Southeastern Magazine: Spring 2020

SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE SPRING

2020

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UNCOVERING CROCODILES

BEACH DREAMS

Good Morning America student intern Raychelle Riley shares her story of working with some of the best in the business.

A Southeastern scientist becomes the first to identify a new species of crocodile.

Athletics’ newest team, the Beach Lions, volley into their first season.

RISE AND SHINE

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SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA UNIVERSITY SPRING

2020

MAGAZ I N E P RESI D EN T

Dr. John L. Crain PROVOST & VI C E P R E S I D E NT F O R AC AD E M I C A F FA I RS

Dr. Tena L. Golding V ICE PRE S I D E N T F O R AD MI N I S TR ATI ON & F I N A N C E

Sam Domiano V ICE PR E S I D E N T F O R U N I VE R S I TY ADVA N C EM EN T

Wendy Lauderdale, CFRE

See Yourself?, pg. 52-53

VI C E P R E S I D E N T F O R S TU D EN T A F FA I RS

Dr. Eric Summers S E N I O R D I R EC TO R , U N I VE R S I TY M A RKET I N G

Mike Rivault E D ITO R I N C H I EF

Sheri Gibson P H OTO GRA P H Y

Randy Bergeron CO N T RI B U TO RS

Grace Butzman, Tonya Lowentritt, Isabel Naquin, Ashley Richardson, Raychelle Riley, Mike Rivault, Damon Sunde

Submissions: Southeastern Magazine welcomes photographs, alumni news, story suggestions, and letters of 300 or fewer words.

Items may be used for publication unless the author requests otherwise and are subject to editing. Send submissions to Editor, Southeastern Magazine, Office of University Advancement, SLU 10293, Hammond, LA 70402 or editor@southeastern.edu.

Southeastern Magazine Online: Visit southeasternmagazine.blog to view and share the stories in this magazine, or explore past issues.

Printing and distribution for the Southeastern Magazine is provided by the Southeastern Foundation—southeasternfoundation.org.

COV ER P H OTO : A new bronze lion statue stands in Friendship Circle, ready to greet both visitors and members of the Southeastern community as they enter the heart of campus.

Contents.

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RISE AND SHINE

Communication student Raychelle Riley recounts her experience of interning for Robin Roberts at Good Morning America.

UNCOVERING CROCODILES

SHOOTING FOR THE STARS

A Southeastern biologist and an alum discover a new species of crocodile.

The REC partners with NASA to bring dreams of space exploration to children’s summer camp experience.

FLYING HIGH

A Southeastern researcher is helping increase our understanding of bats and their impact.

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FATEFUL ENCOUNTER Two lifelong sweethearts are brought together at Southeastern amidst the backdrop of post-WWII.

LEARNING FROM A STAR

Famed actor Clarence Gilyard spends a semester on campus instructing and directing theatre students.

BEACH DREAMS

GIVING BACK

Athletics officially launches a women’s beach volleyball team, the Beach Lions.

Southeastern and industry partner together to increase opportunities for both students and the region.

president’s message

&

Alumni, Friends, Supporters, As the date turned from 2019 to 2020, we started a new semester, a new year, and a new decade—and we have a great deal of success and progress of which we can be proud. In past years, the financial situation of the state caused us to have to dig deep to reimagine how we do business here. I am very happy to say that as I look back on “the teens” of this millennia, I can boast about new levels of innovation, sound fiscal management, globally relevant research, and a general excitement of what we’ve done and what we will do.

Southeastern turns 95 years old this year, and we are close to realizing our centennial

anniversary. This next decade of “the twenties” will be just as bright and is very promising.

We are stronger than ever as a university and are confident in our ability to continue to see through our mission and lead the educational, cultural, and economic development of the region. We will educate scores of thousands of students in the coming years and see so many new success stories emerge. I’m excited for where we are headed as we look to our future.

This magazine shows why I am so enthusiastic. Inside you will see stories of our success from across campus. It seems like we are on a roll as we continue to receive rankings

in our academic programs, one of the latest being for our Criminal Justice program.

Despite being a university focused on teaching, our faculty still produces great research on topics that span many academic disciplines.

We engage in partnerships to elevate the relevance of our academic programs and give students the best experience possible. Our alumni, both recent and not so recent, continue to do wonderful things in the world—showing that being a Lion is about more than just a diploma.

As you take the time to read this issue, please remember that you are part of the Southeastern Family as well.

Great things are happening, and we need to tell that story.

You are an integral part of spreading the word. I hope you enjoy this issue and ask that you consider sharing it by passing it on to a friend or family member, or put it in the waiting area of your business.

Help us spread the word, and, as always, I thank you for your support!

John L. Crain PRES ID EN T

Austin

NOEL

out & about

Senior // Integrative Biology Hometown // Baton Rouge, LA How Southeastern changed me Southeastern has made me realize that college is more than getting A’s and a degree; it is also about building lifelong relationships and impacting your campus for the better. The more I met fellow students, professors, and staff, the more I realized how great our campus is and how much Southeastern means to me. I want everyone to have that love for our school and make college more than a degree.

Favorite spot on campus Pottle Hall. Although I enjoy majoring in integrative biology, I also love music and playing the piano.

Dream job Interventional radiologist or concert pianist.

What do you think of Southeastern’s faculty and staff?

Incredible! The many faculty, staff, and professors I’ve interacted with have all made Southeastern feel like home to me.

Favorite thing about my major My fellow students in my classes are all amazing. I love both the Biology Department and Chemistry and Physics Department, which are closely tied together. A lot of my classes are in these departments, and the faculty are amazing. We also have a really great annual Biology vs. Chemistry and Physics game day where everyone comes together as one Lion Family.

Current involvement on campus Delta Omega Alpha, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, participant in the Mr. Southeastern Pageant, created and runs the TravelingWithRoomie* Instagram page.

In 15 words or less, what is great about Southeastern?

The students, professors, and staff are all great! Southeastern is a home away from home. *Follow @TravelingWithRoomie on Instagram to see “Little Roomie’s” campus adventures.

SPRING 2020

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social media

Create a ROA R BRINGING THE GREEN AND GOLD TO SOCIAL MEDIA Ms. Bales Class Alumni Lions love teaching future Lions #LionUp #jpetweets

j h owe l l a r t It was a beautiful day to take my Southeastern Elementary Education majors outside to do some quick landscape sketches #LionUp #arteducation

To m H o f f m a n College roommates friends for life #lionup J O S H . M CC L A I N Dear Strawberry Stadium, Thank You! Thank you for the memories, friendships, experiences, opportunities, and so much more!!! "We sing thy praises ever, from sea to shining sea, and love thee alma matter through all eternity." #LionUp

theoldschoolofha Big cheering for our LIONS as they take on Nicholls tonight in the River Bell Classic #LionUp

Ky l e P i l l e r Grad students Sarah Ward and Kearstin Findley sampling fishes in Oaxaca, Mexico @oursoutheastern 4

SOUTHEASTERN MAGAZINE

oursoutheastern Rolling into the new school year at #oursoutheastern

We F i ve K i n g s Dear Southeastern Louisiana University: This legacy started right here on this campus more than 20 years ago. Two young college students met on this campus and fell in love. Because of this university, we have these three amazing kids and a beautiful life. Thank you to Southeastern for the memories, education and for my family. You gave me all you promised and more. XO, The Kings Josh Magliolo Blinked a few times and walked out of Southeastern as a student for the last time.

Clocking out with a 3.4, my soul mate, lifelong friends and an endless amount of memories.

Watch out real world! #LionUp #RushSigTau

a a r y n s t o r m p h o t o g ra p hy Graduation is not the end. It's the beginning.

m r. s o u t h e a s t e r n Always a great Louisiana Saturday night in Hammond, America #MrSoutheastern2019 #LIONUP #DrumMajor

S LUAt h M a r ke t i n g Congratulations to @LionUpCheer - 3rd place in the •NATION• in Division I and bringing home some hardware!

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news in learning

Biology Building Dedicated Southeastern formally dedicated the Biology Building this past fall. Although officially it has been renamed the Thelma Ryan Biological Science Building, the building façade now bears the name “Thelma Ryan Biology Building.”

In 2017, Southeastern received the largest single donation in its history, an endowment totaling $10 million, from Seth W. Ryan, a 1953 Southeastern business graduate who passed away in March that same year. Ryan left a significant portion of his estate to the Southeastern Foundation in the name of his wife, Thelma Ryan.

In honor of his wife, who was unable to attend college, Ryan outlined that income from his donation should be used for scholarships for female students in specific academic disciplines.

The scholarships will also be used in the areas of nursing, business, and education for female students.

All programs housed within the newly dedicated building will offer scholarships under the Ryan gift.

“We are so honored that Mr. Ryan saw the potential in Southeastern as a steward of his estate. He saw that this university could make a difference in so many lives by using the estate that he spent a lifetime building. I know his wife would be both proud and satisfied,” said Lauderdale. “Having Mrs. Ryan’s name on our building will forever remind us of the kindness and vision of Mr. Ryan and his legacy of helping others.”

Vice President for University Advancement Wendy Lauderdale said the donation also helps one of the University’s strategic initiatives, which is to increase the number of women enrolled in STEM programs.

“Southeastern’s student population is over 60 percent female, but women only account for approximately 15 percent of STEM majors,” Lauderdale said. “These scholarships will encourage and aid women to enter these high demand, wellpaying disciplines.”

At the dedication, from left: Foundation Board Chairman Dawn Cantrell; Rick Normand, longtime friend and attorney for Seth Ryan; Vice President for University Advancement Wendy Lauderdale; and Southeastern President John L. Crain.

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Professional Sales Team Takes Home International Win Southeastern’s Professional Sales Team won the Rookie Award at the 2019 International Collegiate Sales Competition (ICSC). Hosted each year in Orlando, Florida, by Florida State University, the ICSC is the largest and most prestigious university sales competition in the world.

Southeastern’s Professional Sales program has been named one of the top sales programs in the country for the past two years by the Sales Education Foundation. The winning team was comprised of Southeastern students India Williams of Baton Rouge, Karlie McDonald of Tickfaw, and Paxton Page of Prairieville.

