Message from the Dean

Leaps and bounds. That describes the growth of the LSU Honors College over the past three years. We are welcoming our largest incoming freshman class - more than 600 students - and offering a greater variety of classes than ever. Outside the classroom, our students are working with the community, bringing high school students to campus over the summer through FOCUS and helping to make local area schools ready for opening in the fall.

We are particularly proud of the success our Honors students are having in the national arena, earning prestigious awards such as the Truman, Goldwater, and Jack Kent Cooke. We have always known that Honors College students were among the best in the nation and they are finally receiving that recognition.

We have some exciting plans for the future that we will be sharing with you: turning the French House into a state-of-the-art educational facility, establishing a Center for Academic Distinction for visiting scholars, creating a real campus-within-a-campus, and growing our student support endowment. All of this will be supported by our efforts in LSU's recently launched Capital Campaign, a commitment to making the Flagship Agenda a reality. And the Honors College is at the heart of LSU's Flagship success.

This is the first issue of a regular electronic newsletter you will be receiving. Our goal is to keep you - our Honors College family - up to date as we continue to strive for excellence, community and leadership.

Dean Nancy Clark

2005-06 Academic Year Recap

Honor and prestige have again closed out the academic year at the LSU Honors College.

More than 100 Honors students graduated in May 2006. Thirty students graduated cum laude, 20 magna cum laude and 44 summa cum laude. There were also 14 University Medalists - graduates with a cumulative GPA of 4.0 - and 23 graduates receiving College Honors, which denotes a 3.5 cumulative GPA, 32 hours of Honors classes and the production of a thesis project.

Awards given at the ceremony included:

• The June Martin and Walter Rudd Honors Thesis Awards, given to Paulette Guerin, Adelaida Hernandez, Adam Parker and Beth Peterson
• The Tiger Athletic Foundation Teaching Awards in the Honors College, given to assistant professor Emily Elliott, associate professors Dennis Ingram and Vince LiCata and professors Janet McDonald and Husain Sarkar
• The Robert "Doc" Amborski Award for Teaching Excellence in Honors, given to Dr. Ed Henderson

Honors students also received several major fellowships. Cynthia "C.C." Dubois, Katie Faust, Jackie Zimmerman and Nick VanMeter headline the group.

Dubois received the prestigious Harry S Truman Scholarship, which helps fund graduate studies in a field related to public service. Dubois is the third LSU Honors student in four years to receive the Truman award.

Honors students Faust, VanMeter and Zimmerman won Barry Goldwater Scholarships. Universities may nominate four students to receive Goldwater awards, and LSU's fourth nominee, Honors student John Casey, was an honorable mention finalist.

The University's three Goldwater scholars topped the totals of marquee institutions including Harvard University and the University of Michigan and matched the totals of Yale University, Georgia Tech and the University of Florida.

Other award winners were:

• Maria Mahoney, winner of LSU's first-ever Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
  Graduate Scholarship
• Biological engineering junior Patrick Coco, who won the NOAA's Ernest L. Hollings scholarship for science studies
• Monty Aghazadeh, who won the Slater Fellowship awarded by the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
• Incoming freshman Robert Ingram of McKinley Senior High School in Baton Rouge, winner of the Gus Archie and Hitachi Foundation Yoshiyama awards

Director of Fellowship Advising Dr. Drew Lamonica Arms said the Honors College is incredibly proud of its students' successes.

"With three Goldwater Scholars, a Truman Scholar and LSU's first Jack Kent Cooke Scholar, it was a banner year for us," Arms said. "These students are testimony to the caliber of an Honors education here at LSU, and we hope to continue and build on their successes."

Chancellor Sean O'Keefe and Board of Supervisors Chairman Rod West introduce the Spring 2006 Commencement Speaker, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, at the ceremony.

CC Dubois, shown with Chancellor O'Keefe and Provost Risa Palm, was LSU's third Honors student to win the Truman Scholarship in the past four years.

Honors College China Initiative

The Honors College has expanded its horizons into the Far East.

