LSU'S Biweekly Newsletter for Faculty & Staff
June 30, 2006 |
VOL. 20, NO. 4 |
|
| The first of LSU’s four launch events throughout the country for Forever LSU: The Campaign for Louisiana State University was held in New York City’s Jazz at Lincoln Center. |
LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe announced the launch of Forever LSU: The Campaign for Louisiana State University, the largest, most ambitious fundraising effort in the university’s history, at an evening reception with alumni and friends at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on Monday, June 19.
Through the Forever LSU campaign, O’Keefe said the university’s goal is to raise $750 million by 2010, the 150th anniversary of LSU.
The campaign, named in reference to the last line of the university’s Alma Mater, is an outgrowth of the national Flagship Agenda – a plan to position LSU as one of the leading public institutions in the nation.
“Working with one of the lowest endowments of a public flagship institution, LSU has excelled across the board despite its limited resources and has remained competitive with its peers,” O’Keefe said. “Public support assures that LSU is a good university; private funds will guarantee that it is a great university.”
Coordinated by LSU’s three foundations – the LSU Foundation, Tiger Athletic Foundation and the LSU Alumni Association – the campaign involves LSU’s main campus, the LSU AgCenter and the LSU Law Center.
The monies raised will be dedicated to LSU’s endowment, a permanent investment fund, which will finance the university’s flagship goals of attracting and retaining the best faculty, students and staff and improving campus infrastructure and research.
The campaign’s contributions will fund four areas of LSU, known as the campaign pillars, which encompass student support, faculty support, university-wide support and campus infrastructure. Through an increased endowment, students will see a number of additional merit-based and need-based scholarships, as well as graduate fellowships. These opportunities will attract and retain the most talented students. LSU will have dedicated funds for increasing the number of endowed chairs and professorships for its faculty. This funding will attract and retain dynamic professors and researchers.
To support university-wide efforts, funding will also enhance existing programs at undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as initiate and support new academic opportunities. Funding will provide new equipment and technology and the construction of new laboratory and research space. Other vital infrastructure improvements will be made to ensure that LSU is poised and ready to serve the students of tomorrow. New facilities and renovations will expand LSU’s many programs as well.
O’Keefe’s announcement kicked off a week-long tour, June 19-23, to meet with alumni and friends in New York City, Washington, D.C., Houston and Baton Rouge.
For updates throughout the campaign’s duration, visit www.foreverlsu.org.
 |
| Members of the Dean’s Advisory Council at the E.J. Ourso College and university representatives mark the site of the college’s new business building, (left to right) William “Billy” Rucks; John Hamilton; Michael Ruffner, LSU’s vice chancellor of communications and university relations; Karen Deville; James “Jimmy” Maurin; William “Bill” Slaughter; Robert Sumichrast; Roger Ogden; G. Lee Griffin; Richard Sturlese; William “Bill” Bowdon, president and CEO of the LSU Foundation; William R. Lane; and LSU Chancellor Sean O'Keefe. |
The building committee of the Dean’s Advisory Council at LSU’s E. J. Ourso College of Business met on June 14 to mark the site of the future home for a new freestanding College of Business Building at LSU. The group erected a sign on Nicholson Extension immediately east of the Center for Engineering and Business Administration, or CEBA, Building on LSU’s campus to signify the planned site for construction.
They marked the site in preparation for the official kick-off of LSU’s fundraising campaign, Forever LSU: The Campaign for Louisiana State University.
The new College of Business Building is considered a lead project within the Forever LSU campaign. The campaign strategy supports the National Flagship Agenda, the plan that will position LSU as one of the leading public institutions in the nation.
“The College of Business Building is the cornerstone project of the campus infrastructure or new building category. As such, it is the first and one of the more important projects in the university’s capital campaign,” said Michael Ruffner, LSU vice chancellor of communications and university relations.
The project is estimated to cost $60 million. LSU plans to raise half of the building costs and is hopeful that the state of Louisiana will match the other half of those costs.