“We are extremely proud of the sales team’s performance at the International Collegiate Sales Competition,” said Tara’ Lopez, associate professor of marketing and one of the sales coaches. “Having success in these competitions helps bring recognition to what we are doing at Southeastern to prepare students for successful and fulfilling careers in sales. They also provide a great opportunity for our students to network with their peers and interact with employers from around the country at career fairs.”

In addition to the team Rookie Award, Williams placed in the top 20, and McDonald placed in the top 40 out of 160 student competitors from other top U.S. schools.

Sales competitions such as this one, said Lopez, allow students to test their selling skills against their peers through role-playing scenarios, cold calling, case competitions, and speed selling.

From left: Tara’ Lopez, sales coach, and student team members India Williams, Karlie McDonald, and Paxton Page.

The competition also offered a career fair attended by over 40 national companies that were there to hire these outstanding students.

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news in learning

Home to the First and Only Collegiate Recovery Program in the State

Lion Up Recovery, officially recognized by the Association of Recovery in Higher Education (ARHE), is a voluntary program to help students in recovery achieve their higher education goals. State higher education and local community leaders recently joined with members of the Lion Up Recovery Advisory Board and supporters of the program for a launch event on campus.

“This new program as a resource for our students is an extension of Southeastern’s core values of caring and excellence. It is a game changer for our institution,” said Southeastern President John L. Crain. “This is a great program for the University, our students, and our community, and we are very proud to offer it.”

The program offers students on-campus support groups, academic advising and counseling, accountability, and staff intervention, if needed. Also provided are leadership and civic engagement opportunities, sober tailgating for select Southeastern football games, studying and sober socials, service opportunities through recovery-oriented support groups, and participation with ARHE events.

Southeastern Interim Coordinator of Collegiate Recovery Madison Evans said the program’s overall aim is to provide the education, resources, and community connections needed to help change the trajectory of recovering students’ lives.

“I am blown away by Southeastern’s latest efforts to meet the needs of their students’ behavioral health.

Southeastern students who are in recovery from substance abuse will now have a fully dedicated space where they can experience fellowship and receive much needed services and resources,” said Assistant Director of Governor’s Office of Drug Policy Kristy Miller. “It is beyond impressive and we challenge other higher education institutions across Louisiana to follow Southeastern’s lead and adopt the collegiate recovery community approach.”

For more information on Lion Up Recovery, email recovery@southeastern.edu or visit southeastern.edu/recovery.

Louisiana Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed thanked Southeastern for “being first, for stepping out and making sure that when we talk about talent development in the state we talk about how to develop and support every student regardless of race, place, challenge, or opportunity. We want to make sure that every student knows their unlimited potential can be reached at an institution like Southeastern.”

“It is fitting that a campus that cares as deeply as Southeastern is the first to step up and say, ‘Here we are, our welcome mat speaks to everyone. We are here to make sure that you excel, that we are building a place where recovery will continue and advance, where dreams will become a reality, where students are proud to call this campus home,’” she added.

From left: Southeastern Interim Coordinator of Collegiate Recovery Madison Evans, Southeastern President John L. Crain, Louisiana Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed, and University of Louisiana System President Jim Henderson.

Citing Southeastern as an inspiration and a pioneer of firsts, University of Louisiana System President Jim Henderson said he is proud Southeastern has taken the lead in serving students. “From textbook rentals to the Southeastern Promise, if students get on the path to success, Southeastern is going to be a partner to help them get to that finish line,” he said.

“Thank you for being on the cutting edge in helping move Louisiana forward.”

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From left: University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors member Pam Egan, Assistant Director of the University Counseling Center Annette Baldwin, and University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors Chairman Mark Romero.

Innovators in Sustainability Southeastern’s Sustainability Center has been awarded the Innovation Champion Award by the Louisiana Chapter of U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The university received the award for its innovative hybrid geothermal residence halls.

The two new state-of-the-art residence halls, Ascension and Twelve Oaks, are cooling and heating using energy from the ground.

Sustainability Manager Alejandro Martinez explained that with this type of system, pumps move heat from the ground to the building when the weather outside is chilly. When cooling is needed, the process is reversed.

The result is a sustainable, environmentally friendly, and economical solution to heating and cooling. Given the conditions in Louisiana, he said, geothermal is a highly effective system for the South.

“Over time, it is projected that savings greater than 50 percent will be captured on energy expenses compared to a traditional method and build,” Martinez said. “Equally important on a university campus, the system also serves as a learning laboratory for real-world ready experiences for Southeastern students in various disciplines.”

USGBC is a nonprofit organization that houses Green Business Certification Inc., the only group to administer project certifications and professional credentials and certificates within the framework of the USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. LEED designation is the international standard for environmentally sound buildings.

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news in learning

Southeastern Foundation Welcomes New Board of Directors

From left: Mike Sharp, Jack Gautier, Helen Dufreche, Randy Moffett, Terri LeBlanc, Jared Riecke, Marcus Naquin, Tom Ackers, Shelby LaSalle, Tony Volz, Marcia Galatas, Toby Cortez, Dawn Cantrell, Robert Watkins, Wallace Lewis, Jonathon Wong, Barry “Beezy” Landry, Stan Dameron, and Bill Kingsmill. Not pictured are Marcia Barr, Troy Broussard, Barry Brown, Rodney LeBlanc, Cynthia Nesser, and John Poteet.

The Southeastern Foundation appointed its 2019-2020 Board of Directors this past fall. “Our board is a group of committed professionals who understand the value of Southeastern both to its students and the region,” said Vice President for University Advancement Wendy Lauderdale.

“They work hard to provide guidance for the Foundation in support of the University.”

Dawn Cantrell of Baton Rouge, a 1984 marketing graduate, chairs the board. This is her second year of a two-year term.

Three new members have joined returning board members.

New members include Vice President of Investment Advisors for Stirling Properties Barry “Beezie” Landry of Hammond, a 2000 accounting graduate; Jared Riecke of Covington, CEO of Riecke & Associates, LLC; and Jonathan Wong of Hammond, a 2002 business graduate, co-founder and team leader of Cate Street Seafood Station, The Boston Restaurant, and FitFam. Returning Southeastern Foundation Board members include Thomas “Tom” Akers of Mount Juliet, Tennessee; Marcia Barr of Hammond, board secretary; Troy Broussard of Prairieville; Barry Brown of Frisco, Texas, past board chair;

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Toby Cortez of Ponchatoula; Stan Dameron of Hammond, investment committee co-chair; Helen Dufreche of Hammond, philanthropy committee chair; Marcia Galatas of Houston, Texas; Jack Gautier of Hammond; Bill Kingsmill of Covington; Shelby P. LaSalle Jr. of Mandeville; Rodney LeBlanc of Madisonville; Terri LeBlanc of Baton Rouge; Wallace Lewis of Hammond; Randy Moffett of Covington; Marcus Naquin of Hammond; Cynthia Nesser of New Orleans, governance committee chair; John Poteet of Hammond, chair-elect; Mike Sharp of Springfield, real estate committee chair; Tony Volz of Mandeville, co-chair; and Robert Watkins of Robert, treasurer.

“I am proud to be a part of the Southeastern Foundation Board and serve alongside a diverse group of talented individuals who bring passion, experience, and love for Southeastern to their work as board members,” Cantrell said. “Our board has been highly effective in fundraising, governance, and financial oversight of the Foundation’s assets with a recent focus on strategic planning to position us to meet our long-term fundraising goals to help Southeastern students.”

New Lion on Campus A new lion statue now stands sentry over Southeastern’s Friendship Circle with his gaze set upon Strawberry Stadium. The project was headed and funded by the Student Government Association.

During an event held in Friendship Circle leading up to the home-opener Jacksonville State game and tailgating, the statue’s unveiling helped kick off the beginning of the Lions’ football season on campus.

Created by Matt Glenn with Big Statues, the bronze statue is 65" tall and 82" from head to tail—the size of a very large adult male lion. Tipping the scale at 800 pounds, he is about twice the weight of his real-life counterpart.

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news in learning

Online Doctor of Nursing Practice Program Among the Top in the Nation

Southeastern’s online doctor of nursing practice program has earned recognition as one of the top 50 programs in the nation

by Healthcare-Management-Degree.net. Southeastern was recognized for its online DNP for post-masters applicants and BSN-DNP applicants and was the only university in Louisiana to make the list, ranking higher than schools such as Baylor University, Duke University, and Florida State University.

Southeastern earned its ranking based on student to faculty ratio, average graduate tuition rate, and specialization area of family nurse practitioner. The university was also recognized for the flexibility afforded to students to complete coursework while maintaining current employment.

Southeastern’s online doctor of nursing practice program offers coursework in ethics and healthcare policy, organizational and systems leadership, health assessment, and advanced pathophysiology.

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“We are thrilled our DNP nurse faculty have been recognized for their excellence in graduating advanced nurse practitioners and nurse leaders who provide high-quality population-based care to people with chronic illnesses, improve access to care in underserved areas, and reduce costs of care,” said Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences Ann Carruth. “We are so proud of our School of Nursing in the work they do to meet the healthcare needs of this community and beyond.”

College of Education Dean Paula Summers Calderon was recently selected by the Louisiana Council for Exceptional Children as the Higher Education Professional of the Year.

College of Education Dean Selected as Higher Education Professional of the Year

The Louisiana Council for Exceptional Children Higher Education Professional of the Year Award recognizes a professional who currently provides direct services to students with exceptionalities. The Professional of the Year is an outstanding member of the education profession whose work exemplifies the best of special education services. His or her work reflects significant educational success for students, continuous professional development, and the highest standards of educational quality.

“As the Dean of the College of Education, Dr. Calderon has been a significant advocate for the Lions Connected program, an inclusive, comprehensive post-secondary transition program at Southeastern for students with intellectual disabilities,” said Director of Lions Connected Gerlinde Beckers. “She has gone above and beyond to help Lions Connected become the outstanding program that it is for college students with intellectual disabilities. Dr. Calderon never says ‘No.’ She says, ‘We will find a way.’”

Beckers was also recently recognized for her work with Lions Connected, taking home the prestigious Iva Dean Cook Educator of the Year Award at the 2019 Division of Career Development & Transition International Conference.

