Centenary's Fell named new president

Katherine Fell, vice president for advancement, was selected as the University of Findlay's next president.

Fell will start at her new job July 1 succeeding DeBow Freed who will retire at the end of the current school year.

Fell has worked for at Centenary for 24 years beginning her career as an associate professor of English in 1986.

"It is a tremendous privilege to be invited to serves as the next president of the University of Findlay," she said. "The University has a very distinguished history, and I'm honored to have this opportunity."

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My story on the Lampkins Collection at SUSLA ran today.

This was an amazing story to tell. SUSLA has a small archive compared to LSUS who has an entire floor dedicated to it.

Archives, especially in a city the size of Shreveport, are important because they provide a safe haven for the area's history. They also provide insight to times gone-by. Lampkins' collection is like that. He attended Shreveport's high school for black students during segregation. He opened his own school in the 1950s and even though in Caddo Parish Schools.

For musicians, this collection is also a gold mine. Among the items are recordings of jazz musicians that available anywhere, even iTunes.

The collection will be open to the public fall 2010.

The archive is also a story of growth for SUSLA, whose enrollment has soar during the past two semesters. The strength and prominence of a school is determined by several factors: winning sports teams, research dollars, faculty research, library, and archives. For a school SUSLA's size, this was a substantial get.

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Jobs in higher education

It's March, the time of year in higher education when jobs are being lined up for the upcoming school year. If your a grad student, this is time when you look for a job...but not in Louisiana.

After a series of budget cuts to higher education, schools had to freeze open positions and some are not filling adjunct positions.

According to higheredjobs.com, an online job board for positions at colleges and universities, Louisiana has 55 positions open for faculty and staff. The school doing the most hiring is Nicholls State in Thibodaux.

Louisiana, however, has more jobs available than neighboring state Mississippi, which only has 26 listed. Arkansas has 67 jobs and Texas has 1,193, which has the highest number of job openings in the country.

Losing faculty to other states is a worry for some colleges. In a recent conversation with Paul Sisson, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at LSUS, he feared that some faculty jump ship to other neighboring states who are hiring.

This worry comes at the heals of neighboring southern states like Texas that are making a bigger push in higher education setting aside dollars for research.

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Centenary prez gets ceremony...finally

After nearly a year, Centenary's B. David Rowe will be installed as president of the college -- ceremonially.

When Rowe started at Centenary in August, he had to hit the ground running. School was starting. The economy was playing jumping jacks with the endowment. And the dean of students suddenly passed away.

So time for an official ceremony was a bit strained.

April 8, at 2 p.m.at the Gold Dome, Rowe will have his ceremony, definitely a perk of being a president.

A college presidential inauguration or investiture, in case you've never been, is grand event. There are usually a week's worth of events including receptions with alumni, a dinner or two, and the actual ceremony. The big ceremony includes faculty dresses in the academic robes, a speech from the board of regents representative, and a speech and/or battle cry from the person of the hour.

However, the festivities for Rowe are reflective of the campus' hard economic times. The event will be one day with a concert and a reception in addition to the ceremony.

To learn more or RSVP click here.

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SUSLA recruits with rhymes

SUSLA's Student Government Association is organizing a recruitment day. Special guests will include Louisiana rappers Bay Bay, Mystikal, and Hurricane Chris.

AnWhat Entertainment is putting this event together along with the campus' SGA. Nnena Oka, that company's representative, said the event isn't a concert so much as a way to motivate high school seniors to apply to college. SUSLA in particular.

"This (event) is to raise awareness and to bring up the college rate, its also motivation to stay in education," she said.

Motivation is needed. The drop out rate for Caddo Parish, according to the 2009 Kids Count survey, is 8.6 percent. Meaning, that 1,107 students didn't make it to graduation.

Break that number down by racial lines, however, you have a bigger story. According to the same report, 11.1 percent of black students dropped out before their senior year of high school.

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Centenary prof wins award

Centenary accounting and finance professor Barbara Davis is the recipient of the 2010 Federation of Business Disciplines Outstanding Educator Award.

Davis is the Samuel Guy Sample Chair in Business Administration. She received the award March 5 during the Southwest Finance Association‘s annual meeting in Dallas, Texas.

“Barbara has been a longtime active member and has held every office in the Southwestern Finance Association,” said James Philpot, President of the Southwestern Finance Association. “The membership of the association knows that Barbara works tirelessly for her students, institution and the profession.  Her work with the SWFA has assisted colleagues worldwide in furthering their scholarly work.”

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Louisiana not the only ones feeling the cuts.

This story from the Chronicle of Higher Education reminds me of a conversation I've had with one of the administrators from ones of the local campuses.

He said the time not to panic was last year. Today, panic.

And so we're in a state of panic in higher education in Louisiana. Cuts have lead to drastic decisions short of massive layoffs.

Since Dec. 2008 each school's budget has been cut. Here's how it breaks down,

SUSLA -- $1.4 million


BPCC -- $2.75 million


I'll update this post with LSUS' total soon. 


Every state is having issues with budgets being slashed and higher education isn't any different. 

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