Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           www.selu.edu/NewsEvents
    Date: 8/25/97
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple  1

Editors: Photos accompany release
KURTZ, ASOODEH CHOSEN FOR SLU POSTS
     HAMMOND -- The Louisiana Board of Regents has approved the reestablishment of
Southeastern's School of Graduate Studies and the appointment of Dr. Michael Kurtz as the
school's dean.
      Also, Dr. Mike Asoodeh has been selected as Southeastern's assistant vice president for
technology, pending board approval.
     A member of the Southeastern history and government faculty since 1967,  Kurtz has
been director of Southeastern's graduate programs for the past four years. Renowned for his
research into the Kennedy Assassination, Kurtz is the author of Crime of the Century: The
Kennedy Assassination from a Historian's Perspective and The Challenging of America: 1920-
1945. He is co-author of an award-winning biography of Earl K. Long and Louisiana: A History.
     Kurtz, who has degrees from Louisiana State University and the University of Tennessee
and earned his doctoral degree at Tulane University, has been awarded President's Awards for
Excellence in both research and teaching.
     Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Randy Moffett said the growth of
Southeastern's graduate program has paralleled the university's grown. "With the size of the
university and of our graduate enrollment, we needed one office to provide general oversight and
to work closely with deans and department heads on issues such as accreditation and new
programs and degrees," Moffett said. "We're pleased to have Dr. Kurtz, one of our most well-
known faculty members, as dean."
                                 (MORE) 
SLU'S KURTZ, ASOODEH -- Add One
     Asoodeh, who joined the industrial technology faculty in 1995, has been interim assistant
vice president for technology for the past year. He has more than 11 years experience in
engineering and technology fields, including areas such as computers and communication,
systems engineering, distance education, visualization and adult education and training. As a
member of the industrial technology department, Asoodeh developed a technology-rich advanced
Material Science classroom and a state-of-the-art robotics laboratory. 
     As interim assistant vice president, Asoodeh has worked to improve computing and
telephone services on campus and has directed projects such as completing the campus video,
telephone and data conduit system and improving the campus World Wide Web site,
www.selu.edu. He also has collaborated with Southeastern colleagues on a distance education
proposal designed to deliver high school and college level courses to approximately 14 off
campus sites in southeast Louisiana.
     Asoodeh earned his doctoral degree at Texas A&M University, where he taught and was
involved in advanced technologies research and development before coming to Southeastern.
                                 - SLU -
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