| IN THIS ISSUE ... | ||
|
|
Faculty and Staff Holiday Open House scheduled Wednesday
The annual Faculty and Staff Holiday Open House will be held at the President's Residence
on Wednesday, Dec. 10, between 3:30 and 5 p.m. Please plan to drop by during that
time.
Traffic changes planned for commencement December 13
Motorists and visitors planning to attend Southeastern's commencement ceremonies on
Saturday, Dec. 13, should anticipate heavy traffic and route changes affecting University
Avenue (Hwy. 3234) between Interstate 55 and North Cherry Street.
Jose Barrios Ng, who has led current efforts to modernize the Panama Canal, will
speak at the ceremony, where nearly 1,200 students will receive associate, bachelor's,
master's and doctoral degrees at the 10 a.m. ceremony in the University Center. Barrios
will also receive the honorary Doctor of Humanities Degree at the event scheduled
for 10 a.m. at the University Center.
Harold Todd, director of University Police, said the section of University Avenue
between West Lion Lane and SGA Drive will be restricted from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. that
day. Local traffic will be allowed to proceed on University Avenue for as long as
possible, but will be diverted through the campus as congestion increases.
Prior to commencement, the University Center parking areas are expected to fill
early, and all traffic on University Avenue will be diverted. Eastbound commencement
traffic will be diverted to West Lion Lane for parking at the University Center, and
westbound commencement traffic will be diverted to the campus at SGA Drive.
"Traffic will begin to get heavy early in the morning," said Todd. "We anticipate
the parking areas around the University Center to be filled before 9 a.m."
Additional parking spaces around the University Center will be set aside for
vehicles with appropriate handicapped placards. Individuals requiring handicap accommodations
should try to arrive as early as possible.
Vacant parking spaces in the Southeastern Oaks/Greek Village complex will also
be used for this event. Residents are requested to use the back gate near the laundry
facility and maintenance warehouse for entering and exiting between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Southeastern Lion Traxx shuttle buses will be in operation before and after the
ceremony to accommodate those parking in outlying areas or needing special transportation
assistance, Todd said. Shuttle stops will be marked with signs and/or canopies.
Drivers not attending commencement are asked to use U.S. 190 (Thomas Street and Morris
Street) or Natalbany Road (Hwy. 1064) to avoid University Avenue traffic.
Southeastern students wishing to return rental textbooks that day should wait
until after 2 p.m. to do so.
"We want our Southeastern students to have a great graduation ceremony," Todd
added. "They've certainly earned it."
Southeastern accounting program ranked by "Accounting Degree Review" web site
Southeastern's undergraduate degree program in accounting has been ranked 19th in
the country by the web site Accounting Degree Review.
Southeastern is ranked 19th in the listing of the 30 most affordable residential
degree programs in accounting.
To be considered for the listing, the institution must first be accredited by
AACSB, considered the premier accreditation agency in the world for business and accounting
programs. The accreditation designation means the program meets specific standards
of excellence and is earned by less than five percent of the world's business schools.
A separate accreditation in accounting requires an additional layer of high quality
standards that are specific to the discipline and profession of accounting.
Accounting Degree Review is an independent and objective resource for current
and prospective accounting and finance students that uses data-based rankings and
critical review of the top traditional and online accounting and finance degree programs.
The site compared schools by examining annual tuition and fees for out-of-state incoming
freshmen enrolling in the 2014-15 academic year, as well as scholarship and financial
aid information and career advice.
"We are delighted to receive this news about our accounting program. Affordability
is a major factor for students in selecting their degree programs, but the quality
of the program and the success of its students are most important," said John L. Crain,
Southeastern president.
Crain noted that the accounting program was one of several at Southeastern that
will receive additional funding from the state through the WISE (Workforce & Innovation
for a Stronger Economy) program. The additional funds will help increase instructional
capacity, student financial assistance and program operating support.
Interim Dean of the College of Business Antoinette Phillips said the ranking
demonstrates the high expectations the program places on student success.
"Even with the tuition increases over recent years, it is good to know that our
program represents a significant value for our students," said Phillips. "Quality
of the program remains high, and we believe this is why so many of our students are
highly recruited by graduate schools, area businesses and accounting firms."
Phillips said all programs in the College of Business are accredited by AACSB
with the accounting program receiving a separate and distinct accreditation by the
international agency.
