resources to help students decide on a career path, discover employment options and grow professionally.

Now gutted of textbooks, school supplies and cash registers, the second floor of what was once the LSU Bookstore will be home to employer and student resource spaces. It will include 22 professional interview rooms, a global teleconferencing room, an executive conference room, a SMART classroom, an employer lounge and business center, an employer greeter room, and a student reception area.

“LSU Career Services’ staff, resources and programs assist students and alumni at every stage of career development, from identifying a career and college major and gaining practical experiences while in school to developing proven job-search skills and connecting with potential employers. The new LSU Olinde Career Center will be a testimony of the value LSU places on the career development of its students. Additionally, it will serve as the first stop on recruitment tours as new students and their parents visit to decide if LSU is the university they want to attend.”

Mary D. Feduccia, PhD Director of LSU Career Services

Construction on the LSU Olinde Career Center began in July 2013. The center will bring together Career Service’s current two locations in a new stateof-the art environment better suited to prepare LSU students and alumni for their future careers.

Scholarships

The first floor of the new LSU Olinde Career Center will house offices for the Career Services team. Level One will feature centers for welcome and information, workforce development, student financial management, counseling and career coaching.

Book lovers peruse the selections at the 2013 Book Bazaar.

Community Support Builds Endowment

The shelves of school libraries have been filled, collectors of rare books have found their oasis, and LSU Libraries has benefitted from nearly $2 million in philanthropic support.

The LSU Book Bazaar began as a small book sale in 1975, a project of the then recently resurrected Friends of the LSU Libraries. The first sale netted almost $600, remembered Anne West, chairperson of both the Book Bazaar and the Book Barn, where donated textbooks and antique books are sold throughout the year. The next year, the Friends branded the event the LSU Book Bazaar and sold more than 20,000 books and records, raising more than $7,000 for the libraries.

Most recently, patrons of the 2013 Book Bazaar bought nearly 70,000 items, enabling the Friends to make a $67,000 gift to the LSU Foundation to

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support LSU Libraries. “Students and faculty in every discipline benefit from the Friends’ hard work,” explained Elaine Smyth, interim dean of the LSU Libraries.

Over the past 38 years, proceeds from the Book Bazaar have contributed $1.8 million in endowed support for LSU Libraries. Earnings generated from the endowment are the major source of funding for the LSU Libraries to acquire items that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to fit within its annual budget.

West said the sales are used at the dean’s discretion, but typically fund the purchase of special books. “Those funds are necessary. There’s always need for more money in a library.”

In describing the impact the event has had on the community, West said that many schools have been able to

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

establish libraries with books they bought from the Bazaar. “It gets books to people who couldn’t otherwise get them,” she explained.

Families and companies donate books, DVDs, CDs, e-books and albums almost year-round at drop boxes in Kean’s Fine Dry Cleaning locations throughout Baton Rouge. Bookstores in the area donate boxes for transporting the books, the LSU AgCenter donates space for the event, and dedicated workers at the Bazaar volunteer time.

Every year, most tables are left bare by the end of the sale, with items remaining only on the Collector’s Table, for rare books and first editions.

The 2014 Book Bazaar is slated for March 20-22, and will be held at LSU, in the LSU AgCenter’s 4-H Mini Farm and Nelson Memorial Buildings. lib.lsu.edu

Trees and Trails

Historically, Title I school children do not always have the best resources available to them. Those elementary schools are classified as such because they have a high number or high percentage of children from low-income families. For the second time in as many years, ExxonMobil is making a richer education available to children in Title 1 schools and throughout the Baton Rouge community through Trees & Trails at the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden.

ExxonMobil’s donation will provide admission and transportation expenses for underserved children in Baton Rouge and Baker. Emphasis will be made to engage students enrolled in ExxonMobil’s partner schools.

“ExxonMobil is glad to invest and partner with the Trees & Trails program to provide a natural learning environment for students all across Baton Rouge,” said Stephanie Cargile, public and government affairs manager for ExxonMobil Baton Rouge. “This program demonstrates how our native trees can help students get excited about math and science concepts, which is an important goal for our company.”

Trees & Trails brings students in touch with nature through a 5-mile series of pedestrian, recreational and educational trails. Using math and science skills, the program stresses the importance of the ecosystem and the environment. Through hands-on activities at multiple learning stations, students ultimately strengthen their critical-thinking, team-building and problem-solving skills.

Trees & Trails is based on an award-winning national program called Project Learning Tree. The program uses the forest as a natural “window” on the world to increase students’ understanding of the environment, stimulate critical and creative thinking, develop their ability to make informed decisions on environmental issues, and instill in them the commitment to take responsible action on behalf of the environment.

According to Project Learning Tree,

A family explores Black Swamp, a popular destination on the Trees & Trails route.

studies consistently show that, when integrated into the core curriculum or used as an integrating theme across curricula, environmental education raises test scores, increases student engagement in learning and improves student achievement.

