WATCH THE LSUS HOLIDAY VIDEO HERE. LSUS Holds Fall 2016 Commencement The LSU Shreveport Fall Commencement ceremony took place this past Sunday, December 18, at 2 p.m. at CenturyLink Center in Bossier City, LA. Among the participants, 527 degrees were awarded to graduates who have completed programs in the College of Arts & Sciences, and the College of Business, Education and Human Development.

“Our graduates are beginning a new chapter of their lives and we are extremely proud of their devotion,” said Chancellor of LSU Shreveport, Larry Clark. “The LSUS community and I wish our Pilots the best future and hope that they will forever remember their educational journey.”

The commencement address was given by Mr. Michael H. Woods, member of the LSUS Foundation, Board of Directors, and past Chairman.

Woods was born and raised in the city of Shreveport and is married to Tracie Woods, and is the father of four children. He graduated from LSUS in 1975 with a Bachelor in General Studies, University of Oklahoma in 1977 with a Bachelor of Business Administration, LSU Law Center in 1980 with a J.D., and Masters in Environmental Science from LSU in 1999.

He was also honored to receive the LSUS Distinguished Alumni Award at the Spring 2001 graduation and LSUS Pilot of the Year award in 2010.

While serving as an adjunct professor at LSU for 10 years teaching Environmental Law and Non-Profit Management and Decision Making, he was named Outstanding Adjunct Professor in College of Liberal Arts in 2007.

He is currently involved in his family’s oil and gas exploration business, serving as President of Woods Operating Co., Inc. and is also a member of the Bossier Parish Community College (BPCC) Foundation Board of Directors.

His civic activities include Northwest La. American Red Cross, serving as President in 1997-98, President of the Executive Committee of the YMCA for 1997, and past President of Norwela Council, Boy Scouts of America and received the Distinguished Eagle Award from Norwela Council in 2012. He serves on the Southern Region Board of the Boy Scouts of America, and is the past Area 2, Southern Region President of the Boy Scouts of America.

He has also served on the Board of Supervisors of the University of Louisiana System of Colleges and Universities, serving as chair of the Finance Committee, and ultimately as Chair of the board. In addition, he served on the Board of Trustees of Centenary College and served as member of the Louisiana Recovery Authority overseeing the rebuilding of Louisiana after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Thank you to all who joined the LSU Shreveport faculty and staff in congratulating graduating students in the Fall Graduation ceremony at the CenturyLink Center in Bossier City. This event was a special time for our hard-working and dedicated students as they were recognized for their academic achievements and well-earned degrees.

Click here to see the list of graduates by college, degree and hometown.

LSU Shreveport Dean’s and Chancellor’s Lists Announced for Fall 2016 Semester LSU Shreveport is pleased to announce the Fall 2016 Chancellor's List and Dean's List. These full-time undergraduate students have a semester grade point average of at least 3.5. Students on the Chancellor's List have a semester GPA of 3.8 to 4.0. Students on the Dean’s List have a semester GPA of 3.5 to 3.79. The students are listed by their college and award. College of Business, Education, and Human Development Chancellor’s List Lydia Allen, Shelby Allen, Rachel Alvarez, Maddison Andres, Devin Anthony, Katelynn Armstrong, Krisha Andrea Aytona, John Paul Bacud, Sarah Bamburg, Christine Bias, Jordan Bordelon, Wesley Branch, Brianna Brown, Brittany Bryant, Jasmine Carr, Adais Champion, Rachael Chauvin, Hannah Christ, Hunter Cunningham, William Davis, Jaelon Davis, Tricia Davis, Makayla Duke, Hannah Dyer, Kaitlyn Edwards, Jerry Fabre, Emily Finch, Ecotry Fuller, Aubrey Garcia, Katelynn Gooden, Morgan Griffin, Kaitlyn Guice, Mary Hawks, Katelyn Hedges, Austin Helms, Dennis Henderson, Madison Hicks, Mackenzie Holley, David Hooper, Kara Hooper, Scott Hooper, Desiree Jackson, Alyssa Jahns, Brandi Jones, Michael Judd, Joy Lao, Michael Leon, Elizabeth Lockett, Benjamin Mc Rae, Emily Mcdill, Benjamin Mcdowell, Sarah Mcgee, Travis Miller, Alexandra Miller, Niccolo Mundell, Patrick Nix, Kyle Owens, Olivia Page, Avnee Patel, Zoe Pearl, Fernecia Phillips, Barbara Pierce, Fannie Polcari, Allison Polinard, Brandon Rainwater, Haley Rushing, Ashley Salinas, Chelsie Sapp, Kyle Schuldt, Kaitlynn Scruggs, Mason Shaw, Madison Shuey, Leah Silva,