Accounting Degree Review noted Southeastern's two campus organizations for accounting
majors, a Beta Alpha Psi chapter and a National Association of Black Accountants student
chapter. The department also employs an accounting internship director to help students
who want to earn credit hours while gaining work experience.
The full report can be accessed at www.accounting-degree.org/most-affordable-bachelors-in-accounting/.
SOUTHEASTERN ACCOUNTING IS RANKED – Southeastern Accounting Professor Robert Braun makes a point in an accounting class he teaches. The program has been ranked 19th in the nation among the 30 most affordable residential degree programs by Accounting Degree Review.
Southeastern art/design program receives accreditation
Southeastern's art and design program has received full-member accreditation status
by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.
The accreditation means the Southeastern program meets specific national criteria
following a non-governmental system of academic review that include an evaluation
and independent judgment by peers, explained Ken Boulton, interim head of the Department
of Fine and Performing Arts.
"Accreditation is considered a seal of approval and is traditionally used by
students and parents in selecting a school of art and design," he said. "It follows
a process of self-assessment of how well a program meets NASAD criteria and a site
visit by a team of peers who independently review the program."
Southeastern is among approximately 320 programs in the nation to be accredited
by NASAD. The program provides a comprehensive curriculum that integrates artistic
study within a liberal arts education. Graduates typically pursue careers as professional
artists, museum and gallery professionals and graphic designers.
The program offers degrees or concentrations in art education, art history, printmaking,
sculpture, ceramics, graphic design, drawing, painting, photography and new media
and animation, which has been cited over the past two years among the best in the
South by "Animation and Career Review."
Southeastern Police Department awarded LHSC grant
The Southeastern Police Department has been awarded a one year, $10,000 grant from
the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission (LHSC) to conduct additional traffic safety
enforcement. The primary goal of the grant is to reduce fatal and injury crashes on
Louisiana roadways.
"Our students and employees travel the parish roads every day and commute from
surrounding parishes," said Lt. Patrick Gipson. "We want everyone to arrive at their
destination safely. That's why we conduct highway safety enforcement."
The grant provides funding for officers to work overtime conducting day and night
occupant protection and impaired driving enforcement. The University Police Department
also plans to participate in the LHSC and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's
(NHTSA) "Click It or Ticket" and "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" campaigns.
"Enforcement is only part of the effort," explained Harold Todd, director of
University Police at Southeastern. "We will also be collaborating with local partners
to educate our students about safe driving habits."
Local partners, Todd said, include Tangipahoa – Reshaping Attitudes for Community
Change (TRACC), Peer Educators Educating Peers (PEEPs), the Hammond City Police Department,
Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office, and Louisiana State Police.
"Our efforts are part of a community-wide effort to save lives," added Todd.
"If everyone works together and encourages their friends to drive safely, we can make
our parish roadways some of the safest in Louisiana."
Christmas Carols – Do you know their meaning?
Christmas is here and that means Christmas carols. You know the words and you know
the melodies, but do you know what it all means?
Southeastern Communication Professor Joseph Burns researched the topic thoroughly
for a presentation he made recently at the university's annual Fanfare festival, a
fall celebration of the arts, humanities and social sciences.
Burns explained that many people can get the wrong idea by going solely according
to the title or lyrics. For example:
In "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen," he singles out the comma placement.
"It has nothing to do with happy, merry men. It was first published in the mid-1700s
and is referenced in Dickens's 'A Christmas Carol,'" explained Burns, who produces
the weekly radio show Rock School on the university's station KSLU-FM. "The word 'merry'
means strong or mighty as in 'Merry Old England,' and the word 'rest' means to keep
or make. So the title translates to 'God keep you mighty, gentlemen,' and refers to
the lamplighters and additional men hired to patrol during the holidays."
"You may sing 'We Three Kings,' but you should recognize that in Matthew 2:1-12
there are no references to the number three, kings, the Orient, or their names," Burns
states. "The passage suggests the men were Magi, those who studied the stars. Also,
they came from the East, which most likely was Persia or present day Iraq. And the
names Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar came from an early 6th century Greek manuscript."
"'Good King Wenceslas' is a great song as well," Burns said, "except St. Wenceslaus
I, on whom the song is based, was the Duke of Bohemia, not a king. Luckily Holy Roman
Emperor Otto I posthumously conferred on Wenceslas the title of 'king.'"
