LSU'S Biweekly Newsletter for Faculty & Staff
April 16, 2004 |
VOL. 20, NO. 17 |
If LSU Chemistry Professor Julia Chan were an athlete, it would be time for her to buy a bigger trophy case.
Chan, who last year received a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award and the American Crystallographic Association’s Margaret C. Etter Early Career Award, has been named a 2004 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow. In addition, it was recently announced that she is the 2004 recipient of the ExxonMobil Solid State Chemistry Faculty Fellowship.
According to the Sloan Foundation, the Sloan Fellowship Program is one of the oldest and most esteemed fellowship programs in the country and it was started as a way to encourage “outstanding young scientists and economists” at the early stages of their careers. Sloan Research Fellows receive grants of $40,000 for a two-year period and are given the freedom to use the funds for the pursuit of “whatever lines of inquiry are of most interest to them.”
“I was pleasantly surprised and pleased,” said Chan about receiving the news that she had been selected. “One of the exciting things about it is that it is very flexible. I can use the funds to conduct research on a new or novel idea.”
Sloan Research Fellows are selected based on their “exceptional promise to contribute to the advancement of knowledge.” Out of more than 500 nominations submitted by department chairs and senior faculty members from around the country, 116 Fellows were chosen from 51 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Fellows come from a number of fields, including physics, chemistry, mathematics, economics and neuroscience.
Twenty-eight former Sloan Fellows have gone on to receive Nobel Prizes.
The ExxonMobil Solid State Chemistry Faculty Fellowship is sponsored by the ExxonMobil Foundation and includes an award in the form of an unrestricted grant of $10,000. The award is administered by the Solid State Subdivision of the American Chemical Society Division of Inorganic Chemistry. The fellowship “recognizes young scientists who have made substantial contributions to the discipline of solid-state chemistry and have the potential to emerge as leaders in the field.” It will be formally presented to Chan at the August National American Chemical Society meeting in Philadelphia.
Chan’s area of interest is new materials with useful technological applications. She conducts research on crystal growth of new materials, specifically superconducting, magnetic and electronic materials.
“Receiving fellowships from both the Sloan Foundation and ExxonMobil is a superb demonstration of Dr. Chan’s authority in solid state chemistry,” said Kevin Smith, vice chancellor for research and graduate studies at LSU. “She still has most of her career ahead of her, so we are eager to see the continued impact she will have on her research field in the future.”
In 2003, Chan received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, which is the Foundation’s most prestigious award for junior faculty members. It is part of the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program, which “recognizes and supports the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who are most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century.” She also received the American Crystallographic Association’s Margaret C. Etter Early Career Award, which “recognizes outstanding achievement and exceptional potential in crystallographic research demonstrated by a scientist at an early stage of their independent career.” The award is established to honor the memory of Professor Margaret C. Etter, who was a major contributor to the field of organic solid-state chemistry.
Only one of the Etter Awards is given each year. As the 2003 winner, Chan was invited to deliver a lecture at the American Crystallographic Association’s annual meeting last summer.
“Dr. Chan has garnered tremendous recognition for our department,” said Luigi Marzilli, chair of the Department of Chemistry. “She has also been instrumental in attracting new early-career faculty members.”
 |
| Katrice Albert |
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Risa Palm has announced that Katrice Albert, director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, has been named the interim vice provost for equity and diversity.
Her appointment is effective July 1.
Albert will replace Mary Evelyn Baszile, who is retiring June 30.
“I am extremely honored to be given the opportunity to guide a comprehensive strategy that demonstrates that diversity and equity are deeply valued and important to the institutional mission of LSU,” Albert said.
For the past year, Albert has served as director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs. She had previously served as assistant director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs. She received her doctorate in counseling psychology from Auburn University and has served as an affiliate faculty member with the counseling program in the Department of Educational Leadership, Research and Counseling.
Albert has been involved in the success of LSU’s student-initiated “Safe Space” program and has been working to broaden the office’s services for diverse groups. She has worked with a variety of student organizations and built collaborative endeavors with other university offices, such as the Women’s Center.
Before arriving at LSU, Albert served a pre-doctoral internship at the Center for Multicultural Training in Psychology at the Boston Medical Center, where she conducted diversity and sensitivity training for clinical and non-clinical staff. In addition, she served as program coordinator with the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Auburn University. As coordinator for the African-American Peer Mentoring Program she implemented university-wide social, cultural and academic multicultural programming.
