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‘Gnarly’ couple tapped as Southeastern Young Alumni of Year
 It’s rather fitting that an alumni couple who are making their mark in the craft beer
industry will be tapped as Southeastern 2016 Young Alumni of the Year.
Zac and Cari Caramonta, owners and operators of the Hammond-based craft beer production
company Gnarley Barley, will be officially recognized at the Southeastern Alumni Association’s
Awards Evening to be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, during Homecoming Week.
“Zac and Cari are true entrepreneurs who met at Southeastern and have made Hammond
their home,” said Alumni Association President Mayson Foster. “Their company, Gnarley
Barley, and the quality products they are crafting, are being distributed throughout
the Northshore and helping to contribute to the local economy.”
The couple – Zac from Mandeville and Cari from Covington -- met at Southeastern
as undergraduates. He was a general studies major, while Cari was studying family
and consumer sciences majoring in merchandising with a minor in marketing. They married
in 2009 and now have a one-year-old daughter named Stevie.
What started as a home-based hobby in their garage became a passion for crafting
small batches of beer that received rave reviews at area festivals. That passion led
to the formation of a corporation in 2011.
They both new they wanted Hammond – home of Southeastern and a really cool skate
park downtown – to also be home to their brewing company. They successfully released
their first beers in 2014 from a 10,500 square foot location on Corbin Road. Gnarly
Barley now produces three flagship beers and two specialty beers, which are distributed
at approximately 300 locations throughout nine parishes. The company plans to start
offering the product in cans in time for Mardi Gras next year.
Alumni Awards Evening will include recognition of several Southeastern faculty
and staff inclusing Alumnus of the Year for 2016 Billy Kennedy, the current head basketball
coach at Texas A&M who graduated from Southeastern in 1986 and served as one of the
university’s most successful head coaches from 1999 to 2005.
Tickets for the event are available from the Alumni Association by calling 1-800-SLU-ALUM
or through the association’s website, southeastern.edu/homecoming.
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Southeastern professor named to state board by Gov. Edwards
 Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has re-appointed Southeastern Professor of Education
Colleen Klein-Ezell to the Louisiana State Interagency Coordinating Council for EarlySteps.
The agency advises and assists the Department of Health and Hospitals in matters
regarding EarlySteps, a program for children with developmental disabilities from
the ages of birth to three-years-old.
Head of Southeastern’s Department of Teaching and Learning in the College of
Education, Klein-Ezell serves as the current president of the Louisiana Council for
Exceptional Children, which has recognized her with the Higher Education Special Education
Professional Award. She is a member of the Education Committee of the Greater Hammond
Chamber of Commerce and has been recognized by the Tangipahoa Parish School Board
for participation in the Kids Hope mentoring program.
She has been instrumental in obtaining more than $1.3 million in grants from
the Louisiana Board of Regents to fund programs for the community and to provide learning
opportunities for special education teacher candidates. At Southeastern, she is the
co-adviser of the Student Council for Exceptional Children.
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Former Kinesiology and Health Studies faculty member named Hinds Community College
Alumnus of the Year
Former Kinesiology and Health Studies Southeastern faculty member, Dr. Wayne Lee,
will be honored by Hinds Community College (Raymond, MS) as alumnus of the year at
their Alumni Recognition Banquet to be held on their campus Sept 22.
Lee attended and played basketball at Hinds Community College in the 1950s, followed
by completing degrees at Delta State University, Mississippi College, and the University
of Southern Mississippi. He was on the SLU faculty for 28 years retiring in 2000.
In 1995, Dr. Lee was inducted into the Hinds CC Sports Hall of Fame.
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Streaming Videos from Films On Demand: A Free Introductory Session for Students, Faculty
and Staff
 Sims Memorial Library staff Paul Kelsey, head of acquisitions, and Angela Dunnington,
head of access services, will introduce Films on Demand, a streaming video database
with over 23,000 educational videos from a broad range of academic subjects. The introduction
will take place Oct. 12 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Sims Library, room 252.
Topics include health and medicine, biology, physical science, mathematics, anthropology,
psychology, sociology, criminal justice, political science, English, music, dance
and more. The collection features works by acclaimed producers such as Ken Burns,
National Geographic, Films for Humanities & Sciences, BBC, PBS, TED, MacNeil Lehrer
Productions, and others. Attendees will learn how to search the database and set up
a free account. Refreshments will be served.
