The report shows that 50 percent or more of new teachers trained in state-approved teacher preparation programs made gains in student achievement with value-added scores in the effective: proficient or highly effective ranges in at least one content area. This includes both LSU and LSU-Shreveport.

The new teachers are compared to all public school teachers who provide instruction in the same content area of tested grade levels. The Louisiana Department of Education assigns all teachers who provide instruction in tested grade levels in public schools, value–added scores that are based upon predicted student growth. These scores fall in one of four ranges – ineffective, effective: emerging, effective: proficient and highly effective.

“The LSU School of Education in the College of Human Sciences and Education is pleased that our Language Arts and Social Studies Value-Added results in the alternate teacher education preparation programs indicate that our graduates are performing exceptionally well,” said Laura Lindsay, dean of the LSU College of Human Sciences & Education. “Ninety-two and 96 percent, respectively, rank in the effective emerging or higher categories, with more than 50 percent rated as effective proficient or highly effective.”

Teachers educated at LSU scored in the effective: proficient or highly effective ranges in all five teaching categories: language arts, math, reading, science and social studies. At least 40 percent of teachers from LSU-Shreveport grade scored effective: proficient or highly effective in language arts, reading, science and social studies.

In April 2013, education programs at LSU were fully accredited by National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, or NCATE, with no areas for improvement cited, pending approval from the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, or BESE. Programs preparing P-12 education professionals have been continuously accredited by NCATE since its inception in 1954. LSU-Shreveport’s School of Education was also accredited without qualifiers in 2011.

“It’s something that is virtually unheard of,” said Lindsay. “And it speaks to the hard work everybody here is engaged in keeping us on the forefront of preparing our students.”   

Additionally, in the last year, LSU:

• Placed 1,042 teachers in 463 schools located in all 64 Louisiana parishes;
• Had 1,000 teacher education candidates participate in 180 hours of field experiences;
• Had 303 student teachers placed in 48 schools within 18 school districts teaching 25,910 students; and
• Helped 463 schools participate in the writing projects impacting 759 teachers and 110,543 P-12 students.

The LSU-Shreveport Department of Education partners with several school districts in Northwest Louisiana to provide candidates with meaningful, real-world experiences throughout their teacher preparation programs.

“Our faculty work hard to create partnerships with schools and community organizations to provide opportunities for more field experiences,” said Ruth Ray Jackson, associate professor and chair of the LSU-Shreveport School of Education. “These experiences directly impact the students with whom our candidates work and cultivate a spirit of service to others by working in these settings.”

Partnerships have been established with Bossier Elementary School and Donnie Bickham Middle School to offer literacy camps, Family Math Night and other opportunities to support the schools’ student success. Other partnerships include Shriner’s Hospital for Children, The Lighthouse Program at The Highland Center, Providence House for homeless mothers and children, Willis Knighton Hospital, LSU Health Sciences Center and The Center for Families.

LSU-Shreveport places an average of 35 student teachers each semester in four school districts. An average of 55 alternate certification candidates complete internships in 5 districts and are mentored by LSU-Shreveport faculty both through weekly seminar classes and on-site mentoring by a college supervisor, the director of field experiences and the instructor of the seminar class.

“LSU-Shreveport does a wonderful job of preparing new teachers,” said Mitch Downey, principal of Benton High School in Bossier Parish. “They are well prepared and ready to enter the classroom; they do an effective job of teaching. They have extensive knowledge of their content area and are able to relate to the students in an effective manner.”

LSU-Alexandria teacher education completers remain in the area and serve the P-12 students in central Louisiana. Ninety percent of LSU-Alexandria completers are currently teaching in central Louisiana. One-hundred percent of all student teachers complete an average of 450-500 hours in the classroom, with a minimum of 180 hours of teaching including two separate weeks of full-time teaching.

