Twenty in '20 - University of Louisiana Monroe

TWENTY IN

Although we spent moments of the past year apart, our achievements as an institution did not cease. Throughout the seasons of 2020, our students, faculty, and staff performed with dedication and determination. When we look back on this time, let us not consider fear and uncertainty. Rather, let us reflect on the good times – on-campus activities, Zoom classes, drive-by birthday parades and how we all remained Warhawk Strong.

ULM Cheerleading Team

WORLD CHAMPIONS

I

DID YOU KNOW...

In preparation for the competition, ULM Cheerleading spent approximately 150 hours between December and January – along with regular semester practices – to perfect their routine.

The University of Louisiana Monroe Cheerleading Team was named World Cup Champions at the Universal Cheerleading Association National Championship at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. In the final day of competition, ULM placed first in Game Day as the top-scoring team in the USA.

01.2020

II

ULM Mock Trial Team

ADVANCES AGAIN For the sixth straight year, the University of Louisiana Monroe finished as one the top teams at the American Mock Trial Association’s Regional Tournament hosted by the University of St. Thomas in Houston. This is the second straight year that two squads from ULM have simultaneously qualified for the Opening Round Championship Series.

DID YOU KNOW...

More than 900 teams competed in regional tournaments, but less than 200 advanced to Opening Round Championship Series.

02.2020

ULM Hawkline

QUEENS OF HIP HOP Due to COVID-19, the annual American Dance/Drill Team Collegiate Championship looked different this year. The ULM Hawkline was still allowed to submit their videos to compete, and were named National Champions for the Virtual ADTS 2020 competition – placing first in the hip hop category and overall collegiate category.

DID YOU KNOW...

The ULM Hawkline recruited Mackenzie Salter Grassi to choreograph the strenuous routine that won them this year’s title.

III

03.2020

David and Sharon Turrentine

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

IV

David and Sharon Turrentine of Monroe and Hot Springs, Ark., gave more than $1 million to the University of Louisiana Monroe. In recognition of their magnanimous donation, the university named the David and Sharon Turrentine School of Management in the College of Business and Social Sciences in their honor.

DID YOU KNOW...

Married in 1975, Mr. and Mrs. Turrentine are longtime business leaders in construction, real estate, property management, and physical fitness.

04.2020

ULM Hawkeye Students

WIN PHOTO COMPETITION

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DID YOU KNOW...

ULM's international students represent over 60 countries. Saugat Shrestha and Prajal Prasai are both from Nepal.

The Nepalese enrolloment makes up 48% of internationals enrolled.

Two University of Louisiana Monroe students on the Hawkeye student newspaper staff took award-winning photos in a competition by the College Media Association. Saugat Shrestha and Prajal Prasai attended the CMA convention in New York City in mid-March. Competing against colleges and universities from across the country, the ULM students placed second and third in the photojournalist “shoot out.”

Unafraid

BY PRAJAL PRASAI

Subways are getting emptier

BY SAUGAT SHRESTHA

04.2020

VI DID YOU KNOW...

The mentioned paper has been published online and is featured in the February edition of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, the top journal in the cancer therapeutic field.

Dr. Yong-Yu Liu offers hope

IN CANCER TREATMENT Yong-Yu Liu, M.D., Ph.D., a pharmacologist in the ULM College of Pharmacy, is part of a team working on a possible treatment for a variety of cancers.A publsihed study on the team’s research explained that injecting Ceramide-Rubusoside nanomicelles into mice can correct the mutation in the p53 gene and reverse the cancer process. “We know cancer is a common disease, and we know that a key issue is gene mutation,” Liu said.

“And the No. 1 recent cause of cancer is the mutation of p53.”

04.2020

ULM Foundation $1.2 million

NEW ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS AND SCHOLARSHIPS Thanks to the generosity of donors and the Louisiana Board of Regents, the University of Louisiana Monroe Foundation announced $1.2 million in new endowed professorships and scholarships.

DID YOU KNOW...

Two Superior Graduate Student Scholarships, two First Generation Scholarships and five professorships were created at ULM.

VII

Foundation

05.2020

ULM Online earns

TOP RANKING FOR FALL

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ULM Online received outstanding recognition in the fall 2020 rankings. The rankings are for ULM Online as a whole and specific degrees. ULM Online offers 33 degree programs in associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. Fall enrollment for ULM Online graduate and undergraduate programs was at an all-time high with 2,000 students.

DID YOU KNOW...

ULM's fall 2020 enrollment of 2,000 students is 23 percent higher than fall 2019.

05.2020

VCOM 2024

INAUGURAL CLASS

IX

DID YOU KNOW...

The predicted economic impact from VCOM is $60-$70 million annually.

Construction was completed on the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) Louisiana Campus at ULM. The $38 million-plus facility is located on Bon Aire Drive overlooking Bayou DeSiard. The first class of students started in July.

07.2020

X DID YOU KNOW...

The consortium allows for the delivery of the LaSTEM Pathways curricula, teacher training, and student certification across Louisiana.

ULM partners with LSU on

STEM EDUCATION PROGRAM The University of Louisiana Monroe partnered with the LSU Gordon A. Cain Center and McNeese State University to create the Louisiana STEM Pathways Consortium. As a partner in the program, ULM will work with Northeast Louisiana school systems to provide intensive training to teachers in the high-demand biomedical sciences and computing fields, which will enable each of the university's four colleges to participate.

07.2020

Delta Dental $20K grant provides

PPE FOR STUDENTS The Dental Hygiene program at the University of Louisiana Monroe was able to purchase additional personal protective equipment – commonly known as PPE – thanks to a $20,000 grant from Delta Dental Community Care Foundation. Jordan Anderson, Associate Professor of Dental Hygiene in the School of Allied Health, College of Health Sciences, secured the relief grant, which provides unrestricted funds to organizations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

DID YOU KNOW...

