LU Moment Podcast #10: Campus Expansion, Nursing Student Proposes House Bill, and LU Strong

Introduction

Shelly Vitanza: Welcome to the LU Moment. I'm Shelly Vitanza, and the director of public affairs at Lamar University, here each week to showcase the great events, activities, programs, projects, and people at Lamar University. I've got guests in the studio this week, Dr. Brenda Nichols. Dr. Nichols is our vice provost of digital learning and associate provost for academic affairs. She along with Dr. Judy Mann, an associate professor of psychology, are in studio to make a big announcement related to Harvey recovery. I usually don't like to say Harvey, but when it comes to money and recovery and students at Lamar University, I will use Harvey. I usually say the H word. And that's coming up. That's what we're going to talk about. We've got some good news as it relates to Harvey. And aren't we ready for some good news as it relates to Harvey? So we're going to talk about that.

Campus Expansion

Shelly Vitanza: But first, I want to share with you that Lamar is expanding. We are upping our acreage. Can you believe it? We have added more than 13 acres, acquiring two parcels of land that will go into an immediate beautification and future growth planning. It's very, very exciting. In December, we purchased the Martin Marietta Concrete Plant. It's located just east of the main campus, and it's there on Florida Avenue. And I can already tell the plant is starting to shut down. We've got less dust and we've got less noise. And that right there is a huge improvement. If you've ever been out to our campus, there's just kind of this background noise that's going on. It's the concrete plant. Well, they're going away. And they're going away by the end of April, so we're really excited about that. It's kind of adjacent to our athletic fields out there. We've got, of course, our baseball field and softball fields and soccer fields all out there. And it's across from that.

Shelly Vitanza: And it's part of a bigger plan for a new front door off Cardinal Drive, so it's going to be just absolutely beautiful. We'll immediately take that space. And we're going to turn it into green space and intramural fields, so it's going to be just a wonderful addition to Lamar University's campus, and make it more beautiful and give it more of a collegiate feel. When you get out there, you won't feel like you're half industry, half learning. It's going to really feel friendly and like a university campus, a place where you want to go and you want to live and you want to stay. We're real excited about that.

Shelly Vitanza: The other place that we have purchased is the McLeod Machine Works. And it's located directly across the campus on MLK. We've got our athletic complex, the Dauphin Athletic Complex and our Provost Umphrey fields and the football field. And we've got the Montagne Center over on the other side of MLK. So now we're going to have this machine works property. It's got three structures. One, we're going to knock down. The other two, we're going to use. And we're going to make it the central hub of all of our maintenance and facilities and our shipping and receiving. All of that right now is spread out across the campus, so that's going to be all in one place, so just make us more efficient and we're just taking over out there. I mean, that's all I can say. We're taking over and making it more of a college campus.

Shelly Vitanza: Our shipping and receiving currently occupies, I thought this was interesting, a space, a 6000 square foot space. It's on the other side of the Montagne Center. That's going to become our band annex. And our band, I feel so bad for our band. When it's game day, they have to rent trucks to bring all of their equipment across MLK. Now they're going to be on the side of the field. They're going to have a place where they can practice on the inside. We're going to mark off a big space out there so that they can have what looks like a field, and practice there, keep their uniforms, their equipment, and just walk over to Provost Umphrey Stadium for game day. It's going to be fabulous. We're just becoming more efficient. And it's all very, very exciting. You're the first to hear all that information. That is just now happening. It's pretty, pretty cool.

Shelly Vitanza: Our goal really is to protect the campus and create more of a collegiate atmosphere and enhance the campus community while keeping an eye on the future because you just never know. We're going to grow, and you just never know what we're going to need. So we're just going buy up the property around us so that we can, like I said, protect our students and plan for the future.

Nursing Student Proposes House Bill

Shelly Vitanza: All right. In addition to increasing our acreage, we're also broadening our reach in the legislative arena, even if it is inadvertently. We have a nurse, a nurse, a Lamar graduate, a nurse who was assigned in one of her classes, she's getting her master's degree, she was assigned to come up with a medical problem, a healthcare problem, and present it to a representative. And so she did. She observed a problem in her work whereby moms, low income moms, moms on medicaid, who were supposed to come in for treatment, postpartum treatment, were not making it, were not coming in. And subsequently, they were getting pregnant again very quickly, even though they didn't want to get pregnant. So she found out that was a transportation issue, so she presented this, this problem and a solution to Representative Dade Phelan, and found herself testifying before the Austin Legislator.

