ByLion--November 28

IN THIS ISSUE ... 

Levy to address graduates

Fiddler on the Roof Dec. 2

Stiegler honored

Student journalists recognized

Packing supplies for the troops

Vocal performance students honored

Students present at conference

SSSRC now student run research center

Southeastern in the news

This Week in Athletics 

Professional activities


Board of Regents Chair to address Southeastern graduatesRobert W. Levy    
Robert W. Levy, the current chair of the Louisiana Board of Regents, will serve as commencement speaker at Southeastern’s fall graduation ceremonies on Saturday, Dec. 10.
     Scheduled at 10 a.m. at the University Center, the ceremony will recognize approximately 1,290 students receiving bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees.
     The commencement ceremony will feature the introduction of this year’s class of “Golden Graduates,” members of the Class of 1961 and previous years, who will lead the new graduates into the University Center dressed in golden academic regalia.
     Levy, a resident of Ruston, is currently serving his fourth six-year term as district attorney for the Third Judicial District, which covers Lincoln and Union parishes. He was appointed in 2001 to the 15-member Board of Regents, a state agency charged with coordinating the efforts of Louisiana’s 34 public higher education institutions and serves as the state liaison to Louisiana’s other accredited independent colleges and universities. The board sets important statewide policies and standards including minimum admissions requirements, as well as benchmarks and targets for the GRAD Act – Louisiana’s signature higher education reform policy.
     A graduate of Nicholls State University, he earned his law degree from the LSU School of Law. Levy serves as a Regents’ representative to the Blue Ribbon Commission for Educational Excellence and to the Louisiana High School Redesign Commission. A member of the Board of Directors of Louisiana Next Horizon and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, he is the immediate past chairman of the Council for a Better Louisiana.
     Levy is the past president of the Louisiana District Attorneys Association and served six years on the Judicial Council of the Louisiana Supreme Court. He is a member of the Louisiana Law Institute Criminal Procedure Committee. He founded and serves as chairman of the board of the Third Judicial District Attorney’s Truancy Assessment and Service Center. He also founded and serves as chairman of the Pine Hills Child Advocacy Center Inc. and the Pine Hills Sexual Assault Center.


Award winning “Fiddler on the Roof” coming to Columbia Theatre   
“Fiddler on the Roof,” winner of nine Tony® Awards, is coming to Southeastern’s Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts for one show only on Friday, Dec. 2.
     Presented by the Jefferson Performing Arts Society (JPAS), the production begins at 7:30 p.m. in the downtown Hammond theatre.
Columbia Theatre Interim Director C. Roy Blackwood is excited about the performance.
      “The ever popular ‘Fiddler’ comes to Columbia’s stage as a tradition-bound yet fresh description of the human condition,” said Blackwood. “With a deeper focus on the rich humanity of the main characters, Tevye, for example, represents a universal ‘Everyman’ struggling to maintain his family, his faith and his very identity in the face of an ever-changing world that makes ruin of tradition.”
     In the little village of Anatevka Tevye, a poor dairy man, tries to instill in his five daughters the traditions of his tight-knit Jewish community in the face of changing social mores and the growing anti-Semitism of Czarist Russia. 
      “When ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ opened in 1964, it was among the last of a generation of American musicals before the onslaught of massive spectacle replacing substance,” Blackwood said. “Book and music were integral to one another, and songs advanced the development of characters and plot. Join us for a delightfully heart-rending performance of this American classic.”
     Tickets range from $30 - $36 and are available at the Columbia Theatre box office on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by phone at (985) 543-4371. Patrons may also get tickets online at www.columbiatheatre.org.
Stiegler selected ASHA “Face of Inspiration”    

Lillian StieglerLillian Stiegler, a specialist in the field of autism spectrum disorders at Southeastern, was honored by the American Speech-Language & Hearing Association at its annual convention Nov. 17-19 in San Diego.
     She is one of 20 professionals across the nation selected as ASHA’s “Faces of Inspiration,” an activity intended to recognize “colleagues who serve as beacons of inspiration in their everyday work and whose innovations make a positive impact in the professions,” according to the association.
     A professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Stiegler was nominated by Paula Currie, head of the department.
      “Lilly is certainly a Face of Inspiration,” said Currie. “Service is not just a part of her role in the university setting, but it is truly the embodiment of who she is as a person. She sincerely and generously gives students, colleagues, and individuals with disabilities her many gifts and talents with no expectation of anything in return.”
     A resident of Covington, Stiegler has been recognized by the Greater New Orleans Chapter of the Autism Society of America with the Award for Higher Education Excellence. She served as a technical consultant to the Lifetime movie “Miracle Run,” based on the story of a single mother struggling to raise twin boys with autism. She was the 2010 recipient of the Southeastern Award for Excellence in Faculty Service, one of the highest honors the university bestows on faculty.


