SILICON BAYOU - Louisiana Tech Alumni

Transcription

N o. 1 9
In 1957, Tech’s Air Force ROTC Class graduated with soaring dreams of military service. It was the year that Bulldogs shook their hips and sang
“Let’s rock, everybody, let’s rock” at the film debut of Jailhouse Rock. Also that year, Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat became a bedtime tale, Sputnik
orbited the Earth, and a new house cost $12,000.
Front Row: Col. Walter Stagg, Col. Mary Virginia Stovall, Maj. Howard Carlton, Maj. Leroy Erskine, Maj. Billy Kline
Second Row: Lt. Col. Don Stacy, Maj. Wilford Buckelew, Maj. Fred Westergaard, Maj. Victor Gouax, Maj. James Roach
Third Row: Maj. Ralph McMickle, M/Sgt. Bill McRaney, Cadet Second Class Ernest McNeil, M/Sgt. Ernest Schuler, M/Sgt. Richard Hearne
Louisiana Tech University
Division of University Advancement
P.O. Box 3183
Ruston, LA 71272-0001
| winter 2008
silicon bayou
The Louisiana Tech Enterprise
Center means business
alumnus of the year
Russell Nolan banks on his university
nonprofit org.
u.s. postage
pa i d
permit no. 533
peoria, il
small wonder
Josh Brown makes nanotechnology history
man in the middle
Joe D. Waggonner Center for Bipartisan Politics
and Public Policy crosses the proverbial aisle
www.latech.edu
contents
A lum ni A s s o ci at i o n
Offic er s
John Allen
– President
Lomax Napper
– Vice President
Cliff Merritt
– Treasurer
Kenny Guillot
– Past President
Daniel D. Reneau
– Ex-Officio
Boa r d o f d i r e ct o rs
Bobby Aillet, Dr. John Areno,
Darryl Asken, Lyn Bankston, Chris Bentley,
Ayres Bradford, Ayres Bradford, Jr.,
Gabe Bratton, Allison Bushnell,
Mark Colwick, Lee Denny, Teena Doxey,
Brennan Easley, Wayne Fleming,
Jeff Hawley, Justin Hinckley,
Marsha Jabour, Chris Jordan, Tim King,
Dawn McDaniel, James Moore,
Jeff Parker, Bob Prestridge,
Richard Simmons, Stephanie Sisemore,
Markus Snowden, Michael Stephens,
Barry Stevens, Trey Williams
A l u m n i a s s o ci at i on staff
Corre Stegall
– Vice President for University Advancement
Ryan Richard
– Director of Alumni Relations
Jackie Stevens
– Coordinator of Advancement Programs
Barbara Swart
– Administrative Coordinator
Edito ri a l a nd
Des ign T e a m
Dave Guerin
– Director, Marketing and Public Relations
Magin LaSov Gregg
– Senior Writer/Editor
Mark Coleman
– Designer, Louisiana Tech Department of Marketing and
Public Relations
Donny Crowe
– Photographer, Louisiana Tech Department of Marketing
and Public Relations
Malcolm Butler, Amber Miles, Judith Roberts
– Contributing Writers
Louisiana Tech Magazine is published
semiannually by the Louisiana Tech Alumni
Association. We welcome your letters:
Louisiana Tech Magazine
P.O. Box 3183 | Ruston LA 71272
www.latechalumni.org
A Word from the
Alumni Director
The last few months have been an exciting time to be a part of the Tech Family! The
numerous accomplishments of your University should make you proud to be a part of
Louisiana Tech. This issue of the Louisiana Tech Magazine will highlight a sampling of
the accomplishments of the past few months.
With the Tech administration committed to keeping up the positive momentum, I
believe 2008 will have some exciting memories to record. Some of these will include
advancements in the academic and research arenas, construction projects throughout the
campus and an ever-present commitment to reaching the Tech 2020 goals.
The Alumni Association will also be moving forward to continue to keep alumni
and friends connected to your University. The calendar of events is filling up fast and I
hope you will make plans to participate in many of the exciting events this year. Football
season will definitely be exciting as the Alumni Association will begin hosting pre-game
tailgates in the new Argent Pavilion on August 30, when the Bulldog football team kicks
off the season against Mississippi State. However, don’t wait until then to get involved;
events are currently being planned including crawfish boils, student send-offs and Tech
nights at various professional athletic venues. Many activities will coincide with the
Western Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament, which will be held at Louisiana Tech
May 22-25. A complete list of events can be viewed on our Web site, www.latechalumni.org.
Speaking of the Web site, in the coming weeks the Division of University
Advancement (the Alumni Association, the University Foundation and CHAMPS) will
launch a new interactive Web site. The look will remain the same, but the features will
be greatly improved. You will have the ability to network with other Tech alumni, search
the database for classmates or look for jobs posted by Tech alumni. These are just a few
of the features the Web site will offer. I am sure you will find them useful tools to keep
connected to your University. Watch your mail for more information on the new Web
site and your log-in information.
Your continued loyalty to Louisiana Tech is more important now than ever before. I
encourage you to support your University by being a member of the Alumni Association,
making a contribution through the University Foundation, joining CHAMPS and
sharing your experience at Tech with prospective college students – encouraging them
to explore what Tech has to offer students. The staff of the Division of University
Advancement is here to serve you. Please contact us if we can assist you in any of these areas.
Sincerely,
4
8
P.S. Stay connected between issues of the Louisiana Tech Magazine by visiting the
Alumni Association Web site www.latechalumni.org. You can read the latest campus
stories, update your alumni information and even plan your next vacation.
17
2 | From the 16th Floor
17 | Star Studded
4 |An Enterprising Attitude
18 | Joe D. Waggonner
8 | Alumnus of the Year: Russell Nolan
19 | Josh Brown
10 | Young Alumnus of the Year: Alice Fakier
24 | News Around Campus
Job Well Done
Silicon Valley Meets The Piney Hills
Indebted To Tech
No Place Like Home
Jack Ramsaur Joins Elite Rank
A True Bulldog
First Finish
26 | Foundation Spotlight
11 |Arlis Scogin Distinguished Service Award:
Leonard Green
Their Biggest Fan
Ryan W. Richard
10
12 | Distinguished College Alumni
Larry James, George Hayes, Debbie Silver,
Harvey Cragon, Louis Waller
28 | News About You
the colleges of education and
business welcome new deans
from the 16th floor
Each fall, the campus is alive with activity, and Homecoming is an eagerly
anticipated time. It’s always gratifying to welcome alumni and friends back to Louisiana
Tech. I have the honor of recognizing and commending Tech’s distinguished alumni
who have made significant contributions in their fields. Equally important, these
alumni have touched their communities with acts of kindness and compassion, values
that Tech holds dear and seeks to instill in all of our students. I know you’ll be inspired
as you read their stories in this magazine. As always, there’s much good news to share!
I’ll start with one of our most visible areas of excitement: this magazine’s cover story
about our growing business incubator, the Louisiana Tech Enterprise Center. You
may remember an article entitled “In Support of Inc.” that appeared in the Spring/
Summer 2005 edition. That story heralded a new level of commitment to research and
development that has yielded the next phase of technological innovation at Louisiana
Tech. The work in which these dynamic businesses are engaged has the potential
to breathe new life into the economy of Louisiana and beyond; Tech is strongly
supporting these endeavors.
Start-up companies that have emerged from Tech-related research have made
themselves right at home in the incubator. In fact, we’re also at full operational
capacity at the new Humana Enterprise Center, which is located in the new biomedical
engineering building. These incubators have paved the way for Louisiana Tech’s first
research park campus, approved this year. We’re working hard on the location and
master plan for the research park campus, and a groundbreaking for the first building
will be very soon. This $25 million research park campus will secure the University’s
future as a powerful research university that competes globally. It will bring a vital,
specialized workforce to Ruston and keep our talented graduates close to their roots
when they graduate from the classroom to the lab or office.
How gratifying it is to see our alumni making great strides in their chosen
professions, and it’s a great pleasure to share their achievements. Some of you may
have seen the headlines this summer announcing Tech’s Jack Ramsaur’s appointment to
the elite rank of two-star U.S. Air Force General. He’s the 25th person in the United
States to achieve the rank. Jack’s Air Force career began close to home, at Barksdale
Air Force Base, and we’ve enjoyed watching his career advance. Jack’s late father was
a Tech professor of psychology who passionately trained students for an emerging
field—guidance counseling. Today we all know how important guidance counselors are
to student success and to assisting students in choosing their universities.
This magazine also includes articles about people like Leonard Green, whose love
for the Lady Techster basketball team has made him a local celebrity. Our Tech Family
is enriched by Leonard and June, and I can’t imagine a game without Leonard holding
that handmade banner that encourages our Techsters to victory. And you’ll enjoy the
stories about other outstanding individuals like Alice Fakier. Her interior design talents
have launched her into the national spotlight via cable television’s Home and Garden
Network; she’s Tech’s Young Alumnus of the Year. Our Alumnus of the Year, Russell
Nolan, has an impressive and inspirational commitment to his university and a great
story of business success.
As the president of Louisiana Tech, I take immense pride in watching the
transformative power of a Louisiana Tech education at work in the world through
the lives of our graduates and friends. Thank you for continuing to make me and the
entire Tech family proud. Linda and I send to each of you every good wish for an
exceptionally happy and successful 2008.
2 | Louisiana Tech Magazine
College of Education: dr. David GullatT
Cardboard boxes line the walls of Dr. David Gullatt’s office, his home at Louisiana Tech for
nearly 10 years. While Gullatt made a major move when he replaced Dr. Jo Ann Dauzat as the
college’s dean this month, he likes to tell visitors that the boxes aren’t for packing. They remind
him of his humble beginnings at Simsboro High School, where Gullatt began his career after
graduating with his degree in education from Tech.
At Simsboro High School, Gullatt lacked a classroom, a typical occupational hazard for firstyear teachers. So he compartmentalized his course-load into boxes and the lesson stuck. Today
boxes still keep Gullatt organized, and organization remains a fitting component of the new
dean’s leadership philosophy.
“If I’m going to do something, I follow through,” he says.
For Gullatt, serving on the faculty and administration at Tech has been a lifelong dream that
he worked diligently to materialize. His roots are planted firmly in Ruston, where Gullatt was
born and reared. He realized his goal of becoming a teacher during his first semester at Tech, after
he had received strong mentoring from family, high school teachers and Tech professors.
“I had Ruth Johnson for math at Ruston High School, and she’s a big reason why I’m here,”
says Gullatt. “It has been my lifelong dream to serve and to pay back Tech for getting me started.”
Gullatt became the college’s new dean on Jan. 1, when Dauzat retired. As a student, Gullatt
gravitated toward Tech’s education program because his uncles, who were educators, encouraged
him to pursue the field. He chose math, he says with a chuckle, because he didn’t “want to cut up
frogs.” And then, there was that college dean who assured him that he would always have a job if
he pursued math. Gullatt joined Louisiana Tech’s curriculum and instruction department as chair
in 1998, after leaving a teaching post at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches. One of
his most noteworthy achievements came in 2006 when the Louisiana Association of Computer
Using Educators named Gullatt as a “Post-Secondary Teacher of the Year” for the state of
Louisiana. At the time of the announcement, Gullatt praised Tech first, saying “The award shows
that Tech is on the cutting edge of education.”
college of business: dr. james lumpkin
As new dean of the College of Business, Dr. James Lumpkin sees a big job in creating the
strategic vision for the college. That vision, he says, will evolve over time, but Lumpkin is
concentrating on building distinction. The college is launching a new building project and this
year surpassed its fund-raising goal by $1 million.
“We are going to create a stronger reputation for the College of Business,” says Lumpkin. “We
are going to increase our profile, starting with our faculty. One of the aspects that impressed me
about the College of Business was its focus on higher level publications and top journals.”
Lumpkin’s focus on journals also caught the eye of Tech. He is a co-author of three books, 87
journal articles and 43 refereed papers. One of his papers received the Best Paper Award in the
marketing management track of the 1987 Academy of Marketing Science Conference. Lumpkin
came to Tech from Oklahoma State University, where he worked as a professor of marketing.
He was the dean of the College of Business Administration from June 2000 to August 2004.
The college moved from not being listed in U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of graduate
programs to being in the top ten percent while he was dean.
Not a stranger to Louisiana, Lumpkin has worked as an associate dean of the College of
Business Administration at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He plans on expanding Tech’s
College of Business’ graduate programs, and this year will re-evaluate the current master’s of
business administration degree. One plan includes offering an executive MBA.
www.latech.edu | 3
Michael Chin used to spend his commute at 30,000
feet. For four years, a commercial plane flew him from Seattle
to his office at Apple Inc., in San Francisco, where Chin worked
as director of worldwide sales for business process re-engineering
systems. These days, he’s traded his bird’s eye view of the Pacific
Northwest for the pine tree-lined landscape of Interstate 20,
and his office at Apple for an office in the Louisiana Tech
Humana Enterprise Center. Ruston’s Network Foundation
Technologies (NFT), founded by Marcus Morton, a Louisiana
Tech alumnus, and Dr. Mike O’Neal, a former Tech computer
science department chair, drew Chin out of a brief retirement last
year with an offer that the Long Beach, Calif., native just couldn’t
refuse: vice president of operations for NFT, a Tech startup. For
Chin, the choice to set up shop in Tech’s burgeoning business
incubator was an easy one.
“I believe that northern Louisiana and Ruston are poised
to become the next big technology center,” he said, with
characteristic enthusiasm. “I believe that we are where Austin,
Texas was 10 years ago.”
Silicon Valley, meet the piney hills. Others have likened the
I-20 corridor’s proliferation of technology-driven business to
a silicon bayou. Regardless of the phenomenon’s name, Chin’s
prediction affirms the whirlwind success of NFT and the
2006 there were nearly 700 new products that hit the market,
compared with 527 in 2005, according to the survey that
studied 189 institutions. At Tech, one of the most touted pieces
of intellectual property to meet the market is NFT’s Internet
streaming technology, patented by O’Neal, the company’s chief
scientist. The new technology takes two ubiquitous aspects of
American life – Internet and television – and combines them.
