QuadrilleA Newsletter for Alumni, Students, and Friends of the LSU Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College

Winter 2017 LETTER FROM THE DEAN

2017 marks the 50th year of Honors education at LSU, and the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Honors College. As we have grown and matured as an institution, Honors has literally transformed LSU’s student body and our beautiful campus.

This fall we honored our past while celebrating our bright future. We greeted familiar faces returning to campus to celebrate our 50th birthday and welcomed new ones, including convocation speaker Dr. Arlie Russell Hochschild, New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet, and the almost 600 incoming students in our fabulous class of 2021.

I hope you enjoy reading more about the exciting things going on at the Ogden Honors College in this issue of the Quadrille, the first produced with the help of our new Communications Coordinator Jacqueline DeRobertis, a 2014 Honors graduate. As always, we’d love to hear from you: keep your ideas and feedback coming!

Wishing you and your family a joyous holiday and a prosperous 2018,

Jonathan Earle Roger Hadfield Ogden Dean

Contributing Photographers: Collin Richie Chris Granger Zoe Williamson Eddy Perez

Contributing Writer: Jordan LaHaye

On the Cover: In October we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Honors education at LSU with a gathering of students, alumni and friends at the French House. Dean Earle introducing Professor Arlie Russell Hochschild at the Photo by Collin Richie. 2017 Honors Convocation. 2 REPORTING Ogden Honors Senior Interviews New York Times POWER Executive Editor Dean Baquet At age 22, print journalism major and Ogden Honors senior Sarah everything about legislation. And when you're reporting, you feel Gamard already describes herself as a diehard. like you're actually doing something for everyone because politics is “In the Manship School there's a group of kids who are just ubiquitous.” diehard reporters,” Gamard said. “I'm in that group of diehard, print Her crash course in policy led Gamard to writing opportunities with reporters. When you’re a journalist you kind of adopt this lifestyle. and Salon, both of which positioned her to appreciate her It's just all you do, it's all you think about all day. Writing feels like joint interview with Baquet as a young but experienced journalist. breathing.” When the Manship Gamard was among those selected to School contacted interview visiting Executive Editor Dean a pool of students Baquet of . The LSU who might be Ogden Honors College and Manship School interested in of Mass Communication’s Reilly Center for interviewing Baquet Media and Public Affairs recently played and asked them to host to a public roundtable discussion submit potential with Baquet on the media’s response to questions, Gamard the current political situation and the was ready. state of journalism in a rapidly evolving “I had just spent industry. Held in the Hans and Donna all summer in DC,” Sternberg Salon of the French House, the Gamard said. “I conversation consisted of a Q&A format with was watching in three reporters from the Manship School – real time the way Gamard, William Taylor Potter and Kayla that the journalism Swanson – questioning Baquet on the latest industry was kind issues facing journalism today. of – I don't want to Baquet, a native, began say compromising, his career as a reporter for The Times- Students, faculty and community members packed the Hans & Donna but reacting to Picayune. He has worked in a variety of Sternberg Salon to hear Baquet speak. the scene we're in capacities for the , the right now.” and The New York Times over the course of his Gamard and her fellows structured the roundtable around issues extensive reporting and editing career. After Honors College Dean such as press transparency and accountability. Drawing on his roots, Jonathan Earle’s opening remarks and Manship School Dean Jerry Baquet discussed how his upbringing in New Orleans has influenced Ceppos’ introduction of Baquet, Gamard kicked off the exchange. his approach to journalistic integrity. Also a New “It's made me care more deeply about people Orleans native, who aren't making it,” he said. “I've never been an Gamard has editor who felt comfortable being too much in the written for company of powerful people. I think it has made the Manship me feel like I should be less attuned to powerful School News people, and more attuned to people who have less Statehouse power, which I think, generally speaking, is a good Bureau and trait for a journalist.” Politico. She Baquet also addressed the importance of having currently serves reporters from different backgrounds cover the as a contributor news regularly — not just when there is an outcry to LaPolitics from those who feel underrepresented. “I don't and as a “Young think a newsroom can actually cover the country Americans” — especially a national newsroom, like mine — initiative unless it has diverse voices,” Baquet said. “I don't reporter for think we can cover those debates unless we have Salon. An different voices and different experiences.” alumna of the For Gamard, emerging from the Baquet New Orleans discussion is the insistence that the news shapes Center for public discourse. She will continue to explore Creative this topic as she develops her Honors Thesis on Arts, Kayla Swanson and Dean Baquet during the roundtable discussion. journalism as an organic art form. In the future, Gamard she plans to keep writing. The lifestyle of a journalist, explained that she developed a passion for journalism through which she describes as “almost monastic,” has inspired her to creative writing and studying nonfiction essayists. When she surround herself with a community of writers with purpose who transferred to LSU from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst immerse themselves in the news on a daily basis. she entered the Manship School and began writing for “As a journalist, you can really second guess yourself,” Gamard Reveille, where she was thrown into the world of state and local said. “People are yelling at you all the time, people are criticizing you policy. all the time. There's something that brings me back. I really want “I didn't understand a thing about policy,” Gamard said. “Then I to get into the hullaballoo — I just want to be part of the hordes of started reporting on it and you feel like a kid on a playground. It felt journalists that are reporting on these things, because it's important.” like people were speaking German before, and now I understand 3 Honorable Mentions

