Graduation honors Marjorie A. Morrison, far left, received Southeastern’s Golden Ambassador Award at the university’s spring 2004 commencement May 15. Morrison was recognized for her outstanding contributions to both her community and the university. Also at commencement, left, President Randy Moffett, Mike Woods of the University of Louisiana System board of supervisors and commencement speaker and Louisiana Commissioner of Administration Jerry Luke LeBlanc congratulated the winners of the President's Medal at the university’s commencement May 15.  The award is presented to the top student in each academic college. Medal winners with LeBlanc, far left, and Woods and Moffett, far right, are, from left, social work major Gloria Jean Solorzano of Folsom, College of Education and Human Development; Janice I. Ezegbunam of Nassau, Bahamas, College of Business and Technology; Lindsey C. Halbert of Baton Rouge, College of Nursing and Health Sciences; Tammy B. McCardle of Ponchatoula, College of Nursing and Health Sciences; Yessica Rizelia of Jakarta, Indonesia, College of Business and Technology; Patrick J. Renfro of Hammond, College of Business and Technology; Sean P. Kerrigan of Kenner, College of Arts and Sciences; Joseph W. Ferguson of Ethel, College of Business and Technology; and Bradley Paul Gautreaux of Walker, College of Business and Technology.

Groundbreaking for new student housing Southeastern, Capstone Development Corp., and Capstone Building Corp. will host a groundbreaking ceremony on June 17 for the university's new student housing.       The ceremony is scheduled for 9 a.m. in the area north of Lee Hall, off SGA drive. A reception will follow at the Alumni Center.       The first phase of the new student housing plan will be a four-story structure to be built near the university's main entrance off University Avenue. For more information about the ambitious $55 million plan to replace all of its older housing with new student-focused residential facilities, visit www.selu.edu/news/NewHousing.html.

Novelist named writer-in-residence Olympia Vernon, an award-winning young author, is joining the faculty of Southeastern, her alma mater, as a writer-in-residence.       Vernon, who has received universal praise for her debut novel, Eden, will teach a course in creative writing this fall. She joins a growing contingent of noted creative writers within the Southeastern faculty, including Timothy Gautreaux, another writer-in-residence; poets Jack Bedell and Alison Pelegrin; and short story writer and novelist Norman German.       “We are pleased and honored to have Ms. Vernon on board,” said President Randy Moffett. “Not only will her talent, expertise and experience as a writer benefit our students, but her success is sure to inspire them as well.”        "We are very happy to have Ms. Vernon join us as a member of the English faculty," said Tammy Bourg, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. "As a successful author of national acclaim, she is sure to be a motivating force for our students, particularly when they realize she is a homegrown talent."       Vernon received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Southeastern in 1999. Her love of writing, nurtured by her Southeastern English professors, inspired her to earn a master of fine arts degree from Louisiana State University in 2002. Eden has prompted descriptions of Vernon as a “gifted new writer” and an “immense talent.” Her second novel, Logic, a coming-of-age tale of a young girl in Mississippi, was published in April.       Vernon is the two-time recipient of the Matt Clark Memorial Scholarship and was nominated for the Robert O. Butler Award in Fiction in 2002. She was recently selected by the American Academy of Arts and Letters to receive the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award for her literary achievement in Eden. The award is given for an American work of fiction “which is a considerable literary achievement." Previous recipients have included authors such as Alice Walker, Joyce Carol Oates, John Updike and John Knowles.

