diary of a disaster - Louisiana Tech Alumni

Transcription

N o. 1 5
| winter 2005-06
diary of a
disaster
Alum recounts evacuation of
Tulane University Hospital
homecoming in pictures
Alumna of the Year Virginia Lomax Marbury
Searchkatrina.org
Tech team creates search engine to aid victims
refuge from the storm
Family’s bond with Tech strengthened
Louisiana Tech University
www.latech.edu
contents
Alumn i A s s o c iat i o n
Of f i c e r s
Tim King
– President
Kenny Guillot
– Vice President
Russ Nolan
– Treasurer
Steve Bates
– Past President
2 | From the 16th Floor
Daniel D. Reneau
– Ex-Officio
A Vote of Confidence
Boa r d o f d i r e c t o rs
Bobby Aillet, Ron Ainsworth, John Allen, Dr. John Areno, Lyn Bankston, Paige Baughman, Ayres Bradford, Allison Bushnell, Audis Byrd, Carrol Cochran, Mark Colwick, John Denny, Wayne Fleming, Dr. Grant Glover, Chris Hammons, Jeff Hawley, Justin Hinckley, Marsha Jabour, Chris Jordan, Dr. John Maxwell, Mac McBride, Dawn McDaniel, Cliff Merritt, Lomax Napper, Stephanie Sisemore, Kristy Smith, Markus Snowden, Barry Stevens, Eddie Tinsley, Bennie Thornell
Alu m n i a s s o c iat i on staff
Corre Stegall
– Vice President for University Advancement
Kyle Edmiston
– Director of Alumni Relations
Ryan Richard
– Coordinator of Alumni Programs
Barbara Swart
– Administrative Assistant
m arket i n g a n d
pub lic r e lat i o n s
Kate Archer
– Director, Marketing and Public Relations
Darlene Bush Tucker
– Senior Writer
Mark Coleman
– Designer
Donny Crowe
– Photographer
Nick Deriso
– Contributing Writer
4 | Alumna of the Year: Virginia Lomax Marbury
A Word from the
Alumni Director
www.latechalumni.org
5 | Distinguished Service Award
Mr. Robert Snyder: Class Favorite
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …” At the annual fall meeting of
faculty and staff, Louisiana Tech President Dan Reneau opened his speech with this
quote from Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities.”
11 | Young Alumna of the Year
Dr. Reneau described how Tech had completed another exemplary year, but that it
was overshadowed by the devastation of hurricanes. In the following pages of the
Louisiana Tech Magazine, you will see both sides of this story.
12 | Homecoming 2005
Kristy Tillman: Tech Groomed Her Harvard Hopes
Harbor Lights
The best of times show the accomplishments of some of our distinguished alumni
and our talented faculty and students. Mrs. Virginia Lomax Marbury was honored
at Homecoming as the Alumna of the Year, having spent a lifetime honoring and
giving back to her alma mater. Kristy Tillman just graduated in 1996, but has
already achieved significant success in her law career and made contributions to
society through charitable giving of her time and expertise. She was honored as the
2005 Young Alumna of the Year.
The destruction of lives and property caused by Hurricane Katrina has deeply
touched so many people connected to Tech. Alumnus Jim Montgomery’s story as
CEO of Tulane University Hospital and Clinic and his diary of the events during
the storm will bring the reality of the situation home to you. The stories on the
assistance provided by Tech are inspiring. The faculty, staff and students of your
university stepped forward and were an asset to those in need. I hope that you will
be inspired by these stories of help and hope.
As I close this column, I do so for the last time as Tech’s director of Alumni
Relations. It has been an honor and a pleasure for me to serve for the past 10 years
in this position, and I look forward to continuing to assist Tech in the future. Ryan
Richard, who has worked in the Division of University Advancement for more than
three years, will fill this position. I am confident that he will do a tremendous job.
Thank you for the opportunity to work with such a wonderful group of people – the
alumni and friends of Louisiana Tech University.
14 | Diary of a Disaster
Alum Recounts Evacuation of
Tulane University Hospital
18 | Refuge From the Storm
Family’s Bond With Tech Strengthened
20 | Searchkatrina.org
Tech Team Creates Search Engine to Help Locate
Displaced People
14
22 | He Delivered
Dr. Guthrie Jarrell: The Doctor Bleeds Red and Blue
24 | News Around Campus
12
18
20
Giving Back, Raising the Bar
28 | News About You
We Share Your Milestones
Elena Parker
– Creative Services Manager
Louisiana Tech Magazine is published
semiannually by the Louisiana Tech Alumni
Association. We welcome your letters:
Louisiana Tech Magazine
P.O. Box 3183 | Ruston LA 71272
Protecting and Building a Legacy
32 | What Matters to Alumni
Honoring Lives of Learning
About the Cover
Tech alum Jim Montgomery, CEO of Tulane University Hospital and Clinic, is
shown revisiting the New Orleans hospital’s rooftop parking lot that became an
evacuee helipad during the harrowing Hurricane Katrina crisis.
the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools.
Tech’s new Enterprise Center, a business incubator housed in
the old Lincoln Parish Library, welcomed its first tenants in
November. Network Foundation Technologies, its featured
product low-cost, digital online streaming technology, has
moved in eight employees. As NFT co-founders, Tech alumnus
Marcus Morton and Tech faculty member Dr. Mike O’Neal
hope to create a “Silicon Bayou” in Louisiana.
The 10-year, self-study SACS accreditation drives fear into
the hearts of presidents everywhere, but we made every status
criteria with no recommendations in any core category. If you
thought that was unheard of, you’re right, and we commend
the network of excellence here at Tech that made such a
conclusion possible.
Two building projects that will long have an impact at Tech are
on track.
Also linked to economic development, Tech is one of an initial
eight higher-education institutions partnering in an effort
to translate the growing culture of innovation and creativity
into quantifiable economic development. In September,
Louisiana celebrated connection to the National LambdaRail,
a unique, high-speed network that uses laser light to increase
transmission speeds by more than 1,000 times what is currently
available, a boon to research and collaboration everywhere.
The steel skeleton of the Biomedical Engineering building is
rising, and you can see the daily progress on the Webcam that
is positioned in Davison Hall. Go to: http://mycenit.latech.
edu/biomed/
You will find more markers of our success inside this magazine,
including mention of our new U.S. News & World Report
ranking and what a national education group says about how
Tech does what it does.
Also, if you visit the campus and notice Wyly Tower entrances
draped with yellow “caution” tape, and inside, a small walkway
to the elevators, you are witnessing construction of the Student
Achievement Center. The center, set to be finished in May, will
provide students a central place to receive learning assistance
and a host of other types of academic support.
As we celebrate these achievements, we also keep in mind
the uncertainty of the future, particularly the effect that the
hurricanes will continue to have on the state budget.
So many other programs have passed their reviews with flying
colors recently, but along with the great programs, we need
great facilities.
from the
16th floor
“On every front, even in the wake of
crises like the hurricanes and subsequent
budget cuts, Louisiana Tech University has
maintained its remarkable momentum.”
- Daniel D. Reneau, president
You just have to love this unflappable university – and
the entire Tech community.
been responsible – academically – for two Division 1A football
teams at the same time.
Just as we have never let good times throw us into an attitude
of complacency and stagnation, neither do we let challenges
distract us from our mission to deliver a quality education
and improve the world around us. On every front, even in
the wake of crises like the hurricanes and subsequent budget
cuts, Louisiana Tech University has maintained its remarkable
momentum.
Foremost we have continued to build on the idea of student
success.
And then some.
From every corner of this campus, and from all the outposts
beyond where our alumni and friends live, came pouring forth
reserves of caring and comfort that few could have imagined
possible before the hurricanes took their heavy toll on our state
and region.
Related to student success is University Park, the new
apartment-style student housing just formally dedicated and
already home to nearly 500 students. The $22 million project
marked the first time in 40 years that we had new housing.
For those of you who are able to help, please accept my
heartfelt gratitude. For those of you who have been directly
affected by Katrina and Rita, please know that you continue in
our thoughts and prayers.
On another front, one that impacts not only students but
everyone in the region, Tech is not just talking about economic
development, we’re doing something about it.
We have both long-term committed faculty and newer young
faculty. Tech is solid, even after the budget cuts. We have
always shielded the classroom in such cases. The academic core
of our institution remains sound. In fact, admission standards
at Tech were again raised in 2005, a third increase in just more
than five years.
And we continue to raise the bar.
The Tech Family and the campus itself took in evacuees and
helped to ease their transition into life after the storm.
Based on the number of doctorates awarded, our university
has won Doctoral II status (or Four-Year 2 ranking) from the
Southern Regional Education Board. That adds greatly to our
national reputation as a research university. In keeping with our
commitment in this area, we initiated the Doctor of Audiology
program, the ninth doctoral program begun here.
Tech also hosted the Tulane football team, and we received a
wealth of positive feedback from around the nation and the
world. I guess I’m the only college president in history who has
Furthermore, making this past year the best academically in
our university’s history, we have received more than a dozen
superior accreditation reports including the big one from
2 | Louisiana Tech Magazine
Tech is utilizing resources as efficiently as possible and
evaluating all options for reducing costs. The resources of the
Tech Foundation proved to be more important than ever as we
strive to maintain our standards.
1
2
3
4
1|A
fter Hurricane Katrina temporarily shut Tulane University for the 2005 season, Louisiana Tech invited the Green Wave’s football team to
enroll in classes, live on campus, and use the athletic facilities. Team coaches and staff were welcomed to Tech as well.
2 | T he $10.5 million, 52,000-square-foot Biomedical Engineering building, set to revolutionize the state of research at Louisiana Tech when the
facility opens in 2006, will feature architecture that combines historic elements with present-day technology.
3|A
long with plans to build a Student Achievement Center to promote student success comes a major renovation of the 16-story Wyly Tower of
Learning, originally constructed in 1972. The new center, which will occupy Wyly’s second and third floors, is set to open in the fall.
4 | T he speed with which researchers can transmit data is almost as important as the data itself. When our state connected to the National
LambdaRail not long ago, Louisiana Tech was already leading a push to capitalize on the super-high-speed network.
www.latech.edu | 3
ALUMNA OF THE YEAR
Snyder attended Tech football games for years, until health
problems slowed him and his wife down.
VIRGINIA LOMAX MARBURY: A LIFE OF LOYALTY
Snyder retired from Tech in 1989 with a well-earned reputation
as a scholar in 18th-century, comparative and Victorian literature.
“He told me: ‘I think I’ve gotten more enjoyment out of this
award for Virginia than anything I ever received,’” Stegall says.
Snyder taught freshman English for 10 years at Tech before
moving deeper into what he calls “literacy courses.” For a time,
he served as chair for what was then the English and foreign
languages department.
The Marburys’ business acumen helped create and nurture
several cornerstone local companies, but also helped gird Tech’s
own dramatic growth. That included their support for the
campaign to build the Biomedical Engineering building and
their enthusiasm for all areas of intellectual endeavors at Tech.
Mrs. Marbury credits her husband’s vision.
In 1977, a Board of Regents professorship in English was
established in his honor. Snyder was named Tech’s first
Distinguished Professor in 1982.
“He was one of the most outstanding professors and teachers
that we have had,” says Corre Stegall, vice president of
university advancement and a former student of Snyder’s. “He
loved his students, and we loved him.”
“He believed in looking down the road,” she says.
William Marbury has long been recognized by the university as
one of its most important benefactors, receiving an honorary
doctor of laws degree in 1987, the prestigious Tower Medallion
Award in 1991 and the Tech Award of Merit in 1995.
But his wife stood as an equal in garnering recognition. Tech
also granted her an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1987. In
1991, she too was presented the Tower Medallion, and in 1995
the Award of Merit. Both Marburys were named to Tech’s list
of 100 most distinguished graduates in 1994.
She was also honored, along with her husband, with the city of
Ruston’s certificate of appreciation for leadership and service to
the community.
Among the Marburys’ gifts to Louisiana Tech is a statue of Virginia
Marbury’s grandfather, George Madden Lomax, portrait at right,
who wrote the legislation that led to the founding of the university.
Their names are inextricably bound together, in
marriage and in Ruston.
So, when Virginia Lomax Marbury’s husband, William Jr., died
in October, Virginia lost her soul mate – but not her affection
for Louisiana Tech.