Additionally, the LSU-Alexandria teacher education unit was awarded an Avatar grant, designed to allow pre-service and in-service teachers to practice and refine their skills and techniques in working with students with special needs in a risk-free environment. The unit partnered with the University of Central Florida to have access to a virtual classroom that was manned by human actors who operated avatars in a classroom setting.  The participants on the LSUA campus taught lessons, while the student avatars reacted to the teacher’s actions, strategies and overall lesson. This virtual experience provided the teachers with immediate feedback and allowed the teachers to “try again”; something that cannot be done in a real classroom setting. More than 200 teacher candidates and/or local educators participated in the Avatar Project.

  “Our undergraduate teacher preparation programs are all ranked effective emerging or higher, with math, science and social studies teachers rated as effective proficient,” Lindsay said. “All of these teachers have been assessed on whether they have the content knowledge and pedagogical skills to teach the state/national content standards in grades PK-12. It is important to point out that these LSU graduates are being assessed in their first year or second year as the teacher of record. The information from the Value-Added Teacher Preparation Program will help our students be even better. To that end, we have organized a team to further study the implications of the results so that we can identify our strengths and address any weaknesses in our teacher education programs.”

“We are extremely pleased with the results presented in this report. Many of our new teachers have students who are demonstrating gains in achievement in specific content areas,” said Jeanne Burns, Louisiana Board of Regents’ Associate Commissioner for Teacher and Leadership Initiatives. “Our data indicate that these teachers are already demonstrating effectiveness, and we expect even greater levels of effectiveness as they gain experience.”

A key factor in realizing the success of Louisiana’s teacher preparation programs is the coordination with K-12. The connection between preparing our future teachers and the reforms enacted in our public schools is critical. BESE and The Louisiana Department of Education have been actively engaged in creating more rigorous policies to improve teacher preparation programs and were participants in the redesign process with the goal of producing well-prepared teachers and well-educated students.

“These results show that Louisiana is moving in the right direction in its efforts to improve teacher preparation, working to not only provide educators with the tools they need to achieve real results for students during their training, but also making sure this improvement and development continues after they enter the classroom,” said State Superintendent John White.

To access a complete copy of the report, please use the link below:

http://regents.la.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/FINAL-TEACHER-PREPARATION-ANNUAL-REPORT5.22.13.pdf

“This is evidence that the reforms within our teacher preparation programs are working,” said Commissioner Jim Purcell. “Many believe that students will learn less if taught by new teachers and this simply is untrue. This report is indicates that our universities are producing better prepared teachers who will impact gains in student achievement.”

The meeting will include authorization for appellate review of judgment in favor of Capital City Press and The Times-Picayune, along with consideration of cooperative endeavor agreements for the LSU hospitals including Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center, Dr. Walter O. Moss Regional Medical Center, LSU Medical Center-Shreveport in Shreveport and E. A. Conway Medical Center in Monroe, and Huey P. Long Medical Center.

The meeting will begin at 10 a.m., and will be held in the Board Room of the LSU System Office, located at 3810 West Lakeshore Drive, Baton Rouge.
Past meeting agendas and support materials are also available at http://www.lsusystem.edu/index.php/board-of-supervisors/minutes-agenda/.

William Jenkins, interim president of the LSU System and interim chancellor of LSU, delivered opening comments and introduced Richard White, dean of the LSU E. J. Ourso College of Business, who welcomed the group to the Business Education Complex and provided an overview of the college.

White said that the new business building has the changed the culture of the college with the students staying on-sight more by studying together, communicating more with each other and taking advantage of networking opportunities.

“This building is about the future and that’s what you gentlemen and ladies are involved with here,” White said. “It fits with where LSU is going.”

White also highlighted the 30 percent-plus increase in enrollment for the E. J. Ourso College of Business, as well as a significant jump in the rankings for the LSU MBA program. He credited the improvement to the excellent reputation that LSU graduates have with top employers who help to shape the rankings, noting that they have strong technical and analytical skills coupled with people skills that are critical to success in the workplace.

The Transition Advisory Team meeting focused on sub-committee updates and a review of key priorities.

Christel Slaughter of SSA Consultants led the team through a review of the LSU2015 process and what’s taken place. She said it is a time to reflect and a time to look forward.

The team reviewed the three major objectives that were given by the LSU Board of Supervisors. These include develop a vision for a world class university; identify elements critical to remaining competitive in the higher education environment of the future; and recommend best-practice organizational models for a multi-campus flagship university.

