“These cutbacks come on top of the already significant cuts made this year to live within our budget,” said Dr. Fred Cerise, LSU System Vice President for Health Affairs and Medical Education.  “Any additional reductions would necessarily cause us to eliminate many essential services.”

When other sources of reimbursement,including federal matching funds are included, the total cuts, if enacted, would result in an estimated loss of more than $80 million to HCSD.

In a requested report to the Senate Finance Committee, projecting a 10 percent reduction scenario if the House version of the proposed Executive Budget that chops one-time money from thespending plan is approved, LSUHCSD potential cuts chiefly consist of closing psychiatric units at four hospitals, including the Interim LSU Hospital in New Orleans.  Cuts also include closing Mental Health Emergency Room Extension units in New Orleans, Lafayette, and Baton Rouge.

Click to read the LSUHCSD Budget Cut Scenario

In addition, the interim hospital would close two operating rooms, its OB/GYN, diabetes, and Bayou District Community clinics along with two school-based health clinics.

At the Earl K. Long Medical Center in Baton Rouge, inpatient, emergency department, and intensive care beds would be significantly reduced while the University Medical Center in Lafayette would lose HIV and ophthalmology services as well as its orthopedic clinic.

The W.O. Moss Medical Center in Lake Charles would see a delay in implementing the first phase of its electronic radiology records system, postponement of needed building maintenance, and the elimination of rheumatology services.

At Lallie Kemp Medical Center in Independence, ophthalmology, podiatry, disease management, and cardiology services would end.  The number of physicians working at the hospital would be reduced.

And at the Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center in Houma, orthopedics and the psychiatric unit would be closed.

The Bogalusa Medical Center, meanwhile, would lose its inpatient psychiatric unit, see a reduction in outpatient specialty care clinics and see a closure of inpatient beds.

Other spending reduction measures, if necessary, could include cuts in graduate medical education programs, oncology services, and overall emergency services at all seven hospitals.

“All of our hospitals have a demand for services that currently exceeds our capacity to deliver,” said Dr. Cerise.   “These cuts only exacerbate the stresses on our already overburdened system, making it tougher to provide medical services to our thousands of patients.”

About LSUHCSD

The Health Care Services Division of LSU Health is one of the largest public health care delivery systems in the country.  It has over 37,000 inpatient admissions, 191,000 inpatient days, 576,000 outpatient clinic visits, 1,068,000 outpatient encounters, and 269,000 emergency department visits.  Each year more than 1200 residents and fellows from the LSU and Tulane Schools of Medicine and Ochsner Health System and 3,200 nurses and allied health students from many colleges and universities are trained in LSUHCSD facilities.

For further information, contact Marvin McGraw at LSUHCSD, 225-9221424 (mmcgra@lsuhsc.edu), or Charles Zewe, LSU System Vice President for Communication, 225-578-3941 (czewe@lsu.edu).

In addition, Jenkins said, the university system could be forced to immediately impose major personnel and program cutbacks, such as ending the LSU Health Science Center’s Rural Scholars Track program that trains physicians for areas with poor access to health care.

An estimated 645 LSU System employees could be laid off statewide and an additional 676 could be furloughed for indefinite periods.  Thousands of students also could see their degree programs ended.  A closure of LSU’s Shreveport medical school and the LSU Nursing School alone could affect more than 975 nursing students in New Orleans and 462 medical students in Shreveport.

At the LSU Health Care Services Division, which is facing a $24.5 million reduction in state funding for its 10 hospitals and 500 physician clinics, LSU System Vice President for Health Care and Medical Education, says inpatient hospital and emergency beds will be taken out of service; operating suites shut down; mental health emergency rooms closed; in-patient psychiatric services ended and multiple specialty clinics shut down statewide.  The reductions will mean a projected loss of $80.6 million in federal matching funds.

Including net changes to alternative means of financing like statutory dedications, interagency transfers, and self-generated revenues such as tuition and fees, the overall impact of pending reductions for the LSU System would be almost $103 million.

“While we hope none of these cuts become a reality,” Jenkins said, “the truth is that if the Legislature doesn’t reconsider these reductions, we could be forced to quickly impose a series of appalling cuts to our institutions, without the kind of careful planning and deliberation that takes into account the long-range consequences of such radical actions.”