Kristopher Smith, James Snyder, Lydia Sonnek, Abigail Sorrell, Haley Spohrer, Hannah Staton, Danielle Stephens, Eric Strozier, Mary Talamayan, Kenneth Taylor, Joseph Valentine, Kathy Valenzuela, Rebecca Waltman, Laura Waren, Sarah Welch, Skylar Williams, Kathryn Wimer, Emmalee Winkler and Jason Witman Dean’s List Christopher Allen, Daniel Allen, Susana Kitzel Alvarez Solis, Rachel Amiri, Byron Anderson, Carlos Anding, Patricia Azevedo, Jeta Banks, Kristin Beaudion, Katherine Beavers, Jenna Blythe, Richard Bornaman, Courtnie Branim, Bridget Brown, Craig Brown, Donald Bullock, Cameron Burns, Brandon Capers, Katelyn Carr, Caleb Charping, Kaitlyn Chizzoniti, Devin Cloud, Gloria Collins, Madison Connella, Aliya Corker, Chase Cornet, Emily Cover, Brooklyn Dahm, Megan Daniel, Shelby Dupuy, Tyler Egloff, Robert Ellison, Evan Fliss, Christopher Floyd, Tabatha Flynn, Christy Fontenot, Sarah Franklin, Kevin Gallion, Kyle Gallion, Audrey Giddens, Demetria Gilliam, Addison Goff, Natalie Goldman, Elizabeth Gouletas, Rachel Graham, Zachary Greenway, Kendall Hagler, Lacey Halphen, Ethan Harris, Elizabeth Hazen, Chelsea Henderson, Kelsey Hill, Jared Honea, Trevor Hunt, Katie Jinks, Ebony Jones, Shavanety Jones, Megan Joplin, Kyle Laverdiere, Grayson Lorey, Matthew Martin, Sarah Mc Master, Julie Mcclung, Holli Mchan, Drue Mcinnis, Bettye Milton, Mackenzie Morgan, Anh Nguyen, Annalysse Orchard, Hannah Parker, Dawn Patterson, Taria Paxton, Lauren Perot, Cadarius Perry, Tamra Phelps, Ryan Pouwells, Anne Puckett, Amber Reeves, Vanessa Reiher, Jayce Rentrop, Kalie Ricks, Madison Riggs, Brittany Robinett, Sarah Savat, Marivel Segarra, Austin Simmons, Rebecca Slocum, Joseph Spatafora, Aaron Stanfield, Sean Taylor, Anndreatta Taylor, Morgan Teakell, Sabrina Tillman, Nicholas Todd, Hannah Vassar, Kaylin Waters, Olivia Watt, Shalivia Whitaker, Joseph Williams, Lauren Wilson, Tichina Wilson, Jessica Winters, Courtney Wolfe, Jessica Woods, Kelsee Wright and Riley York College of Arts and Sciences Chancellor’s List Brenda Acuna Sandoval, Colby Adams, Amane Ali, Tara Allen, Nikeajah Austin, Adriane Paolo Aytona, Rebekah Bennett, Aakriti Bhusal, Megan Birdwell, Amber Bordelon, Tristan Bradshaw, Bailey Brantley, Taylor Brunson, Michael Byrnes, Zachary Cates, Jaimie Clampitt, Jeremiah Cosme, Tanner Craft, Taylor Dailey, Carla Davis, Ron De Benedetti, Ghada Deeb, Mary Demarigny, Charles Dileo, Avery Enders, Marvin Ettredge, Kristiane Gavin, Kaitlyn Gibson, Osie Gilbert, Taylor Gilbreath, Jeremy Gill, Weylin Goodie, Lauren Graham, Adam Grant, Carson Grill, Kelsey Grill, Alexis Haddock, Benjamin Haines, Latarshia Hall, Steven Harkness, Jonah Harrington, Allison Harris, Bailey Harris, Emily Hatcher, Brittani Hayes, Rachel Hoffnung, Joanna Hunt, Nantiporn Inchun, Jay Jain, Nolan James, Kamaya Jiles, Roger Kalmbach, Timothy Keys, Patrick Laurent, Julian Lawrence, Kenna Leethy, Tiffany Mandrell, Ciara Mathis, Jacob Mc Dowell, Connor Mcmurtry, Jacob Mitchell, Daniel Moore, Hayden Moseley, Derrick Murcia, Kaleigh Newman, Nicholas O'connor, David Okuampa, Peter O'neil, David Ortego, Maitri Parikh, Aastha Parikh, Joshua Parnell, Kourtney Pennywell, Daniel Perez, Caleb Persia, Sarah Persia, Ryan Phillips, Lea Posey, Ethan Puckett, Cyvanie Ramkelawan, Morgan Richardson, Quintin Richardson, Carolyne Rochelle, Elles Rock, Jessica Rodriguez, Zachary Runkle, Donald Sawyer, Vishwa Shah, John Smith, Sha'mondra Smith, Stephen Smith, Emily Sparks, Bianca Stakes, Nicholas Storey, Bailey Tejada, Gwendolyn Tennell, Andrew Terry, Christopher Thompson, Robert Thrall, Minhthuy Tong, Trinh Tran, Joseph Ulicny, William Vandiver, Alexandra Wallace, Aaron Wheeler, Neiman Wickline, Katelyn Woodel, Octavia Young and Cristyn Zettel Dean’s List Nazanin Abdehoo, Dean Abdehou, Trisha Adams, Bendukosi Agulefo, Madelyn Almand, Michael Amos, Jerremyh Angela, Xavier Angelo, Delaney Beck, Brenda Beverly, Ashley Bogdan, Cheyann Bordelon, Chelsea Boyett, Martin Brigham, Paul Brodine, Sheri Bryan, Evan Cabell, Madeline Campbell, Shawon Cecil, James Clark, Michael Clawson, Brittney Coleman, Tarrell Coleman, Tyranda Colon, Elizabeth Cook, Madelynn Cook, Tyler Crochet, Caroline Crouch, Marga David, Jentry Davis, Megan Davis, Simoura Davis-