Project Learning Tree’s philosophy on environmental education is that “Environmental education is not just about raising test scores for today’s students. It is also about engaging and educating tomorrow’s decision makers about environmental issues. Invest-

ments in green education and green schools will strengthen our economy by preparing the next generation for the green jobs of the future.”

Among the long-term plans for Trees and Trails are increasing school and docent recruitment; establishing partnerships with public, private and parochial schools; and expanding educational programs to include wetlands education developed in partnership with LSU AgCenter’s Youth Wetlands Program. lsuagcenter.com/burdencenter

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

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Matching Loyalty

Ken and Susan Garrett met at LSU and attribute the professional opportunities they have had to the education they received here. It was the alumni at Texas A&M, however, that inspired them to give back to their alma mater.

The Garretts’ son attended Texas A&M. Ken said seeing the spirit of the school’s alumni and the way they give back humbled him. “We need to have that same spirit for our school, to give generously,” he said.

Ken and Susan began giving four years ago, making periodic donations to several funds. Then, they considered their gifts as a way to make an impact on the university. “We’d been thinking of a bigger way to give back to LSU, and Wayne Miller and Lindsey Kelly encouraged us to consider it,” Susan shared of her and Ken’s collaboration with the college’s development team.

“We decided to go ahead and do a scholarship for the College of Human Sciences & Education.”

Ken explained, “I guess, for me, it just became a way to look back on a university that we both love and say, ‘You’ve done a lot for us, and we want to give back to you.’ Our company, Chevron, encourages us to give back through their matching funds.”

Ken said Chevron’s matching gift partnership with the LSU Foundation helped make it possible for him and his wife to fund a scholarship opportunity.

Warner Williams, vice president of Chevron in the Gulf of Mexico, says the giving program reflects the company’s approach to community engagement.

He explained, “At Chevron, we strive to be a good neighbor, contributing to the communities in which we work and live. Locally, Chevron partners with countless groups focused on the environmental, economic, educational and overall health and social well-being of Louisiana. It’s especially important to us to support causes that are important to our employees and retirees. Together, with the one-to-one match, we can make a bigger impact. We encourage all our Chevron staff to take advantage of

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Ken and Susan Garrett recently established a scholarship in the College of Human Sciences & Education through Chevron’s matching gift program.

“The matching gift program is important because it’s a way for Chevron to encourage employees to give back to what’s important to you. In our case, that’s LSU. Chevron says, ‘If it’s important to you, it’s important to us.’”

Ken Garrett

this special program in order to create a better future for our state.”

The Kenneth and Susan Garrett Endowed Scholarship will be awarded to students in the College of Human Sciences & Education. “The reason people become engineers and doctors and accountants is because someone taught them,” Susan explained. “We need teachers, and we need good teachers.

We want to support those that want to teach and make our society better and Louisiana better.”

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

Ken and Susan said that they intend for the scholarship to give back to students so that they can carry on the rich legacy of LSU. Ken shared that part of what motivated them to give was a desire to help offset the impact of limited state budget dollars. He said, “LSU opened up a lot of doors for us … It’s humbling when you see other universities with loyal alumni. It’s time for [LSU] alumni to be loyal as well.” chse.lsu.edu chevron.com

It’s committing to a cause...

amazing discoveries

@snapLSU on Instagram

LSU researchers are passionate about building a better world through discovery.

Preserving and protecting the coast and wetlands are just part of the bigger picture.

At your alma mater, undergraduate and graduate students are working side-by-side with faculty, conducting research that will one day impact your life and the lives of countless others. LSU truly turns PASSION into GENIUS.

lsu.edu/researchnews

(Left) Dean Jerry Ceppos, John Barnidge, Ralph Bender of Manship Media, LSU Law Chancellor Jack Weiss, LSU Foundation President and CEO Lee Griffin (Right) John and Nancy Barnidge

Connecting the Past to Influence the Future

John and Nancy Barnidge believe in funding opportunities that will remain long after they have gone. They have consistently contributed to the E. J. Ourso College of Business for years—through its student incubator program, endowed scholarships, the Dean’s Excellence Fund and the new Business Education Complex, among several others.

Their son’s recent positive experience with the Manship School of Mass Communication’s master’s program prompted them to expand their giving.

“Originally, we wanted to endow a scholarship and have the dean utilize it as needed,” John said, adding, “We never believed in giving gifts with a lot of restrictions.”

Instead, Dean Jerry Ceppos shared an “unorthodox” opportunity to give, through a donation to commemorate the school’s centennial. This year marks the Manship School of Mass Communication’s 100th year of journal-

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ism and mass communication education at LSU.

The year-long centennial celebration, named Manship 100, culminated in the distribution of nearly 1,000 tickets for a weekend of activities in October, aimed to establish a national brand for the Manship School in media and public affairs education, and to raise more money than ever before for its annual excellence fund—surpassing the previous, record-breaking year.