NFT facilitates long-play, live broadcast streaming channels
over the Internet to millions of viewers at minimal cost. In a
culture dominated by broadband Internet, the combination
has powerful commercial appeal, says Chin. Customers agree.
Initial ones included Clear Channel Entertainment, the World
Handball Championships and The Wake Up Show, a syndicated
hip-hop radio show. Last year the company netted more major
clients, the Central Hockey League and the International
Baseball Federation’s 37th World Cup, as well as new board
members. (NFT’s board includes industry professionals, such as
Clarence Avant, former chairman of Motown Records, and Bill
MacDonald, creator and producer of the HBO series “Rome.”)
Chin, who made a 35-year career in growing startups before
joining NFT, believes the company’s low-cost broadcast-sharing
technology has created a market paradigm, and the company
is pro-actively expanding its workforce for when the paradigm
“I believe that northern Louisiana and Ruston are poised to become the next big technology
center. I believe that we are where Austin, Texas was 10 years ago.” - Michael Chin
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Partnering technology with business savvy
yields valuable “light bulb” moment results.
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increased commitment of Louisiana Tech University to grow
small businesses, spearhead development in local economies
and ferry innovations in technology from lab to market.
Tech’s Enterprise Center that began in 2005 as the University’s
inaugural business incubator has blossomed into two campusbased hubs for innovative businesses. Since its inception, the
incubator has tripled in size and laid the groundwork for the
University’s first $25 million research park campus, approved in
2007. Home to nine startups, this network of Tech-supported
businesses has the potential to change the economic landscape of
northern Louisiana by funneling the gains of high technology, or
technology that propels industries to new levels of innovation,
into regional communities, while elevating Tech’s status as a major
player in 21st century technology and its economies. Professors
are partnering with business to move their ideas from theory to
practice, and Tech graduates are committing to jobs in Ruston
and Louisiana post-graduation. Tech, said Chin, “is showing how
intellectual property gets translated into real-life applications.”
Trend lines show that Tech is on par with a national
movement. Universities are commercializing their research and
bringing products to market annually at a faster rate than ever
before. A recent U.S Licensing Survey by the Association of
University Technology Managers revealed that universities are
not only dedicating more money on research overall (about
$45 billion combined), but that they are seeing big results.
Aside from the tens of thousands of patent applications filed
annually by American universities, the number of new universityinvented products released yearly is increasing. For instance, in
becomes the norm.
“There is a window of opportunity for startups,” said Chin.
“The two keys to success are knowing when your window of
opportunity is here, and then being prepared for it when it
arrives.”
Setting Tech up to succeed
Dr. David Norris, director of Tech’s Enterprise Center, has
made his career in learning how to spot – and prepare for –
those windows. An economist with Ruston roots and a Tech
alumnus, Norris moved back to Ruston from a professorship at
Northeastern University in Boston in order to help Tech develop
its first business incubator. At the time, Norris envisioned
energizing partnerships between talented businesses and the
University; the former would capitalize on world-class research
facilities, such as the Institute for Micromanufacturing, and
faculty members who wanted to commercialize their research in
addition to publishing it in academic journals. The latter would
benefit from the opportunities successful startups could bring to
students and faculty. The University saw itself in the supporting
role behind business success.
“Tech’s approach is targeted and effective in attracting good
business groups and helping them to be successful,” Norris says.
“What’s happening here is extraordinary, and it has the potential
to reshape the economy of northern Louisiana.”
The attraction of name recognition and eminent scholars
was just one dream held by the Enterprise Center, when it
opened in a renovated building that formerly housed the
www.latech.edu | 5
Dr. Michael O’Neal (right) tours Dr. David Norris through NFT’s new
lab in the Humana Wing.
Lincoln Parish Library, a little more than two years ago. The
center’s grand opening heralded a new level of commitment to
University research and development. Under the expertise of
Dr. Les Guice, vice president for research and development, the
incubator converged expertise between researchers and business
professionals. With offices occupied by business experts and
startup staff located side by side, incoming businesses received
important nurturing from Tech’s Small Business Development
Center, headed by Kathy Wyatt. Not surprisingly, a mentormentee relationship between the University and its tenant
companies developed. Even before Tech’s biomedical engineering
building was erected, the University had planned a wing to house
companies that worked in biotechnology or nanotechnology. This
past May, on the heels of the dedication of the new biomedical
engineering building, the Enterprise Center opened a wing to
house these businesses, some of which are headquartered outside
of Louisiana; others, like NFT, began right here at Tech. Much
to the delight of Tech President Daniel D. Reneau, the Humana
Enterprise Center reached its full operational capacity shortly
after its opening.
The list of tenants reads like a Silicon Valley Yellow Pages.
In addition to NFT, it includes Nano Pulp and Paper, a Tech
startup; Radiance Corporation, an Alabama-based military
intelligence contractor; Beat Semiconductor, a Los Angeles-based
company that, as its name suggests, develops semiconductors;
Sensacoil, a sensor producer; and Avoyelles Reneweable fuels.
Avoyelles is developing a nano-engineered catalyst for the
production of bio fuels. Aside from their physical ties to campus,
the companies have other connections to the University. Most are
owned, operated or managed by Tech alumni or faculty. Some,
such as Avoyelles Reneweable Fuels, have tapped into the brain
power of Tech students like Josh Brown, who earned the world’s
first bachelor’s degree in nanotechnology when he graduated from
Tech this past May.
Brown and his partner, Josh Raley, met in a class that paired
business and engineering students; the course challenged
students to author original business plans for Tech’s Top Dawg
Business Competition. The young men – affectionately known
as “Josh and Josh” – teamed up with classmates, then snagged
the contest’s first place award. Today they’re consulting for
Avoyelles, and through the use of Tech office space and research
facilities, working to bring a catalyst that produces synthetic, less
environmentally taxing fuel to the market.
“The company approached us in the spring before we
graduated,” said Raley, who earned a bachelor’s degree in
management and entrepreneurship from Tech in 2007, and is a
student in the University’s master’s program in technology and
engineering management. “The University has helped us with
open arms. That feels really good.”
Tech alumna Karen Gordon certainly agrees. She knows
firsthand the value of a University’s commitment to a business.
One of the incubator’s first tenants, Gordon is also one of
the Center’s best noted success stories. She launched her own
technical writing firm, GTCI, in 1996. The company tapped into
a market of well-educated women who had left prominent jobs in
the telecommunications industry to become stay-at-home moms.
In 2004 and 2005, GTCI made Inc. Magazine’s list of 500-fastest
growing, privately held companies. It shouldn’t come as a surprise
that when Gordon needed new employees, she looked no further
than her alma mater.
“I thought about people I had worked with in the past,
people who had gone on to do bigger and better things, people
who were highly successful,” she said, from her home outside of
Dallas. “Those were people who had graduated from Louisiana
Tech. Tech goes above and beyond. Our relationship is invaluable
to my organization.”
business meets science
The relationships formed in the incubator’s early days gave
Tech researchers impetus to invent new products, such as industry
hailed-fiber coated paper that’s produced by Enterprise Center
tenant Nano Pulp and Paper. The company’s president, Dr. Yuri
Lvov, pioneered Tech’s nanotechnology program and has authored
seven U.S. and Japanese patents relating to nanotechnology. Dr.
George Grozdits, advisor of industry relations, is a Tech forestry
professor with more than 35 years of experience in working
with pulp and paper. Applying Lvov’s research on silicon to
paper, the company aims to improve paper production while
reducing environmental hazards. Nano Pulp and Paper’s process
of producing paper incorporates recycling and drastically reduces
the need for raw resources. Not only does the paper’s production
require fewer resources, but the end product is more durable.
Citing the numerous paper mills in Louisiana, as well as an
industry shift toward container manufacturing, Grozdits sees
this technology rejuvenating a flailing market. He expects Nano
Pulp and Paper to move to large-scale manufacturing within the
next two years, and he credits Norris and Wyatt with giving two
renowned scientists the tools they needed to unleash their ideas in
the real world.
“There are things we did not know,” said Grozdits, who taught
Professors’ gains can be students’ rewards, as Lyle Pratt knows
at the University of California and Berkeley before his post
well. Before he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from
at Tech. “It is difficult to combine knowledge of science with
Tech in 2005, Pratt had started his own successful business,
accounting and business plans. Fortunately, we had great help.”
Axle Networks, one of the first companies to move into Tech’s
That help is crucial for researchers like Dr. Ville Kaajakari,
Enterprise Center. Pratt spent two years developing the social
who was skeptical of becoming a professor until he visited
networking Web site for gamers, then he joined a new Tech
Tech after earning his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin
startup, Sensacoil. Working with Dr. Frank Ji, Pratt is using
at Madison. After working in microsystems for cell-phone
his business experience to help commercialize tiny sensors that
manufacturer Nokia in Norway, Kaajakari wanted to see his
have big applications. Sensacoil hopes to hit the market with a
academic research applied to real world needs. At Tech, he’s
hand-held sensor that can detect moisture in natural gas. The
living his dream job. Hired by Los Angeles-based startup Beat
National Institutes of Health last year awarded a SBIR grant to
Semiconductor, Kaajakari focuses his research on finding a silicon
the company to further its research on microscopic sensors, which
alternative to quartz
have other applications
crystal resonators used
from personal health
“I thought about people I had worked with in the past,
in an abundance of
and safety, to homeland
people who had gone on to do bigger and better
household products from
security. For Pratt,
things, people who were highly successful. Those
cell phones to computers
who recently married
– all while maintaining
his college sweetheart,
were people who had graduated from Louisiana Tech.
his academic duties.
Ruston was the perfect
Tech goes above and beyond. Our relationship is
“It’s an out-ofplace to start a family
invaluable to my organization.” - Karen Gordon
sight, $6 billion
and a career. Like NFT’s
industry, but all of our
Chin, who believed that
communications are
Tech’s commitment to
based on it,” he said. “It makes quite a bit of sense for this startup
commercialization would revolutionize the region’s economic
to work with the University because it is less expensive to do
landscape, Pratt saw a beacon in his alma mater. That belief was
research here.”
affirmed this summer when Small Times Magazine ranked the
That research is paying off in other ways for the assistant
University tenth in the nation for commercialization.
professor of electrical engineering. Last April, the Defense
“Tech is becoming a recognizable name,” Pratt said, smiling.
Advanced Research Products Agency (DARPA) awarded Kaajakari
“There are so many great minds here that are committed to
a $50,000 research grant to design a shoe that inexpensively
commercializing technology. We’re not developing technology to
charges batteries. Kaajakari is using polymers, molecules grouped
put on a shelf. We’re going to benefit Louisiana and the United
as crystals that produce an electric voltage, to create cheaper,
States.”
more powerful technology. Prior to the April grant, he received
DARPA’s $150,000 Young Investigator Award.
dr. yuri lvov: innovator of the year
When Dr. Yuri Lvov received a national award for his groundbreaking research in
pharmaceuticals last year, his thoughts turned first to Tech.
“It is not only my award,” said Lvov, from Berlin, Germany, where he was on sabbatical
leave at the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces. “It belongs to the group of my
friends and collaborators.”
In November, Small Times Magazine awarded the Tech professor of physics a Best of Small
Tech award for Innovator of the Year. The national nanotechnology magazine hailed Lvov’s
pioneering research in drug reformulation that aims to improve cancer drugs.
A drug that allows more specific cancer treatment and reduces typical side effects, such as
hair loss, is one potential outcome of the team’s research.
“Each year it gets more and more difficult to judge the best and brightest as the micro and
nanotechnology market continues to mature and more products come to the market,” said
Christine Shaw, senior vice president and group publisher of Small Times. “It is an honor
to recognize the leading companies and business and research executives who are driving
integration of nanotechnology into the commercial pipeline.”
Lvov, who holds the Tolbert Pipes Eminent Endowed Chair on micro and nanosystems, has had his work
protected by four U.S. patents. In addition to his work with cancer drugs, Lvov has applied his nanoassembly
research to recycled paper production and to the creation of anti-corrosive paint.
Lvov’s recognition increases national visibility for Tech and affirms the University’s commitment to recruiting
eminent faculty, said Dr. Les Guice, vice president for research and development.
“Great people like him could go anywhere in the country,” Guice said. “He has made a difference for us.”
www.latech.edu | 7
indebted to tech
russell nolan
Alumnus of the Year
(‘78):
If Russell Nolan has learned one thing in life, it is this:
“If you work hard and stay committed, you will succeed,” he
says, from his office at Chase Bank in Ruston.
For a man who started his career as a cashier and worked
his way to the upper echelons of bank management, that’s sage
advice. Nolan credits Louisiana Tech.
“The work ethic that I learned at Tech served me well,” he
says, matter-of-factly. “What I learned was how to think logically,
and how to take a set of facts and circumstances, put them
together and make good decisions.”
Tech has no shortage of praise to lavish on Nolan, either.
As 2007 Alumnus of the Year, he has more than made his
alma mater proud. Nolan is a symbol of the Tech ethos: a
loyal, compassionate and hard-working alumnus who, like the
university he so loves, is rooted deeply in the community of
Ruston.
“I was thrilled and excited to be included in this prestigious
group,” says Nolan, who let the letter bearing news of his award
sit untouched on his desk for a few days because, as a former
treasurer of the Alumni Association, he assumed it to be a generic
mailer. “I said, ‘Gosh, I’m glad I didn’t throw the unopened
envelope in the trash!’”
Customer service cuts to the heart of banking. In his early days
at Central Bank, Nolan learned how to keep customers at the
forefront of a corporation’s consciousness. He believes little things
– such as holding doors open for elderly customers – still count.
That attentiveness to clients has helped keep him employed
within an industry that has experienced its fair share of bumps in
the past decades. Nolan says he learned early that if he kept his
customers happy, he’d enjoy success.