“Wild Kingdom,” a video produced by Southeastern Louisiana University faculty and staff, was selected as an award finalist in the first annual Flint Film Festival 2004 held in Flint, Mich., June 4-6. The film’s creators are, from left, seated, producer Martie Fellom, editor Andrew Richmond; standing, composer Stephen Suber, videographer Claude Levet, and author Alan Marsh. Wild Kingdom selected for Flint Film Festival Wild Kingdom, a video produced by Southeastern faculty and staff, was selected as an award finalist in the first annual Flint Film Festival 2004 held in Flint, Mich., June 4-6.        Based on a short story written by Alan Marsh in 1992, Wild Kingdom humorously depicts a junior high school student who employs the techniques of camouflage by wild animals to avoid notice in class. Marsh wrote the screenplay and directed the video, which premiered during Southeastern’s 2001 Fanfare season. It was shown in April at the second annual Longbaugh Film Festival.       Southeastern dance professor Martie Fellom produced the 27-minute piece, while music professor Stephen Suber wrote the score. University photographer Claude Levet of the Office of Public Information videotaped the production with student assistant Andrew Richmond doing the editing. The video, which used area high school students as the cast, was shot on Southeastern’s campus, at areas around Hammond, and at the Global Wildlife Center in Robert.       Marsh said the story was inspired by his own memories of school. “Most of us have spent time in classes when we were either shy or felt unprepared and wished we could really hide,” he said.        Fellom, who has produced several award-winning videos in recent years, including Wish and An Act of Bravery, said the final version of Wild Kingdom took two years to complete. “It was a wonderful, collaborative experience, as we had a terrific cast and crew,” she said. “Even after the premiere, we continued refining it. Alan wrote a subplot, which we shot last May. Then we re-edited the whole piece for better pacing.”       Fellom said the script has also been translated by faculty volunteers Evelyn Bornier (French) and Cheryl Javaherian (Spanish).       Suber’s musical contribution, which was done completely electronically over several weeks, was the first movie score he had written. “I’ve always wanted to write a movie score, but never had the opportunity,” he said. “I saw the video cuts, and the piece really wrote itself.”       “I really enjoyed the collective spirit in making Wild Kingdom, because we all shared in the creative process,” said Levet. “I was especially impressed with the dedication of the cast members; in shooting a film, there is a lot of ‘hurry up and wait.’ We shot over four long weekends, and everyone was on time and eager to work.”       Fellom said the team is currently working on a new video project, The Firefly Club, which should be ready next year.

President Randy Moffett, far right, congratulated the Southeastern faculty and staff who received the largest grant awards in 2003-2004 at the Office of Sponsored Research and Program's annual awards recognition reception in May, From left, Gary Howard, Gary Childers, Gerald Guidroz, Jim Owens, Veda Abene, Ron Abels, and Jerry Patton. Southeastern to receive $473,678 in Board of Regents grants Southeastern will receive almost a half million dollars – $473,678 – in grants from the Louisiana Board of Regents for instructional equipment and scientific and industrial research.       In the research and development/industrial ties category, the university had a higher percentage of their proposals funded than any other state institution, said Emily Bond, director of the Office of Sponsored Research and Grants.       Bond said that only four institutions – Louisiana State University’s main campus, LSU’s agriculture center, the University of New Orleans and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette – received more BOR grant money than Southeastern.       “However, looking at the numbers of grant proposals submitted and the numbers actually funded,” she said, “we find that Southeastern’s percentage – 38 percent – was higher than these four universities. Also, in the research category, both of our funded proposals were ranked number one. That was a job well done.”       Bond said biology professors Kyle Piller and Volker Stiller received $133,692 and $112,978, respectively, while chemistry professor Randolph Belter’s award of $135,000 was the university’s first in the Industrial Ties category. A total of 52 of the 226 grant proposals were funded statewide.       Belter will partner with the engineering firm Cox-Walker & Associates to develop a chemical process for manufacturing fluorochemicals from light petroleum products. The fluorochemicals are typically used as refrigerants, foam blowing agents and fire-supressants.        In the undergraduate enhancement category, visual arts professors Gary Keown and John Valentino were awarded $92,000 for equipment to expand the digital technology course offerings. Nursing professor Ann Carruth received $8,000 for a bone scanner that will allow the School of Nursing to add osteoporosis screening to its health van.       Piller plans to examine the phenomenon of “adaptive radiation,” when multiple species evolve in a relatively “short” amount of time – tens of thousands of years as compared to hundreds of thousands or even millions of years evolution usually takes. To carry out his studies, he will travel to central Mexico to collect the 23 species of silverside fishes.        “From an economic viewpoint, this group of fishes is an important food source for the people of the region,” Piller said. He said the fishes are also interesting from the standpoint of ecology and evolution because they range from tiny plankton eaters to foot-long predators with as many as 12 different species sometimes inhabiting the same lake.       In his Southeastern lab, Piller and his graduate assistant will sequence DNA from all of the species to examine their evolutionary relationships and to determine how such a variety of morphologically and tropically diverse species have developed in such a short amount of time.       Stiller’s research proposal focuses on the development of strains of rice which can be highly productive in areas of the world subject to frequent drought. The biologist has discovered a new mechanism for refilling water in rice leaves, and has developed a technique to detect embolisms that can develop in a plant’s water conducting tissue – xylem – when water supply is restricted. Normally, he said, plants combat xylem embolism by using “nightly root-pressure” to compress and flush out air bubbles. At least one rice variety, however, reverses xylem embolism with the novel refilling mechanism.       He will use several varieties of rice to examine this “novel refilling mechanism.” Researchers, he said, “have no idea how this refilling mechanism works. Right now we are just beginning to study in which plants it can occur.”       Comparing several species of rice, Stiller will attempt to discover whether plants that lack the ability to generate sufficient root-pressure use the novel refilling mechanism to compensate. He will also eye the nature of the novel refilling method.        “If we can answer the basic questions and find the genetic basis for the novel refilling mechanism, it would have far-reaching implications for the field of plant water relations as a whole,” Stiller said. “It would also lead to a breakthrough in plant breeding with respect to plant growth and yield in arid environments and under restricted water supply.”