25% Ogden students have 3.63 in College of Science received more than 100 average collegiate GPA prestigious national awards since our Office of Fellowship Advising was 15:1 24% student to faculty ratio in College of established in 2005. Engineering Including: 85 *36 NSF Research Fellows Honors Theses completed 2016-2017 19% Goldwater Scholars in College of *18 Humanities and *17 Critical Language 84% Social Sciences Scholarships 6-yr graduation rate *10 Truman Scholars *4 Udall Scholars 87% 54% & LSU's first of new grads go on to of Honors Students grad school or full-time are STEM students *Gates Cambridge Scholarship professional positions upon

graduation We typically admit Accepted students have:—> the top

10% of incoming *31 LSU Freshmen mean ACT *1430 99% mean SAT equivalent of our incoming We welcomed 594 students receive merit incoming students for the *3.8 scholarships from LSU 2017-2018 academic year mean academic GPA 4 do I belong here?’ And so, in the absence of not seeing that represented, someone believing in you helps tremendously.” At LSU, Lemon did it all — worked in a lab with biological sciences professor Dr. Anne Grove, served as an Honors Advocate, interned with the Ragon Institute in Massachusetts, received a Goldwater Scholarship Honorable Mention, conducted research in France one summer at the Pasteur Institute of Lille, and developed a thesis on the “Characterization of MarR Homolog in Vibrio vulnificus.” She was also a distinguished communicator as part of the Communication Across the Curriculum initiative at the university, where she began to question how to frame scientific research in a social justice context. “Scientists love to use super complicated terms,” Lemon explained. “They're terms that serve a purpose, but I think there's an opportunity to make that technical language more accessible, especially when opening your research up to a larger audience. One thing that science lacks is a Alumna Tiffany Lemon on Into the Science, Social Justice, and Asking "Why Not?"

