LSU'S Biweekly Newsletter for Faculty & Staff
September 22, 2006 |
VOL. 22, NO.26 |
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| Pictured from left to right are Commissioner of Higher Education E. Joseph Savoie, Chancellor Sean O'Keefe, LSU System President William Jenkins, and President and CEO of the LSU Foundation William Bowdon |
On Friday, Sept. 8, the Louisiana Board of Regents presented LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe with $4.28 million, to match funding for three endowed chairs and 77 endowed professorships, during a ceremony at the LSU Lod Cook Alumni Center. This funding comes from the Board of Regents Support Fund, or BRSF.
Since inception of BRSF, LSU’s main campus has received $108.3 million to fund 60 endowed chairs and 483 endowed professorships. In the past three years, state matching funds presented to LSU have increased from $680,000 in 2004 to $3.16 million in 2005 to $5.16 million in 2006.
“Thanks to generous donors and the state of Louisiana, we are on our way toward reaching the goals set in the national Flagship Agenda and the Forever LSU Campaign,” said O’Keefe. “With donor support and programs like BRSF, LSU will continue to attract some of the top faculty in the academic world.”
Created through partnerships between donors and state government, endowed chairs and endowed professorships assist colleges and universities throughout the state in recruiting new scholars and researchers. According to a policy established by the Board of Regents, each endowed chair is worth at least $1 million, and each endowed professorship is worth at least $100,000.
Colleges and universities must raise at least 60 percent of the cost of the endowments through private donations. By using grants from the BRSF, the state then provides a 40 percent match of the monetary donations made for each endowed chair and each endowed professorship.
According to the Board of Regents, the BRSF stems from a percentage of the annual interest earned on the Louisiana Education Quality Support Fund. Each year 25 percent of the fund’s annual interest is retained and will continue to be retained until it reaches $2 billion. The remaining interest is divided between the Board of Regents, creating the BRSF, and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for grades K-12.
LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe has appointed a search committee to identify potential candidates for the position of LSU provost and executive vice chancellor.
William Daly, chemistry professor and Faculty Senate president, will serve as chair of the committee.
“The search committee is a diverse group from across the LSU community, and includes extraordinarily talented faculty, staff, administrators and students,” O’Keefe said. “I am very grateful to each of the members for their willingness to participate, and to Professor Bill Daly for agreeing to serve as chair. I am confident that this exceptional group will identify several worthy candidates for this critical academic position at LSU. We are in search of a new provost who shares the vision of the Flagship Agenda and can help us realize that dream.”
Daly said he will soon convene the search committee, at which time the members will begin outlining the duties of provost, so that the position will be clearly defined. Then, the committee will select a national search firm to help identify potential candidates for the job. Once the search firm has been selected, the committee with meet with representatives from the firm to develop strategies for an effective search, Daly said.
“My goal is to find an individual who will provide strong academic leadership for the entire campus,” Daly said. “The first challenge to the committee will be to define the position clearly so we can enunciate our search criteria to a national search firm.”
Members of the search committee are: Boyd Professor Meredith Blackwell, Department of Biological Sciences; Assistant Professor Todd Monroe, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering; Professor Alexandre Leupin, Department of French Studies; Professor Mary Sirridge, Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies; Assistant Professor Philip Bart, Geology & Geophysics; Professor and Associate Dean David Kurpius, Manship School of Mass Communication; Professor and Chair William Lane, Department of Finance; Professor Bill Grimes, School of Music; Professor Stacia Haynie, Department of Political Science; Professor Judy Wornat, Gordon A. & Mary Cain Department of Chemical Engineering; Staff Senate President and Assistant to the Dean Carolyn Landry, College of Arts & Sciences; Associate Dean Saundra McGuire, University College; Professor and Director Jim Richardson, Public Administration Institute; Dean Zaki Bassiouni, College of Engineering; Dean Guillermo Ferreyra, College of Arts & Sciences; Vice Provost Frank Cartledge, Academic Affairs; Vice Provost Jim McCoy, Academic Affairs; Vice Provost Katrice Albert, Academic Affairs; Dean of Students K.C. White; and Student Government President Chris Odinet.