That success came to fruition when Nolan received the
keys to the president’s office of Central Bank/First Commerce
Corporation of Ruston in 1992. For six years, he managed retail,
small business and commercial operations at the bank. His duties
included supervision of 35 offices and associates, as well as major
operations. Today he holds the title of senior vice president of
government and not-for-profit and healthcare groups at Chase.
Yet, Nolan sees himself foremost as a salesperson with the good
fortune to have surrounded himself with a talented, hard-working
staff.
“I believe in finding good people and giving them the room
they need to do the best job they can,” he says. “I have a lot of
trust in people and their abilities.”
On the weekends, Nolan squeezes in golf games with his
“They instilled within me the desire to work hard and to take the knowledge that they provided
and do something good to be successful.” - Russell Nolan
It’s not likely Nolan would throw any alumni mailings in
the trash, given his love for all things related to Tech. He likes
to attribute his enrollment at the University in 1974 to divine
ordination. His siblings had all attended Tech. And as a boy
growing up in Monroe, Nolan envisioned himself as a Bulldog.
As an alumnus, his best memories are of his professors, whose
desire for his personal success matched Nolan’s own desire for
excellence.
“They instilled within me the desire to work hard and to take
the knowledge that they provided and do something good to be
successful,” he says.
Nolan set off toward the path to something good when he
graduated in 1978 with magna cum laude honors. He thought
he was headed to law school. But life had other plans. Those
plans led him in 1981 to his first job in banking. Nolan started
his banking career as a management trainee at Central Bank in
Monroe. The job mandated that he work in all areas of the bank.
This placement strategy, says Nolan, ensured his future success as
a banker.
“It was fun and exciting work,” he says. “I had great
interaction with customers and fellow employees.”
sons, Blake, 23, and Ryan, 21. When he’s not on the golf course,
Nolan is at home, assisting his wife, Janet, with a plethora of
do-it-yourself home improvement projects. His attitude toward
improvement extends beyond his home. Nolan this year became
a member of the Council for a Better Louisiana. His past
community service involvements include a stint as treasurer for
the Rural Economic Alliance of Parishes and a chairmanship of
the Lincoln Parish United Way Campaign.
“I’ve had some measure of success, and I feel like I owe it to
others to share my talents,” he says. “I’ve had a great job for 26
years, I have a great family and I attended a great university. I
want to give something back.”
When it comes to giving back to that great university, Nolan
believes in giving his all. He served as treasurer of the Alumni
Association from 1993 to 2007, and he became a board member
of the Louisiana Tech University Foundation in 2006.
“It’s given me a sense of repayment for what Tech has done for
me,” he says. “The quality of education that I received at Tech is
what has helped me succeed.”
www.latech.edu | 9
“i was excited, pleased and honored to be
selected from a huge pool of very qualified
graduates.” - Alice Fakier
no place
like home
alice fakier
(‘02):
Young Alumnus of the Year
Alice Fakier prefers work to play, home to hobnobbing
and Louisiana to all other states in the nation – which is why
she moved from Texas this year to her husband’s hometown
of Thibodaux. While other TV stars may snatch headlines for
uproarious behavior, Fakier has her own ideas about downtime.
They don’t involve kicking back on the couch with her adoring
tomcat, Gaston, and watching reruns of HGTV’s “Design Star.”
“The best day,” she says, “would be scouting accessories for
clients, finding all the right ones and going home happy.”
Fakier knows all about going home happy. Her trademark
smile flashed across millions of television screens nationwide at
the conclusion of the 2006 hit cable television season of “Design
Star,” when Fakier took first runner-up in a competition that
vaulted her to the national spotlight. Her good natured goodbye
impressed fans and judges, and it left a marked impression on
Louisiana Tech. The University named Fakier as its 2007 Young
Alumnus of the Year in September. Fakier accepted the award
with typical graciousness.
“I was excited, pleased and honored to be selected from a huge
pool of very qualified graduates,” she says.
Fakier’s “Design Star” status made her a household name
in the world of do-it-yourself décor devotees, but she stays
grounded by putting her clients first. Her passion for meeting
design challenges earned her another contract with the cable
network. HGTV last year contracted Fakier to host 12 online
segments at its Web site, www.HGTV.com. In the series (aptly
titled “Ask Alice”) Fakier streamlines typical design quandaries
into brief “How-To’s.” And she offers her tried-and-true methods
of bringing personal flair into a home. (One tip of turning linen
tablecloths into homemade draperies is one that Alice tried at
home.) On camera, Fakier adopts an easy-going demeanor. Credit
her mom, Dr. Linda Martin, a former Tech professor of speech
communication, with teaching her daughter the importance of
good communication skills.
“She told me to keep things short and concise. Hosting
segments was a lot less stressful because I had time to prepare,
and I had a lot more sleep,” says Fakier, who re-lived her Tech
days when she pulled all-nighters during the filming of the reality
television show. “I feel relaxed when I talk about design. It’s my
area of expertise.”
Despite the buzz that “Design Star” generated, Fakier hasn’t
raised the rates of her freelance design firm, Gallimaufry. Her
firm’s name is a French word that is synonymous with Fakier’s
design philosophy, a philosophy that advocates eclectic tastes
and downplays “matchy-matchy” interiors. “Design Star,” didn’t
change her style, either. She still advocates mixing periods and
pieces because “it’s easier to personalize your home by using what
you love, rather than defining a style by one aesthetic,” Fakier says.
You could say she’s been honing that style all of her life.
Growing up, Fakier knew she was different from her friends
because they thought nothing of tacking boy-band posters to
their bedroom walls. Fakier preferred gold-framed and linen
matted Monet prints for her Laura Ashley-inspired bedroom.
The room was a step up from her childhood digs, where Barbie
dolls littered the floor and a gigantic rainbow adorned a wall (the
rainbow matched Fakier’s comforter). When she entered middle
school, Fakier started receiving unusual Christmas presents that
revolutionized her tastes.
“My parents,” she says, “started buying me artwork instead of
buying me sweaters.”
And Fakier never looked back. After moving to Thibodaux
earlier this year, she has another design project on her hands.
Fakier is managing the full-time job of her new French Acadianstyle home’s construction, yet she still squeezes in the occasional
road-trip to meet clients in Bossier City. Fakier doesn’t see herself
as a celebrity. Yet, she craves anonymity. (She sometimes runs
errands in a hat and sunglasses.) When she hits design doldrums,
Fakier remembers her Tech days, and the professors and students
who approached their work with contagious enthusiasm.
“Tech was very supportive,” says Fakier. “My teachers were
excited about what they did, and they were excited to be there.”
their biggest fan
Leonard Green’s love for the Lady Techsters nets him the Arlis Scogin Distinguished Service Award.
It still surprises Leonard Green that he might walk
down the street in any Southern city and hear a stranger call
out, “Louisiana Tech!” as though that were his name. Among
dedicated women’s college basketball followers, Green has a
following all his own. Hence, the photos picturing a grinning
Green flanked by Tech fans that he keeps in scrapbooks at his
Shreveport home. A handmade sign bearing the words “Love
Those Lady Techsters” that Green holds as an emblem at each
home game has netted him celebrity status among the Bulldog
Nation. For more than a decade, Green, 90, and his wife, June,
say they’ve been having the time of their lives supporting their
favorite team. That fun paid off when Tech awarded Leonard
Green its highest honor for service to the University, the Arlis
Scogin Distinguished Service Award. The award recognizes Tech’s
strongest allies who are not graduates of the University.
“I’m amazed,” said Green. “I plan on following the team for as
long as I’m able.”
For Green, being a loyal fan means hitting the road, too. Until
medical maladies stopped them, the Greens went the extra mile
for their favorite basketball time – literally. They’ve followed the
Lady Techsters to 38 cities in the nation and 21 states. On one
trip, they drove 1,000 miles one way for, as they say, “the girls.”
Today they see the Lady Techsters as an extended family.
Road trips have never daunted Leonard Green. As a Tech
student, he biked 30 miles each day from Jonesboro to Ruston
until the commute wore him down. He left Tech without
finishing his engineering degree to work in a factory assembling
motorbike wheels in New Orleans. The job led Green eventually
to Shreveport, where he worked for 25 years in aircraft structural
repair as a foreman at Barksdale Air Force Base. He retired in
1967 as a scheduler of maintenance repair.
The Greens’ love affair with the Lady Techsters went into
overdrive after they retired (June from her long career as a social
worker, Leonard from a second career in the Caddo Parish School
System.) They decided to place a local women’s basketball team at
the forefront of their golden years. Indeed, June Green jokes that
Leonard Green never liked basketball until he attended a Lady
Techsters game and found himself enthralled with the players’
passion. June Green, however, just may have been born with the
urge to dribble.
That urge would not be suppressed by Winnfield High School,
which in 1937 boasted a basketball team. One detail kept June
Green sitting on the sidelines: her high school had a men’s-only
team. But, at 87, June describes herself as the sort of woman who
has no problem backing a cause that she believes in. Simply put,
when a cause has won her heart, she will throw her soul behind
it. Her powers of persuasion, combined with good fortune, paved
the way for the high school’s first women’s basketball team. In her
black-and-white yearbook photo, a uniformed June Green smiles
triumphantly at the camera.
“I liked basketball, and I helped put it on the map in my
hometown,” she says. “I thought that girls should have the same
chance to play as boys.”
That love touched the Lady Techsters. Shortly before her
retirement, June Green took a trip to Atlanta to visit her sister.
The two stopped off to eat lunch in a cafeteria where Lady
Techsters had also stopped to eat. June engaged the players in
conversation. Eventually, they offered her two tickets to that
evening’s game.
“When she came home, she talked about how good the game
was and how well the girls played,” says Leonard Green, fondly.
It wasn’t long before June Green’s enthusiasm wound its way
into her husband’s heart. For the next three years, he and June
drove 60 miles from Shreveport to Ruston to cheer on the Lady
Techsters during their home games. At one game, Leonard Green
noticed that a Stanford University-fan unfurled a flag each time
his team scored. June Green noticed the same sign, turned to her
husband and said: “We need one of those flags.”
To which her husband replied: “We sure do.”
The next day, Leonard Green phoned an old friend with
whom he had worked in the Caddo Parish School system. She
made his first banner by hand. Threadbare and stained with
spilled Coca-Cola, that early banner hangs across the back of
a sofa in the Greens’ home. At the time of its making, Green
envisioned the sign as a small token of support for a team that
needed a little encouragement. He never imagined that his
homemade sign would make him one of the Tech Family’s most
beloved members.
“It’s been fun, fun, fun the whole time,” says Green,
incredulously. “Louisiana Tech is one of the greatest schools that
you will find anywhere.”
www.latech.edu | 11
2 0 0 7 d i st i n g u i s h e d a l u m n i o f t h e c o l l e g e s
College of Business
larry james
College of applied and natural sciences
George “Roy” Hayes
(‘70)
(‘42)
Hometown: Many
Now resides in: San Antonio
Hometown: Shreveport
Now resides in: Shreveport
What led you to Tech?
My brother, Bill James, went there and was in the U.S. Air Force
ROTC program. I went to Tech because he did. I was going to be
a pilot in ROTC.
I had an aunt who was childless, and she and her husband
owned a business in Illinois. She offered nieces and nephews the
opportunity to live with them, work for them and attend the
University of Illinois. I took her up on it, and I didn’t get home
for a year! I wanted something smaller and closer to home. In my
mind, Tech was the best school in the state.
Words to describe your reaction to being named a
Distinguished Alumnus for the College of Business?
I am honored and excited.
How would you describe, in layman’s terms, the mission of the
company you manage today, NetNearU?
We provide backlink management systems and software to
large companies that are deploying WiFi, such as airports and
municipalities. We supply many of the airports that use Sprint.
We have helped larger companies deploy WiFi. You go to hotels
and airports now and you will find WiFi almost everywhere.
Throughout your career, you’ve watched cell phones
replace telephones and the Internet become a ubiquitous
communications tool. What role has flexibility played in your
success?
Accepting change is critical. Change comes about every day in an
organization and if people resist change, it is not a good thing.
Even our dress code has changed. In the 1980s, people only wore
suits and ties. Landlines were all we had. I remember in 1992
and 1993 that the main communication – other than face-toface or telephone – was fax. In today’s world, the Internet is too
predominant.
Is the Internet being used too much?
Young people today need to be aware that the Internet is a
wonderful communications tool, but it should not replace verbal
communication with employees and customers or community. If
you need to tell someone your feelings and really communicate,
that needs to be done via telephone or face-to-face.
You graduated from Tech in 1970, when as you say, landlines
were all you had. Throughout your career, you’ve mastered new
technology as it’s been developed. What has helped you keep
current?
What has helped me stay current with technology is to be
involved in technology companies and to be involved with people
who are very technologically brilliant.
As the leader of two markedly successful companies, you must
have a few words of wisdom to impart to our readership on
managing a productive workforce?
My strategy is to empower people to absolutely reject bureaucracy
Larry James (center) receives his award from President Reneau and
Dean James Lumpkin.
and politics within the workplace, and to share the same goal
of making the company successful. There should be respect for
all employees. I have as much respect for someone cleaning the
floors as I do for the chief financial officer.
When you’re not hard at work, how do you spend your free
time?
I’m becoming less involved in day-to-day at NetNearU and
probably will go from CEO to chairman, which is what I’ve
wanted to do for awhile. I spend a lot time with my family. My
son is going into the doctor of business administration program
at Tech this year.
Your wife, Dr. Sandra L. James, is a former university
professor and a business college dean, and a CPA. What has
marriage taught you about management?
She wins all arguments. Our marriage is my most important
partnership.
You have been named as one of the most influential people
in the telecommunications industry by the Competitive
Telecommunications Association Board of Directors. How have
you used this influence for good?
I use influence through example and through what I do with the
money that I make.
And finally, how did Louisiana Tech University prepare you
for a career as a CEO of a multi-million dollar company?
