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> Authors in April, an annual luncheon to benefit the LSUS Pioneer Heritage Center, this year will feature Mike Tidwell. His latest book, Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life And Tragic Death Of Louisiana’s Cajun Coast, deals with the loss of Louisiana coastal wetlands and the subsequent loss of the culture of the Cajuns who make their living there with shrimp, oyster, and other seafood businesses. A number of articles and commentary have been in the newspapers lately about the need to do something about the coastal erosion, so this is a timely topic that will appeal to a broad audience. Tidwell, a national figure in writing workshops, will also conduct the writers’ workshop on Friday afternoon, April 2, on the LSUS campus. The workshop is free to LSUS faculty and students. The Saturday, April 3, luncheon is at noon at the Shreveport Country Club and costs $40, of which $20 is a donation to the Pioneer Heritage Center. Books by Tidwell will be available for purchase and signing at both events.

> Dr. Timothy M. Shaughnessy, assistant professor of economics, received his Ph.D. from Florida State University at fall commencement ceremonies. He has also had a paper, “A Preliminary Analysis of Campaign Contributions in Florida’s Legislative and Judicial Elections,” accepted for presentation at the 2004 Association for Private Enterprise Education International Convention in Nassau, the Bahamas.

> Dr. Carl Smolinski, associate professor of accounting in the College of Business Administration, presented a paper, “Luca Paciolo’s Advice to Accountants: Use Your Religion As Your Moral Compass,” at the Academy of Accounting Historians 2003 Research Conference in November in Denton, Texas.

> Laura Conerly, assistant librarian and archivist at Noel Memorial Library, retired with 31 years of service to the university. She spent another two years – 1968-70 – as an LSUS student.

> Susan Bray and Jan Burns, both graduate students in the counseling psychology program, and Dr. Meredith Nelson, assistant professor of psychology, made a presentation, “The healing power of forgiveness on the human spirit: A blueprint for effective therapy,” at the Louisiana Counseling Association Annual Conference in Monroe in October. The trio also presented “The healing power of forgiveness on the family” at the Northwest Louisiana Counseling Association meeting. Nelson said the students paid their own way to the conferences and worked on the presentations outside their graduate studies.

> Peggy Connor, director of the LSUS Small Business Development Center, received the 2003 Outstanding Member Award from the North Louisiana Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development at the “Excellence in Training” 2003 Awards Program.

> Gary Joiner, instructor of history, was named the recipient of the 2003 Aaron and Peggy Selber Research Writing Competition for his submission concerning the Red River Valley titled, “The Justification for Shreveport Being the Target of the Red River Campaign.” The award was presented in November at Sci-Port Discovery Center in Shreveport.

> Dr. Ken Masters, associate professor of management, has had his paper, “Risk Propensity, Trust and Transaction Costs in Relational Contracting,” accepted for publication in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Business Strategies.

> Martha Lawler, an associate librarian, has accepted an appointment as chair of the Publications Committee of the Rare Books & Manuscripts Section of the Association of College & Research Libraries (a division of the American Library Association). Her term is 2003-2005.

> Kay Stebbins, an associate librarian, has completed a two-year term as chair of the Liaisons Committee of the American Library Association Library Instruction Roundtable. She is the 2003-04 chair of the Dun & Bradstreet Service to Minority Business Community Award Committee of the ALA Business Reference & Service Section. She has also completed a book review for the Louisiana Library Association Bulletin (Spring 2004) of The Louisiana Purchase: Emergence of an American Nation, Peter J. Kastor, Editor.

> The College of Business Administration is one of the sponsoring institutions of the Ninth Bi-Annual International Society for the Study of Work and Organizational Values Conference to be held in New Orleans Aug. 3-6. Dr. Sanjay Menon, assistant professor of management, is organizing chair of the conference, “Ethical Work Values and Behavior for Global Competition.”

> Dr. Michael V. Leggiere, associate professor of history, delivered two lectures on strategy and policy for the U.S. Naval War College at naval bases in Memphis and Chicago in October. Leggiere has been an adjunct professor of strategy and policy for the War College for three years. Every October he travels to different naval bases to lecture on policy and strategy during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Eras.

