News Archive 2018

Staff members at Lamar University were recognized recently at the annual staff awards ceremony in the Mary and John Gray Library for over 1,700 years of service to the university.

Dr. P.J. Couch, an assistant professor of mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences at Lamar University, has been honored as the 2018 Julie and Ben Rogers Community Service Award recipient.

Cagatay Tokgoz, assistant professor in the Phillip M. Drayer Department of Electrical Engineering at Lamar University, was awarded a one-year research contract in the amount of $83,472 from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to conduct research in computational electromagnetics.

The College of Fine Arts and Communication is pleased to announce Vinaya Manchaiah, Jo Mayo Endowed Professor and associate professor of audiology, and Eldre Beukes, post-doctoral researcher, both in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, as recipients of the prestigious Marie and Jack Shapiro Prize by the British Tinnitus Association (BTA) for the second consecutive year.

The LU Collegiate Archers, an archery sport club sponsored by the department of Recreational Sports, won first place at the US National 3D Collegiate Championships on October 28.

In honor of LU military veterans the office of Diversity and Inclusion, Veterans Affairs and Alumni Affairs hosted a luncheon to unite fellow veterans and educate the LU community on how to serve our veterans better.

Lamar University announced two recipients of the 2019 David J. Beck Fellowship as well as the finalist for the 2019 Presidential Summer Fellowship at the annual reception Monday, November 19.

Lamar University doctoral student Jialin Xu was awarded second place at the 2018 Chinese American Petroleum Association’s Petroleum and Petrochemical Technical Symposium in Houston for her research on ‘Plant-Wide Scheduling for Profitable Emission Reduction in Petroleum Refineries’.

The College of Fine Arts and Communication is pleased to announce Dr. Natalie Tindall, chair and associate professor in the Department of Communication and Media, has been inducted into the Arthur W. Page Society, an organization that recognizes and celebrates those who make a substantial contribution to the advancement of the communications profession.

The Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences is pleased to announce they have been selected as the first university chapter for the Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA).

Lamar University Department of Theatre and Dance will present the Henrik Ibsen classic Ghosts in an adaptation by British director and playwright Richard Eyre. The production will run November 8-11 in the Lamar University Theatre.

The popularity of graduate Management Information Systems (MIS) courses within the MBA program and repeated inquiries from prospective students made the leaders in the College of Business see a demand for a graduate degree in MIS that could be met.

Over 100 students were recognized at Lamar University’s first Celebrating Hispanic Excellence Reception for excelling academically and for serving as student leaders at this institution. These students, in the company of their family members and friends, were recognized at this formal reception, which helped kick-off Hispanic Heritage Month.

The Babe Didrikson Zaharias Foundation is continuing their support of Lamar University students with the first installment of $7,500 for this newly created, endowed scholarship in honor of Suzanne and Jennifer Pate. The scholarship will be funded over seven years for a total gift of $50,000.

The Lamar University Cardinal Jazz Orchestra and Jazz Lab Band will present their first concert of the fall semester on Thursday, October 11, at 7:30 p.m. in the Rothwell Recital Hall on the LU Campus.

The Lamar University Academic Lecture Series presents a distinguished lecture featuring Dr. Kip Thorne, winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics. The free public event will be hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences on October 16, 2018 from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the University Theater.

The Lamar University Department of Theatre and Dance presents their first production of the fall semester, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, based on the novel by Mark Haddon and adapted by Simon Stephen. The production, which will run October 5-7 and 11-13, will be guest produced by Carolyn Johnson.

Lamar University’s Office of Global Diversity and Inclusive Excellence, in partnership with the Department of Human Resources, has launched its first Employee Resource Group for multigenerational professionals. ERGs are voluntary, member-led groups that share a common purpose, background or activity and are aligned with the organizational mission and business objectives.

Spindletop Gladys City Boomtown announces its popular class schedule for the fall. The classes include bladesmith, blacksmith, photography, leatherworking, and the new woodworking class. The class prices range from $75 to $175.

