Southeastern has received a $2.45 million Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. Awarded to the College of Nursing and Health Sciences’ Rural Nurses Career Advancement Program, in coordination with the Delta Regional Authority, the grant is part of an investment to expand the impact of workforce development efforts across the Mississippi River Delta.

“Nurse shortages are devastating to a community’s effort to provide quality health care,” said Senator Bill Cassidy, a doctor who sits on the U.S. Senate Committee of Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. “This grant supports Southeastern as they train the next generation of nurses that will improve the health of our state.”

In announcing Southeastern as one of only eight WORC grant recipients, Governor John Bel Edwards said, “The state of Louisiana is maximizing opportunity for our residents through these important Department of Labor grants. Southeastern will reach residents and train workers in a five-parish area with its Rural Nurses Career Advancement Pathway program.”

Southeastern’s RN-CAP program is designed to enhance community-based primary care in the rural, underserved Delta region of southeastern Louisiana that includes Livingston, St. Helena, St. James, Tangipahoa and Washington parishes.

“A healthy workforce is a productive workforce,” Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson said. “With thousands of primary care providers needed to meet the current medical needs of rural America, this nursing initiative by Southeastern will provide a pathway to better health care for our workers and for their children and older relatives who deserve the best care we can provide. We appreciate the support of DRA and the Department of Labor in accelerating technology and training solutions for this critical priority.”

The program also creates and provides innovative workforce development credentialing in telehealth and data in healthcare, two critical areas in rural healthcare workforce development needs.

“We are working with our community partners to address the nursing shortage,” said Associate Professor of Nursing and RN-CAP Project Director Eileen Creel. “This project facilitates the reverse transfer of Southeastern’s students to allow for graduation from an accelerated Licensed Practical Nurse program, returning to Southeastern for their bachelor of science in nursing, while working as an LPN. It will also establish a telehealth center to address the training needs to allow innovative health delivery in our area.”

Southeastern is collaborating with North Oaks Health System and Northshore Technical Community College in this endeavor.

To help fill the workforce demands in the region and provide residents with viable career training, Southeastern and NTCC have partnered on an innovative reverse transfer program wherein four-year students may enter an accelerated LPN program at NTCC and then immediately enter into a fast-track BSN pathway at Southeastern.

“The RN-CAP program will provide training and support services for up to 61 individuals who are enrolled in the NTCC/Southeastern accelerated PN and BSN programs,” Creel said. “As part of the program, these students will receive stipends to assist them with financial barriers including costs associated with tuition, supplies, and licensure testing. The Rural Health Telehealth Training Center at Southeastern will provide direct training on the use of telehealth, as well as support to local health care providers on effective telehealth practices.”

North Oaks Health System Chief Nursing Officer Diane Thompson is serving as a liaison with Southeastern to work closely with master of science nursing students, to manage research on recruiting and retention, to provide support for telehealth training for employees, and to provide employer orientation and residency programs to newly hired LPN/BSN graduates.

In the health profession and related fields, Southeastern conferred 2,325 baccalaureate degrees, 39 doctoral degrees, and 613 masters degrees, and awarded 22 post-masters certificates over the past 10 years.

“With over 3,000 students currently enrolled, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences strives to provide excellence in education in health, nursing, speech language pathology, health systems management, counseling and wellness and fitness, while meeting the workforce needs of the region and state,” Creel said.

The Society of Louisiana Certified Public Accountants’ (LCPA) Northshore Chapter recently reached the milestone $100,000 level in its scholarship endowment, creating a legacy that will have a significant impact on future accounting students.

Bryan Ehricht, CPA, a current LCPA Member At-Large and past Northshore Chapter President, explained how the endowment was established. “Several years ago, our chapter decided we needed to ‘make a difference’ in the lives of accounting students—future CPAs—and looked for a way to raise the necessary funds to do just that,” said Ehricht. “A likely source was revenue collected from the continuing education programs our chapter hosted for regional accountants. We realized that this type of ongoing education was an ideal means of meeting the immediate needs of our CPA members, and an opportunity to fund accounting scholarships.”

Ehricht credits other past Northshore Chapter board members, including Rick Simpson, Stella Helluin, Paul Riggs, Stephen Toups, and Brian Gallagher, for laying the groundwork for the scholarship plan and making the essential connection with the Southeastern Foundation in 2014.

The plan’s initial goal was to reach the $25,000 mark for the endowment. However, within a short time that initial goal was met and soon surpassed. “We saw attendance at our continuing education events increase, at least in part because members knew we were donating the profits to the endowment,” added Ehricht. “To ensure that the scholarship awards kept pace with tuition costs in the future, the new goal was raised to $100,000. We’ve met that goal and are pleased at how the endowment has grown.”

Additionally, some members have made personal donations to the endowment, which shows the commitment level of both the organization and its members. “We’ve all heard about college students’ mounting debt and the stresses that come along with it. By helping accounting majors deal with education-related expenses, we’re letting them know we’re investing in their future. For Southeastern students, for CPAs, for our profession—it’s a win for us all,” said Ehricht.