Greene, Benjamin Densmore, Latesha Dickson, Langhuong Earb, Alec Edwards, Megan Everett, Charles Fann, Aaron Fernandez, Lisa Frater, Nathan Free, Andrew Garcia, Elizabeth Gonzalez, Caleb Grant, Jake Grill, Ember Gryder, Michael Harris, Hunter Harris, Harley Heath, Arch Henderson, Jasmine Hill, Elizabeth Holt, Arykah Hoskins, Julia Hough, Jessica Ingram, Michelle Johns, Eric Jones, Prometheus June, Alisyn Kelly, Caleb Kelly, Charles Kneipp, Carolyn Kortus, Jacob Krews, Jennifer Land, Sarah Lilly, Christian Lococo, Jasmine Love, Tyler Maizels, Anna Marsalis, Annie Martin, Victor Martin, John Mays, Michelle Mcdonald, Vikhana Mcmanus, Danielle Mcwhiney, Cody Milam, Caleb Mitchell, John Monteverdi, Anne Danielle Nardo, Kristopher Omberg, Loretta Parker, Alejandra Perez, Jacob Prymek, Thomas Ramos, Jeffery Ramsey, Trystin Reed, Melissa Reyes, Lance Rich, Keidra Ridley, Megan Rittenberry, Latrecia Roberson, Amy Robertson, Hannah Robinson, Anthony Rounds Ii, Clayton Sawyer, Joshua Schools, Roger Shapen, Navdeep Singh, Noah Sorkey, Jessica Stevens, Christopher Stevens, Brittany Sutton, Jonathan Tauzin, Taylor Taylor, Austin Terry, Terri Thiessen, James Thomas, Sidharth Vashisth, Daniel Vining, John Walker, Tomysha Watson, Allen Webb, Sarah Webb, Ashley Wilson, Taylor Wilson, Kaitlyn Worrell and Emily Zimmerman