multitude of voices to inform how it is moving forward. Outside voices really insert those unique research questions into the conversation." While researching HIV and immune system dynamics, Lemon began to ask questions that were slightly removed from science: What about these people and their life experiences? How does life exposure to what they When Opelousas native and Ogden Honors alumna Tiffany Lemon first encounter each day also inform the way their immune systems work? arrived in Baton Rouge to attend Louisiana State University in 2009, she These questions, and a feeling that her time in Baton Rouge had not run knew that something profound was beginning. its course, led Lemon to join Teach for America upon graduation in 2013. “I rememberWorld moving to Baton Rouge and thinking it was the biggest Working locally at Gardere Community Christian School, Lemon found a city I had ever been to,” Lemon admitted. “I just didn't have that much way to continue the tenets of community service, academic engagement, exposure outside of small town Louisiana, so it was just a big deal and mentorship that had inspired her undergraduate career. coming to Baton Rouge in the first place.” “I did every job under the sun,” Lemon said, laughing. “One day I could Lemon is a first-generation college student and current PhD candidate clean a toilet, and the next I could help the school develop a nutrition in the area of Population Health Sciences at Harvard University. In the plan. I am so thankful I decided to take that gap year. If anyone asks me years following her first glimpse of LSU, Lemon has done everything personally, I say take that gap year to just get out. The academic space is from working with Teach for America to interning with the Rwanda amazing, and I love academic spaces but it's not the world. Get out into Zambia HIV Research Group. Her travels and research have taken her the world.” miles beyond the biggest city she had ever seen, and led her to explore At this point in her trajectory, Lemon realized that her person-to- her own place in the intersecting worlds of science and service. person work on the ground level was pushing her According to Lemon, her path to success begins away from biomedical research and toward public and ends with her parents. She shared that during "I had a very tangible health. Witnessing the effects of mass incarceration the summers growing up, her mother would buy and environmental exposures that were unchecked giant workbooks made for the grade level she was sense of people believing led her to wonder how different factors coupled with entering in the fall, assign her pages to complete in me that helped me to location were impacting people’s health. She applied and check her answers after work in the evening. and was accepted to Emory University in 2014 where “My mom is the fiercest proponent of education also believe in myself. ” she eventually received her Master’s Degree in Public I have personally ever seen,” Lemon said. “Just her Health with a focus in Global Epidemiology. “Part of success mindset — that you can do anything you put your mind to if you my appeal to go to Emory was ‘I'm interested in social justice and I'm can see yourself there continues to inspire me today. She still continues interested in infectious disease,” Lemon recalled. “‘What can I do?’” to see things before I do, and believe in me before I can see that I can do As it turns out, Lemon could do a lot. Her faculty advisor, a physician it myself.” epidemiologist who studied HIV among incarcerated persons, gave Lemon entered LSU in biochemistry as a member of both the Ogden Lemon the opportunity to explore how implementing intervention to Honors College and the Louisiana Science, Technology, Engineering increase awareness of HIV status could lead to prevention. At the end of and Mathematics Research Scholars Program (LA-STEM). She cites two her program, Lemon entered Harvard University as a PhD candidate in LA-STEM leaders – Dr. Isiah Warner and Melissa Crawford – in particular 2016 — a decision to “reject comfort” in order to pursue her passion in a as mentors on the road to her personal and professional success. Vice rigorous setting. President of Strategic Initiatives Dr. Warner remembers her well.“Tiffany In the meantime, Lemon is exploring. As for the Honors College, was an excellent student who epitomized everything we desired to Lemon remembers foundational HNRS 2000 courses where she learned accomplish through the LA-STEM program,” he said. about Immanuel Kant or John Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance, a memorable LA-STEM Research Scholars Program Manager Melissa Crawford Shakespeare and Opera seminar completely outside of her area of study, agrees. “Tiffany leaves a trail of enthusiasm, empowerment and and a community of like-minded scholars open to collaboration and excellence wherever she goes,” Crawford said. “Her life sends a message shared enrichment experiences. To the next Honors class, she asks a that a positive attitude, unquestionable integrity, exemplary work ethic question. and a passion for serving others lead to pathways for success.” “‘Why not?’ is always the question that I pose to myself,” Lemon said. “I had a very tangible sense of people believing in me that helped me “I feel like during my undergraduate experience I had way more time to to also believe in myself,” Lemon said. “I think it’s a critical component just explore and to figure it out — figure out what I wanted to do, and of what it means to support diversity and inclusion: recognizing some even how I wanted to frame my life philosophy. So go for it, do it, explore. students don't have that context, and because they haven't seen people It's the time to do that.” like them in these places, there's always the underlying question of ‘Oh, 5 Honoring Generosity Honors Benefactor Roger H. Ogden Recipient of The Times-Picayune Loving Cup Award for 2016 In a formal ceremony held at the Ogden Museum of The Award Committee comprised of Flozell Daniels, Jr. of Southern Art on October 10, businessman and philanthropist the Foundation for Louisiana, Deborah Augustine Elam of Roger H. Ogden was awarded The Times-Picayune Loving Corporate Playbook Consulting, H. Merritt Lane III of Canal Cup for 2016. The cup, which has been given since 1901, Barge Company, Inc., Jennifer Medbery of Kickboard and recognizes a local member of the community who has Suzanne T. Mestayer of ThirtyNorth Investments, LLC. committed a lifetime to civic, social and cultural service. Dean Jonathan Earle of the LSU Ogden Honors College At 71, Ogden has lived up to the spirit of this award through commented on how Ogden’s influence has extended across his extensive philanthropy for Louisiana. As a lawyer and real Louisiana as a whole. “Roger Ogden’s addition to the illustrious estate developer, Ogden has given back to his community with New Orleanians who have won The Times-Picayune Loving both his business acumen and civic generosity. In addition to Cup makes perfect sense — but I was struck how Roger’s giving $12 million to LSU’s Honors College to be named for philanthropy goes beyond improving the Crescent City to his father and son, Ogden has served in a variety of capacities making an impact on all of Louisiana,” Earle said. “We are on the Clean City Committee, the Audubon Commission, the truly privileged to have a benefactor who is so focused on the New Orleans Aviation Board, the New Orleans Museum of values of excellence, education and making our state a better Art’s Board of Trustees and the LSU Board of Supervisors. A place." particularly significant example of his generosity can be found in the Ogden Museum of Southern Art itself, the establishment Larry Franceski, a lawyer with the firm Norton Rose of which is based on the founding donation of over 600 works Fulbright US LLP, member of the LSU Ogden Honors College from Ogden’s personal collection. Advisory Council and LSU alumnus emphasized the prestige associated with receiving the award. Mark Lorando, Editor of The Times-Picayune and Vice- President of Content for NOLA.com, introduced Ogden at the “The Times-Picayune Loving Cup is a big deal," Franceski ceremony, and Tim Williamson, President of the NOLA Media said. "Walker Percy even wrote about it in The Moviegoer as Group, presented Ogden with with cup. on par with being King of Carnival or Queen of a Mardi Gras krewe. This may be one of the more well-deserved recognitions that I can remember."