I don’t know how I came out of Tech with such confidence. I
didn’t quite realize at the time that, being a graduate from Tech,
I would not necessarily have the influence of a Harvard, Stanford
or Northwestern graduate. The first company that I worked for
was Haggar in Dallas. I interviewed against seven or eight Notre
Dame guys, and that didn’t matter to me. My degree from Tech is
the only degree that I’ve ever earned.
Best memories of Tech?
Gosh, there are so many! I loved it. To those Techsters, I was
a city boy. My best memories are the practice dances at 5 p.m.
each Wednesday before the evening meal. It cost a nickel and
it was hilarious. I also became front-man for the Collegians as
they toured Monroe and various north Louisiana venues. I loved
music. In those days, I was in the choir.
Words to describe your reaction to being named Alumnus of
the Year for the College of Applied and Natural Sciences?
I am honored. It’s my second fifteen minutes of fame. My first
was when the University had a luncheon for me at the Ropp
Center. Also, my name is on the wall of the new Biomedical
Engineering Building.
What does Tech mean to you?
Tech did inordinate things to help me achieve in my career. My
professor, Willis Worth, loaned me his car the night of Dec. 6,
1941. I went to Monroe to pick up my girlfriend. I turned on
the radio and Pearl Harbor was breaking. I have never forgotten
that moment. The school managed to give me my final exams six
weeks early; I was in the service for six weeks when I was allowed
to go back and stand with my class to receive my diploma.
Tech allowed you to graduate early so that you could help your
entomology professor, Willis Worth, fight mosquitoes that
were causing malaria and widespread battlefield casualties
during World War II. Worth became a worldwide authority
on mosquito identification with the Smithsonian Institution.
What is the greatest lesson that he taught you?
He set an excellent example. He worked at furthering his
capacity as a medical entomologist tirelessly – and he taught
me generosity. Nobody else ever lent me an automobile to go
courting.
You went on to work for the U.S. government to eradicate
malaria from the United States. What circumstances called you
into this incredible career path?
Willis Worth got me interested in medical entomology; malaria
was a major economic and sociologic problem in the United
States and its possessions. It seemed like a good thing to do.
Willis Worth, whom I recognized as a brilliant man, caused me to
Geroge “Roy” Hayes (center) receives his award from President
Reneau and Dean James Liberatos.
gravitate in that direction. Malaria and crooked politicians were
two of the greatest problems facing the South.
Pestilence eradication took you to the British West Indies,
the lower Rio Grande and the Far East. Describe a powerful
memory.
Before Castro, I spent a month in Cuba, working out of Havana
with doctors from most of the South American and Caribbean
nations on a month-long training mission for the World Health
Organization. We were eradicating yellow fever. That was one
very interesting month.
Did working with insects teach you any lessons about human
nature?
I learned how ephemeral our life spans are. There is a
corollary between an insect’s complete metamorphosis and the
development of humans. They are small, but they are not simple
organisms.
After you retired from the U.S. Public Health Service at the
rank of naval captain, you went on to work for the Louisiana
State Health Department until 1983. What were the major
highlights of your second career?
My job was administrator of insect and rodent control and
solid and hazardous waste management. I was selected to go to
Colorado to work with a dozen people to develop the nationwide
test for all people who would use restricted-use pesticides. I wrote
the training manual that is still in use to train people who are
going to be tested and certified in municipal insect control. We
edited and co-authored that original book.
And finally, how did Tech prepare you for a successful career as
an entomologist?
I believed that going in – and more firmly now – that Tech is a
no-nonsense school that gives you more education for your dollar
and your hour’s effort than any other school I know.
www.latech.edu | 13
College of education
debbie silver
College of engineering and science
harvey cragon
(‘99)
(‘50)
Hometown: Fort Worth, Texas
Now resides in: Melissa, Texas
Hometown: Ruston
Now resides in: Dallas
I went to Tech as a graduate student. It was happenstance. I had
been teaching for 21 years in Logansport and Shreveport, mainly
as a middle school teacher. Louisiana Tech started a joint program
between education and biology called ‘Project Life.’ It was a
catalyst program that I helped get going. I decided to pursue a
doctorate in curriculum and instruction. I was in the first class of
that program. Then my husband started working on his doctorate
in marketing and management at Tech. So Tech has had a huge
impact on our lives.
My parents were supportive of the University and its faculty. It
was natural that Tech was where I was going to go. There wasn’t
any discussion. It had a good engineering school.
I loved the camaraderie of all the professors that I knew, both in
science and in education. I would walk through fire with Dr. Jo
Ann Dauzat and Dr. David Gullatt. They made my life so easy.
When I was an assistant professor for three years, I had become a
very popular speaker and people were calling me from all over the
world. They made it work that I could do that, but not take time
away from my students.
Words to describe your reaction to being named Alumna of the
Year for the College of Education?
I was terribly humbled and terribly honored. I have such high
regard for the College of Education, which I think is one of the
most outstanding schools in the South.
Today you travel all over the world as a speaker to educators.
What do teachers need to hear?
They need to hear that they’re appreciated, and that they do
make a difference in people’s lives. My most popular keynote is
titled ‘Be a Teacher, Be a Hero.’ As teachers, we plant seeds that
flourish throughout a child’s life. You can’t measure that at the
end of a school year.
Your book, ‘Drumming to the Beat of Different Marchers:
Finding the Rhythm for Teaching Differentiated Learning’
(2005) has an interesting title. Can you elaborate on what that
title means to you?
As a student I was always told I marched to the beat of a different
drummer, like that was a bad thing. Most kids are ‘outside of the
lines’ and I would tell teachers, ‘You need to go outside of the
lines to get where the kids are.’ I wondered why we were trying
to get students to fit into teachers and schools, when maybe it
should be the other way around.
My wife is from Alexandria and we went to high school together.
We started courting seriously when I went to Tech.
Debbie Silver (center) receives her award from President Reneau and
former Dean Jo Ann Dauzat.
The State of Louisiana named you as a teacher of the year.
How did you measure personal success as a teacher?
In the short term, I measured my success by what I saw going
on in my classroom. Test scores are one rubric and they’re just a
small part. This sounds silly, but I looked at my Valentines, and
I watched my students’ eyes as they walked into the room. In the
long term, I measured my success by what my kids did with their
lives.
You offer workshops on stress management for teachers. What
is the number one stressor for teachers in the classroom?
There’s not enough time and there’s no closure. We need
unencumbered time with students and we don’t have it.
One question that you say teachers should ask is ‘How are
they smart?’ rather than ‘How smart are they?’ when assessing
students. How are you smart?
I’m people smart. I’m intuitive, empathetic and nurturing.
What is the best advice that a teacher ever gave you that you
remember today?
It just sounds so trite and I didn’t listen to it at the time, but I
wish I did. It was, ‘Be yourself.’ I wanted to be the Marcia Brady
cheerleader, but that’s not who I was.
Describe the most important lesson that your students have
taught you?
Don’t give up.
Of what are you most proud?
My sons, my stepsons and my grandchildren.
Distinguished Alumnus for the College of Engineering and
Science?
I never expected that I would be so named. It’s a great pleasure to
be recognized at Tech.
After graduating from Tech, you led an exciting career at Texas
Instruments. You were the principal architect on the Texas
Instruments Advanced Scientific Computer (ASC), developed
between 1966 and 1971. Today the ASC is referenced as a
landmark in high-speed computer design. What were your
expectations in 1966 of the future of high-speed computing?
I have been very fortunate in getting into computers in the
early 1950s, and to be part of the development of computers
in the 50s, 60s and 70s. It was a great adventure. I was learning
something new each day. I always felt there was another great step
ahead. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew we would make it.
I’m still amazed by the progress being made in computers today.
In 1961, you designed and constructed the first integrated
circuit computer at a time when computers were viewed with
great skepticism. Why did you believe in them?
At Texas Instruments we built an experimental integrated circuit
computer. The computer was viewed as a laboratory curiosity.
Integrated circuit computers have changed the world. Texas
Instruments was paying me a salary to have a lot of fun. I was
working with interesting technology and interesting ideas with
interesting people and I got paid to do it!
You left Texas Instruments in 1984 to take the Ernest Cocknell
Jr. Centennial Engineering Chair at the University of Texas
at Austin. How did the classroom compare to your work with
Texas Instruments?
The classroom environment was similar to Texas Instruments
because there was a schedule. People were eager to learn, and it
was fun to be able to contribute to that sort of environment. I
got a year older each year, but the students stayed the same age.
What did your students teach you about technology?
Certainly my graduate students, who were doing research, taught
me a great deal. They came up with ideas that I had not thought
Harvey Cragon (center) receives his award from President Reneau
and Dean Stan Napper.
of, and they wrote papers about these ideas. I tried to read the
field literature to keep up, and I found that I cast a wider net by
having better graduate students working with me.
You were made a member of the National Academy of
Engineering in 1978 because of your contributions to the
development of large-scale digital computers, and you have
received numerous honors for your pioneering work in this
field. Of what are you most proud?
I think I did contribute to architectural techniques for high-speed
computers. We see a lot of those techniques employed today. The
work on the ASC was a highlight, but I also did early work in
defining what digital microprocessor chips should be in the late
70s.
How many computers do you own, how often do you log on
and for what reasons?
I have a personal computer on my desk and it’s turned on each
morning for me to do my writing; it’s an authoring tool. My wife
has a computer because she does genealogical research. We have a
laptop we haul around when we travel.
Did you anticipate the computer’s prominence in American life
when you worked for Texas Instruments?
I didn’t have a vision. I was marveling at each step.
How are you spending retirement?
I’m working on a book about computers that ran submarines
during World War II, and I have my old Tech trigonometry book
out. They’re different from computers we have today, they’re quite
clever and quite interesting. They were all mechanical.
What has been your life’s greatest lesson?
I don’t have any great wisdom to pass on, other than to keep
plugging away (no pun intended).
www.latech.edu | 15
College of liberal arts
louis waller
(‘87)
Tech’s own Jack Ramsaur earns a top military honor.
Hometown: Waynesboro, Miss.
Now resides in: Lighthouse Point, Fla.
I decided my sophomore year at a community college that I
wanted to transition into aviation from engineering. Up until
this point, I had been on an engineering track. Tech offered the
aviation courses but also a traditional university setting.
Distinguished Alumnus for the College of Liberal Arts?
It is a great honor and privilege to represent the College of
Liberal Arts. I am very appreciative of the opportunity Tech gave
me to get my degree and to put it to good use.
You started your career as a flight instructor in Laurel, Miss.
At the time, you flew single engine air planes. How did your
education at Tech prepare you to teach aviation?
We treated our program in Laurel as if the students were going
through the same process at Tech. That’s why we had the success
we had.
Louis Waller (center) receives his award from President Reneau and
Dean Ed Jacobs.
simple. What if you could own your own Internet Travel Agency,
book your next vacation on your own Web site and get paid this
commission? So, really all we are doing is combining the concept
of owning your own business, the power of the Internet and the
largest industry on the planet – the travel industry.
In 1991, you began working as a military pilot for the
Mississippi Air Guard and your duties included delivery of
cargo, patients and passengers. During your 11-year career
with the Air Guard you were promoted to chief pilot and to the
rank of major. What motivated your military service?
I wanted the opportunity to serve and to be one of the first
people in my family who was involved with the military. We
participated in several relief efforts during the fall of the former
Soviet Union, and we also supported missions after natural
disasters.
At UPS, you’ve worked hard to help Tech alumni be hired as
pilots. How do Tech alumni compare to the general applicant
pool?
Our goal as aviation alumni is to help fellow alumni achieve a
position at any major carrier, including UPS. I would say that
UPS hires only the best of the best. However, it is a great feeling
to learn that a fellow alumnus has been hired at UPS, especially
when you know the training background, level of experience and
hard work that has been accomplished by that individual.
Since 1994, you’ve flown for the United Parcel Service and
today you hold the title of captain. What has been your
toughest professional challenge?
I don’t have the lives of 300 people in my hands, but I might
have 800 pounds of packages and there are hundreds of people
who are relying on us. We’ve expanded into an international
arena in a huge way, and I see it as my job to maintain high levels
of safety standards.
You are the founder of the Louis Waller Endowed Scholarship
for the Department of Professional Aviation. Why did you
want to give back?
I went through Tech on work study and loans. My career path
turned into a success story. When I made captain with the
airline, my wife, Ronda, and I decided we had achieved a lifelong
goal and we wanted to give something back. UPS had a match
program. The interest on our endowment is helping students who
go to college the same way I did, on a shoestring budget.
In 2006, you partnered with a company that operates as a
franchisor of Internet travel agencies and you launched your
own personal travel agency (WallerTravel.com), which you
are expanding through the same franchise concept. Why does
Internet travel interest you?
Right now, there is a significant market shift occurring in the
travel industry. Everyone is now comfortable booking travel on
the Internet. Did you know that when customers book travel on
the Internet, they are paying a commission? Our system is very
Star Studded
What do you think your Tech education gave you?
It set the standard. I walked in with no money. In 24 months I
went from having zero flight hours to becoming a multi-engine
pilot ready to take on the world. My professors showed me that if
you want something, you can get it. They changed who I thought
I could become.
Gen. Jack Ramsaur will never
forget the night he spent in the middle
of the Atlantic Ocean, refueling C-130
helicopters destined for a failed hostagerescue mission.
“When I was refueling the planes I
thought, ‘I’m in the middle of nowhere,
no one knows that I’m here because it’s
top secret, and I’m doing altitude and
refueling that we’ve never done before,” he
said. “That was an amazing experience.”
Fortunately for Ramsaur, life had more
amazing experiences in store. The summer
announcement of his appointment to
the highly elite rank of two-star U.S. Air
Force General grabbed national headlines.
He took the news in wide-eyed stride.
“This honor recognizes a job well
done,” said Ramsaur, who discovered
his passion for the U.S. Air Force as a
ROTC candidate at Louisiana Tech. “The
best thing about the ceremony was that
it allowed my family to be a part of my
career.”
That’s usually not the case for airmen
whose careers unfold away from home.