Shelly Vitanza: In Austin Texas, she and Representative Phelan went and made a case for House Bill 1576. And that is a bill that would allocate monies to these moms, medicaid moms, for transportation. And Phelan took the step a little bit further. He said, "Let's get contractors like Lyft and Uber, and let's help these moms get to." I mean, it's one thing to cover them with medical care, but another to give them access. And these women did not have access to medical care. And so the new policy would provide monies and save our system. An Uber, think about it, a ride to a medical facility to get the birth control that you need is going to be a lot cheaper than an additional child that you didn't plan for. That is the trade off. That is what Nicole Schroeder is her name, one of our students, presented and testified to with real life examples there in Austin on Capitol Hill. We're just so proud of her and excited that Lamar can be on the cutting edge of so many things, research and now legislation, so pretty, pretty cool stuff.

Harvey Aid Grant: LU Strong

Shelly Vitanza: Now all of that makes LU stronger, but we are stronger yet. We've got acquisitions. We've got policymaking. And we are rebuilding. We are rebuilding after Harvey. And that brings me to my guests, Dr. Nichols and Dr. Mann, in studio to talk to us about LU Strong. Welcome. We appreciate you being here. Dr. Nichols, tell us what LU Strong is.

Brenda Nichols: It was created after Harvey. Actually, we needed a team approach to try to help our students the best because they didn't have just a need for housing. They had a need for housing, but they also needed mental health care. They needed money to help replace books, or they didn't have vehicles. Some of that, we could not help with earlier. We received [inaudible 00:08:18] emergency fund from many alumni, local alumni, $350,000, about a half a million all up, which we gave to students.

Shelly Vitanza: That's very good.

Brenda Nichols: It was like 130 students because some people's need was so great. Others needed help just with housing or with a book. We had Barnes and Noble participated in it. We had lots of people trying to help a year ago. But then this, since then, we have been looking for: How could we help our students better? One of the things we-

Shelly Vitanza: Because we lost quite a few students, did we not? Some of them just had to go to work, right?

Brenda Nichols: We lost 800 students before, or 600 students before the semester started, who realized they were not going to be able to come. We lost another 800 between fall and spring, so that we knew that. And most of that was people who, they had to make a choice. I have no house, right? Many of them had already paid for fall, or started paying for fall, so they had made a commitment and they thought, "Oh, we can get through this." And then the reality of trying to rebuild a house, or the loss of two vehicles, or many apartments in mid-county flooded completely first level.

Shelly Vitanza: Devastating.

Brenda Nichols: So the students had no clothing, no housing, no vehicles to get around with.

Shelly Vitanza: Education's the last thing that they can do when they're trying to just survive day to day.

Brenda Nichols: Right. And so they had to do what they needed to do for their families. And those who could figure out a way around it kept coming, but they have other problems. Many of them are having PTSD kinds of syndromes, depression, anxiety. And so we've seen a tremendous increase in the use of our mental health services on campus. So Dr. Mann, a group of us worked on first, a grant from the Department of Education, which was about a half a million dollars, which we just got. It will provide services. It's basically for on campus kinds of students.

Shelly Vitanza: Okay. Students who reside there.

Brenda Nichols: Or who live in this region.

Shelly Vitanza: Okay.

Brenda Nichols: So they come on campus. We had just done it in a smaller, $10,000, Judy.

Judy Mann: Just about $10,000.

Brenda Nichols: Grant for us to help get the word out that we had LU Strong, which was comprehensive, and it allows scholarship money, but it allows funds for students who need, still need computers or books, or-

Judy Mann: Educational supplies, textbooks, any kind of materials you need for your classes, housing, food.

Shelly Vitanza: Yeah, basic needs.

Judy Mann: Money to pay bills.

Shelly Vitanza: Right.

Judy Mann: Things that you lost during the storm, things like clothing, any vital needs that you might have.

Brenda Nichols: We just, and what we're here to announce, is that-

Shelly Vitanza: So you had these two grants. Let me just clarify. We had these two grants.

Brenda Nichols: Right.

Shelly Vitanza: Half a million, and then another right at about $10,000.