“We both graduated from Tech,” she says. “In fact, William
went all through grade school and high school at A.E. Phillips,
or the ‘model school’ as it was called then. So, his entire young
life was spent on the Tech campus, and he loved it so much
– and I love it, too.”
Their contributions would become legendary, most notably
in financial support that helped build the Alumni Center.
In recognition of the Marburys’ considerable support of the
university, the Tech Alumni Association annually awards 12
scholarships in their names to children of Tech alumni.
The couple received word that Mrs. Marbury had earned
recognition as Tech’s Alumna of the Year just before her
husband’s unexpected passing last fall. He had already helped
with his wife’s acceptance speech, says Corre Stegall, vice
president for university advancement.
Snyder’s abiding passion for books played out not just in his
long tenure at Tech, but also in his deep involvement in the
library system of Louisiana.
Arlis Scogin Distinguished
Service Award
ROBERT C. SNYDER SR.:
He never left Tech
“Louisiana Tech and Ruston are almost one and the same,”
Mrs. Marbury says. “It’s a wonderful alliance between a
community and a university, and we love both parts of that
alliance.”
Even in retirement, former Louisiana Tech Professor
Robert C. Snyder Sr. remains a man of letters – sprinkling
conversations with references to Thomas Hardy, Walt Whitman
and legendary Victorian scribes.
Born in Ruston to Della Southern and Dallas Daniel Lomax,
she graduated from Tech with a bachelor’s in music in 1936,
then received her master’s from Louisiana State University in
1938. She taught music, including a stint at Ruston High in
the early 1940s, before marrying in 1943. The Marburys have
two daughters and three grandchildren.
With Snyder having served more than 40 years behind the lectern,
generations of Tech students remember his recitations.
A year into their marriage, the couple established the wellregarded Marbury and Co., and then Bankers Life of Louisiana
in 1959.
“She is truly the much-talked about steel magnolia,” Stegall
says. “She’s brilliant, a fantastic mind. She has a passion about
the things that she believes deeply in – and Louisiana Tech is
one of those things, thank goodness.”
A lifetime of support doesn’t culminate with an award like this,
Mrs. Marbury says.
“We have always deeply believed that the Lord put us on this
earth to do all we can for others,” she says. “I’m intent on
trying to continue the things we have always believed in, as
long as I can.”
“I taught hundreds and hundreds of them,” Snyder says – not
least of which are Tech President Dan Reneau and journalism
department head Wiley Hilburn. “I think I did all right with
my students. They have certainly been kind to me over the years.”
Those years of service at Tech have earned Snyder the Arlis
Scogin Distinguished Service Award – named last year for a
petroleum engineering graduate and longtime Tech supporter
who passed away after a bout with cancer.
Snyder is still absorbing the honor. “Louisiana Tech,” he says,
“is an integral part of my life. I have three children, and all of
them graduated from Louisiana Tech, as did their spouses.”
He pauses to further frame his Tech experience.
“Louisiana Tech means everything to me; it’s a part of me,”
Snyder says. “I had a chance over the years to go elsewhere, but
I wouldn’t have. I think Tech is superior to the rest. There was
no way to entice me to leave. I haven’t left it, even now.”
Snyder served the Lincoln Parish Public Library Board of
Control for 39 years and the State Library Board from 1968
through last summer. He was state board chair in 1998.
“I was instrumental in getting the first public library in Lincoln
Parish in the early 1960s,” Snyder says. “There was a great
need, because even though folks generally used the Tech library,
a public library could better serve everybody.”
That long history of service was also recognized when Snyder
received the Modisette Award for Outstanding Trustee from the
Louisiana Library Association in 1971.
He was a member of Louisiana’s Commission on Governmental
Ethics for more than 20 years.
Snyder said he never stopped reading, delving into European
authors translated from French, German and “especially the
Russians,” like Dostoevsky.
“I’ve been a voracious reader all my life,” Snyder says – and
that fed into his second love. “I feel as though the library is a
sister to university training. I think it’s one of the things that
we take for granted. It’s the backbone of the university – and
the community.”
Libraries, like universities, know no age. History comes alive
with the turn of a page, Snyder says.
In the end, words – and his former students – have kept him
young.
“Libraries contain everything,” he says. “I love books. I loved
teaching and my students. Never would I have retired, if they
hadn’t made me.”
www.latech.edu | 5
distinguished college alumni of the year
c o llege o f a d m i n i strat i o n a n d bus i n ess
ROBERT M. HOLT JR.:
OTHA “DUSTY” TAYLOR:
Never stop asking ‘why?’
Enterprising businessman with homespun heritage
For Robert M. Holt Jr., attending Louisiana Tech
was a family tradition.
Management – one of the largest independent investment
counseling firms in the Southwest.
“Both of my parents went to school at Tech, and to some
extent I grew up in the Tech family,” says Holt, founder
of Fort Worth, Texas-based Holt Capital Partners, LP. “I
continued that tradition with my own education.”
“That was probably the best career move I had made,
joining Luther King,” he says. “I wanted to be part of an
organization that was solely devoted to the investment
process.”
That shared history provided an emotional underpinning
when Holt learned that he was to be named College of
Administration and Business
Alumnus of the Year.
Still, the multifaceted nature of his position resulted
in splitting his time researching companies, managing
portfolios, meeting with clients
and marketing the firm. Holt
longed for the opportunity to
immerse himself in creating
and implementing investment
strategies.
“I asked the dean (Dr. Shirley
P. Reagan) if she was sure she
had the right person,” says Holt,
laughing. “She said she did, but I
was still surprised.”
The recognition comes as Holt,
a member of the CAB Advisory
Board, feels an ever more
powerful tug to give back to his
alma mater.
“I’ve always felt a closeness to
the university, following the
sports and so on,” he says. “But
it has become more of a two-way
street since I became involved in
the advisory board. I have gone
from just being an alumnus to
being an involved alumnus. Tech
formed the foundation and core
of my higher education, and
from there I continued to move
forward.”
Although establishing his own firm in 2001 is a career
capstone, Holt already had a distinguished list of
accomplishments from nearly 30 years as an investment
manager.
Holt, who was a Wyly Scholar at Tech, received his
bachelor’s degree in finance in just three years. He went on
to earn an MBA from the University of Texas in 1978. He
worked for five years as an assistant vice president for the
American Founders Life Insurance Co., and then spent two
decades as a partner with Fort Worth’s Luther King Capital
c o llege o f a p p l i e d a n d n atural sc i e n ces
“The impetus for starting my
own firm was to return to my
roots,” Holt says, “and spend time
in a purely investment role.”
Nearly three decades into his
career, Holt remains enthusiastic
about the constantly changing
nature of financial markets.
“It’s always an exciting time in
the investment business,” he
says, “because the industry is
so dynamic. Your feedback on
investment decisions is really
instantaneous.”
Call Dusty Taylor a country-boy entrepreneur and
he will accept the compliment. Taylor’s father, who lived
through the Great Depression, taught him that farm-labor
discipline and a college degree could set him on a successful
course close to his roots. Sold!
Louisiana Tech’s College of Applied and Natural Sciences
Alumnus of the Year slips into auctioneer’s mode when he
recites his career highlights. After graduating in 1969 with
a bachelor’s in animal science, he ventured to Arizona’s
remote Sonoran Desert to take a
job at a feed lot. After working a
year in a cattle-stocking program,
he longed to return to the piney
hills and “mainstream life,” he
says.
Shuttling rapidly through his life
events, he links together his job
history: cattle worker, animalhealth supplies salesman, highrisk insurance salesman, metalshed builder, rodeo competitor,
business owner and auctioneer.
Taylor is not one to hang up his
ten-gallon hat. When he wrecked
his knee in a steer-wrestling
accident, he went through
rehabilitation and jumped right
back into rodeo life. In 1999, he
was inducted into the Louisiana
Rodeo Cowboys Hall of Fame.
An inquisitive sort, Holt
discovered the stock market at age
11 when he bought two shares of stock in a regional grocery
chain – and made a 75 percent return on the investment.
But in 1974 he had a more
sobering professional experience.
The cattle market “went completely to pot,” he says bluntly,
and that was his primary source of income at the time.
“I was hooked,” Holt admits. His curiosity and devotion to
finance continue to serve him today.
“I basically caught myself with all my eggs in one basket,”
he says. “I swore then if I ever survived that I would never
again be caught with only one way to make a living.”
“I love getting up and coming to work every morning,” he
says. “A lot of people say my favorite question is: ‘Why?’
That fits in well with what I’m doing. We have to ask
the questions: Why are a company’s earnings better or
worse than expected? Why are the stocks up? We ask these
questions all day long.”
He kept that pact when in 1978 he started Taylor Made
Enterprises, an umbrella company for all his business
ventures. Today, Taylor Made has two primary divisions:
commercial and industrial construction and auctionmanagement services. The hands-on owner says he crams
eight days of work into six-and-a-half. (Sunday mornings
are reserved for church.)
He still remembers how he became “Taylor Made.” He
credits Tech for preparing him to make it in the real world.
“Tech was a pretty challenging deal for a gentleman who
probably wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed when he was
in high school,” he says with a chuckle. “Thank goodness
with the help and patience of good teachers, by the time
I got out of college, it seemed like I got a little brighter
academically.”
In the mid-’80s Taylor got an
unexpected opportunity to
capitalize on his own special
brand of “bright.” When a friend
thrust a microphone into Taylor’s
hand at an auction, it was meant
to be a joke. But Taylor, who
found himself doing fast math in
his head and even faster talking,
brought down the house. In
2001, he was named Louisiana’s
champion auctioneer.
Despite his success, he counsels
others to go through auctioneer
school rather than take his route
through the school of hard
knocks.
“I just started selling,” he says.
“The learning curve is very fast
that way.”
For the past four years, Taylor has
been calling one auction that is
especially close to his heart, Tech’s
Commitment to Education Cattle Sale. More than 50
percent of the agricultural sciences scholarships are derived
from this one event each October.
Minutes before starting off this year’s sale at Hays Brothers
Angus Ranch near Arcadia, he summed up what the
college’s Alumnus of the Year award means to him.
“I always thought these distinctions went to CEOs and
corporate execs,” he said, sitting in the bleachers and gazing
up at the auctioneer’s box in anticipation of his next task.
“I wish I had brilliant, intellectual answers. But I’m just a
country boy close to home.”
www.latech.edu | 7
c o llege o f e d ucat i o n
c o llege o f e n g i n eer i n g a n d sc i e n ce
BILLY JACK TALTON:
HARRY GASTON:
the POWER behind the program
Billy Jack Talton, founder of Louisiana Tech’s
powerlifting program, got into competition as a high
schooler to stave off the boredom that physical conditioning
always entails.
“That made it a little more interesting,” says Talton, a Tech
graduate who returned in 1973 to join Tech’s department of
health and physical education as a coach and instructor. He
later served as department chairman from 1985-2001.
Before he retired and was named
professor emeritus, Talton
collected 11 collegiate Coach
of the Year awards. Tech’s men
won 11 national collegiate
powerlifting titles between 19782001; the women won 10.
Now Talton is being honored
as the College of Education
Alumnus of the Year.
“I came back – and I’m glad
I did,” Talton says. “We have
had good leadership and high
expectations. I always thought
there was challenge for me.”
Talton graduated from Tech
with a bachelor’s in health and
physical education in 1962, then
completed a master’s in 1964.
He also holds a doctorate in
education from Northwestern
State University.
Much has changed since Talton attended Tech, not least
of which is how strength and conditioning emerged as
a critical component in modern sports. After founding
Tech’s powerlifting team in 1974, he presided over a period
that saw this nascent sport become the backbone of every
athletic program.
“I got interested in strength training to increase athletic
performance; that was a pretty new concept in the 1960s,”
Talton says. “Today, it’s an everyday thing.”
LIVING AND GIVING LARGE
His teaching career included high school stints at Ruston’s
Cedar Creek, Shreveport’s Captain Shreve, and Bastrop.
Over the years, Talton has worked with 700 college athletes.
He finds their success to be a point of pride – though he
admits surprise at the emotional heft their experiences with
the program still hold.
“I am always a little shocked at how many of them see that
as a positive time,” he says. “I just looked at it as trying to
get the best out of them. But it
had a positive impact. That has
been a really pleasant revelation
after all this time.”
Wider recognition followed.