Ramsaur’s wife, Sylvia, and their two
daughters assisted him in pinning the
stars onto his uniform jacket during a
formal pinning ceremony held in July
at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier
City for Ramsaur’s friends, relatives
and colleagues. For a man who says his
greatest life lesson was learning how to
believe in himself, the ceremony more
than affirmed a job well done; it validated
more than three decades of service to his
country.
With more than 75,000 reservists
serving the Air Force today, Ramsaur’s
feat is enjoyed by few. He was the 25th
person nationwide to receive such an
honor. U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James
Cartwright, Ramsaur’s commander and
vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
pinned the golden stars on Ramsaur’s
shoulders. Comparing Ramsaur to Garcia,
the hero in “A Message to Garcia” by
Elbert Hubbard, an essay about a soldier
who accepts his military mission without
complaint, Cartwright said Ramsaur’s
work ethic has always set him apart from
other reservists.
U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, daughters Allison Savage and Angela Kerr and
wife Sylvia pinned Jack Ramsaur’s new gold stars onto his uniform.
“Garcia didn’t fall back,” Cartwright
said. “He was given a mission and he
completed it, just as he said he would,
without faltering. That’s Jack to a tee.”
Ramsaur now serves as the
mobilization assistant to the commander,
United States Strategic Command at
Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. He has
more than 5,300 hours in the Boeing 707
and 727 and McDonell Douglas DC-10
civilian jetliners and in the military’s E-3,
C-18, KC-135 A/R, T-37, T-38 and T-1
aircraft. He began his career in 1974 at
Barksdale, where he served as a KC-135
pilot simulator instructor for the 71st Air
Refueling Squadron.
Before he ever imagined a military
career, Ramsaur enrolled in Tech because
of the University’s proximity to his home
in Ruston. His father, who had earned
a doctorate in psychology at Florida
State University, was one of Tech’s first
professors in the then-emerging discipline
of guidance counseling. (The family has
strong Ruston roots and today Ramsaur’s
brother, John, manages Lincoln Parish Park.)
Ramsaur chose to enlist in the Air
Force shortly after he entered Louisiana
Tech in 1970 to study business
administration. It wasn’t long before the
Air Force transformed his small-town
world into an easily-navigable globe.
After earning a master’s of business
administration from Tech in 1975, he
pursued ROTC pilot school at Laughlin
Air Force Base, about four hours west of
San Antonio. His career took him to bases
in New Jersey and Oklahoma. Eventually,
Ramsaur worked command staff slots at
Air Force headquarters at the Pentagon.
Today he flies for FedEx, a job that has
taken him all over the world, from Dubai
to Paris.
“The Air Force gave me the
opportunity to excel, to serve my country,
to travel and to develop strong leadership
skills,” he said. “The Air Force has
changed since I enlisted. It’s downsized.
The threat is no longer the cold war. The
threat is the global war on terrorism.”
www.latech.edu | 17
‘A True Bulldog’
The new Joe D. Waggonner Center for Bipartisan Politics
and Public Policy honors a political powerhouse.
For many, Joe. D. Waggonner was an enigma.
A Southern Democrat, he forged friendships with two
presidents, both Republicans, and propelled bipartisan
relationships in a Capitol known for its party-line leanings.
For Tech President Daniel D. Reneau, the Bossier-born
congressman was a personal friend, a dedicated supporter of
Louisiana Tech and a model alumnus.
“He loved this institution. He represented it with class and
style,” Reneau said, smiling. “Joe was a true Bulldog.”
Although he died on October 7, 2007, Waggonner’s
presence will remain strong at his beloved alma mater. Tech
announced its plans to create the Joe D. Waggonner Center
for Bipartisan Politics and Public Policy in the days following
the former congressman’s death.
The initiative has begun with a major donor campaign
to fund a $2,500,000 endowment necessary to sustain the
center, which will be based in the College of Liberal Arts.
Dr. Ed Jacobs, dean; Bill Willoughby, associate dean; and Dr.
Kenneth Rea, vice president for academic affairs, are working
to create a center that engages the University community in
public affairs issues of broad local, state and national importance.
“It will be the first time that the College of Liberal Arts
has had a center of this magnitude,” said Jacobs. “We have
great hopes.”
Goals for the Waggonner Center include:
• An annual distinguished speaker or forum in
conjunction with a new elective course in political
science or public policy;
• The Joe D. Waggonner Biennial Conference and
Workshops on Bipartisan Politics, hosted by Louisiana
Tech, with keynote speakers, campus-wide student
workshops, symposia, published proceedings and a tiein to the American Association of State Colleges and
Universities American Democracy Project for Civic
Engagement;
• Quarter-long Washington D.C. political science
student internships with competitive selection and
mentoring;
• A refurbished congressional meeting room in the
Prescott Memorial Library that permanently displays
memorabilia from the Joe D. Waggonner, Jr. Archive
collection; and
• The Joe D. Waggonner, Jr. Endowed Chair in Political
Science through the Board of Regents Support Fund
Endowed Chair Program for Louisiana Tech University.
The fundraising campaign proposes several levels of giving:
• Eagle – $250,000+
• Gold Star Circle – $100,000-$249,999
• Star Circle – $50,000-$99,999
• Red – $5,000-$49,999
• White – $1,000-$4,999
• Blue – $250-$999 and
• Friends of the
Waggonner Center –
$1-$249
“Alumni are encouraged
to make personal donations,
to receive matching funds
from the companies for which
they work, and to influence
support wherever they can for this most worthwhile and
important center,” said Corre Stegall, vice president of
university advancement. “Mr. Joe told me many times that
his education had made him what he became. He was forever
grateful to Tech for the opportunities that were provided to
him to get a first-class education.”
Elected to public office in 1954 as a Bossier Parish School
Board member, Waggonner moved from his native Bossier
City to the nation’s capital in 1961, where he served as a U.S.
Representative for nine terms.
In office, Waggonner befriended Richard Nixon and
Gerald Ford, who admired the congressman’s talents at
persuasion and his effectiveness in galvanizing bipartisan
support for their ideas and programs.
Those friendships were not lost to nostalgia. When Ford
died last year, reporters representing eminent newspapers
phoned Waggonner for a quote.
“Joe’s great ability was to work with both sides of the
aisle,” said Tech’s Rea. “We haven’t again seen this type of
bipartisan leadership that Joe Waggonner personified.”
Many credit Waggonner’s political influence with keeping
Barksdale Air Force Base open in a time of crisis and with
bringing a General Motors plant to Shreveport. Before he
left office in 1979, the congressman secured funding for
Interstate 49 and the inner and outer loop, as well as funding
for the Red River Waterway.
At Tech, Waggonner had significant influence. Today
two endowed professorships bear his name. The Joe D.
Waggonner Professorship in Political Science is held by
Dr. Jason Pigg in the College of Liberal Arts. The Joe. D.
Waggonner Professorship in Engineering is held by Dr. L.
Dale Snow in the College of Engineering and Science.
For Reneau, who often consulted with the former
congressman, now is a fitting time to establish a University
center that honors Waggonner’s work – and moves it
forward.
“It’s very important that his legacy not be lost,” said
Reneau. “This center will not only recognize a giant of
congress, but it will preserve his work. It will bring his legacy
to those who come after him.”
Donations to the Waggonner Center may be made to the
Tech Foundation, P.O. Box 3183, Ruston, LA 71272
First
Finish
After receiving the world’s first
undergraduate nanosystems
degree, Josh Brown has a lot
to smile about.
Josh Brown escaped death by
electrocution at age four, when his
parents handed him a box containing
disconnected wires and light sockets, then
said, “Go play.” They didn’t know that
their toddler would produce an electric
current capable of crashing the Luna
home’s grid. Brown was grateful to get his
hands on “toys” that weren’t plastic. He
thought he was playing a new game when
he wrapped two wires together, and then
plugged them into a light socket. The
next moment of said “game” could best be
described in one word: BOOM!
Brown’s passion for engineering began.
“That’s when my parents said I was
going to be something special,” he says,
his chin poking prominently above a
Louisiana Tech T-shirt.
Something special, indeed. In
May, Brown became the world’s first
person to receive a bachelor’s degree
in nanotechnology. The news of his
graduation from Louisiana Tech garnered
media attention, accolades from the state
legislature and an impromptu speech
by Tech President Daniel D. Reneau on
graduation day. Brown, who counts his
family among his greatest heroes, remains
down-to-earth – he still wears jeans and
worn sneakers to the lab. Indeed, if he
had to boil his personality into three
words, Brown would pick “happy-golucky.” He omits “ambitious,” but his
drive for personal success leaves a lasting
impression.
“My favorite saying is that the greatest
risk is to take no risk at all,” Brown says.
“I take that to mean that if you don’t
take a chance, you’ll never reach your full
potential.”
These days, Brown is taking chances
on synthetic fuels and has made a second
home for himself in Tech’s Institute for
“My favorite saying is that the greatest risk is to take no risk at
all. I take that to mean that if you don’t take a chance, you’ll
never reach your full potential.”- Josh Brown
Micromanufacturing. He spends most
afternoons burrowing into the workload
of his doctoral thesis. Before he earned his
bachelor’s degree, Brown began working
with his advisor, Dr. Chester Wilson,
to develop patented technology for a
catalytic system that produces synthetic
fuel. A bachelor’s degree in nanosystems
helped Brown merge his passions for
chemistry and electricity into a field that
works in the smallest of scales.
Tech was the only university to which
Brown applied when he graduated in
2002 from West Ouachita High School.
The decision proved fortunate.
“My nanosystems engineering degree
gave me an opportunity to tie my
knowledge of chemistry and electricity
into a relatively new field,” he says. “I was
definitely excited to pursue the degree
when I found out about the program.
“And, by golly,” Brown adds, with
characteristic humor. “I’m glad I did.”
www.latech.edu | 19
Tech Athletics Has
“2020” Vision
new attitude shows improvement
In his nineteenth century novel A Tale of Two Cities,
Charles Dickens begins with the proclamation: “It was the best of
times, it was the worst of times.”
Fast forward nearly 150 years and that statement still rings
true, in this case for the 2007 Louisiana Tech Bulldog football
season and the highs and lows experienced by fans in the Bulldog
Nation.
The highs began long before the first snap of the ball when
Derek Dooley was named as the thirty-first head coach in the
history of the Bulldog football program. By the time the T-Day
Spring Game rolled around, it was clear that a new attitude and a
new commitment to winning had arrived in Ruston.
Dooley explained his philosophy at the onset of spring practice.
“We think it’s important that our guys understand that when
teams play with great effort and toughness and don’t make
mistakes, that the fans, students and administration will respect
what we do regardless of the outcome,” he said.
The 2007 campaign began with a 28-7 win over Central
Arkansas. It didn’t take long to see the fruits of the team’s labors.
The defense, which had been ranked near the bottom of Division
I just one season ago, forced the Bears into six turnovers while the
offense rushed for nearly 200 yards on 36 attempts.
Nothing helps instill a winning attitude like winning.
Perhaps the most anticipated game of the season, however,
came the following week as Hawaii brought its top 20-ranked
team into Ruston, along with eventual Heisman Trophy finalist
Colt Brennan. Despite being a heavy underdog, Tech set out to
prove it could compete with one of the nation’s best teams and
most explosive offenses.
The Bulldogs did much more than just compete.
Tech went toe-to-toe all night with the Warriors, eventually
losing on a failed two-point conversion in overtime. Hawaii
escaped Ruston with a 45-44 win, its smallest margin of victory
of the season, and a newfound respect for Bulldog football.
And just how big a game was this? Hawaii would finish the
2007 season as the nation’s only undefeated team in Division I
and earn a berth in the BCS Sugar Bowl.
The Bulldogs would rebound from this tough loss and go on
to earn victories over New Mexico State, Utah State, Idaho and
San Jose State. Tech would finish the season at 5-7 with a WAC
record of 4-4.
Despite an increase in wins this season and the transformation
of a group of young athletes into a football team that focuses on
commitment and understands what it takes to win, things did
not always go as planned for Dooley and the Bulldogs.
Inconsistency in the passing game forced Dooley to bench
starting quarterback Zac Champion for the game against New
Mexico State in favor of sophomore Michael Mosley. Prior to the
homecoming game, Dooley explained that “you can’t manage a
ball game against good teams by just running the ball. You’ve got
to be able to throw it, and right now we’re not doing that.”
Champion ultimately got Dooley’s message. During the second
quarter, Champion entered the game, rallied the Bulldogs for a
homecoming victory, and regained his starting job in the process.
Unfortunately, the season ended on a disappointing note as
the Bulldogs had a chance to become bowl-eligible with a win
over Nevada in Reno in the season finale. Fans were excited at the
postseason prospects, and the team was confident coming off of a
27-23 win over San Jose State in Ruston the week before.
Three hours later, however, the Bulldogs’ season came to an
abrupt end with a 49-10 loss to the Wolf Pack. The following
day, it would be Nevada receiving an invitation to the New
Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque.
Improved team play this season contributed to improved
individual play as seven Bulldogs received All-WAC football
honors. Punter Chris Keagle and safety Antonio Baker were
named to the first team with offensive lineman Tyler Miller;
running back Patrick Jackson, linebacker Quin Harris and
defensive linemen Josh Muse and Chris Pugh were named to the
second team.
“It seems like the one constant every year is the more success
you have as a team, the more individual recognition your players
receive,” said Dooley.
Despite this season’s roller coaster ride (although you must
admit that it was fun), Bulldog fans can now say, “Just wait until
next year!” – and mean it.
The end of 2007 began a new chapter in Louisiana Tech athletics when President
Daniel D. Reneau and Athletic Director Jim Oakes released a five-year strategic plan for the
University’s Athletic Department.
The plan, titled “Tech 2020 Athletics,” is part of the University’s comprehensive strategic
plan, Tech 2020. The Tech 2020 plan, released in 2007, is a roadmap for Tech’s transition from
a “good institution to a great one.”