“At the end of the day, this is what our work will be measured against by the Board of Supervisors,” Slaughter said.

Slaughter also reviewed the LSU’s Transformation Imperatives and the LSU2015 timeline, showing that the Transition Team is on track with the projected process.

Jim Firnberg and Shelby Mckenzie, co-chairs of the Legal and Regulatory Sub-Committee, provided a report on their sub-committee’s findings and a letter that was sent from their sub-committee to Jenkins on SACSCOC matters and reorganization.

Firnberg reviewed the meetings that have taken place with SACS representatives and the findings from those meetings. He highlighted the implications of reorganization on the SACS reaffirmation process and the general recommendation is to continue with current reaffirmation processes. This does not preclude all campuses in the system being involved in ways to implement the findings of the Transition Advisory Team process that would improve administrative efficiencies but don’t affect reaffirmation.

Firnberg said they would like to have SACS appoint a single point of contact for LSU as it goes through this process and that the appropriate substantive change documents would be filed with that assigned person.

Jenkins said that SACS needs to be a partner as LSU moves ahead, but that LSU needs to find its own model for the future.
“We have to create LSU’s organization,” he said. “We don’t have to mimic somebody else.”

Given the fact that SACS noted that LSU could continue its efforts to find efficiencies in its administrative services areas, two speakers were invited to address the Transition Advisory Team, Brian Nichols, chief information officer at LSU, to focus on using technology to improve services and reduce costs and Donna Torres, associate vice chancellor for accounting and financial services at LSU, to discuss shared services that are taking place within the system currently. She said that many people are surprised that there is so much sharing of administration already.

“The university is a complex entity but by having these shared services … we really have been able to take advantage of economies of scale,” Torres said.

“There are some ways that LSU operates that are different than a typical state agency.” Torres added.

In the afternoon, the team heard reports from some of the Transition Advisory Team Sub-Committees chairs.

Dr. Lester Johnson, professor and chief of surgery and director of Surgical Services at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center – Monroe, provided the report from the Academic Sub-Committee. He reviewed the charge and key priorities given to the sub-committee and outlined the findings from the sub-committee’s meetings.

Johnson said that the conclusions of their discussions are both “a challenge and an opportunity for a One LSU System.”
Firnberg, chancellor emeritus of LSU-Alexandria, provided the report from the Research and Discovery Sub-Committee, which held four meetings to hear about research taking place on all the system campuses.

The sub-committee came up with six areas of research interest for LSU2015, and these included Coastal and Environmental Science; Biological, Biotechnology and Biomedical Research; Energy; Arts & Humanities; Computation & Digital Media; and Renewable Natural Resources.

Firnberg outlined the issues LSU is facing regarding research: faculty and support staff, finances, and infrastructure.
“Those are the three major impediments to us making progress in research,” he said.

Lt. Gen. Russel Honore’ provided the report from the Student Experience Sub-Committee. Honore’ said his committee focused on the most important people on campus and that’s the students.

The Student Experience Sub-Committee reviewed student recruitment in-state and out-of-state; student retention and graduation rates; and workforce and career opportunities. Part of the student experience presentation included a chart on in-state total estimated expenses in comparison to SEC peers and sample comments on student recruitment and current enrollment.

The Transition Advisory Team also heard from Nichols with an update from the Technology Task Force. Nichols highlighted the proposed recommendations of the task force.

The top recommendation was to complete the investigative process recommended by the external consultant with the goal of moving to a unified enterprise solution over the long-term and adopt hosted/outsourced IT system support models where practical.

“This is the one, as a group, that we have talked about in every one of our meetings,” said Nichols, who added that the goal is to do what’s best for everyone for the long-term.

A new unified enterprise solution can enhance financial systems at the administrative level, along with student experience across all of the system campuses. The largest benefit of a unified enterprise solution is that the campuses can share and access data, which would be a tremendous asset for collaborative research across campuses.

“If we want to be a great university, we have to do this,” said Lee Griffin, president and CEO of the LSU Foundation and co-chair of the Finance & Revenue Sub-Committee.