Flagship Campus Chancellor Mike Martin put it more directly in a memo to Jenkins about the impact of possibly losing an additional $43 million in state money for his campus, writing, “Declaring financial exigency is a last resort of a genuine crisis.  Still, under the Board of Supervisors definition of exigency, the campus may have qualified for a declaration already.  It’s imperative we step back from this impending disaster.”

In a follow up message to Jenkins, Martin added, “Once exigency is implemented, several colleges will have to be closed and LSU will be forever different.  This is a generational decision; it would take decades to repair the damage done to our students, faculty, and reputation.  LSU would immediately experience a decline in enrollment and retention and graduation rates will decrease within a few years.”

Projected LSU System Budget Cuts By Institution

Attached is a detailed spreadsheet, illustrating projected state budget cuts to LSU System institutions, including reductions that could be necessary if the elimination of one-time money in the Executive Budget is upheld by the Legislature.  It should be noted that for both the LSU AgCenter and Pennington Biomedical Research Center, both institutions are held at current funding levels but could face additional cuts later in the fiscal year as spelled out below.

“No matter what the Legislature finally decides the LSU System and the Board of Supervisors will be cautious in implementing budget reductions in ways that minimize impacts on our faculty, staff and students in addition to the hundreds of thousands of Louisiana citizens LSU serves daily around the state,” said Jenkins.

What follows is a rundown of potential effects from the proposed budget reductions prepared by chancellors and administrators at LSU System institutions.

Impact of Proposed Budget Cuts on the LSU System

Statewide effects:

• Major academic programs could be eliminated
• Outreach efforts such as extension services could be curtailed or significantly downsized, including reductions in personnel and the closing of research stations, as well as an end to popular statewide 4-H programs.
• Ranks of research scientists and clinicians could be trimmed.
• Faculty hiring and critical clinical services could be curtailed at LSU Health facilities.
• Some LSU hospitals, particularly in rural areas, could be forced to cut back or suspend operations entirely.
• An estimated 108 unfilled positions statewide could be eliminated.
• New facilities could be mothballed such as the new clinical research and imaging centers at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge.
• Ultimately, cuts could cost students, generating the urgent need to seek new rounds of tuition and fee increases.
• Faculty and staff morale, already low because of no increase in faculty or staff pay in four years, could be further damaged, prompting more of our best and brightest to leave, impacting LSU institutions for generations to come.

Campus-by-campus impacts:

LSU A&M

• Elimination of one or more significant academic units.
• Adversely impact research funding.
• Adversely impact mission-specific services.
• Although LSU A&M has met the criteria under the La Grad Act and has increased tuition by 10 percent, the campus is netting approximately 78-80 cents per dollar as tuition increases and the accumulated increased implemented over the past three years do not come close to offsetting the approximately $125 million in reduced state appropriations.  A further cut could exacerbate this differential.

Pennington Biomedical Research Center

• Pennington Biomedical has received one of the highest cuts in the LSU System since the beginning of FY 08-09 at 18.9%.  At the same time, the Center has seen a 22% increase in space and related operating expenses. Cumulative loss of funding since the beginning of 2008 has been $10.8 million and Pennington Biomedical has not had the ability to back-fill with tuition or fees.
• The “hold harmless” position in Board of Regents distributions as they now stand is absolutely essential to keep Pennington from losing its critical mass of successful research scientists and associated grant and contract income. Research is a business and faculty are the entrepreneurs.  Achieving a sustainable level of state funding could attract long-range investment from federal and private sources and promote economic development.
• Even at the “hold harmless” level, Pennington does not currently have the means to make the top two floors of its new Clinical Research Center functional or to open its new Biomedical Imaging Center to full capacity. There is a potential for offsetting a portion of the operating costs with grant funding.  However, to use the space to its potential could require an additional $3 million in recurring base funding.  A recent analysis indicated that properly staffed space at Pennington generates between $349 and $1,278 per square foot
• Pennington is also unable to recruit research scientists and clinicians to staff its new facilities, and these researchers are the engines that drive the institution’s self-generated funding in the form of new grants and contracts.  Clinical/imaging research pods (1 MD/researcher and 5 associated staff) cost the center about $1M each, and at least 2 are needed to begin full utilization of new and existing facilities ($2M total). In order to reach a level of sustainability Pennington needs a base level of funding to maintain a critical mass of scientists in order to attract grants, remain globally competitive, retain faculty, and become less reliant on state funds.

