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| Phyllis Taylor speaks at the LSU Live Oak Endowment Ceremony in honor of her late husband, Patrick Taylor. Taylor is remembered for his vision that lead to the Tuition Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS). Along with LSU, 14 area high schools and Baton Rouge Green hosted Arbor Day ceremonies to honor Taylor’s legacy. |
LSU, Baton Rouge Green and 14 area high schools hosted Arbor Day ceremonies on Friday, Jan. 21, to memorialize the life and legacy of Patrick F. Taylor, a successful New Orleans oilman most well-known for his financial support of students and his vision that led to Louisiana’s Tuition Opportunity Program for Students, or TOPS. Taylor passed away on Nov. 5, 2004.
Since the program’s inception in 1989, TOPS has helped more than 136,000 Louisiana students pay for a college education. The Arbor Day celebrations highlighted Taylor’s commitment to advancing education for Louisiana’s youth.
The LSU Foundation hosted a Live Oak endowment ceremony in the Free Speech Alley. LSU Foundation President Bill Bowdon served as emcee while other special guests included: Phyllis Taylor, Taylor’s Wife; Peggy Davis, education director for Baton Rouge Green; William Jenkins, LSU System President; and Jim Wharton, former LSU chancellor and close friend of Taylor. Phyllis Taylor and Joel Broussard, a junior majoring in chemistry, unveiled a granite marker that was placed at an endowed oak located in front of the LSU Union. Alumni and family members who have benefitted from TOPS scholarships were among those in attendance.
The 14 participating high schools each received a two-inch caliper, Live Oak tree and a granite slant face marker, courtesy of Baton Rouge Green and the Louisiana Peace Officers Association, which was placed on the schools’ campuses. The markers honor Taylor and recognize the total number of TOPS scholarship recipients of each high school on its respective marker.
Participating schools included Baker High, Baton Rouge Magnet, Belaire High, Broadmoor High, Capitol Senior High, Central High, Glen Oaks High, Istrouma High, McKinley High, Northeast High, Robert E. Lee High, Scotlandville Magnet, Tara High and Zachary High.
A national survey conducted by LSU’s Public Policy Research Lab reveals that workforce issues such as labor productivity, availability of a skilled labor force and labor costs are the chief concerns of business leaders making company location decisions.
The survey shows business leaders regard tax exemptions, state and local incentives and personal outreach from state officials as less important factors in determining business location decisions, although still somewhat important.
LSU Economics Professor Dek Terrell, who co-directed the study and directs the Division for Economic Development and Forecasting, cautioned against underestimating the importance of these factors. “Workforce issues set the stage for economic development and narrow the field, but tax exemptions, state and local incentives and personal outreach often seal the deal. For many of these factors, it is less a question of whether they are important in the decision-making process than when they are important.”
The study was conducted by LSU’s Public Policy Research Lab, a partnership between the Manship School of Mass Communication’s Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs and the E.J. Ourso College of Business Administration. The Public Policy Research Lab’s mission is to conduct nonpartisan, objective research on issues of public concern. The survey was requested by Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Louisiana Economic Development and was financed by the Committee of 100.
“ The Louisiana Business Image Survey confirms what earlier research has suggested – that a well-trained workforce is an absolute must for Louisiana to compete aggressively for the jobs of the 21st century,” Gov. Blanco said. “This research adds urgency to our efforts to create a system that can quickly customize training for companies when we bring them to Louisiana. And it confirms that we must work with industry groups to design and implement training programs that quickly and effectively meet their needs.”
Blanco has asked the Committee of 100 and Louisiana Economic Development to analyze this research and make specific recommendations for drawing outside businesses to Louisiana.
For more information, visit http://www.survey.lsu.edu and click on Louisiana Business Image Survey.
A new “Cogeneration Plant” at LSU is up and running in time to help provide electricity and steam for the campus during the Spring 2005 semester. The new plant exemplifies the goals of the Clean Power and Energy Research Consortium, a group established under the Governor’s Energy Initiative to help address critical scientific issues in power and energy generation.
The Cogeneration Plant is a combined heat and power energy-services project developed for LSU by Bernhard Mechanical Contractors Inc. and designed by Shaw Stone & Webster Engineering of Baton Rouge. The new facility incorporates energy efficiencies, provides environmental advantages and has the potential to substantially reduce energy costs at the university during the next 20 years.