Brenda Nichols: $10,000.

Shelly Vitanza: And those were targeting some specific needs.

Brenda Nichols: On campus.

Shelly Vitanza: On campus.

Brenda Nichols: For on campus students.

Shelly Vitanza: And we both know, we've already been through $350,000. And we've met some needs. But we've lost 800 students. And students are still trying to come back, but they're still struggling. Dr. Mann, you put together a grant.

Judy Mann: Right.

Shelly Vitanza: You wrote a grant to-

Judy Mann: Well, there's a team of us. And we wrote a third grant. And this one was for $1.1 million through Rebuild Texas.

Shelly Vitanza: I know now we're getting [crosstalk 00:12:29].

Judy Mann: I know. The Qatar Foundation.

Shelly Vitanza: Oh, the Qatar Foundation. Okay.

Judy Mann: Yes. Yes.

Brenda Nichols: And the Qatar Foundation is actually a 501-C3 off of Golden Pass LNG plant. It has some ties both to this region and, and so they have made available this $1.156 million.

Shelly Vitanza: Wow.

Brenda Nichols: So now we have $1.6 million. We have a great problem. We need to give it out in two years.

Shelly Vitanza: Oh my gosh. $1.6 million in two years.

Brenda Nichols: Yeah.

Shelly Vitanza: Perfect.

Brenda Nichols: And some of the people, one of the things I was thinking when Judy was talking, lots of our kids came back in that spring after Harvey, but they took 12 hours, not 15.

Shelly Vitanza: Yeah. Spring 2018 a year ago.

Brenda Nichols: A year ago, they took less hours. And so they're behind on their degree.

Shelly Vitanza: Well, they're having to work. They're having to deal with rebuilding their homes.

Brenda Nichols: So this money can help you with scholarships to graduate on time.

Shelly Vitanza: That's fabulous. That's fabulous.

Brenda Nichols: So we have a good problem. We need students to come and apply.

Shelly Vitanza: That's fabulous.

Brenda Nichols: They have two different sets of criteria. We've made it one application, so they go one place.

Shelly Vitanza: Then you determine where they fit best.

Judy Mann: Right. We work with them, so they put in an application. They come to our website, which is lamar.edu/lustrong. And they fill out one application. And we help them determine what their needs are, and sit down with them individually, either online or through a-

Brenda Nichols: A Skype type of interview.

Judy Mann: A Skype interview, or a face to face interview. And we help them figure out exactly what their-

Brenda Nichols: See what their needs are.

Judy Mann: It's really a case by case, one on one type application process.

Brenda Nichols: Absolutely.

Judy Mann: And we help them figure out what their needs are specifically.

Shelly Vitanza: That's great. That's great.

Judy Mann: And we work with them on those needs.

Shelly Vitanza: So we really just need applicants at this point.

Brenda Nichols: Yes.

Judy Mann: Absolutely, so that we can move forward.

Shelly Vitanza: And what types, you've got a list there. I think we need to list specifically what these grants are going to pay for.

Brenda Nichols: We just put some examples.

Judy Mann: We really have a lot of flexibility.

Shelly Vitanza: It's very comprehensive.

Judy Mann: It is very comprehensive.

Brenda Nichols: Actually, the granting agency, Rebuild Texas, which was funded in part by Bell Foundation One Star out of Austin and the Qatar Foundation, has allowed us to make this the most comprehensive grant, one of the most comprehensive they gave.

Shelly Vitanza: It's incredible.

Brenda Nichols: And they have us, specifically for Golden Triangle, this amount of money. Houston Community College got $300,000 from them for scholarships because they didn't ask for the other stuff. And we said our students needed more than a scholarship.

Shelly Vitanza: Well, and that's because I think that we're in touch with our students. And we went through the experience all together. Didn't we? And so what do you think about that? I guess you've been with these students, and you see what their needs are.

Judy Mann: We have done some preliminary surveys looking at what their needs were. And we're doing some more in depth surveys now. And so we really want to know what their needs are. We are working with them individually to find out what each student needs. And so we do try to be as in touch with their needs as possible. You asked for a list of what we have, and it is as comprehensive as we possibly could be, and we wrote it very, very flexibly. But the things that we did include, and they did us leave it really, really flexible, mental health services.

Shelly Vitanza: Huge.