Paul M. Hebert Law Center

• Would not be able to hire a Director of Academic Support to work with at-risk students and enhance retention, graduation, and bar passage rates (all GRAD Act performance metrics)
• Would have to curtail faculty hiring and programs necessary to support and promote Law Center’s critical Energy Law initiative
• Could reduce scholarship support needed to attract highly qualified and diverse students in competitive law school environment
• Could require further staff reductions and/or faculty/staff furloughs

Please note, BOR projections significantly understate the financial impact of the budget cuts (now at the 30 percent level of state general funds) by assuming a 10 percent tuition increase, with no provision for tuition discounts when our tuition discounts run 25-28 percent (slightly above peer norms but being brought into line this year).

Chancellor Jack Weiss notes that there is a competitive marketplace for law schools that points strongly toward a tuition increase in the range of 5 percent, not 10 percent, and his planning assumes an increase at that level, not 10 percent.

LSU Ag Center

With the continued reduction of both state and federal dollars, maintaining LSU AgCenter program vital to the public is becoming increasingly difficult. State funding has seen consistent yearly reductions since 2008, and recently, federal funding for special research grants was terminated, while capacity funding for research and extension support has been reduced.

Because the AgCenter is a non-student campus, increases in tuition and student fees are not available as a revenue source.

Passage of the GRAD Act provided no relief for the AgCenter. Self-generated revenue is used to the extent possible, but a declining number of programs and employees create a negative effect. Competition for external sources of funding is fierce, and granting agencies increasingly require matching funds or personnel effort at a time when these AgCenter resources are declining.

Additional reductions in the LSU AgCenter’s operating budget could require the elimination of additional positions, closing additional research stations, and the elimination and reduction of additional research and extension programs including 4-H youth development.

LSU Alexandria

• Freeze vacant full-time faculty positions (9)
• Freeze vacant recruiting, IET, and facilities staff
• Increase faculty workload to 15 hours
• Layoff unclassified staff in:
• Student Advising Center
• Enrollment Management
• In College of Professional Studies, Department of Teacher Education
• Furlough remaining unclassified and classified staff
• Move all educational technology staff to student technology fee
• Move institutional advancement staff to foundation accounts
• Reduce scholarships by 50 percent

LSU Eunice

• Jeopardize reaffirmation of accreditation (2013-14)—will be hard to prove sound financial base and stability
• Reduction in personnel
• Reduction in services and academic programs
• Reduction in Pathway services
• Increase in class sizes
• Decrease in number of class sections
• Loss of students
• Further reduce potential for increasing graduation and retention rates
• New $9 million classroom building coming online in summer 2012 will increase operational costs

LSU Shreveport

• Terminate or layoff large numbers of faculty and staff.
• Reduce scholarship offers to students.
• Severely reduction of course offerings, delaying student graduation.
• Possible loss of accreditation of some programs.
• Possible reduction of academic programs.
• Failure to meet GRAD ACT goals for FY 2013-14, which could lead to
  further financial problems.

LSU HSC Shreveport & Hospitals

This proposed budget could reduce the LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport to a total revenue budget of $ 49.3 million with total state general funds direct of $27.3 million. The total earnings will be insufficient to keep the school operational. This could force closure of the medical school.

For the hospital the total revenue budget of $356 million with $6.8 million in state general funds direct will leave a shortfall for the hospital that will not allow it to back-fill the School of Medicine even to $30 million. Any cuts of this magnitude could reduce the income of the hospital resulting in closure of the medical school, loss of faculty, and diminished patient care. This hospital cut does not include the expected additional cuts from the DHH.

LSU HSC New Orleans

• Delay opening of the new Physicians Assistant program.
• Close the Cardio-Pulmonary Therapy program.
• Close the BSN Program. Fall 2012 enrollment of 736 students.
• Eliminate all new scholarships and tuition waivers in the School of Graduate Studies and The School of Public Health. This will impede our efforts to recruit students who heavily support our research programs and in turn contribute to the state’s economic development.
• Close the rural track program. This will impede our efforts to meet physician manpower needs in underserved rural areas.
• Close the MD/PhD Program. Similar impact to eliminating tuition waivers in Graduate Studies.
• Cut library hours in half in order to preserve funds for acquisitions (books, journals, databases). We cannot sustain an academic health science library without acquisitions.
• Eliminate the Office of Institutional Planning.
• Discontinue all community outreach programs that are not self-sustaining.
• Close dental clinics in Houma, Alexandria and Baton Rouge.
• Close the Dental Hygiene program in Lafayette
• Will need to implement the sustainability fee and to increase tuition to SREB peer averages
• Allocation of Risk Management Costs to Restricted Sources
• Increases in Charges to Patients
• Delay Campus Infrastructure Improvements, Major Repairs, Defer Maint
• Cease to Maintain NOAH Property
• Reductions in Medical Education Support

For additional information; contact Charles Zewe, LSU System Vice President for Communication, 225-578-3941 (czewe@lsu.edu).