This summer, 20 incoming Honors College freshmen had the unique opportunity to travel with five undergraduate students and 18 Flores MBA students from the E. J. Ourso College of Business on a two-week Discovery Tour of China to learn about its modern culture and business. The program was designed to expose entering freshmen to China's culture and business practices in hopes that they will continue their studies of China throughout their college career.

China is Louisiana's top foreign trading partner and the United States No. 2 foreign trading partner. The program was established so that students could become knowledgeable of China's culture and business practices. The program correlates with the four-year plan of the Honors College, which emphasizes study abroad in the sophomore year.

Highlights of the trip included scaling the Great Wall, cruising down the Yangtze River while surveying the Three Gorges Dam construction and touring the Forbidden City. In addition, students attended cultural performances and shows and experienced other aspects of life in China.

The trip to China provided the participants with an experience of a lifetime, an instant group of friends and a greater appreciation of the world around them, and the Honors College is pleased with the program's success.

Two Honors students ride in a modern-day rickshaw in China.

The China Initiative was designed to introduce students to a burgeoning economic power with an already rich and historic culture.

Orientation Week 2006

Honors freshman Mark Hoppens of Slidell chips paint at Polk Elementary School as part of the Community Bound Service Project. Hoppens was one of more than 200 students to register for the project.

The Honors College emphasizes "Service" in the freshman year as part of its four-year program. The Community Bound Service Project worked almost exclusively with the Honors College this year, drastically increasing participation from the previous year.

Students participating in the service project traveled to elementary schools in the Old South Baton Rouge area and performed maintenance tasks, including chipping and repainting school facilities, cleaning up the school area and yardwork.

Forever LSU: Capital Campaign

This June marked the launch of what Chancellor Sean O'Keefe has called the largest, most ambitious fund-raising effort in LSU's history.

The four-year Forever LSU capital campaign was announced this summer in New York, Washington, Houston and finally back home here in Baton Rouge. The campaign will help the University raise funds and reach out to alumni in different areas of the United States. Funds raised will be used to elevate academia, boost public enlightenment, advance knowledge, improve economic development and increase financial assistance.

The Honors College is excited to play a part in the Forever LSU campaign, which provides us great opportunities to achieve our goals. These include enhancing facilities to fully achieve a "college within a college" environment, adding top faculty to ensure we have the best teaching the best and increasing funds for expanded leadership opportunities to enrich student experiences.

The University hopes to raise $750 million by 2010, which is LSU's 150th Anniversary, to aid the Flagship Agenda. The Honors College expects to have raised $20 million by 2010 to realize its goals.

For more information about the capital campaign, visit ForeverLSU.org.

LSU Chancellor Sean O'Keefe speaks at the Forever LSU launch event June 19 in New York City.

Democratic pundit and LSU graduate James Carville also spoke at the launch event. LSU hopes to raise $750 million by 2010 with the campaign.

Full Focus

Another successful summer has come and gone for the Honors College organization FOCUS
(Focusing On College and Ultimate Success).

The energetic two-week program for at-risk high school students was held at the end of July. The program is produced by Honors College students and overseen by Mark Dochterman, Honors College Student Activities Coordinator.

The purpose of FOCUS is to help encourage, enhance and explore potential of the participants. Its goal is to give these already-talented students a taste of college life in order for them to realize that a college degree is both important and obtainable.

Throughout the two weeks, students participated in the arts and focused on particular areas of interest like theater, creative writing, art and dance. They also participated in philosophical discussions and music. All activities were conducted by honors students working as group counselors, program instructors and directors. At the program's conclusion, the students presented their work to their peers, parents and honors staff.

The program was a success and the students enjoyed the experience. One of the participants, Chante, wrote in her FOCUS journal, "The FOCUS program has given me hope about going to college, and I am thinking about new ways to get financial aid."

FOCUS participants meet with David Cronrath, Dean of the College of Art and Design. Students met with many colleges on campus, getting different perspectives on LSU life.

Les Amis Officer Elections

Les Amis, the Honors College parent's organization, has elected new officers for the
2006-07 year.

Denise Allen will serve as the organization's president this year. Carla Peeler and Patrick McGibboney were elected as vice presidents, and Lillian Grossley will serve as treasurer.

Thank you to all of our parents who joined Les Amis and are helping support the Honors College.