Ceppos said of the school’s unique curricula, “We are the only university to teach at the intersection of media and public affairs at all three levels— bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral. Our graduates cover Congress and state houses; work in congressional offices and federal agencies; and campaign for officeholders. Our job is to be sure that they can communicate the significance of public affairs, whether they’re working for public officials or for media organizations.”

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

The Barnidges’ donation provided a framework for supporting the school’s efforts to raise $300,000 in support through the centennial celebration.

“It’s a good investment on our part,” John said. “[I thought], we can make a donation, and the dean can take that donation and quadruple it in terms of returns … four-to-one return on your money is good.”

The Barnidges’ gift provided funding for centennial publicity, mailing materials, keynote speakers, workshops, dinners and a tailgate. A specially designed centennial website hosts a timeline of student, alumni and friend stories and videos to help engage visitors in the celebration.

“It’s a sense of loyalty, a sense of pride for the university,” John said of his and Nancy’s decision to give. “It’s a sense of loyalty that’s instilled in you and, at least in me, it’s never left.” manship100.com manship.lsu.edu

Celebrating History

The LSU Laboratory School will commemorate its upcoming centennial by celebrating the school’s rich history and long tradition of excellence throughout the 2015-16 school year.

Originally located at the LSU campus in downtown Baton Rouge, U-High opened in 1915 as Demonstration High School. The school provides teachers and pre-service teaching candidates with opportunities to obtain practical classroom experience and to study and observe effective teaching methods.

The breadth and depth of the school’s academic and extracurricular experiences has positioned U-High at the forefront of education. For the past several years, Newsweek has included U-High in its annual roster of Best High Schools in the U.S.

U-High graduate and Orlando Magic forward-center Glen “Big Baby” Davis said his experience at the school changed his life. Raised in a singleparent household with five other family members, Davis credits U-High with providing a strong foundation for his future success.

“Coming to U-High helped me see a whole different world,” said Davis, who graduated in 2004. He shared that his education there opened the door for several opportunities, including his professional basketball career.

In gratitude for those opportunities, Davis founded the Glen “Big Baby” Davis Foundation, which works to steer inner-city youth away from defiant behavior through a focus on literacy, healthy lifestyles and recreational activities. The foundation is supported by individuals, corporations, grants and fundraising.

Through his foundation, Davis joins several donors as an underwriter of U-High’s centennial celebration, which will boast a birthday celebration, an alumni recognition celebration, a homecoming reunion tailgate, school tours and a gala celebration, as well as other celebratory programs.

Davis shared, “I’m always in debt to that school because of what they showed me. I just wanted to be a part

of what they’re doing.”

At press time, underwriters for the centennial and their respective U-High graduation years, if applicable, include the Glen “Big Baby” Davis Foundation; Coastal Bridge Company, LLC; Jonalyn and Raoul Robert; Susan and Richard (1957) Lipsey, Laurie (1985) and Mark Aronson, and Wendy (1988) and John Shiroda; Richard and Claire Manship; Sharon and Claude Pennington and Paige Pennington (2011); and Betsy and Newton (1962) Thomas. An underwriting gift was also made in memory of Dr. Peter A. Soderbergh.

The year-long celebration will focus on highlighting the school’s contributions to the community; increasing public awareness of the school’s specific contributions to improved educational practices; recognizing individual and curriculum achievements; developing stronger connections with constituents; increasing awareness and participation in scholarship, general endowment and planned giving initiatives; and providing a historical record of the school’s first century through the collection and

(Top) A student reads in Grace Bailey’s sixth grade class in 1951.

(Bottom) NBA star Glen “Big Baby” Davis helped lead U-High to state basketball championships in 2002 and 2004.

archiving of memorabilia, photographs and information provided by alumni and friends. uhigh.lsu.edu

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

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Tiger by Choice

Deborah Dunlevy Todd didn’t graduate from LSU. She wasn’t born in Baton Rouge, wasn’t raised a Tiger and has no LSU alumni in her family. But she included LSU in her will.

“I came to Baton Rouge, and I fell in love with Baton Rouge,” she said.

Since moving to the area in 1995, Todd has been an active arts patron in the community, becoming involved with the Baton Rouge Symphony, LSU Opera, Opera Louisiane and the Louisiana Youth Orchestra.

“I didn’t attend LSU, but I benefit from LSU and from the School of Music,” she explained, adding, “Because their reach—the professors, the students—all are involved in the community, whether they’re teachers in the public school system, they’re performers of some sort, they’re musicians in the orchestra, or they sing with Opera Louisiane … You don’t have to be an LSU graduate to benefit from all the things that can come from it in the community.”