> Eight LSUS students have been selected as national outstanding campus leaders and will be included in the 2004 edition of Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. Students chosen for this distinguished recognition are: Pamela Simek, graduate student in liberal arts and vice president of the LSUS Alumni Association, of Bossier City; Amber Leigh Graves, senior in elementary education, of Logansport; Melissa Renee France, senior in elementary education, of Mooringsport; and Kristy Lasha Breedlove, junior in biology; Melissa D. Conrad, senior in elementary education; Kim Pellegrin, senior in management (human resource concentration); Rolanda Lee Anne Reliford, senior in elementary education, and Samuel Lee Wyatt, senior in criminal justice, all of Shreveport. The campus nominating committee chose the eight students based on their academic achievement, service to the community, participation and leadership in extracurricular activities, and potential for continued success.

> Marty Albritton, vice chancellor for university development, has been named to the Leadership Council of Chimp Haven.

> Catherine Michelson, a senior marketing major, has been named the 2004 editor of Advances in Global Business Research. She will work with Dr. Ben Kedia (University of Memphis) and Dr. Zafar Ahmed (Texas A&M-Commerce).

> Dr. Mary Margaret Merrill, assistant professor of psychology, received the Herbert M. Handley Outstanding Dissertation of the Year Award in November from the Mid-South Educational Research Association for “The Role of Animated Pedagogical Agents in Multimedia Learning Environments.” An animated pedagogical agent is a computerized character incorporated into computer programs that serves as a tutor while guiding students through computerized learning environments. The animated agent used in this research was a parrot, owned by Microsoft, who displayed many human-like characteristics such as verbal communication and mobility. Microsoft employs animated agents in their programs as office assistants, such as Clippit the Paperclip and Merlin the Magician. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of animated pedagogical agents designed to assist learners during their interaction with a multimedia learning environment involving proportional reasoning word problems. Results based on learning outcome measures indicated that learners exposed to an animated agent during the tutorial outperformed learners who were not assisted by an agent. This study contributes to current agent research by replicating an existing animated agent effect, which suggests incorporating an animated agent into a multimedia learning environment optimizes learning.

> Allen Garcie, an assistant coordinator in the Division of Continuing Education and Public Service, received an International Award from the Learning Resource Network (LERN) for his “pioneering work” in developing a “history-making brochure.” According to LERN’s award announcement, “This year marks the first time a continuing education program consciously targeted two separate generations (Gen X and Baby Boomers) with two different brochures. Marketing by generation is a growing trend. We’re also seeing it for senior citizens (WWII generation) and youth (Gen Y).” LERN went on to say LSUS is the “first continuing education unit we know of to do separate brochures for Gen X and Baby Boomers.” The award was presented at the December LERN Conference Awards Luncheon in San Antonio. Garcie also has been named the webmaster/Web site director on the board for the North Louisiana Chapter of the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD).

> Candi Bagley, director of field experiences in the College of Education and Human Development, and Dr. Martha Mangin, associate professor of education, presented “Once Upon A Number” at the Louisiana Association for Teachers of Mathematics annual conference in Lafayette in November.

> Dr. Wolfgang Hinck, assistant professor of marketing, was program director of the 2004 Inaugural Conference of the Academy for Global Business Advancement (AGBA) in New Delhi, India, in early January. AGBA is co-sponsored by two Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) units. CIBER is a leading U.S. program for international curriculum development and research. The conference was attended by educators from more than 20 countries on five continents. U.S. participants included scholars from UC-Berkeley, the universities of Connecticut and Memphis and Texas A&M University. On his way to India, Hinck also visited Nepal, Thailand and Japan. Hinck published “The Dark Side of Online Consumer Behavior: A Comparison of Piracy Motivators in the United States, Canada and Australia” in the Journal of International Business and Entrepreneurship Development (with Kevin Shanahan, University of Texas at Tyler, and Charles Hermans, Southwest Missouri State University). He also published “Identifying eMavens on Internet Music Sites: Evidence from Germany” in the Journal of Global Business Research (with Gianfranco Walsh, Klaus-Peter Wiedmann, Tobias Frenzel, all at University of Hanover, Germany, and Vincent-Wayne Mitchell, University of Manchester, England). And, Hinck will present “Consumer Animosity toward U.S. Products in Mexico” at the 2004 Association of Collegiate Marketing Educators Conference in Orlando, Fla.