Naomi Raczkovi of Beaumont, was able to take a part in San Francisco Partners in the Park June 25-29, thanks to support from Lamar University’s Reaud Honors College. The trip, “Partners in the Parks–Golden Gate National Recreation Area,” was co-sponsored by Tacoma Community College and the National Collegiate Honors Council.

College Choice has recognized three of Lamar University’s online master’s degree programs in their rankings, and Online M.B.A. Today has ranked LU among the top online M.B.A. programs in Texas.

Saving energy proved rewarding today as Lamar University received a $90,348 energy conservation incentive check from the Entergy Texas Entergy Solutions Program.

The geology of Texas captivated the attention of nine Lamar University Earth Science and Geology majors recently as they spent two weeks exploring and camping in classic geologic outcrops in Central and Trans-Pecos Texas.

Lamar University produces some of the highest paid engineers in the country – in fact, a diploma from LU often leads to salaries of $75,000 or more within five years of graduation. Facts like this helped land Lamar University in the 20th spot among the Top 50 Best Value Engineering Schools for 2018 in the nation as reported by BestValueSchools.com.

The bilingual culture of Barcelona provided new bonds in learning for eight Lamar University Deaf Studies/Deaf Education students who participated in a Study Abroad trip this summer.

Edward Doan, Luke Nguyen and Naomi Raczkovi, honors students in Lamar University’s Reaud Honors College, travelled to San Francisco June 25-29 to participate in “Partners in the Parks–Golden Gate National Recreation Area,” joining nine other students from across the country.

Lamar University’s new year opened today (August 21) with fanfare as faculty and staff gathered to hear the annual “state of the university” address from President Kenneth Evans. Fall semester classes begin Monday, August 27.

Serdar Ilban, associate professor of voice opera and director of the Lamar Opera Theatre in the Mary Morgan Moore Department of Music at Lamar University has been invited to present workshops and performances in Jiaozuo City, China.

The Lamar University Alumni Advisory Board has elected Chris Bates ’08 of Port Arthur to serve as president for 2018-2019. Tony Landry ’94 of Nederland will serve as past president and Bard Brown ’81 of Beaumont will serve as president-elect.

Lamar University has selected 16 students to serve as Lamar Ambassadors. They will join 41 returning ambassadors in representing the student body at official university events during the 2018-2019 academic year.

LU junior biology major Emily McCall, of Orangefield, traveled to Africa this summer to participate in field research thanks to a Presidential Summer Fellowship. The Fellowship provided a $10,000 grant to fund her research in Kenya on Schistosoma mansoni and S. haematobium, parasitic flatworms estimated to afflict more than 200 million people worldwide.

Lamar University recently hosted two research teams comprised of eight students and four faculty members in the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program funded by the National Science Foundation. The $263,980 NSF grant will support additional students and junior faculty in the summers of 2019 and 2020.

A tradition returns to Lamar University football beginning in 2018 as bells are re-introduced at Provost Umphrey Stadium. The bells, which were rung after the Cardinals scored a touchdown or field goal, were originally added to the game experience in 1967.

A remote-sensing program using state-of-the-art drone technology will soon be added to Lamar University’s Department of Geology thanks to a $500,000 gift from former Texaco plant supervisor Ed Hogenson of Port Neches, in honor of his son, Bill Hogenson of Houston, a Lamar University geology graduate and vice president with Zone Oil and Gas LLC.

Lamar University is working hard to reduce the gap between men and women in computer programming/coding fields with the introduction of three coding camps this summer for 6th through 8th grade girls.

Business students at Lamar University have new opportunities thanks to the generosity of Rodney and Norma Rice whose recent gift to the Lamar University Foundation has created the Rice Family Scholarship in Business as “a way of saying thank you to a fine institution in the fabric of Southeast Texas.”

The Lamar University Cardinal Adventures Travel Program is excited to announce its 2019 collection of travel destinations, plus one option already scheduled for 2020.

Lamar University took STEM curriculum and placed ‘art’ back at the center of learning with the STEAM Summer Art Camp, an intensive week of exciting hands-on integrated learning activities and art projects for students who are entering 9th through 12th grades.

The Lamar University Summer Dance Intensive (LUSDI), hosted by the Department of Theatre and Dance, gave area students opportunity to experience the life of a collegiate dancer while studying with well-known names in the professional and collegiate dance industries.