Todd, who owns an advertising agency based in Baton Rouge, credits her background in the arts for much of her success today. She shared that between her elementary school’s arts education program and the private lessons her family provided, she had an excellent music education as a child.

“I believe that fine arts foundation taught me things like teamwork, and responsibility to get my work done and achieving things,” she said. “As a result of that, I believe I’ve had a very successful career because of my foundation in music, and being part of a band and being part of an orchestra.”

Todd made a bequest—a gift of cash, property or other asset made through a will or living trust—to the LSU Foundation for the benefit of the College of Music & Dramatic Arts.

Her gift will support the college’s scholarship program.

“My gift isn’t that large,” Todd shared, “but if you can consider in your planned giving even a small gift to LSU, it can go a long way in supporting

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Deborah Dunlevy Todd credits her professional success to the music education she received as a child.

“When there’s a better fine arts and music education program in the community, the community is a better place to live.”

Deborah Dunlevy Todd

the students and supporting the scholarship programs.”

Bequests may provide for a specific dollar amount in cash, for specific securities or articles of tangible property, or as a percentage of the residual of an estate. They may be given as unrestricted gifts or gifts restricted to a purpose or program. cmda.lsu.edu www.lsufoundation.org/plannedgiving

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

LSU's Fellowship for the Future

what will your gift do?

“Thank you for expanding my possibilities.”

Catherine Hudson Brodie Science Honors Scholarship College of Science

“Thank you for a college experience with memories I will cherish for the rest of my life.”

Charles Lewis LSU Black Male Leadership Initiative

geaux give www.lsufoundation.org

Good Reads: Thank You The scholarships LSU Foundation donors support allow students experiences they might not otherwise have. Scholarships can open the door to college, research, travel, activities with other students, community service—limitless opportunities to grow, learn and discover before walking across a commencement stage clad in a purple mortarboard and the promise of a bright future.

Bringing Excellence to Louisiana

I wanted to thank you personally for being a donor to the LSU School of Music. I was very happy and appreciative to learn that I was selected to receive a music scholarship.

My name is Joe Donegan, and I am currently a sophomore here at LSU. I am a trumpet performance major and have been playing trumpet since I was nine years old. I grew up loving jazz music and always dreamed of studying music and playing in the big bands. Thanks to you, I am living my dream and more. LSU has a fantastic program. I am able to study and perform with the top artists and instructors in the country.

Coming from Virginia, it was not likely that I would be able to come to LSU because of transportation costs and out-of-state tuition. Because of your generosity, I was able to come to Baton Rouge, experience Death Valley as a member of Tiger Band, and pursue my dreams at this incredible university.

Thank you for giving me my chance. I am a believer in “paying it forward.”

I hope to be successful and, one day, return the favor to an aspiring musician as you have to me. Thank you so much, and I hope to see you at my shows with the LSU Jazz Ensemble!

Forever thankful,

Joe Donegan LSU School of Music General Scholarship Recipient

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Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

Fostering Career Development

I am a junior majoring in Petroleum Engineering here at Louisiana State University. I

grew up an hour from Baton Rouge in a very oil-dominated town (Broussard, La..) and was surrounded by that atmosphere for most of my life. I grew to love the oil industry and knew that it was something I wanted to invest in for the rest of my career. I want to impact the oil industry by creating new and alternative methods of retrieving the oil from the reservoirs while making sure it is done in the safest manner possible. I have been researching with a geology professor here at LSU handling seismic data that he collects from oil rich areas.

This research has given me a real-world approach on different methods and technology that are used in the analysis process of finding reservoirs.

I also got a chance to study at the only working research oil facility on a university campus in North America.. This was made possible through many supporters of the PERTT Lab who allowed me to have this once in a lifetime opportunity. The experience and knowledge I gained from the people there is priceless.

I plan to become a mentor for the Summer Transition Program for STEM learning here at LSU. This program gives high school students a chance to get a feel of our engineering program and also explore LSU’s beautiful campus.

I would have not been able to meet the amazing engineers and experience the wonderful programs here at LSU if it wasn’t for the Patrick F. Taylor scholarship. Eating dinner with Mrs. Taylor at the scholarship dinner and listening to the kind of man Mr. Taylor was made me so proud to be a recipient of something he fought so hard to create and protect. I am proud to call myself a Patrick F. Taylor scholarship recipient.

Stiel Serious Aubrey Patrick F. Taylor Scholarship Recipient Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

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Making Dreams Come True My name is Shania. Recently, LSU sent me a letter saying that you were giving me a scholarship. I was very surprised and happy to hear that good people like

you would give a scholarship to someone they don’t even know. I thought in addition to the thanks, I would tell you a little about myself.

I was born in a little village in China. In 2005, my family and I came to the United States for a better life. We opened a restaurant, but it closed shortly

thereafter. My mother and father had marital problems, which led to a divorce. All my family moved away from Louisiana, leaving me on my own. Instead of giving up, I did what many do in this situation and just dug in my heels. I made a

living working as a waitress while going to school. English is my second language, so it has been a little difficult going to college.

