LSU'S Biweekly Newsletter for Faculty & Staff

Flagship Faculty

Richard G. Stahl Sam M. Walton Free Enterprise Fellow Director of Undergraduate Studies Department of Economics

What was your previous position and where?
This is my first position after graduate school. I received my Ph.D. from Binghamton University.

What is your major accomplishment?
Starting and advising the Students in Free Enterprise, or SIFE, team here at LSU. Last year LSU SIFE was named SIFE USA National Champion in business ethics.

What do you hope to accomplish at LSU?
I hope to continue to build SIFE as a nationally recognized team.

What is your research interest?
Economics forecasting, specifically looking at historical forecasting accuracy.

What do you enjoy most about LSU?
Working with the SIFE students.

LSU Board of Supervisors’ April Meeting: News and Notes

April’s LSU Board of Supervisors meeting featured a crowded agenda full of presentations, recommendations and resolutions.

The board reshuffled funding to help pay for the new Alex Box Stadium and Tiger Park, approving increases in each project’s budget.

The move was necessitated when construction bids easily outpaced the stadiums’ respective $28.2 and $9 million budgets.

The board approved an increase in the allocation for the new baseball stadium to $36.3 million, while the softball stadium’s spending plan was increased to $13.9 million.

The decision will force the Athletic Department to postpone renovations to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center and other construction projects. Board member Charles Weems expressed concern about such a delay, and suggested making an additional capital outlay request to the state to keep the projects moving. O’Keefe suggested, however, that LSU might not want to ask the state to bond out more money for those projects, as costs are likely to continue to change.

The board also approved a contract extension for Athletic Director Skip Bertman. A new contract for strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt was also approved, pending some minor changes in the wording of the contract to make it consistent with other athletic department contracts.

Other actions include:

* Approval of degrees to be conferred on candidates for graduation at LSU’s May commencement exercises.

* Approval of an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree to Clarence P. Cazalot Jr. to be awarded at commencement.

* Establishment of four university distinguished professorships in the College of Basic Sciences: the Jerry and Nancy Dumas Distinguished Professorship in the Department of Chemistry; the Ball Family Distinguished Professorship No. 3 in the department of Physics and Astronomy; the Houston Energy, L.P. Distinguished Professorship and the Harrison Family Field Camp Distinguished Professorship both in the Department of Geology and Geophysics.

* Approval of a pedestrian and bike path project around the University Lake.

* Passage of a resolution to endorse Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s executive budget for the coming fiscal year.

The board also heard presentations, including a positive one on enrollment forecast and application trends for the Fall 2007 semester from O’Keefe. As of April 19, LSU has received 10,939 applications– just 80 applications off the record Fall of 2004.

“ And this is an extremely high caliber of student,” said the Chancellor, noting that the average ACT score of applicants is 25.64 and the average gradepoint average is 3.44.

According to O’Keefe’s report, 6,421 of the applications are from in-state students, while 4,457 are from out-of-state.

Both numbers are substantial increases from a year ago. Applications from African- American and Hispanic students are also up by 60 and 27 percent, respectively. Thus far, 7,202 applicants have been offered admittance.

Other presentations included the Center for Computation & Technology briefing the board on the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative, which connects LSU with other institutions across the state and around the world; the School of Music’s proposed Music Band Hall/Organ Complex and Marching Band Facility; and one by the LSU Honors College.

O’Keefe briefed the board on the progress of the Forever LSU campaign and introduced former Congressman Henson Moore, who has become one of the campaign’s chief fundraisers.

The board also recognized the new LSU Women’s Basketball Coach Van Chancellor and Connie Cooper, who is nearing the end of her term as student representative.

LSU Freshmen to Read Katrina Book; Faculty Needed

LSU has chosen “Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City” as the book incoming freshmen will be required to read for the 2007 Summer Reading Program, or SRP.

Author Jed Horne, who is also the metro editor for The Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans, will address the incoming freshmen during LSU’s Academic Convocation Aug. 24. Immediately following the convocation, students will participate in small discussion sessions about the book with faculty members.

In the book, Horne addresses Hurricane Katrina and some of the chronic problems the storm exposed. He uses individual stories as well as the larger public discourse to describe the destruction, loss, survival and, finally, renewal that takes place in New Orleans during and after Katrina.

The book was chosen by the SRPBook Selection Committee, which is composed of students, faculty and staff. The committee chose “Breach of Faith” for its focus on the impact of the natural disaster and for the challenges it addresses. The committee believes it is essential for students – as the future of Louisiana– to understand these issues in order to successfully take part in the recovery and rebuilding of the state.