Caitlin Duerler, instructor of French at Lamar University, has been selected to receive the Phi Kappa Phi Love of Learning Award.

Lamar University alumni Janey Phelan and Larry Lawson know how to root for the Cardinals. It will be a reunion of sorts for the pair as they serve as Lamar University’s Grand Marshals for Homecoming celebrations September 22. Phelan and Lawson were cheer partners from 1964 to 1967.

Hands-on learning and first-hand experiences were on tap for early childhood through 12th grade teachers and undergraduate students as they learned about local environmental issues through Lamar University’s Department of Earth and Space Sciences annual Teaching Environmental Science summer institute July 9-20.

Lamar University has received a $900,000 Accelerating Academic Success Program (AASP) grant announced the NCAA Monday evening. LU is one of just nine schools to receive the grant, and one of only three schools within the Lone Star State.

Lamar University faculty, staff, students and alumni gathered to recognize the significance of the Americans with Disabilities Act on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the landmark legislation. The ADA was signed into law on July 26, 1990.

Lamar University will showcase the art of its alumni in its first-ever juried show for LU alumni. After School Special: The Lamar University First Juried Alumni Art Exhibition will run from June 15 to August 3. The exhibition celebrates the 35th anniversary of the Dishman Art Museum.

Vinaya Manchaiah, associate professor and Jo Mayo Endowed Professor in Lamar University’s Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, has been awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health-National Deafness and Other Communication Disorders for $397,800 to study relief efforts for tinnitus sufferers in the U.S.

A total of 668 Lamar University students earned places on the President’s List for the 2018 spring semester, President Kenneth Evans announced. Students who qualify for the President’s List carry a full course load of 12 semester hours or more with grade point averages of 4.0 for that semester. They automatically earn places on the Dean's’ List.

A total of 1,149 Lamar University students earned places on the deans’ List for the spring 2018 semester, deans of Lamar’s five academic colleges announced. To qualify for the Deans’ List, a student must carry a full course load of 12 semester hours or more and have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher for that semester. Students with GPAs of 4.0 qualify for the President’s List and automatically earn places on the Deans’ List. Their names are not listed here.

The Press Club of Southeast Texas hosted its annual Excellence in the Media/Newsmaker of the Year Awards ceremony June 8. Faculty, staff and students from Lamar University took home a total of 43 awards for their hard work this past year.

A new world of opportunity is opening up for sixteen 7th and 8th grade girls from the southeast Texas area, as they explore principles of engineering and robotics at Lamar University’s third annual X-plore LUEE summer camp.

Lamar University focuses on promoting real-world research experiences with the younger generation through the College of Education and Human Development’s, Bernard Harris Summer STEM Camp (BHSSC).

In partnership with the Texas Association of College Admission Counseling (TACAC), Lamar University hosted Camp College June 11-13. The college preparation program helps prepare students from across the state of Texas for the college application process.

Four members of Lamar University's Office of Marketing Communications have been selected as winners of a 2018 Blackboard Catalyst Award in the “Optimizing the Student Experience” category, university officials announced today.

Through a generous gift to the Lamar University Foundation, Houston attorney David J. Beck has established the David J. Beck Teaching Excellence Award at Lamar University.

An innovative LU teaching certificate program is proving popular globally as it prepares teachers to effectively use the latest technology in their teaching. Recently, the first graduates in the United Kingdom received their certificates.

Future chemical engineering majors at Lamar University will benefit from the establishment of the Southwest Chemical Association Scholarship in Chemical Engineering at Lamar University.

The Lamar University ASCE Student Chapter competed in the 2018 National Student Steel Bridge Competition hosted at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, recently, receiving valuable experience and earning a second-place finish in the display category.

Lamar University conferred 1,633 degrees during its spring commencement ceremonies

The Center for History and Culture of Southeast Texas and the Upper Gulf Coast has named three faculty members as 2018-2019 Fellows. Appointed are: Richard Gachot, associate professor of art; Mahmoud Salimi, assistant professor of communication; and Miguel Chavez, assistant professor of history.