Justin Mannino, LSU Board of Supervisors Student Member

BATON ROUGE—A third-year student at the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center has been elected the new student member of the LSU Board of Supervisors.

Justin Mannino, 24, of Baton Rouge was elected to a one-year term on the governing board at a meeting on Monday of LSU System student body presidents in Baton Rouge, succeeding Dr. Ryan Perkins of Houma whose term expired.

Mannino became a Board of Supervisors member upon election and is scheduled to be sworn in at the board’s meeting June 8th in Baton Rouge.

A 2006 graduate of Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, Mannino was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in accounting from LSU in 2010 and is scheduled to receive his law degree with an emphasis on tax law next May.

For further information, contact Charles Zewe, LSU System Vice President for Communication, 225-578-3941.

LSU Chancellor Mike Martin sent an email to the faculty, staff, and students about his selection as sole finalist for chancellorship of Colorado State University.

To:       LSU Faculty, Staff, Students and Friends
From:   Mike Martin

This morning, Colorado State University announced that I have been named a finalist for the chancellorship of its three-campus system.  Information about my involvement with Colorado State reached the news media over the course of the last 48 hours and I regret that only now am I able to address this with you.

Allow me to share my situation as it stands today:

• Despite the considerable fiscal challenges faced by LSU over the past four years, Jan and I have developed a deep affection for the people of LSU, Baton Rouge and Louisiana.  This is a truly great university and I am proud to serve it.
• I have not sought other professional opportunities, but a few have approached me.  It has been my plan to finish my career at LSU.  Sometimes plans change. I was first informally contacted by Colorado State in December and then formally contacted in January.  I did not seek out this opportunity and my conversations with Colorado State are in no way related to recent changes at the System Office.
• I have not received a formal offer.  If I do, I will carefully consider it.  My single criteria for deciding what to do at this stage of my professional life is this – where do I have the best chance of making a positive difference?
• As events and options unfold I will try to keep all of you informed.  Whatever happens, be assured LSU will continue on its journey to excellence.  Certainly challenges lie ahead but the remarkable dedication of all members of the Tiger nation will ensure success.

Geaux Tigers!

Interim LSU System President William L. Jenkins (left) and LSU Shreveport Chancellor Vincent J. Marsala (right) opposed legislation that would lead to the merger of LSU Shreveport and Louisiana Tech. (Photo by Richard Alan Hannon - The Advocate)

A bid to make LSU’s Shreveport campus a branch of Louisiana Tech University started advancing Tuesday in the Legislature, getting the backing of the House Education Committee.

The proposal by Rep. Jim Fannin, D-Jonesboro, faces a tough road to final passage, however, needing the backing of two-thirds of lawmakers to be enacted.

The merger idea faces opposition from LSU System leaders, but support from the Board of Regents that oversees public higher education across the state. Gov. Bobby Jindal hasn’t taken a position on the proposal.

LSU-Shreveport would become a second campus of Louisiana Tech and part of the University of Louisiana System. The two campuses are 70 miles apart. The House committee voted 14-4 for the bill.

Supporters said the consolidation would improve education in northwest Louisiana. The idea was suggested by a higher education consultant hired by Shreveport-Bossier City area business leaders seeking to expand educational opportunities in the state’s third largest metropolitan area, which has 400,000 residents.

“We believe that it is good for the community. We believe it is good for our region, from a business standpoint, from an economic standpoint,” said Zazell Dudley, chair of the Louisiana Black Chamber of Commerce and a business leader in northwest Louisiana.

LSU Chancellor Michael Martin (LSU System file photo)

LSU Chancellor Michael Martin said Tuesday night he is being seriously considered for the chancellor position at Colorado State University, and that he will strongly consider it if he is offered the position.