The scholarship has now been received by nine students over the past four years.

Over 20 business leaders shared their experiences and professional advice with students during Southeastern’s College of Business annual Business Week, held concurrently with Homecoming Week during October 7-10.

Sponsored by First Guaranty Bank, the event featured presentations that introduced students to first-hand information about careers and occupations related to the speakers’ business experience. A wide range of industries and topics were represented, with speakers scheduled throughout the week. All presentations were held in Garrett Hall and open to faculty, staff, students and the public.

A highlight of the week was the annual Marketing Breakfast. This year Steven Ballard, whose firm Ballard Brands, LLC, operates more than 100 restaurants / food businesses in the southern US, served as the guest speaker. The Marketing Breakfast was sponsored by the Southeastern Marketing Association; the marketing faculty; the College of Business; and G. Dean Brunson, CPA, of Richmond, Va.

“We are very excited to present an entrepreneur and marketer that has so many successful businesses making a positive impact throughout the region,” said Professor of Marketing Mike Budden.

Michele Sutton, a 1984 and 1988 Southeastern graduate and the president and chief executive officer of North Oaks Health System, has been selected as the Alumni Association’s 2019 Alumna of the Year.

Sutton earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and master’s degree in business administration from Southeastern. She began at North Oaks Health System in 1988 as community resources officer and was promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer in 2006. In 2012, she took on the additional responsibility of administrator and chief executive officer for North Oaks Medical Center. The North Oaks Board of Commissioners appointed her president and chief executive officer of the health system in January 2017.

She is a previous president and vice president of the American College of Healthcare Executives’ Southeast Louisiana chapter and led the merger of both state chapters. She also serves on the American Hospital Association’s Foster G. McGaw Committee and is a longstanding member of the Louisiana Hospital Association, where she is currently a member-at-large for the association’s board of trustees and its political action committee board of directors, as well as its trust fund’s board of directors.

Sutton gives back to her alma mater through the Alumni Association, for which she is a lifetime member; the Lions Athletic Association, for which she is a board member; and Southeastern’s FeLions, of which she has been a member since 2003.

Through its Annie Awards endeavor, the Greater Hammond Chamber of Commerce bestowed upon Sutton both an Outstanding Woman in Business Annie Award (1999) and a Legacy Annie Award (2018). Other honors include recognition in 2007 as a Woman of the Year by New Orleans CityBusiness and as one of the Most Influential Women in Tangipahoa Parish by The Daily Star. She was also the recipient of the 2007 Golden Pelican Marketer of the Year Award from the Louisiana Society for Hospital Public Relations and Marketing.

The saying “there’s no place like home” rang true this summer for several Southeastern Theatre alumni as they returned to their alma mater for a collaborative theatre production of Moon Over Buffalo.

Associate Professor of Acting and Directing Jim Winter directed the comedy play written by American playwright Ken Ludwig. Well-known for slapsticks and comedic innuendos, Moon Over Buffalo is also famous for being the one play that successfully tempted Carol Burnett back to the live stage after a 30-year absence from Broadway. It seems she was not the only one lured back to the stage through this production.

Winter applied for his second Endowed Professorship from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) two years ago to get funding to produce the show, and he was successful. His staff then reached out to 100 Southeastern alumni, and over 80 replied with an interest in working on or supporting the endeavor.

“Our first effort featured the talents of over 20 of those graduates. Nine appeared on stage, and the rest served as designers and crew members for the production,” he said. “Our ultimate goal is to make this an annual event the entire community can look forward to, with each new show featuring the talents of different alumni.”

Winter explained that although the NEH Endowment funded this first production, ticket sales and community support are the only way to guarantee funding for future alumni productions.

With a span of 25 years of Southeastern theatre alumni coming together to celebrate their time at Southeastern, Winter described this particular production as a special and unique event.

“Not only was this project two years in the making, but the entire cast and crew of Moon Over Buffalo happily agreed to participate in the unprecedented production for free,” Winter said. “The whole production was spawned from the close ties we maintain with our alumni. They always come back and support new generations in theatre. How amazing is it for a student who graduated in the ’90s to act alongside a student who graduated in 2015?”

Theatre alumni cast in lead roles were Shane Stewart of Greensburg as George and Kace Parker of Covington as Charlotte. Additional alumni cast members included Olivia Waguespack and Ben Norman of Covington, Lindsey Ehricht of Hammond, Chelsea Krause of Gonzales, Trey Lagan of Ponchatoula, Karista Filopoulous of Mandeville, and Jeff Polito of Lake Charles.

A 2014 Southeastern graduate, Krause was excited to be one of the first to have the opportunity to work on a production with theatre alumni across decades. “What I enjoyed the most was returning to the Vonnie Borden stage to act on a more professional level with former peers and other alumni from both before and after my time,” she said. “The first few rehearsals we were just playing and discovering the world, but it was so much more seamless because of the experience everyone brought to the table. I was incredibly thankful for the opportunity because it allowed me to work on my craft with old friends and put on, what I believe, was a really hilarious show for the department that I called home for four years.”