Commencement speakers representing diverse fields have been chosen to address students at Lamar University’s Spring 2017 commencement ceremonies held May 11 and 12 in the Montagne Center.

Lamar University students had the opportunity to relax with therapy dogs provided by Paws 4 Love Southeast Texas Pet Therapy.

Lamar University will host Camp Code for Girls, a one-week no cost day camp sponsored by the Texas Workforce Commission designed to provide computer coding/programming summer camps for gifted and talented female students entering grades 6-8 in Fall 2018. The deadline for applications is 5 p.m., May 18.

Lamar University alumni, administrators, faculty, staff and students are invited to join in honoring LU alum and Southeast Texas native Larry Lawson on his induction into the prestigious Horatio Alger Association at a news conference at the Center for Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship on Monday, May 7 at 1:30 p.m.

Students pursuing majors in Lamar University’s Department of Art in the College of Fine Arts and Communication will benefit from the newly established Mary Jo Lampson Broussard Ford Scholarship in Art. The scholarship was created through the generosity of Joseph Broussard IV and Katherine Broussard.

HeartcoR Solutions founder and CEO Larry Lawson, a Lamar University alumnus who attended LU in the 1960s and received the honorary doctor of humane letters in 2012, has been inducted into the prestigious Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., a nonprofit educational organization honoring the achievements of outstanding individuals and encouraging youth to pursue their dreams through higher education

Lamar University junior Cheyenne Graham, of Cleveland, Texas, is expanding her understanding different cultures through the power of language. Although she is a biochemistry and forensic chemistry major, her interest in French led her to a French minor and a semester abroad in Quebec, Canada.

ABS, the American Club and Lamar University are launching a new initiative aimed at reducing maritime-related safety incidents. The initial focus of the partnership’s analysis and industry guidance will be on slips, trips and falls, a significant cause of maritime injuries.

Join Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum in celebrating National Get Outdoors Day (GO Day) on Saturday, June 9, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. GO Day was developed to encourage healthy, active outdoor fun at sites across the nation.

Ismatara Reena, an adjunct instructor in biology at Lamar University, has been awarded the Phi Kappa Phi “Love of Learning Award.”

Lamar University Associate Provost Brenda Nichols has recently been honored as a distinguished member of the honor society Phi Kappa Phi. The award was presented to Nichols by LU’s chapter of Phi Kappa Phi.

Lamar University recently hosted the fifth annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities EXPO in the newly renovated Setzer Student Center presenting awards to a number of students for their research efforts.

AtmoSpark Water Generation, developed at Lamar University by Tejus Mane, a recent graduate with a master’s degree in chemical engineering, and Aniket Khade, a Ph.D. candidate in chemical engineering, was named a finalist and placed 6th among 16 semi-finalist teams in the 2018 Texas A&M New Ventures competition, earning the pair a $5,000 prize.

Rory Carothers, assistant director for transfer admissions at Lamar University, has been awarded the Texas State University System Foundation 2018 Grow Your Own scholarship to support his work toward a doctoral degree. The Grow Your Own scholarship is offered to a nominated Texas State University System candidate who is a member of an underrepresented population with the desire to become a part of the host university faculty. Carothers is the fourth recipient for Lamar University since the scholarship was established in 2005.

Students pursuing communication degrees in the College of Fine Arts and Communication at Lamar University will benefit from the new Gladys and Bill Hammond Scholarship thanks to the generosity of their daughter, Judy Hammond.

Emily McCall, a junior biology major with a pre-medicine concentration from Orangefield, was named a Presidential Summer Fellow and was awarded a $10,000 grant to fund her research in Kenya on the Schistosoma mansoni, a parasitic flatworm estimated to afflict more than 200 million people worldwide according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Lamar University alumna Maxine Johnston has been honored with a 2018 Terry Hershey Award by the Audubon Texas.

Lamar University will host a free community event for young students to get hands-on exposure to the world of engineering. Discover Engineering will be held at the Spindletop Gladys City Boomtown Museum Saturday, April 7 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The University Press staff earned 45 awards in competition of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association for work published during 2017. The UP was awarded Overall Excellence among non-daily newspapers and UPbeat, the publication’s semesterly magazine, was awarded Overall Excellence magazine. The UP, the student newspaper of Lamar University, also earned Best-in-Show honors.