The University hired American Management Strategy Group (AMSG) to help facilitate the
development of Tech’s vision for its athletic future.
The plan addresses issues ranging from increasing the University’s athletic budget by more
than 50 percent in the next five years, boosting fundraising efforts – both on an individual and
corporate level – to improving facilities and increasing support and coaching staff.
“Louisiana Tech is on track to be a top research university,” Reneau said. “And every top
research university in the United States has a highly competitive athletics program. We believe
that a competitive athletic program will make our entire university stronger and will continue
to help attract exceptional students: young people who excel in both athletic and academic
competition.”
Over the past year, members of AMSG made five visits to Tech’s campus and met with
various groups including the Tech 2020 Athletics steering committee, University Athletics
Department staff and coaches and other internal and external constituents.
The steering committee also created a new Tech mission statement that embodies the
philosophy of the University’s Athletic Department.
“We have developed a vision and mission to guide our work, along with 10 key goals as our
focus,” Reneau said. “Our student athletes continue to make us proud as they are consistently
recognized for both their athletic and academic success.”
Oakes said alumni support and local sponsors will drive Tech 2020 Athletics’ success.
Purchasing season tickets, joining CHAMPS and becoming corporate sponsors are important
ways to help.
“The Tech Nation needs to embrace this blueprint for the future in order for our athletic
program to reach its maximum potential,” Oakes said. “This is an outstanding strategic plan
that will pave the way for future success for our student athletes on and off the playing fields.”
Tech fans wishing to see a copy of the Tech 2020 Athletics report can do so by logging onto
www.latechsports.com.
Be a champion for Tech athletics...
Join Champs Today!
Investing in the future of the Louisiana Tech
Athletics program and its student-athletes
symbolizes your commitment that Tech
continues to be a premier academic and
athletic university. CHAMPS support directly
and positively impacts Tech’s teams, on and
off the field.
Call Adam McGuirt at the Marbury Alumni
Center to become a Champs member:
318.255.7950
or visit www.latechchamps.com
Tech Lands a
Blue-Chipper in
Buskirk
The recent hire of Eric
Buskirk, Tech’s associate
director for external
relations, is an example of
the Tech 2020 Athletic plan
in action.
“I am really excited about
what the future will bring for
Louisiana Tech Athletics,”
said Buskirk, a Columbus,
Ohio native.
Buskirk comes to Louisiana
Tech after working the past
two years at the University of
Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) as
the assistant athletic director
of external operations.
At Tech, Buskirk’s
responsibilities encompass
all external activities,
including corporate
sponsorships, ticket sales,
marketing and promotions.
Additionally, he will
serve on the executive
management team as a sport
administrator for selected
sports.
Juggling these tasks
should not prove daunting
for Buskirk – he was
recognized as one of
The San Antonio Business
Journal’s “Top 40 Under
40 Rising Stars” in January
2007.
www.latech.edu | 21
athletic Hall of Fame
Class of 2007
Former record-setting Louisiana
Tech quarterback Tim Rattay was one
of six individuals inducted into the
Louisiana Tech Athletic Hall of Fame in
ceremonies held at the Thomas Assembly
Center in October.
Joining Rattay in the Class of 2007
were All-American women’s basketball
player Vickie Johnson, record-setting
volleyball player Katie (Dow) Kahmann,
All-American wide receiver Roger Carr,
former football player and coach A.L.
Williams and long-time benefactor
Milton Williams.
“The Hall of Fame induction is always
a very special time at Louisiana Tech,”
said Athletic Director Jim Oakes. “This
is an outstanding class of some of Tech’s
finest alumni, and we are very proud to
add them to an already impressive group
of some of our greatest athletes, coaches
and benefactors.
Rattay shattered the Louisiana Tech
record books during his three years in a
Bulldog uniform, breaking every passing
record while leading the program to a 9-2
mark in 1997 and an 8-3 record and top
25 ranking in 1999. The seven-year NFL
quarterback earned All-American honors
while ending his career ranked in the
top 5 in NCAA history in passing yards,
touchdowns and total offense.
Johnson was one of the most decorated
student-athletes in Tech history, earning
Kodak All-American honors as a junior
and senior while leading the Lady
Techsters to the 1994 national title game.
The Coushatta native, who ranks among
Tech’s all-time leaders in numerous
statistical categories, is one of only a
handful of players to have played in all 11
seasons of the WNBA’s existence.
Kahmann is considered one of the
most dominating players in Lady Techster
volleyball history. The four-year letter
winner earned All-American South and
All-Sun Belt Conference honors during
her playing days while leading the
program to four straight winning seasons,
including a school record 29 wins as a
senior. She still holds the Louisiana Tech
single season and career record for kills as
well as the school record for kills per game.
ALUMNI MENTORING NETWORK
Click.
Commit.
Connect.
Louisiana Tech’s Alumni Mentoring Network
helps students and alumni get connected. Volunteer alumni
mentors offer their insight to Tech students or other alumni
for the purpose of career exploration and professional
development.
Become a mentor today.
318.257.2488 or 4336 | [email protected]
Hall of Fame Class of 2007 leaves a lasting impression. Pictured left to right: Roger Carr, Katie
(Dow) Kahmann, Vickie Johnson, A.L. Williams and Milton Williams.
“This is an outstanding class of some of Tech’s finest alumni,
and we are very proud to add them to an already impressive
group of some of our greatest athletes, coaches and
benefactors.” - Jim Oakes, athletic director
Carr earned All-American honors
during his playing days in a Bulldog
uniform and was instrumental in leading
Tech to a pair of small school national
championship titles in 1972 and 1973.
Carr, a 10-year veteran of the NFL,
still ranks among the all-time leaders in
receiving yards and touchdown receptions.
A. L. Williams lettered for the Bulldogs
from 1953 through 1956, leading the
team in scoring three years and the Gulf
State Conference in scoring as a senior.
Williams was also a member of the Tech
track and field team, running relays and
competing in the long and triple jumps.
He served as Louisiana Tech’s head coach
from 1983 through 1986, leading the
Bulldogs to three winning seasons and the
1984 Division I-AA national title game.
Milton Williams served as a member
of the Louisiana Tech Athletic Council
for 30 years while also serving as one
of the University’s top benefactors. The
1944 Louisiana Tech graduate has been a
dynamic leader of alumni organizations.
He was a founding member of the
Louisiana Tech University Foundation
and the Engineering Foundation. He is
a past president of the Louisiana Tech
Alumni Association. He has received
the Tower Medallion and Alumnus of
the Year awards given by the Alumni
Association.
Making the First-Year
Experience Last a Lifetime
“What is past is prologue” – William Shakespeare
The First-Year Experience focuses
on providing new Tech students with
the resources and support needed to
successfully transition to college. It’s
also where they begin to learn what
it means to be part of the Louisiana
Tech Family.
Connect YOUR past to the future by
investing in the First-Year Experience.
For each $100 investment, you’ll
receive a commemorative medallion
inscribed with the Tenets of Tech as
a symbol of your commitment to the
future of Louisiana Tech.
Contact the Louisiana Tech
Foundation:
PO Box 3183
Ruston, LA 71272
(318) 255-7950
www.latechalumni.org/foundation
Tell them you’d like to invest in the
First-Year Experience.
Nothing less will do.
www.latech.edu | 23
news around campus
news around campus
taking the lead in securing cyberspace
A new cyberspace technology center has been established in Ruston through the combined efforts of Louisiana Tech and Louisiana
State universities.
The Center for Secure Cyberspace was created to assist Tech faculty members in their research and to support the U.S. Air Force, said
Dr. Les Guice, vice president for research and development.
“The Center for Secure Cyberspace capitalizes upon world-class resources of the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative, Louisiana
Tech’s Institute for Micromanufacturing and LSU’s Center for Computation and Technology,” he said.
The location of the CSC – 60 miles east of Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier – is no
coincidence, either; Barksdale is an interim Cyber Command Center for the Air Force.
“The CSC capitalizes upon many of the tremendous investments that Louisiana has made
to support information technology research, including the Louisiana Optical Network
Initiative, the most powerful and robust optical network and grid computing infrastructure
in the country,” Guice said. “At a recent Science and Technology Symposium, we began to
explore with Air Force researchers the possibility of using LONI as a real-time test bed.”
Funding for the CSC was around $8 million, with the monies coming from the
Louisiana Board of Regents and the two participating universities. Faculty involved with
the center include Tech’s Vir Phoha, Kody Varahramyan, Rastko Selmic and Christian
Duncan. Peter Chen, S.S. Iyengar, Gabrielle Allen and Tevfik Kosar represent LSU.
Phoha said defense against cyberspace attacks is more necessary now and will become
more crucial as time progresses: “New types of attacks are coming. It used to be that
terrorists were not technologically savvy. Now, even a 16-year-old can create attacks,”
Phoha said.
Students take learning abroad
For Toria Miles, a summer trip to London meant more than touring the Globe Theatre and
viewing Shakespeare’s old stomping grounds. The junior English education and marketing
double major at Louisiana Tech said her travels proved life-altering.
“The experience was amazing because of all of the culture that we were around. No matter
where we went, we could learn something,” said Miles, a Cincinnati, Ohio, native.
Miles was one of 15 students who spent three weeks touring significant literary and cultural
landmarks in London.
Other stops included visits to Oxford, Dover
and Canterbury.
While Miles explored the streets of an
unfamiliar London, other Tech students also left
their comfort zones; they immersed themselves in
a Spanish-speaking culture.
Led by Anne Reynolds-Case, an assistant
professor in the Department of Literature and
Language, 12 students spent their time taking
upper-level language classes at an institute in San
José, Costa Rica.
Reynolds-Case said she organized the trip
because she knows the benefits of foreign
Travel proved a great teacher this
language immersion first hand, and she wanted
summer for Bulldogs in London and
her students to receive the same opportunities of
Paris.
learning a language in its native environment.
The London and Costa Rica programs were
preceded by the college’s French quarter for
students enrolled in the School of Art. During the
spring quarter, students traveled to Paris, where they visited museums, such as the Louvre
and the George Pompidou Centre.
“We saw everything that we studied first hand and dove into the culture of Parisian
life,” said Aubri Young, a senior communication design major from Little Rock.
ACT scores surpass
average levels
At 23.2, Louisiana Tech’s freshman
ACT scores are higher than ever
before.
And 63 percent of the 2007
freshman class has an ACT score of
22 or better, with 18.8 percent of
those students having a score of 27 or
above. Last year, the Board of Regents
calculated the average freshman ACT
score at 22.4
“I am delighted about the ACT
scores. They are really climbing,”
Tech President Daniel D. Reneau
said. “That’s the largest increase we’ve
seen in a long time. We have a superb
student body.”
Reneau added that 21 percent
of the student body is composed of
graduate students.
“Our goal is to have graduate
students make up 20 to 25
percent of our student
body,” he said. “We’re
pleased at where we
are. We have a good,
solid enrollment.”
digging deeper in Trenchless technology
The recent
dedication of
Louisiana Tech’s new
national trenchless
technology research
facility drew industry
representatives
from throughout
the United States,
all eager to visit
a research center
specializing in the
installation and repair
of underground
utilities.
Tech President Daniel D. Reneau proudly dedicates the National
The new facility
Trenchless Technology Research Facility.
will provide the
Trenchless Technology Center with high-bay research space with an overhead crane
where large scale experiments can be monitored.
The center was initiated in 1989 as the Trenchless Excavation Center and was
formally changed into the Trenchless Technology Center in December 1991. It has
developed into a nationally and internationally recognized research center specializing in
avoiding the need to dig underground for work relating to utilities.
With approximately 11 million miles of underground utilities in the United States
and many of those more than 50 years old, the repair and upgrading of underground
utilities has become a major technical, financial and political concern in cities across the
country.
Tech’s new facility has received strong support from the trenchless industry. In
conjunction with the new facility, the National Science Foundation has funded a deep
soil test chamber where installation and repair methods can be tested under controlled
conditions. The building itself cost approximately $950,000, and the soil test facilities
cost an additional $350,000.
bulldogs finish first
Louisiana Tech received some good news this fall when the NCAA released its 2007 Federal Graduation Rate Report.
The report, which is based on student-athletes who entered school in fall of 2000 and who graduated by summer of 2006, showed
Louisiana Tech ranked No. 1 in the state of Louisiana among schools that play football.
“These high graduation rate numbers certainly reflect the importance
of academic success to our overall athletic program,” said Tech Athletic
Director Jim Oakes. “We are very pleased by the strong commitment to
academic excellence that our student-athletes, coaches, and staff have all
made.”
Tech’s graduation rate of 71 percent ranked ahead of Tulane (67),
Southeastern Louisiana (60), UL-Lafayette (60), New Orleans (58),
Grambling State (56), Northwestern State (55), McNeese State (54),
Centenary (53), LSU (48), Southern (47), UL-Monroe (41) and
Nicholls State (38).
“This is an outstanding accomplishment by Louisiana Tech studentathletes,” said Tech Associate Athletic Director Mary Kay Hungate.
“Credit goes to Jim Oakes for placing such importance on performance
in the classroom and to all coaches for following his example and
encouraging their student-athletes to succeed.”
Athletes like Quin Harris show smarts in the classroom – and
on the field.
www.latech.edu | 25
f o u n d at i o n s p o t l i g h t
f o u n d at i o n s p o t l i g h t
Honor
Special
Individuals
and Benefit
Tech Forever:
Create a Lasting Legacy
with Endowments
Recently, Dale Dimos (Education 1965) wanted to honor
the life and career of her father Glen Guilkey, who worked in
various positions in the newspaper industry, including a position
as director of advertising for The Morning World and The NewsStar. The Glen Guilkey Endowed Scholarship will be awarded to
marketing majors in the College of Business. Recipients will have
a career interest in advertising, journalism, communication or a
related field.
