LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITY TECH REPORT 2004.2005 IMPRESSIVE PROGRESS. UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGES. IMPRESSIVE PROGRESS. UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGES. Looking back, the big picture emerging at Louisiana Tech was that of a signature year. Achievements had come in ways both splashy (an invention made national news) and quietly rippling (a student challenged the odds to become a teacher) – and in numbers far too great to tally. Then came Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and their terrible aftermath. In typically incalculable layers of responsiveness, the Tech Family never missed a beat. Some examples: Dr. Box Leangsuksun and a group of computer science graduate students created a Web site aimed at streamlining the search Members of Tech’s Student for people displaced by Government Association Hurricane Katrina.Å arrived ahead of the quarter to aid the displaced Tech community flocking to Caruthers, a closed dormitory that Tech reopened and equipped in less than 24 hours to receive Katrina evacuees.Å When Hurricane Rita struck, Tech hosted McNeese State University’s computing center IN TRIBUTE – servers and families alike. For two weeks, McNeese’s The colors displayed on the With Hurricane Katrina Internet and e-mail operated cover and throughout the driving Tulane University smoothly from Tech’s campus, Tech Report represent those from New Orleans for the and some employees and their of the universities who have time being, Tech invited families stayed with Tech’s displaced students currently the Green Wave’s football computing center staff.Å attending Louisiana Tech. team to make Tech its home for study, practice and play until Tulane reopens.Å The Tech Report is made possible through the support of the Louisiana Tech Foundation. Louisiana Tech, a member of the University of the Louisiana System, is an equal opportunity educator and employer. 1 But it didn’t take a crisis for Tech to reach well beyond the borders of a workaday world. Alumnus Karl Over the past year: Malone upgraded the equipment in Tech’s weight room, inspiring hundreds of student-athletes to do an extra rep.Ç The Bachelor of Science in nanosystems Dr. Ken Rea, vice engineering was president for academic approved, the first such affairs, traveled to program in the nation.É Germany as part of a 17-member international university delegation exploring trends in European higher education.Å Albino Hinojosa donated 191 pieces of art to the Tech launched an university, comprising 29 online master’s in years’ worth of his original health information illustrations and paintings management, the first of Louisiana Tech. A computer password- Å completely online protection invention degree program of its brought Tech its first kind in the country.Ñ royalties in technology transfer.Ñ Dyslexia didn’t stop Katie Peacock from achieving her dream of becoming a teacher. The Baton Rouge native received her bachelor’s in elementary education this past spring. Three professors Å traveled to Belfast, Ireland, and São Paulo, Brazil, for workshops on internationalizing the curriculum.Ç Dr. Christina Erica Taylor sprang Edwards (2001 back from having a animal biology) baby in time to lead graduated top of Marie Bukowski judged the Lady Techsters her class from LSU more than 1,500 pieces basketball team to a Health Sciences of art alongside seven tournament season. Center-Shreveport.Ñ other artists from around Å the world at the annual World Art Print exhibition in Sofia, Bulgaria.É 2 3 “In my 19 years as Louisiana Tech’s president, I have never seen such highs achieved by our university and yet such an unfathomable low as the suffering and loss left in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In the pages of this year’s Tech Report, I want to show you all our accomplishments; however, we cannot lose sight of the terrible toll the hurricanes have taken on our state and its people.” Daniel D. Reneau REFLECTION One month after Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana Tech community paused for a vigil in the quad to remember the victims of this disaster. Tech’s Chamber Singers performed “Amazing Grace,” accompanied only by the gentle trickle of Lady of the Mist fountain. 