“ Many LSU students have taken their civic responsibilities very seriously and helped with hurricane relief efforts in a variety of ways. Yet much remains to be done along the Gulf Coast,” said LSU Vice Provost Frank Cartledge. “It is particularly appropriate that our student body be stimulated to continue to think about how they can be involved, and the riveting accounts in Mr. Horne’s book will certainly provoke discussion and subsequent actions.”

LSU’s SRP is a means of introducing entering freshmen to the academic and intellectual culture of the university through a common reading experience. In addition, many professors will include discussions about the book in their freshman-level classes. Again this year, the Baton Rouge community is encouraged to read the book and participate in the “One Book, One Community” summer program.“ One Book, One Community” partners, including LSU, will again coordinate an event during which the author will speak to community readers.

LSU began its program three years ago, and is one of more than 30 universities in the nation that begins the academic year with a program surrounding a summer reading assignment. Faculty who are willing to volunteer three hours of their time

on Aug. 24 to attend the Academic Convocation and then to lead a discussion group about the book should contact Jen Sciortino in the Center for Faculty Development at jmarse1@lsu.edu as soon as possible. LSU will provide suggestions for the discussion and a complimentary copy of the book.

For more information about the book and the SRP, visit http//www.lsu.edu/srp.

By Kristine calongne

LSU’s Laboratory Preschool Selected to be a National Exemplary Model Program

LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe reads to the children at the LSU Child Development Laboratory Preschool, which is part of the School of Human Ecology, on April 16.

A national organization selected the LSU Child Development Laboratory Preschool in the School of Human Ecology as an exemplary model program for early childhood education. LSU’s lab preschool will be featured in the company’s training video, which will be released both nationally and internationally at the end of April.

The organization, Teaching Strategies of Washington, D.C., is one of the nation’s leading early childhood education publishing companies and was founded in 1988 by Diane Trister Dodge. Teaching Strategies produces researchbased educational resources for parents and early care and education professionals, as well as more than half of the nation’s Head Start programs.

LSU’s lab preschool is a nationally recognized learning laboratory that benefits the children and the LSU students who learn from observing them. It is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, a significant accomplishment for a preschool.

Titled “The Creative Curriculum for Preschool,” the video and DVD will show children learning academics through play and will illustrate what developmentally appropriate practices look like in action. The video will be used for staff development and teacher training and segments of the video will be shown to families to help them see high-quality early childhood programming. Educators have been using the previous video for the past 20 years, making being selected for the updated version an important honor.

LSU’s lab preschool is one of several sites in the country selected for the company’s video, said Diane Burts, head of Family, Child and Consumer Sciences at LSU. Cate Heroman, a Baton Rouge native and director of preschool and kindergarten initiatives at Teaching Strategies, recommended LSU’s lab preschool, and filming occurred Oct. 31- Nov. 2, 2006.

The preschool is set up as a classroom with a large outdoor area with a garden planted by the children. Researchers can observe the children’s behavior from an observation booth located behind mirrored widows and listen to conversations picked up from the classroom’s hidden microphones. The preschool’s activities are documented, including a study from the children’s reactions to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which provided valuable research and was published online by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The lab enrolls only 10 three-yearolds and 10 four-year olds in a balance of genders each semester. The primary objective in selecting children is to provide university students an opportunity to observe, study and participate with children from a variety of situations and backgrounds, considering ethnicity, religion, household income, children with disabilities, number of siblings, having adopted siblings, multiple births and the number of parents working.

LSU’s program has been around for more than 50 years, although it had adapted from its original purpose of teaching mothers how to raise their own children. The lab helps students working on teacher certification and is particularly helpful for the early childhood administration and leadership concentration, which is an area of study in the School of Human Ecology’s child and family studies. In addition, the lab is a model for preschools throughout the state that are subject to Louisiana’s new quality rating system.

The lab preschool has benefited from being on a large university campus and has invited guests from the athletic department, the hurricane center, in addition, the lab was used by sociology for study, by mass communication for interviewing practice and by biological/ agricultural engineering students who are building a play yard for a service-learning project.

The LSU Child Development Laboratory Preschool is not affiliated with the LSU Laboratory School for K-12 nor the LSU Child Care Center, which provides day care and preschool to the LSU community.

By Melissa Prescott

LSU Dining to Offer Restaurant Quality Food and Atmosphere on Campus with POD

LSU is taking a new approach to residential dining halls with Pulse on Dining, or POD, which emphasizes the lifestyle of dining. Based on the Eat, Learn, Live approach, POD aims to nourish the body, stimulate the mind and enhance the quality of life.

LSU dining has been renovating the Laville Food Emporium, which is housed between East and West Laville residence halls, to make an upscale dining hall with customized dining options. LSU Dining will soon rename the hall something more meaningful and contemporary.