Student journalists recognized at ACP/CMA Convention   

Two student journalists at Southeastern were recognized at the Associated Collegiate Press/College Media Advisors (ACP/CMA) National Fall Convention held in Orlando, Fla., in October.
     Yearbook editors Chelsee LaMarca, a junior kinesiology major from Ponchatoula, and Emily Melancon, a senior special education major from Prairieville, were recognized for their work on the 2011 edition of “Le Souvenir,” Southeastern’s annual yearbook. The pair of students garnered 8th place in the “Yearbook less than 300 pages” category of the “Best in Show” competition.
     Student advisors Lee Lind and Lorraine Favre attended the conference with three Southeastern students – Chris Martin of Albany, Brooke Kimball of Walker and Tony Romain of Slidell. All attendees had a variety of opportunities to attend workshops and training sessions during the five-day convention.
     Romain entered the “Orlando Shootout,” an onsite photography competition at the conference. Although he did not win, two of his photos were selected to appear on Bradley Wilson’s website slideshow of photography. Wilson, who coordinated the onsite competition, is a fine-art photographer working in New York City, Los Angeles, and Santa Fe. He has worked in the industry for over 15 years with a number of clients that include GQ, Esquire, Sony, Tivo, and Verizon.
     The Associated Collegiate Press is the largest and oldest national membership organization for college student media in the United States. The ACP is a division of the National Scholastic Press Association. It awards the newspaper, magazine, and online National Pacemaker Awards, which are considered the highest honors a student publication can receive.
     College Media Advisers (CMA), formerly known as National Council of College Publication Advisers, was established in 1956 and is a United States national association of higher education professionals which exists to promote established standards and practices in college media advising.


Packing supplies for troopsPacking supplies for troops    

Cal Broussard of Poley, vice president of Southeastern’s Student Veterans Association, and Secretary/Treasurer Harmony Tadlock of Walker prepare packages of snacks, toiletries, books, games and other items to send to U.S. trooops serving overseas. The SSVA conducted a drive across the Southeastern campus to collect the supplies and got special promotional support from KSLU radio, the university’s Office of Veterans Services, and the Lady Lions Basketball team in their “Salute the Heroes” Veterans Day game Nov. 11.


Vocal performance students collect top spots in singing competition    
Three Southeastern vocal performance students collected first place awards in singing at the recent National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) regional convention.
     Conducted Nov. 10-12 at Mississippi College in Clinton, the competition drew more than 600 student participants from Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.
     Winning the competitions in their particular categories were freshman Jordan Cressy of Mandeville in the older students category; freshman BriAnna DeWar of Slidell in the freshmen women category; and junior Joshua Williams of Mandeville in the junior men’s category.
     Three other Southeastern students participated in the final round of competition. They included junior Sarah Bertrand of Covington, third place, junior women; senior Damian Faul of Amite, third place, senior men; and senior Kayla Louis of Ponchatoula, fourth place, senior women.
      “Our students showed considerable poise in a very competitive atmosphere against students of the same training levels and age,” said Alissa Rowe, Southeastern vocal area coordinator, who accompanied the students. “They performed beautifully.”
     Twenty-four students from Southeastern sang on the initial day of competition, with 21 moving further into the competition.
Chemistry students present at conferenceUniversity of Texas campus tour   
Eleven chemistry students presented their research work at the Southwest Regional American Chemical Society Meeting in Austin, Texas, Nov. 10-12. Faculty sponsors for the event included Dr. Zhengrong Li, Dr. Jean Fotie, Dr. David Norwood and Dr. Debra Dolliver.  
     Kimberly Caruso also accompanied two high school students who performed summer chemistry research at Southeastern under the direction of Dr. Zhengrong Li. The high school student work was funded by the American Chemical Society’s Project Seed Program.   
     Southeastern’s chemistry students toured the campus of the University of Texas under the guidance of Jordan Dinser, Southeastern graduate and second year U.T. chemistry graduate student.