Other recommendations of the Technology Task Force include moving to a single tenant email deployment for central email services; consider unifying telephone systems; research data management; and network bandwidth requirements.

The meeting concluded with a discussion about the final report to the Board of Supervisors and funding and alternative revenue sources that other universities are utilizing to retain talented faculty and their federal research dollars.

Slaughter referenced best practices research that was shared at earlier meetings and encouraged Transition Advisory Team members to think strategically about how to leverage revenue sources other than state general funds and tuition dollars to enable LSU to reach its potential. Other universities are generating revenue through five or six common methods such as monetizing assets, recruiting out of state students and increasing fundraising contributions.

Clarence Cazalot, president and CEO of Marathon Oil, suggested substituting corporate funding for valued research efforts if federal funds for research are not currently available.

The Transition Advisory team is a 10-member panel tasked with providing information to the LSU Board of Supervisors to facilitate the reshaping of the LSU System.

The team held its initial meeting on Jan. 8, an Immersion Workshop on Feb. 7, its third meeting on Feb. 19 and its fourth meeting with Ohio State University President Gordon Gee by Skype on March 5. The team met for the fifth time April 16 in a meeting that featured Walter Isaacson, CEO of the Aspen Institute, and Stephen Moret, Secretary of Louisiana Economic Development, and then a partial group met on April 19 with representatives from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, or SACS.

Agendas for this and all LSU2015 sub-committee and task force group meetings can be found at http://www.lsu.edu/lsu2015/events/. The names of Transition Advisory Team members are available at http://www.lsu.edu/lsu2015/transition-advisory-team-sub-committees/transition-advisory-team-members/.

More information on LSU’s reorganization process can be found at http://www.lsu.edu/LSU2015. Information on the site includes meeting schedules, minutes and video and presentations from past meetings. Also, visit LSU’s reorganization Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/LSU2015transition.

The meeting was opened with an update on SACSCOC and the upcoming reaffirmation process for several LSU campuses, given by Jim Firnberg, chair of the Research & Discovery Sub-Committee and member of the Legal & Regulatory Sub-Committee. Firnberg outlined several points that he and Shelby McKenzie, LSU System lead legal counsel, found relevant and important to the Transition Advisory Process and the Academic Sub-Committee in particular.

He highlighted the implications of reorganization on the SACS reaffirmation process and the general recommendation is to continue with current reaffirmation processes. This does not preclude all campuses in the system being involved in ways to implement the findings of the Transition Advisory Team process that would improve efficiencies but don’t affect reaffirmation.

As part of LSU2015, there can be more cross campus collaboration and common courses and curriculums, but other aspects such as having “one faculty” for the system wouldn’t be able to work with separate campus accreditations.

Firnberg said they would like to have SACS appoint a single point of contact for LSU as it goes through this process and that the appropriate substantive change documents would be filed with that assigned person.

While LSU can learn from others, Jenkins said, he wants “the LSU model.”

“I don’t want to mimic anyone; I want it to be ours,” Jenkins said.

“It’s got to be an LSU plan,” Firnberg added. “We can’t adopt someone else’s plan because we aren’t like anyone else.”

The sub-committee then reviewed their charter and discussions to date. They looked at an overview of the Academic Sub-Committee priority recommendations, which were taken from previous meeting discussions.

LSU Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope said that he was in agreement with the points, but that the set of suggestions lacked a certain degree of resolution and didn’t focus on the post-graduate process of a student going to graduate or professional school.

“What we really need is a sense of flow of students all the way through the graduate process,” said Cope, who added that he would like to see long term projections.

The group also discussed the concern of African American enrollment in medical school, the system’s need for a library system and the scholarly attainment of a degree from LSU.

“We do not believe that the primary metric of a degree from LSU is the type of job you get or the pay scale for that job,” said Dr. Lester W. Johnson, professor and chief of surgery, director of Surgical Services at LSU Health Sciences Center and sub-committee co-chair.
The sub-committee next engaged in a discussion on experiential education and service-learning.