“I am very pleased that Katrice Albert has accepted this position as interim vice provost. She brings a great deal of skill and energy to this position and we look forward to working with her,” said Palm.
As interim vice provost, Albert will serve as the chief diversity officer of the university. She will represent the provost when appropriate, serve as advisor to the chancellor and provost on academic policies including diversity, promotion and tenure, strategic planning, faculty hires and budgets. Other responsibilities will include working closely with university administrators to identify and implement policies and practices to increase the diversity of their units in terms of adherence to the university’s strategic plan and performance indicators.
 |
| Margaret DeFleur |
Margaret DeFleur of Boston University has been named Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research at LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication. The appointment begins in August.
DeFleur is currently director of the master’s degree program in health communication at Boston University, an interdisciplinary program that she developed. Earlier academic positions include Visiting Scholar at Harvard University’s School of Public Health and adjunct professor at S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
“Our graduate program is achieving scholarly and professional excellence in a singular area-media and public affairs,” said John Maxwell Hamilton, dean of the Manship School. “Dr. DeFleur is superbly qualified to lead us.”
DeFleur succeeds Ralph Izard, a veteran mass communication administrator who will step down as associate dean in December. Izard will continue as a senior fellow in the school’s Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs, working particularly on the Forum for Race and Media.
Prior to obtaining her Ph.D. in mass communication from Syracuse University in 1994, DeFleur studied at the University of Miami where she received an M.B.A. and a bachelor’s degree in communications. Her fourth book, “Milestones in Mass Communication Theory: Explaining Media Processes and Effects,” is now in press. She is also co-author of a new textbook, “Human Communication: Social Science in Everyday Life,” to be published soon.
“I am truly looking forward to joining the Manship School,” DeFleur said. “I am impressed with the school’s effective leadership and its outstanding faculty and students. I believe the Manship School is one of the best places in the nation to pursue innovative graduate degrees in mass communication.”
 |
| William Watts |
After a distinguished 34-year career in law enforcement, Chief William “Randy” Watts of the LSU Police Department recently announced he will retire from his post on May 31.
“Chief Watts has done a terrific job at the helm of LSU Police,” said Chancellor Mark Emmert. “During his career at LSU, he and his staff have been faced with some of the toughest cases to hit a university campus. They have handled them all with great professionalism and attention, and gone to great lengths to provide for the safety of the campus community. He will be missed, but his retirement is well deserved.”
During Watts’ 26-year tenure with LSU Police, the department has grown from 32 officers to 75, making it one of the best university police departments in the nation.
Prior to his start in January of 1978 as assistant chief of LSU Police, Watts served as a special agent with the FBI for seven years. In 1987, he left LSU to serve an appointment as acting U.S. Marshal for the Middle District of Louisiana. In May of 1988, he returned to LSU and was named Chief of Police in July of that year. He is a graduate of the FBI Executive Development Program and has been active in the Department of State’s Anti-Terrorist Assistance and Law Enforcement Programs.
Vice-Chancellor Jerry Baudin has appointed Gary Durham, executive director of Public Safety, to serve as interim chief and chair of a national search committee charged with finding Watts’ successor..
The LSU Child Care Center, a new on-campus child care center for the children of LSU students, faculty and staff and the general public, is scheduled to open May 31.
The capacity enrollment of the Child Care Center will be 150 children regardless of race, gender, class, ability and ethnic background, from the ages of six weeks through pre-kindergarten.
Applications for enrollment are being accepted now.
There are two types of programs – Full-Time and Flex-Care. If a parent chooses the Full-Time program, a non-refundable application processing charge of $35 made payable to LSU Child Care must be submitted with each application. A subsequent registration charge of $100 will be required within two business days after an offer for enrollment is received to confirm acceptance of enrollment.
Monthly rates for LSU students, faculty and staff are based on income and are as follows:
•Level 1: $0 - $25,000 (25 spaces available) – $505.
•Level 2: $25,001 - $50,000 (50 spaces available) – $555.
•Level 3: $50,001 - $99,999 (50 spaces available) – $605.
•Level 4: $100,000 and up (25 spaces available) – $655.