The song "I'll Be Home for Christmas" almost never got recorded, he said. Written
in 1943 by Kimball Gannon about a soldier writing to his family, no music publishers
wanted to touch it, thinking it would have brought people down during the holiday.
"Luckily Gannon was a golfing buddy with Bing Crosby, who recorded it on the
B-side of the highest selling single of all time, 'White Christmas.' A song no one
wanted sold 50 million copies," he said.
Before 1857 Santa did not land on your roof, but on your lawn, as in the phrase
"When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter." Burns said the switch came when
the song "Up on the House Top" was written by Benjamin Hanbly and recorded by a multitude
of singers, most notably Gene Autry in 1953. He's been landing there since.
The carol "Do You Hear What I Hear?" is a relatively new classic released in
1962 by Noel Regney and Gloria Shayne Baker. Burns said they were asking if you heard
a bomb, and the song was written as a cry for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Burns asks why does Alvin want a Hula Hoop in the Chipmunk's Christmas? It's because
the song was released in 1958, and the number one selling toy that year was...you
guessed it, a Hula Hoop.
"You can use this to sound informed this year about Christmas carols," Burns
adds. "So Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way which, by the way, is not
a Christmas song. It was written in 1857 by James Pierpoint for his Boston Sunday
School Thanksgiving celebration."
BR Advocate
Southeastern announces WISE proposal
http://theadvocate.com/news/livingston/10945510-123/southeastern-announces-wise-proposal
Hammond Daily Star Convocation role defended
http://www.hammondstar.com/news/convocation-role-defended/article_9f049ec2-7b58-11e4-aefb-d7c959901078.html
Professional activities
Dr. Natasha Whitton (English) and Professor Heather Botsford (English) presented papers on the Common Read program held annually by the English
Department at Southeastern at the National Writing Project Conference in Washington,
D.C. in November. Each semester, the English Department brings a living author to
campus and chooses a text for students to read together in order to build a sense
of community.
William B. Robison (History and Political Science) has a chapter in a newly published volume edited
by Julie A. Chappell and Kaley A. Karmer, Women During the English Reformations: Renegotiating Gender and Religious Identity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) titled "Stripped of Their Altars: Film, Faith, and Tudor
Royal Women from the Silent Era to the Twenty-First Century, 1895-2014."
Mario Krenn (Management and Business Administration) presented the paper titled "Between Change
and Continuity in Corporate Governance: An Institutional Theory Perspective" at the
annual meeting of The Southern Management Association in November in Savannah, Ga.
Additionally, Krenn's paper titled "Understanding Decoupling in Response to Corporate
Governance Reform Pressures: The Case of Codes of Good Corporate Governance" was accepted
for publication in the Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance.
Brad Bergeron (Freshman Success) had his article "Study Structure and Techniques Must Be Taught
to Probation Students" published in Academic Advising Today.
Dr. Willie Ennis III (Educational Leadership and Technology) was selected as Post-Secondary Teacher of
the Year from Region II by the Louisiana Association of Computer Using Educators (LACUE).
Ennis received the award Dec. 3 in New Orleans at the 30th Annual LACUE Conference.
Region II includes Bogalusa City and the parishes of East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana,
Iberville, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Washington,
West Baton Rouge, and West Feliciana.
Dr. John Boulahanis (Sociology and Criminal Justice) presented a paper titled, "Comparing Exceptionally
Cleared Homicides to Open Homicide Cases: A Chicago Dataset Analysis," at the American
Society of Criminology annual conference in San Francisco.
Dr. Peter Shrock (Sociology and Criminal Justice) was chosen to serve as a member of the journal Sociological Spectrum.
Dr. Michael Bisciglia (Sociology and Criminal Justice) presented a paper on "The Class Effect of Segregation
on Rates of Hispanic and African American Homicide" on Nov. 7 at the 40th Annual Meeting
of the Mid-South Sociological Association in Mobile, Ala.
ByLion is published weekly online (bi-weekly during the summer session) for the faculty and staff of Southeastern Louisiana University. Send submissions to publicinfo@southeastern.edu, SLU 10880, fax 985-549-2061, or bring to University Marketing and Communications Office in East Stadium. Submission deadline is 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Return to By-Lion directory