> Lillian Cobb, a secretary in the Economics and Finance Department of the College of Business Administration, retired with 20 years of university service.

> Dr. Megan Conway, professor of French, presented a paper, “Magic and Eros in the Comptes Amoureux of Jeanne Flore,” at the 16th Century Studies Conference in Pittsburgh in October. She also accepted the editorship of the 16th Century French Writers volume of the Dictionary of Literary Biography. The volume will include entries on 46 figures of the French Renaissance.

> Andrea Hughes, a senior financial analysis major with minors in French and international studies, is the 2003-04 recipient of the Simons-Lincove International Studies Scholarship. She will graduate this fall, after which she is considering entering the University of South Carolina to pursue an International Master in Business degree. The degree can be focused on the language of her choice and then tailored to fit around doing business in a country that speaks that language. She said she would love to work more on her French and one day work in France. She has applied for a scholarship offered through CODOFIL that would allow her to study in Belgium for the summer.

> The faculty, staff and patrons of the Noel Memorial Library appreciate the support and generosity of the following persons and organizations making donations of books or periodicals to the library: September – Anna Beltrani, Richard L. Colquette, Pearla Despot, Daniel F. Goodwin, John G. Hall, William D. Pederson and Old Court Press - Brookings, Ore.; October – Mary Ellen Foley, William E. McCleary, Malcolm G. Parker, William D. Pederson, Christian Science Reading Room and Book Store – Shreveport, and Public Affairs – New York, NY; November – Krishna Agarwal, James R. Evans, Kavita Moorti, Kay Stebbins and Tom G. Stevens.

> Dr. Chuo-Hsuan (Jason) Lee, assistant professor of accounting, had two papers accepted for presentation. “Measures of Earnings Dilution and the Stock Repurchase Decision” will be presented at the 2004 Annual Conference of the Southwest Decision Sciences Institute in early March, and “The Association Between the Overstated Diluted EPS under SFAS 128 and Stock Repurchases” was presented at the 2004 Business and Public Administration Conference in January.

> Dr. Ronald Byrd, professor of physical education, was a keynote speaker at the annual conference of the Louisiana Association of Exercise Physiologists, presenting “The History of Clinical Exercise Physiology.” He discussed “Jefferson, Lincoln, and Cuba” at the 20th Third World Conference and “Jefferson, Castro, and the Butterfly Effect” at the American Studies Presidential Conference at LSUS. He was a co-presenter of “Girls and Women in Sport” at the annual conference of the Louisiana Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance with Drs. Cay Evans, professor of education, and Tim Winter, professor and chair of Kinesiology and Health Science.

> Dr. Blake Dunnavent, assistant professor of history, was a chair and commentator at the Gulf South Historical Conference in Pensacola in October. In May, he will chair a session at the North American Society for Oceanic History in the Chesapeake Bay area.

> The LSUS student chapter of the Society for Human Resources Management raised $301 for local needy families in its Thanksgiving Turkey Drive. Dr. Lisa A. Burke, associate professor of management, and Dr. Sanjay Menon, assistant professor of management, are the chapter’s faculty advisors. Outgoing president is Lindsey McVay and the incoming president is Kim Pellegrin. Both are senior management and administration majors with concentrations in human resources.

> Dr. Bernadette Jones Palombo, associate professor of criminal justice, attended the 55th Annual Conference of the American Society of Criminology in Denver in November and presented a preliminary assessment of her research in progress, “Evaluating the Defense of Indigent Offenders in Northwest Louisiana.”

> Dr. Karen James, associate professor of marketing, presented a 90-minute tutorial on using Microsoft Producer to create materials for online learning and training at the Society for Marketing Advances conference in New Orleans. She is scheduled to present papers at the American Advertising Association’s national conference in Baton Rouge and the Marketing Management Association’s spring conference in Chicago. Her co-authored article, “E-Commerce Issues in Health Care Marketing,” has been accepted for publication in the journal Services Marketing Quarterly. LSUS alumna Rachelle Smith, a sales representative for Novartis Pharmaceuticals, visited the campus last fall to make a presentation about working in the pharmaceutical industry. She also spoke to James’ sales and marketing research classes.