Kaye D. Trammell
Assistant Professor
Public Relations
Assistant Professor
Public Relations
LSU'S Biweekly Newsletter for Faculty & Staff
February 10, 2006 |
VOL. 22, NO. 11 |
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| Kaye D. Trammell Assistant Professor Public Relations |
Research Interest: Online politics and computer-mediated communication
Honors/Awards: Top paper awards this year at the 2004 National Communication Association (Political Communication division and the Communication and Technology division). LSU “Rising Star” nominated to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Nationally recognized scholar and expert on blogs and emerging communication technology.
What Brought You to LSU?: The research resources and capabilities were unmatched. Additionally, the excellent faculty here has proven not only to be a productive but extremely warm and collegial group!
An LSU researcher and a Mexican colleague have made a groundbreaking discovery about one of the world’s most important crops, corn.
According to findings by LSU Assistant Professor of Geography and Anthropology Andrew Sluyter and Mexican plant ecologist Gabriela Dominguez, cultivation of corn (or, as it is known outside of North America, maize) in Mexico’s Gulf Coast began around 5,000 years ago, rather than the 7,000 years ago that previous research suggested.
The results of Sluyter and Dominguez’s research were recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the most widely read and cited multidisciplinary journals.
In order to determine a time frame for the cultivation of corn, Sluyter and Dominguez analyzed pollen grains found in lake sediments near the port of Veracruz, Mexico. Their dating re-establishes the Southern Highland region of Mexico, near Tehuacan and Oaxaca, as home to the oldest known remains of domesticated corn.
Sluyter explained that this information about the crop’s history is important because corn is one of the most widely distributed crops in the world and is used in the manufacturing of a number of products besides food. It’s also important, he said, because its origin is mysterious and has been hotly debated.
“ Corn is one of the most important crops in the world, yet, oddly, we don’t really know much about where it came from, compared to other domesticates such as wheat,” he said.
Sluyter added that, while scientists know some of the wild plant “ancestors” of corn and that the crop was first cultivated in Mexico, the exact location and time of its appearance in the country have been difficult to pin down. Years ago, ancient cob remains were found in the Southern Highland region, leading to speculation that the area might have been the “birthplace” of domesticated corn. However, more recent research on pollen found in the Gulf Coast plain of the state of Tabasco suggested that maize there was around 7,000 years old, shifting the search for maize origins to the lowlands.
According to the opening of Sluyter and Dominguez’s paper on their research, “a sedimentary pollen sequence from the coastal plain of Veracruz, Mexico, demonstrates maize cultivation by 5,000 years ago, refining understanding of the geography of early maize cultivation.” The pollen sequence examined by Sluyter and Dominguez is similar to the pollen sequence from Tabasco, but the duo used a newer, more rigorous dating methodology.
Thus, their findings show that “the inception of maize cultivation ... occurred as much as 1,000 to 2,000 years more recently” in the lowlands than the previously claimed 7,000 years ago. This means that the corn cobs found in the highland regions of Mexico remain the oldest known direct evidence of the crop.
Sluyter said that geographers tend to be interested in how people change environments over time, so he first began researching Mexico while investigating how the Gulf Coast lowlands had been altered since the introduction of cattle by Europeans. He eventually wrote a book on that research that won the 2004 CAPE James M. Blaut Award from the Associa-tion of American Geographers, and his interest in the area remained strong.
He began working with Dominguez, who, at the time, was at the University of Texas at Austin. Together, they began examining the “natural archives” of the area: sediments found at the bottoms of lakes that contain the layered pollen produced by plants in the surrounding area. This allowed them to “look back in time” at how vegetation has changed over the millennia due to various forms of human impacts, including clearing forests for maize farming beginning 5,000 years ago.
Sluyter said that their research “clarified” how pollen (including corn pollen) from lake beds can be dated. He said that they showed that using radiocarbon dating on tiny grains of pollen from lake beds is more precise than dating associated pieces of wood, as was done in the Tabasco study.
“ Dating precision has been overstated in the past,” he said, adding that the best current method is to date the pollen grains themselves, as he and Dominguez did.
Kevin Reilly Sr. and Dee Dee Reilly, through the Reilly Family Foundation, will fund a double endowed chair in media literacy in LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication. This chair is the first of its kind in the country.
The chair will be named for Dee Dee Reilly’s brother, Wendell Gray Switzer Jr., lieutenant in the U.S. Navy who lost his life while on active duty.
“ This extraordinary gift once again showcases the Reilly family’s innovative and thoughtful dedication to an informed citizenry,” said John Maxwell Hamilton, dean of the Manship School. “The need to equip Americans to understand how to distinguish responsible journalism and advertising is increasing with the advent of so many new sources of unfiltered information. A vigorous media helps inform citizens of current issues and governmental policies, but it is essential that the public knows how to interpret what they read, see or hear in the news. The Switzer Chair in Media Literacy will advance teaching and research around this premise.”
The $1.2 million gift is eligible for a Louisiana Board of Regents match that will provide a total of $2 million for a double endowed chair.
In addition to teaching journalism students, the chair will enable LSU to become a leader in teaching non-journalism students on college campuses to become knowledgeable and analytical consumers of the news. National leadership in this area will include distribution of course materials, research that explores why citizens turn off the television or choose not to read a newspaper, and ideas on how to improve citizens’ ability to retrieve information in order to make well-informed decisions.
Dee Dee Reilly and Kevin Reilly Sr. said they believe an informed public capable of comprehending and assimilating the barrage of information available through the media today is the cornerstone of our freedom.
The Manship School offers degree programs at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels focused specifically on media and public affairs. The Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs, established in 2000, is an integral component of the school’s dedication to help advance public participation in governance. With this purpose in mind, the Chair will work with the Reilly Center to conduct workshops, surveys and symposia that will bring new ideas to journalists and mass communication educators.