In 1999, three years after his
induction into the National
Strength and Conditioning
Coach’s Hall of Fame, Talton
was named the United States
of America’s Powerlifting
Federation’s first Coach of the
Year. He was named to the
Louisiana High School Powerlift
Hall of Fame in 1994.
Retirement, Talton says, hasn’t
slowed him down. He is still
involved with the officiating
at powerlifting competitions,
including the upcoming winter
prep regional and state meets.
Talton, a former Tech football
star and dedicated Bulldogs fan,
also remains committed to fundraising for Tech – and he still works as a mentor with the
powerlifting team.
If it’s not raining, though, Talton can usually be found in a
pasture. He and his wife, Carolyn, live on 50 acres north of
Ruston near Dubach, where they ride and show Tennessee
walking horses.
“When I can, I stay involved with Tech,” Talton says, “but
life just keeps moving right along.”
Harry Gaston, a 1952 graduate in petroleum
engineering at Louisiana Tech, never saw himself as all that
distinguished when it came to alumni.
He describes a simple, hardworking past: He got his
bachelor’s, then a master’s from the University of Texas,
then met and married his wife, Rubye. He made his way
through the corporate world and, only later, made a few
contributions to Tech.
Among Gaston’s more notable
donations was a $100,000
gift in 2004 to the College of
Engineering and Science in
order to establish a memorial
scholarship in honor of his
mother, Mattie Black Gaston.
Now he’s being honored, too
– as College of Engineering and
Science Alumnus of the Year.
“In my own mind, I didn’t think
I was any more distinguished
than I had been in the past,” says
Gaston, laughing. “I found out
about some of Tech’s needs, and
I decided I could donate to those
needs at that time.”
A Shreveport native, Gaston
briefly considered the family
business of glass cutting. But he
took a chance on his dream of
engineering at what was then
known as Louisiana Polytechnic
Institute, now Louisiana Tech.
After receiving his master’s, Gaston left Austin for a stint in
the U.S. Army, serving as an engineer and chemist. Later,
he moved to Houston and built an impressive career that
culminated with a lengthy presidency at Ryder Scott Co.,
where he supervised, coordinated and performed reservoir
evaluation studies. He remains the firm’s president emeritus.
When retirement loomed, Gaston says he began to take
stock of his life and how Tech fit into his own story. The
scholarship donations, he says, fit in with his abiding
love, not just for Tech, but for the fresh young minds that
influenced his own company over the years.
“I’ve always been a supporter of scholarship, donating a
little bit here and there,” Gaston says. “It helps provide an
opportunity for people who might not have gotten a chance
to go to school otherwise, and then they can contribute
back. That’s something I wanted to get involved with,
providing a chance for people to pursue some of their
dreams.”
Gaston has also consistently embraced the new, from
1960s punch-card technology to room-size computers that
eventually eliminated his old slide
rule. And he always remained
open to new endeavors.
He was skiing at an age when
others were rocking gently on
the porch; then he moved on to
snowboarding. He’s flown his
own planes. He’s worked his own
ranch. His motorcycle, key to
another late-blooming pastime,
finally brought him back to
Ruston.
“I guess I never traveled up that
way much,” Gaston admits.
“My business took me north
and west and northeast, and
mostly by plane. As I got closer
to retirement, I began riding
motorcycles, and on a tour I went
to the Blue Ridge Parkway (a
national park that stretches from
North Carolina into Virginia)
in the fall. We went through
Ruston. On a couple of occasions
I pulled through campus. All of the changes that had taken
place, that was pretty amazing. I hadn’t been there in 30 or
40 years.”
That’s when Gaston decided to make his own contribution
to the quickly evolving landscape of his alma mater.
His contributions also include a $1 million gift to
help underwrite research facilities at Tech’s Biomedical
Engineering building. The Gastons also plan an estate gift.
“It was a long time before I got back involved,” Gaston
says. “But I always loved that part of the country, and I
always loved Louisiana Tech.”
www.latech.edu | 9
young alumna of the year
YOUNG ALUMNA OF THE YEAR
c o llege o f l i beral arts
KRISTY TILLMAN:
KATHRYN D. ROBINSON:
Embracing her roots
REPRESENTING THE ART OF THE HEART
Kathryn D. Robinson left Louisiana Tech in 1971,
speech degree in hand, as conflict raged in Vietnam.
She works today as director of the School of Humanities at
Penn State’s Capital College while another war continues in
the Middle East.
Yet Robinson remains steadfast in her belief that the arts
define our life, whatever the troubles of the time.
“From a representative painting,
for instance, we can discover not
only a particular moment in the
battle, but we can determine who
was in charge, who was afraid,
what people wore into battle,
how people reacted to the war
– and not just the weapons they
used, but how they used them,”
Robinson says.
“Just as important is the painting
of the plowman, the song of
the boatmen, the dances of
courtship, the poems of love,”
she adds. “The United States’
greatest shame, the enslavement
of Africans, will forever be
emblazoned on our national
consciousness not by statistics,
but by the songs of the Negro
slaves and discourse of literature
about their plight.”
Her three decades of devotion to
the arts and an abiding love of
Louisiana Tech have earned Robinson recognition at Tech
as the College of Liberal Arts Alumna of the Year.
Hers is a life that’s gone far and wide, but always found a
touchstone at Tech.
After leaving Ruston, Robinson earned a master’s of fine art
from Southern Illinois, then a doctorate in fine arts from
Texas Tech. Before accepting her current position at Penn
State, Robinson also served as dean of arts and letters at
both Southern Oregon University and Northeastern State
University in Tahlequah, Okla.
Among her accomplishments along the way are several
national awards, including three Kennedy Center
Medallions of Excellence – in 1985-86 and 1993 – and the
center’s Career Achievement Award in 1996.
She has been active in professional organizations including
the Kennedy Center’s American College Theater Festival,
the American Theatre Association, the Association
for Theatre in Higher Education, and the Southwest
Theatre Association. In 1996, with Jeff Koep, she cofounded the National Partners
of the American Theatre, an
organization that provides
scholarships and consultant
support.
Her connection to the Kennedy
Center theater festival, which
ultimately included a stint as
national chair, began in the
organization’s inaugural year
when she participated as a
student actor.
Similarly, she’s never forgotten
Tech.
After receiving her MFA,
Robinson returned to the
university to serve as director
of theatre in 1975, becoming
Tech’s first director of the School
of Performing Arts. Tech was
fortunate enough to have her
through 1997.
As Robinson continues into a third decade as an educator,
she remains true to a grounded aesthetic: Home is where
the heart – and the art – is.
Even today, Robinson teaches a humanities class at Penn
State that she developed while working in Oklahoma.
“We live in unsettled times,” Robinson says. “How can we
react? How can we move bravely into the century before us?
This arena of the arts gives even the most disenfranchised
individual empowerment to change the world.”
When Kristy Tillman moved to Washington, D.C., soon
after graduating in 1996, she didn’t realize that her college
experience had been remarkable. She talked to her East Coast
friends about their undergraduate years and found that the
accessibility she had to her Louisiana Tech professors was
uncommon.
“I would spend hours in Dr. (Robert) Toburen’s office
agonizing about my future,” she says. “Never once did I think I
was taking up the time of the department head.”
When Tillman returned to Tech to accept the Young Alumna
of the Year award, the nurturing relationships she had with her
professors was on her mind. This award honors graduates of
the past decade for their contributions of time and service to
Tech and to their profession and community.
All the conversations with Tech professors about her career
destiny gave the Monroe native self-assurance enough to
become a New York City attorney. The 2003 Harvard Law
School graduate is a third-year associate with Paul, Weiss,
Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Tillman does general
commercial litigation for international corporate clients.
She also has pro bono cases involving criminal appeals and
immigration.
“Harvard is a very vibrant place, and I felt grateful to be there,”
she says. “I hope Tech professors will encourage more students
to look at Harvard and other top law schools.”
After graduating from Tech with her bachelor’s degree in
political science and history, she interned for the Wesley
Foundation ministry at Tech. Then she moved to D.C. and
got a job with then-U.S. Sen. John Breaux on his Senate
Special Committee on Aging staff. While living and working
in Washington, she was involved with Building Bridges, a
nonprofit organization that helps break down racial divisions in
communities. After working for Breaux three years, she decided
to go to law school.
“I knew a law degree would increase my opportunities on
Capitol Hill and beyond,” she says. “I also realized that while I
loved working in government on policy issues, I was interested
in working with individuals, specifically in helping people
navigate our complex government and legal systems.”
Reflecting on her Harvard law education, she says “the
opportunities for learning from and interacting with worldclass legal scholars were phenomenal.” She met her husband
while doing a musical theater production that poked fun at
law school life. After graduating, she clerked for a year for U.S.
District Judge Norma Shapiro in Philadelphia.
“law school can be difficult and
overwhelming, and it is good to have your
eye on the goal while you are there. I want
to convey to students that, yes, you can
achieve your dreams! never settle or let
others tell you otherwise.”
– Kristy Tillman
When she came to campus to accept the Young Alumna of the
Year award, she was surrounded by family and felt humbled to
be recognized among the other accomplished alumni.
“It was so much fun to bring my husband who is from (New)
Jersey,” she says. “Sitting with my family at the banquet in the
Student Center felt like old times. It reminded me of parents’
weekend.”
www.latech.edu | 11
Homecoming
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www.latech.edu | 13
Diary of a Disaster
Surviving Katrina at Tulane University Hospital
Louisiana Tech alumnus Jim
Montgomery is president and
CEO of Tulane University
Hospital and Clinic. He recounts
what occurred at the hospital
from the beginning of the
hurricane to the day the last
person was rescued from the
hospital’s parking deck turned
helipad. On Dec. 1,
Montgomery was photographed
at the site where patients,
employees and their families
alike had waited for rescue
helicopters.
jim montgomery speaks
In Bob Dylan’s song, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” the singer
is asked questions: Where have you been? What did you see?
What did you hear? Who did you meet? And, what will you
do now, my blue-eyed son? He replies with a collage of images
about his experience that attempts to answer each question. In
the Hurricane Katrina crisis, the images were moving so fast
that it will take me awhile to put it together, but here is my
attempt.
Foremost, I felt your prayers and heard your concerns that were
registered with my wife, Donna, and others. That comforted
me and kept me calm, which was essential in this time.
Friday, Aug. 26
This storm didn’t seem like it would be much of an event but
by 5 p.m. things began to look different. The storm stalled,
picked up power, and headed for Louisiana.
Saturday, Aug. 27
Our Tulane University Hospital staff met to begin routine
hurricane preparations. Afterward, I went home to get things
together. I thought: What do I absolutely not want to lose
if our house is swept away? I left home with pictures of my
family and some clothes.
Katrina – sunday/monday, aug. 28/29
God’s natural world has an awesome power. From the small
observation windows on our highest floors, we observed
awnings being blown off and a blinding rain. Our first building
inspection revealed little damage. The hospital had held up
well. In fact, if you were in the inner core of the hospital, you
could barely hear the hurricane. Late Monday afternoon, we
even walked around outside since there was little flooding.
Overconfident, we even stated we had absorbed the best punch
Mother Nature could throw and that we seemed intact.
I tried to stay out of the way and let our physicians and
nurses triage patients; others determined what vital supplies
needed replenishing; HCA worked frantically to coordinate
a transportation plan to pick up patients and eventually, our
staff. How many people? At least 1,200, which included 160
patients and then a host of employees, physicians and their
families – and 76 dogs and cats that I didn’t know about at the
time.
The looting begins
We witnessed dozens of people wading in front of the hospital
with bag after bag of goods from different stores in the vicinity.