The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) organized a SWENext engineering competition for girls from 14 Southeast Texas middle and high schools in the Cherry Engineering Building on March 31. SWENext is an initiative taken by the International SWE, to encourage young girls to be involved in science, engineering, and other technical fields and to become members of SWENext.

Lamar University’s Associate Professor Vivek Natarajan has been awarded the 2018 Federation of Business Disciplines Distinguished Educator Award by the Association of Collegiate Marketing Educators.

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion has honored Ginger Gummelt with the inaugural Inspirational Woman Award at Lamar University.

After a thorough national search, President Kenneth Evans has named Dan W. French as the next dean of Lamar University’s College of Business. French, who has nearly 40 years of teaching, research and service, is returning to his alma mater as a seasoned academic leader with a passion for collaboration and growth.

Matthew Hoch, associate professor of biology at Lamar University, has received two research grants for the study of microorganisms and their effects on coral reefs in Belize and the Salt Bayou Watershed in Jefferson County. His research will help determine what actions can be taken in both locations to reduce the negative impact of human activities on those environments.

The Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree programs at Lamar University have received continuing accreditation from the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN), the commission announced recently.

Chris York of Buna, a senior double major in mathematics and computer science at Lamar University, has been selected to receive the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Lamar University’s Office of the Provost recently announced the award of Distinguished Faculty Teaching Fellowships and Distinguished Faculty Research/Creative Activity Fellowships to five faculty members beginning in Fall 2018.

Since the department was established, the Office of Study Abroad has been instrumental in furthering the education of students around the globe by sending Lamar students abroad to learn unique lessons in exciting locations, as well as by inviting students from a number of foreign universities to spent time at Lamar and immerse themselves in the university both socially and academically. During the Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 semesters one such student Lamar has is Soojin Jin, a senior from Seoul National University of Science and Technology (SeoulTech).

Lamar University’s Center for Advances in Port Management will host a workshop on April 24 on “Emergency Response Planning (ERP) - A Focus on 2018 Hurricane Plan Review.”

Hundreds of Lamar University students, faculty, staff, alumni, community members and dignitaries from across the state and beyond gathered under clear skies to celebrate the grand opening of the newly renovated Setzer Student Center, the culmination of an 18-month project that took the facility from dated to state-of-the-art.

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at Lamar University has awarded the University Scholar award and 14 Research Enhancement Grants to faculty members for research projects across a wide spectrum of academic disciplines.

Four Lamar University graduate students in Speech and Hearing Science and their faculty sponsor recently brought home top prize, at the annual Praxis Bowl, a competition for graduate speech pathology students hosted by the Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Faculty members at Lamar University in the Center for Advances in Port Management, are tailoring a tool in the planning “tool kit” to help address an upcoming, major disruption to traffic through the Houston Ship Channel (HSC).

AtmoSpark Water Generation, developed at Lamar University by Tejus Mane, a recent graduate with a master’s degree in chemical engineering, and Aniket Khade, a Ph.D. candidate in chemical engineering, has been named a semifinalist in the 2018 Texas A&M New Ventures competition.

The breadth and depth of undergraduate research will be on display Friday, April 20, at the Fifth Annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Expo at Lamar University.

Fifteen Lamar University students have been named as 2018 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows, the Office of Undergraduate Research announced. Each will receive a $2,000 stipend and up to $1,000 for research support, as well as free housing on campus while working under the supervision of a faculty mentor.

The Center for History and Culture of Southeast Texas and the Upper Gulf Coast presents “1930’s Beaumont Voices” on Monday, April 23 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Lamar University Theatre. The event in free and open to the public.

Arne Almquist of Union, Kentucky, has been selected to serve as dean of the Mary and John Gray Library, Lamar University Provost James Marquart announced today. Almquist’s appoint follows a national search for new leadership for the position that is at the heart of the university’s academic endeavors, Marquart said.

Lamar’s Dance Team will present their annual spring show, “Opposites Attract” at The Jefferson Theatre Friday, May 4, and Saturday, May 5 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10, and can be purchased at the theater ticket window on the day of the show.

