LSU'S Biweekly Newsletter for Faculty & Staff
January 28, 2005 |
VOL. 21, NO. 10 |
Twenty percent by 2010 – that’s the goal and the target date of the National Flagship Agenda’s graduate education initiative.
Long acknowledged as a center for academic research and advanced studies in Louisiana, LSU prides itself on training future scholars and creating the knowledge that keeps the University and the state on the leading edge of discovery. Indeed, it is the rigorous, in-depth education available through our comprehensive graduate degree programs that places us among the nation’s top 70 research universities and distinguishes LSU as a Carnegie Foundation Research Extensive institution.
A superior graduate program and good research enable a university to attract and retain top-notch faculty that are the best in their fields. Graduate programs add to the intellectual environment of the entire campus, and faculty research enriches the undergraduate experience by providing opportunities for undergraduates to have actual hands-on experience in research, scholarly and creative work, and discovery. Because we recognize that research is an integral part of successful instruction at the undergraduate level, LSU offers a number of research opportunities as students begin their college careers, including the Chancellor’s Future Leaders in Research, Howard Hughes Undergraduate Biological Sciences Forum, Louisiana Biomedical Research Network, Ronald E. McNair Program and the College of Agriculture Undergraduate Research Program.
Graduate students are fundamental to faculty-driven research and are key to increasing levels of research productivity. From an economic perspective, these students are the fuel of a knowledge-based economy – their involvement in the research that creates new knowledge and products affords them key training in sharing that knowledge and creating those products when they leave the University for employment or post-graduate work.
For these reasons and more, LSU is committed to increasing its graduate student population. Graduate enrollment today at LSU is 16.4 percent of total enrollment. By 2010, graduate students will account for 20 percent of the student population, in line with our regional peers, whose graduate enrollments average 21 percent.
This endeavor, of course, demands committed monetary support. As we move toward that 20 percent graduate population goal, we plan to increase the number of graduate assistantships by 50 percent. Tuition for graduate assistants will be phased out completely by 2005. Already, more than $3.2 million has been added to increase the number and amount of awards for graduate assistantships. More than $2 million has been invested in graduate stipends, and we are seeking ways to cover health-care costs for graduate assistants.
Our goals are ambitious. We have made great progress and will continue to build on these achievements as we pursue the National Flagship Agenda.
Meeting in special session, the LSU Board of Supervisors unanimously voted on Dec. 16 to approve the hiring of NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe as LSU chancellor. In a later meeting, O’Keefe was granted tenure and a yearly salary of $425,000 was approved at the January meeting.
“ Sean O’Keefe has an exemplary record of public service,” Interim Chancellor William Jenkins said. “I’m looking forward to him becoming our new chancellor at this exciting time in LSU history.”
The Board of Supervisors vote on hiring O’Keefe followed a unanimous recommendation by a search committee that he become chancellor of LSU’s main campus and came at the conclusion of a marathon two-day visit that included meetings with students, faculty members, administrators and Baton Rouge community leaders.
A native of New Orleans, O’Keefe has held high government positions under two Bush Administrations, including NASA Administrator and deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. He also served as Secretary of the Navy, and comptroller and chief financial officer for the Defense Department.
Before joining government service, O’Keefe held an endowed chair at Syracuse University as director of National Security Studies, a partnership between Syracuse and Johns Hopkins Universities. At Penn State, he was also a professor of business administration and assistant to the senior vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School.
O’Keefe holds a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University in New Orleans, a master’s degree in public administration from Syracuse University and five honorary doctorates. In 1993, President George H.W. Bush and then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney presented him with the Distinguished Public Service Award, one of the nation’s highest civilian awards.
At the January LSU Board of Supervisors meeting, new LSU head football coach Les Miles’ seven-year contract was approved. The contract is worth $1.25 million annually, plus an additional $200,000 per year in deferred compensation, pending the fulfillment of his contract.
Miles’ base salary will be $300,000 per year with an additional $600,000 serving as payment for radio, television and internet appearances. Miles will also receive an annual sum of $300,000 from the Tiger Athletic Foundation with an additional $50,000 coming from shoe and equipment contracts.
Miles can earn additional compensation for certain accomplishments achieved by the LSU football team. Miles will receive $50,000 if he leads LSU to a bowl game, or $100,000 for leading the Tigers to a Bowl Championship Series contest. He will also earn $75,000 if the Tigers play in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game and $175,000 if they play in the BCS National Title game. Under the provisions of the contract, Miles’ additional compensation for any given year may not exceed $400,000.
In addition to his on-field accomplishments, Miles will also be rewarded financially for his team’s academic achievement in terms of graduation rates.
Miles’ contract includes a $500,000 buyout clause if he were to leave LSU at any time during the term of the contract.
Miles, the 2002 Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year and former assistant of Michigan, Colorado and the Dallas Cowboys who built Oklahoma State into a force in the Big 12, was named head football coach at LSU on Jan. 3.
At Oklahoma State, Miles turned the football program into one that was nationally competitive.With a 28-21 record, Miles led the Cowboys to three straight bowl appearances, an accomplishment OSU had not achieved since Jimmy Johnson started a string of three straight post-season games beginning in 1983.
Prior to his tenure as head coach at Oklahoma State, Miles was an assistant coach for the Dallas Cowboys for three seasons from 1998-2000.