In 2012, I earned one of my goals by becoming a United States citizen. I plan

to open a business involving export and import of goods between China and the United States. With your help, I will graduate from LSU and be the first college graduate from my family. Owning my own business is a big goal for me, and when I open it, I hope I can invite you to the grand opening so that you can see your part in my success.

We have a saying in Chinese, “Goodness will have a good reward.” Thank you for your “goodness.” I won’t let you down.

Sincerely,

Shanshan Shania Ren Dr. Ben H. Thibodeaux and Clare Roy Thibodeaux Scholarship Recipient

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Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

Good Reads: Book Summaries The following books were made possible, in part, by philanthropic support.

Swamper

Amy Griffin Ouchley

Swamper, a fictitious swamp rabbit, lives in the bottomland hardwood forest, or overflow swamp, which is a very real environment. In 12 “letters” addressed to his human friends, Swamper shares his vivid observations about life in a Louisiana swamp. With excitement and captivating detail, he explains ecological concepts, such as food webs, energy flow, decomposition and reproduction. He recounts adventures like escaping his predators, the great horned owl and the red fox, and swimming for his life after a flood forces him to find higher ground. The alert swamp rabbit even describes the seasonal migration of birds and the monthly phases of the moon.

This children’s book, underwritten by Friends of Black Bayou, Anna S. Ham, Karen Nichols and Ann B. Smith, educates young readers about the interconnected life cycles in a natural habitat, and helps them develop a deeper appreciation for this delicate ecosystem. lsupress.org

Eldest Daughter Ava Leavell Haymon Newly appointed Louisiana Poet Laureate and LSU Foundation member Ava Leavell Haymon displays her mastery of the craft and engages readers with the poetic gifts they have come to expect from her. As in previous collections, she combines the sensory and the spiritual in wild verbal fireworks. Concrete descriptions of a woman’s life in the mid-20th century American South mix with wider concerns about family lies and truths, and a culture that supports or forbids clear speech. Haymon’s poems encourage readers to revel in the natural world and enjoy its delights, as well as to confront the difficult realities that keep us from doing so. lsupress.org

A Birder’s Guide to Louisiana

Richard Gibbons, Charles Lyon, Roger Breedlove

LSU alumnus Richard Gibbons recently released a Louisiana bird-finding guide, the first of its kind for the state. “Across America, hunting and fishing are in decline, but bird watching is increasing,” Gibbons said.

He co-authored the guide, with birders Charles Lyon and Roger Breedlove, while working toward his PhD in biological sciences at LSU. Lyon and lifelong birder Paul Dickson provided Gibbons’ graduate stipend. “We need birds,” Gibbons said.

“Life is better with birds.” science.lsu.edu

Clementine Hunter: Her Life and Art Tom Whitehead Clementine Hunter (18871988) painted every day from the 1930s until several days before her death at age 101. As a cook and domestic servant at Louisiana’s Melrose Plantation, she painted on hundreds of objects available around her—glass snuff bottles, discarded roofing shingles, ironing boards— as well as on canvas. She produced between five and 10,000 paintings, including her most ambitious work, the “African House Murals.” Hunter’s paintings of cotton planting and harvesting, washdays, weddings, baptisms, funerals, Saturday night revelry, and zinnias depict her experiences of everyday plantation life along the Cane River.

More than a personal record of Hunter’s life, her work also reflects the social, material and cultural aspects of the area’s larger African American community. Underwritten by The Cane River National Heritage Area, The Jack and Ann Brittain family, and Gilley’s Gallery, Clementine Hunter: Her Life and Art is the first comprehensive biography of this self-taught regional painter, who attracted the attention of the world. lsupress.org Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

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Board of Directors OFFICERS Gary L. Laborde • New Orleans, La. Chairperson of the Board T. Cass Gaiennie • Shreveport, La. Chairperson-Elect of the Board G. Lee Griffin • Baton Rouge, La. President and Chief Executive Officer William L. Silvia Jr. • Baton Rouge, La. Corporate Secretary

DIRECTORS Mark K. Anderson • Monroe, La. J. Herbert Boydstun • Baton Rouge, La. J. Terrell Brown • Baton Rouge, La. Clarence P. Cazalot Jr. • Houston, Texas Robert H. Crosby III • New Orleans, La. Laura L. Dauzat • Marksville, La. William T. Firesheets II • Baton Rouge, La. Frank W. “Billy” Harrison III • Houston, Texas Charles A. Landry • Baton Rouge, La. Laura A. Leach • Lake Charles, La. David B. Means III • Mansfield, La. W. Henson Moore III • Baton Rouge, La. William B. Owens • Alexandria, La. James R. Peltier • Thibodaux, La. D. Martin Phillips • Houston, Texas Sean E. Reilly • Baton Rouge, La. John F. Shackelford III • Bonita, La. Jeffrey N. Springmeyer • Houston, Texas Robert M. Stuart Jr. • Baton Rouge, La. Sue W. Turner • Baton Rouge, La. Burton D. Weaver • Flora, La. Felix Weill • Baton Rouge, La. J. Lanier Yeates • Houston, Texas

