Southeastern’s fall series ‘Let’s Talk: Art’ begins Oct. 12 The fall series “Let’s Talk: Art,” sponsored jointly by Southeastern’s Department
of Fine and Performing Arts, Hammond Regional Arts Center (HRAC), and Friends of Sims
Memorial Library, kicks off with a session focused on landscapes Wednesday, Oct.
12, at 5 p.m. The first presentation will be held at HRAC, 217 E. Thomas Street, across from
the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts. Southeastern Professor and English Department Head David Hanson will discuss
“Picturing Landscape/Reading Landscape.” He said that the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries artists and amateurs packed up both their sketchbooks and their writing
journals to take tours of picturesque landscapes before doing design work. The discussion
will focus on the way that art and poetry of this period shared strategies for picturing
and reading landscapes. All lectures in the series are free and open to the public. Next up is a film presentation about Mark Landis, one of the most prolific art
forgers in U.S. history, called Art and Craft (2015). The film will be shown twice - Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 5 p.m., at the Contemporary
Art Gallery at Southeastern; and Monday, Nov. 7, at 5 p.m., at the HRAC. “Posing as a philanthropic donor, a grieving family member, and even a Jesuit
priest, Landis has given away hundreds of copies of famous works of art over the past
30 years to a staggering list of institutions across the country, taking no money
for his work,” said Sims Library Director Eric Johnson. “Art and Craft is an intimate story of his obsession and the universal need for community, appreciation,
and purpose.” The film is being shown twice in conjunction with HRAC’s November exhibit, Copy
Cat. For more information, contact Johnson at 549-3962.
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Art Gallery features work by Burns, Collier The Southeastern Contemporary Art Gallery will host exhibits featuring paintings
by Aaron Collier, sculpture installations by Samantha Burns, and video by Silas Munro
Oct. 13 – Nov. 10. The exhibits are part of the university’s Fanfare fall festival of the arts.
The gallery, located in East Stadium, will host an opening reception on Thursday,
Oct. 13, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The exhibit is free and open to the public. The gallery is open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday
from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Collier is a visual artist working and living in New Orleans. He earned his masters
of fine arts degree from Tulane University and is currently teaching drawing and painting
there as an assistant professor. “Collier’s mixed media paintings incorporate figurative and abstract gestures
that occupy a shallow pictorial space,” said Gallery Director Dale Newkirk. Burns is an artist working in several different media, exploring nature, change,
and language in her sculpture installations. After receiving her bachelors of fine
arts with a concentration in painting and photography from the University of Tampa,
she earned her masters degree at Florida State University. Munro’s work engages multi-modal practices to effect positive change on society
as a whole by inspiring people to be the best versions of themselves, Newkirk said.
As an extension of his graphic design work, he will exhibit experimental video with
design, color, light, and pattern in the new media galley. Munro received a bachelors
of fine arts from Rhode Island School of Design and a masters of fine arts degree
from California Institute of the Arts. For more information, contact the gallery at 549-5080.

NEW ARTWORK ON EXHIBIT - “New Artwork from the SLU Fine Art Collection” will be on display at Southeastern’s
Contemporary Art Gallery beginning Oct. 13. The exhibit is part of Fanfare, Southeastern’s
annual October arts festival. Included in the exhibit are paintings by Aaron Collier.
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Southeastern Theatre to present Distracted Southeastern’s theatre program will open its fall season with the play Distracted, a portrayal of a family dealing with attention deficit disorder (ADD) and the problems
it creates. The play will run Oct. 18-21 at 7:30 p.m. in the Vonnie Borden Theatre located
in D Vickers Hall. Authored by playwright and screenwriter Lisa Loomer, who co-authored the screenplay
for the Academy award-winning film Girl, Interrupted, Distracted blends comedy with a heightened sensitivity to an issue in society. The play revolves
around a married couple’s attempts to handle their nine-year-old son who may or may
not have ADD. While largely humorous, Distracted has serious moments as well and features strong language and adult situations, according
to director Jim Winter, associate professor of theatre. “The play explores the pressures all of us face in this fast-paced, media-crazed,
modern world,” said Winter. General admission tickets are $15; $5 for seniors and non-Southeastern students;
Southeastern faculty, staff and students are admitted free with ID. The cast includes nine Southeastern students including Misty Gros and Gavin Gaudry
of Lafitte, Judah Fabre of Zachary, Colin Ross of Baton Rouge, Jordin Jones of Zachary,
Payton Core of Folsom, Harlan Thorpe of New Orleans, Olivia Waguespack of Covington,
and Angela Griffitt of Mandeville. For more information, contact Southeastern Theatre at 549-2115.
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Students prepare for graduation at Grad Fair
READY TO GRADUATE - Southeastern student Amber Grace of Abita Springs, left, assists senior Michelle
Guillot of Slidell in trying on graduation robes at the university’s annual Grad Fair
held Oct. 5-6. Sponsored by the Southeastern Alumni Association, Grad Fair gives students
the opportunity to order their caps and gowns, invitations, rings and have their graduation
photos taken. Southeastern’s graduation ceremonies will be held December 10.
