Southeastern faculty, staff receive top awards at convocation
Monday, August 14, 2017 
by: Rene Abadie
SOUTHEASTERN FACULTY AND STAFF HONORED AT CONVOCATION - Southeastern Louisiana University opened the 2017-18 academic year Friday (Aug. 11) with its fall convocation that included presentation of the President’s Awards for Excellence, the university’s highest honor for faculty and staff. From left are award recipients Todd Delaney, Claire Hopson Procopio, Ernest Milsted and Thomas Sommerfeld. Congratulating them is Southeastern President John L. Crain, far right.
HAMMOND -- Southeastern Louisiana University opened the 2017-18 academic year Friday
(Aug. 11) with its fall convocation that included presentation of the President’s
Awards for Excellence, the university’s highest honor for faculty and staff.
The event also included announcement of newly endowed scholarships and professorships
and recognition of service awards to faculty and staff who have worked at the university
for 25, 30, 35, 40 and 50 years.
Receiving the President’s Awards for Excellence were Associate Professor Ernest
Milsted, artistic activity; Thomas Sommerfeld, professor of chemistry, research; Claire
Hopson Procopio, professor of communication, teaching; and Todd Delaney, general manager
and program director for KSLU radio station, unclassified staff service.
Milsted is widely recognized for using his photographer’s eye and print-making
skills to call attention to the issues of coastal erosion and climate change in his
hometown area of south Louisiana. His art has been displayed in over 60 exhibitions
across the United States and around the world in museums and galleries as far as Australia,
Spain, France and the United Kingdom.
Sommerfeld was honored for bringing international recognition to Southeastern
for his work in the field of theoretical quantum chemistry and computer modeling at
the molecular level. At Southeastern he has received several research grants from
sources such as the National Science Foundation and the American Chemical Society.
His research and teaching go hand-in-hand, as he involves undergraduate students in
his work, providing them with real-world experience in research.
As a communication professor, Procopio knows the importance of students learning
verbal communication skills that can lead to success in the workplace. She is also
the director of Southeastern’s Honors Program and has instituted several initiatives
that have resulted in increased enrollment in the program.
Delaney has directed Southeastern’s award-winning public radio station KSLU since
2001. He works with area high schools in helping start their own radio stations and
uses his industry contacts to establish internships that provide students with practical
experience. He volunteers with several non-profit organizations, including Child Advocacy
Services, The United Way, OPTIONS and the Louisiana Children’s Discovery Center in
Hammond.
The university also announced the establishment of the J.W. McClimans Endowed
Professorship in Mathematics, in honor of the former head of mathematics at Southeastern,
and two First Generation Endowed Scholarships, also in his honor; and the establishment
of the Charles Emery Cate First Generation Scholarship, named in honor of one of the
City of Hammond’s founding fathers.