Supporting General Purposes with
Endowments
Endowments can also be created for purposes other than
scholarships. Mary Terrill Wood (Business 1934) created
an endowment, the Marshall E. Terrill Fund for Faculty
Development and Student Enrichment, to honor her father and
to provide a permanent source of funds that could be used each
year at the discretion of the College of Business. Wood funded
the endowment with assets in an individual retirement account
that she no longer needed. Her father, Marshall Terrill, was one
of Tech’s original students in September of 1895. He left Tech
to support his family after his father’s death from typhus, but
remained a staunch supporter of Tech for the rest of his life.
Taking Advantage of Corporate Matching
Funds to Establish Endowments
Several endowed scholarships established recently have taken
advantage of corporate matching funds. When Katherine A.
Scharer (Accounting 1968) and her husband David established
the Arbuthnot-Scharer Endowed Scholarship, awarded to a Tech
student from Catahoula Parish, Katherine Scharer took advantage
of matching funds from her husband’s company, Shell Oil.
Likewise, Breck Barker (Mechanical Engineering 1987) and his
wife Cheri recently created a scholarship with partially matching
gift money from his employer IBM. The Travis & Tyler Barker
Eagle Scout Endowed Scholarship is named in honor of their
sons and is designated to an Eagle Scout from central Louisiana.
Rick Harrelson (Engineering 1969) of Houston established
the Harrelson Family Endowed Professorship in the College
of Engineering and Science. Rick funded the professorship
over a two-year period by using corporate matching funds
from his employer, ExxonMobil. Because of his commitment
to Tech and through the generosity of ExxonMobil, Rick had
previously established the James R. Harrelson Memorial Endowed
Engineering Scholarship in memory of his father. He is currently
working to fund another professorship.
Corporate matching funds from ExxonMobil were also used to
establish the Dr. Patricia I. Garland Professorship in the College
of Business. Don Garland (Engineering 1976), his wife Nancy
Garland (Education 1978), and his brother Gregory Ellis Garland
established the professorship in memory of Don and Gregory’s
mother, Patricia Garland, who was a 1957 Tech business graduate
and a retired professor of economics at Northeast Louisiana
University.
The Adelaide Murdoch Hunt Endowed Professorship was
established to benefit the School of Human Ecology in the
College of Applied and Natural Sciences. Hunt was a former
professor of human ecology. The professorship is funded by
Hunt’s husband Tommy, her friends and the School of Human
Ecology. Adelaide Hunt also served as director of the Anna
Idtse house. She was a faculty advisor for numerous student
organizations.
Sue Melton (left) and Ann Melton’s legacy
inspires careers in education.
Attracting Quality Students to Tech with
Scholarship Endowments
Ann Melton and Sue Melton, twin daughters of a high school
principal, grew up in Marion and entered Louisiana Tech in
1951. Both sisters received education degrees in 1955 and taught
in Dallas schools until their retirements in 2004.
Ann Melton died of breast cancer shortly after her retirement.
To honor her sister’s memory, Sue established an endowed
scholarship in her sister’s name with the Louisiana Tech
Foundation. The scholarship benefits the College of Education.
Friends and family later persuaded Sue Melton to rename the
endowment as the Ann Marilyn Melton and Sue Carolyn Melton
Endowed Education Scholarship.
Through the creation of this endowment, the sisters’ life work
of educating and counseling children will be remembered on the
Louisiana Tech campus. The scholarship will provide assistance
to dedicated students who love teaching as much as the Melton
sisters did.
When Elizabeth Odom, a 1941 Tech graduate and retired
teacher in Morehouse Parish, died in 2007, her daughter, Susan
Pincus, wanted to honor her. Pincus chose to establish an
endowed scholarship in the College of Education because her
mother was a passionate Tech fan who encouraged her students
to attend the University. The Elizabeth Morris Odom Endowed
Scholarship will be awarded annually to an education major from
Morehouse Parish.
Establishing Scholarship Endowments at the Tech Foundation
Creating an endowed scholarship at the Louisiana Tech Foundation is a great way to leave a legacy at Tech. Scholarships
also help Tech pursue an important objective: recruiting bright and talented students to our great university. An endowment
can be created with a gift of at least $20,000 and this amount can be reached over a period of up to three years. Corporate
matching money can also be used, if available. Donors have the ability to name the scholarship and to specify many of the
criteria for the awarding of the scholarship.
Establishing Endowed Professorships and Endowed Chairs
Many Tech alumni and friends who want to establish endowments to benefit the University choose to establish endowed
professorships and endowed chairs. Through this program, the state matches a private gift of $60,000 with $40,000 to
create a $100,000 endowed professorship; likewise, a gift of $600,000 is matched with $400,000 to create a $1,000,000
endowed eminent chair. The earnings from professorships support faculty salaries, as well as equipment and supplies for
research. The earnings from endowed chairs assist the University in hiring renowned faculty to direct centers of excellence and
other important academic areas.
www.latech.edu | 27
news about you
What’s new with you?
Do you have news to share in the News About You section? We want to share the stories of your accomplishments and
milestones. Photos are always welcome, too. You can submit your information for News About You online at
www.latechalumni.org where you can click on, “What’s New with You?”
the 2008 President of the Louisiana Home
Builders Association. He is owner/president
of Moore-Built Construction and Restoration,
Inc. in Elm Grove.
1977 .................................
Laura Fountain Flakes
Engineering Success
Hometown: Moss Point, Miss.
Now resides in: Houston
Degree: 1997, B.S., Biomedical Engineering
How I got to Tech: One of my high school teachers was a
Tech alumnus. He was my instructor for a class in diversified
technology. It was a class where we were introduced to different
aspects of technological applications. He told me to look into
Tech. What I liked about Tech was that the student to faculty
ratio was small. That meant I could get more one-on-one time
with my professors.
What I do now: Now I am a structural engineer for Jacobs Technology at NASA/Lyndon B. Johnson
Space Center. Primarily, I’m involved in assessing structural elements that are attached to space
shuttles for their safety and for their structural integrity. I’ve been involved with the Hubble
telescope and the different servicing missions that maintain the telescope. Also, I have been a
part of assessment teams for higher visibility scientific experiments – such as, the Alpha Magnetic
Spectrometer (AMS) and many of the experiment carriers.
After graduating: NASA was always a dream. I wanted to be affiliated with the space industry and
with NASA. I was hired by GHG Corporation shortly after graduation. The company was looking
for engineers from different disciplines to support reliability of hardware built for life sciences. I fit
that profile, since I had a biomedical engineering degree.
My reaction to being named the 2007 Society of Women Engineers’ (SWE) Distinguished New Engineer:
I never thought I’d even qualify to be considered for that award. When I found out I’d won,
I was completely floored. But I was ecstatic. For me, the award means that people recognize
the contributions that I make as a professional. It means that the hard work I put in to learn,
volunteer and give back has made a difference.
Memories of Tech: Going to the Lady Techsters’ games, shooting pool in the bowling alley and
having pizza in between studying for those engineering exams. Those were some of the best times.
Triumphs in my career: When there is a multi-million dollar project that’s being developed, they call
on me to be a part of that team. Also, being recognized by my colleagues in my region (Arkansas,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) as being a leader, and someone who would represent well the
face of women engineers.
1946 .................................
1960 .................................
Lela Jane Schueler Tinstman, biology
and chemistry, is an outdoor and nature
photographer with photos publicized in books,
magazines, travel brochures and newspapers.
She lives in Volente, Texas.
Larry Larance, speech, has written a new book
of short stories, titled A Better Looking Corpse.
He and his wife live in Savannah, Ga.
Kenneth Murchison, history, has written The
Snail Darter Case: TVA Versus the Endangered
Species Act. He is James B. & Betty M. Phillips
Professor at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center in
Baton Rouge.
Jerry W. Box, geology (master’s geology 1968)
has been elected as non-executive chairman of
the board of directors for Newpark Resources,
Inc.
1961 .................................
1962 .................................
Jim David, geology, has joined the Pantera
Petroleum, Inc. Board of Advisors. He is
currently vice president of development and
exploration/director for Bridge Energy.
Fred R. Kellogg, science education, has been
named chair of the Department of Languages
at Emory & Henry College. He and his
wife, Jeannette Boykin Kellogg (elementary
education 1963) live in Emory, Va.
1967 .................................
James L. Horton, industrial management,
has been named as vice president of business
development for ENGlobal Engineering, Inc.
1968 .................................
Marilyn Segura Joiner, English, received the
Golden Pelican Award for “Marketer of the
Year” from the Louisiana Society for Hospital
Public Relations and Marketing. She is
director of marketing and public relations for
Willis-Knighton Health System.
1973 .................................
James T. “Jim”
Montgomery,
zoology, has been
named chief
executive officer
for Corpus Christi
Medical Center. He
will oversee four
hospitals in the
Corpus Christi area.
1974 .................................
Suzanne Showalter Nelson, interior design,
had one of her paintings raise $7,800 during
the Bid for Brotherhood Auction at the Kappa
Alpha Convention in San Antonio.
Jack Shirley, zoology, was honored by the
board of directors of The L.D. Pankey
Dental Foundation, Inc., a governing body
of The Pankey Institute for Advanced Dental
Education, as outgoing foundation president.
1975 .................................
George Perry Moore, Jr., construction
engineering technology, was installed as
Mickie DeMoss,
health and physical
education, has
joined the University
of Texas women’s
basketball program
as an assistant coach.
joshua adams
Environmental Protector
Hometown: Ruston
Now resides in: Starkville, Miss.
Degree: 2003, B.S., Forestry
Further education: 2005, M.S. forestry and quantitative genetics
Mississippi State University, third-year doctoral student, forestry
and molecular genetics, Mississippi State University
How I got to Tech: It was a natural fit. I grew up around Ruston.
My dad is the chair of the forestry department. I had him for four
classes. That was fun!
What I do now: We hear a lot about genetically modified crops in the news. We’re taking that
concept and applying it to trees. We’re manipulating genes in trees to help the environment.
1978 .................................
W. Randall “Randy” Fowler, accounting
(master’s finance 1989), has been elected as
chief financial officer and also promoted to
executive vice president for Enterprise Products
Partners.
Robert A. “Bob” Turner, civil engineering,
has been appointed director of The Southeast
Louisiana Flood Protection Authority. He will
oversee levees and other flood-control projects
in the New Orleans area east of the Mississippi
River.
1979 .................................
Michael N. Beard, geography, retired
from the United States Air Force after 27
years of distinguished service as an Aircraft
Maintenance Officer, F-15C, A-10, T-38
and F-16 pilot. He is now working for
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth
as a business development senior analyst
supporting the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
program.
W. J. “Jody” Richardson, Jr., electrical
engineering, is currently on a six month
deployment to Baghdad, Iraq, working on the
Multinational Force Iraq (MNF-I) staff and
serving as the liaison officer from U.S. Naval
Central Command to MNF-I.
1980 .................................
John I. Parish, geography, retired from the
U.S. Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel and is
now an Air Force JROTC instructor at Flower
Mound High School, Flower Mound, Texas.
1982 .................................
William J. “Bill” Peterson, industrial/
organizational psychology, has joined the
Milwaukee Bucks as an assistant coach for
After graduating: After Tech, I looked around for a graduate school. I went and did my master’s
at Mississippi State for two years. I went into quantitative genetics, which is more math oriented.
When I was working on that, the university started a new lab in molecular genetics, so I’ve been
here ever since.
What I did when I found out I’d won the EPA’s STAR Fellowship: I threw a party! I invited the whole lab.
In lab life, you’re only as strong as the people around you, so we all celebrated. It’s a success more
for the lab than for any individual.
What the EPA fellowship means to me: For me, it’s a good way to break through some barriers. There
aren’t many foresters who receive this fellowship, and not many people from land grant universities
or from this region. The fellowship will continue to fund my research.
What I’m working on now: There are species in the world that for some reason have evolved the
ability to live and flourish in toxic environments. We’re trying to figure out why. We’re trying to
take the factors that allow for this thriving and place them into a high biomass species, such as a
tree. If we can do that, it allows us to accumulate lots of metals. Right now I’m working with zinc,
a common pollutant.
The Tech professor who inspired me: My dad, John Adams.
Memories of Tech: My best memory was the forestry summer camp. Usually forestry students go
between their junior and senior years. You spend all summer with your class. You spend all day
working the field and all night working on reports to hand in the next day.
player development. He has been involved
in coaching basketball on the collegiate and
professional levels since 1978.
1983 .................................
Timothy J. Cutt, petroleum engineering, has
been named president of production for BHP
Billiton Petroleum’s global petroleum business.
1984 .................................
Brian Hirsch, zoology, is the new director of
career services for Trinity University in San
Antonio.
William K. Johnson, Jr., electrical engineering,
director of business development for
Midstream Resources LLC, the wholesale
energy business of Cleco Corp., has been
promoted to general manager for Midstream
commercial operations.
William E. Lacy, marketing, was promoted to
sales manager with Highland Loan Source, a
joint venture between Highland Homes and
Countrywide Home Loans for the Houston area.
1985 .................................
Ameder White
Danzy, mechanical
engineering, was
named one of
Mississippi’s 50
Leading Business
Women for 2007.
She is vice president
of manufacturing
and logistics
operations for
Integrated Management Services.
www.latech.edu | 29
news about you
Dennis McGuffie
aspects of healthcare. She is health information
director at Lallie Kemp Medical Center in
Hammond.
Hometown: Shreveport
1987 .................................
From Paperboy to Vice President
Now resides in: Plano, Texas
Degree: 1980, B.S. Accounting
How I got to Tech: In high school, my group of friends and
I considered Northwestern, Northeast (now the University
of Louisiana at Monroe) and Tech. I wasn’t interested in
Northwestern or Northeast. A group of us decided on Tech.
I knew I wanted to work with numbers. Tech has a good
accounting program, and it has the best business school in the
area.
After graduating: I moved to Houston to work for a public accounting firm. I got married
while I was in college and we were expecting our first child. I graduated on a Saturday, drove to
Houston and started work on a Monday.
What I do now: I’m the vice president of audit services for Tenet Healthcare. I report to the board
of directors and I am responsible for ensuring that we have blueprints for corporations.