Sanichiro Yoshida, assistant professor of physics, reviews data with Southeastern students Raghuveer Dodda, a computer sciences major from India, and Kristin Rogillio, a physics major from Walker, at the LIGO facility in Livingston.  Physics students to participate in summer fellowships Two Southeastern students have been awarded prestigious summer research opportunities at the LIGO facility in Livingston, while another has earned a national fellowship for research into plasma physics and fusion energy.       Raghuveer Dodda, a computer sciences major from India, and Kristin Rogillio, a physics major from Walker, have each received a $5,000 stipend to work in the LIGO summer research program administered by the California Institute of Technology and funded by the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program. Physics major Tiffany Findley of Prairieville received a National Undergraduate Fellowship in Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy Sciences funded by the United States Department of Energy. She is one of only 25 students nationwide selected for the fellowship and will receive a $4,800 stipend for her work.       Dodda and Rogillio will perform research under the direction of Sanichiro Yoshida, assistant professor of physics at Southeastern and collaborating scientist at LIGO.        LIGO – which stands for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory – is focused on researching gravitational waves from sources such as black hole collisions, pulsations of newborn neutron stars and the background remnants of the Big Bang itself. Funded by the National Science Foundation and operated by the California Institute of Technology, LIGO in Livingston is one of only six such installations in the world. The students will be expected to present findings of their research at a LIGO Scientific Collaboration meeting later in the summer.       Findley, who earned a LIGO research fellowship last year, will join other recipients for an intense one-week course on plasma physics and fusion energy given by research scientists and faculty at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J. She will spend the rest of the summer working on a research project with Daniel McCarthy, head of the department of chemistry and physics at Southeastern. A scientist specializing in plasma physics and fusion energy, McCarthy will serve as her research mentor.       “It is truly gratifying to see our students earning these prestigious research opportunities,” McCarthy said. “It reflects on the quality of students we are attracting to our program as well as on our faculty who have helped prepare them. The chance to perform this level of research as undergraduates will be invaluable for their future careers.”

Arts and Sciences offers “cool” summer camps
The College of Arts and Sciences is offering a series of summer camps for young students in the first grade through high school. 
      Linda Munchausen, the college's coordinator of education initiatives, said the camps are designed to spark youngsters' interest in foreign languages, creative writing and science.
      “Through these camps we want to stimulate children’s curiosity about the physical world around them,” said Munchausen. “The summer is an excellent time for the university to provide a quality learning experience through fun, activity-based camps. It’s all about motivation and stimulating critical thinking skills.”
      The camps are all scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., weekdays. Before and after care for the two foreign languages and four “Science Adventures” camps is available for an extra $15 per day. Camp applications are available through Southeastern Continuing Education, located in the University Center, 985-549-2301.
      The camps are:
      • Foreign Language Summer Camp, June 7-11 (French); June 14-18 (Spanish): Open to students in grades kindergarten through six, the camps will be taught by foreign languages professors Margaret Marshall and Lucia Harrison. They will combine learning French and Spanish with fun activities, including dancing, singing, painting, sports, food, creative dramatics, puppet shows, art, ballet and fairy tales. The activities, Munchausen said, “will all be used to stimulate the children’s interest in a foreign language. Our instructors are fluent in the languages and are excited to share their cultural knowledge and love for their languages.” 
      The cost for each language camp is $125. They will be held in D Vickers Hall, rooms 283 and 285. Children should bring two daily snacks and a lunch, smock for painting, a folder for take home activities, sneakers, suntan lotion and hats (optional).
      For additional information, contact Harrison, 985-549-2153, 985-549-3088 (fax), or lharrison@selu.edu.
      • Creative Writing Camp, June 21-25: Under the guidance of award-winning poet Jack Bedell, Southeastern’s director of creative writing, high school students (grades 9-12) will explore various genres of creative writing through exercise and personal expression.
      The creative writing camp also costs $125. For more information, Bedell can be reached at 985-549-5595, 985-549-5014 (fax), or jbedell@selu.edu.
      The four Science Adventures camps are open to students in grades 1-7, and cost $180 each. “Scientists love to talk about what we do,” said Munchausen, who is a professor of chemistry and former department head. “These camps are going to be really cool and will stimulate children’s curiosity about the physical world around them.” 
      • The Great Dinosaur Mystery, July 5-9: “Join the hunt and take a bite out of science,” Munchausen said. Through this camp, students will become “dinosaur detectives,” unearthing clues, bone by bone, in a search for a fossil treasure. The “wild chase through the natural sciences” will include squid dissection, Sea-Monkeys, and a real meteorite.
      • Robo Tech X-Treme, July 12-16: Students will build “Buggy Gizmo’s largest walking K’nex robot,” discover rainbow crystal ice cream, and explore the upside down world of gravity racers, touchable bubbles, and the invisible force of magnetism.
      • Space and Rocketry, July 19-23: In “an amazing space odyssey,” participants will build and launch a solid-fueled Screamer model rocket, and investigate the mysteries of the solar system from the sands of Mars to the icy rings of Saturn. Participants will explore the far reaches of space as they design a Mars Rover, build a telescope and discover the dark secret of black holes.
      • Newton’s Motion Madness, July 26-30: This camp asks, “Do you have what it takes to challenge Isaac Newton in a race through the science of motion?” Students will master the forces of physics and harness the power of the electron to create the “Night Crawler,” an electrically powered vehicle able to cross the roughest terrain. They will traverse land, sea and sky with magnetic cars, submarines, and rocket planes and create a bouncing superball.
      Additional information about the Scientific Adventure camps is available from Munchausen at 985-549-3935, 985-549-5126 (fax), or lmunchausen@selu.edu.

