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on campusfacultyAdmission requirements tightenedLamar University has tightened enforcementof academic standards for enteringand current students. Of the 500 deniedadmission as of September, 257 wereprospective incoming freshmen. In 2004,97 freshmen were denied admission. About150 applications are still in review.Applicants find acceptance into collegedifficult when they present a combinedrecord of poor high school performance,low class rank and poor scores on theScholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) orAmerican College Test (ACT). Applicantswho are statistically low performers in highschool and on the standardized tests have avery low chance of successful performancein college. “For increasing numbers ofthese applicants, we are recommendingthey complete some work at a communitycollege,” said Jim Rush, director of academicservices.Florence Nightingalemakes appearanceLamar and Christus St. Elizabeth and St. Maryhospitals hosted The Nightingale ExperienceJune 10-11, providing prospective nursing studentsfrom 13 regional high schools with a firsthandlook at nursing and the hospital setting.Lamar hosts riverfrontdevelopment previewLamar’s Center for Public PolicyStudies and the Department of PoliticalScience’s master of public administrationprogram hosted Port NechesMayor Glenn Johnson ’78 and CityManager Randy Kimler Tuesday, June14, in their discussion of the 80-acrePort Neches riverfront developmentproject to be carried out by The SWAGroup, developer of the Kemah riverfront.Citizens may attend town hallmeetings conducted by the developers.Lamar accepts community collegetransfers, and students denied admission tothe university can reapply after completing18 hours at a community college.Lamar also has added more emphasison enforcing standards for current studentswho haven’t performed well academically.This summer, the university sent 1,400 studentsletters informing them that they wereon academic probation, said Kevin Smith,associate vice president for academic affairs.“Lamar has put considerable resourcesinto making academic success a reality forevery student who puts forth effort,” Smithsaid. Among these resources are mandatoryacademic advisement, advising centers, tutoring,developmental classes to make up deficiencies,monitored probation and a careercenter to help students find their niche. “Weare concentrating resources on students whoare here and are trying,” Smith said.EDDY LAIRDBriefcase classroom.Laboratory a very big-small ideaDeaf studies doctoralgraduate and candidate serveon national committeeAndrew Lang, president of the NationalAssociation of the Deaf (NAD), namedEddy Laird ’05, a recent doctoral graduate,and Byron Bridges, a current doctoral student,as members on the newly formedAmerican Sign Language (ASL) and DeafStudies committee of the NAD. The committeeis responsible for updating NAD’scurrent position statement on ASL and bilingualeducation and for reviewing NAD’sresource materials on the subject.The shrinking of electronics and advances in analytical chemistry have yieldedan opportunity to create a laboratory that fits into a briefcase, allowing educatorsto take cutting-edge chemistry research and instruction virtually anywhere.Lamar’s David Cocke, holder of the Gill Chair in Chemistry, has assembled a molecular spectroscopylaboratory that fits in half a briefcase. By choosing different components, one can either have afull-fledged laboratory or the latest in digital pedagogy with a LCD projector and laptop computer.The “lab to go” is part of a drive to bring affordable top-level chemistry education to underservedpopulations.Cocke and Jean Andrews, professor of communication disorders, and College of Arts and SciencesDean Brenda Nichols joined together under a National Science Foundation grant to use the technologyto bring cutting-edge chemistry education to deaf students in American Sign Language, English andSpanish. Participating in the study is the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin, the Alabama School for theDeaf, and the Ruben C. Rodriguez Elementary School in Hidalgo County.Tenure granted . . . Six faculty members earned tenure in2005: Janiece Buck in the Department of EducationalLeadership; Ana Christensen, biology; Martha Rinker,psychology; Zanthia Smith, communication disordersand deaf education; George Strickland, health and kinesiology;and Steven Zani, English and modern languages. . . The speech and hearing program and theTexas School for the Deaf co-sponsored the TexasAssociation of the Deaf 2005 Biennial Conference inAustin June 23-25 . . . A reputation for leadership . . .The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent Lamarengineering professors Thomas Ho, Hsing-wei Chu andJerry