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Children, teens can audition October 24 for Missoula Children’s Theatre’s Peter and Wendy Auditions for the Missoula Children’s Theatre production of Peter and Wendy will be held on Monday, Oct. 24, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Columbia Theatre for the
Performing Arts. A non-profit educational theater troupe, Missoula Children’s Theatre has been
a hometown arts favorite since 1992, often as part of Fanfare, Southeastern’s October
arts festival. “Children in grades kindergarten through high school may audition,” said Director
of Columbia Theatre and Fanfare Roy Blackwood. “Approximately 50-60 local students
will be cast to appear in the show with a Missoula tour actor/director. Missoula will
cast the young actors on Monday and get started right away teaching them lines, staging,
songs and movement. By Saturday, the children will be ready to perform, complete with
professionally designed costumes and scenery.” Students wishing to audition must arrive by 4 p.m. and stay for the entire two-hour
session. The first rehearsal begins approximately 15-30 minutes after the audition
and lasts until 8:30 p.m. “Since it is a group audition, no advance preparation is necessary – but a smile
never hurts,” said Blackwood. “Students should just be ready to come and have a good
time.” Among the roles to be cast are Peter, his Shadow, Tinker Bell, and the Lost Boys;
Wendy and her brothers John and Michael; their parents Mr. and Mrs. Darling with their
faithful friends Nana and Liza; Captain Hook and his Pirate Crew, along with the Crocodile;
Tiger Lily, the band of Neverlanders and Neverland Creatures; and, carrying them to
Neverland, a group of stormy Clouds. Assistant directors will also be cast to aid
in rehearsals throughout the week and to take on essential backstage responsibilities. “Although not all cast members will be needed at every session, those auditioning
must have a clear schedule for the entire week and, if selected, be able to attend
all rehearsals required for their role,” said Blackwood. “A detailed rehearsal schedule
will be distributed at the conclusion of the audition.” Peter and Wendy will be performed at the Columbia Theatre in two performances on Friday, Oct. 28,
at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 29, at 2 p.m. All cast members must be available for
all scheduled performances and rehearsals. Tickets for the public performances are $15 for adults and $10 for children.
They are available online at columbiatheatre.org or at the box office, 549-4371. The Missoula Children’s Theatre is a non-profit organization based in Missoula,
Mont. This season, more than 65,000 young people across the globe will take to part
in Missoula productions. For additional information, contact the Columbia Theatre at 543-4366 or visit
columbiatheatre.org.
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Business students present winning study at national banking conference Students from Southeastern’s College of Business highlighted the opening day of the
recent Community Banking in the 21st Century Research and Policy Conference with a
presentation of their award-winning study of Hammond-based First Guaranty Bank. The four students were recognized in St. Louis as the first-place national winners
of the competition conducted by the Washington, DC-based Conference of State Bank
Supervisors, a nationwide organization of banking regulators from all states and U.S.
territories. In all, 23 student teams from various universities participated in the
competition. The competition allowed students to learn more about banking by partnering student
teams with local banks to conduct original case studies, said Danielle Lewis, the
Joyce Junghans professor of finance who served as faculty adviser for the team. In the conference’s opening remarks, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President
and Chief Executive Officer James Bullard, said, “From what I can tell from the winning
case study paper prepared by students from Southeastern Louisiana University and from
the incredible personal stories of the students on the team, they just might steal
the show at this year’s conference. The work of these students and of all the students
in the competition shows how a single community bank has impacted its community and
region.” Jerome Powell, who took office as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System in 2012, said the Southeastern winners of the case study competition
are impressive and accomplished young men and women who are just preparing to embark
on their careers, and that he expected to hear more from them in the future. Lewis said the students received considerable praise from bank CEOs, bank regulators
and academics attending the conference who commented on the depth and quality of research
the four students performed. A video of the presentation can be found on the CSBS
website at http://www.cvent.com/events/csbs-community-bank-case-study-competition/event-summary-5bcbfe47e8e9499fa801055bba172a51.aspx. The Southeastern team included Nicholas Byrd of Denham Springs, a senior finance
major who is considering pursuing a graduate degree possibly in economics; Tarez Arceneaux
Cowsar of Springfield, a senior at Southeastern, who anticipates sitting for the CPA
exam after graduation in 2017; Joseph Edwards of Monroe, who is currently pursuing
a master of science degree in finance; and Andrea Villarreal of Mexico, an academic
All-American in Women’s Tennis, who is pursuing a professional career in tennis and
resides in her home of Monterrey, Mexico. Each student received a $1,000 scholarship
award. First Guaranty Bank partnered with the team and provided banking data to help
construct the report. The students worked on the course project as part of the Real-World
Ready course initiative to incorporate more hands-on, experiential learning into students’
curriculum campus-wide. “If it were not for FGB’s willingness to be transparent with data, we could not
have worked on so many quantitative models that were used in the report,” Lewis said.
“The loan level data made all the difference.” She said the final 25-page report and accompanying 10-minute video were helpful
to the bank, showing that FGB had an approximate $1 billion dollar economic impact
from 21 branches located in multiple areas throughout Louisiana. FGB President and Chief Executive Officer Alton Lewis, praised the work of the
students, noting that, in addition to being full time students, they participated
in university athletics or held jobs while working on the demanding study. “We are so proud of our students and Dr. Lewis for the excellent work they did
in this competition and for the national attention they have brought to Southeastern’s
business program,” said Antoinette Phillips, interim dean of the College of Business.
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