EX OFFICIO F. King Alexander President and Chancellor LSU William B. Richardson Vice President of Agriculture and Dean of the LSU College of Agriculture Jack M. Weiss Chancellor LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center

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Lee and Barrie Griffin with Dave and Liz Means

Ask and Receive

David Means’ reason for joining the LSU Foundation as a member is simple: he was asked.

Since becoming members five years ago, he and his wife, Elizabeth, have been increasingly involved in the Foundation’s efforts to support LSU. “I have a passion for the academic side of the university and thought it would be a good place to get involved,” Dave explained.

When Dave was asked to join the LSU Foundation Board of Directors shortly after becoming a Foundation member, his desire to give back to his alma mater prompted him to respond with an overwhelming “yes.” Dave, an attorney and cattleman, was impressed by the board members’ level of character and quality, and he decided he wanted to be a part of the group he held in such high esteem.

Through his time on the Board, Dave has most enjoyed “understanding more about how LSU operates, understanding how its need for private support is great, and understanding how fundraising works.”

Dave shared that, in his five years as a member, he has seen the Foundation grow in its fundraising success and its number of members, but that there is always room for growth.

“I think our alumni, as the primary stakeholders in the university, have a responsibility to support the university,” he said. “State funding has decreased, so private support needs to increase.”

Dave said he is looking forward to the Foundation’s continued growth.

“I would like to see us continue in our efforts to be a part of the Nicholson Gateway Project. I’d like to see a new home for the LSU Foundation financed and funded,” he shared. “I’d like to see the strategic plan fully implemented.”

Dave and Liz both graduated from the College of Agriculture in 1972.

Dave continued his education at LSU Law, from which he earned a Juris Doctor in 1974. “As graduates of LSU, my wife and I have a passion for LSU, and we want to promote it and make it better,” he explained. “It was good to us. We want to be good to it.”

David B. Means III and his wife, Elizabeth, are residents of Gloster, La., and are staunch supporters of the College of Agriculture. In 2007, Dave was named the College of Agriculture Outstanding Alumnus. He is actively involved in the College of Agriculture Dean’s Council, Agriculture Vision 2030 and the LSU Alumni Association.

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

Dr. Herndon Spillman, instructing student Jacob Benda, is the recipient of the Carolyn Botkin Mattax Endowed Professorship.

Striking a Chord

Dr. Herndon Spillman learned to play the organ at age 13, when he began taking lessons on an electronic organ at the university where his father taught. Spillman explained that there were no pipe organs available in black Huntsville, Ala., churches at the time, limiting his accessibility to the instrument.

“I heard [a pipe organ] for the first time at 17,” Spillman shared. “I said, ‘This is what I’ve got to do.’”

He studied organ for all three of his degrees, basing his dissertation on the work of Maurice Duruflé, a French composer, organist and pedagogue with whom he studied for two years in Paris.

Now an internationally acclaimed performer, his recordings of Duruflé’s music won a Grand Prix du Disque, the premier French music award, from the French Academy of Records.

Shortly after he studied in Paris,

Spillman began teaching organ at LSU. Having served the university for more than 30 years, Spillman has endured budget restrictions, program cuts and low student numbers. The Carolyn Botkin Mattax Endowed Professorship has helped him work to keep the organ program strong.

Mattax, an accomplished organist, pianist and violinist who received her master’s degree from the School of Music in 1951, established the professorship in 2000 to restore emphasis on the organ program at LSU, and provide a future for the 500-year-old art form.

“A great pipe organ played by a great musician like Dr. Spillman produces sounds and an experience which cannot be duplicated electronically and should not be lost,” she emphasized, saying that she would love to see a new hall for this. Mattax added that Dr. Beck, Director of the School of Music,

strongly supports the organ program.

Spillman’s program began with two students and has since expanded to 13 graduate students. Mattax said he is a marvelous teacher with great skills.

“He has a knack for turning ordinary students into artists.”

Doctoral student Jacob Benda described the one-on-one lessons with Spillman as intense but gratifying. “He puts an extreme amount of time and thought into the time he has with his students,” he said, adding, “He pushes them and encourages them, and wants them to strive to do better.”

“What I would hope is that, when I retire, this professorship will remain intact, and that the person who comes after me will reap the benefit of this, as well,” Spillman reflected. “It should continue because we have a very good program.” cmda.lsu.edu

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Family papers at the Hill Memorial Library’s Special Collections are instrumental tools for researchers.