At the core of the new energy plant is a turbine engine fueled by natural gas. The gas turbine drives an electric generator and the waste heat from the turbine is recovered in the form of steam, thus “co-generating” both electricity and steam in a combined heat and power process.
The gas-turbine generator will run 24-hours a day and can produce up to 17.5 megawatts of electricity and 150,000 pounds-per-hour of steam, which is the base electrical and maximum steam load of the Baton Rouge campus. The new plant will be capable of providing a substantial portion of the cooling and all of the heating requirements necessary for LSU’s academic departments, research facilities, campus housing and sporting events.
The captured steam produced by the new cogeneration facility can be used directly by the university’s heating system or as the energy source to produce an additional 6,000 tons of air conditioning for the campus, depending on weather conditions. The ability to capture waste heat while producing electricity will be an environmental boon, and will generate enough energy and utility savings to cover the cost of plant additions, as well as improvements to the campus’ 13.8 kilovolt electrical distribution system.
The LSU Cogeneration Plant is located in the historic Audubon Sugar Building. Auxiliary equipment is located inside and adjacent to the existing Central Power Plant Building. The new cogeneration main substation (dubbed “Champions Cogeneration Substation”), including the 13.8 kilovolt power distribution center and main switchgear, is adjacent to and interconnected with the existing electrical utility substations. The facility will connect via a new electrical distribution system and 11 smaller substations. The main plant will interface with the existing campus-wide energy management system for control, instrumentation, monitoring and dispatch of chilled water, electrical power and steam.
As part of the project, a gas turbine cascade test rig will be provided to the mechanical engineering department to assist in research. This equipment will allow modeling and will facilitate evaluation of real-time turbine data. Research in turbine blade design, combustion efficiencies and emissions reduction will help in furthering the mission of the Clean Power and Energy Research Consortium.
The university’s system will maintain a connection with Entergy, the local electric utility provider, in order to meet electrical demand that cannot be provided by the new system. In addition, the Entergy connection will provide all the campus electricity when the new cogeneration facility is down for maintenance. The majority of campus is connected to the new facility. Only certain buildings along West Lakeshore Drive, such as sorority and fraternity houses and the LSU System building, are still being provided power by Entergy through separate distribution.
The Clean Power and Energy Research Consortium, which supported the cogeneration facility project, consists of the Turbine Innovation & Energy Research Center at LSU; the Energy Conversion and Conservation Center at the University of New Orleans; the Advanced Materials Research Lab at Southern University; the Bio-Energy Laboratory at Nicholls State University; and the Entergy-Tulane Energy Institute at Tulane University.
For more information on the new cogeneration facility or to view real-time energy data, visit http://energy.lsu.edu.
The Psychological Services Center at LSU will be offering a six-week parent skills training course titled “Parenting Your ADHD Child.” This course will focus on coaching parents and teaching skills related to understanding Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, child discipline, parent-child communication and family problem solving. The course will be held on Tuesday evenings at 6 p.m., beginning Feb. 15. Classes will be held at the Psychological Services Center on LSU’s campus. Tuition for the class will be $100, which includes the supply fee. Baby-sitting and homework supervision will be offered.
The LSU School of Veterinary Medicine will host its 23rd Annual Open House on Saturday, Feb. 19, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. This year’s theme is “Around the World in 80 Days.”
Visitors will be allowed to take self-guided tours through the Veterinary Medicine Building, where students, faculty and staff will provide information and exhibits on various facets of the veterinary medicine curriculum. Each area of the school will feature a continent, so that visitors will go “around the world.”
In addition, the Cancer Treatment Unit, the gross anatomy laboratory, intensive care units, surgery suites, radiology suites, the underwater treadmill for dogs, the equine treadmill and other areas of the veterinary hospital will be featured on the tour. There will also be animal demonstrations, such as a “parade of breeds.”
The companion-animal underwater treadmill demonstrations at the CARe-Center and tours of the Cancer Treatment Unit in the Small Animal Clinic will be held throughout the day. Equine treadmill demonstrations will also be held throughout the day behind the Equine Research Building.
For more information, call Dr. Becky Adcock at 225-578-9900 or visit the Vet School’s Web site at www.vetmed.lsu.edu.