“The new College of Business Building is going to benefit the entire state of Louisiana, as well as the LSU community,” said Robert T. Sumichrast, dean of the E. J. Ourso College of Business. “The new building will allow LSU to compete with well-respected institutions on the national stage and open up new opportunities for education and economic development. The E. J. Ourso College has achieved great things already. The new building is the next step in fulfilling our potential.”
LSU is the only university of its kind without a business school housed in a freestanding facility. Currently, the E. J. Ourso College occupies 20 percent of the CEBA building, while the College of Engineering is housed in the rest. While serviceable, CEBA does not offer the infrastructure or technological capabilities to keep pace with the world of business and business education.
Plans for the new building include the construction of a 260,000 square-foot facility that will be outfitted with technologically advanced classrooms and learning spaces; quiet study areas; and two 360-seat auditoriums. The new facility will contain 89,000 square feet of undergraduate and graduate classrooms, compared to the 17,375 square feet the E. J. Ourso College now has access to in CEBA.
“I am excited to see the progress being made on the construction of new state-of-the-art College of Business building at LSU,” said Frederick “Rick” Wolfert, building committee co-chair and vice chairman of commercial finance with CIT Group of New York. “When completed, LSU students and faculty will have the benefit of a modern facility that is critically needed to attract outstanding students, faculty and allow LSU to pursue its vision to be recognized as one of the nation’s premier business schools.”
James “Jimmy” Maurin, co-chair of the building committee and chairman of Stirling Properties, Inc. of Hammond added to Wolfert’s comments saying, “In the aftermath of the 2005 hurricanes, the E. J. Ourso College of Business assumed a leadership role in assisting in recovery efforts for small businesses. The college has long been a leader in entrepreneurial education, and this new building will provide educational services to both traditional students and those already in the state’s workforce.”
DAC members serving on the DAC building committee, which is involved in raising funds for the building, include: Frederick “Rick” Wolfert, vice chairman of CIT Group of New York; William “Billy” Rucks, president of Rucks Investment Group of Lafayette; John Hamilton, vice chairman of iBERIABank of Baton Rouge; James “Jimmy” Maurin, chairman of Stirling Properties, Inc. of Hammond; William “Bill” Slaughter, president of SSA Consultants of Baton Rouge; Robert Sumichrast, dean of the E. J. Ourso College of Business; Roger Ogden, chairman and chief executive officer of Roger Odgen Development of New Orleans; G. Lee Griffin, retired executive of Chase Bank of Baton Rouge; Richard Sturlese, retired corporate vice president of Acadian Ambulance and Air Med Service of Lafayette; Carol Calkins, partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP of New York; Karen Deville, director of advancement for the E. J. Ourso College; and William Lane, chair of the department of finance at the E. J. Ourso College.
James McCoy, former associate vice president for enrollment management at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, has been named the vice provost for enrollment management at LSU. He will serve as the senior management and enrollment strategist responsible for a critical component of the university’s Flagship Agenda – attracting and retaining the nation’s top students.
The newly created position of vice provost for enrollment management represents an ongoing effort at LSU to elevate the concept, planning and coordination of recruiting, admissions, student aid and scholarships, and enrollment data systems and analysis. LSU is pursuing an aggressive and innovative recruitment and retention strategy, with the goal of having a highly qualified and diverse undergraduate student population.
McCoy will also develop data management strategies with enrollment management and will establish partnerships with academic units on campus in order to address institutional factors that affect student success and graduation.
“James McCoy comes to LSU with outstanding credentials in higher education administration,” said LSU Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Risa Palm. “We are most pleased to have him join the ranks at LSU. He will help us achieve the goals of the Flagship Agenda by recruiting and admitting the best and brightest students in Louisiana and beyond.”