Participants in the University of Texas campus tour included, from left, Bijay Bhattarai, Dr. Jean Fotie, Saurav Malla, Sarjun Adhikari, Brandon Mobley, Paula McCahill, Jordan Dinser, Jessica Rhodus, Apsana Shrestha, Dr. David Norwood, Nancy Massawe, Ciera Thrash, Arjun Pandey, Amber Bordelon, Patrick Flowers, and Dr. Debra Dolliver.


SSSRC now student-run research center   
The Southeastern Social Science Research Center (SSSRC) has been re-designated as a student-run research center. Without compromising on administrative oversight, undergraduate and graduate student staff members have taken on leadership and research roles and responsibilities, which this year culminated in presentations of research by all four sociology student staff members at the Mid-South Sociological Association in Little Rock, Ark. 
     SSSRC students are learning about collaborative research through a project involving Dr. Aron Culotta (Computer Science) and Benjamin Mandel, computer science student. Two SSSRC students, Danielle Stark and Jeremy Rodrigue, are working with the team to analyze how people respond to natural disasters on social media sites.
     Center Manager Tracy Rathbun has primary responsibility for programming and maintaining the computer-assisted telephone interviewing system at the center. Using data collected last fall of a random sample of Tangipahoa voters, she presented the paper “School Desegregation:  A Case Study of a School Board’s Actions in South Louisiana” at the Mid-South meetings and co-authored, with Daniel Orser, Sociology graduate research assistant, the paper “Teaching Research Methods through Service Learning: Embedding Segregation into the Mix” that was submitted by Dr. Bonnie Lewis.
     Orser is also doing his thesis research at SSSRC. “Student Voices Study,” which was presented on at the MSSA conference, is an exploratory study in which he combines video interviewing methods, Paulo Freire’s method of dialogue, and Facebook in order to catch a glimpse of the lived realities of Southeastern students. 
     Other studies being generated by SSSRC students include: “Counts in Time:  Rural Homelessness” by Erica Dickerson, which uses data collected through the 2011 Louisiana Point-in-Time Homeless Census; and Danielle Stark, “An Evaluation of Objectives, Audience, and Processes of St. Tammany Toys for Tots of Slidell.” 
Southeastern in the news   

Baton Rouge Advocate
SLU graduate students honored for research
http://theadvocate.com/news/livingston/1286154-123/slu-graduate-students-honored-for.html  
SLU grad, TV co-anchor honored
http://theadvocate.com/news/livingston/1286245-123/slu-grad-tv-co-anchor-robin.html

Instructor at SLU honored with award
http://theadvocate.com/news/livingston/1344655-123/instructor-at-slu-honored-with.html
Comments sought on SLU nursing program
http://theadvocate.com/news/livingston/1344655-123/instructor-at-slu-honored-with.html
SLU wins grant to study Tangipahoa schools’ air
http://theadvocate.com/news/livingston/1361767-123/slu-wins-grant-to-study.html

 

Hammond Daily Star
Board of Regents chair to address commencement
http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2011/11/20/top_stories/education/5553.txt

 

WAFB.com
Southeastern LSBDC to host Customer Service Seminar in Washington Parish
http://tangipahoa.wafb.com/news/business/51206-free-seminar-customer-service

Southeastern journalism students honored
http://tangipahoa.wafb.com/news/business/51238-southeastern-journalism-students-honored


This Week in Athletics   

The Southeastern men’s and women’s basketball teams will both host in-state non-conference opponents during this week in Southeastern Athletics.
     The Lions (3-2) welcome Louisiana Tech to the University Center for the first time in 20 years on Wednesday at 7 p.m. On Saturday, Southeastern hits the road for a 7:30 p.m. contest at Southeast Missouri.
     The Lady Lions (3-2) have three games on tap this week. On Tuesday, Southeastern will host Louisiana-Lafayette at 7 p.m. in the University Center. Southeastern will then head to Alabama for a 6:30 p.m. contest on Friday, before returning home to host Spring Hill on Sunday at 3 p.m.
     Fans attending Tuesday and Wednesday’s midweek games will be treated to a special halftime show. The ACRODUNK Extreme Dunkers will provide the halftime entertainment with their unique blend of acrobatics, dunking and humor as seen on NBC’s America’s Got Talent.
     Junior guard Taylor Mims will be Tuesday’s Spotlight Player of the Game, while freshman forward Summer Postell will be recognized on Sunday. The first 100 fans will receive a trading card featuring the Spotlight Player of the Game courtesy of the Southeastern PRIDE.
     All of this week’s basketball games will be broadcast live in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the Internet at www.LionSports.net.