Regarding experiential education, the sub-committee talked about how field experience could be accounted in a person’s academic credits. The group discussed how experiential education could be measured and provided examples of the types of experiences that could qualify.
While faculty will ultimately need to work through the merits of experiential education, Jenkins said that that it is an area worth exploring.
The group next discussed service-learning, including the objective of service-learning, what is currently being done, possibilities for the future and best practices.

Jenkins said that it is part of the student experience and it is such a beneficial part of the curriculum.

“It’s certainly helped me in my own training,” he said.

Some concerns brought up regarding service-learning included ensuring there are faculty who will teach it, the faculty workload, class sizes, oversight and providing adequate opportunities for students. The group discussed that a good model for how service-learning can be structured is the 4-H Program.

The Academic Sub-Committee ended their meeting with a discussion on common curricula and course numbering. Options for this effort included a common core curriculum for the first 30 hours in all curricula for students on all LSU campuses (excluding the Health Science Centers); a common course numbering system for all of these courses; common syllabi for these courses; more faculty collaboration among faculty teaching these courses; having faculty throughout LSU2015 develop online course material for some of these courses that can be taken by students at any location; minimum faculty requirements for teaching these courses; and common course numbering throughout LSU by 2015 (or before).

“We have to have a much easier and transparent transfer process, at least among the LSU campuses,” Firnberg said.

The sub-committee discussed these options and provided feedback and suggestions. One of the biggest areas discussed was the common syllabi suggestion and that it takes away creativity and flexibility.

Cope said that all of these options should be discussed and that there is merit in the proposals. He said to remember that control over the curriculum is a top issue for SACS.

“What makes us different … is that we offer a rich and complex and varied education,” Cope said.
“All of these alternatives need to be examined a little more carefully and at a greater length,” he added.
The Academic Sub-Committee met previously on Feb. 28 at LSU, on March 15 at the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans and April 5 at the LSU AgCenter.

This sub-committee is focusing on inter- and intra-campus innovation and collaboration, academic standards and the strategic deployment of academic programs and leveraging technology for learning. It is co-chaired by Jenkins and Dr. Lester W. Johnson, professor and chief of surgery and director of Surgical Services at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center.

Agendas for this and all LSU2015 sub-committee and task force group meetings can be found at http://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/lsu2015/events/. The names of Transition Advisory Sub-Committee members are available at http://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/lsu2015/transition-advisory-team-sub-committees/sub-committees/.

More information on LSU’s reorganization process can be found at http://www.lsu.edu/LSU2015. Information on the site includes meeting schedules, minutes and video and presentations from past meetings. Also, visit LSU’s reorganization Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/LSU2015transition.

John Woodard

LSU junior John Woodard has been elected the new student member of the LSU Board of Supervisors.

Woodard, a native of Covington, was elected to a one-year term on the governing board at a meeting of LSU System student body presidents on Monday, May 13, in Baton Rouge. He is succeeding Justin Mannino of Baton Rouge whose term expired.

Woodard’s term on the LSU Board of Supervisors begins June 1, and he will be sworn in at the board’s June meeting in Baton Rouge.

A finance major with a minor in leadership development, Woodard was recently elected as the new LSU Student Government president and was sworn in on April 17.

Woodard’s other campus activities include having served as LSU Student Government assistant director of external affairs, participating in STRIPES as a small group leader and membership in the LSU Student Finance Association. He has also participated as an American Israel Public Affairs Committee campus leader, Tigers for Israel legislative coordinator, EMPOWER facilitator, Kappa Sigma Fraternity rush chairman, Kappa Sigma Fraternity pledge class president, Aspen Heights for Africa and is a former member of the LSU varsity tennis team.

Jim Firnberg, chair of the sub-committee, and Christel Slaughter of SSA Consultants presented a review of the charge to the sub-committee as outlined by the LSU Board of Supervisors and led a review discussion of the group’s previous meetings.

The sub-committee participated in a discussion of the strengths, challenges and research priorities of the various campuses within the current LSU System, as well as the recommendations to the Transition Advisory Team.

Discussion was focused on what has been accomplished in previous meetings, where the group wants to go in the future and how to structure the final report to the Transition Advisory Team.