McCoy has extensive experience developing strategic enrollment and successful admission planning for three institutions of higher education. His previous experience includes serving as the associate vice president of enrollment services and the assistant vice president and director of admission for Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He also served on the President’s Administrative Council and the Provost Council at Xavier University.
McCoy served as the director of the Division of Marketing and Recruitment/ Undergraduate Admission at Pennsylvania State University, and, while there, was also an assistant professor of agriculture and extension education. He also founded and was the principal faculty member for Annapolis Education Institute and the National Council for Enrollment Planning and Policy.
McCoy received his bachelor of science degree in animal science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1973. He received his master of science and his doctorate, both in agricultural education, from Pennsylvania State University in 1981 and 1983, respectively. McCoy has written or co-written more than a dozen various publications.
His memberships include NAACP, National Association of Chief Admissions Officers at Public Universities, National Association of College Admission Counselors, The College Board, American Association for Higher Education, American Council for Education, Phi Kappa Phi and Gamma Sigma Delta, among others. He has also been an active member of the community through volunteer service with organizations such as the American Red Cross, United Way, Special Olympics, Boy and Girl Scouts of America and the Rotary Club, to name a few.
 |
| Newly elected Staff Senate Members (from left to right): Donna Torres, Accounting Services; Joanne McMullen, Evening School/Extended Learning; Ruby Brown, Office of the University Registrar; Holly Carruth, Centers for Excellence in Learning & Teaching; Robin Kistler, Office of Public Affairs; Mary Feduccia, Career Services; Tara Stevens, Division of Continuing Education; Craig Winchell, University College; and Funmilayo “Dominic” Adedeji, Office of Facility Services. |
At its monthly meeting on June 21, members of the LSU Staff Senate congratulated new senators who were recently elected to serve three-year terms.
The new senators are Donna Torres, representing the executive/administrative/manager category; Holly Carruth, Mary Feduccia, Robin Kistler, Joanne McMullen and Tara Stevens, all representing the professional/non-faculty category; Ruby Brown, representing the clerical/secretarial category; and Fummilayo “Dominic” Adedeji, representing the skilled crafts category.
Staff Senate officers for 2006–2007 were also announced at the regular meeting. These officers were selected in an election by current senators. The new officers are Carolyn Landry, president; Tim Fields, president-elect; Sharon Gonzales, secretary; and Judy Collins and Joanne McMullen, members-at-large. Past President Brenda Macon (2005–2006) will serve as ex-officio for the year 2006–2007.
Staff Senate members also encourage LSU employees who would like to serve on the senate’s various committees to contact them. Staff members do not have to be senators to play a part in enhancing the LSU campus community. For information on the Staff Senate, visit the Web site at www.lsu.edu/staffsenate.
Eighteen members of the LSU AgCenter’s Communications and Information Technology units won top awards from an international professional association – the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Life and Human Sciences, or ACE . The awards were presented during ACE’s annual meeting in Quebec City, Canada, June 3-6.
The awards came as part of the ACE Critique and Awards program – an annual competition that rates the best work from its members and others around the world. This year’s awards program saw hundreds of entries in 46 different classes and nine major categories.
Three LSU AgCenter entries were named top in their classes, and one of those was cited best in its category with an outstanding professional skill award. Five other entries received awards for being second or third in their classes.
The outstanding professional skill award, which officials say is an award to the “best of the best,” went to 12 employees in LSU AgCenter Communications for the category known as integrated communication programs. It cited them for the material they prepared and media relations work they did following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This entry also won the gold award in its class – media relations programs.
The winners from LSU AgCenter Communications were Linda Benedict, Tobie Blanchard, Rick Bogren, John Chaney, Mark Claesgens, Craig Gautreaux, Frankie Gould, Elma Sue McCallum, Tom Merrill, Johnny Morgan, Bruce Schultz and Bobby Soileau.
In other awards, Benedict and Bogren also won gold for editing “Louisiana Agriculture,” the LSU AgCenter’s quarterly magazine.