LSU has announced the hiring of Kirsten Williams Schwehm as the university’s ombudsperson.
In her new position, Schwehm will report directly to LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe. The ombudsperson’s role is to serve as a neutral mediator and provide confidential, impartial and informal assistance to all LSU staff and faculty. Schwehm will consult with university departments and units to help foster fair, equitable and healthy work environments. LSU employees may voluntarily access her services at any time, with no referral necessary.
“I am pleased to have Kirsten on board,” said O’Keefe. “The ombudsperson position is one that I feel is very crucial toward creating a quality work environment and I look forward to working with her to continue improving this university.”
Schwehm is a licensed clinical psychologist in both Louisiana and Mississippi with 10 years of mental health experience, including expertise in administrative and supervisory issues. She holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is also a registrant with the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology, holds the Certificate of Professional Qualification in Psychology, or CPQ, from the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards, and is a member of the International Ombudsman Association.
“LSU has demonstrated exceptional commitment to employees by acknowledging the benefit of providing a neutral and confidential resource on campus,” said Schwehm. “Ombuds services are a complement to existing employee supports, and I aspire to be helpful to all staff and faculty, including supervisees, supervisors and administrators.”
Schwehm most recently served as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the LSU Health Sciences Center’s School of Public Health, in the Juvenile Justice Program at Jetson Center for Youth. While with LSUHSC, Schwehm coordinated assessments and interventions for youth entering secure custody with the Louisiana Office of Youth Development. She has also worked for the Mississippi State Hospital, North Mississippi Medical Center, the G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery VA Medical Center, and in private practice in both Louisiana and Mississippi.
“Kirsten brings to the Ombuds Office and to LSU an expertise in mediation and conflict resolution. She is committed to assisting the diversity efforts of creating a campus climate that is equitable and just,” said Katrice Albert, vice provost for Equity, Diversity, & Community Outreach.
Schwehm received a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from Rhodes College in 1990, and a master of arts degree in clinical psychology from UAB in 1993.
LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe has been appointed, along with 11 other business and academic leaders, to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Deemed Export Advisory Committee, Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez announced on Sept. 12.
According to the Department of Commerce, the committee will address the complex issues surrounding sensitive technology transfers, which involve the release of closely monitored dual-use technology to foreign nationals in the United States, known as “deemed exports.” Unauthorized release of tightly monitored technology to parties of concern could contribute to the development of weapons of mass destruction.
“I am honored to serve on such an important and timely committee. The country is engaged in combating terrorism, yet we must remain committed to technological advancement and the training of next generation scientists and engineers,” said O’Keefe. “The challenge is to protect America’s technological competitiveness and exercise academic freedom, recognizing the backdrop of national security imperatives. This committee can help craft policy and define the role of America’s universities in this process.”
The committee was formed as a result of President George W. Bush’s challenge to expand competitiveness while protecting U.S. security.
Gutierrez named Norman Augustine, retired chairman and chief executive of the Lockheed Martin Corp., and Robert M. Gates, president of Texas A&M University, as co-chairmen of the advisory committee.
“This committee will address evolving export policies to strike a balance between protecting national security and ensuring that the United States continues to build upon its position as a leading innovator of technology,” said Secretary Gutierrez. “This is an important issue at a vital time in our nation, and I appreciate the service of Co-Chairs Norm Augustine and Bob Gates and all the members of the committee.”
LSU has entered into an agreement with Equifax Consumer Services Inc. to provide identity theft protection services for students, faculty and staff.
The agreement is designed to protect members whose personal information could be impacted by a data breach. Colleges and universities have made national headlines when data breaches occur in which university systems containing personal information are accessed by unauthorized individuals. This personal information – usually names and Social Security numbers – may potentially be exploited to perpetrate identity theft, and that is why LSU took this next step to protect the campus community.