The Lamar University ASCE Student Chapter excelled at the Texas-M.E.xico Regional Steel Bridge Competition in Bryan, Texas, recently, beating out nuM.E.rous teams and landing in the third spot overall among 17 teams at the event. The team’s performance allows them to advance to national competition.

The Lamar University College of Engineering will host the 3rd annual Senior Design Symposium Thursday, April 26 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Live Oak Ballroom in the Setzer Student Center, capping off the school year with more than 40 projects engineering students have spent months preparing. The event is free and open to the public.

Christopher Martin, associate professor of organic chemistry, was tapped for the Faculty Mentor Award at the Fifth Annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Expo at Lamar University recently. Martin has mentored 40 undergraduate students in research, presented this work at five national meetings, and published with undergraduate co-authors in peer-reviewed journals seven times.

As part of a course on Sub-Saharan Africa taught by visiting professor Sarah Schwartz, a group of Lamar University students worked with Margaret Swope and the College of Education and Human Development to collect more than 300 children's books for Siphilile Maternal & Child Health, a non-government organization based in Swaziland.

Lamar University music students, Lamar University’s music program and the university marching band The Showcase of Southeast Texas, will benefit from the Jean and Rudy Williams Scholarship in Music, officials in the Mary Morgan Moore Department of Music and the College of Fine Arts and Communication announced Friday.

Omar Gonzalez, a senior biology major at Lamar University from Port Neches who will graduate in May, has been accepted into the Ph.D. immunobiology program at Yale University to begin in August and will receive the Gruber Science Fellowship.

Marco Born has been named Lamar University Director of Athletics announced President Dr. Kenneth R. Evans Thursday morning. Born will take over for Norman Bellard who has been serving on an interim basis since November.

Sarah Schwartz, visiting assistant professor of geography at Lamar University, is preparing a study abroad trip to Swaziland and South Africa, March 7-18. Students will study World Regional Geography and Geography of Tourism covering topics from dark tourism, food tourism, medical tourism and sex tourism to an overview of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Youngsang Yoo is a senior from the Seoul National University of Science and Technology (SeoulTech) who, through the partnership between Lamar University and SeoulTech and the efforts of LU’s Office of Study Abroad, is spending the school year living and studying at LU.

Lamar University’s Department of Theatre and Dance will host the 2018 South-Central Conference of the American College Dance Association March 13-17 for a culturally-enriched week that will promote multiple styles and genres of dance as it invites participants to celebrate under the anthem “Everybody Cut Loose!”

Distinguished Professor Emerita of English and Modern Languages Pamela Saur, was the 2018 recipient of the Frances Hernandez Teacher-Scholar award at the Conference of College Teachers of English (CCTE) at Tarleton State University, earlier this month.

Three authors will be awarded the first-ever Center for History and Culture Annual Book Prizes, March 26 at a 5 p.m. reception in the University Event Center on the 8th floor of the Mary and John Gray Library on the campus of Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.

The Lamar University Department of Physics will host a colloquium with Anamaria Effler, staff scientist at LIGO in Livingston, Louisiana, on Friday, March 23. The free public event will be held from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on the LU campus in the Archer Physics Building, Room 108.

The Lamar University Center for Advances in Port Management will hold its second annual symposium at the Center for Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship (CICE) on April 6, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The symposium’s theme is, “Resilient Ports and Waterways in 2030.”

Coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. A team of divers, photographers and scientists set out to discover why and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world in the documentary “Chasing Coral.”

The American Council on Education (ACE) announced recently that Kumer Das, interim associate provost for research and director of the office of undergraduate research at Lamar University, has been named an ACE Fellow for academic year 2018-19.

Have you ever wanted to go back in time to see what life was like back then? Have you ever wanted to shop at 1901 prices with money of that time? Here is your chance. Take a trip back in time to 1901 to Gladys City on April 21.

Lamar University invites students of all ages to a variety of summer camps to be held on campus this summer. Camps are offered for a variety of ages and interests with both daily and residential opportunities.