Advice to someone who wants to enter my field: Get your certification (CPA) as soon as possible
after graduation. Second, work on your people skills. Accountants tend to be dry, boring,
number-focused people. If you develop a sense of humor and good interaction skills, you’ll stand
out and you’ll be successful.
My toughest professional challenge: Realizing that I’m not in control of circumstances, only how I
react to them. You have to be prepared to deal with that.
The best thing about my job: The people. That was one of the reasons I came. People make a
company great. Our old CEO used to say, ‘If you can’t get along with the people in your
workplace, you shouldn’t be there.’ I enjoy being with a great group of like-minded people.
When I’m not working: I like to spend time with my wife and our four kids.
Memories of Tech: I got married when I was a junior and moved into a duplex across from the
Sigma Nu house. All I had to do was walk to the business building every day. We had no money
and we each had two jobs. One of mine was as a teaching assistant and the other was throwing
papers for the Ruston Daily Leader. We were on our own for the first time. That hard work
made us appreciate what it took to make it when we graduated.
If I’ve learned one thing in life, it is: Don’t expect too much. Keep your head down and work hard
and good things will happen to you.
Grill.”
Matt Dunigan,
business
administration, has
a new book, Going
Deep, about his
football career, in
bookstores. He also
has a new show on
The Food Network
starting in spring
2008 called “Road
Melissa Summerlin Tooley, civil engineering,
was appointed as director to oversee a grant
for a new University Transportation Center
for Mobility at Texas Transportation InstituteTexas A&M University. She and her husband,
Michael Tooley (history 1984), live in College
Station.
1986 .................................
Gary G. Coleman, general studies, is retiring
after 30 years of service as command chief
master sergeant. He was credited with
spearheading an annual $9 million qualityof-life program for the command’s 48,000
members, as well as developing training
programs for enlisted airmen of European and
African allies.
Lisa Pope Hagans, health information
administration, was recognized by the
Metropolitan Who’s Who Registry of
Executives and Professionals for showing
dedication, leadership and excellence in all
governor’s discretion.
Jimmy Faircloth,
pre-law, has been
selected by Governor
Bobby Jindal as his
chief legal advisor.
He will serve as
the governor’s
top legal advisor,
reviewing legislation
and performing
other duties at the
1988 .................................
Ben Haley, electrical engineering and
computer science, has been named research
director at NetQoS. He and his family live in
Austin, Texas.
Greg Rodgers, electrical engineering
technology, has accepted a staff position at the
2,000-member Genoa Church in Westerville,
Ohio as executive pastor.
Prentiss E. Searles, electrical engineering
technology, was promoted to the position of
marketing issues manager for the American
Petroleum Institute. He and his family live in
Gaithersburg, Md.
Kathy Marsh Shaffer, architecture, has written
a coffee table book, Houseboats, Aquatic
Architecture of Sausalito. The book focuses on
the correlation between architecture and the
culture of a community. She lives in Sausalito,
Calif.
Randy Alan Smith, social sciences (master’s
counseling 1991), has recently returned from
his third tour in Iraq and is currently attending
Command and General Staff College at Ft.
Leavenworth, Kan.
1989 .................................
Melissa Spring Benjamin, graphic design, was
named November Artist of the Month for the
Southeast Oklahoma Fine Arts Association.
She and her family live in McAlester, Okla.
Dwayne S. Hamilton, civil engineering, has
been promoted to vice president and director
of Halff Associates in Houston. He and his
wife, Gloria Flores Hamilton (accounting
1988) live in Katy, Texas.
Kathy Conville Sims, elementary education
(master’s curriculum instruction 1997) has
authored and illustrated a bilingual (French/
English) book, Louisiana Potpourri From A
to Z, showcasing many of Louisiana’s state
symbols, traditions and places.
1990 .................................
Susan Johnson Guy, elementary education,
received the 2007 National Leavey Award for
Teaching given by The Freedoms Foundation
of Philadelphia. She is an entrepreneur teacher
at Aldine (Texas) Independent School District.
Marcus L. Morton, business management
and entrepreneurship (master’s business
management and entrepreneurship 1992),
has been named the 2007 Entrepreneur of
the Year by the Louisiana Business Incubation
Association. He is president and co-founder
of the Louisiana Tech-headquartered Network
Foundation Technologies.
1992 .................................
Anthony W. Galli, electrical engineering
(master’s electrical engineering 1994), recently
accepted a position as director of development
for FPL Energy. He and his wife, Amy
Hancock Galli (child life and family studies
1994) live in Katy, Texas.
Jerry R. Johnson, graphic design, received
the Wallace D. Malone, Jr. Distinguished
Faculty Award for 2007. He is professor and
department chairman of art and design at Troy
University.
Brian K. Richardson, industrial/organizational
psychology, founded the communication
training firm, New Script Communication. He
is a professor at the University of North Texas.
vu myers
licensed for success
Hometown: Fort Polk
Now resides in: Fairfield, Calif.
Degree: 1994, B.A., English
Further education: 1996, M.A. History
How I got to Tech: In my teens, I had a job at the Fort Polk
Commissary. Often, college kids worked there during their
summer breaks to earn extra money for school. Two of my
co-workers attended Tech and talked about it a lot. I became
curious about Tech, so a group of girls from my high school
decided to do a campus survey. There was something about a smaller campus with high
academic standards that appealed to me.
What I do now: I am the licensing manager for Jelly Belly Candy Company. Jelly Belly’s core
products are jelly beans and other confectionaries, so anything that carries the Jelly Belly name
and is not manufactured on site (lip balms, cologne, pillows, puzzles, clothing, teddy bears, bath
products, etc.) is typically a licensed product. My job is to manage the entire program and to
make sure that all products that carry the Jelly Belly brand are as top notch as our core products.
After graduating: I was visiting one of my best friends (a fellow Tech student) while she was
working for the Thomas Kinkade Gallery in Monterey, Calif. My intention was to stay the
summer and then return home. Well, that summer turned into 11 years. While living in
Monterey, I worked for the artist, Thomas Kinkade, for 10 years before moving to Fairfield to
work for Jelly Belly Candy Company.
An average day in my life at Jelly Belly: It’s mostly administrative work consisting of e-mails and
phone calls to clients and our licensing agents. The fun part of my job is testing new products
and seeing the finished product before it appears on retail shelves.
My toughest professional challenge: As in life, severing relationships with longtime business
partners is one of the hardest things I’ve experienced.
Memories of Tech: I was a DJ for KLPI for four years and loved doing my radio show. I was also
one of the lucky people who experienced the Tech Rome program, which was one of the best
summers of my life. And most of all, I love the lifelong friendships I developed while living in
Ruston. The friendships are the most important part of my experiences and memories at Tech.
Triumphs in my life: I do not measure the triumphs in my life with money, possessions,
recognition or power. I ask myself, ‘Am I happy?’ I made this my life’s goal. So far, I have done
quite well.
Robin C. Thomas, chemical engineering,
has been promoted to product managerpetroleum additives/urethanes with Chemtura
Corporation. She lives in West Lafayette, Ind.
branch operations, talent management, client
service and sales.
1995 .................................
1997 .................................
Paige Mooney Besson, technical writing,
has been named vice president for corporate
communications for Site Controls, an Austin,
Texas based energy management business
intelligence and grid efficiency solutions
company. She and her family live in Marietta, Ga.
Brent D. Barnett, sociology, has received the
1st Sgt. Jerry R. Galloway Award from the
Louisiana Army National Guard’s 1022nd
Engineer Company in West Monroe. He
is employed by the Jackson Parish Sheriff ’s
Department as a K-9 officer and senior patrol
supervisor.
1996 .................................
Shawn Patterson, finance, has joined MDI- a
high-growth project services and professional
staffing firm – to lead its expanding Dallas
branch. He will be responsible for overall
Paul L. Bordelon, accounting, took office as
the 2007-08 president of the central Louisiana
chapter of the Society of Louisiana CPAs. He
is manager of corporate controls for Cleco
Corp., in Pineville.
1998 .................................
Martie J. Cordaro, marketing, was promoted
from assistant general manager to general
manager of the Omaha Royals – Triple A team
of the Kansas City Royals.
Kyle A. Ferachi, prelaw, has joined the
firm of McGlinchey
Stafford, PLLC as an
associate practicing
in the labor and
employment section.
He and his wife,
Kara King Ferachi
(animal biology 1998)
live in Baton Rouge.
www.latech.edu | 31
news about you
1999 .................................
Andrew D. Armond, English and music,
has joined the faculty at Oklahoma Baptist
University as assistant professor of English.
He received his master’s degree in English
language and literature and a Ph.D. in English
at Baylor University.
John Baine, accounting, has been named 2008
president of the Arkansas Jaycees. He is an
accountant with Murphy Oil Corporation in
El Dorado, Ark.
Marty W. French, accounting (master’s
accounting 2001), was selected to serve on
the Society of Louisiana CPA’s first-ever
Young CPA Board representing the non-profit
association’s 800 plus members aged 35 and
under. He is a tax manager with Booth Giger
& Company in Monroe.
2000 .................................
Kenneth A. Klemme, business, has completed
his master of divinity degree and has enrolled
in the doctorate of ministry degree program at
Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky.
Thomas M. Nealeigh, theatre, is founder and
executive director of FreakShow Deluxe, LLC,
whose highlights include classic carnival-style
sideshow stunts as well as variety acts.
Stay connected.
Join the Louisiana Tech Alumni Association today.
Jonathan W. Lee, computer information
systems, has been promoted to supervisor of
network administrators for Willis-Knighton
Health System in Shreveport. He is responsible
for all four hospitals’ network/server
infrastructure as well as all data security.
Rebekah Cobb McClain, biology, graduated
from Belmont University with a doctorate in
physical therapy.
2004 .................................
Kelvin J. Cochran, industrial/organizational
psychology, has been named fire chief of
Atlanta’s (Ga.) Fire Department. He has had
a 26-year career in Shreveport, serving as
training officer and assistant chief training
officer before being named fire chief in 1999.
Randall Jay Langham, architecture, has joined
Alliance Inc. as an intern architect. He and
his wife, Sarah Crawford Langham (graphic
design 2003) live in Shreveport.
Kedrick Jermaine Mahoney, computer
information systems, has started his own
record label – Southern Bay Records and has
released a compact disc titled “Truth and
Love.” His stage/artist name is Jurmane.
writing features, quizzes, blogs, and will be
responsible for contests and sweepstakes. She
lives in New York City.
“Joining The alumni association is one of the best ways alumni can
invest in tech. our network keeps you connected to important
Arden Lot Moore, mechanical engineering,
received his master’s degree in mechanical
engineering from the University of Texas at
Austin.
information you won’t want to miss, from campus happenings and
milestones in the lives of your friends, to the latest news about
advancement. call now!” (318-255-7950)
Vickie S. Orr, history, received her Georgia
Workers’ Compensation Certification in June
of 2007. She is a case manager associate with
the Floyd Medical Center in Rome, Ga.
- John Allen (‘73), Alumni Association President
William Russell “Rusty” White, electrical
engineering, has accepted a position as an
electrical engineer with a new electrical
engineering firm, Brown Engineers, LLC in
Little Rock, Ark.
2006 .................................
Chris David Cicirello, chemical engineering,
has been promoted from ATP to technical
professional with Halliburton Energy Services
in Vernal, Utah.
2005 .................................
2001 .................................
Tia Johnson Crowley, sociology, is a 2007
graduate from Southern University at New
Orleans with a master’s in Urban Education.
She is a special education teacher at Einstein
Charter School in New Orleans.
Julie E. Miller,
journalism, has
been promoted
to associate Web
editor at Seventeen
Magazine. She will
be working on the
company’s Web site,
Please cut along dotted line and send to the following address or join online at www.latechalumni.org/association.
Alumni Information Update – mail to: Alumni Association | P.O. Box 3183 | Ruston LA 71272
________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: Last
First
Middle/Maiden
Class
Degree
________________________________________________________________________________________
Spouse’s Name: Last
First
Middle/Maiden
Coll./Univ. & Class
Degree
________________________________________________________________________________________
Home Address: Street
thank you
for your support.
Guoming Chen & Si-Hong Chu
Rick & Alicia Fontenot
Charles L. Gray, Jr.
Barbara G. Grigsby
Rick & Barbara Hebert
Roody Herold
Josh & Lisa Hindmon
Larry L. Jones
These names have been added to the lifetime roster since the previous issue of the magazine.
State
ZIP
Home Phone #
________________________________________________________________________________________
Employer
Gary & Kelly Keers
Steve & Margaret Koskie
O. Max Lee
Cliff & Debra Merritt
A. Wayne Owens
Skip & Carolyn Russell
Donald & Laura Sandberg
Patrick & Annette Seamands
Bus. Address
Bus. Phone #
Position
________________________________________________________________________________________
The Louisiana Tech Alumni Association salutes these Lifetime Members:
Ernest & Sylvia Adams
Stein & Patti Baughman
Eileen H. Baur
Michael W. Benjamin
Lamar & Dorothy Buffington
Eddy J. Burks
Michael L. Burrow
P. Thomas Causey
City
James H. Shaw
Kenneth & Sheri Smith
Richard L. Smith
Christopher M. Storey
Tom & Barbara Thomas
Jonathan M. Tynes
Brett P. Weimer
Charles & Susan Woods
Spouse’s Employer
Bus. Address
Bus. Phone #
Position
________________________________________________________________________________________
Email Address
Spouse’s Email Address
■ $35 Single Membership ■ $50 Joint Membership ■ $500 Single Life Membership ■ $600 Joint Life Membership
I have enclosed: $______________
Charge to my
■ Visa ■ MasterCard
Please
make your check payable to the Louisiana Tech Alumni Association.
Thank
you for your membership and continued support of Louisiana Tech.
_______________________________________________________________
Card Number
Expiration Date
_______________________________________________________________
Signature as it appears on your credit card

SILICON BAYOU - Louisiana Tech Alumni

Transcription

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