The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is an international organization that sets the standard for high-quality education for individuals with exceptionalities. Beckers said the CEC is known as the primary source for advocacy, ethics, standards, resources, and professional development that directly impacts the lives of individuals with disabilities.

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news in learning

2 0 1 7 / 1 8 S O U T H E A S T E R N F O U N D AT I O N

Annual Impact R E PO R T

Southeastern Publication Wins National Award The Southeastern Foundation’s 2017 / 2018 Annual Impact Report, created by the Division of University Advancement’s Office of University Marketing & Communications, was recently honored with a Merit Award in the 34th Annual Educational Advertising Awards.

The Educational Advertising Awards, sponsored by Higher Ed Marketing’s Higher Education Annual Report, is a national competition that recognizes the best in the field of educational marketing and advertising. The Fall 2018 issue of the Southeastern Magazine also received a Merit Award in the competition.

Copies of the Southeastern Foundation’s 2017 / 2018 and 2018 / 2019 Annual Impact Reports are available free of charge at the Alumni Center and at the University Advancement office in Dyson Hall.

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Southeastern has received a $2.45 million Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC) grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. Awarded to the College of Nursing and Health Sciences’ Rural Nurses Career Advancement Program, in coordination with the Delta Regional Authority, the grant is part of an investment to expand the impact of workforce development efforts across the Mississippi River Delta.

“Nurse shortages are devastating to a community’s effort to provide quality health care,” said Senator Bill Cassidy, a doctor who sits on the U.S. Senate Committee of Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. “This grant supports Southeastern as they train the next generation of nurses that will improve the health of our state.”

In announcing Southeastern as one of only eight WORC grant recipients, Governor John Bel Edwards said, “The state of Louisiana is maximizing opportunity for our residents through these important Department of Labor grants. Southeastern will reach residents and train workers in a five-parish area with its Rural Nurses Career Advancement Pathway program.”

Southeastern Nursing Awarded a $2.4 Million Workforce Grant

Southeastern’s RN-CAP program is designed to enhance community-based primary care in the rural, underserved Delta region of Southeastern Louisiana that includes Livingston, St. Helena, St. James, Tangipahoa, and Washington parishes. The program also creates and provides innovative workforce development credentialing in telehealth and data in healthcare, two critical areas in rural healthcare workforce development needs.

“A healthy workforce is a productive workforce,” Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson said.

“With thousands of primary care providers needed to meet the current medical needs of rural America, this nursing initiative

by Southeastern will provide a pathway to better health care for our workers and for their children and older relatives who deserve the best care we can provide.”

Southeastern is collaborating with North Oaks Health System and Northshore Technical Community College (NTCC) in this endeavor. To help fill the workforce demands in the region and provide residents with viable career training, Southeastern and NTCC have partnered on an innovative reverse transfer program wherein four-year students may enter an accelerated LPN program at NTCC and then immediately enter into a fasttrack BSN pathway at Southeastern.

North Oaks Health System Chief Nursing Officer Diane Thompson is serving as a liaison with Southeastern to work closely with master of science nursing students, to manage research on recruiting and retention, to provide support for telehealth training for employees, and to provide employer orientation and residency programs to newly hired LPN / BSN graduates.

In the health profession and related fields, Southeastern conferred 2,325 baccalaureate degrees, 39 doctoral degrees, 613 masters degrees, and 22 post-masters certificates over the past 10 years.

“With over 3,000 students currently enrolled, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences strives to provide excellence in education in health, nursing, speech language pathology, health systems management, counseling, and wellness and fitness, while meeting the workforce needs of the region and state,” Associate Professor of Nursing and RN-CAP Project Director Eileen Creel said.

Did you KNOW?

by the

numbers

GIVING DAY 10.19.19

1st

time held during Homecoming Week

$104,057

240

percent more supporters participated compared to 2018— more than ever before!

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was raised

767

individuals and businesses donated

15

different initiatives benefited, including 42 specific campaigns

SAVE THE DATE

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Rise AND Shine

: CA

GO

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BY RAYCHELLE RILEY

Communication major Raychelle Riley spent the summer of 2019 interning for Southeastern alumna Robin Roberts at Good Morning America (GMA) in New York City. This phenomenal educational opportunity was created through a partnership between Robin and the Southeastern Foundation. As the first recipient of this internship, Raychelle recounts her hands-on learning experience while working with Robin at GMA.

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As the sun rises to welcome the early morning faces of the ever busy population, the lights of city buildings fill the dark morning skies. Before the rooster crows, I start my fast-paced day at GMA. Inside the studio, an urgency fills the air as employees scurry around through the busy halls. Nothing was ever certain until the moment everything goes live. Lights. Camera. Action. Go! Go! Go! Finally, after a long hectic morning, employees head to the office and back to the drawing board to do it all over again in less than 24 hours.

Excitement, thrill, and chaos, such as this, can only be experienced in live television and broadcast at studios such as GMA. This amazing place is where it all began for me each day.

In the heart of the city and in the middle of Times Square is where GMA, the number one rated morning newscast, is located.

During the summer, I was afforded and blessed with the unique opportunity to be a part of the Disney owned company, ABC News, to serve as the first ever personal intern of Robin Roberts.

I thoroughly enjoyed many aspects of the internship. It was really exciting to work with so many different departments and areas within the studio.

Within these various departments I gained experience in areas that included working the cameras, stage managing, audio operations, stage hands, reporting and anchoring, producing, 18

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script coordinating, wardrobe, research, digital, and special projects.

Although some days were long and intense, it was very rewarding to see my work used. Just knowing I had a part in the inner workings of the show was an amazing realization.

The team was so warm, kind, welcoming, and ready to share any knowledge with a curious intern, such as myself.

In addition to the excitement and exhilaration of television and broadcast, the delivery of raw news represents the voice of America, which provides individuals a sense of involvement in the society around us.

It was important that we made sure the content we distributed was unbiased, fact-checked and correct, and followed legal guidelines and codes.

Robin is exactly the same on and off camera, and you can see that she connects with viewers on a deeper level. She expresses real emotion and cares about what she is doing.

Over the course of my internship, I was able to quickly adapt to my surroundings and execute the task at hand. I gained a great deal of experience in a multitude of areas. I became familiar with various types of software used and was able to research stories to pitch to the producers when I had the opportunity.

I was given specific times to observe many of the stage producers and learn about how they communicate and obtain information. I was allowed to help prep for particular segments. I also watched Robin as she prepped for the shows, watched news broadcasts go live, and experienced all of the “camera magic” that goes on behind the scenes.

The controller’s room was a busy area where I was able to observe how everything operated.

Working as Robin's intern was a dream come true, providing a crash course in professionalism and finesse. It was a wonderful experience accompanying her on shoots and observing her work in broadcast news. I was given the opportunity to work with, shadow, and be a real part of “Team Robin” in so many different capacities. I also conducted research and pitched ideas for upcoming stories, shows, segments, and a movie.

One of the big takeaways I learned from Robin is to be authentic and to always be yourself—that is what it takes to stay grounded and connect with others in a real way. She exemplifies this every day when she is on air.

Images courtesy of Raychelle Riley

One of the main things that amazed me was the lingo that was used during the show. I wore a headset on several days with directors and stage managers shouting out foreign phrases. After a while, I was finally able to catch on.

Before, in between, and following segments, I was also able to meet other producers, crew members, and even celebrities who came as guests for the show. Meeting such an array of individuals was quite interesting and a great learning experience.

GMA was more than I could have hoped for in an internship. One of the best moments during my internship was going live, on air for GMA, as a GMA Intern Correspondent. The internship was an incredible journey and an amazing learning experience. I hope to use the tools I have gained in my future career.

Southeastern Biologist Discovers

NEW SPECIES OF CROCODILE

BY TONYA LOWENTRITT

IT HAS BEEN A WHILE SINCE ANYONE HAS FOUND A NEW CROCODILE. THANKS TO THE RESEARCH OF SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA UNIVERSITY ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY CHRISTOPHER MURRAY AND HIS COLLEAGUE AND FORMER SOUTHEASTERN CLASSMATE CALEB MCMAHAN, THAT IS NO LONGER THE CASE.

Southeastern Biological Sciences Department Head Christopher Beachy said that in an average year, worldwide there are many species of reptile described; however, most of these are snakes or lizards.

“Discovery of new species is not often a case of being in nature, seeing something remarkable, and exclaiming ‘Wow! This is an

Pictured is the Crocodylus halli, a new species of freshwater crocodile from Papua New Guinea. This new species was previously thought to be a population of Crocodylus novaeguineae, but variation, including cranial shape, indicates that it is a distinct lineage. The live specimen shown here was photographed at St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park. Copyright 2019 American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists.

entirely new species,’” said Beachy. “New species are described mostly when experts, like Dr. Murray, are involved. We’re especially excited that this work began when Dr. Murray was studying to complete his master’s degree at Southeastern.

That this has come to completion now that he is a tenure-track faculty member speaks to the quality of the training our graduate students receive. It also speaks to the international reputation that many of our faculty have. We’re very proud of that.”

Murray said the discovery is important because there are only about two dozen described species of extant crocodilian.

“Adding to the diversity of a group that small, being such large charismatic organisms with undiscovered species hiding right under our noses, is pretty rare,” he said. “This also sheds light on biogeographic patterns of other organisms in the area.”

As a student working on his master’s degree in biology at Southeastern, Murray was reading several papers by the late Philip Hall, a crocodilian biologist who worked in the U.S. on alligators and in Papua New Guinea on a species of crocodile called the New Guinea Crocodile (Crocodylus navaeguineae).

“My thesis was on alligators in the U.S., but I recalled Philip Hall providing ecological and morphological evidence that the New Guinea crocs on the north side of the Central Highlands—a mountain range that runs east-west on the island of New Guinea—were different than the ones on the south side of the mountain range,” Murray explained. “For instance, they nested at different times of the year and had different osteoderm—the little bones on their backs—patterns.”

At the time, Murray’s roommate and friend McMahan, now working for The Field Museum in Chicago, was getting his master’s degree in evolutionary biology on fishes. Murray shared the details of his thesis with McMahan, and over the next several years they compiled data from New Guinea crocodile skulls

From left, with the new species at St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park: Jen Brueggen, park social media manager; Caleb McMahan; Christopher Murray; and John Brueggen, park director.

from natural history museums, including The Field Museum, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, American Museum of Natural History, Queensland Museum, Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science, and Florida Museum of Natural History.