The sub-committee touched on a number of areas of research and discovery for all parts of LSU, including administration, resources, infrastructure and support, to work toward making basic research and discovery more robust, incentivized and valued.

“There’s no substitute for human capital,” said Matthew Lee, associate vice chancellor for Research & Economic Development at LSU.
A major area of discussion was on translational research and how to get all campuses involved and coordinated.

Sam Bentley, associate professor in geology and geophysics at LSU, said that more people at LSU would be involved in translational research if they knew more about it and that the process starts when basic researchers are hired.

There was also discussion on establishing high level administrative support for large program development for all campuses. This would assist in coordinating efforts and cataloging resources available to researchers across LSU.

The group focused on ways to provide incentives to staff support currently in place and how to attract and retain that support in the future.  With recent budget issues, administrative support staff is an area that has been cut, but they are highly important to the grant process. The support staff helps researchers through the grant process and helps them to take advantage of opportunities available.

“For many of us, we’re drowning in opportunity,” said Rex Caffey, professor in natural resource economics at the LSU AgCenter. “We only have so much capacity.”

To move toward working through their final report, the sub-committee outlined areas of focus that could be LSU’s “strategic areas of excellence” by 2015. The areas identified include coastal and environment, biomedical, energy, computation and digital media, and natural resources. The group will individually identify sub-areas under each of these categories for the final report.

“The way I see it, we’re giving a broad direction for future planning,” Firnberg said.

The group closed the meeting with a discussion on how to enhance cross collaboration among the campuses. Slaughter said that any tools, techniques and technology that the sub-committee can recommend to help further collaboration would be helpful to the reorganization process.
Will Cefalu, associate executive director of scientific affairs/chief scientific officer at Pennington, said that all the campuses have strengths, but it’s important to maintain autonomy.

“I think autonomy is the key to make sure each institution continues to excel,” Cefalu said.

Lee said that it all comes down to communication and that there is no reason why campuses can’t simultaneously be involved in collaboration and still maintain their autonomy.

The Research & Discovery Sub-Committee is reviewing data on current productivity and strengths in research efforts, investigating opportunities for joint research proposals and projects with potential collaboration incentives, and proposing recommendations to improve productivity and accountability and leverage technology transfer opportunities.

The various sub-committees are discussing areas of focus and key priorities and are mapping out work plans by topic areas. Sub-committees are gathering information and crafting recommendations that will be presented to the Transition Advisory Team and ultimately the LSU Board of Supervisors.

Agendas for this and all LSU2015 sub-committee and task force group meetings can be found at http://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/lsu2015/events/. The names of Transition Advisory Sub-Committee members are available at http://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/lsu2015/transition-advisory-team-sub-committees/sub-committees/.

More information on LSU’s reorganization process can be found at http://www.lsu.edu/LSU2015. Information on the site includes meeting schedules, minutes and video and presentations from past meetings. Also, visit LSU’s reorganization Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/LSU2015transition.

Other options for rescheduling the meeting are being explored, and we’ll pass along more information when it’s available.

Jim Firnberg, chair of the sub-committee, will review the charge to the sub-committee as outlined by the LSU Board of Supervisors and will lead a review of the previous meetings of the group.  The group will participate in a discussion of the strengths, challenges and research priorities of the various campuses within the current LSU System, as well as the sub-committee’s recommendations to the Transition Advisory Team.

The Research & Discovery Sub-Committee is reviewing data on current productivity and strengths in research efforts, investigating opportunities for joint research proposals and projects with potential collaboration incentives, and proposing recommendations to improve productivity and accountability and leverage technology transfer opportunities.

The various sub-committees are discussing areas of focus and key priorities and are mapping out work plans by topic areas. Sub-Committees are gathering information and crafting recommendations that will be presented to the Transition Advisory Team and ultimately the LSU Board of Supervisors.

Agendas for all LSU2015 sub-committee and task force group meetings can be found at http://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/lsu2015/events/.

More information on LSU’s re-organization process can be found at www.lsu.edu/LSU2015.  Also, visit LSU’s reorganization Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LSU2015transition.