Lin to Taiwan, Hong Kong and China May 23 toJune 1 to conduct air quality workshops and provideexpert advice to the countries’ environmental protectionagencies. They were three of the five U.S. delegates onthe trip and provided expertise regarding theCommunity Multi-scale Air Quality modeling system,which addresses multiple air qualityissues . . . From ice to hardwood, professionalhockey veteran Robert Dirkis warming up to his new position asdirector of the Montagne Center. Hespent 11 years as a player and sevenyears as a coach in Tacoma, Wash.,ROBERT DIRK Saginaw, Mich., and Winston-Salem,N.C., where he won the Coach of the Year Award hisfirst year as head coach. For the past few years, he wasvice president/commissioner and headcoach/director of hockey operations forBeaumont’s Wildcatters . . . Lamar’smusic program has earned reaccreditationby the National Association ofSchools of Music after a three-yearprocess . . . Sandra Richardson, assistant SANDRA RICHARDSONprofessor of mathematics and professional pedagogy, is anational Project NexT Fellow, one of only 60 selectedacross the nation. Project NexT (New Experiences inTeaching) is a professional development program forrecent Ph.D.s in mathematical sciences, including pureand applied mathematics, statistics, operations researchand mathematics education . . .Charles Matthews, chancellor ofThe Texas State UniversitySystem, delivered the keynote forsummer commencement Aug. 13.CHARLES MATTHEWSLamar conferred about 372degrees, including one doctorate and 147 masters’degrees. Graduates hail from seven countries, six statesoutside Texas and 50 cities and towns in Texas.New academicprograms respond toindustry needsFirst Ph.D. now offeredThe Texas Higher EducationCoordinating Board has approved theCollege of Engineering to recruit studentsfor a Ph.D. program in chemicalengineering. The program becomesLamar’ fifth doctoral degree program –but its first Ph.D.“Historically, Texas has granted fewPh.D. programs to comprehensive universities,preferring to house them atresearch institutions. This approval is amilestone and a point of pride for LU,”said Kevin Smith, associate vice presidentfor academic affairs.Jack Hopper, dean of the Collegeof Engineering said the presence of adoctoral-level research degree “providesus with a tremendous advantage inrecruiting new faculty and doctoralstudents.”The program focuses at the confluenceof the chemical and allied industries,the environment, and economics.The U.S. chemical industry is theworld’s largest producer of chemicals,contributing the greatest trade surplus ofany non-defense-related sector to theU.S. economy, representing 10 percentof all U.S. manufacturing and employingmore than one million Americans.Hopper expects the presence of theprogram to have a positive effect on thefunding it receives from such agencies asthe National Science Foundation,National Institutes of Health,Department of Energy andDepartment of Defense.Forensic chemistry now a majorThe Department of Chemistry nowoffers a bachelor of science degree inforensic chemistry. Making forensictraining available will help alleviate theshortage of trained forensic experts inTexas and surrounding states.The program is modeled after ahighly successful program at WestVirginia University, said Wayne Rabalais,distinguished professor of chemistry.Lamar faculty have adapted the curriculumto include the latest problem-basedlearning methods by introducing newanalytical microscopy techniques.Tracking Panamanian fossilsFunding for expeditions this year to Panama’sDarien Rain Forest originated with an LU ResearchEnhancement Grant to Jim Westgate, professor ofearth and space sciences. Westgate joined scientistsfrom the University of Louisiana-Monroe,Mexico’s National Institute for Anthropology andHistory, the College of Charleston and NRBEnergy-Delaware in the search for fossil greatwhite sharks (Carcharodon megalodon) and othermarine species that once inhabited the regionnow known as Panama’s most remote rain forest.The expeditions have yielded 9 million-yearoldfossil finds in a globally significant geographicand geologic setting. Analysis of fossil teeth andotoliths (ear stones) has provided data to reconstructthe ecologic conditions of the ancientseaway known as the Straits of Panama, whichonce connected the Caribbean Sea and the westernPacific Ocean. Today, the Isthmus of Panamais known as the crossroads of the Americas. Itformed 3 million years ago as the chain of volcanicislands fused together and linked Centraland South America. The closing of the Caribbean-Pacific connection diverted the Caribbean Currentnorthward and strengthened the Gulf Stream. Thatchain of events may have led to the onset of theIce Ages, which began nearly 2 million years ago.4 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 5