From the Pages of History

Housed in a building with a history as rich as its contents, LSU Libraries’ Special Collections has, since 1985, provided researchers with a gold mine of rare books, archives, manuscripts and photos detailing Louisiana’s past.

Special Collections in the Hill Memorial Library offers resources for original research in many fields. The program collects, preserves, provides discovery and access to, and promotes and instructs in the use of a wealth of research materials in areas including the humanities and social sciences, the natural sciences, agriculture, aquaculture, and art and design. These collections are largely donated by families with strong Louisiana ties.

Dr. Trent James, who, like his brother, uncle, father and grandfather, is an LSU alumnus, recently donated his family’s papers, detailing his father’s and uncle’s involvement in

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LSU and the Louisiana sugar industry throughout the early 20th century.

“[My father] loved LSU and appreciated everything it had given him,” James shared, continuing, “We have a lot of ties to LSU. We always loved it. It made me who I am.”

Seeing that the family’s papers were beginning to get scattered among family members, James decided to donate them. “It seemed to be the right thing to do,” he shared, adding that Special Collections is composed of “papers that would be otherwise lost and not available to anyone if they weren’t kept there. But they are available to those who want to study.”

James said he has a special passion for libraries—both his wife and daughter are librarians. “People want accurate information, and so much of it you can’t glean unless you read it and extract it yourself,” he explained.

Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

“That’s what libraries are good for.

They get it organized, they make it accessible … That’s where librarians come in, and I think they’re essential.

Somebody needs to judge, and constantly question, and make sure the information is accurate and true.”

Through the generosity of individuals like James, who donate both materials and funds to process those materials, Special Collections is able to build collections that serve students, scholars and the general public; enhance access to its unique holdings; provide educational public programming and exhibitions; and preserve the history of Louisiana and the Lower Mississippi Valley.

James feels libraries are the source of knowledge. “I believe in libraries,” he said. “They’re essential. I think there will always be a need for books.” lib.lsu.edu/special

Seeing Music

Showcasing breathtaking bridal gowns, rare jade statuettes and exquisite original pieces from Louisiana artists, the LSU Museum of Art is a cultural staple in downtown Baton Rouge. The museum, once housed on campus, moved to the Shaw Center for the Arts several years ago.

“The museum is a critical part of our community,” asserted Emalie Boyce, former chairperson of the museum’s advisory board, explaining, “It serves as an avenue for generating new and different thoughts through the visual arts.”

Boyce, a lawyer in the Office of the Louisiana Attorney General, recently stewarded a gift to the museum from her father’s business, Louisiana Machinery Co. With nearly a lifetime of museum involvement in hand, Boyce knew its greatest needs and chose to dedicate half of the donation to the museum’s endowment to provide longterm sustainability.

The remaining donation supported needs and exhibitions to which Boyce feels a special connection, including exhibitions showcasing Walter Anderson, LSU College of Art + Design faculty, Herman Leonard and Professor Emeritus Edward Pramuk.

Anderson’s exhibition, “Walter Inglis Anderson: Everything I See is New and Strange,” highlighted more than 60 watercolor and oil paintings, prints and printing plates, pen and ink drawings, and pottery from the late artist. Each piece evidences Anderson’s unique observations of the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s flora, fauna and landscape.

Pramuk’s exhibition featured paintings, drawings and collages that depict the remarkable and often emotional music-making process. “I think his work is really important,” Boyce shared, describing the exhibition as a marriage between music and images. “He’s an incredibly amazing artist that we’re lucky to have in our community.”

“The donation underwrote the creation of an edition of a fine art print of local jazz master Alvin Batiste,”

Limited edition, signed, fine art print of Edward Pramuk’s “Bat’s Blues (for Alvin Batiste)” by Baton Rouge photographer David Humphreys

Pramuk said. “I considered him worthy to appear in an exhibition that featured the great jazz musicians of our time, including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Bill Evans and Miles Davis.”

Pramuk spoke to the impact this donation had on him, saying, “The fullcolor print honors a splendid performer and composer who developed the Jazz Institute at Southern University. It speaks well of the Boyce family to have their donation used in this manner, and it gave me the opportunity to create an image that celebrates the Batiste legacy.”

More than three dozen of Pramuk’s pieces were shown alongside 36 of Herman Leonard’s legendary jazz

photographs. Leonard was known for immersing himself in the jazz world, using lighting techniques that allowed him to photograph performers in their element without losing the atmosphere or ambiance of the smoky jazz clubs.

Both artists use the visual arts as a tribute to the musical form, encouraging viewers to appreciate it through the visual complexity of musicians and their instruments.