The dining hall renovations coordinate with LSU’s Flagship Agenda to improve the facilities and quality of campus life for students. Today’s students are health-conscious and are accustomed to the quality and variety of restaurant dining. The dining hall will offer healthy food choices that are low in fats, sodium, sugars and processing, as well as numerous menu options for students with allergies or other dietary restrictions. LSU recently switched to using only locally produced, hormone-free milk and has eliminated use of trans fat oil for all frying.

Renovations include giving the dining hall a sleek appearance with a contemporary design featuring earthen colors, wood floors, pendant lighting, stainless steel and mosaic tiles, and students will have restaurant-style seating options. It will have meeting rooms, plasma televisions and wireless Internet access.

In addition to improved surroundings, students will have extended dining hours and more menu offerings with the ability to customize. The menu options will be on a 14-day rotation to provide students with more variety. The dining experience will also be personal with hands-on food preparation and meals cooked-to-order.

The venue will be divided into five all-you-care-to-eat food markets, including “Bakers Crust” with a variety of specialty sandwiches, wraps and paninis, as well as a variety of fresh-baked goods such as muffins and whole-grain breads, and “My Pantry” with items such as fruit, milk and toast. The area will resemble a home kitchen with groceries like cereal and kitchen appliances such as waffle irons. “Fresh Market” will offer both hot and cold options with soup and salad bars buffet-style. “The Kitchen” will offer prepared entrees, grilled items, ethnic cuisine and vegetarian and vegan options. It will also offer pizzas baked in a woodstone oven and will have chefs cooking on display in front of students.

In addition, the dining hall will have Taco Bell and Pizza Hut Express that will stay open until 2 a.m. The units will accept both Paw Points and meal transfers. Construction of the new Laville dining hall is scheduled to finish in time for the fall 2007 semester. When it opens, Pentagon Dining Hall will be closed for renovations and reopen in fall 2008. At that time, Highland Dining Hall will be closed permanently.

Dining on LSU’s campus as a whole has been changing. Recent additions are a Smoothie King in the UREC student recreational complex, Café Ritazza in the design building and a CC’s Coffee in Middleton library, as well as construction for a PJ’s Coffee inside the French House. The campus has numerous operations in the Union, including the Tiger Lair food court, the Magnolia Room buffet, McDonald’s and construction for an Einstein Bagel. In addition, food venues stretched across campus include sit-down dining at the Faculty Club and smaller retail stores that offer snacks and drinks and even gourmet foods such as sushi at Pierre’s Landing, Foster Café and The Mini Mart convenience store.

By Melissa Prescott

The Southern Review’s Director Bret Lott Participates in Two Reading Series

On April 10, The Southern Review’s editor and director Bret Lott participated in the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses’, or CLMP, first installation of “Periodically Speaking” – a threepart reading series designed to provide a new major venue for emerging writers to present their work, while emphasizing the diversity of literary magazines and the magazine collections of the New York Public Library. Each reading hosts three writers, one each in poetry, fiction and nonfiction, from three influential literary magazines; and the writers were introduced by their editors.

Lott was joined by the editors of Granta and Gettysburg Review. The event took place at the New York Public Library’s Humanities and Social Sciences Library in Manhattan. Subsequent programs are set for May 8 and June 12.

Lott introduced Jane Springer, a gifted poet who has twice been a contributor to The Southern Review, most recently in the winter 2007 issue. Springer, a Ph.D. candidate at Florida State University in Tallahassee, was awarded The Southern Review’s 2006 Robert Penn Warren Prize in Poetry, selected byCleopatra Mathis, for her poems “Quilts” and “Lamentations,” which appeared in the spring 2006 issue of the journal. The prize carries a $1,500 honorarium. Her first book, “Dear Blackbird,” was chosen by J. D. McClatchy to receive the 2006 Agha Shahid Ali Prize for Poetry from The University of Utah Press.

“ The Southern Review has long been a supporter of emerging writers, publishing early works from Eudora Welty, John Berryman and Robert Pinsky, to name just a few,” said Lott. “I was honored and delighted to participate in the CLMP’s new series and to be included with such prestigious company as Granta and Gettysburg Review. I was thrilled they thought of us in that number.”

Lott’s participation in “Periodically Speaking” followed on the heals of his Fulbright, which sent him to Israel where he served as a senior scholar in residence at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv from October to January, and a recent trip to Washington, D.C., for his first National Council on the Arts meeting.

The CLMP serves one of the most active segments of American arts and culture: the independent publishers of exceptional fiction, poetry and prose. Literary magazines and presses accomplish the backstage work of contemporary literature: discovering new writers and publishing the creative voices of communities underrepresented in mainstream commercial culture. The CLMP’s job is to guide small magazines and presses in the business of publishing.

By Shelly Brizzard Ortiz