Tuesday, Aug. 30
Bandits or gangs took over
At 1:30 a.m., the biggest
two adjacent hotels and
crisis and challenge of my
forced out many of our
life began. I was awakened
“A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”
employees’ families who
by my chief operating
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
had been staying there. The
officer who told me the
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
families came to the hospital,
water in the boiler room
which created further
had been rising a foot an
I’ve stumbled on the side of 12 misty mountains,
complications. That night,
hour since midnight. If
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways,
our staff on the roof heard
it continued at that rate,
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
gunshots, but they continued
at best we had only two
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
to evacuate patients. The
to three hours before we
lawlessness and insurrection
would lose all power. We
I’ve been 10,000 miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
was a distraction, but our
were already operating on
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard,
Tulane police force was
emergency power since early
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.
excellent and capable. Late
Monday. We had seven
- From the 1963 album “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”
in the day we ran out of fuel
ventilator patients whose
which caused our generators
lives would be in jeopardy
to shut down. The hospital
and we had to move fast to
began to heat up. The last of
get them out. We had no
the ventilator patients had to be transported on pickup trucks
boat or helicopter pad.
to the top of the six-story parking ramp since the elevators
I know Acadian Ambulance Service well, so even though they
shut down and our ambulance was too tall to clear the ramp. I
had no business connection to our hospital, I called and asked
had a conversation with a patient’s father who told me that the
for their immediate help. We have a parking deck connected
parking deck would hold big helicopters. How did he know?
to the hospital that we had assessed to be sturdy enough to
He was a Black Hawk pilot.
support helicopters. The problem was it had four light poles in
Then a man named John Holland appeared out of nowhere,
the middle of the lot. What happened in the next four hours
sent by HCA to be our flight coordinator. He would
was nothing short of a miracle. Our maintenance group got
communicate with “the birds in the air,” and boy, is that
the light poles down, Acadian agreed to pick up our patients,
important, because our patients had begun to fly away.
and we made arrangements with other Hospital Corporation of
America (HCA) hospitals to take them.
Wednesday, Aug. 31
Did we sleep? Try heating up your bedroom to 95 degrees.
Our staff and physicians got their patients ready. Most
First, you’re hot. Then, you sweat and get cold. The cycle
importantly, the rising water slowed to an inch per hour. Soon
repeats. At daybreak, patients started lining up to be taken
after sunup, small helicopters landed on the parking deck and
to the top of the parking deck. I watched our staff, residents
patients began to be transported.
and faculty move sick patients with a grace and dignity that
We had an early morning meeting with our key managers
was most impressive. This was our third day and the stress on
who were at the hospital. We prayed for support, comfort and
our people began to show. Everyone was asking when, where
guidance. We talked about what we knew – and what we didn’t
and how were we going to get out? The city sewer system was
know, which was considerable because we had no contact from
backing up and creating an acrid smell that made it almost
Federal Emergency Management Agency or the mayor’s office.
impossible to breathe. With no water pressure, you couldn’t
We had no idea why the water was rising. We had to assume
bathe. When everyone smells the same, you really don’t notice.
that it would keep rising and we would lose power. This would
You just feel unclean.
mean no lights, no air conditioning, no suction, no oxygen, no
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries showed
elevators, no phones – everything that is precious to good care.
up to help move patients we had inherited from the Louisiana
We had to get out. We hatched a plan.
Superdome on Sunday night. We had more than 60 additional Ñ
www.latech.edu | 15
emergency ventilator support only lasts 30 minutes. They used
up 28 minutes and a few seconds before they got the patient
hooked up again. That’s how close it was to the device failing.
The result would have been terminal.
The coordination from the patient’s room to the staging area
to the makeshift helipad into the helicopter was a work of art
composed by many painters. It was a thing of beauty, and it
touched everyone who was there.
By the end of the day, HCA had devised an extraction plan
for our remaining staff. It would involve taking a helicopter to
the airport and then a bus to Lafayette. But communication
breakdowns brought questions such as: Who knew if the HCA
plan would mesh with what government officials might decide
to do?
Thursday, Sept. 1
Line up and get ready. Have breakfast. We were living on
strawberry Pop-Tarts, honey oat bars, and for dinner, a little
protein: canned tuna. Fortunately, I liked all the survival food,
but I’m sure I lost 10 pounds. A line formed and I counted
700 people: our staff, physicians, their children and spouses,
and to top it off, 76 dogs and cats. We relegated the animals
to second-class citizenship and put them in a separate line.
We prayed we wouldn’t have to put the pets to sleep if no one
would transport them.
At first, there were just a few small helicopters and we had
some patients to move so it was slow. As I moved through the
line, people were calm with a few exceptions. Overall, they
managed their plight well.
Current state of Tulane Hospital
The first floor of the hospital, (about 100,000 square feet),
had 2 to 3 feet of water. The emergency room and the rest of
the first floor are being stripped to the metal studs and rebuilt.
Montgomery estimates repairs will run more than $10 million.
medically needy people with chronic conditions. We sent away
the patients and their loved ones on boats. I met a woman
whose most valuable possession was her pillow and her radio
that I personally promised to protect. It’s in my office today.
Big birds begin to fly
Instead of just one or two patients like the first small helicopters,
the Black Hawks could move up to four with some additional
staff. It was a beautiful sight, but there more patients in line.
By the end of the day, we had moved all but about 20 patients
including two who weighed more than 400 pounds each and
one on an artificial heart-assist device. This was the challenge
of the week. This device pumps blood for a person awaiting
a heart transplant and it weighs almost a quarter-ton. Within
30 minutes, they had to move the patient and device down
two floors in a dark, 90-plus-degree stairwell and across to the
parking deck. Then they put the patient and device in the back
of a pickup truck to get up to the helicopter pad. The device’s
According to my account, Gov. Blanco was about 400 people
short in her analysis. We had a new problem. They think we’re
not here.
I called the Louisiana National Guard. Guess who answered?
Brad Smith, the patient’s father I spoke of earlier. He had
gotten a ride back with some Wildlife and Fisheries guys and
was now flying sorties into New Orleans. He quickly got a hold
of the Office of Emergency Preparedness and let them know
we still needed help. Maybe we’d get out Friday? People were
remarkably calm. When we told them they’d be there another
day, they just sat down and began to prepare to go to bed.
We left the hospital and remained in the parking deck for
three reasons: It was cooler, there would be less confusion in
the morning, and it was safer since there was less territory for
our Tulane police to patrol. I know the media focused on the
anarchy, and no doubt there was some concern, but I always
thought we were safe.
Imagine trying to fall asleep on your concrete driveway without
a pad or pillow. Then, throw in an unexpected helicopter
landing at 1 a.m. The wind is a little dicey. The bird dropped
off half the U.S. Marines who had been dispatched to New
Orleans. I asked the Marine, “How many of you are in New
Orleans, son?” He said, “There are two of us here, sir.” That’s a
funny part of the story! Like that’s all it was going to take?
At 4 a.m., we heard a massive explosion at a warehouse on the
river several miles away. I happened to be looking directly at it
at the time. It must have reached 1,000 feet in the air.
Friday, Sept. 2
The end is rather anticlimactic. At 8 a.m., unexpected
Chinooks began showing up and taking 60 people at a time. I
wondered if our pilot friend in the Guard had anything to do
with this. In a matter of two-and-a-half hours, everyone was
gone but our police and the last remnants of our management.
All of the pets were rescued, too. After attempts to coordinate
with Charity to use our makeshift helipad, we left for home,
sweet home.
Reflections
Obviously, this is only phase one of a complicated recovery
for New Orleans. So many people have lost so much, and it
reaches far beyond New Orleans. Our staff performed like
clockwork, and it was beautiful to observe. Our success is
simply measured by the fact that we didn’t lose a patient during
this crisis. Katrina falls just below a nuclear catastrophe in its
degree of magnitude. If we don’t do better next time, “a really
hard rain’s a-gonna fall.”
profile: jim montgomery
Hometown: Zachary
Then a situation developed. A frantic critical-care medical
director showed up by boat from New Orleans Charity
Hospital. He had 21critical-care patients, many of whom had
been hand-ventilated for two days, and he couldn’t get any help
from the state. You may have heard this story on CNN. He
asked: “Can you help me?” The tough question had only one
answer: We would give Charity access to the small helicopters.
By this time, our patients had been evacuated and we were
in need of large helicopters to move many staff at once. So
the process began of moving Charity’s patients, much to the
chagrin of our nonprofessional staff and family. They didn’t
understand. Our nurses and doctors understood, but this
development increased the crowd’s intensity. It was midday and
the line was moving slow. It didn’t look good. Then, from 3 to
5 p.m., things happened.
Now resides in: New Orleans (west bank of Mississippi River – not damaged by flooding)
A Chinook helicopter is big – two rotors. It carries about 50
to 60 people and moves with a slow, deliberate confidence
that is hard to describe. One showed up. We had questioned
whether it could land so we asked the flight coordinator and
he said, “yes,” but nothing else could be on the deck due to
turbulence. As it approached, cheers broke out from below and
people thought they had a chance. For a few hours we made
progress, and then it came to a halt. No more big birds. What
happened? I called my daughter, Megan, and she said, elated:
“You’re back!” “What?” I asked. She told me Gov. Blanco had
just announced that Tulane had been completely evacuated.
Uncertainties after Katrina: We have financial hurdles and work force issues. It will be difficult to draw patients into the
city. How do you come back and maintain an academic medical center that will achieve the mission of the two owners: Hospital
Corporation of America and Tulane University? How do you maintain the integrity of the medical faculty? We had 2,600 employees,
and we will have less than 1,000 after we reopen. How do you predict what the workload will be? What types of patients will we
have when we reopen and will they have insurance?
Graduation from Tech: 1973, B.S., Zoology
Further education: M.S., Hospital Administration, University of Alabama at Birmingham
How I got to Tech: Born in Crossett, Ark., I felt a pull to North Louisiana.
Memories of Tech: They were very good college years. I still have a number of friends I stay in contact with. I met my wife at
Tech, Donna Kendrick Montgomery. She graduated in 1973 with degrees in elementary education and library science. My daughter,
Megan Strain, is a 1999 alumna. My son, John, is a senior at Tech.
Career path: In the mid-1970s, I did my residency in hospital administration at Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans. After the residency,
I worked for Rapides Regional Medical Center in Alexandria for 21 years. I became CEO there in 1989. In 1997, I became CEO of
Willis-Knighton Health System in Shreveport. Three years later, I moved back to the city where my career started and became CEO of
Tulane University Hospital and Clinic.
On life lessons: The thing that matters most is the relationships you have with your family and friends. They sustain you in good
times and in bad, and that’s what is important.
On tackling the setback: It means going back to kindergarten and starting at the basic building blocks of your organization. You
evolve into a huge organization and progress happens over a period of years. (Tulane Hospital and Clinic has been here 30 years.)
I’ve been CEO for five years, and even in that short time span things change. You have to go from point Z all the way back to point A
to think through how you do certain things you’ve never done before.
www.latech.edu | 17
the storm. As in past hurricanes, she saw her husband and two
daughters off (this time they went to Ruston to stay with son
Freddie) and then she went on to work.
go back to work?’ He said, ‘Sure, take your time.’ I am glad that
I got a job right away because it didn’t give me time to sit back
and think about things that happened back home,” she says.
She gazes off to a distant world and recounts what happened
the last few days of August.
The new Tech resident monitored Caruthers Hall until it
closed at the end of fall quarter as, one by one, families housed
there found more permanent residences around Ruston.
Franklin now works as a Tech police dispatcher, and the family
lives in a Ruston apartment.
“It was me and my co-workers and 442 inmates in that
building,” she says. “It was just a combination of things going
through my mind, and all I could say was, ‘Lord, where are you?’”
She says the first day after the hurricane was “smooth sailing.”
The sky was blue, and she estimates there was only 2 feet of
water outside the prison. But the next day, a guard suddenly
came running followed by a swell of water. Franklin and the
deputies worked frantically to get inmates off the first floor. All
the food and drinking water was left behind. The generators
cut off.
“It was so dark and we couldn’t see each other or in front of us,”
she says. “All you could hear was this whistling noise. I thought
it was going to drive me crazy. I was worrying about my kids,
and I know they were worrying about me. But there was no
way to get in touch with them and let them know I was OK.”
She says that the inmates and guards screamed and pounded
on walls to attract rescue workers floating by in boats. When
rescuers came, they “cut us out of the building,” she recalls, and
took the inmates first. When Franklin and the rest of the staff
were evacuated, they were dropped off under a bridge and left
with male prisoners.
REFUGE FROM THE STORM
Family’s bond with Tech strengthened
As mother to Bulldogs running back Freddie Franklin, Joanette Franklin was already sold on Louisiana Tech. But when
Katrina pushed the Franklins out of New Orleans, they found a dorm home at Tech, Mom found a job with the university
police, and they all found out in a big way what it really means to be part of the Tech Family.
Joanette Franklin doesn’t want much for herself. Like
any parent, she just wants more for her three children (ages 16,
17 and 20) than she had. Most of all, she wants them to get a
college degree – something she doesn’t have.
came for the “living room visit,” she proclaimed to her son:
“We are going to Tech!”