The job offer could be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks, Martin, 65, said in a phone interview. “I think Colorado State is still deciding if a formal offer will be made, and if a formal offer is made, I will formally consider it,” he said.

Colorado State University System spokesman Kyle Henley said the university’s chancellor search committee met Monday night and forwarded one candidate’s name to the CSU System’s Board of Governor’s with a unanimous vote.

Henley said he couldn’t confirm whether Martin is the candidate in question. A special meeting of the board could take place as early as this week, Henley said.

If Martin is on his way out of Baton Rouge, it would be the LSU’s second high-profile departure of the spring.

Randy Vince started a program in partnership with Lighthouse where medical students help teach under privileged kids how to live a more active life. (KSLA photo)

It’s a startling statistic. According to state data, more than one-third of teenage kids in Louisiana are overweight. Louisiana ranks as one of the top 10 states in the country for childhood obesity. One medical student at LSU Health has been trying to drastically cut back on the number.

Randy Vince is in the process of finishing his second year of medical school. During his time in Shreveport he started a program in partnership with Lighthouse where medical students help teach under privileged kids how to live a more active life.

“It teaches them healthy lifestyles early on in life which they can use as an adult,” said Vince.

The program, which started last year, teaches kids simple hygiene and exercise. It also goes through a routine health exam. More importantly, Vince said he wanted kids and their parents to know how to make better food choices.

“Parents just grab what is quick and convenient and it’s not always healthy.”

Vince, an inner city kid himself with no male figure around after his dad passes at the age of 12-years-old, said he did not care about his health or his education. He said that all changed when his high school football coach set him straight.

Emily Davis (left podium) and Susanna Moss (right podium) spoke to attendees of LSU Medical Center's 2012 "An Evening For Heroes." Davis and Moss, who were rescued and treated by Shreveport first responders and LSUHSC-Shreveport medical staff, are the subject of the two mini-documentaries below.

A total of 84 emergency first responders and medical professionals were honored May 3 at the second annual  “An Evening for Heroes,” which not only raised awareness of the outstanding emergency response system in northwest Louisiana but also topped last year’s inaugural event to become the most successful fundraiser ever for LSU Health Shreveport. The LSU

LSU Health Sciences Foundation sponsored the evening that celebrated the rescues and recoveries of  a young medical student named Emily Davis and a young mother, Susanna Moss. Both women were severely injured in car accidents. A captivated audience watched their stories unfold in videos produced by CRM Studios.

The 84 honorees included LSU medical staff along with Benton and Minden EMS personnel. They received Hero medals, a standing ovation and emotional  thank you’s from each of the young women. Chancellor Robert Barish emphasized that the honorees represented thousands more in the EMS system —from 911 operators to neurosurgeons — who work as a team to put lives and dreams back together.

A sold-out audience of 880, including dignitaries from city and state government and the LSU system office, filled the Shreveport Convention Center. Attendees  included Senator Greg Tarver, Senator Sherry Buffington. Representative Barbara Norton and Representative Jeff Thompson, Bossier Mayor Lo Walker, Shreveport, Councilmen Oliver Jenkins and Jeff Everson.

They listened as emcee, Sheriff Steve Prator, reinforced the vital role of the LSU Level 1 Trauma Center in the community.  Lifetime Sponsor Fred Moffitt, who has received lifesaving care of his own at LSU, was happy to see the spotlight on the health sciences center. “It was an excellent program and good for the medical center,” he said. “It is a great institution.”

Willis Knighton and Chase were title sponsors and many other organizations and individuals contributed to the event.  Lynn and Armand Roos were co-chairs with Jenny Barish.

Bill 964 by Rep. Thomas Carmody of Shreveport now moves to the House floor where a two-thirds vote is needed for passage.

“We need to meet the needs of the region,” said Carmody.  “The bottom line is not simply about merging two institutions, this is about seeking to provide a brighter future.”

House Appropriations Committee Chairman, Rep. James Fannin of Jonesboro and a co-author of the bill, told committee members the merger makes sense because of the state’s continuing money troubles that would require cutting $210 million by June 30th along with an estimated $71 million reduction in the new fiscal year for higher education alone.

Calling the measure a “local bill,” Fannin told the committee the merger would hold down administrative costs and consolidate programs in two different systems.  “Do we want mediocrity among all of us or do we want to focus on consolidation where we can, cut out programs, and elevate higher education?” Fannin asked.