Before going to Dallas, Miles served as Oklahoma State’s offensive coordinator for three seasons from 1995-97, including an 8-3 season and Alamo Bowl berth in 1997.
He joined Bo Schembechler’s Michigan coaching staff in 1980 for the first of two stints as a coach in Ann Arbor. Miles left Michigan for Colorado, where he served on Bill McCartney’s staff from 1982 through 1986. In his final two years at Colorado, the Buffalos earned bids to the Freedom Bowl and Bluebonnet Bowl.
In 1987, he returned to Michigan, where he would spend the next eight years as part of one of the most successful eras in Michigan football history. From 1987 to 1994, Michigan won 71 games, made eight straight bowl appearances, including four trips to the Rose Bowl, and finished no lower than No. 21 in final Associated Press national rankings.
Design Intelligence has released its 2005 edition of “American’s Best Architec-ture & Design Schools,” and LSU is ranked in numerous categories. Most notably, LSU’s landscape architecture programs are ranked in the top five nationally. The graduate program is ranked fourth, and the undergraduate program is ranked fifth.
The landscape architecture program also received the top ranking among schools in the South.
“ For landscape architecture to be ranked fifth nationally and fourth in graduate is a significant achievement among landscape architecture programs,” said College of Art & Design Dean David Cronrath. “This talks of the strength LSU has historically in landscape architecture. LSU has developed a sustained reputation because of long standing quality in the classroom.”
In other rankings, LSU’s architecture program is first among Louisiana schools and ranks seventh among schools in the South. The interior design program is ranked 15th nationally.
“ I was so pleased to hear about this accomplishment,” said Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Risa Palm. “This gives further proof that LSU is on the rise and that the Flagship Agenda is accomplishing what it was designed to do.”
LSU’s School of Landscape Architec-ture currently has 15 full-time faculty with 220 students enrolled in the undergraduate program and 50 enrolled at the graduate level. LSU and the University of Georgia are the only schools in the country to have both the graduate and undergraduate landscape architecture programs ranked in the top five.
Design Intelligence conducted survey research from May-August 2004 to compile the rankings. The publication surveyed firms in each field to determine which schools best prepared their graduates for real-world practice. The study also included considerations such as faculty specializations, job placement records, caliber of internship programs and aesthetics of the campus. This is the first year that the publication included rankings of landscape architecture programs.
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| Kevin R. Carman |
LSU Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Risa Palm announced that Kevin R. Carman has been named dean of the College of Basic Sciences.
Carman had been serving as interim dean of the college since January of last year. He is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and previously served as the associate dean for research and administration in the College of Basic Sciences. He took over as interim dean following the appointment of former dean Harold Silverman to the new position of vice provost for arts, sciences and engineering.
“ I believe that Dr. Carman has demonstrated his abilities and aptitudes for this position during his service over the past year as interim dean,” said Palm. “He is widely respected and fully committed to advancing the college within the framework of the Flagship Agenda. During his term, he has already garnered major resource commitments for the college, and I anticipate that he will continue to do so.
“ He is committed to maintaining and building upon the college’s tradition of excellence in research and education.”
Palm added that Carman will be “a strong advocate for the faculty, students and staff of the college,” as well as “an ambassador for the college within and beyond the gates of LSU.”
Carman received his doctorate in biological oceanography from Florida State University in 1989. He has been at LSU since that time. His areas of specialty include microbial ecology, benthic ecology and biological oceanography.
“ I am honored, humbled and excited at the opportunity to lead the exceptional faculty, students and staff that make up the College of Basic Sciences. The college has made enormous strides over the past decade, and is now poised to be among the nation’s elite programs in several areas of science and technology,” said Carman. “In spite of persistent budgetary challenges, there is a pervasive enthusiasm about the future of LSU that is shared by faculty and administrators at all levels. We are solidly behind the National Flagship Agenda, and Basic Sciences has an important leadership role in its promotion.
“ I look forward to working with the provost and chancellor, fellow deans, and Basic Sciences chairs and faculty to attract resources and provide the infrastructure that will allow our faculty and students to realize their full potential.”
LSU has established a fund to assist students who were affected by last month’s devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
The fund will provide financial assistance on a case-by-case basis to affected students to cover some expenses that could include tuition, fees, books, housing, food service and other essential needs.
The LSU Tsunami Student Relief Fund has been established through the LSU Foundation. Contributions may be sent to the LSU Foundation, Lod Cook Alumni Center, 3838 W. Lakeshore Dr., Baton Rouge, LA 70808. Checks should be made out to “LSU Tsunami Student Relief Fund-LSU Foundation.” Contributions can also be made via the LSU Foundation’s Web site at http://www.lsufoundation.org.
The fund will be monitored by the director of Student Aid & Scholarships, and LSU’s International Services Office will identify tsunami-affected students.
Interim Chancellor William L. Jenkins has appointed a committee to review the cases of affected students and direct aid as available. They are: Witoon Prinyawiwatkul, Department of Food Science and committee chair; Harald Leder, International Programs Office; Joanne McMullen, Evening School and Staff Senate president; Daniel Nunes, Student Government; Francisco Aguilar, student president of the International Cultural Center; Natalie Rigby, ex officio, International Services Office; and Mary Parker, ex officio, Student Aid & Scholarships.
For more information, call 578-3191.