Raising them in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward with her
husband, the Rev. Freddie Franklin, she made sure her son,
Freddie, “didn’t get caught up in the foolishness of the city,” as
she puts it.
As she recalled this story, she sat in the lounge at Caruthers
Hall, the dorm where the Franklin family found refuge after
Hurricane Katrina. Caruthers had been slated for demolition
but was reopened within 24 hours after Katrina struck. In
the aftermath of Katrina and Rita, Tech took in nearly 600
evacuees – mostly families of current Tech students.
Two years ago, Freddie was recruited by Louisiana Tech as a
running back. Mom approved because she felt that Coach Jack
Bicknell had her son’s best interests at heart. After Bicknell
Before Franklin could make it to Caruthers, however, she had
obligations to fulfill. As a field officer for the women’s division
of the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff ’s Office, she didn’t flee
The trauma was too much for one of the wardens who broke
down in tears. Franklin says a warden from Louisiana State
Penitentiary heard the crying and took them to St. Gabriel
Women’s Prison. There they received food, medicine and baths.
By living in Caruthers, she feels she gained a better
understanding of community. She found the true meaning in
the phrase “Tech Family.”
“I told my son, ‘Tech is providing you with an education. And
on the other hand, Tech is providing you with family. They are
showing you what family and unity are. They have stepped in
and brought us into their community, and that is a blessing.’”
Franklin helps her family find humor amid devastation –
“What is the sense in crying? You are just going to make
yourself sick” – even though she says her daughters still cry
themselves to sleep at night. They miss their friends and their
home. She laughs at the memory of finding her family’s
refrigerator and TV at the end of their street.
With a wave of her hand, she shows how she has let go of the
material things. She is thankful that her family is safe and they
have a roof over their heads. Though she admits there was one
thing missing from the Caruthers dorm – a bathtub.
“I guess you never realize how much you take that stuff for
granted.”
“My legs were so swollen. I had slept maybe one hour during
those four days,” she says, looking down at her warm-up pants.
“I plugged in my phone, and there were all these messages. Oh,
Lord, let me call my family.”
Franklin called her son. “He screamed into the phone, ‘Mama,
where are you? Coach, Coach, this is my mama!’” Coach
Bicknell got on the phone. “He asked me where I was and I
told him. He told me he was sending Freddie for me. I just
told him thank you so much.”
When Freddie arrived, his mom was still in “work mode,” she
recalls. She wanted to ensure all the deputies could get in touch
with their families. Freddie wanted to take all the deputies
to Ruston but his mom knew they needed to find their own
families, wherever they might be scattered. She cried as she
hugged co-workers and said goodbye.
She then headed off to reunite with her family at Caruthers. At
Tech she was offered a job with Tech police by Jim King, Tech’s
vice president for student affairs.
“I said, ‘Thank you. But can I just have one day of rest before I
Former Lower Ninth Ward resident Joanette Franklin works as a
Tech police dispatcher. Her family lives in an apartment in Ruston.
They are uncertain whether they will ever return to New Orleans.
www.latech.edu | 19
From left, computer science graduate students Anand Tikotekar, Kiriti Munganuru, Sunil Sudhakar
and Arpan Darivemula talk about building Search Katrina. Dr. Box Leangsuksun discusses site hits
with project participants Chris Washer, a junior architecture major, and Chris Womack, information
technology coordinator for Tech’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Information Technology.
register their information with the site. In some cases, the site
provides locations of where the victims evacuated to and an
update on their safety.
“Our job was to simplify the search process so the user didn’t
have to navigate through so much data,” he says.
Though the team put in long hours and worked nonstop
through the weekend, Leangsuksun said they felt good about
being proactive.
“If we helped one or two people find their loved ones, it was
worth the hard work,” he says.
search katrina
Tech team creates search engine to
help locate displaced people
As Dr. Box Leangsuksun watched the TV images from
Hurricane Katrina, he couldn’t help but recall another disaster
in which he was on the outskirts and couldn’t lend a helping
hand.
His contribution came from his area of expertise: computer
technology. Along with five computer science graduate
students, he created a Web site aimed at locating people
displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
The Louisiana Tech associate professor of computer science
went on a trip to his native Thailand during the 2004 winter
holiday break. He and his family vacationed inland and were
spared from the tsunami that devastated coastal areas from
Indonesia to eastern Africa. After the tsunami, Leangsuksun
had to return to Tech to resume teaching and he felt remorseful
about leaving his homeland unable to help in the relief effort.
“I went to a few of my students and told them to drop
everything,” he says. “If we were going to do something, I
wanted us to do something to help people.”
In the first few days after the site was launched, Leangsuksun
says it had close to 1,000 hits. To date, the site has had 10,771
visitors.
Leangsuksun and the Extreme Computing Research Group
began working on www.searchkatrina.org Sept. 2, and it was
up and running five days later. Their work started with a datamining operation – setting up programs to acquire names from
existing online databases.
“We just want to continue to spread the word,” he says, “and
hopefully the work we’ve done will be useful.”
“After the hurricane hit, I kept watching TV and feeling
depressed,” he says. “I thought I should do something here to
help the hurricane victims in some way. I felt like this was my
second chance to help people.”
Noting the site’s user friendliness, Leangsuksun says, “Simple is
beautiful.” He wanted the search to be straightforward, and he
took a no-frills approach on the visual aspect of the site.
The end result is a Search Katrina site that combs numerous
databases of sites containing lists of evacuees. Users can also
“We go to different sites and some of them have really rich
content,” he says. “But that can backfire. They can be hard to
navigate.”
The Extreme Computing Research Group members assisting
Leangsuksun were Anand Tikotekar, Kshitij Limaye,
Kiriti Munganuru, Sunil Sudhakar, Yudan Liu and Arpan
Darivemula. All are originally from India except Liu, who is
from China.
www.latech.edu | 21
f o u n d at i o n s p o t l i g h t
f o u n d at i o n s p o t l i g h t
he delivered
“The Jarrells were folks others could turn to in times of need,”
Donohoe says. “I look at what that family meant to their
community, and then what Dr. Jarrell meant to Tech – it’s just
a great story of people doing for others.”
Carrying on a family legacy of service, Dr. Robert
Guthrie Jarrell brought thousands of babies into the
world and countless opportunities to Louisiana Tech
students, all while becoming the most dependable Tech
sports fan ever.
Jarrell was born in Oak Grove where his pharmacist dad earned
$18 a week during the Depression. The family moved to Epps
when Jarrell was 8.
“I still feel an allegiance to West Carroll Parish and Epps, and
I’ve maintained those roots. I feel real close to those people,”
Jarrell says.
In 1999, with just 2 seconds left, Louisiana Tech edged
Alabama 29-28 after Brian Stallworth threw a touchdown pass
to Sean Cangelosi, and Kevin Pond made the kick.
When Jarrell began attending Tech in 1945 at age 16, he made
the basketball squad but gave up playing the next year in favor
of his studies. He wasn’t all work, however, and loved big
bands, especially Tech’s orchestra, the Debonnaires.
It was the most electrifying Tech win Dr. Robert Guthrie Jarrell
had ever seen. Even the most half-hearted fan would have
thought so. And Jarrell is no half-hearted fan.
“We had these ‘practice dances’ in the women’s gym that
were kind of preparation for the bigger functions,” Jarrell
remembers. “I liked meeting all the girls.”
“There can be a storm and only five or six people sitting in the
stands – but there’s Dr. Jarrell,” says Jim Oakes, Tech’s athletic
director. “I can’t imagine where this athletic program would be
without him. He has been there every step with his financial
support, passion and dedication.”
He still dances and still enjoys the old music, whether
performed by singers from back then or by later ones such as
Carly Simon, who croons “Moonlight Serenade” from Jarrell’s
home stereo.
The obstetrician-gynecologist made time for Tech even before
retiring last year after a 50-year career in which he delivered
15,000 babies, including a set of triplets born to Oakes and his
wife, Tammy.
Jarrell is what you look for in a doctor, Oakes says: “He’s
compassionate and thorough. We knew we had one of the top
obstetricians in the country.”
Jarrell’s devotion to Tech athletics provided one of the lighter
moments of Tammy Oakes’ difficult pregnancy.
“He told me I better not go to this one ballgame,” says Oakes,
dad to John, Ty and Matt, now 10. “He knew she wouldn’t
deliver, but I stayed behind and he made the trip. We still
laugh about it.”
Stacy Gilbert, Tech’s assistant athletic director for academics,
also got a Jarrell delivery: son Mason, now 3. “He’s delivered
so many babies, it’s not textbook to him,” she says. “That was
comforting to me.”
Given that Jarrell pretty much delivered all his patients’ babies
himself, Gilbert marvels that he gave Tech so much attention.
“It’s rare to look around at any game – baseball, softball,
volleyball, basketball, football – and not see him there. And it
doesn’t have to be a ‘big’ game,” she says.
Still, it was always clear in her chats with Jarrell that games
weren’t all he cared about.
“He couldn’t learn enough about the students – not just what
they did for Tech as athletes, but how they could be successful
Dr. Robert Guthrie Jarrell’s study is filled with Tech awards and
memorabilia, underscoring the close bond he shares with his alma
mater. His weathered doctor’s bag, kept from the early days of his
50-year practice, bears witness to his other passion: medicine.
in life,” she says.
Few know that side of Jarrell better than Tech alumna
Sue Donohoe.
Donohoe, whose mother grew up with Jarrell in Epps, says
Jarrell helped put her where she is today: sitting behind
a nameplate that says NCAA vice president for Division I
women’s basketball.
She says her career evolved from Jarrell backing her for a grad
assistantship with the Lady Techsters. (Predictably, Jarrell only
points to Donohoe’s work ethic.)
Jarrell croons, too, at the mention of westward travel, all the
map spots from the old “Route 66” song: “From St. Louie,
Joplin, Missouri; Oklahoma City looks oh so pretty; you’ll see
Amarillo and Gallup, New Mexico; Flagstaff, Arizona, don’t
forget Winona; Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino.”
Girls, dancing, music – all well and good. But Jarrell really
enjoyed bringing babies into the world and performing surgery
that helped address obstetrical, gynecological and infertility
problems. The path to his specialty began with his ob/gyn
stints in the Navy.
“I just enjoyed tremendously dealing with people,” he says. “I
liked to be available 24/7, Saturdays, Sundays, holidays. They
depended on me.”
When he began practicing medicine in Epps in 1955, he
charged $3 for either a house call or an office visit, the level
pricing by way of apology for a “not nice” office. Later, when
he practiced in Monroe in 1962, he charged $125 for a
complete care and delivery package.
In retirement, he has more time for the athletic events he loves
so well and for the Miss Louisiana Pageant which he has helped
support through scholarships since 1950. Additionally, he has
hosted 17 pageant kickoffs at his Monroe home. “A lot of Tech
girls have won Miss Louisiana,” he notes with pride.
Also in retirement, he misses hospital life where he once
interacted with patients, personnel and friends. But reminders
of the lives he touched are abundant.
“It’s almost unbelievable how many patients I run into,” he
says. “And of course, everywhere I go, I see children I delivered.”
Sam Rubin, a retired retail jeweler, knows Jarrell as so many
do, both for his Tech allegiances and for his doctor role. “He
steered me into the Louisiana Tech loop,” Rubin says, “and he
delivered my grandson.”
Calling Jarrell a “superlative” physician, Rubin says he has
never heard an unkind word about him.
Fellow Tech alum Landon Miles, a retired engineering
executive, says Tech needs 10 more just like Jarrell, whom he
calls “the perfect Southern gentleman.”
“But you ain’t got any others like him,” Miles says. “Ol’ Doc
bleeds red and blue.”
Dr. Robert Guthrie Jarrell (’49) – story of a humanitarian
His Tech years: Claybrook Cottingham and R.L. Ropp were presidents of the era.
Degree: 1949, B.S. in biology (minor in chemistry pre-med)
Further education: 1954, LSU School of Medicine (New Orleans); 1955, internship, Confederate Memorial Medical Center (Shreveport);
1956-58, U.S. Navy physician (Bainbridge Naval Base, Md., and Washington, D.C.); 1958, Conway Memorial Hospital (Monroe); 1959-62,
ob/gyn training, Ochsner Foundation Clinic and Hospital (New Orleans).
“He wants good things to happen to people,” Donohoe says,
“and he just quietly goes about making that happen.”