“We took photos of the skulls and used a technique called geometric morphometrics to analyze skull morphology,” Murray said. “These results, when paired with published genetic data and the ecological data originally provided, diagnosed the northern and southern populations as being on independent evolutionary trajectories and warranted the description of a new species.”

inhabiting rivers and lagoons on the island of New Guinea, but Murray said more work is needed assessing its ecology and conservation status.

“Now that we know the evolutionary history of these species, we need to re-inform the conservation status of them given that the distribution has changed and conservation threats are different in different areas,” he said. “Caleb and I would take on aspects of that work, funding permitting.”

From there, Murray and McMahan took their findings to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park in Florida to put their results to the test on live animals and on the ethno-artifacts on display.

“We were pleasantly surprised that we could easily identify the two lineages even when moving or artistically altered,” Murray said. “So Caleb and I decided to name the species after Philip Hall, whose initial interests and observations spurred the description itself.”

Named Crocodylus halli, the new species is a freshwater crocodile

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Pictured is a sample photograph of skulls Murray and McMahan used in a technique called geometric morphometrics to analyze skull morphology. The results, when paired with published genetic data and the ecological data originally provided, diagnosed the northern and southern populations as being on independent evolutionary trajectories and warranted the description of a new species.

The Murray Lab Additional areas of study for Murray are addressed through the Murray Lab at Southeastern.

The lab primarily focuses on the comparative morphology and physiological ecology of vertebrates in temperate, Neotropical, and subtropical coastal wetlands.

A member of the Southeastern faculty since 2019, Murray’s teaching expertise lies in the fields of comparative morphology, physiological ecology, ecotoxicology, evolution, biogeography, philosophy of biology, and herpetology. He holds a bachelor of science degree in biology from Juniata College, a master of science in biology from Southeastern, and a doctorate in biology from Auburn University. He is a member of the American Society for Ichthyologists and Herpetologists; Alabama Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation; and the Crocodile Specialist Group Species Survival Commission, IUCN.

Questions address how the physiology of individuals alters relevant morphology, population, or community ecology. Recent research addresses the interactions among aquaculture practices, crocodile sex ratio biases, and endocrine disrupting compounds in Costa Rica, incorporating population ecology, endocrinology, sex determination, stress physiology, and reproductive ecology.

“Further, we are interested in diagnostic and functional morphology utilizing geometric morphometrics to identify diagnostic characters of undescribed and / or newly described fish, reptiles, and amphibians and assess phenotypic plasticity in an ecological context,” Murray said. “We also strive to contribute to biogeographic and evolutionary philosophy by offering novel metaphysical thinking regarding the existence and appropriate use of species and areas of endemism.”

Christopher Murray poses in Costa Rica with his other study species, the American crocodile.

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out there

Shooting for the Stars

Southeastern REC partners with NASA to bring the dreams of space exploration to children's summer camp experience.

BY GRACE BUTZMAN AND ASHLEY RICHARDSON CAN YOU PICTURE YOURSELF AS A CHILD, FASCINATED WITH ROCKET SHIPS AND ASTRONAUTS? DID YOU EVER FALL ASLEEP DREAMING OF THE GREAT BEYOND UNDER STARS ON YOUR BEDROOM CEILING? KIDS HAVE A NATURAL CURIOSITY ABOUT SPACE EXPLORATION AND, IF NURTURED, IT CAN LEAD TO A WORLD OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES. SOUTHEASTERN’S SUMMER CAMP FOR LOCAL CHILDREN HAS A UNIQUE WAY TO MARRY KIDS’ INNATE INTEREST OF SPACE WITH EDUCATIONAL STEM INITIATIVES: ROOMIE’S REC CAMP PROGRAM IS AN OFFICIAL NASA ASTRO CAMP COMMUNITY SITE.

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Images taken by Emile Stretcher

To receive the designation, camp staff undergo an extensive certification workshop with NASA at the Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi. After the professional staff completes the program at Stennis, they train Southeastern student camp counselors to guide the 80-plus campers during the 10-week summer camp program. The training empowers the counselors, many of whom are education majors, to lead campers in interactive activities that teach the principles of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The REC Camp team first pursued the Astro Camp certification in 2017.

All activities are based off of NASA’s resources that seek to inspire future astronauts and engineers to learn about space.

Some of the most popular activities are geared toward arts and crafts about rockets and shuttles.

for learning. The STEM movement is the future of the workforce, according to the Pew Research Center, with occupations in STEM seeing growth of 79 percent since 1990.

“The research clearly shows how important it is for our youth to learn skills associated with STEM subjects,” said Camp Director Seth Thomas. “The Astro Camp program allows our team to provide that type of learning opportunity to children right in our own community in a really fun and enjoyable way. The campers love participating with the counselors and being on a college campus.”

Southeastern student counselors enjoy the program as much as the campers while also experiencing “real world ready” learning.

Nursing major Mia Felton said, "My experience as a counselor helped me gain a greater understanding of communication techniques for children on the autism spectrum. The lessons I learned will be useful in my future career as a pediatric nurse."

STEM programs encourage experimentation, problem-solving, and teamwork, all skills that can help youth develop a passion

In addition to the STEM activities, Roomie’s REC Camp provides culinary activities, swimming, recreational games, and group field trips. After the campers participate in a summer of STEM activities through the Astro program, the camp visits the Stennis Space Center, bringing the dreams of space even closer.

look at us now

Starlight Over Southeastern In the dark of night Southeastern remains still, a timelessly steadfast home and resource to thousands, while the stars above go by—leaving a constantly changing trail of beauty as Earth continues its rotation.

IMAGE TAKEN BY KEKOA HAYASHI (@PHOTO_TKH)

F

lying High

Increasing Our Understanding of Bats and Their Impact Through Research and Tracking

BY SHERI GIBSON Bats comprise 20 percent of Earth’s mammal population. As the second most populous species of mammals in the world, they have a profound impact on ecosystems across the globe— including the humans that are a part of them. Yet despite their prevalence, there is still much left to uncover about these fascinating winged little creatures.

By tracking them through an innovative system on the International Space Station (ISS) to small heartbeat monitors, one Southeastern professor is collecting valuable data that will help increase our understanding of the movements of these amazing animals—and their communications, social structures, and physiology. These efforts may contribute to a momentous impact on not only them and their environments, but humans as well.

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Dr. Teague O’Mara, an assistant professor of biological sciences in the College of Science and Technology since the fall of 2019, specializes in integrative biology. Over the past few years, a large part of his research has focused on bat migratory patterns and behavior.

Part of this research has been conducted as part of an ongoing partnership since 2013 with the Max Planck Society, a renowned public German research organization which operates 84 research institutes, primarily in Germany but also across the globe.

The Max Planck Society investigates a wide variety of topics, from plasma physics and optics to rust and plant genometrics.

Sponsored by the German government and with a guiding principle of “insight before application,” the organization exists to make initial discoveries about the world.

Bats, and other animals, are tagged with monitors that keep track of the system on the ISS and transmit signals, allowing O’Mara and his fellow researchers to gain insight into their movements.

O’Mara has been continually tagging bats. He visited Zambia in late November of 2019 to catch and release more with different types of trackers.

“Within the next year we’ll start getting really great data about them,” O’Mara said. “We already have some information about these animals, but especially with this new technology should have great data on how these animals are moving over a year or more. It’ll be really nice.”

O’Mara works directly with the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior—and currently in conjunction with an out-of-this world research project that will help provide invaluable data on animal movements on Earth.

Icarus, an international collaborative effort led by the Max Plank Institute of Animal Behavior and in conjunction with the Russian space agency Roskosmos and the German Aerospace Center, utilizes an on-board computer and antenna on the outside of the ISS. It was installed during a spacewalk lasting nearly 7 hours and 46 minutes on August 15, 2018, by two Russian cosmonauts.

Because of the extensive amount of power required by this type of system, it utilizes all of the ISS’s solar panels. After time spent working out technical issues and testing, Icarus is now fully functioning.

While bats are at the heart of O’Mara’s interests and research, the knowledge that Icarus will provide extends to other animals.

The project works really well for big species, such as elephants, lions, antelopes, and impalas, since larger animals allow for larger tracking devices. But it will also be used to investigate undiscovered migration patterns for smaller species, such as cuckoos that migrate from Europe to Africa and various types of birds that migrate across North America into Central and South America. “We don’t really know where they go,” said O’Mara.

“But one of the great things about this system is it gives us really cheap and detailed individual-level data about animals,” O’Mara continued. “We see flashes of birds when they’re coming in to migrate, for example, but we don’t know much about their

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individual stories. This will hopefully give us individual-level stories about how animals deal with life as they need to go from one place to the next.”

These individual-level stories are intriguing in their own right, but they can also lead to a greater understanding of their impact on humans and the world around us.

“If we know what one animal does, we can start scaling it to populations and can actually start understanding what impacts animals have as they move, especially across their migratory patterns,” O’Mara explained.

which can be cut down for houses, provide lots of food, and even protect the water—they do a lot.”

Since they feed on insects, bats also provide a great benefit to humans by providing a natural source of pest control. According to O’Mara, Brazilian free-tailed bats, for example, provide $20 million to $40 million worth of pest control for just the cotton and corn crops in the southern United States each year.

Page 28: Teague O’Mara prepares a greater spear-nosed bat in Bocas del Toro, Panama, for GPS tracking. Photo by Dina Dechmann.

Page 29, top: A GPS tagged straw-colored fruit bat is ready for release at Kasanka National Park, Zambia. Photo by Christian Ziegler. Page 29, bottom: To catch fruit bats for tagging, Teague O’Mara (left) and fellow team members shoot a rope over trees to hang a canopy net in tree gaps. Photo by Blair Costelloe.

These impacts can be profound. As bats—which are the only mammal capable of true and sustained flight—move from place to place, they help spread seeds. This is essential for the replenishment of forests, and it also directly brings about a great benefit to humans.

This page, top left: Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev lays cable for the installation of Icarus on the Zvezda service module of the International Space Station during a 2018 spacewalk. Image by NASA. This page, bottom left: The International Space Station orbits Earth, helping track animals through Icarus.