4 5 IMPRESSIVE PROGRESS. “Louisiana Tech is not only a place to learn how to be UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGES. successful, it’s a place to experience success. The Tech Family has dared to dream big, work hard, and develop a collaborative spirit inside and outside the campus. These achievements – big and small – are collectively moving Tech to a new level.” Daniel D. Reneau Sometimes I look to the heavens and think the stars and ¢ No silo approach found dividing and moon aligned just right for Louisiana Tech’s successes this isolating parts of the campus. year. But in my heart, I know it was an earthly force of believers who put down on paper their dreams years ago. Testament to collaboration is the new Biomedical Today, many are reality. Engineering Building, the most complex building ever constructed at Tech and destined cornerstone of our research When Tech went to selective admissions in 1992, I said at university. The BME is being built next to the Institute for the time it was a milestone, and indeed, more than a decade Micromanufacturing. A suitably named “Collaboration later, we acknowledge that move as the turning point for a Alley” will link the two facilities. whole new level of excellence. This year, we achieved new milestones that will one day stand as similar markers. Let me We are completing more than $100 million in renovations touch on just a few. and new construction. Of particular importance is the completion of a new power plant. As energy prices soar, In 2004, we enrolled 2,379 graduate students, which conservation is more important then ever. represented more than 20 percent of our student body. As a ¢ A more energy-efficient power plant reference point, consider in 1999 we had just 1,301 graduate supporting our university. Sam Speed, Tech’s students comprising 13 percent of our student body. director of housing and ¢ We hit our mark of 20 to 25 percent Tech has researchers working around the clock on grant- residential life, greets graduate-level students. funded experiments. As the number of Tech patents grows, evacuees in Caruthers so does the need for a space where research can spin off into Hall. Amanda Joe, a Our student body continues to evolve, and we’re attracting viable businesses. Tech police officer, a higher-achieving class of learners. We may not say it quite ¢ Tech’s new Enterprise Center provides coaxes a little smile out like that in a recruitment publication, but we’re a university a nurturing environment for Tech-related of a young evacuee. that celebrates the nerdy instinct toward serious learning, and research and company collaborations to serious students have big goals. Every day we support them create economic development. along their path to achieving them. ¢ More than 75 percent have a Tuition On a final note, we have recently moved to the third tier of THOUGH LOUISIANA TECH’S CAMPUS ESCAPED HURRICANE the university. As the group began sporting free Tech T-shirts Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) “U.S. News & World Report’s” list of best doctoral-level Katrina’s assault on the Gulf Coast, many of our students, and adapting to their new home, Tech’s food contractor, scholarship. universities. While this isn’t a goal we set in ink years ago, it alumni, employees and friends were severely impacted. Tech Aramark, set extra plates for them. represents all the milestones – big and small – that we have Family is not a concept here at our university; it’s a way of In academics, it was a year of measuring up to basic standards amassed in recent years. life. In that spirit, Tech is responding to the challenges now At press time, our university had taken in more than 300 and accreditation. The most significant, of course, was our faced by our state and its people. college students who – thanks to the efforts of faculty, 10-year, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools At the end of the day, it’s not about moving up a tier admissions, housing, residential life and counseling services self-study. or building remarkable structures. It comes down to a Tech has reopened Caruthers dormitory, an eight-story – have moved seamlessly into classes. ¢ We met every criterion for reaccreditation community of people working together to make the world building closed earlier in the year when students moved with no recommendations cited in any a better place. And sometimes that’s as simple as taking in a Out of a tragedy, all our fates are newly linked. We demand into University Park, Tech’s new, apartment-style complex. category. neighbor. ¢ Now back in business, Caruthers is housing nearly 600 nothing less of this experience than a future that defies evacuees, most of them current Tech students and their the power of tragedy and continues to underscore our This doesn’t just happen. Not only did we get a clean- families, families of students from other universities who are commitment to helping create a stronger state, region and slate recommendation, but the committee made a unique continuing their studies at Tech, and alumni and friends of nation. We will not let bad times negate good.Ñ observation on the undeniable interdisciplinary, cross- President boundary culture at Tech. 6 7 “It’s really just a place where students can come to get information about a lot of MORE different things that will help them succeed. Ultimately the bottom line is, if you are STUDENT RESOURCES helping students succeed, retention increases. More students will stay and graduate.” Dr.