Tech awards: 1975 Louisiana Tech Alumnus of the Year; 1982 Tower Medallion recipient; named in 100 Distinguished Alumni at Tech;
former president, Alumni Association; board member, University Foundation; member, Athletics Council; Athletics Hall of Fame inductee.
That quality of caring is rooted in the kind of family and place he
came from, she says. His father (Jarrell Sr.) was Epps’ pharmacist;
his mother (born Lucille Lipp) was a “ray of sunshine.”
Made it “happen”: Helped initiate and promote “The Happening” in Monroe, Tech’s largest annual alumni event, and has attended all 24
events; still has a $3 ticket to the first event (May 1973) which was attended by then-Tech President F. Jay Taylor and NFL great Terry Bradshaw.
Jarrell’s paternal grandfather was a family doctor who charged $25
for a home delivery. The family also boasted another pharmacist,
a surgeon and a dentist. The whole crowd loved sports.
Among the professional awards: 2003 Mother Gertrude Hennessy Humanitarian Award, given to him during St. Francis Medical
Center’s 90-year celebration.
Crowning interest: Has helped support the Miss Louisiana Pageant since 1950 when it was still in Lake Providence; instrumental in
pageant’s move to Monroe.
www.latech.edu | 23
news around campus
news around campus
‘Atomic Field’ brings hurricane
relief to the table
20 Tech students expand language
learning in Costa Rica
Louisiana Tech’s theatre department and School of the Performing Arts revived
the play “Atomic Field” this fall after a successful summer run, and the first night’s
performance was designated as a benefit for local hurricane relief efforts.
Over the summer, Louisiana Tech Spanish instructor Anne
Reynolds-Case accompanied 20 Tech students to San José, Costa
Rica, for a four-week study-abroad program.
Dr. Kenneth Robbins, director of Tech’s School of the Performing Arts, wrote the play
in 1995 – based on his family’s experiences – as part of a project to commemorate the
50th year since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the end of World War II,
and creation of the United Nations.
The experience has become an invaluable part of the students’
foreign language education, Reynolds-Case says.
“Atomic Field” explores the lingering effects of war on one family where the father
is a dying WWII veteran. In 1996, the play received the Charles Getchell New Play
Award, presented by the Southeastern Theatre Conference, and in 2000 it was selected
for production in Tokyo.
Tech climbs in U.S
News & World Report
ranking
Robbins says the benefit performance made it possible to send $340 cash and several
bags of canned goods to the food bank at Temple Baptist Church.
Louisiana Tech moved into a new,
higher ranking in the latest U.S. News
& World Report’s “America’s Best
Colleges” listing, joining Louisiana
State University in the third tier for top
national universities.
“It’s recognition of the university in
a national magazine in a national
ranking,” Tech President Dan Reneau
says. “It’s a compliment to the faculty
and staff who have worked so hard for
quality education.”
Colleges and universities throughout
the nation are ranked according to
several factors, including graduation and
retention rates, percentage of students
who were in the top 10 percent of their
high school classes, public recognition,
and percentage of alumni donations.
U.S. News & World Report reviews
1,400 institutions and narrows them
down to 248 which are then recognized
as national colleges. Of those 248
colleges, only 162 are public universities.
Dr. Terry McConathy, executive vice
president and dean of the graduate
school, says Tech can take a great deal
of pride in having achieved its new
position on the list.
“It’s very significant that a school moves
from one tier to the next because it takes
a significant change in the institution
to move up from one rank to the next,”
she says.
The Tech group studied at the Forester Language Institute which
offered class sizes of no more than six students and featured native
Costa Rican faculty members trained to teach Spanish to foreigners.
“After testing for placement in one of four levels of instruction, the
students were introduced to their host families,” Reynolds-Case
says. “Many students formed lasting friendships and bonds with
their families and plan to keep in touch.”
Students attended afternoon classes where they received instruction
in grammar, vocabulary and local culture. Three mornings a
week students were able to attend organized excursions to sites
such as national volcanoes, rain forests, botanical gardens, coffee
plantations, cathedrals and nearby towns. Weekends offered more
extended travel and learning opportunities.
“Atomic Field,” shown
here during rehearsal,
took on a second run
at Louisiana Tech this
fall and helped benefit
hurricane relief efforts.
In less of a drop than was expected, Louisiana Tech’s fall 2005 enrollment of 11,611
showed 99 fewer students than were enrolled in fall 2004.
Meanwhile, Tech President Dan Reneau
said Katrina has perhaps skewed enrollment
numbers. For example, Tech lost some
students in the National Guard who
postponed re-enrollment for deploymentrelated reasons. However, the university gained
other students who transferred from South
Louisiana institutions affected by the disaster.
Dr. Henry E. Cardenas
Thanks to a four-year $3 million grant awarded to
Louisiana Tech’s Trenchless Technology Center – the
largest industry-funded research project ever for the
university – researchers may soon be able to provide
technical help for coastal states, especially where recent
hurricane destruction is concerned.
Dr. Henry E. Cardenas, an assistant professor of
mechanical engineering at Tech, along with 13 other
researchers, is working on technologies that can support
the recovery of safe habitation in the Gulf Coast disaster
zones by conducting electrical treatments applied to
concrete structures.
Enrollment falls 99 students
Pamela Ford, dean of enrollment management,
says the class of incoming freshmen stood at
1,829, also a decrease from last year’s total
of 1,914. But given that first-time freshman
enrollment increased 56 percent from 1996
to 2003 and that the third stage of selective
admissions went into effect this fall, “we’re
down much fewer than we had anticipated,”
she says.
Trenchless Technology to
shore up coast with historic
grant
“Decontamination is done by using electricity to pull
unwanted chemicals out of concrete,” he says.
Louisiana Tech students
learned inside and outside
the classroom during a
four-week study-abroad
program in Costa Rica
that partnered language
learning with excursions to
natural sights in the area.
Cardenas says the concrete can also be sealed and
strengthened by using electricity to move tiny particles
(nanoparticles as small as one/10 millionth of an inch)
into pores.
Dr. Les Guice, vice president for research and
development, says the project demonstrates an innovative
application of nanotechnology that has demonstrated
commercial potential.
“We hope that this project is successful in leading to new
business activity which can have a significant impact on
economic development in this region,” Guice says. “This
project is particularly important for Louisiana and is
coming at a time when we hope to see this technology
provide some benefit to the rehabilitation of structures in
the state.”
www.latech.edu | 25
news around campus
news around campus
Student-athletes set the pace in
elite competition
Gates scholars choose
Tech for studies
Project to coordinate preservation of
hurricane tales
“One team. One goal.”
Five students are currently attending Louisiana
Tech as Gates Millennium Scholars.
Dr. Susan Roach, a Louisiana Tech English professor and folklorist for the
Louisiana Regional Folklife program, has helped organize a coalition of
scholars and others committed to documenting the stories of hurricane
survivors and responders.
That was the slogan thumbtacked to the bulletin board in
Louisiana Tech’s women’s track team locker room last season.
When the women won the Western Athletic Conference indoor
track title last February by the largest margin in WAC history,
the word “goal” was replaced with the word “dream.”
Members of the women’s indoor track and field team show off their
hardware after winning the Western Athletic Conference indoor title by
the largest margin in WAC history. The championships were held at the
Idaho State Sports Center in Nampa, Idaho.
But the indoor title wasn’t the end of the dream. Through
sacrifice and determination, the women went on to clinch the
WAC outdoor track title in May. The feat marked only the
third time in WAC history that a single team captured both
titles in one season.
It was a remarkable year on many fronts. Head coach Gary
Stanley was named WAC coach of the year, Doria Appleberry
was named outstanding performer of the year, and Ayanna
Alexander swept the WAC indoor and outdoor triple jump titles
and took home all-American honors at the NCAA Outdoor
Championships.
Building on the idea of student
success
A group of staff, faculty and administrators will soon work in
concert with technology to provide a state-of-the art enrichment
center for Louisiana Tech students.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation created
the Gates Millennium Scholars program in
1999. The GMS awards are geared toward
supporting the college careers of academically
talented minorities.
Students selected for the award are given the
opportunity to attend a college or university
of their choice where they can complete an
undergraduate degree program in any academic
discipline. Continuing scholars may request
funding for a graduate degree program in any
one of the following discipline areas: education,
engineering, library science, mathematics,
public health, and science.
Current program scholars at Louisiana Tech are:
Carmen Moore, sophomore, communication
design, Kildare, Texas; Daytheon Sturges,
senior, biology major, Haynesville; Kiandra
Tate, sophomore, nutrition and dietetics,
Jennings; Romesa Vernon, master’s, education,
Arcadia; and Bejide Williams, senior, political
science, Ruston.
“We needed a more centralized place where students could go
to get a variety of services,” says Dr. Norm Pumphrey, director
of retention and advising.
The computerized architectural renderings of the Student Achievement
Center show an open, inviting space that is a hub for services that
help students succeed.
Coalition members plan to conduct interviews and train evacuees and other
community scholars as interviewers. Among the documents Roach has
helped develop are basic data collection forms providing information to be
entered into a central database; recommended research topics and questions;
a collecting kit with permission forms, releases, and instructions to allow for
public deposit; K-12 lessons to teach students to collect data; and interviewing
protocols to ensure that interviewers do not re-traumatize hurricane survivors.
These documents are available on the Louisiana Folklife Web site. Interested
persons can also join a Yahoo discussion group set up by anthropologist and
Tech alumna Dr. Shana Walton, formerly associate director for the Tulane
Deep South Humanities Center. Walton worked with Roach to develop the
project while displaced by Hurricane Katrina. To join the discussion group,
e-mail Roach at msroach@latech.edu
A national study has discovered what’s behind the graduation-rate successes of schools like
Louisiana Tech.
In spring 2005 the Education Trust partnered with the American Association of State
Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the National Association of System Heads to study
graduation-rate successes. Tech was one of 12 campuses selected for an on-site visit geared
toward gleaning best practices for other schools to emulate.
Eventually, programming and referral services will go beyond
helping students who struggle with coursework, and begin to
include supplemental advising for undergraduates, information
on student life, and help with career decision making.
As dreams for the center have grown, so has the required space.
Once set to be housed on Wyly’s second (or ground) floor,
renovations for the center have now expanded to the third floor.
The American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress has agreed to partner
with the coalition and be a secondary repository for materials collected. Among
the collection will be evacuation narratives, stories of relocation, memories of
communities and neighborhoods that flooded, and the relationship between
strong cultural identity and decision making in a crisis.
Study delves into Tech’s rates success
The center, set to be completed in May 2006 and housed
in Wyly Tower, will provide an array of services designed
to encourage student success, raise test scores, and improve
academic progress. Some of those services, including math
assistance, are being provided as early as this year’s winter quarter.
As construction goes forward, Pumphrey also envisions a space
that works as a clearinghouse for information on studying
abroad and student exchange programs. Plans also include a
training program for academic advisers, an information site
for disabled student services, an extensive referral system for
counseling, and writing assistance for undergraduate through
doctoral level students.
The cooperative effort, meant to offer a framework for comparing data
collected from independently funded projects, involves faculty members from
universities across the state and nation.
According to an AASCU release on the study, what sets institutions like Tech apart is the
presence of a campus culture that reinforces the belief that the students can and should
succeed. Such campuses also project a prevailing attitude that what is now being done can
be done better and convey mutually high expectations for students and for faculty and staff.
The study also found that successful student retention occurs because students are
consistently involved in a close and mutually reinforcing network of campus ties that
include residence life, frequent student-faculty contact, and a rich range of extracurricular
activities.
Dr. Tamara Powell, an assistant professor
of English, knows that students have lots
of questions about writing that they don’t
always ask in class. That’s one reason
Powell and other English faculty members
developed an Online Writing Lab that
offers writing support day or night.
The study identified the role of leadership at these institutions as having two qualities.
First, “leadership” is a shared responsibility – occurring at all levels and deeply embedded
in the way the institution works. Second, the leader builds and sustains the culture by
listening more than talking and offering a consistent personal modeling of a particular
collective vision.
www.latech.edu | 27
news about you
1985 ...........................
What’s new with you?
Do you have news to share in the News About You section? We want to share the stories of your accomplishments and
milestones. Photos are always welcome, too. You can submit your information for News About You online at
www.latechalumni.org where you can click on “Send Announcements.”
1964 ...........................