The Streamlining Procedures, Rules and Regulations Task Force will meet from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; the Commercialization and Technology Transfer Task Force will meet from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.; and the External Affairs Task Force will meet from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. The first meeting will take place in room 212 of Efferson Hall at the LSU AgCenter, and the remaining two meetings will be held in room 214.

The Streamlining Procedures, Rules and Regulations Task Force is investigating paper flow, process, authority, and accountability including the by-laws of the Board of Supervisors, presidential memorandums and campus policy statements.

Wednesday the Streamlining group will review Presidential Memorandums in a discussion led by Todd Barre’, director of budget and institutional research for the LSU AgCenter; Brad Jewell, vice president and chief financial officer of Pennington Biomedical Research Center, and Brian Nichols, chief information officer for LSU. The task force will also hear an update on personnel recommendations from Ann Coulon, Vice Chancellor for Administration at the LSU AgCenter and Gene Doucet, Director of Human Resource Management at Pennington.

The Commercialization and Technology Transfer Task Force is focusing on removing barriers, stimulating discovery and increasing deal flow. By-laws of the LSU Board of Supervisors, external reports, pre-angel capital and research of communication best practices are being reviewed.

Patrick E. Reed, Office of Technology Management for LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, will lead a discussion about best practices in tech transfer and Nicole Honoree’, director of research and economic development initiatives for the LSU System, will discuss history and opportunities in tech transfer.

The External Affairs Task Force is reviewing policy communication, coordination, and branding focusing on governmental relations, message development and marketing, and production/back-office functions.

Agendas for this and all LSU2015 sub-committee and task force group meetings can be found at http://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/lsu2015/events/. More information on LSU’s re-organization process can be found at www.lsu.edu/LSU2015. Also, visit LSU’s reorganization Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LSU2015transition.

(Please note time changes from the original schedule. The Streamlining meeting was originally scheduled for 10:30 a.m. and the External Affairs group was originally scheduled to meet until 4 p.m.)

Paul Sisson, interim chancellor for LSUS, provided a discussion of student experience at LSUS and his thoughts on the LSU2015 process.

“LSU2015 in many ways has a lot of promise, and we’re very excited about a lot of parts of it,” he said.

Sisson said that LSUS has a head start on the process in a number of ways, including the LSUS Commitment Plan, which provides expanded educational opportunities to the northern Louisiana region. The commitment plan outlines innovative collaboration between LSUS and LSU in Baton Rouge.

Sisson sees the upside of LSU2015 as an opportunity to offer the 400,000-plus people in the region with more educational resources. His biggest concern with the process if there would be an impact on the athletic program offered at LSUS.

“We want to maintain all the parts of the campus culture that makes the campus something that is providing everything to all the students,” said Sisson, who cited the importance of their successful athletic program to the campus culture.

John Vassar, provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs at LSUS, provided an overview of LSUS @ccelerated.

LSUS @ccelerated is a new delivery method for offering classes in a more flexible format for students. Instead of offering a fall and spring comprised of 16-week semesters, this new option allows students to take classes during the fall and spring semesters in an 8-week accelerated format. LSU Shreveport will be offering about 10 percent of its classes in this new format in the fall 2013.

“It allows greater flexibility to our students to set up courses the way they want to,” he said.

For students who are focused on completing their degrees as rapidly as possible, an accelerated format will allow them to finish more quickly. This new format is also beneficial for a student who may be struggling in a class during the first eight-week term; he or she will be able to drop that class and pick up another one when the second eight-week term begins later in the semester. Such possibilities allow a greater flexibility for students who are required to be enrolled full time at 12 hours a semester to maintain their financial aid.

“The primary driving force to all of this is providing more opportunity to our students,” Vassar said.

Vassar addressed concerns over the ability of students to transfer who are involved in the @cclerated program. No matter if a student takes the course over the 16-week period, the eight-week-period or the more condensed summer term, the courses still count as three hours of credit.

A three-hour course given in an eight-week period is equivalent to a three-hour course given over a 16-week period. The students spend the same amount of total time in the classroom in either format, but the eight-week course is delivered in a condensed timeframe.