“LSU is making great strides in securing its information technology infrastructure and data repositories, but this new agreement gives us a way to proactively protect our community while we undertake the massive job of securing our environment,” said Brian D. Voss, LSU’s chief information officer.
The agreement with Equifax allows current LSU students, faculty and staff to take advantage of Equifax Credit Watch, or ECW, a credit monitoring product. For those who choose to enroll, the package offers a free Equifax Credit Report, $2,500 in identity theft insurance and daily credit monitoring from Equifax. ECW alerts consumers to key changes to their Equifax credit file, such as an unusual increase in balance or any new credit opened. Members can then investigate suspicious activity, and take action if unapproved activity has occurred. LSU is covering the costs of this program for current and incoming students, faculty and staff located on the Baton Rouge campuses. The agreement has provisions to facilitate the remaining campuses of the LSU system to enroll as well.
“LSU has taken a leadership position in empowering its students, employees and affiliates to safeguard against a growing problem on university campuses and beyond,” said Steve Ely, group executive of personal solutions for Equifax. “Equifax is excited to be working with LSU to launch this program designed to educate LSU community members on the importance of protecting their credit and future financial health.”
LSU has other efforts underway to address information technology security and information integrity. It is actively tightening its network and infrastructure security, and it has entered into software licensing agreements to make the latest and most secure operating systems and programs. LSU also is working to eliminate the use of Social Security numbers as identifiers in its information systems. The university has developed processes for analyzing security incidents and is taking the appropriate steps to notify anyone who might be impacted by those incidents. The announcement of the agreement with Equifax provides an added layer of protection for LSU, its students and employees.
“The problem of breaches of personal information is very acute at this moment across the country, especially in higher education, and by taking this innovative approach LSU is working to be proactive in protecting the institution by protecting our community members,” said Harold Silverman, LSU’s incoming interim provost..
The agreement will work much like LSU’s software licensing programs, providing a tool to which every affiliate can avail themselves, but leaving the choice to do so to the individual. As a result, LSU will transmit no personal information about its affiliates to Equifax, but instead widely publicize the agreement, encourage people to review it and sign up, and then authenticate interested individuals as members of the LSU community before “handing them off” to Equifax to enroll in the program themselves at no cost to them.
Officials at LSU and Equifax are also looking at extending a different version of the program to all LSU alumni worldwide, offering them a chance to sign up for similar Equifax products. Alumni would pay for the product themselves, but would receive a special “LSU Affiliate” discounted rate. Details of such a program will be announced soon.
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| Zaki Bassiouni |
Zaki Bassiouni, dean of the LSU College of Engineering and Bert S. Turner Distinguished Professor, has been honored by the International Society of Petroleum Engineers with the 2006 Formation Evaluation Award.
Bassiouni will receive the award on Sept. 25 at the society’s annual awards banquet, a featured event of the 2006 Technical Conference and Exhibition in San Antonio.
The Formation Evaluation Award recognizes outstanding achievements or contributions in the advancement of petroleum engineering in the areas of formulation evaluations, encompassing core analysis, well logging or petrophysics. Formation evaluation deals with the acquisition and analysis of data acquired from wells in order to detect and evaluate potential oil and natural gas formations.
“I am thrilled that my peers value my contributions to petroleum engineering,” said Bassiouni. “I'm very honored to be receiving this award which also recognizes the outstanding work of the undergraduate and graduate students I mentored over the years.”
Bassiouni was named dean of the College of Engineering in 2004 after 21 years as chair of LSU’s Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering. He has been a distinguished lecturer for the Society of Petroleum Engineers and is a registered professional engineer in the state of Louisiana. He received his Ph.D. in 1972 from Lille University in France, and his areas of specialization include well logging, petrophysics, reservoir engineering and improved oil and gas recovery.