Image by NASA. This page, right: A juvenile epauletted fruit bat hangs from a tree in South Africa. Image by Bernard Dupont.

In addition to wild landscapes, bats make important contributions to the urban areas they visit. “They’re spreading lots of seeds,” said O’Mara. “They’re bringing lots of trees up in to the area,

Page 31, top: Teague O’Mara displays the wing of a common noctule bat in Switzerland. Photo by Kamran Safi. Page 31, middle: Small solar-powered GPS tags collect the position of bats and then send this information through mobile phone networks to the data repository Movebank. Photo by Teague O'Mara.

Page 31 and page 32, bottom: Teague O’Mara prepares mist nets to capture bats in a field in Germany. Photos by Christian Ziegler.

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Unfortunately, the movement of some bats has been changing.

“What we’re starting to see is that the migration of these animals in a lot of places is starting to go away,” said O’Mara. “As climates change and temperatures start to even out, more places become profitable winter habitats. These bats only eat insects, and we’re beginning to see in some of the caves in Texas, for example, that they just don’t go anywhere because there’s lots of insects for them to eat there. So why would they move on?”

The collapse of such migrations can lead to a lack of forest revitalization and decreased pest control. “Corn crops get destroyed, and insects like mosquitos can go back up,” O’Mara said. “There are lots of things that can happen just from one animal not moving to another spot. It can also mean that forests don’t get regenerated as fast as they might have in the past.”

The data collected through Icarus and the tagging of these little animals will help increase our understanding of what bat colonies do for any given area.

Although Icarus and O’Mara’s research are concerned with obtaining the raw data, the information that is gathered will be immensely valuable for conservation initiatives. “We can hand the data over to someone else and give them ideas of what solutions might actually be there,” said O’Mara.

O’Mara is regularly asked for and provides data, which can be used to create actionable plans and educate the public, often by conservation agencies. “We try to give as much data out as possible,” O’Mara stated. “I get asked for information about environmental impact assessments a lot, especially for places where we’ve tracked animals—because all of the movement data we collect tells us how animals use the landscape.”

Some of the organizations that he works with through the Max Planck Society include Bat Conservation International in Texas, Bats Without Borders in Malawi, and Bat Conservation Africa.

In addition to O’Mara’s work with Icarus, and the powerful impact that it may be a part of in the coming months and years, there are additional intriguing aspects about these little creatures— the most diverse group of mammals on the planet—that the Southeastern professor studies.

One of these fascinating areas of study regarding bats is the complex relationships and communications that the animals develop with each other, to which their long lifespans contribute. Only 19 species of mammals on Earth live longer than humans for their body size, and 18 of those are bats.

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into working in a bat lab in Panama. “And once I started working on bats I got hooked,” he said.

will regularly meet in the same spot at the same time over their 20-year lifespans, migrating from different locations. Not only are they communicating in the dark across huge distances, but their extended lifespans cause them to form sophisticated relationships.

“Humans have a lot of social and cultural support that keeps our lives going for a long time, and bats seem to show similar things too,” commented O’Mara.

In fact, the function of these social relationships in very large colonies is one area in particular that O’Mara would next like to investigate. There are roughly 2 million bats that live in Bracken Cave in Texas and 10 million where he works in Zambia, for example, “and all of these bats live for a long time and come back to the same places over and over—they have to have buddies there,” he said. “There are probably some small social groups that work within these areas, but we don’t actually know what they do. And it’s probably that these social groups are one of the keys to their really long health spans. They almost never get sick.

They just keep going forever, and then they disappear. It’s really intriguing to me that we don’t know something so important about them, but it’s probably one of their key aspects.”

An interest in the social structures is also what initially led O’Mara to begin studying bats. His earlier research and Ph.D. focused on primates, particularly lemurs in Madagascar. As he was considering in what direction he should next take his research, he realized that many of the social questions he was interested in with primates also translated well to bats. He then transitioned 32

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It was also in Panama that O’Mara once tracked a group of large bats that somehow found an island of flowering trees, which they would regularly visit on a 20-mile journey from their own island, crossing ocean. “How do you find this? How do you manage to do this?”, O’Mara asked amazed. “That island is in the middle of an industrial banana field—there is nothing good in that place. It’s full of nasty pesticides, there’s no other food for them in there, and they just had to fly across an ocean (which has nothing for them) and this ocean of bananas (which has nothing for them) to find this little flowering island. And they would go there for an hour and then go back home to their cave.

“Every time you do a study like this it’s totally surprising,” he continued.

“Somehow there must be some type of cultural transmission. Without tracking these animals we never would have found such unusual behavior.”

But as interesting as this is, O’Mara said that his favorite study has been monitoring a bat’s heartbeat as it went about its night.

“I study a lot about physiology, and I use heartbeats to tell me a lot about the way animals use energy and what they are doing.

But the coolest thing I’ve ever done is chasing a small bat around in the forests of Panama listening to its heartbeat,” he said. “We attach a lot of emotion to our own hearts and heartbeats. Our heartbeats speed up when we get excited, slow down when we become calm—you can hear that in an animal too.”

ingrained fears and increase our compassion and concern for them—and for the world around us. As the data currently being collected by O’Mara and his colleagues is applied and the resulting conservation efforts embraced, ecosystems, bats, and humans will all benefit.

Students at Southeastern also now have a direct opportunity to relate to and gain a greater understanding of not only bats, but all of the animals in their local natural environment while additionally acquiring hands-on experience. “With the mammalogy class I taught last semester we had a big camera trapping project in North Oak Park, which was super cool because it actually gave us a much better understanding of what mammals are around Southeastern’s campus,” he said.

The diversity rate they found was much higher than had been previously thought. Red foxes, possums, armadillos, bobcats, grey foxes, and coyotes were among the animals his students were able to identify and monitor roaming through the area.

O’Mara tagged bats with a small device that recorded and transmitted the sounds of their heartbeats as beeps. Through this he was able to gain insight into the nightly activities of individual bats, from following along with their speeding heartbeats as they felt fear or flew through the night sky to listening to their slowed beeps as they settled down.

This not only created an awe-inspiring feeling from the personal connection, but also led to increased knowledge about the unique mechanisms that these bats use for conserving energy. The lowering of heartrates at regular intervals in order to save energy during the day is one such adaptation.

“Bats have different kinds of social structures and physiology to make sure that they can run their life at the speed of a Ferrari, but then slow it down as well. They can go between these two effortlessly,” said O’Mara. “To me that’s kind of amazing.”

Uncovering and interpreting such information—from their movements and communications to their social structures and physiology—not only contributes to a greater scientific understanding of bats, but it can also provide a different lens through which we see these amazing animals. We are able to glimpse in them something of our own selves, forging connections between us and these little mammals.

This association, along with the information gathered on the impact that they and their movements have, can help disband

Interestingly, Louisiana as a whole is also actually one of the most diverse states for bats, hosting many as they migrate from the North. Many of these, including the common free-tailed bat, roost in trees or barns and are most easily seen over ponds and lakes, where they can feed on insects and have access to a water source.

O’Mara, who commented on how much he has enjoyed the enthusiasm and support from both his students and department during this academic year, his first not only at Southeastern but also in Louisiana, has plans to expand student research opportunities in the future. One of these upcoming initiatives will be a tracking project at Turtle Cove that will provide a great way for many students to gain research experience in the field, as well as serve as an interesting long-term study relating to a timely topic—our changing wetlands.

While teaching at Southeastern and engaging the next generation of possible scientists, O’Mara continues to pursue his intriguing research on bats and their relationships to each other and their environments, as well as remaining active with Icarus and collecting the far-reaching raw data that it will provide over the coming months.

A somewhat scientific polling of ALUMNI

you know it you said it

What is your favorite thing about sitting around a campfire?

2.2% Getting back to nature Telling ghost stories 14.7% 19.4% Roasting marshmallows or hot dogs What format of books do you prefer?

63.7%

Spending time with friends or family

Would you rather have NEW or ANTIQUE furniture?

10.5%

Audio book

15.1%

Kindle / digital book

New furniture 62.8%

Antique furniture 37.2%

74.4%

Physical book None

5-9

How many campus organizations were you a member of when you attended Southeastern?

8.4% Over 10

1.1% What is your go-to streaming service?

Disney+ 3.3%

Sling 1.4%

Netflix 54.5% Hulu 13.5%

Prime Video HBO Now 9.5% 0.7%

Other: 17.1% Most frequent write-in answers: None / Cable, YouTube, AT&T Now 34

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17.1%

1-4

73.4%

Fateful Encounter: A Southeastern WWII Love Story

BY ISABEL NAQUIN

The year is 1944. In New York City, the Metropolitan Opera House is playing its first jazz concert, featuring the talents of Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday. The film Casablanca wins three Academy Awards: one for Best Picture, one for Best Director, and one for Best Adapted Screenplay. In France, The Allied Forces land on the beaches of Normandy in a historical military assault. In his Thanksgiving Address, President Eisenhower tells Americans, “Let’s thank God for Higgins Industries.”

A perilous time, this was a period marked by great fear and uncertainty. For Rita Bush, this was the beginning of a new chapter of her life.

It was the year that Rita began Southeastern. When she enrolled, she had no intention of becoming a music major. In fact, it was not until her professor, Ralph Pottle, who knew she played piano, stopped her one day and asked if she would like to switch her major to music. So that’s what Rita did.

On any given day, this event—a professor speaking to a student—may not seem like anything of significance. One could say it was pure coincidence Rita and Pottle crossed paths. However, that day, she says, “was life-changing.”

Had Pottle not stopped to ask her to consider becoming a music major, she “would not have met her husband.”

When he was finally old enough, Milton Bush joined the Navy, where he then trained to become a pilot as a member of the Naval Air Corps. At the time, WWII was coming to a close. He was only in the Navy for a year before he was sent back home in 1945 once the war had ended.

After being sent home, Milton decided on a whim to accompany a friend on a visit to Southeastern.

That day, he witnessed a performance by the college’s orchestra and fell in love. It was then that he decided he would attend Southeastern and major in music.

Once Rita and Milton met, the two became friends and traveled in the same friendship circle for a while. Rita recounted stories of her many evenings spent out with friends. Together, they would all go down to the train station and grab a bite to eat, enjoying the sweet freedom often only experienced in college.