LSUS Men’s and Women’s basketball team participated in Hugs4Kids The LSUS Men’s and Women’s basketball teams continued the Alumni Association’s Hugs4Kids activity this holiday season in an effort to bring kids a little holiday cheer. The LSUS players and coaches visited The Children’s Hospital at University Health in Shreveport. On December 12, the LSUS student athletes were sent into hospital rooms in groups of two or three and delivered toys to the young boys and girls at the Children’s Hospital at University Health in

Shreveport. They also handed out basketballs to the children complete with autographs from the players. The toys were donated to the Alumni Association at the Annual LSUS Holiday Luncheon by faculty, staff and alumni from the university. The Alumni Board began the Hugs4Kids Toy Program about 10 years ago in order to give back to the community while also including the LSUS campus. Hugs4Kids continues to bring smiles and happiness to the children, families, and volunteers involved. For more information about the program, please call 318-797-5190.

Spring Professional Development Day set for January 9th LSUS is proud to kick off our very first Spring Professional Development Day for faculty and staff on January 9th, 2017, from 9 to 3. We will have coffee/drinks/snacks throughout the day as well as a

pizza/salad luncheon. Please RSVP for the lunch at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090e4cafaf2eabf94-spring. We are rolling out some new technologies (Turnitin and two different proctoring options), holding a much-anticipated student panel, and have several sessions for faculty and staff to enjoy.

Turnitin Plagiarism Checker. I just got the agreement signed, and the folks from Turnitin will be here during our Spring Kickoff Meeting on Jan 9th to show you the ins and outs of how to use it in the classroom. Very soon you will see Turnitin integrated into Moodle.

All Proctoring services are now paid by LSUS—not the students. We offer two different

proctoring services: live proctoring with ProctorU and record and review proctoring with Proctorio. Both companies are coming to campus on Jan 9th to present their software. I strongly advise you check out both services, for you may want to use both in your classroom. NOTE: Any late scheduling fees will be paid by the student, not the university.

Zoom Web Conferencing: We have several licenses to Zoom, which is an education-friendly web conferencing program (that I use every day!). I plan to put on several Zoom workshops to show you how to use Zoom in and out of the classroom! If you want me to put on a Zoom presentation just for your department, I’m happy to do that!

ADA video captioning/transcript services. We now have a contract with 3playmedia, which is a service that allows you to upload videos directly to them, and they will provide closed captions and a transcript for your video. If you are interested in learning more, I will get a group of interested folks together to show you how it works!

If you have ideas for other services you feel could serve faculty or students, please contact Kristie Weeks.

LSUS Pilots volunteered for the Salvation Army The LSU Shreveport Pilots baseball team volunteered ringing bells and collecting money for the Salvation Army over the past three weeks. The baseball players volunteered at JcPenney, Sam's Club and Kroger for the past three weeks with two players at each location, and this event marked 500 hours of community service.

Volunteering has been the baseball team's way of giving back to the community, and during this holiday season, players greeted shoppers with friendly smiles. "The community does a lot for our program, so this is our way of giving back," said Oscar Meuris, a player. The players showed enthusiasm ringing the bells at the store fronts knowing that they are helping those in need. When it comes to collecting donations, there is no set goal. "We haven't been assigned a certain goal," said Jerremyh Angela, a player. Instead, the team's focus is on ringing the bells and seeking donations. "I don't mind being here even if it's cold," Meuris said. Though it was chilly outside, the players displayed joy in being able to give back to the community that has supported them and the LSUS athletics department. Shoppers appeared delighted to donate as they entered and exited the store. TO SEE THIS STORY IN VIDEO FORMAT, CLICK HERE.