PPR training for classified employees
A brief training program on the Performance Planning and Review process will be provided for classified employees from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, June 15, in the University Center, room 122. Topics to be covered include the rating system and its factors, planning sessions and timetables of which employees should be aware. 
      The training will help classified employees better understand the process which is used in evaluating their performance. This training is reserved exclusively for classified employees. Training for supervisors of classified employees will be offered at a later date. Classified employees planning to attend should get their supervisor's permission and register by e-mailing Jan Ortego at jortego@selu.edu.

SBDC offers e-commerce seminar June 17
On June 17 the Small Business Development Center, along with Tangipahoa Economic Development Foundation, the Hammond Chamber of Commerce and Louisiana Tech University, will provide an opportunity for rural/small business owners to develop e-commerce for their businesses. This seminar is aimed at developing rural businesses' presence on the World Wide Web. For selected businesses that meet specific criteria, the seminar can lead to one year of free technical assistance and a basic package of services for marketing themselves on the World Wide Web.
      This event will be held at the Southeast Louisiana Business Center in Hammond from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. For more information or to register, contact Sandy Summers at 985-549-3831.

Community awareness bulletin
Recently, there have been reports of calls from persons claiming to represent a credit card company's fraud division. The callers claim to be checking on an errant charge and sound very professional. They will ask for part of a credit card number to "verify possession of the card." Any information they get will be used to make unauthorized charges against a person's credit card. We ask the members of our community to protect themselves from credit card fraud by keeping private their personal information. We do our best to keep frauds and scam artists out of our community, but we need your help.
      If you receive a call similar to this, please contact the University Police Department immediately at 985-549-2222.  Let's work together to keep our community safe!

Volleyball wins inaugural Southeastern Cup
The Southeastern volleyball team scored 255 points during the 2003-04 Athletic Year to win the inaugural Southeastern Cup, as the Lady Lions were the athletic department’s top team in terms of participation and involvement in athletic and community events during the past year.
      The Southeastern Cup Competition, sponsored by the university’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, is primarily based on a team’s attendance, as well as the team’s head coach’s attendance at events that were designated as Southeastern Cup events. Teams earned points by attending the events, as well as reaching team grade point average goals and getting involved in community service projects. 
      The competition allows Southeastern Athletic teams to show their pride by participating in community events, as well as encouraging their fellow student-athletes. Southeastern head volleyball coach Roni Armeda-Hipp and her squad’s outstanding efforts have earned them the Southeastern Cup Trophy, along with an engraved plaque that will be displayed in the lobby of the Southeastern Athletics Building.
      The women’s basketball and softball teams were tied for second in the competition with 150 points, with the women’s tennis team following closely behind at 140 points. 