“Life was very simple back then,” Rita said.

Rita explained that at the time, most people didn’t realize the significance of the war.

To her, now looking back, it’s amazing how WWII changed the U.S. She recalled having to collect metal as part of an effort to support the government’s building of ships, airplanes, and other such equipment.

Music majors practicing, 1947.

Southeastern itself accommodated veterans from the war. The director of the Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies, Dr. Samuel Hyde, said that Southeastern “[tried] to make sure that everybody, no matter what they had done during the war, felt welcome.” He continued, “My understanding is that they worked to accommodate people and make college accessible to them in a way that had been unprecedented to them in this era.”

Despite the ongoing war, Rita said that in truth she felt no real hardship. Thankfully, the war came to an end as she began college, and her late husband never had to go off to fight.

Listening to Rita recount her story, I felt moved by the beauty of fate and the profound impact that a simple encounter can have. Fate had a way of affecting my life, so much so it is the reason I believe in it today. My own parents are Southeastern sweethearts. Fate is what led to my father, at the last second, getting a spot in Louisiana history, the very same class my mother was in. Had the class not become available, perhaps my parents never would have met, and thus I would never have been born.

Had Pottle never run into Rita and convinced her to switch her major, would she ever have met her husband? Had Milton never decided to visit Southeastern and seen its music program, would he ever have met his wife?

Fate seems to have played a role in their lives too.

The two were married in 1952. Rita described the life her husband gave her as “just wonderful.” Sadly, Milton passed away on Wednesday, January 23, 2019. He was 93 years old.

Rita said that her husband had “such a good attitude.” It was one of the things that attracted her to him. “He was always the same,” she recalled. “He was always pleasant, friendly, and agreeable. I was very fortunate to meet my husband because I’ve had a wonderful life with him.”

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Previous page, clockwise from top: The Southeastern band on parade, 1947. Milton Bush, 1947. Rita Bush, 1946.

This page, clockwise from top left: Student dance, 1946. Milton Bush, who became a conductor, performer, and teacher, is honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Foundation for Entertainment Development and Education's Tribute to the Classical Arts Luncheon, 2012. Music building, c. 1940s. Band rehearsal, 1947.

Rita and her husband Milton are a reminder of the light that can be found even amidst the darkness. They are a reminder of the simple beauty of fate—and of the countless lives throughout generations that have been forever changed beginning on Southeastern’s campus.

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media shelf

Learning from a STAR: Clarence Gilyard

BY SHERI GIBSON

Whether or not you know him by name, you know Clarence Gilyard and his iconic work. Gilyard made his mark in some of the most popular TV shows of the ’80s and ’90s, including as James Trivette in Walker, Texas Ranger, Conrad McMasters in Matlock, and Benjamin Webster in CHIPs; performed in blockbuster movies such as Die Hard and Top Gun; and much more during his long, successful career as an actor, director, producer, author, and educator.

During the Fall 2019 semester, Southeastern theatre students had the opportunity to learn directly from the legendary actor.

Gilyard, who is also currently an associate professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, stayed on Southeastern’s campus in The Inn (the former President’s Residence) while teaching a class titled Acting for a Living as a visiting professor and guest directing the Vonnie Borden Theatre production of Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters.

James Winter, associate professor of theatre and artistic director of the Columbia Theatre and Fanfare, was instrumental in bringing Gilyard to Southeastern. “Clarence and I met in 2013 while working on a film called The Beast which is now on Amazon Prime,” Winter said. “As a fellow artist and educator, we immediately hit it off. I wanted him to come to Southeastern as a guest artist and lecturer. He knew I wrote textbooks and wanted to collaborate on an acting book.”

The book that the two men are collaborating on will have the same name as the class that Gilyard taught at Southeastern— Acting for a Living—and aims to teach actors how to continue to grow, learn, and train when they are not in the classroom or in rehearsals, as well as help actors continue to develop their characters and grow as artists while in a long run or touring show.

Previous page: Clarence Gilyard directs students during rehearsal for Three Sisters. This page, bottom right: Three Sisters cast members Sarah Easley (back row), Payton Core (front left), and Megan Blonquist (front right) with Guest Director Clarence Gilyard.

Students were energized by the chance to learn from Gilyard, who helped them grow in their craft. “I certainly think he challenged our students with his approach and the difficulties presented by his choice of play to direct. Chekhov is tough stuff. He brings a lot of positive energy with him,” said Winter.

Stage Manager Amy Schneida also commented on how Gilyard’s time at Southeastern impacted students. “There was definitely a buzz of excitement amongst the students of the Theatre Department when Jim told us we would be having a special guest director that had Hollywood experience. All of our actors took this opportunity very seriously, but I noticed our veteran actors especially stepping up their game when it came to research and character analysis. However, I was most impressed by our newcomers to the department. A majority of our cast was composed of very young actors, with little to no prior performance experience under their belt. Watching them start from square one and grow to be on par with our veteran actors and actresses was absolutely phenomenal.”

While Gilyard’s term on campus is now over, the theatre program at Southeastern regularly brings in guest directors—enriching hands-on student learning through different perspectives and experiences, new challenges, and invigorating opportunities to learn from some of the best in the field.

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BEACH Dreams Become Reality

athletics

BY DAMON SUNDE

AS THE WEATHER STARTS TO WORK ITS WAY OUT OF THE WINTER DOLDRUMS IN MARCH, MOST PEOPLE ARE DREAMING OF THE BEACH AND SAND BETWEEN THEIR TOES. THIS SPRING THOSE DREAMS ARE JUMPING TO A NEW LEVEL FOR THE STUDENTATHLETES ON SOUTHEASTERN'S INAUGURAL BEACH VOLLEYBALL TEAM. Enjoying a surge in popularity, 75 collegiate programs competed last season in what the NCAA once termed an emerging sport.

With the advent of a sanctioned national championship in 2016, beach volleyball became a full-fledged sport with Southeastern joining a host of Southland Conference schools in expanding its offering.

“We’re excited to add beach volleyball,” Director of Athletics Jay Artigues said. “It’s the most popular up-and-coming sport in the NCAA. We wanted to make sure we didn’t fall behind. There were already six schools in our conference with beach volleyball and, counting us, there are eight this year. Pretty soon everyone in the Southland will have it.”

The Southland Conference now has enough schools participating in the sport to sanction a conference championship, joining the Atlantic Sun, Big West, Ohio Valley, Pac-12, and West Coast as traditional Division I conferences sponsoring the sport.

“With the continuing growth of beach volleyball across the NCAA, the Southland is excited to expand its sports sponsorship to provide student-athletes with a championship opportunity,” Southland Commissioner Tom Burnett said.

“This will be another great competitive opportunity for Southeastern’s athletic program, and we look forward to seeing the beach volleyball team challenge for this new championship.”

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SOUTHEASTERN MAGAZINE

also scheduled to compete in tournaments at Southern Miss, University of Louisiana at Monroe, and Tulane University. “[Our schedule] sets up well for us as a first-year program,” Head Coach Jeremy White said.

“We’re going to play some competitive matches against some pretty good teams.

There are also opportunities for some real success.”

With their season officially opened in early March, the Beach Lions are already looking forward to competing against fellow conference members Abilene Christian University, University of Central Arkansas, Houston Baptist University, University of New Orleans, Nicholls State University, Stephen F. Austin State University, and Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi at the inaugural Southland Beach Volleyball Championship on April 17-19 in Corpus Christi, Texas. Although not yet an automatic qualification event, the 2020 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship, consisting of eight at-large teams, will be held May 1-3 in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Southeastern is

The NCAA allows schools sponsoring both beach and indoor volleyball to allocate up to six beach-specific scholarships. Players on an indoor scholarship can play both, while players on a beach scholarship may not compete in the indoor season. Southeastern’s initial complement of beach players will feature mostly double-rostered students competing during both the indoor and outdoor seasons.

“We want to be competitive,” White said. “That’s our big focus. We have a learning curve with a largely doublerostered team, but we want to be competitive against everyone we play. Our big goals are, no matter how we start the season, to improve throughout and finish strong.

Everyone gets to go to the conference tournament, so we could be a completely different team between the showcase and when we face everybody again.”

Besides the obvious difference in sand courts versus hardwood, there are several other differences between the beach and indoor version of volleyball.

“Beach is a game where you don’t have to be as freakishly athletic as indoor,” White said. “You can be savvy. We have some players with experience in the beach game and some big, physical players. We also have players that may be undersized for indoor, but they can be really effective attackers on the beach because of how the games differ in regards to shots and being able to drive the ball.”

While both are team sports, the way indoor and beach teams compete is completely different. Indoor volleyball has all six players on the same court, keeping the team as one unit.

However, beach volleyball teams are split into five pairs each competing at the same time with the five pairs from the other team. Each paired match consists of three sets played to 21, 21, and then 15 points. The first team to have three pairs win their matches wins the contest (called a dual in beach volleyball).

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All of these differences make for an interesting challenge for White and his coaching staff as they prepare for the first beach season in program history.

“Our strength will revolve around having a lot of players used to doing multiple things,” White said.

“That translates well to the beach game. We have players that played six-rotations in high school, club, or college; we also have quite a few that have already played beach and are used to the skills required. A team that is completely double-rostered, with a lot of players lacking significant beach experience or not as many six-rotation athletes, will struggle with the ball-handling and setting portions of the game.”

In the indoor game, certain people look for the block, the dig, and then the kill. But on the sand, both players have to be ready to contribute in every way.

“Everyone has to perform every skill,” White said. “There’s a lot less offensive strategy in regards to multiple people going up at once, because there is only one attacker, but there is strategy in how you want to play teams. If you want to move blockers by running faster balls to pins, go high, or behind players, those are things we’ll focus on as we develop our offense with each pair.”

Players are also competing against the weather. This may seem obvious since beach volleyball is played outside, but the challenges weather present means that new strategies for working around those challenges must be developed and learned. Luckily, the sport itself has integrated some handicaps due to weather concerns. Sunglasses are allowed, and teams switch sides every seven points, so the sun affects both teams equally. Indoor volleyball coaches are allowed to instruct their teams after each point, but beach coaches are only allowed to talk to their players during side changes.