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Southeastern nursing professor awarded fellowship by nursing honor society
AtNena Luster-Tucker, a faculty member at the Southeastern School of Nursing, has
been awarded a one-year fellowship to study quality in online nursing education.
Luster-Tucker is one of only seven nursing scholars in the nation to receive
the fellowship to participate in the Emerging Educator Administrator Institute offered
by Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society.
She has completed the program’s three-day workshop in Indiana and will spend
the rest of the year at Southeastern working to complete the leadership project, which
is focused on online learning in nursing education.
Currently the interim director of Southeastern’s Center for Faculty Excellence,
Luster-Tucker is an assistant professor at the School of Nursing.
“The integration of online learning in nursing education has been one of the
largest movements ever seen in nursing education. The nursing profession is a unique
combination of theory and hands-on skills, both of which can be taught successfully
via distance education,” she explained.
She said her project involves evaluation of Southeastern’s online nursing courses,
which are offered at the undergraduate and graduate levels, through an evidence-based
assessment tool.
“The College of Nursing and Health Sciences has worked diligently for many years
to create courses that we believe are innovative and engaging,” she added. “I am excited
to see the evaluation outcomes at the end of the project.”
She intends to complete the training as a master course reviewer, which will
allow her to train other faculty to help review the online nursing courses at Southeastern.
Luster-Tucker said the experience will also assist her in the role of supervising
the university’s Center for Faculty Excellence, which works with faculty to support
and enhance teaching and learning at Southeastern.
“The identified best practices are not limited to nursing,” she said, “and can
be utilized university-wide in our faculty development activities.”
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LaFevor lecture scheduled at Contemporary Art Gallery
Artist and historian David LaFevor will present information regarding his photography
work in Cuba on Sept. 27 at noon at Southeastern’s Contemporary Art Gallery. The lecture
is free and open to the public.
During the lecture, LaFevor will discuss the culture, life, and art of Cuba as
well as the photography he created there. LaFevor’s work in Cuba began as a student
at the University of Havana.
LaFevor’s exhibit, “CUBA: Histories of the Present,” is currently on display
through Sept. 29 in the gallery. The exhibit is organized by University of Texas Arlington’s
Center for Greater Southwestern Studies. LaFevor is currently an assistant professor
of Latin American History and Digital Humanities at UTA.
For more information, contact the gallery at 549-5080.
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Southeastern hosts Farmers Market
 Mary Beth Brinkman, right, owner of Mama Mary’s Kitchen in Metairie, discusses her
products with Southeastern students at a farmers market held on campus Wednesday (Sept.
21). Students pictured are, from left, Destiny Ballard, Tale’drianna Gordon, Jasmine
Bickham and Timisiha Walker, all of Franklinton. The market is held on campus several
times a year and is sponsored by Reconnect, a student environmental club that promotes
the use of locally grown and sustainable food products.
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Darwin's ‘Origin of Species’ is Topic of Science on Tap presentation
Understanding the basics of Charles Darwin’s “Origin of Species” will headline the
next Science on Tap lecture presented by the Department of Biological Sciences on
Tuesday, Oct. 4.
Professor of Biological Sciences Brian Crother is the featured speaker at the
presentation scheduled at 7 p.m. at Tope La Catering, 113 East Thomas St. in Hammond.
The lecture is free and open to all ages. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
“Darwin published ‘The Origin of Species’ in 1859, and the work has since been
hailed as one of the great scientific publications because of its profound impact
on the understanding of the diversity of life,” said Crother, a specialist in gene
and species evolution. “This presentation is in response for a layman’s explanation
of Darwin’s book.”
Crother said Darwin used numerous examples to illustrate his work, and he will
use the same examples in his presentation.
“At its simplest, Darwin made a logical connection between the presence of variation
in species and the fact that not all individuals survive to reproduce the next generation,”
he added. “Why some variants survived to reproduce and others did not he called ‘natural
selection,’ and this is what Darwin is most famous for. The ‘Origin of Species’ is
truly one long argument about natural selection.”
For information on future Science on Tap presentations, contact the Department
of Biological Sciences at 549-3740.
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Football, Inside Southeastern Football with Ron Roberts, Cate Street Seafood Station,
11 a.m.