From the left, Roger H. Ogden and President of NOLA Media Group Tim Williamson, posing with the Loving Cup Award at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Photo by Chris Granger, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.

6 In October, the Ogden Honors College celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a gathering of the Honors community.

50TH Festivities

7 g r o u n d z e r o LASAL Students Unpack Louisiana Education Policy

A program unlike any offered at other universities in the nation, Davis hopes above all that students will walk away from the course the Louisiana Service and Leadership Program (LASAL) at the Ogden as critical consumers of information. Honors College equips students with a unique set of knowledge and “I want them to think about the source of a report and how it might skills cultivated for solving specific, chronic problems in our state. influence its findings,” she said. “I also want them to pay attention to This fall Associate Professor of Political Science Belinda Davis and the research designs that produce findings. Are they well done? Are Associate Dean of the Ogden Honors College and Director of the they unbiased?” LASAL program Granger Babcock team-taught HNRS 3025, an upper For his part, Babcock wants students to see the course as level seminar as part of this program called Ground Zero: Louisiana revelatory. and the Education Reform Movement. “I would expect that students would understand after they “One of the things we focus on with LASAL is the chronic poverty finish the course that, despite strong arguments being made for in Louisiana,” Babcock said. “And one of the solutions that is always programs like vouchers and charter schools as a means to close the offered is better education. If you give people a good education, you achievement gap, the gap isn’t closing,” Babcock said. “Things need to give them a ladder out of poverty.” be changed, adjusted, or even discontinued.” Babcock explained that the course is structured to investigate He said that at that point, it is up for the students to actively think the effectiveness of reforms in place that were designed to close the through the problem, why the problem isn’t working, and what achievement gap between wealthy white students and poor, at-risk possible solutions could be proposed. minority students. This is accomplished by taking a close look at the “It’s a unique opportunity to study something in real time,” he said. reforms themselves, and how viewpoints from the right to the left Which is where Dr. Davis, an expert on public policy, comes in. Her seek to resist or advance them. Students also look at education policy expertise brings insight to the classroom that allows students to look on a national level to contextualize where Louisiana stands in certain past propaganda and understand statistics so that they can examine areas compared to the rest of the country. policies plain-faced. “She’s able to dig in and find out what is true and Babcock and Davis, with his experience as co-director of LASAL what’s not true,” Babcock added. and her expertise in public policy, make a great team for the job. “Dr. Davis and Dr. Babcock are equipping us with so much “He’s interested in how we got here and I’m interested in what it knowledge of this burgeoning education system,” Political Science produces,” Davis said. senior Haley Grieshaber said.