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Years of planning have gone into the addition of beach volleyball at Southeastern, and the Beach Lions are the first addition to the University’s roster of varsity athletic teams since women’s soccer debuted in the fall of 1995.

“We’re Title IX compliant and always will be,” Artigues said. “We strive for that each and every year. Adding beach volleyball as a sport not only fits what we’re doing, but also follows the national and conference trend. When you look at adding a sport there are a lot of factors involved, such as popularity, number of opponents available in close proximity, financials—adding beach volleyball just made sense. The sport also provides an opportunity without making a huge impact to our budget. Most of our student-athletes were already on campus. The timing and fit were perfect.”

For more information on the Southeastern Beach Lions and Lady Lions Volleyball, visit lionup.com, @LionUpVB on Twitter, @Southeastern_vb on Instagram, @SLUathletics on Facebook, and Southeastern Sports Network on YouTube.

2020 Beach Lions. Back row, from left: Crispin Adams, Jolie Hidalgo, Caroline Starns, Karlee Wilkerson, Sam Gomez, Tempestt Vaughn, Ryan Maddera, Serena Wagner, and Marisa Calvaruso. Front Row, from left: Meagan Scuderi, Ariana Hebert, Eryn Wilks, Lizzy Low, Michelle Mirachi, Dani Dagley, Kylie Smith, and Hannah Barosh.

giving back

Giving Back

Partnering for Increased Opportunities

BY MIKE RIVAULT

Support comes to Southeastern’s students in many ways. A growing area of support is coming from industry and companies in the private sector who view their efforts as both altruistic and wise investing. This kind of support ensures that students in key fields are prepared to enter the workforce at a level the companies need, ready to make an impact from day one of employment.

As companies find these partnerships a wise investment, Southeastern works to ensure its curriculum and programs meet the needs that fuel regional employment and economic growth.

The list of companies supporting Southeastern continues to grow and includes both regional and national organizations, some of which include North Oaks Health System; First Guaranty Bank; Sanderson Farms; United Rentals, Inc; Entergy; and more. In recent months, Southeastern has seen multiple companies provide several large strategic investments.

Northwestern Mutual, Inc. and Professional Sales Students in Southeastern’s new Professional Sales Program will soon benefit from a state-of-the-art training room thanks to a $100,000 donation from Northwestern Mutual.

The new Northwestern Mutual Sales Training Room will be located in Garrett Hall, home to the College of Business.

Steven Dugal, managing partner of the Mississippi and Louisiana offices, as well as Paul Hodge, managing director of the Mandeville and Gulfport offices, are supporting the initiative.

Top image, seated, from left: Northwestern Mutual Managing Director / Financial Advisor Paul Hodge and Northwestern Mutual Managing Partner of Louisiana and Mississippi Steven Dugal. Standing, from left: Southeastern Associate Professor of Marketing Tara’ Lopez; Brian Jones, Northwestern Mutual college unit director / financial advisor; Kolby Hodge; Lisa Dugal; Katy Simpson, chief marketing officer; Michael Bazile, chief operating officer; April Kemp, instructor of marketing; and Vice President for University Advancement Wendy Lauderdale.

“We are excited to get involved in Southeastern’s Professional Sales Program. From our experience at other universities, sales students ramp up faster than non-sales students, have lower turnover, and are more prepared for the workforce” said Dugal, noting that Northwestern Mutual has been instrumental in donating to other similar, successful programs at universities.

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“We are seeing more interest from companies in key industries that see the needs they have both now and in the future.

These partnerships help Southeastern, its students, and the company,” said Mohammed Sadeh, department head for Industrial and Engineering Technology. “Intralox, a global conveyor system company headquartered here in Louisiana, has become one of these great partners.”

Zachary Kamm and Alex Milles

Southeastern’s Professional Sales Program was created to draw high-ability students toward selling as a career, better prepare those students for early success in professional selling careers, and connect them with sales professionals in the region. According to research conducted by the Sales Education Foundation, more than 50 percent of business school graduates enter the workforce in a sales-oriented position.

“We know that professional sales is not only a starting point for careers, but is becoming more and more important across all sectors of the economy,” said College of Business Dean Toni Phillips. “The Southeastern Professional Sales Program will help train the next generation of sales leaders, and the investment that Northwestern Mutual is making demonstrates that the program is on the right track. We are really appreciative of Northwestern Mutual.”

An important objective of the program, Phillips added, is to connect sales program students with sales professionals and organizations through role-play competitions, internships, guest speakers, panel discussions, and career opportunities.

The new facilities help directly achieve this.

Intralox and Industrial Technology In addition to the large donation from Performance Contractors in recent years, the Department of Industrial and Engineering Technology continues to see companies wanting to invest in Southeastern’s growing Industrial Technology program.

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Intralox donates supplies for senior projects of students in the Industrial Technology program, including Zachary Kamm, a senior who worked with a team of two other students, Alex Milles and Monroe McCarty, on a project to study and suppress vibrations.

“Our project is a Vibration Analyzation System. This can have a great deal of implications on vibration suppression in equipment, machinery, and surroundings. Once the project is fully assembled we will be able to perform multiple experiments on it to find things such as the natural frequency

of the system, as well as the theoretical values of a separate mass and spring constant that would attach underneath our cage to eliminate the vibrations,” explained Kamm.

The project and the experience these students will receive from this level of hands-on learning will be invaluable. Kamm stated, “If it wasn't for Intralox’s financial support, we wouldn't be able to build this project at all.”

“Our manufacturing business requires employees with strong academic and practical knowledge of the many mechanical, electrical, computer control, and logic systems we utilize daily.

Providing Southeastern with resources to connect classroom learning with hands-on application, along with being able to align courses that are relevant to our business through participation in their advisory board, helps meet our current and future needs. Our Southeastern graduates have been instrumental to our ongoing success,” said Chris Verdigets, Intralox Hammond manager.

Smitty’s Supply Inc. and Business Southeastern is also getting support in multiple areas in the College of Business thanks to a $250,000 donation from Smitty’s Supply Inc.

The contribution will benefit four specific areas—business, supply chain management, accounting, and the recently established professional sales program.

“This significant gift demonstrates Smitty’s Supply Inc.’s commitment and partnership with Southeastern,” said Senior Director of Development and Advancement Services Katherine Rose. “Smitty’s investment in Southeastern is transforming the lives of students.”

Four endowments were created as a result of the donation— the Edgar R. Smith III Endowed Professorship in Business, the Christina Smith Leto Endowed Scholarship in Supply Chain Management, Smitty’s Supply Inc. Endowed Scholarship in Accounting, and the Christina Smith Leto Sales Program Endowment. Part of the donation also includes funds to complete construction of the executive conference room in Southeastern’s Professional Sales Training Center.

“Supply chain management is one of our fastest growing programs at Southeastern, and it offers students excellent career opportunities,” Rose said. “Our accounting program has a long history of providing students with the knowledge and skills needed to meet the needs and challenges of today’s businesses.”

The funds for the Professional Sales Program, Rose explained, will be used to complete the construction of the executive conference room in the Professional Sales Training Center and create annual funds to support unexpected program needs.

Additionally, two of Smitty’s management team members have volunteered to serve as sales student mentors.

Southeastern creates economic opportunity. This opportunity is both for its students and for the companies and entities that will hire them. Generating a match between industry need and personal opportunity creates a growing economy.

Giving back through partnerships is one of the many ways that Southeastern works for the benefit of its students and the region.

Members of Smitty’s Supply Board of Directors present a $250,000 donation to Southeastern. From left: Luiz Macedo; Charles Brister; Chad Tate, president; Ed Smith, owner / CEO; Steve Hoover; Katherine Rose, Southeastern senior director of Development & Advancement Services; Brad Berner; James Ballard; Joe Miller; and David Padgett.

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Join Us for This Sampling of

COMING EVENTS MARCH

APRIL

SAT

WED–SAT

BIG EVENT | 8 am-12:00 pm

BILL EVANS JAZZ FESTIVAL

28

Student Union Breezeway

SUN

29

1-4

Performances in Pottle Hall Auditorium Collaborations: Bill Evans and Tony Bennett Exhibition in Contemporary Art Gallary

THU

CHEFS EVENING

2

President’s Residence

RETENTION | 9 am-12 pm

PRESIDENT'S TOAST | 4-5 pm

CHEFS EVENING | 5:30-8:30 pm

LSBDC AT SOUTHEASTERN: TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT / 1514 Martens Drive, Hammond

Student Union Ballroom

southeastern.edu/chefs

TUES

31

ULS DAY AT THE CAPITOL | 11 am-2:30 pm Louisiana State Capitol Grounds, Baton Rouge

TUES

31

MEN'S BASEBALL VS. LOUISIANA TECH | 6 pm Alumni Field

SAT

4

CRAWFISH BOIL: LIVINGSTON ALUMNI CHAPTER | 12:30 pm Southeastern Livingston Center

SAT

4

CONCERT: CHE APALACHE | 7:30 pm Columbia Theatre

TUES

7

WOMEN'S SOFTBALL VS. UL LAFAYETTE | 6 pm North Oak Park

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SOUTHEASTERN MAGAZINE

&

FRI WED

8

STRAWBERRY JUBILEE | 11 am-2 pm Student Union Breezeway and Park

SAT

25

CAR SHOW | 7 am-3 pm Freshman Commuter Parking Lot

TUES

28

SOUTHEASTERN WIND SYMPHONY | 7:30 pm Columbia Theater

TUES–FRI

28-1

1

BUNKO FOR BASKETBALL | 7 pm Student Union Ballroom

MON–WED

4-6

SENIOR DANCE CONCERTS | 7:30 pm Vonnie Borden Theatre

FRI

8

FELLOM BALLET'S THE LITTLE MERMAID | 7:00 pm Columbia Theatre

SAT

16

SPRING COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY 1 | 10 am SPRING COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY 2 | 3 pm University Center

THEATRE: THE TOOTH OF CRIME | 7:30 pm Vonnie Borden Theatre

THU

30

SAT

30

CRAWFISH BOIL: DALLAS / FT. WORTH ALUMNI CHAPTER | TBD Location TBD

VISUAL ART + DESIGN SENIOR EXHIBITION OPENING RECEPTION | 5-7:30 pm Contemporary Art Gallery

MAY FRI

1

HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR BREAKFAST: LIVINGSTON ALUMNI

Programs and times are subject to change.