When all spaces are filled at a specific rate level, families will be given the option to be assessed at the next available higher level. Verification of annual income is required at time of enrollment, and if income level changes, families must notify the Child Care Center.
There is also a monthly Community Rate of $675 for the general public. Children of the community are eligible if spaces are available after all LSU students, faculty and staff are assigned.
Under the Flex-Care Program, child care is available at flexible times. Registration is required each semester and LSU full-time students receive priority.
As with Full-Time registration, a non-refundable application processing charge of $35 must be made with each application. A subsequent registration charge of $45 will be required within two business days after an offer of enrollment is received.
The options and rates under the Flex-Care Program are as follows:
•Monday, Wednesday, Friday full-day (7:15 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.) – $120/week.
•M, W, F half-day morning (7:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.) – $60/week.
•M, W, F half-day afternoon (12:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.) – $60/week.
•Tuesday and Thursday full-day – $80/week.
•T, Th. half-day morning – $40/week.
•T, Th. half-day afternoon – $40/week.
•Monday through Friday half-day morning – $100/week.
•Monday through Friday half-day afternoon – $100/week.
Located on a three-acre site on Gourrier Road, the facility – or the “New Kid on the Block” as its slogan states – includes pod-designed classrooms, three separate playgrounds for older and younger children, a multi-purpose room and a family resource center. The program will include a developmentally appropriate learning curriculum that fosters a child’s understanding of self, others, the world and problem solving. Literature, creative dramatics, music, science, math and play will be integrated into the daily schedule.
The program will operate from 7:15 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., Monday through Friday, following LSU’s holiday schedule.
The Child Care Center is administered under the Division of Student Life and Academic Services. LSU owns and maintains the approximately $3.2 million, 15,315-square-foot building. Approximately 30 full-time employees, including two supervising coordinators who hold at least an associate’s degree, will staff the 15-classroom center.
The mission of the LSU Child Care Center is to offer a high-quality child care program at market rates, while serving as a model for the community, state and nation. The inclusion of academic and research components will ensure the provision of an optimum environment for the growth and development of children.
Research about campus child care has shown many benefits to groups such as student parents. For example, student parents who receive campus child care are more likely to remain in school and graduate in fewer years, demonstrate higher rates of persistence, have higher grade-point averages and have higher graduation rates than those who do not.
Availability of high quality child care on the LSU campus will help to attract more students, staff and faculty, which is in line with Chancellor Mark Emmert’s Flagship Agenda.
Donations for the Child Care Center will be used to subsidize tuition, teacher’s salaries, equipment and building costs.
For more information, visit http://www.lsu.edu/childcare or call 225-578-7882.
LSU will recognize more than 500 African-American students for their academic accomplishments at the 20th annual Black Scholars Awards Program at 2 p.m., April 18, in the LSU Union Theater.
The event is free and open to the community.
In addition to the academic awards that will be given out, five special awards will also be presented. The Huel D. Perkins Leadership Award, given in honor of former executive assistant to the chancellor Huel Perkins, will be given to a student exhibiting outstanding leadership qualities. The Jesse Owens Athletic Award will be presented to the student-athlete with the highest grade-point average. The Charles E. Harrington Graduate Student Award, named in honor of LSU’s first black graduate student, will be awarded to the most outstanding graduate student. The A.P. Tureaud Milestone Award, named in honor of the noted Louisiana civil rights advocate, will be awarded to a student with a first-time achievement at LSU. The W.E.B. DuBois Award, named for the noted civil rights advocate, will go to a junior or senior with the highest grade-point average.
This year’s speaker will be Roderick (Rod) K. West, Regional Manager, Metro Distribution Operations, Entergy, and a member of the LSU Board of Supervisors.
West was recently appointed to serve as Regional Manager for Entergy’s New Orleans Metro Distribution Operations. He received his law degree from Tulane University School of Law in 1993, and joined the commercial litigation section at Jones, Walker where he worked exclusively for management clients in complex commercial litigation matters and all areas of federal and state employment and labor law.
West is a member of the State Bar of Louisiana and the American Bar Association and is former director of the New Orleans Bar Association. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana and the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
West is working on his Master of Business Administration degree at Tulane University Business School.
For more information, contact Carla Gros at 225-578-3737 or carla@lsu.edu.