on campusstudentsTeaching the TeacherTrading classrooms for canoesTeachers attending the 2005 TeachingEnvironmental Science Institute tradedclassrooms for canoes as they floatedalong the Neches River to test its watersbefore touring Shangri La BotanicalGardens and the Inland Orange ContainerBoard Paper Mill as well as air-boating inresponse to a mock oil spill as part of thesummer graduate program. The teamalso traveled to Anahuac to study estuariesof Trinity River and Galveston Bay.Grants from industry, governmentand non-profits exceeded $35,000 infunding for the program, which is in its10th year and one of the longest-runningprograms of the 20 institutes comentoredby the Texas Commission onEnvironmental Quality. This year, teachersfrom Rio Grande Valley, Tennesseeand Turkey participated, gaining firsthandknowledge about ecologicalissues to take back to pre-K through12th-grade classrooms. More than100,000 Southeast Texas K-12 studentshave benefited from the institute’sprograms, said Jim Westgate,professor of earth and space sciencesand director of the institute.Ben’s Kids Shine at Camp Bright StarThis summer, the Department of Continuing and DistanceEducation added a ray of light to Camp Bright Star, an annual,four-week outreach initiative for Ben’s Kids youth, ages 12 to 17.Sponsored by Entergy, YMBL, BASF, ENGlobal, H-E-B, BISDand Lamar University, the endeavor is administered by IEA-Inspire, Encourage, Achieve, a program established by Reginaand the late Julie Rogers in 1997 to continue philanthropist BenRogers’ legacy of helping at-risk children achieve dignity andrespect through knowledge, compassion, understanding and love.Under the direction of Richard Bothel, executive director ofthe department, Lisa Cowart and Elton Payne, continuing educationprogram managers, the 44 camp participants golfed, canoedand fished, while also learning about health and hygiene, smokingcessation and prevention, career choices, fine arts and diningetiquette. Tom Abbage ’72, ’74, ’81, an engineer retired fromExxonMobil, delivered a keynote address on life choices at thecamp’s closing.The language of mathMore than 20 high school and middle schoolteachers from across the state were on campusJune 27 through July 1 as part of The TexasState University System Mathematics for EnglishLanguage LearnersInitiative. Themulti-year, multimillion-dollareffortfocuses on developinginstructionalresources toincrease the effectivenessof mathematicsinstructionfor students whoare English-languagelearners (ELL), said Ted Mahavier, associateprofessor of mathematics and mathematicsinitiative representative.Lamar’s mathematics and professional pedagogydepartments received a $250,000 grant toaddress best practices for instructing mathematicsstudents whose native languages are not English.Sandra Richardson and Mary Wilkinson, assistantprofessors of mathematics and professionalpedagogy, havesupervised the collectionof data fromfour focus groupsthat includedCentral, South,Southeast and WestTexas.Paul Dawkinsand Kyehong Kang,assistant professorsof mathematics, aredeveloping web-based resources. Joanne Baker,associate professor of mathematics, developedand wrote problems for a dual-language module.Julie Rodriguez, a bilingual mathematics major,provided translation and voice-over services.Math teachers Daryl Johnson of Fort Worth and Rojean Land of De SotoBusiness mergerThe College of Business hasmerged operations of theInstitute for EntrepreneurialStudies and the Small BusinessDevelopment Center to moreeffectively serve entrepreneursand to better stimulate businesscreation in SoutheastTexas.Though the programs willmaintain their individual identities,both will benefit fromshared resources, better coordinationwith each other and thecollege, and the sharing of ideasand opportunities, said RussWaddill, director of the instituteand director of the combinedorganization effective Oct. 1.The merger comes after theretirement of SBDC directorGene Arnold.Crystal Betar of Beaumont holds critters as she and her fellow teachersinvestigate the Trinity River during Lamar University’s their recentTeaching Environmental Science course. Betar teaches at Hamshire-Fannett Middle School.New Student Orientation welcomed more than 2,500 students andparents to campus during four sessions this summer, a 263 percentincrease since the program began in 2001. Guests tour campus, registerfor classes, meet peer advisors and faculty and gain an in-depthlook at student life on campus . . . Five pre-pharmacy students arethe first to be accepted into the University of Houston pharmacy programthrough a co-op developed this year between Lamar and theUniversity of Houston: seniors Michael Greenwald of Silsbee andKristen Beard, Vidor; sophomores Julie Paciotti and Ollie