This will be a calmer week for the Pilots with just the men’s basketball team still here as they will get ready for their Exhibition Game with Louisiana Tech which is Thursday (Dec. 22) in Ruston at 6:30 p.m. From all of us in the LSUS Athletics department, we would like to wish everyone a safe holiday season and a very Merry Christmas! UP NEXT FOR LSUS HOOPS January 6, 2017 vs Jarvis Christian: Women at 5:30 p.m., Men at 7:30 p.m. at The Dock January 7, 2017 vs Wiley College: Women at 5:30 p.m., Men at 7:30 p.m. at The Dock

1. Commencement. Thank you to Darlenna Atkins and her team of faculty and staff who helped make

our December 2016 Commencement such a meaningful

event (that really impressed both our speaker, Michael

Woods, and LSU Supervisor Valencia Jones). Thanks,

also, to Kristie Weeks and the supporting faculty and

staff who helped make the LSUS Online Brunch, ahead of

commencement, a wonderful success. Over 300 persons

attended this brunch (sponsored and paid for by

Academic Partnerships- thank you to AP), including

online program graduates from California, Wyoming and

Virginia. After commencement, I enjoyed being a part of a

picture with a new graduate and her daughter, grand-

mother and great grand-mother. Like many others on

Sunday, she was the first generation of her very

supportive family to graduate. Great day.

2. Contact Brooke Rinaudo… Brooke Rinaudo has two student workers, well-trained by Jorji

Jarzabek, to create short film clips of LSUS campus activities, academic ceremonies, special

recognitions, etc. Please contact and coordinate with Brooke for this to happen.

3. LSUS Trees. LSUS enjoys a beautiful campus with great trees. I have assured Dr. George Kemp that

we will not remove any tree unless it is too severely damaged to live, is dead and/or is a safety risk. A

week ago I stood before a beautiful oak tree near the southwest corner of the Science Building. We

sought to have the tree significantly trimmed because of how it was growing up against the building,

over the covered walkway and dropping limbs below to a sidewalk. Unfortunately, the arborist

assisting us warned that the amount of trimming that would be required would leave the tree too

unstable to survive- that it would very quickly become an even greater safety risk. We removed the

tree (at least one new tree will be replanted on campus in its place). In contrast, we were able to do

major pruning to save and beautify the oak trees on the northwest side of the University Center.

Separately, our LSUS Grounds Crew are doing a great job of again trimming trees along our ring road.

4. LSU Strategic Plan 2022. On December 9, ahead of the LSU Board of Supervisors meeting, President

Alexander held his usual senior administrative meeting. LSU Provost Rick Koubek presented and discussed the proposed new LSU A&M strategic plan chart, pictured below:

There was a discussion about how the identified pillars and themes might apply overall within “the System,” including for LSUS, and how it might be “the driver” for the upcoming LSUS major campaign. I responded that I thought the chart could work for LSUS but that I want to wait until we complete our current strategic planning process before saying for sure (I think our new strategic plan is likely to pretty closely align). Strategic Plan Co-Chairs Michael Meeks and John Vassar, will meet with with Dr. Joe Rallo, Commissioner of Higher Education, and then Dr. F. King Alexander, LSU President, on January 11 to gain additional input for our comprehensive strategic planning process.

5. Coach Orgeron. Also at the LSU Board of Supervisors meeting I got the opportunity to meet the new LSU football coach Ed Orgeron. I love Coach O's personal life story. And no, we were NOT talking about what LSUS might be able to do if we were to start a Pilots football team in the attached picture.

6. Thank you. Have a Safe Holiday. Commencement reminds us why we choose to be here at LSUS and what always needs to be our highest priority: our students. Thank you for what each and everyone one of you do here at LSU Shreveport to support our students. I hope you have a safe and enjoyable holiday.