On Thursday, March 29, Lamar University will host its first Inspirational Women Award Ceremony in honor of National Women’s History Month. Each of the women nominated for the award will be recognized at the event, and the award recipient will have an opportunity to address the audience and share her advice on how can Lamar University continue to inspire other women. 

Lamar University will offer Cardinal View, a look at academic majors, campus life and all that the university has to offer prospective students on two Saturdays this spring.

The Lamar University Office of Alumni Affairs will be hosting a dinner designed to connect current Lamar students with successful alumni.

The Lamar University student chapter of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society, will present Dr. Beth Middleton, research ecologist at the Wetland & Aquatic Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Lafayette, Louisiana since 2002, in a presentation “Wetlands & Climate Change: The Reconnection of People and the Land,” on Thursday, February 22.

ASD College Connect is a recently founded group that aims to provide support and community for Lamar University students with autism in order to help them overcome the obstacles of college life. Starting Wednesday, February 7 and Thursday, February 8 the group will begin meeting in room 171 of the Speech and Hearing building twice a week.

Delores Black, administrative associate senior in Mary Morgan Moore Department of Music in the College of Fine Arts and Communication at Lamar University, has been selected to receive the 2017 Texas State University System Regents’ Staff Award.

“What’s He Doing in There? Photobombing in the Italian Renaissance” a talk by Azar Rejaie, in the Art History Lecture Series sponsored by the Department of Art at Lamar University, will be held April 18.

The technological revolution and wealth creation it drives in the 21st century disproportionately favors big cities over rural areas. The chasm is wide in developed nations, but is far worse in the developing world, says Narayanan Komerath, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The Lamar University Foundation recently announced the newly endowed Todd and Jennifer Hoffman Scholarship in Business honoring Drs. Robert and Marleen Swerdlow. The endowment will provide financial assistance to business students who classify as sophomores or higher.

Lamar University and the ExxonMobil BEST (Black Employees Success Team) join in celebrating African-American History Month by honoring living legends in the community at a special event, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, February 21, in the Lamar University Event Center, 8th Floor of the Mary and John Gray Library.

Lamar University awarded 1,415 degrees at its December 2017 commencement. The university conferred 22 doctoral degrees, 822 master’s degrees and 571 bachelor’s degrees during the commencement ceremonies.

Lamar University’s Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum will provide a historically accurate backdrop for an outdoor music festival on Saturday, March 24, commemorating John Philip Sousa and celebrating the music of the Magnolia Band. The event is funded by a grant from the Center for the History and Culture of Southeast Texas and the Upper Gulf Coast.

The 3rd annual Lamar University Brass Festival, March 1-3, on the LU campus, will feature trumpet artist Phil Snedecor, trombone artist Thomas Hulten, and horn artist Natalie Brooke Higgins, as well as many unique concerts and events, including a performance by the Brass Festival Artist Ensemble.

The Lamar University Community Outreach Program was recently awarded a grant from Entergy Texas to enhance its activities by increasing earned income tax credit (EITC) awareness and education and providing tax preparation services, financial education and economic development.

2018 Presidential Summer Fellow Kay-Alana Turner, a Lamar University senior from Lumberton, is using her passion for culture to help unite organizations and communities in their efforts to create ecotourism.

Lamar University (LU) invites Southeast Texans to Le Grand Bal, a gala evening of art, fine dining, dancing and entertainment on Saturday, March 24, 2018. This year’s theme, “We ART LU,” features a celebration of the many talented alumni artists, students and faculty of Lamar University. Presented by Lamar University’s Friends of the Arts, Le Grand Bal, now in its 42nd year, is the major annual fundraiser for the College of Fine Arts and Communication.

The Lamar University Department of English and Modern Languages and the Center for History and Culture of Southeast Texas and the Upper Gulf Coast are coming together to present a Film, TV, and Literary Festival with events Feb. 27-28, and March 26, to provide interested Lamar students the opportunity to meet with experts from all three fields.

The Lamar University Foundation has endowed a new scholarship in memory of Gabriel “Tony” Martin. Martin spent the majority of his career at Lamar University, starting as an adjunct professor of deaf education in 1989. The Dr. Gabriel A. “Tony” Martin Memorial Scholarship has been established in the Lamar University Foundation through the generosity of friends and family.