Charles R. Embry, history, published a
book titled “Philosophy, Literature, and
Politics: Essays Honoring Ellis Sandoz.” He
is a political science professor at Texas A&M
University-Commerce.
1965 ...........................
Dr. Roger Briley,
mechanical
engineering, is
a professor of
computational
engineering at
University of
Tennessee at
Chattanooga. He is
affiliated with the
UT SimCenter at
Chattanooga, a multidisciplinary teaching and
research facility for computational simulation
and design.
1969 ...........................
O.K. “Buddy” Davis, journalism, won several
awards and finished among the top columnists
of the year in his division in the 2004
Louisiana Sports Writers Association contest.
1971 ...........................
Terry Bradshaw,
general studies,
was inducted into
the Walk of Stars
by the Greater
Shreveport Chamber
of Commerce. The
Walk recognizes
Northwest Louisiana
natives who are
renowned for their
achievements and who bring national acclaim
to the community. Previous inductees include
Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, Coach Eddie
Robinson, Tech alumnus Leon “Kix” Brooks,
David Toms and Hal Sutton.
David Middleton, English, is author of “The
Habitual Peacefulness of Gruchy: Poems after
Pictures by Jean-Francois Millet,” published
by Louisiana State University Press. His book
depicts the harsh life of French peasants in the
19th century. Middleton is a distinguished
service professor of English and poet-inresidence at Nicholls State University in
Thibodaux.
1973 ...........................
Ayres Bradford, journalism, is director of
business development for Lincoln Builders of
Ruston. He and his wife, Connie, elementary
education (master’s curriculum and instruction
1998), live in Ruston.
1977 ...........................
Larry Cooper, chemistry, is a health, safety
and environment supervisor with Shreveportheadquartered Brammer Engineering, an oil
and gas exploration and drilling firm.
Michiel Crumpler, education, is athletic
director at St. Frederick Catholic High School
in Monroe. This is his third season as head
coach of the Lady Warriors. He will continue
coaching in his new athletic director post.
1978 ...........................
Robin Hall Thomas, music, has two published
piano books: “Our Hope for Years to Come”
and “Under a Starry Christmas Sky.” She is
the instrumental coordinator at First Baptist
Church in West Monroe and the keyboard
specialist for the Monroe/West Monroe area
representing the Louisiana Baptist Convention.
James Hogg, journalism, wrote and recorded
“Shadow of the Steeple,” a tribute song for the
victims of Hurricane Katrina. The song aired on
radio stations nationwide. It can be downloaded
from Hogg’s Web site www.jimhogg.org.
1979 ...........................
Dr. Todd Thoma, zoology/pre-medicine,
received the Students Against Destructive
Decisions (SADD) National Outstanding
Contribution Award for Community Service.
Thoma was recognized as a tireless advocate
for traffic safety, especially pertaining to
Louisiana’s young citizens. He is a practicing
emergency room physician and associate
professor in the department of emergency
medicine at LSU Health Sciences Center.
1981 ...........................
Terri Richardson Hebert, library science
(elementary education 1985), is education
renewal zone director in the College of
Education at University of Arkansas at Little
Rock. In May, she will receive her doctorate
in educational administration and leadership
from Stephen F. Austin State University.
Jo Kathryn Quinn, speech, is self-sufficiency
services director for Caritas of Austin, Texas.
Caritas has operated a community kitchen
and food pantry for more than 41 years. Each
year, it feeds more than 15,000 adults and
children in Travis County. Quinn also serves as
president of the Texas Homeless Network.
1982 ...........................
Grace Watkins Holloway, accounting, is vice
president of accounting at Forest Kraft Federal
Credit Union in West Monroe.
1984 ...........................
Dr. Michael
Hernandez, geology
(master’s geology
1990), is an
assistant professor of
geosciences at Weber
State University in
Ogden, Utah. His
research areas include
natural hazards,
remote sensing and
Geographic Information Systems. He and his
wife, Rebecca Ory Hernandez (graphic design
1991), live in Ogden.
Wendell Manning, general studies (master’s
finance 1985), was honored with the 2005
James M. Shipp Jr. Memorial Young Business
Leader of the Year Award in Monroe. He has
long served in community volunteer leadership
roles including the American Red Cross,
Monroe Chamber of Commerce, United Way
of Northeast Louisiana, and St. Matthew
Catholic Church. The award is named in
honor of the late Jim Shipp, an IMC Fertilizer
general manager who was killed in a 1991
explosion at the Sterlington plant.
Dr. Joseph Crews, architecture, was promoted
to lieutenant colonel by the adjutant general
of the state of Texas. He was also awarded the
Texas Medal of Merit for meritorious support
to the Texas Air National Guard. He and his
wife live in Arlington, Texas.
Mark Taylor, accounting, is vice president of
finance at San Joaquin Bank in Bakersfield,
Calif.
1986 ...........................
Keith Fuglaar, engineering, is vice president
of finance for HNTB Corp., an architectural
engineering services company based in
Milwaukee, Wis. He and his wife, Lisa Engster
Fuglaar (journalism), live in Hartland, Wis.,
with their daughters, Hannah and Lauren.
Brenda Lofton,
master’s elementary
education, was
named 2005
Louisiana Teacher
of the Year. She is
one of 56 teachers
in the national
competition, which
will be decided in
the spring. Lofton
is a middle school math and science teacher
at A.E. Phillips Lab School on Tech’s campus.
She has taught for 20 years.
1987 ...........................
Deann Alford, history (journalism 1989), is
senior news writer at Christianity Today. She
also writes for other evangelical and religion
publications and news services including
Compass Direct and Religion News Service.
She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband
and son.
Scott Boatright, journalism (master’s industrial
psychology 1991), won first place in the 2004
Louisiana Sports Writers Association contest
for a story about the second consecutive
national rebounding title for Tech men’s
basketball star Paul Millsap. He was also a part
of four other awards received by Tech’s sports
information department.
Charles L. Bullock, electrical engineering
(master’s electrical engineering 1991), is a
product sales manager for a line of Exxon
Mobil chemicals. Based at Exxon’s Houston
headquarters, he has worked in a range of
jobs including technical support of chemical
operations, supply coordinator for plants,
industrial lube engineer, and marketing
FRANK T. HOLLON
Barristers and books
Hometown: I was born in Huntsville, Ala. I grew up in Slidell.
Now resides in: Robertsdale, Ala.
Degree: 1985, B.A., Political Science (magna cum laude)
Further education: 1988, J.D., Tulane University Law School
About my law career: I passed the Alabama bar in 1989, and went
to work for the Baldwin County district attorney’s office. In
1994, I entered private practice specializing in custody, divorce,
criminal and civil suits. I am the city prosecutor for the cities of
Foley and Gulf Shores, Ala.
About my writing career: I wrote “The Pains of April” during law school, pecking at the typewriter
keys with one finger. When I finished the book, I put it under my bed and 12 years passed. A
small press in Fairhope, Ala., took interest in the book and found money to publish it. Seeing
my book in print rekindled my passion for writing. My second novel, “The God File,” caught
the attention of MacAdam/Cage Publishing. They have since published “A Thin Difference,” a
legal mystery that’s fitting from someone in my profession; “Life Is a Strange Place,” a humorous
book currently being turned into the movie “Barry Munday” starring Luke Wilson; and “The
Point of Fracture,” released last fall. I collaborated with my kids (ages 4, 11 and 14) on my first
children’s book titled “Glitter Girl and the Crazy Cheese.” It comes out in the spring.
On dual-career discipline: I have a full-time practice with two partners. I coach Little League
Baseball and Softball. I write during the extra moments of life. When an idea comes to mind, I
jot it down on a napkin, legal pad, back of a business card – whatever is handy. When I collect
enough of these scraps, I close my office door and write my brains out longhand.
Triumph in my life: I’m most proud of my family and the things we do together. They come first.
Practicing law comes second, and writing comes third. When these priorities change it means
life is upside down.
manager for a synthetic lube-based product.
He lives in Cypress, Texas.
Ruth DeFilippis, master’s special education,
was selected to be in the eighth and ninth
editions of “Who’s Who Among American
Teachers.”
Dr. Nancy Engelhardt Furlow, business
administration and journalism, is an assistant
professor of marketing and management at
Marymount University in Arlington, Va. She
lives in Woodbridge, Va.
Byron McCauley, journalism, is associate
editorial page editor of The Cincinnati
Enquirer and an adjunct assistant professor of
journalism at the University of Cincinnati. He
and his wife, Jill, have two daughters.
Wes Searcy, education (professional aviation
1994), started NEXT Worldwide Student
Missions focusing on international church
planting and student leadership training.
1988 ...........................
Macie McInnis Jepson, journalism, anchors
the 5 p.m. news and is an education reporter
at WFAA-TV 8 in Dallas. She lives in Plano,
Texas, with her husband and two daughters.
Paul R. McCarver,
civil engineering, is
a lieutenant colonel
in the U.S. Air
Force and currently
assigned as military
program manager for
the Federal Aviation
Administration’s
Flight Procedure
Standards Branch.
His office provides standards, criteria and
policy for the implementation of instrument
flight operational concepts and navigation
systems into the National Airspace System. He
and his wife, Judy, have three daughters and
live in Norman, Okla.
1990 ...........................
Michael Pate, human resources management,
wrote “When Big Boys Tri,” a book about how
he transformed his physical well-being. His
story was featured as part of a series on obesity
www.latech.edu | 29
news about you
KAREN GORDON
Francis North Hospital in Monroe.
Transforming communication
1995 ...........................
Hometown: DeRidder
Karen Martin Hamilton, journalism, is
marketing director for Kinsley Place, an
assisted-living facility in Alexandria. She lives
in the Alexandria area with her husband,
Robert, and three children.
Now resides in: Fairview, Texas
Degrees: 1986, B.A., French (magna cum laude); 1994, M.A.,
English (technical writing emphasis)
Position: Founder and CEO, GTCI
About GTCI: This Richardson, Texas-based informationclarification company makes information usable and
understandable through technical writing, product
documentation, course training and e-learning. GTCI teams
do high-tech training worldwide.
My career path: I taught French at Quitman High School while working toward my master’s. I
was also a graduate assistant in Tech’s English department. I accepted a technical writer position
with telecom giant Ericsson in Dallas when I was just one class shy of my master’s. I finished
my degree by correspondence and worked for five years at Ericsson. I developed an extensive
knowledge about the equipment I wrote about. I soon realized I was an engineer at heart and
moved from technical writing to training engineers on Ericsson’s technology.
Motherly instincts: I launched my company in 1996, an opportunity afforded by a client we
still serve today. I accepted a contract to do technical writing and high-tech training. I took
on the workload with the help of an untapped work force: stay-at-home moms. I sought out
well-educated women who had left prominent jobs in the telecommunications industry. As
subcontractors, they worked on their schedule and delivered high-quality results.
On opening a satellite office at Tech’s Enterprise Center: With GTCI’s phenomenal growth over the
past five years, we have a tremendous need for qualified, energetic people to join our ranks. I
brainstormed ways I could create a pool of well-qualified, ready-to-work individuals. I looked
into Tech’s technical writing program and realized it was the best way to build a pipeline for
future employees. We can offer students hands-on, technical writing internships as they pursue
their degree. After graduation, the strong candidates can move seamlessly to our staff.
Triumph in my career: Being named to Inc. Magazine’s list of fastest-growing, privately held
companies two years in a row.
that aired on the “CBS Early Show” and “CBS
Evening News” on Nov. 16.
1991 ...........................
Teresa Brazzel Pernini, history, joined Atlanta
law firm Powell Goldstein LLP in the position
of counsel. She graduated summa cum laude
and received her juris doctor degree from
the College of William and Mary. Pernini
specializes in real estate finance.
1992 ...........................
Dr. Chris Dicus, forestry-wildlife, was
promoted to associate professor at Cal Poly
State University where he heads the Wildland
Fire and Fuels Management program. He is
known as the “resident fire guru” at Cal Poly,
located in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
1993 ...........................
1st Lt. Joseph Whelchel, chemistry,
was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for
exceptionally meritorious service during
Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is a physician’s
assistant with the 1st Infantry Division.
1994 ...........................
Malcolm Butler, journalism, earned the top
award for Best Media Guide in his division in
the 2004 Louisiana Sports Writers Association
contest. The booklet provides detailed
information on the Lady Techster basketball
program. Tech’s sports information department
also received four other awards.
