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Chancellor's Column

LSUS grads well prepared; often cite faculty excellence

Dr. Vincent J. Marsala
Our graduates drop by quite regularly when they’re in town and reminisce about their days at LSUS. While their stories vary as widely as their careers and successes, they consistently emphasize how well LSUS prepared them for “life in the real world.” That preparation is nearly always punctuated with anecdotes about favorite professors who have had a lasting influence on them. Those anecdotes point to the excellence of our faculty. I asked the deans for a representative sample of faculty excellence to share with you.

Drs. Urska Cvek and Marjan Trutschl, both assistant professors of computer science, are continuing research activities through their Laboratory for Advanced Biomedical Informatics, directing a dozen graduate and undergraduate students on funded projects in the emerging field of bioinformatics. (Cick here for more more about bioinformatics.)

Dr. James Lake, professor of English, is the series editor for the New Kittredge Shakespeare containing updated editions of all of Shakespeare’s plays. The volumes will contain new introductions and updated bibliographies. Lake has completed his editions of Hamlet, and will supervise the editions of the rest of the canon.

Dr. Wolfgang Hinck, assistant professor of marketing, was elected president of the Federation of Business Disciplines, one of the largest academic research organizations for multiple disciplines common to business administration. FBD leads 12 individual academic associations.

Dr. Kyle Pierce, associate professor of kinesiology and health science and director of the LSUS USA Weightlifting Development Center, has been named the recipient of the United States Olympic Committee’s 2005 James E. “Doc” Counsilman Award. Named for the legendary swimming coach at Indiana University, the award honors coaches who conduct and use research along with developing innovative training methods. Pierce was a finalist for the 2004 Counsilman Award. (Click here for more about Kyle Pierce.)

Dr. Gloria Horning, who joined the Department of Communications last August, has built a television broadcasting studio in Bronson Hall with a grant from AEP SWEPCO and equipment donated from Time Warner. Her students produced documentaries for the Christian Services Telethon in December and are serving internships with the local arena football team, the Battlewings.

Dr. Lisa Burke, associate professor of management and holder of the Joe and Abby Averett Professorship in Business Administration for Excellence in Teaching and Research, was named Educator of the Year in the Southwest Region of the Society of Human Resource Management.

Dr. Brian Salvatore, associate professor of chemistry, and Dr. Elahe Mahdavian, assistant professor of chemistry, are working in cancer research in collaboration with researchers at the LSUHSC-Shreveport and abroad. These two chemists constitute the chemistry arm of the newly established Experimental Therapeutics Group at the Feist-Weiller Cancer Center. The goal of this interdisciplinary group of researchers is to develop new drug molecules to enter clinical trials.

Dr. Binshan Lin, professor of management and holder of the BellSouth Professorship for Excellence in Research in Business Administration, was selected as the International Association for Computer Information Systems Computer Educator of the Year.