Summer 2004 SOT Calendar
The Office of Institutional Research & Assessment asks all faculty, department heads, and deans to note the following schedule for the administration of the Student Opinion of Teaching (SOT) instruments for the Summer 2004 semester:
      Term 1 (June 3 – June 28): Packets delivered to departments, Monday, June 21;
administration of SOT, Tuesday-Wednesday, June 22-23; deadline to be returned to IR&A, Wednesday, June 23.
      Full Term (June 3 – July 22): Packets delivered to departments, Friday, July 16;
administration of SOT, Monday-Thursday, July 19-22; deadline to be returned to IR&A, Thursday, July 22.
      Term 2 (June 30—July 22): Packets delivered to departments, Friday, July 16;
administration of SOT, Monday-Tuesday, July 19-20; deadline to be returned to IR&A, Tuesday, July 20.
      Any questions regarding SOT administration should be directed to Glenda at extension 2077.

Coming up ...
June 7-11
      French Foreign Language Summer Camp, grades K-6.  9 a.m.-3 p.m., weekdays.  D Vickers Hall, room 283. $125. Contact: Lucia Harrison, 985-549-2153, 985-549-3088 (fax), or lharrison@selu.edu
June 10 – July 8
      Center for Contemporary Arts – Sculpture installation, by Allison Lacher. Clark Hall Gallery. 985-549-2193.
June 11
      Alumni – Red Stick Coaches Memorial Golf Tournament. 1 p.m. Santa Maria Golf Course. 985-549-2150 or 1-800-SLU-ALUM.
June 11-12
      Deep Delta Civil War Symposium – “The Politics of War: Unionism, Leadership, and Decisions Affecting Combat, 1861-1865.” 12:30-7:30 p.m., June 11;  8:30 a.m.-7 p.m., June 12. War Memorial Student Union Theatre. Fee and contact information: 985-549-2151, e-mail selahistory@selu.edu, or  www.selu.edu/Academics/Depts/RegionalStudies
June 14-18
      Spanish Foreign Language Summer Camp, grades K-6.  9 a.m.-3 p.m., weekdays.  D Vickers Hall, room 285. $125. Contact: Lucia Harrison, 985-549-2153, 985-549-3088 (fax), or lharrison@selu.edu
June 17 – July 15
      Center for Contemporary Arts – The Photography of Gerard Lange. Clark Hall Gallery. 985-549-2193.
June 21-25
      Creative Writing Camp, grades 9-12.  9 a.m.-3 p.m., weekdays. D Vickers Hall, room 283 or 285. $125. Contact: Jack Bedell, 985-549-5595, 985-549-5014 (fax), or jbedell@selu.edu

Professional activities
Stephen Smith, vice president for administration & finance, has been selected to serve a three-year term on the 2004-2005 Comprehensive College & University Committee (representing such schools in Louisiana) with the Southern Association of College and University Business Officers (SACUBO).
      Erica Sharp (Biology) presented her research on the aggregation of polysachharides as a talk at the 10th Annual Student Conference for Research and Creative Arts, held April 21-22 at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. The research was conducted in collaboration with Dr. David Norwood (Chemistry and Physics) and supported by the Department of Chemistry and Physics and the College of Arts and Science's OSCAR Program.
      Dr. Michael B. Doughty (Chemistry and Physics) recently published a manuscript in the Journal of Biological Chemistry with co-authors R. Seifert, Andreas Gille, and G. Lushington from the University of Kansas, Roger A. Johnson from the State University of New York, Stony Brook, and T.-C. Mou from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. The paper, entitled "Differential Inhibition of Adenylyl Cyclase Isoforms and Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase by Purine and Pyrimidine Nucleotides" (2004, 279, 19955-19969), describes exciting new developments from our laboratories in the discovery of novel signal transduction inhibitors. The inhibitor leads were synthesized in Dr. Doughty's biochemistry laboratory at Southeastern by chemistry undergraduate Amanda Melerine and microbiology undergraduate Edward Vaughn. 
      Dr. John G. Boulahanis (Sociology and Criminal Justice) and Dr. Martha J. Heltsley (Blackburn College) published an article entitled "Perceived Fears: The Reporting Patterns of Juvenile Homicides in Chicago Newspapers" in Criminal Justice Policy Review, 15(2), pp. 132-160.
      Dr. Brian Canfield (Human Development) presented a two-day training workshop entitled "Current trends in counseling and systemic therapy" in Cyprus. The workshops were sponsored by the Cyprus Society of Family Therapy and took place in the cities of Nicosia and Limassol. Participants included medical and mental health professionals from both the governmental and private sectors.

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