8 “We’ve delved into the debate regarding the effectiveness of voucher programs and charter schools and how they compare to traditional public schools and it has been incredibly enlightening.” In acquiring such an in-depth knowledge of this state-specific issue, over the past few months these LASAL scholars have become equipped to engage in discussions on this issue and to navigate education equity in their respective fields and as citizens. “The LASAL upper division seminars are designed as case studies,” Babcock said. “LASAL scholars will get really familiar with the context of specific issues and see how these same issues are still affecting our state today.”

Dr. Belinda Davis lecturing on the achievement gap and charter schools in Louisiana. In Memoriam “We are getting such an expansive and overarching view of education in Louisiana, and it is truly readying us to be leaders in our community.” Grieshaber noted that the diversity within the classroom has It is with deep sadness that we mourn the death of LSU created a great learning dynamic with varying viewpoints and in-depth alumnus and Truman Scholar Devon Wade. He had been living discussions. “Not only did we come from different education systems in Houston conducting field research for his Ph.D. in sociology at . Devon had been doing important work "We are getting such an expansive and on the consequences of incarceration on families and children. He had spent much of the past year working with and studying overarching view of education in Louisiana, a nonprofit organization for the children of incarcerated parents and it is truly readying us to be leaders in our embedded in Houston area schools. community.” Devon graduated cum laude from LSU in 2010 where he double majored in sociology with a concentration in criminology and African & African-American studies. Devon (traditional public schools, private Catholic schools, public magnet, etc.), worked closely with the Office of Fellowship Advising and the but also we all are pursuing career paths ranging from Healthcare and Honors College while at LSU and was a recipient of the Harry Public Policy to Engineering and Political Communications.” S. Truman Scholarship (2010), Ford Foundation Fellowship Sophomore Mass Communication and Political Science major (2010), and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Frederick Bell agreed. “What I really love about this class is the awesome Fellowship (2012). In 2011 Devon entered Columbia University and thought-provoking discussions,” he said. where he earned a M.A. in Sociology. He was continuing his studies as a Ph.D. candidate with an anticipated graduation date of 2018.

Devon devoted himself to correcting misperceptions of criminality in the , particularly along racial and class lines. For Devon, the study of sociology was closely tied to a pursuit of knowledge that can help make society more just. Alongside his doctoral work, Devon spent the past eleven years assisting an advocacy organization — No More Victims — for children and newborns of incarcerated parents. He will be greatly missed.

Dr. Granger Babcock and HNRS 3025 students prepping for a discussion on school choice. 9 GLOBAL CLASSROOM Ogden Honors Students Share Their Study Abroad Experiences

Dean Earle of the Ogden Honors College has one piece of advice for all incoming Honors students: “Your undergraduate years are the best time to study abroad. Believe me, no one is going to give you the opportunity to spend four months learning in Florence, or Tokyo, or Cuba when you’re 40-years-old.” According to Earle, academic rigor extends beyond the confines of the seminar setting. Excellence, he suggests, demands risk and discomfort by breaking routine. “There is something profound about having to learn to navigate the public transportation system in a foreign city, or how to withdraw cash from an ATM when the screen is full of Chinese characters. These cultural competency skills are every bit as valuable as the types of knowledge transmitted in a classroom setting.” The Ogden Honors College offers a variety of opportunities each summer for students to take their education to a different level through participating in study abroad programs. Over the past few years, Honors students have traveled to China, South Africa, Cuba, and London. Led by faculty mentors who are experts in their fields, these programs grant students the ability to go beyond the requirements of a typical college experience and step into a global classroom.