Belasque,Beaumont; and junior Leanette James, Beaumont. “This agreementprovides our students an edge in getting into U of H’s extremely competitivepharmacy doctoral program,” said Jim Westgate, chair of theuniversity’s medical pre-professional programs and professor of earthand space sciences. The U of H College of Pharmacy’s affiliations withthe world-renowned Texas Medical Center creates opportunities forstudents to learn not only from influential pharmacy research faculty,but also from clinicians who practice in Houston’s medical community. . . University Press editor for the 2005-2006 academic year is BenDuBose, a senior journalism major from Beaumont. Senior KathrynEakens, a journalism majorfrom Port Neches, is editorof the semesterly magazineUPBeat and managing editorof the UP . . . Thirteen premedstudents recently completedfive-week summermedical school programs atUniversity of Texas-Pan American, University of Texas Medical Branchand Baylor College of Medicine. “The experience can help energize ourstudents with real medical school curricula, and, concurrently, providesa five-week medical school ‘pre-interview’ for our students.Those who participate in these programs have a high rate of acceptanceinto medical schools,” Westgate said . . . the LU Rotaract Cluband the Spindletop Youth Soccer Association collected soccer gear forchildren’s soccer teamsin northern Belize,Central America, as its2005 international serviceproject. The itemswere delivered toChunox, Belize, inAugust . . . AmandaShaw, a political sciencemajor from Vidor,and Steven Trahan of Beth Tindall ’03 with children in BelizeOrange, who earned dual degrees in computer science and electricalengineering, earned the Plummer Award as the top academic graduatesof the August 2005 class.Hello ParisNine Lamar University interior design students spent the summer inParis studying Parisian design at the Paris American Academy with SaraJane Eisen, instructor in family and consumer sciences.The study-abroad program was open to majors who participated ina design competition judged at Lamar by the president of the Parisacademy. The students earned six hours credit toward their degree.Two winners were chosen to receive full scholarships to attend theacademy. The other seven paid their own way through fund-raisers andwith the help of a $1,000 study-abroad scholarship from Lamar as wellas $2,500 in scholarships raised through private gifts.Scholarships establishedAugust’s Week of Welcome introduced students andtheir parents to campus life at Lamar. The four-dayprogram is the ticket to an enriched college career.Networking activities, study and exam tips, visitswith faculty and how-to workshops are wrappedaround three main events: Midnight barbecue,karaoke at the Card Rock Café and Beaumont Bound.Producer, celebrity manager and advertising executive Tommy Vanceco-founded LU-llaby of Broadway in 1993. Victor Rogers, who hasfunded five other scholarships to help Lamar students, established theTom Vance Scholarship in Theater to honor Vance’s contributionsto the production since the event’s inception. Rogers announced thescholarship during the 2005 LU-llaby, which benefits theater majors.Vance and his wife, Jo, are longtime supporters of the arts at Lamar . . .Family and friends established the Walter Allan Sutton MemorialScholarship in History in memory of Sutton, who joined the historydepartment in 1963 and taught for 40 years. He lived through many ofthe key events of twentieth-century America, a period that later becamehis area of specialty . . . The Parker Windham Memorial Scholarshiphas been established by family and friends as a way to honor the memoryof Parker Windham, whose greatest passion was music and who lovedall kinds, from “Fish” and Bob Marley to jazz and classical. The scholarshipis open to music or theater majors. Friends of Parker began theendowment, which was completed by his parents, Paige and MorrisWindham, who are longtime supporters of the arts at Lamar University.6 | Cardinal Cadence September - November 2005 September - November 2005 Cardinal Cadence | 7
Page 2 and 3: In the wake of RitaNot a single Sou
Page 6 and 7: Other InsightsWalkingthe talkBy Sus
Page 8 and 9: Rosine Wilson with President James
Page 10 and 11: masthead, and here are a couple of
Page 12: Homeof theYOCHEVED MENASHE ’01STO
Page 15 and 16: Scores of trees throughout campus f
Page 17 and 18: LU’S BUXTONS:MOVING LOCK, STOCK A
Page 19 and 20: Right time,right placeby Amanda Row
Page 21 and 22: ArtsCulture &Instrumentally BulowMI
Page 23 and 24: Pitcher turns PadreBy Daucy CrizerC
Page 25 and 26: class notesCardinal Club boardmembe
Page 27 and 28: class notescadencesWe will miss...A
Page 29: YOU CAN HELPLAMAR STUDENTSREBUILD T

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