Sandy Fiser, Fred Piazza and Megan Smith from Information Technology – along with Gould, the director of Communications – took gold for the LSU AgCenter’s Web site.
Silver winners in the ACE competition also included two groups from LSU AgCenter Information technology – Fiser, Piazza and Sam Razi for the Web site’s content management system, or CMS, and Fiser, Trace Purvis and Marti Ratcliff for the CMS training manual.
Another silver award went to Blanchard for a spot she prepared for the LSU AgCenter’s radio news service.
Schultz won two bronze awards – one for a photograph of the LSU AgCenter’s Marsh Maneuvers youth camp and one for a story about farmers dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Rita.
Fiser and Smith also won a bronze for graphic images they designed for the LSU AgCenter’s Web site.
 |
| The |
LSU’s plans for a major renovation of its high-performance computing portfolio not only has the support of the researchers, but also their dollars.
For the first time, individual researchers agreed to invest research funding into the centralized high-performance computing renovation. All the key partners – Center for Computation and Technology, or CCT; Information Technology Services, or ITS; and individual researchers – are banding together to advance a centrally maintained and managed facility, available to all but able to deliver focused service to the individual. LSU is gaining greater leverage through combined efforts.
In terms of computational power and storage, the overall high-performance computing environment will increase by nearly a factor of three. Not only is LSU acquiring a new centerpiece supercomputer featuring Dell technologies, called Tezpur, but LSU is also expanding its groundbreaking Pélican parallel supercomputing cluster with hardware from IBM and Intel, adding 28.8 terabytes of new disk storage, and creating a CONDOR flock, which will utilize unused computing cycles from public access computers. A total of 18.9 million hours of computational resources will be made available annually through this diverse set of supercomputing platforms, and the overall capability of the environment will exceed 21.9 trillion numerical operations per second.
“In today’s world, researchers need these tools to be successful in getting grants, and in delivering world-changing discoveries in all disciplines. Having this kind of computational and storage capacity here, coupled with the presence of some of the best minds, will enable those minds to advance the frontiers of science in chemistry, engineering, coastal and environmental studies, and many, many other disciplines that will have a chance to make use of this new capacity,” said Harold Silverman, LSU interim vice chancellor for research.
“This massive influx of resources will not only provide for a quantum leap forward in the enablement of existing research at LSU, but also will provide the capacities needed to expand the use of these tools into new areas,” said CCT Director Edward Seidel.
“I am excited about these changes. We desperately need available computational cycles so that we can address our research needs. With these additions, I am hoping to get substantially more computational cycles and my research will be able to more quickly advance,” said Sumanta Acharya, professor of mechanical engineering and a partnering researcher.
Recently, CCT and ITS at LSU announced their partnership to advance high performance computing. The supercomputing announcement demonstrates not only the power of this partnership, but marks the dedication of LSU’s research community to building the institution’s research infrastructure.
“The cooperation and collaboration of faculty, CCT and Information Technology Services is a model for the way in which a university should serve the needs of its computational community. This approach bodes well for the future of information technology at LSU,” said Randall Hall, professor of chemistry and a contributing researcher.
“This renovation is just a start for us at LSU, in terms of building information technology infrastructure that advances research and enables teaching and learning. These points are key parts of our just completed Flagship Information Technology Strategy, and we are quickly advancing several action items in that strategic plan through this high-performance computing renovation effort, as well as a number of other new initiatives that will be under way shortly. LSU is here, now, and becoming a leader in IT enablement,” said Brian Voss, LSU chief information officer.
Components are being acquired over the next 45 days and the new supercomputers should be installed and available to researchers at LSU by the end of summer. Seidel and Voss note that they expect to continue to look for ways to collaboratively expand the resources available at LSU, to satisfy the needs of researchers; open new territories for the use of these advanced tools in non-traditional disciplines like art, music and humanities; and prepare the way to give students access so that faculty can use these tools in teaching the most advanced methods available.