Eric England, management (master’s industrial
psychology 1995), was named interim director
of the Port of Shreveport-Bossier. He joined
the port in 1995 as an executive assistant and
worked his way up to his current position.
Rebecca Young, journalism, is director of
business development and grant writing at St.
1996 ...........................
Marcus D.
Peterson, business
management and
entrepreneurship,
is an administrative
supervisor with
the Fort Worth,
Texas-based U.S.
Small Business
Administration
Disaster Team. He
has self-published two books of nonfiction
poetry about different stages of his life:
“Humble Beginnings: Poems of Reality, Pain
and Hope” and “Still Humble: Stay on Track.”
He lives in Euless, Texas.
Chris Taylor,
business
management,
works for General
Motors and is
currently on an
assignment as human
resources manager
for GM Holden
Engine Operations
in Melbourne,
Australia. Previously, he was an HR manager
based in Seoul, South Korea, for three years.
When GM acquired Daewoo, he helped
integrate the two companies by creating and
administering HR processes. He earned his
master’s in human resources from University
of South Carolina and was recruited by GM
upon finishing the program. He lives in
Melbourne with his wife, Julianne, who runs
her own HR consulting company.
Dennis Thompson, chemical engineering,
is a process and control engineer at Calumet
Lubricants Co. in Cotton Valley. He also
builds and operates e-commerce Web sites
that sell everything from computer parts to
real estate in Shreveport/Bossier. His wife, Lisa
Ann Hymel Thompson (animal biology), is a
physical therapist. They live in Haughton and
have two daughters, ages 1 and 3.
1998 ...........................
David Caston, business management and
entrepreneurship, is assistant vice president
for administrative services at Lincoln General
Hospital in Ruston.
BRANDON LANE PHILLIPS, M.D.
Doctor for life
Hometown: I went to high school in Jena. I grew up eight miles
outside the city limits in the country.
1999 ...........................
Now resides in: Houston
Gregory Lee, music, has completed the LSU
Graduate School of Banking. He is vice
president, mortgage and personal lender at
Minden Building and Loan.
Further education: 2004, M.D., Tulane University School of
Medicine
Michelle Sabathier
Daniel, psychology,
is administrator of
Community Place,
a nonprofit, 60resident nursing
home in Jackson,
Miss. Her husband,
D. Christopher
Daniel (political
science and
sociology), is an associate with Simmons Law
Group, P.A. in Jackson. He specializes in tort
litigation, medical malpractice, employment
law and other legal areas.
Christopher Thomas, chemical engineering,
is a process engineer for Fluor Corp., a global
engineering and construction firm. Thomas
designs pharmaceutical and biotechnology
manufacturing facilities. He resides in
Greenville, S.C.
2000 ...........................
Dr. Amy Kay Bonin, biology, earned her
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from
LSU. She is practicing at the Abadie Veterinary
Hospital near New Orleans.
Wendi Prater, master’s family and child studies
(master’s industrial psychology 2001), earned
the senior professional in human resources
certification. She is associate vice chancellor
of administrative services at Louisiana Delta
Community College in Monroe.
2001 ...........................
James “Jamie” Walker, finance, is a loan
officer at Ouachita Valley Federal Credit
Union in West Monroe.
2002 ...........................
Ted Duchesne, biomedical engineering, is
a biomedical engineer flight controller at
Wyle Laboratories. He sits in mission control
supporting all astronaut health-related
hardware on the International Space Station.
He lives in Houston.
Degree: 2000, B.S., Chemistry (summa cum laude)
Current position: Pediatric Resident, Texas Children’s Hospital,
Baylor College of Medicine
On when I knew I wanted to be a physician: I was born with
Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart condition that meant I had a hole in my heart along with
a few other defects. In the 1970s, the treatment for tetralogy was still evolving and I spent a
lot of time at Texas Children’s Hospital. My prognosis was that I’d live to my 20s. However,
that was based on people who are probably now in their 40s. I developed a close bond with my
pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Thomas Vargo of the Baylor College of Medicine. Today, he’s more
than a physician to me; he’s my academic adviser. When I was little, I wanted to grow up to be
just like him. After my three-year residency, I hope to be accepted into a cardiology fellowship
and fulfill my dream of being a pediatric cardiologist.
On reaching the stars: When I was 11, the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation granted
me a wish. I got to visit the set of the then-popular television sitcom “Growing Pains.” It was a
turning point for me. I didn’t do really well in school until after my wish. The experience taught
me that anything is possible. During my last year of medical school, the “Growing Pains” cast
filmed a reunion movie less than two miles from my New Orleans home. In fact, several cast
members were with me the day I learned I would complete my residency at Texas Children’s
Hospital. Last spring, I was invited to present an award to Steven Spielberg for his work with the
organization. In my speech, I explained how I see Starlight Starbright improving the lives of my
young patients by providing them with entertainment while they are hospitalized.
Living my dream: I’ve wanted to work at this hospital for as long as I can remember. Some of the
nurses still remember me from when I was a patient.
2003 ...........................
1st Lt. Shawn Washam, professional aviation,
earned his wings of gold after completing
flight school in the U.S. Marine Corps. He
finished first in his class and flies the AH-1W
Super Cobra helicopter.
2004 ...........................
Erin Akin, speech, received her master’s in
hotel, restaurant and tourism management
from University of South Carolina. She is
conference services assistant at Nelson Mullins
Riley and Scarborough LLP, a law firm in
Columbia, S.C.
Leslie Echols, interior design, works for
Shreveport-based Somdal Associates LLC, an
architecture, interior design and landscape
architecture firm. Echols assists in the selection
of finishes and furniture specifications and
maintains the sample library.
Catrina Frierson,
sociology, is an
assistant coach with
the Northwestern
State University
women’s basketball
program. Frierson
played a key role on
the Lady Techster
team for four years.
Dawn Lang, architecture, is an architectural
intern with Somal Associates LLC in
Shreveport. Her work involves project design
and CAD drafting.
2005 ...........................
Dan Currier, photography, is in the M.F.A.
program in photography and film at Virginia
Commonwealth University. He lives in
Richmond, Va.
www.latech.edu | 31
Stay connected.
What Matters to Alumni
Dear Dr. Reneau,
Thank you so much for the reception at the Ropp Center to
celebrate the Gerald and Shirley Cobb endowed professorship.
It was great to see you and so many of my friends there, and I
really appreciate the kind words you had for my parents and me.
People often criticize state government, and many times it’s
richly deserved. But this time they got it right: encouraging
investment in the university by supporting endowed
professorships with matching funds. I can only hope that more
alumni take advantage of this great opportunity.
Since I’ve moved to Montana, I’ve traded
azaleas for tumbleweeds, replaced tall
pine trees with the Rocky Mountains,
and I don’t have to worry about fire ants
anymore. Though I live far away, I can
never really leave Louisiana Tech. In
fact, I’m sure the university is part of my
genetic makeup. Let me explain:
One of the main roles of education is to help children learn the
skills they will need to function in society. This process starts
at home, and I was lucky enough to have great educators right
from the beginning. Everyone learns from their parents, but I
was especially blessed.
Join the Louisiana Tech Alumni Association today.
“I hope that those of you who are not members of the Alumni
Association will consider joining now. By doing so, you will have
the opportunity to reconnect with old friends, learn more about
Teachers encourage you to do your homework, but Dad taught
me that it’s critical to be ready for challenges that await – never
show up unprepared! When he was a high school coach, I saw
how his players were often not as physically talented as some
of their opponents. But his teams were successful because they
worked harder and were better prepared. It was a powerful
lesson about the value of teamwork and
the influence a great leader can have on
others.
what’s happening on campus, and if you desire, to get involved in
local chapter events. If you are already a member, I encourage you to
become active in your cities by offering your time and talents to the
local chapter or even starting one up.”
- Tim King (‘69), Alumni Association president
Mom showed me the importance of
sacrifice and dedication by earning
graduate degrees and teaching elementary
school, all while raising four boys and
running a household. The understanding
and compassion I show to my patients
every day comes directly from the example
my mom set at home.
In 1921, my great-grandfather hitched
up the wagon, loaded up his wife and
seven children, and left his sharecropper’s
life in Jackson Parish to move to Ruston.
Louis Pasteur wrote, “Fortune favors the
He took a job as a night watchman at
prepared mind,” and I have been very
Tech so that his children could get college
fortunate. I have a beautiful and talented
Patrick Cobb, left, and his wife, Carla, not
educations – a very radical idea back then!
wife, two bright, energetic sons, and a
pictured, recently honored his parents, Shirley
Six of his seven children graduated from
career that’s dedicated to helping people
and Gerald Cobb, shown here, with a College
Tech, including my grandmother. She ran
fight cancer. Any success I have had
of Education endowed professorship in their
names. The Cobbs represent a longtime family
the dining halls at Tech for decades and
comes in large part from the preparation
married my grandfather, who became chief tradition of Louisiana Tech connections.
my parents gave me and the education I
of campus police. Both of my parents and
received at Louisiana Tech.
my three brothers graduated from Tech, too. My roots at Tech
I’m so happy that I could do something meaningful for the
go as deep into the red clay hills as the Sparta sand.
university and my parents. Please let me know how I can help
When the Foundation office told me about the opportunity to
you in the future.
set up this professorship, I gave it a lot of thought. I realized
Sincerely,
there was no better way to honor my parents and support Tech
than this program.
Patrick Cobb, M.D. (’81)
Please cut along dotted line and send to the following address or join online at www.latechalumni.org/association.
Alumni Information Update – mail to: Alumni Association | P.O. Box 3183 | Ruston LA 71272
________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: Last
First
Middle/Maiden
Class
Degree
Social Security #
________________________________________________________________________________________
Spouse’s Name: Last
First
Middle/Maiden
Coll./Univ. & Class
Degree
Social Security #
________________________________________________________________________________________
thank you
Home Address: Street
for your support.
Alan & Keri Grafton
Joseph C. Gregory
Jerry & Nancy Harrison
Randy Harrison
Trudie Hays
Abe & Francoise Hendricks
Lawrence & Alice Higginbotham
Rosemary Huff
Roland & Maria Joun
Luke & Katy McCown
Lillie M. Mitchell
Lynn & Ann Pierce
Kelli E. Prince
Dr. & Mrs. Daniel D. Reneau
Dr. Robert W. Rives
Michael M. Robinson
These names have been added to the lifetime roster since the previous issue of the magazine.
State
ZIP
Home Phone #
________________________________________________________________________________________
Employer
The Louisiana Tech Alumni Association salutes these Lifetime Members:
Danny Almond
George & Jean Baldwin
James & Teddie Bryant
Jason & Lana Bullock
Lee C. Burkett
Charles & Ellen Butler
Elenora A. Cawthon
Doyle & Virginia Cooper
City
Bus. Address
Bus. Phone #
Position with Firm
________________________________________________________________________________________
Ted Sanderlin
Ford & Karen Taylor
Tia Toms
Wesley & Valerie VanNatta
Robert A. Watson
Christine A. Weeks
John A. White
Robert L. Wright Jr.
Spouse’s Employer
Bus. Address
Bus. Phone #
Position with Firm
________________________________________________________________________________________
Email Address
Spouse’s Email Address
■ $35 Single Membership ■ $50 Joint Membership ■ $500 Single Life Membership ■ $600 Joint Life Membership
I have enclosed: $______________
Charge to my
■ Visa ■ Mastercard
Please make your check payable to the Louisiana Tech Alumni Association.
Thank you for your membership and continued support of Louisiana Tech.
_______________________________________________________________
Card Number
Expiration Date
_______________________________________________________________
Signature as it appears on your credit card
In 1950, like today, the Quad was the picture-perfect spot on campus.
In the same year that three nattily dressed Louisiana Tech students posed for a box-camera photo at the Lady of the Mist fountain, the Korean
War officially began, the first universal credit card (Diners Club) was established, the TV pop-music show “Your Hit Parade” began airing,
Gloria Swanson starred in “Sunset Boulevard,” and Club Med was founded as a not-for-profit association providing wholesome, modestly
priced R&R (rest and relaxation) to war-weary Europeans.
Louisiana Tech University
Division of University Advancement
P.O. Box 3183
Ruston, LA 71272-0001
nonprofit org.
u.s. postage
pa i d
jackson, Ms
permit no. 80

diary of a disaster - Louisiana Tech Alumni

Transcription

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