Tuesday, November 29
Women’s Basketball, vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, University Center, 7 p.m. (KSLU)
Wednesday, November 30
Men’s Basketball, vs. Louisiana Tech, University Center, 7 p.m. (KSLU)
Friday, December 2
Women’s Basketball, at Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala., 6:30 p.m. (KSLU)
Saturday, December 3
Men’s Basketball, at Southeast Missouri, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 7:30 p.m. (KSLU)
Sunday, December 4
Women’s Basketball, vs. Spring Hill, University Center, 3 p.m. (KSLU)

Southeastern home events in bold


Professional activities   

Dr. Rhett Allain (Chemistry and Physics) and undergraduate Chad Sziszak participated in the Physics Day sponsored by both the National Association of Science Teachers and the American Association of Physics Teachers at the NSTA regional meeting held in New Orleans. Allain gave an invited talk “Physics from the Internet,” and Allain and Sziszak gave an invited talk together called “Simple and Inexpensive Physics Demos.”
     William B. Robison (History and Political Science) has written an article on “Sir Richard Mabott” for the forthcoming ‘Londoners’ update of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
     Dr. Kenneth E. Lane (Educational Leadership and Technology) was elected Vice President of the Education Law Association, the premier source of information on education law, at the annual conference in Chicago Nov. 9-12. Through the line of succession, he will be President of the organization in 2014.
     Kathleen Campbell (Educational Leadership and Technology) presented two papers at the Mid-South Educational Research Association in Oxford, Miss., Nov. 2 - 4, “Validating an Instrument to Measure Professional Dispositions of Educational Leadership Candidates” with co-author Mindy Crain-Dorough (Educational Leadership and Technology), and “Social, Political, and Educational Issues of K-12 Schools and Universities in the Mid-South in the 1970’s” with co-authors Betty Porter of the School Leadership Center of Greater New Orleans and Jane Nell Luster of LSU Health Sciences Center. At the MSETA business meeting Crain-Dugough was elected to the post of At-Large Director and Campbell was chosen to be the Program Chair for the 2012 meeting in Lexington, Ky.
     Dr. Hye-Young Kim (Physics) and Dr. Wendy Zhang (Computer Science) were invited as a team to attend the Education Program Workshop at the SC11 Conference held at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle (Nov 12-15, 2011). SC is the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis.
     Harry S. Laver’s (History and Political Science) co-edited book, The Art of Command: Military Leadership from George Washington to Colin Powell, was recently translated into traditional Chinese for the Republic of China Armed Forces (Taiwan).
     Kris T. Jones (Accounting & Finance) and co-author Roy W. Whitehead (University of Central Arkansas) had their article “The IRS and the ‘Responsible Person’ for Paying Employment Taxes” published in the November issue of The CPA Journal.
     Ephraim Massawe (Computer Science and Industrial Technology) addressed the southwest regional meeting of the American Chemical Society meeting on “Nanoinformatics for nanoscale chemistry and nanotechnology: Opportunities for preventing occupational exposures in nanoenabled remediation.” In his presentation, Masssawe pointed out the safety considerations for environmental remediation of Superfund and other abandoned waste sites that use slurries containing iron, silver and other metal-based nanomaterials. He noted advantages of nanomaterials offer potentially successful  opportunities in the remedial field, including lower costs that traditional “pump and treat” technologies, but that there is little real toxicological data available for nanomaterials in general.


ByLion is published weekly online (bi-weekly during the summer session) for the faculty and staff of Southeastern Louisiana University. Send submissions to publicinfo@selu.edu, SLU 10880, fax 985-549-2061, or bring to Public Information Office in East Stadium. Submission deadline is 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Return to By-Lion directory


 CONTACT USCAMPUS MAPSEARCH & DIRECTORIESBLACKBOARDLEONETWEBMAIL