And Fannin said, “We have to have some changes in what we do and how we provide higher education to our citizens.”

Carmody said LSUS was in a “death spiral” and the “coup d’gras” was “not far away” as a result of declining enrollment. “Something’s got to give,” he said.

Minden cardiologist, Dr. Philip Rozeman, the lead proponent of the merger, said the takeover would most likely give LSUS a better partner in Louisiana Tech that is more likely to deliver new academic programs.

“The merger fulfills the best way to provide a more comprehensive university for the Shreveport area,” Rozeman said.

Before approval, Carmody amended the bill without objection to require the Louisiana Community and Technical College System along with the Southern University System to set up remedial courses on the LSUS campus because increased admission standards that go into effect this fall, ban remedial courses at four-year public universities.

Businessman Mike Woods of Shreveport, a longtime LSUS backer, said plunging finances underscore the need for a merger, noting a 42 percent reduction in LSUS state funding over the last four years and a nine percent drop in student credit hours.  “It’s not going to get any better, it’s going to continue to get worse,” Woods said.

Dr. Wayne Hogue, a LSUS instructor who supports the move, declaring that the merger represents a “spectacular economic development opportunity” for North Louisiana, told committee members the measure would set free LSUS academically.  “This is the only way for us to get the shackles off us and start all over,” Hogue said.

Leading objections to the merger were Interim LSU System President Dr. William Jenkins and LSUS Chancellor Dr. Vincent Marsala.

Dr. Jenkins told legislators, “I frankly can’t understand why Shreveport/Bossier doesn’t want to grow it’s own research institution?”

Citing the University of Texas at Dallas campus as a potential model for development of LSUS, Jenkins said, “Shreveport/Bossier needs its own public, major research institution” and not one tied to another institution 70 miles away.

Jenkins also told legislators, pointing to a University of Maryland study of a proposed merger in Maryland, that up to 80 percent of mergers inside and outside higher education fail and that cost savings might not materialize.  “Be very careful of doing down that path, that could very well be a trap,” Jenkins said.

Marsala blamed repeated delays by the Louisiana Board of Regents on a failure to quickly deploy new programs at LSUS, adding that the LSU System and LSU Board of Supervisors had approved every proposal submitted for new degree programs.

And Marsala told the committee plans to bring new programs to LSUS would work.  “This is very progressive and can be implemented in the fall,” said Marsala of the new LSU Shreveport Commitment Plan that would initiate as many as 24 new academic programs over the next 18 months.

Rep. John Bel Edwards of Amite noted an estimated $1.5 million fiscal impact of a merger,including legal fees and property surveys, but Fannin countered that savings would be a long-term proposition.  “Sometimes you have to spend money to save money,” said Fannin.

Legislative Fiscal Analyst Charley Rome, confirmed that there is uncertainty over long-term costs, particularly for consulting services.  “We’re not really sure what the net impact will be,” Rome said.  “We’re not really sure when the changes will take place.”

Later, Higher Education Commissioner Jim Purcell disputed Marsala’s claims of delays in approving new programs by the Board of Regents, claiming Marsala at one point even supported the suggested merger.

Reading from a list of programs approved by the Board of Regents over the last 12 years, Regents Chairman Robert Levy declared the Regents approved all proposals submitted by the LSU System for LSUS.

But Marsala, reading from a letter he sent to the Regents, detailed  repeated delays by the Regents in approving a new degree programs.

“There are formal and informal ways to throw water on something, Marsala said.

The measure could come up for House debate next week.

Caroline Gerdes (Photo by Richard Alan Hannon/TheAdvocate)

Caroline Gerdes grew up in Mandeville, but says she feels closely connected to her family’s roots in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans.

Gerdes graduates this month from the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication. In June she begins a new project with ties to her heritage.

With a National Geographic Young Explorers Grant, she will be collecting oral histories of people who lived in the Ninth Ward any time between 1920 and 1960.

Gerdes’ background as a journalism major with a minor in history and her connections to the New Orleans area inspired her to apply for a prestigious grant from National Geographic to study family histories in a part of New Orleans known for its concentration of communities of different ethnic backgrounds, what Gerdes calls “clusters of immigrant boroughs.”

“A lot of families in America have an immigrant past,” said Gerdes, who in 2011 received an internship at National Geographic in Washington, D.C. Working there in the areas of marketing and social media gave her the opportunity to hear live speakers who were featured in the magazine.