NEWS

Top Headlines of 2010

Dec 31, 2010 | General News

Louisiana Tech University has made significant institutional and academic strides in the Ruston community and across the globe in 2010, from increasing enrollment to starting fundraising for a 90,000-square foot athletic facility to creating a new online engineering master’s degree. Louisiana Tech’s News Bureau has compiled a list of the Top 12 headlines of 2010.
Louisiana Tech earns high marks in multiple national rankings
Tech was again recognized as being among the top public institutions in the nation, according to rankings by multiple media outlets.
US News & World Report released its 2011 Best Colleges list with Louisiana Tech ranked seventh in the nation and first in the state for graduating students with the least amount of debt. This was the second consecutive year that Louisiana Tech has achieved a top ten national ranking in this category.
Louisiana Tech, classified as a National University, landed in Tier 2 overall in the newly configured rankings and was one of only four public institutions in the state and the only university in north Louisiana to earn a spot on the 2011 Best Colleges National Universities list.
Louisiana Tech also ranked as the top public university in the state for mid-career median pay for graduates, according to the 2010-11 College Salary Report from PayScale.com. In addition to its top spot in Louisiana, Tech was ranked among the top 30 of all universities in the southern United States in mid-career median pay for graduates.
Kiplinger’s, one of the nation’s most respected personal finance publications, again named Louisiana Tech one of the Top 100 Best Values in Public Colleges. The 2009-2010 rankings list Louisiana Tech along with LSU as the only institutions in the state to make the Top 100.
Additionally, nine out of 10 first-year and senior students at Tech said they would rate their educational experience at the University as “good or excellent,” according to a 2010 National Survey of Student Engagement report released by the University of Louisiana System. Ninety percent also said that, if given the chance to start over in selecting a college or university to attend, they would choose Louisiana Tech again.
Louisiana Tech posts significant increases in fall enrollment
For the third consecutive year, Louisiana Tech University saw an increase in both the quantity and quality of its students. Enrollment figures showed an additional 515 students over last year, which is an increase of 4.6 percent – the largest percentage increase in fall 2010 of any public four-year university in the state of Louisiana.
In addition to the increase in numbers, Tech also posted its highest-ever incoming freshman ACT score average of 23.63 – an increase over last year’s average of 23.46.
Enterprise Campus, infrastructure development takes shape
Louisiana Tech’s research park, Enterprise Campus, began taking shape as construction continued on Tech Pointe, the first multi-tenant building, and infrastructure improvements.
Louisiana Tech and the City of Ruston came together to start an infrastructure development and streetscape project along Homer Street between the campus and downtown Ruston. The beginning of this project took place near Tech Pointe, the first multi-tenant facility being constructed at Enterprise Campus, Louisiana Tech’s research park.
The first phase of the project includes upgrades along Homer Street and areas along Louisiana Avenue and Texas Avenue, between Homer Street and College Street. Future phases are expected to include areas east of Homer Street, in an effort to link Louisiana Tech and its Enterprise Campus with retailers and restaurants located in downtown Ruston.
Louisiana Tech announces historic capital campaign for intercollegiate athletics
Tech officials unveiled the plans for the “Quest for Excellence” — a $20 million fundraising campaign geared towards the construction of a 90,000-plus square-foot multipurpose facility in the south end zone of Joe Aillet Stadium.
The new facility will benefit all of Louisiana Tech’s student-athletes as it will include a new state-of-the-art sports medicine facility, a new strength and conditioning complex and a new academic center. About $10.5 million has been raised thus far.

Louisiana Tech researchers earn national attention for energy harvesting device
Dr. Long Que, assistant professor of electrical engineering at Louisiana Tech University, reported success in designing and fabricating a device that allows microscale electronic devices to harvest their own wasted energy.
Developed at Louisiana Tech, this technology uses a cantilever made out of piezoelectric material – material capable of converting distortions to itself into electrical energy – and is coated with a carbon nanotube film on one side. When the film absorbs light and/or thermal energy, it causes the cantilever to bend back and forth repeatedly, which causes the piezoelectric material to generate power as long as the light and/or heat source is active. Through cyclical bending activity, the device would essentially allow small electronic devices to harvest their own operational energy.
Forestry professor named one of nation’s most influential people in hunting, fishing
Dr. James Dickson, professor of forestry and wildlife habitat management coordinator at Louisiana Tech University, has been recognized as one of the 25 most influential people in the nation in hunting and fishing by Outdoor Life magazine.
The Outdoor Life 25 profiles those who have changed the face of hunting and fishing and have made major positive impacts on outdoor sports as nationally-respected wildlife and conservation advocates.
According to Outdoor Life, the honorees are grouped into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Conservationists and Unsung Heroes. Dickson was honored as an Unsung Heroes. The 2010 group includes Supreme Court Justices John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, and Plaquemines Parish (Louisiana) President Billy Nungesser.
School of Architecture recognized for program excellence by national publication
Tech’s School of Architecture was recognized by Architect Magazine as one of the nation’s best programs for design and building activities.
Tech was ranked along with institutions such as Auburn University, the University of Kansas, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the University of Washington for excelling in the Design/Build category.
Architecture Magazine described Tech’s program as one where “students learn with their hands as well as their heads, participating in a range of design/build activities including annual projects supporting North Central Louisiana Habitat for Humanity.”
Marketing professor receives 2010 National Statistics Education Award
Dr. James J. Cochran, Bank of Ruston, Barnes, Thompson and Thurman Endowed Professor in Marketing at Louisiana Tech University, was awarded the 2010 National Statistical Education Award by Mu Sigma Rho National Honor Society.
This award recognizes excellence in undergraduate or graduate statistical education at the institutional, regional, or national level.
College of Education alumnae named Louisiana’s Teachers of the Year
The College of Education at Louisiana Tech University produced two of the state’s 2011 Teachers of the Year.
Jenny Marie Blalock, a first-grade teacher at A.E. Phillips Laboratory School and a 2007 graduate from Tech’s education master’s program, was named the 2011 Louisiana Elementary School Teacher of the Year, and Julie Bartlett Stephenson, an AP English teacher at Ruston High School and a 2006 Tech education master’s program graduate, was named the 2011 Louisiana High School Teacher of the Year.
Louisiana Tech, BPCC sign agreement for engineering progression program
Leaders from Louisiana Tech University and Bossier Parish Community College signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will establish an Associate of Science in Engineering program for BPCC students who intend to continue their studies and pursue a bachelor’s degree in engineering at Louisiana Tech.
College of Engineering and Science offers online master’s degree
Tech students wishing to pursue a master’s degree in engineering and technology management can now do so entirely online.
The College of Engineering and Science has offered the degree program for the past nine years at its Ruston campus and to students in the Shreveport-Bossier City area via the Tech Barksdale campus. Through the use of innovative online delivery systems, courses in this degree program are now available to anyone, anywhere.
Tech, Barnes & Noble partner to enhance campus bookstore services
Louisiana Tech partnered with Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, and created a new retail experience for visitors and members of the campus community.
Barnes & Noble officially took over in August, and Tech’s bookstore is redefining its role as an essential component of the university’s student engagement strategies.