This chair will be the fifth endowed chair in the Manship School. Distinguished faculty and professionals who have occupied the other four chairs include Sig Mickelson, the first president of CBS News; Bill Dickinson, founder of the Washington Post Writers Group, winner of eight Pulitzer Prizes under his leadership; George Lockwood, former managing editor of the Milwaukee Journal and a Pulitzer Prize winner; and Tim Cook, award-winning author and the first occupant of the Laurence Lombard Chair at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
Four LSU colleges and two career-assistance programs will benefit from Shell Oil Company’s latest gift to the university, a donation totaling $170,500. On Friday, Jan. 27, Shell presented the gift to LSU at a ceremony at LSU’s Energy, Coast and Environment Building. Shell’s contribution to LSU will help students and faculty across a wide array of academic disciplines on campus.
The total $170,500 was presented in two parts. The Applied Depositional Geosystems Program within LSU’s Department of Geology and Geophysics was awarded a $40,000 grant. The remaining $130,500 was divided as follows: $20,000 to the E.J. Ourso College of Business, $75,000 to the College of Engineering, $20,000 to the College of Basic Sciences, $5,000 to the Honors College, $5,000 to Career Counseling and $5,500 to LSU’s Minority Engineering Program.
“ It’s great to see one of the world’s corporate leaders, Shell, form relationships with so many areas at LSU,” said LSU Foundation President and CEO, Maj. Gen. USMC (Ret.) William G. Bowdon. “We are very thankful and fortunate as a university community to have Shell as a partner in creating an even better LSU for the future of Louisiana.”
Within the past year, Shell has also teamed with LSU on two other major projects, the opening of the Shell Coastal Environmental Modeling Laboratory in May of 2005 and the opening of the acclaimed “Vanishing Wetlands: Two Views” exhibit at the LSU Museum of Art in October of 2005.
Shell Oil Company, including its consolidated companies and its share in equity companies, is one of America’s leading oil and natural gas producers, natural gas marketers, gasoline marketers and petrochemical manufacturers. Shell, a leading oil and gas producer in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, is a recognized pioneer in oil and gas exploration and production technology. Shell Oil Company is an affiliate of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies, which operates in more than 140 countries and employs more than 112,000 people.
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| Douglas Weimer |
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| Pauline Rankin |
After almost 30 years of service at LSU, Pauline Rankin, dean of LSU Continuing Education, has retired. Her retirement was made on Jan. 11.
Prior to becoming dean, Rankin served as a tenured faculty member in the LSU College of Education, as the associate director and executive director of LSU Instructional Support and Development – now named the Centers for Excellence in Learning and Teaching – and vice provost for Academic Affairs. In her positions with CELT, Rankin was instrumental in expanding the program from a centralized media resource to a center that manages multimedia classrooms and offers professional development opportunities for faculty. As vice provost, she worked with faculty, staff and students on the allocation of the Academic Excellence Fee and in the implementation of LSU’s residential colleges and service-learning programs.
Rankin received her bachelor’s degree from Arkansas Tech University, her master’s from the University of Arkansas and her doctorate from LSU.
“ Pauline has always kept the interests of faculty and students close to her heart,” said Frank Cartledge, vice provost of Academic Affairs. “She has been a great asset to this university and will be greatly missed.”
Douglas Weimer, associate dean of LSU Continuing Education, will assume Rankin’s position under the new title of executive director. Weimer has served as associate dean of LSU Continuing Education since May 2003 and has held multiple positions within Continuing Education since January 1991. Before coming to LSU, Weimer owned a local computer retail chain and held various positions with Ethyl Corp., now Albemarle.
Weimer has a master’s degree in economics and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from LSU.
“ I am honored to assume this position in Continuing Education,” Weimer said. “I look forward to continuing the division’s strong mission of promoting LSU and the Flagship Agenda.”
Within the context of the LSU Flagship Agenda, the purpose of Continuing Education is to offer life-long learning opportunities through credit and non-credit programs that meet educational needs.
LSU Residential Life, as part of its 15-year new construction and renovation plan, has begun another construction project – LSU’s newest residential college buildings, global studies and business.
Construction company Buquet & LeBlanc Inc. of Baton Rouge was selected to build the 380-bed, two-building residential complex featuring suite-style rooms with community space in the form of lounges, kitchenettes, libraries, courtyards and state-of-the-art classrooms. LSU’s tradition of arches, red-tile roofs and lush landscaping will also be integrated into the complex.
The project is part of the 15-year, $290 million housing unit plan for the new construction and renovation of all campus housing facilities at LSU, which started in 2002. Residential Colleges provide a living space for students with similar class schedules and interests. Professors hold study sessions and office hours in the facilities and, in some cases, have offices and hold classes inside the residential college facilities. Currently, there are some 600 students that reside in residential colleges. They have shown more involvement with their academics and higher G.P.A.’s.
Debora Schulze, director of LSU Residential Life said “research tells us that student learning is enhanced when students’ in-class and out-of-class lives are integrated. The Residential College Complex at LSU will be a model in design and program for providing students with these powerful integrated learning experiences.”
Located on the site of the former Graham Hall, Buquet & LeBlanc has begun construction with a scheduled completion date in late 2007 for the project. “The deep foundations have just been completed and the project will begin to take shape quickly from this point forward. Framing on the buildings should begin in February 2006, with an overall completion date in the fall of 2007,” said John Meek, project manager, Buquet & LeBlanc Inc.
Buquet and LeBlanc Inc. is known for its recent projects including the tech park section of the Bonne Carre Tech Park Complex, Towne Center buildings at Cedar Lodge and the new LSU Football Operations Center.