SAVE THE DATE HOMECOMING OCTOBER 19-24

CHAPTER | 7:30-8:45 am

FRI 23 | ALUMNI AWARDS EVENING

Southeastern Livingston Center

SAT 24 | HOMECOMING PARADE, TAILGATE, & GAME

SPRING 2020

47

KEEP I N G

class notes

'64 K ATHRYN DUR R K UH N ,

an immensely accomplished gymnastics judge with 46 years’ experience as a rated official, was recertified as a U.S. Brevet level women’s gymnastics judge by the USA Gymnastics National Governing Body.

This is the highest rated level of judges within U.S. women’s gymnastics.

' 74 CHAR L ICE BYR D , a

Georgia state representative from 2005 to 2013 and North Georgia field representative for the U.S. presidential campaign from 2015 to 2016, was recently appointed to the Georgia State Board of Nursing Home Administrators by Governor Brian P. Kemp.

' 89 JAY FL ETCHER has served since 2016 as the executive director of Young Business Leaders, a nonprofit in Jackson, Mississippi, that works to help young businessmen grow in their spiritual faith, lead in their family, and grow in their community and workplace.

'68 JAMES K UH N was presented

with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award

by Marquis Who's Who for the achievements, leadership qualities, and credentials he has accrued in his over 45-year-long successful career in law.

'8 3 R ANDY G UI LLOT , president of Triple G Express Inc. and Southeastern Motor Freight Inc., has been elected chairman of the American Trucking Association, a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations and industryrelated conferences and councils.

'8 9 & ' 9 5 AMI EE LEMANE , who has a successful 30-year career as an educator and administrator in the St. Tammany Parish School System, has been named the St. Tammany Parish Public Schools assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction.

' 72 SH IR L E Y JACO B recently

' 73

accepted the position of career coach at Fontainebleau High School in Mandeville, Louisiana. She is the former coordinator of Southeastern’s teacher development program, retiring in 2017.

C EC IL HA R RIS was recently voted in as a Livingston Parish School Board representative. He is the owner of Pinnacle Education, a former teacher in Livingston Parish, and a former supervisor with the Louisiana Department of Education's Health and Physical Education division.

'8 5 & '8 7

'86

E U G E N E LO N D O N , president of Systems Integration / Modeling & Simulation, Inc., was appointed to the Board of Directors of Citizens Bank. He brings vast civic experience that includes Vice Chairman of American City Bank, Traders Bank Advisory Board, and Motlow College Foundation Director.

'90 & '92 HO P E G AU T R E AU

has been appointed principal of Ascension Head Start. In addition to extensive experience in the classroom, she previously served as a school building level committee facilitator and as principal of Donaldsonville Primary School.

J E FFR E Y TAYLOR , Livingston Parish Assessor, was elected the 2019 president of the Louisiana Assessors Association. He has been a member of the board of directors of the Louisiana Assessors Association for the past eight years, including serving as vice president and treasurer.

'93 SHE R I B A N KSTON

accepted the position of president of operational excellence at Alliance Safety Council, where she served as an e-learning script writer since 2006. Prior to her time at Alliance, she worked in the accounting field as a certified public accountant.

in touch ' 93 JE N N IF ER EL L IOTT has

pursued her passion by launching and running her own travel company, Jennifer Elliott Travel (JET), to help customers create experiences with their families and friends as well as make informed and educated travel decisions.

'03 BRA N DON CR AFT was

selected for Baton Rouge Business Report’s 2019 Forty Under 40. He is the owner of CRAFT Home Properties and Interiors, which encompasses luxury home construction, boutique furniture and design, and a full-service real estate firm.

' 10 RHO N DA GIL L AR D

was chosen as the new principal of Bluff Ridge Primary School in Prairieville, Louisiana. She brings with her more than 19 years of experience in education, including previously serving as the principal of G.W. Carver Primary School in Gonzales, Louisiana.

' 94 G ER ALD “J ER RY ” G UZ Z I NO , the former owner

of Quest Medical, LLC and an accomplished medical device sales and marketing executive with more than 20 years of experience, was appointed to the board of directors of RedHawk Holdings Corp.

'03 MI C H ELLE LANOI X , a

surgical sales executive and regional sales trainer, has earned President’s Club recognition for her outstanding performance with KARL STORZ Endoscopy on multiple occasions and was recently named to Baton Rouge Business Report’s 2019 Forty Under 40.

' 10 ER I C K I A LEMEUNI E R ,

who holds eight years of experience in nursing and dual certification as a family practice and acute care nurse practitioner, joined North Oaks Cardiology as a certified nurse practitioner.

'95 B R E N T L E B L A N C has been

named executive vice-president of business development for Peachtree Hotel Group and its lending platform Stonehill, based in Atlanta. He was previously the vice-president of development for the former Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.

'07 HU G O L EO N , who was recently profiled in a Forbes article, has been enjoying a career as a professional golfer since graduating from Southeastern. The Chilean native has played around the world including in both North and South America as well Europe.

'10 SHA N E P U RVIS received the

2019 Fidelity Bank Chairman Core Value Award. He has accrued over 12 years of experience in the banking industry, currently serving as the assistant vice president–small business relationships manager with Fidelity Bank, and is also a Southeastern GOLD Council member.

'02 JA M E S M ATA SSA has been excelling as a State Farm insurance agent since 2006. Based out of Lockport, Louisiana, he has received several honors for his performance including Chairman Circle Qualifier eight times and President’s Club Qualifier.

'07 J IM M IE M C FA R LA ND

was awarded Delisha Boyd LLC’s 2019 Breakout Rookie of the Year award for totaling nearly $3 million in sales during the year. He is a licensed realtor, working with Delisha Boyd LLC since 2018, in the New Orleans area.

'11 K R IST IN RO B A IR was named

by Dream Teachers as the 2019 H. Norman Saurage III Service Award winner at the 13th Annual Cecil J. Picard Educator Excellence Awards.

She currently teaches at Broadmoor High School in Baton Rouge and is the 2019-2020 East Baton Rouge Parish Middle School Teacher of the Year.

class notes

' 12 A LISSA AL L PHIN JE NKINS has been enjoying

success as a realtor, having been ranked in the top one percent of all Baton Rouge area realtors based off of production. She is a fifthgeneration realtor and works with C.J. Brown Realtors.

' 1 2 & ' 17 MAT T H EW MON C E AU X

began his appointment as the new principal of Bluff Middle School in Ascension Parish. He previously taught at Duchtown High School before serving as assistant principal of Lowery Middle School and as associate principal at St. Amant High School.

' 16 SETH BL EAKL EY was

named member relations manager of the Greater Hammond Chamber of Commerce. Before his position in the Chamber of Commerce, Bleakley worked as an admissions counselor at Southeastern and did community outreach for Child Advocacy Services.

' 18 NEI L B OURG EO IS , a

graduate student at Missouri State University, was recognized by the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) with the Graduate Rising Star Award. He is also currently an active member of Southeastern’s GOLD Council.

' 14 R E B ECC A T RO U L L IE T

was selected for the prestigious Kevin Wilk Traveling Fellowship.

She is currently employed by North Oaks Rehabilitation Services as a physical therapist and certified strength and conditioning specialist, and is a member of Southeastern’s GOLD Council.

'18 J E L IC E C HAT M A N was appointed as assistant principal of Sorrento Primary School in Sorrento, Louisiana. Transitioning into the position from master teacher at G.W. Carver Primary School in Gonzales, she also previously taught in East Baton Rouge Parish and at Duplessis Primary in Gonzales.

' 14 W E N DY W ILL IA MSON

accepted the position of vice president of digital delivery at Campus Federal.

She has worked with Campus Federal for nine years, starting as a coordinator before serving as assistant vice president of digital delivery for the past two years.

'19 L AU R E N L AUDUN has been

elected to the board of directors of DonahueFavret Contractors Inc., where she is also a shareholder and serves as business development coordinator. She has worked fulltime with the company since 2007.

IN ME M ORY of the Former and Current Faculty and Staff We Lost in 2019

Victoria L. Alford Bethel Raiford Arnold Patricia "Patti" Kiss Bova Thomas L. Carmichael Dr. Carlo DiMaio Brian J. Dorsa

50

James L. Gatlin Linda Brayden Haschak Fay Perdue Hulme Dr. Lawrence D. "L. D." Jackson Jr. Corinne Kallianpur Marion Faye Harvey Magee

SOUTHEASTERN MAGAZINE

Virginia Leach Mouw Dr. Annebert B. Ory Deanna E. Piediscalzo Dr. Marc Riedel Dr. Clara S. Robertson Dr. Monroe O. Rougeau

Dr. Louis J. Schultz Sr. Dr. David M. Sever Charlotte J. Swinney Frederick F. Trapp Barbara Vidulich Dr. Henry H. "Hank" Ziller

SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA UNIVERSITY

BOOKSTORE LION UP in style.

The University Bookstore offers the widest selection of officially licensed Southeastern apparel, accessories, and gifts. Whether you’re gearing up for game day, the office, a special celebration, or everything in between, you will find what you need. Plus, show your current Southeastern Alumni Association membership card to receive a 10 percent discount every time you shop.

southeastern.edu/bookstore 985-549-5393 bookstore@southeastern.edu

Southeastern Student Union 303 Union Ave Hammond, LA 70402

See Yourself ?

COUNTLESS STUDENTS HAVE ATTENDED SOUTHEASTERN OVER THE PAST 95 YEARS, BUT EACH UNIQUE ONE HAS HELPED SHAPE IT. These photographs provide a glimpse of the generations of Lions who are a part of Southeastern’s story. If you see yourself or someone you know, email editor@southeastern.edu to help us uncover the names and details behind these historic snapshots.

NON PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

PERMIT NO. 51 HAMMOND, LA

Office of Advancement, SLU 10293 Hammond, LA 70402 southeasternfoundation.org

Success: Southeastern’s online criminal justice program has earned recognition as one of the top 50 programs in the nation by thebestschools.org, with academic excellence, strength of faculty scholarship, reputation, financial aid, range of degree programs, and strength of online instruction methodology all working together for student success.