Vassar also talked about the relationship that LSUS has with community colleges in the Shreveport area.

“We’ve been working closely with them,” said Vassar, who added that they are exploring the opportunity to have Bossier Parish Community College offer classes on the LSUS campus. “It’s very important to our success – our relationship with them.”

Dr. Mark Platt, assistant dean for student affairs at the LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport, provided an overview to the sub-committee of their student population.

Platt spoke about the feeling that students are having about the uncertain future in state higher education and other concerns of faculty of the health sciences center.

Platt asked the group how they feel the medical school fits into the LSU2015 model.
Christel Slaughter of SSA Consultants said that the Research and Discovery Sub-Committee sees enormous untapped potential with working together and breaking down barriers that haven’t made collaboration as easy in the past.

“We’ve seen a whole wide range of possibilities,” Slaughter said.

Regarding technology, Platt told the group that the first two years of materials are available online and that they treat their students as adult learners, allowing them to review the material online from home.

There are opportunities for LSUS and the LSU HSC Shreveport to work together and Platt said that there are some areas where collaboration is taking place. He said that he hopes to see more in the areas of biomedical engineering and animation. Platt added that he will research some other models of collaboration for medical schools across the country and provide that information to the sub-committee.

For improvements that he would like to see at the LSU HSC Shreveport, Platt said there is a need for more student services and more career services, and that better relaxation areas would be beneficial to the student population.

After lunch, the sub-committee heard a student discussion of student experience from student sub-committee members and visiting students from LSUS.

“LSU is a great university because of the great experience,” said Cody King, LSUS student body president. “What LSUS lacks is keeping students on campus.”

King said the number one priority for LSUS should be for finding ways to keep students on campus and finding activities to keep them engaged on campus. Some suggestions he provided included dormitories, a wellness center and hosting an on-campus concert.

“Putting an investment into LSUS … is a step in the right direction,” King said.

A wellness center, in particular, would provide another opportunity to partner with the health sciences center to provide health care to LSUS students and opportunities for health sciences center students to gain experience.

King said that if everything goes through with the LSU2015 plan and all the campuses become “one LSU” with common courses, similar offerings and one LSU diploma, then the reason a student will choose a particular campus will be the student experience provided.

The student panel also discussed better communication and marketing efforts to inform the student body of events and activities taking place on campus; service-learning; and internship opportunities.

“If you look at all the universities around the country that are doing well, they’ve invested in the student experience,” said Carroll Suggs, co-chair of the Student Experience Sub-Committee.

Lisa Johnson, president/CEO of the Bossier Chamber of Commerce, and David “Rocky” Rockett, executive director/president of the Greater Bossier Economic Development Foundation, spoke to the sub-committee about workforce development in the Shreveport-Bossier Region.

Johnson said one of their top challenges is providing educational opportunities for the business and industry that are locating in the Shreveport-Bossier Region. Some of the business workforce needs in the area include IT and technology, engineers, and digital media, among others.

“Employers are willing to take on retraining expenses … to train who they need,” Rockett said.

egarding college graduates, Rockett said employers are looking for “someone with a little fire in their belly” and are interested in collaborative employees who are willing to adapt.

The Student Experience Sub-committee first met on Feb. 19 on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge and then convened on March 14 on the campus of the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. Its third meeting was April 3 at LSU.

The sub-committee is focusing on access and opportunity, support for student success to improve graduation rates as well as workforce and career opportunities, service-learning, student financial aid and improving student recruitment and enrollment efforts.  Any interested students are encouraged to attend or watch via live streaming video. Input and feedback to the Student Experience Sub-committee can be sent to cslaughter@lsu.edu.

Agendas for this and all LSU2015 sub-committee and task force group meetings can be found at http://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/lsu2015/events/. The names of Transition Advisory Team Sub-Committee members are available at http://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/lsu2015/transition-advisory-team-sub-committees/sub-committees/.

More information on LSU’s reorganization process can be found at http://www.lsu.edu/LSU2015. Information on the site includes meeting schedules, minutes and video and presentations from past meetings. Also, visit LSU’s reorganization Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/LSU2015transition.