The program has received two previous grants from the Delta Dental Community Care Foundation totalling $60,000.

XI

07.2020

School of Construction Management receives

GIFT FROM LA. CONTRACTORS

XII

The University of Louisiana Monroe School of Construction Management received one of its most generous donations to date from the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors and Contractor’s Educational Trust Fund with a check for $250,000 presented to the ULM Foundation.

DID YOU KNOW...

Since 2014, LSLBC/CETF has contributed more than $1 million for program development, facilities, and equipment to the School of Construction Management.

09.2020

Don Simpson, Ph.D.

DEAN, COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES

XIII

DID YOU KNOW...

Don Simpson is the former director of the Master of Medical Science Program at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Bradenton, Fla.

Growing up in Bernice (population 1,620 in 2018), Don Simpson, Ph.D., understands the myriad of needs in our region and he’s here to help. His return after 30 years is an example of synchronicity in action. Simpson said the opportunity at ULM “was just a perfect fit because of the involvement with VCOM and the ecosystem of the programs in the College of Health Sciences.”

09.2020

XIV

Dr. Ronald Berry named

NINTH PRESIDENT OF ULM On Sept. 3, after a long day of interviews with the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors in Baton Rouge, Ronald Berry, D.B.A., was announced as the ninth president of the University of Louisiana Monroe. During his interview, Berry spoke of his vision for ULM to continue to serve as a beacon for opportunity and inclusiveness for Northeast Louisiana. He emphasized his belief in the importance of approachability and accountability in his leadership style. Berry was joined by his wife, Christine Berry, Ph.D., who will serve as first lady of the univeristy.

DID YOU KNOW...

Berry is a native of Winnsboro, a two-time graduate of ULM, and has served ULM for 25 years. Berry began his academic administration career as Department Head of Computer Information Systems, Interim Dean, then Dean of the College of Business and, most recently, Dean of the College of Business and Social Sciences.

09.2020

Warhawks

WEATHER WATCH When tornadoes struck the region on April 12, Todd Murphy, Ph.D., program coordinator in Atmospheric Science, quickly applied for and received a $51,763 National Science Foundation Rapid Response Research grant to collect data and study the damage.

Sister university McNeese in Lake Charles was heavily damaged by Laura and dealt a second blow by Hurricane Delta, Oct. 8-9. ULM organized a Community Supply Drive, collecting much-needed items which were delivered to McNeese by Warhawk student and staff volunteers.

Hurricane Laura hit the Louisiana Gulf Coast on Aug. 27 and continued its path of destruction through Northeast Louisiana. ULM volunteers immediately mobilized to clean up the campus and assist in the community.

DID YOU KNOW...

In addition to ULM and McNeese, the other universities in the UL System are: Grambling State University, Louisiana Tech University, Nicholls State University, Northwestern State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, University of Louisiana Lafayette, and the University of New Orleans.

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10.2020

Dr. Valerie Fields named

VP FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS

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The University of Louisiana Monroe appointed Valerie Fields, Ed.D., Vice President for Student Affairs. Fields is the first woman to serve as a vice president in the university’s 89-year history.

Fields is a veteran educator, beginning as a teacher at J.S. Clark Magnet School in Monroe before holding associate and assistant professorships at two universities, including ULM, where she was a ULM Online Assistant Professor and supervisor of teacher and alternative certification candidates.

DID YOU KNOW...

Fields is a Winnsboro native, two-time ULM alumna and served the university as Director of Student Development from 1996 until 2003 when she was named Assistant Dean for Student Life and Leadership.

10.2020

Emily Williamson

LABORATORY SCHOOL

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Emily Williamson became director of the ULM Child Development Center in 2003 and remained in that position until she lost her lengthy battle with breast cancer on October 27, 2019.

Under her leadership, the center received its first 5-star rating in 2008 and continued with six consecutive 5-star ratings from the Louisiana Quality Start School Readiness Rating System. The center was renamed the Emily Williamson Laboratory School in her honor.

DID YOU KNOW...

Three-time ULM alumna, Williamson also served as an instructor in the School of Education. She served on ULM’s Commencement Committee as co-chair for 14 years and represented ULM on state and regional early childhood education organization boards.

11.2020

XVIII

Kitty DeGree School of Nursing

REACCREDITED UNTIL 2030 The Kitty Degree School of Nursing at the University of Louisiana Monroe received 10-year reaccreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education for its undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Nursing and the graduate Master of Science in Nursing programs.

DID YOU KNOW...

ULM faculty and staff spent two years preparing for the site visit from the representatives of CCNE.

11.2020

Graduate enrollment

AT A 36-YEAR HIGH ULM saw a significant increase in graduate student enrollment with 1,478 students enrolled for the fall 2020 semester, the largest graduate enrollment the institution has seen in 36 years.

DID YOU KNOW...

The ULM Graduate School has over 25 disciplines to choose from.

XIX

11.2020

Louisiana Workforce Investment Council

ADOPTS ULM PROGRAM

XX DID YOU KNOW...

Amy L. Weems, Ed.D., authored this plan and is a ULM alumna and assistant professor in the College of Arts, Education, and Sciences School of Education.

An innovative program designed by the University of Louisiana Monroe School of Education to meet the critical shortage of K-12 teachers is going statewide after being adopted by the Louisiana State Workforce Commission Workforce Investment Council.

12.2020

ulm.edu

Member of the UL System • AA/EOE