Honors students on the steps of St. Hilda's College, Oxford. Below, Honors students Matthew LeJeune, Morgan Johnson and Sarah LaBorde share some of their experiences on these programs. * Liberal Arts sophomore Matthew LeJeune attended the Honors College’s inaugural Ogden Honors in Oxford trip this past summer 2017. One of his favorite moments was the group’s day-trip to Bath, where the two courses he was studying — Classical Antiquity and 19th Century Ideas — came together. He was able to see the Roman Baths that resides there before heading over to the place where Jane Austen lived. “We got to see both of our classes together in one place,” he said. “We would learn in the classroom in the morning, and then spend the rest of the day seeing the places we learned about.” Dr. Drew Lamonica Arms, director of the Ogden Honors in Oxford program, was keen to capitalize on the on-site learning opportunities. “The real value of a study abroad program is the significance and understanding gained from seeing, touching, and experiencing what we analyzed in texts,” Arms said. “We learned so much about the 19th century worldview from the Albert Memorial in London, for example, or the Jane Austen exhibit at the Weston Library. And, of course, the chance to live and study in college as students at Oxford have since the Sophomore Sarah LaBorde punting on the Cherwell by St. Hilda's College, medieval period is truly once-in-a-lifetime.” Oxford. 10 are almost always life-changing and memorable,” she says. Johnson says that the trip gave the students plenty of room for exploration. “We saw so many historical sites, and took excursions from the city into the country,” she said. Studying the history of Cuba alongside Cuban art and folklore, the students on the 2016 trip truly had an immersive experience within the culture.

LSU Honors in Cuba students posing in Havana, Cuba. Deciding to hop on a plane to a foreign country generally makes for its own adventure, but LeJeune says that going with a group of people he had never met before offered its own opportunities for growth. What made the environment particularly interesting for LeJeune was being the only male student on the trip, though he says that by the end he had grown close to every one of his travel mates. “Overall, I loved traveling with other people, even if I didn't know them at first,” he said. “It allowed me to come out of my comfort zone and experience the world with fellow students.” LeJeune believes that the study abroad experience has helped him not only to enhance his worldview, but also to appreciate what he is learning back at LSU even more. “Whatever my studies lead me to, I Senior Morgan Johnson in front of the Christ of Havana statue in Havana, Cuba. can draw back on those experiences, what I learned, down the road,” he said. “We encountered people living very differently from the way we do * here in the United States,” Johnson said. Senior Morgan Johnson spent the summer of 2016 with the Honors Johnson believes that everyone should have an experience abroad, College program in Cuba. As a political science major, Johnson felt especially in an educational setting. “We have our own perspectives as that the trip was an incredible opportunity to learn about perspectives Americans,” she said. “We are all humans, but we don’t have the same from a country with which the United States has had conflict. “We got experiences [universally]. Going to visit places so different from ours to hear from Cuban professors from the University of Havana,” she shows us what we don’t see, and allows us to connect. It really teaches said. “It was so interesting to hear their viewpoints on things like the us to appreciate our own freedoms here in America.” Cold War.” * Associate Professor of English and Folklorist Dr. Solimar Otero has Mass Communications and Marketing sophomore Sarah LaBorde served as a leader of the Honors in Cuba Study Abroad Program. She also attended the very firstOgden Honors in Oxford program this past says that this unique trip offers Honors students a once-in-a-lifetime summer. LaBorde spoke about the experience of applying historical perspective of Cuban history and culture. “By interacting with regular concepts to things she was seeing every day. “We would talk about a people, professors, and artists, we get into a range of experiences that Jane Austen novel in the morning, and then go outside into present day Britain, and be able to apply those concepts,” she said. “It was so cool.” One of her favorite moments of the trip was getting the opportunity to watch the Royal Shakespeare Company perform Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s own hometown. “We had spent the past several days and weeks reading the very text Shakespeare used to write the story,” she said. “And then we just saw the words brought to life.” The biggest takeaway from her study abroad experience, she said, was perspective. “Where you are and the people around you definitely has an effect on your worldview. Changing the place and the people really taught me that perspective is so important to relating to people in life.” LaBorde added that the value of her study abroad experience extended beyond the authors and literature she explored along the way.“It’s more than just learning about Jane Austen, more than Plutarch. It’s about gaining experience and layering your education so that you can apply that to how you view the world,” she said. “It’s about global citizenship Sophomores Rebecca Lawler, Sarah LaBorde, and Matthew LeJeune in rather than just focusing on your own community.” Pembrokeshire County, Wales. 11 101 French House Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA 70803 honors.lsu.edu Phone: (225) 578-8831 Email: [email protected]

leave a legacy From scholarships to study abroad, your contributions help us make the Honors College exceptional. For more information on how to make your impact, contact Miles Garrett at [email protected].