Thirty high school computer science students recently competed in Lamar University’s ACM High School Programming Contest. The contest, hosted by First Year Success and Lamar Chapter of Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) on Feb. 24, is part of First Year Success’s College Readiness pilot program.

The City of Beaumont will present a concert as part of its annual Jazz On The Lake series on Thursday, March 22 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at the Event Centre. The concert will feature the Lamar Cardinal Jazz Orchestra, directed by Rick Condit, and the Jimmy Simmons Group.

In a list recently compiled by online education research publisher SR Education Group, Lamar University was named as meeting the qualifications to be considered a top military-friendly online college.

The Lamar University Office of Alumni Affairs has named James Bell, Angela Blanchard, Ellen Rienstra and Don Shaver as Distinguished Alumni for 2018, noting that their dedication to their professions, service to their communities and loyalty to their alma mater epitomizes the Lamar University spirit, officials said.

Lamar University junior Sakurah Fisher of Port Arthur is gaining real world experience in her pursuit of her passion for psychology and was recently announced as a 2018 David J. Beck Fellow at LU giving her resources to engage in research this summer.

AtmoSpark Water Generation, developed by Tejus Mane, a master’s student in chemical engineering at Lamar University, has received a National Science Foundation Innovation Corps grant for $50,000 to facilitate a 7-week customer discovery tour.

Barbara Michiels Hernandez, a professor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology at Lamar University, has been tapped for a 2017 Texas Honor Award from the Texas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (TAHPERD).

With help from the defending World Series champions of Major League Baseball, Lamar University’s baseball team took time from its preparation for the 2018 season to help a local family in need. The Cardinals and Houston Astros spent several hours Wednesday helping the still-ongoing recovery effort at a Port Arthur home damaged by Hurricane Harvey.

David Quispe, Lamar University electrical engineering and mathematics double major, is using his summer to focus on a new solar energy material thanks to the 2018 David J. Beck Fellowship. Quispe will spend 10 weeks at Arizona State University researching the transparent conductive oxide layer in silicon heterojunction solar cells, comparing materials for this layer.

Some 6,500 Southeast Texas students in 4th through 8th grade are engaging in entertaining and educational activities to further expand their interests in mathematics, technology, science, and engineering thanks to the JASON Project.

More than 115 Lamar University student and faculty musicians will perform in the University Theatre as the Mary Morgan Moore Department of Music presents its inaugural Collage Concert at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 1. KVLU radio host Joe Elwell will serve as master of ceremonies.

Lamar University is seeking nominations for the 2018 honoree in the Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series, sponsored by ExxonMobil. LU faculty, staff, students, alumni, and retired faculty and staff are invited to nominate outstanding teacher/scholars for the award, which is now in its 32nd year.

Jacob Clark of Beaumont, an assistant professor in the Mary Morgan Moore Department of Music at Lamar University, has received a Special Judges' Citation for "Excellence in Unusual Repertoire" from The American Prize Lorin Hollander Award in Piano contest, in the professional concerto division.

The Center of History and Culture of Southeast Texas and the Upper Gulf Coast will host “Humor in Aluminum: Twisted Tales from the Texas Historical Marker Files” on January 29 at 5 p.m. in the University Reception Center, 8th floor of the Mary and John Gray Library on the campus of Lamar University. The reception, lecture, and book signing are free and open to the public.

A total of 716 Lamar University students earned places on the President’s List for the 2017 fall semester, President Kenneth Evans announced.

HeartcoR Solutions founder and CEO Larry Lawson, a Lamar University alumnus who attended LU in the 1960s and received the honorary doctor of humane letters in 2012, has been selected for membership in the prestigious Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc.

The College of Business will host a study abroad trip to Central America. The trip, led by Associate Professor Frank Badua, will take place from March 9 to March 16.

The Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities (TALH) at Lamar University will host an Open House Saturday, February 17, in the Mary and John Gray Library. The Academy is an early entrance college residential honors program at Lamar University.

A total of 1,302 Lamar University students earned places on the Deans’ List for the fall 2017 semester, deans of Lamar’s five academic colleges announced.