Judy Mann: Huge. Tuition, books, hunger needs.

Brenda Nichols: Housing.

Judy Mann: Housing, transportation, paying bills.

Shelly Vitanza: So just getting by so you can come to school.

Judy Mann: Right, exactly. Educational needs, so textbooks, technology, whatever that is that they need for their classes.

Shelly Vitanza: Lab fees, whatever it may be.

Judy Mann: Right, exactly. Child care, so very, very broad-

Shelly Vitanza: To get them back to school. I know I've heard Dr. Evans say that the impact of Harvey on Lamar University was $4 million. And that's not just in tuition. We had damages as well.

Brenda Nichols: We had damages, about $1.8 million, I believe, is what our physical facilities damage was. And so then we've lost, like you said, revenue from tuition. But worse than that, we also lose state funding. That kind of helps us a bit after Harvey, but it's gone away. And if the legislature doesn't support us this time, that cut will be dramatic because we've just started turning around. And this spring, we're up over 800 students over last spring, so we are getting some of these kids to come back. But they're coming back very slowly.

Shelly Vitanza: Or like you said, taking less hours. They're on campus, but they may not be taking the full course load.

Brenda Nichols: Or they could be online because this money is also available for online students.

Shelly Vitanza: Good to know. Okay.

Brenda Nichols: We have a large masters in education program. It actually is one of the largest in the state.

Judy Mann: 41 counties, there were 41 counties that were impacted by Harvey that we serve, that we will provide with this grant.

Shelly Vitanza: It covers this grant, 41 counties.

Judy Mann: Yes.

Brenda Nichols: Besides us.

Shelly Vitanza: This is a big deal. I don't know, and I haven't been around that long, this type of information that long. But when was the last time that a grant was given to a university for students to recover from a hurricane? It just really seems unique.

Brenda Nichols: Well, actually, the funny part is that one of our colleagues went to a conference, the dean of students at Lamar, Dr. Terry mena, and Terry's actually the one who created LU Strong. And he said everybody asked him, "How did you get so much money? And why didn't we think of being more comprehensive and more holistic for our students?"

Judy Mann: The other universities are only giving scholarships. They aren't providing mental health services. They aren't providing for other educational needs. They aren't providing for housing. They aren't providing for all of these other needs of their students. We've got a holistic program. And therefore, we've been able to get more money and provide more thoroughly and holistically for our students.

Brenda Nichols: Yeah. And we can't thank both Rebuild Texas and Qatar Foundation for the funds, for the opportunity.

Shelly Vitanza: It's amazing.

Brenda Nichols: Because it's hard to prove how many people were actually displaced, and how many people, they weren't homeless, but they were couch surfing, or they were living in a trailer on Grandma's land, or someplace else. And so getting those numbers was really hard. One of the key pieces, one of the reasons for doing this, is to get the word out. We need our students to step up and say, "Look. I really did have losses by Harvey I still haven't overcome. And this is what I still need to make my life better, to help me get through, to help me graduate on time. This is what I need." And that's who we're targeting. That's why we have two years left because they have been kind of started.

Brenda Nichols: The other thing that Judy, I just remembered, we didn't talk about at all, were transfer students, students who were at LIT, or Port Arthur, or Orange, who had planned to come to Lamar, and then couldn't because everything flooded, so they put their life on hold, are eligible to apply for this, to come to Lamar.

Judy Mann: There are still students that are not enrolled right now because they had to sit out because they're working two jobs to [crosstalk 00:21:15]. Those students can apply for this.

Shelly Vitanza: That's wonderful. Well, I applaud both of you, Dr. Mann, Dr. Nichols, for recognizing this need, and your team putting together and really being the advocate for the students and discovering that this grant money was available, and we can now do what Lamar does so well, and is so distinguished as a university, which is work with one student at a time, meet their needs, and move them on to success. It's very, very exciting. We were just recognized as being one of the most improved universities for success rate at graduation. We've increased our graduation rate from 10% to 16%, and this is why because we really do work with our students to make sure to ensure their success. Let's give the website one more time, and any other contact information that a student may need so they can call and apply.

Judy Mann: If you just go to the Lamar website and put in LU Strong, it will pull up the website. But the direct website is lamar.edu/lustrong.

Shelly Vitanza: Perfect. Easy to remember.