Boyce shared that she was raised with an appreciation for art. “I’m very familiar with how funding works in education and the arts,” she said, explaining her family’s support of the museum. “I know funding for the arts is especially vulnerable.” lsumoa.org

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Breaking New Ground Campaign Nears Goal

Giving Profile: Chevron

Proposed artist rendering of a breezeway at the engineering complex

On April 20, the College of Engineering publicly launched Breaking New Ground, a $100 million campaign to support the next generation of engineering education at LSU. At the launch event, Phyllis M. Taylor announced a $15 million gift to honor the legacy of Patrick F. Taylor and kick-start the public-private partnership between LSU and the state of Louisiana, prompting other major gifts from corporations and individuals. At print time, donors have generously committed $41 million to the project. lsubreakingnewground.com

Giving Profile: Martin Companies, L.L.C.

Martin Companies, L.L.C. leaders Jonathan E. Martin, chairman and CEO, and Roy O. Martin III, president and CFO, recently announced a $2 million gift commitment to the Breaking New Ground campaign.

Jonathan explained, “It is important for our family to carry on my grandfather’s values of integrity, commitment and stewardship. The Martin family is honored to support both Louisiana and LSU through this contribution.”

The new and renovated engineering complex will include expanded, modern laboratory space for teaching and research, as well as enhanced and expanded space for student services, updated graduate student space, an academic support center, dedicated capstone project space, and other multi-disciplinary space for student projects.

“LSU has served our family for three generations, and we are thrilled to be a part of the success of the LSU College of Engineering,” said Roy. “As our company celebrates its 90th year in business, we reflect on the positive impact LSU has had on our family, employees and community. We trust that others will join us in this effort of support. This is a great day for the future of LSU.”

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Cornerstone | Winter 2013 and Spring 2014 | LSU Foundation

In August, Chevron announced it would give $2 million to support the renovation and expansion of the Patrick F. Taylor Hall Engineering Campus. Chevron’s contribution will establish an engineering student academic support center, as well as a reservoir mechanics and rock and fluids property teaching laboratory to be located in the Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering.

Warner Williams, vice president of Chevron in the Gulf of Mexico, said, "Chevron is proud to join the College of Engineering’s efforts to expand engineering education and produce exceptional graduates. Our partnership with LSU is an example of Chevron's commitment to develop and hire top quality graduates necessary to help us meet energy demands around the world. We believe that the new space and the advanced laboratory will enable the achievement of academic excellence in petroleum engineering and countless other disciplines."

Funding for the engineering education center will help facilitate the development of a more interactive educational process that incorporates student projects, case studies and industry engagement into the engineering curriculum. The center will also provide contemporary space for multi-disciplinary collaboration.

The new laboratory will focus on rock and fluids properties and reservoir mechanics. Students from an array of disciplines will have the chance to work with advanced technology and collaborative space, reflective of what they will experience in their careers. Similarly, the lab gives research groups an opportunity to engage in collaborative exploration of data and results.

Roy O. Martin III announces his family’s commitment to the Breaking New Ground campaign.

Celebrating Philanthropy ExxonMobil

Local ExxonMobil representatives presented the LSU Foundation with a $65,000 gift on behalf of Exxon Mobil Corporation during an Oct. 8 reception at the Club at LSU Union Square. The gift provides support to the colleges of Engineering and Science, the E. J. Ourso College of Business and LSU Career Services.

Shell

(Top) Shell representatives visited campus in August to announce its annual support of LSU, then joined the Center for Academic Success for a tour of the Shell Tutorial Center in Middleton Library. (Bottom) The Shell Tutorial Center was packed on the first day of the 2013 fall semester.

Welcoming the Alexanders The LSU Foundation, LSU Alumni Association and Tiger Athletic Foundation welcomed LSU President and Chancellor Dr. F. King Alexander and his wife, Shenette, during a reception held in August at the Lod Cook Alumni Center.

(Above) Jason Droddy, LSU director of external affairs, with Dr. Mary Lou Applewhite and Bob Bozeman (Top Left) LSU Provost Stuart Bell, LSU Foundation President and CEO Lee Griffin, Dr. F. King and Shenette Alexander, Tiger Athletic Foundation President Maj. Gen. Ron Richard, and LSU Alumni Association President and CEO Dr. Charlie Roberts (Bottom Left) Laura Dauzat, LSU Foundation Board of Directors, with Luke Laborde and Ruben Dauzat

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Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Baton Rouge, LA Permit No. 9

FOUNDATION 3838 West Lakeshore Drive Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70808

2013

If you would like to support any of the efforts highlighted in this issue, please visit www.lsufoundation.org/give; mail your gift to the LSU Foundation at 3838 West Lakeshore Drive in Baton Rouge, La., 70808; or contact us at (800) 452-7928 or donorservices@lsufoundation.org.

Ornament

Visit www.lsuornament.com to join our mailing list or to purchase ornaments. All proceeds support the LSU Foundation’s Campus Beautification Fund.

Other ornaments in the series: 2012 2011 2010 2009

The Quad Stately Oaks Mike the Tiger Sesquicentennial

“The Lakes”