Ehricht, a 2008 and 2011 Southeastern graduate with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in counseling, respectively, was also delighted to return to the stage that brought her so many pleasant memories as an undergraduate and to reconnect with fellow students.

“I was really excited to work with this particular cast and crew,” she said. “Some people I am so close to that they are practically my family, and some people I met for the very first time.”

A 2001 graduate, Stewart said he became very nostalgic while working on the play and thoroughly enjoyed his return to the stage for Moon Over Buffalo, his walk down memory lane, and catching up with former classmates and teachers.

“Working on the production certainly reminded me of how much Hammond and Southeastern meant to me and helped me as a theatre professional when I was young and just learning,” he said. “It’s amazing the amount of talent that has passed across the stage of Vonnie Borden, and it is a rare occurrence to have that much talent in one place at one time.

“Having attended graduate school with Jim Winter and learning under Professor of Theatre Design and Technical Directing Steve Schepker, it is nice to know that the theatre I loved so much in my youth is in such good hands,” Stewart continued. “There is no theatre community like Southeastern’s in the state of Louisiana.”

By Tonya Lowentritt

Owen Hyman, a 2007 and 2012 Department of History and Political Science graduate, recently received the highly prestigious C. Vann Woodward Prize for the Best Doctoral Dissertation in Southern History from the Southern Historical Association.

The purpose of the Southern Historical Association is to promote “interest and research in southern history; the collection and preservation of the South’s historical records; the encouragement of state and local historical societies in the South; and the support and promotion of history education at all levels throughout the region.”

Since his days at Southeastern, Hyman has received many honors, including the History of Science Society’s inaugural Rainger Prize for Early-Career Scholars in 2018; the Center for Ethical Business Cultures’ Halloran Prize in the History of Corporate Responsibility in 2015; and the William S. Coker Award for the Best Graduate Paper on Gulf South History in 2011, while attending Southeastern. Hyman openly credits the strong foundation he received within the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences for contributing to his success.

Southeastern’s online criminal justice program has earned recognition as one of the top 50 programs in the nation by thebestschools.org. Southeastern was featured as having one of the most affordable online bachelor programs in criminal justice.

Southeastern earned its ranking based on academic excellence, strength of faculty scholarship, reputation, financial aid, range of degree programs, and strength of online instruction methodology.

“The criminal justice program at Southeastern is committed to a critical analysis of the role of a system of criminal justice in a democratic society,” said Sociology and Criminal Justice Department Head Ken Bolton. “Our online criminal justice faculty are experienced and dedicated practitioners with decades of experience, who have worked in the field of law enforcement, corrections, and the courts.”

Southeastern’s online criminal justice degree curriculum offers an introduction to the criminal justice field, law enforcement, and the functions of courts and corrections. Upper-level coursework exposes students to more advanced topics, such as criminology, juvenile delinquency, and serial and mass murder.

For more information on Southeastern’s online criminal justice program, contact the Sociology and Criminal Justice Department at 985-549-2110 or Bolton at kbolton@southeastern.edu.

The full ranking can be accessed here.

Southeastern was named one of the top national performers for the social mobility of its students and among the top 125 regional universities in the South by U.S. News and World Report.

“These accolades are yet another testament to the tremendous support Southeastern students receive from our faculty and staff,” said Southeastern President John L. Crain. “We care about each and every student.”

Every year, U.S. News and World Report publishes what many regard as the gold standard for college rankings in the United States. This year, 1,400 colleges and universities were reviewed, focusing on academic quality and measures, such as graduation rates, retention rates, and social mobility.

Graduation rates for first-generation college students were factored into the ranking’s overall methodology for the first time this year, and the new ranking “Top Performers on Social Mobility” was added.

The new ranking “evaluates which schools best serve underrepresented students” and analyzes enrollment and graduation rates of low-income students with Pell Grants.

“Economically disadvantaged students are less likely than others to finish college, even when controlling for other characteristics,” U.S. News said. “But some colleges are more successful than others at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with Pell Grants. The vast majority of these federal grants are awarded to students whose adjusted gross family incomes are under $50,000.”

Southeastern was ranked 108th nationally in social mobility and in the top 125 regional universities in the South.

With an eye to the dynamic nature of business today, Southeastern’s new marketing concentration in professional sales provides real-world experiences in what many executives call the single most important function in any business—sales.

According to statistics produced by the Sales Education Foundation, sales as a discipline plays an important role in both the economy and the professional lives of today’s college graduates. A recent Harvard Business Review article stated that nationally, over 50 percent of college graduates will take on a role in professional sales at some point in their career. That percentage grows to 88 percent for marketing majors. However, only three percent of colleges in the United States offer a professional sales program. In 2017, Southeastern moved forward to enter this growing area with its own program.

Students who graduate from university sales programs, when compared to their non-sales educated peers, fare better in the workplace. They receive an average of 2.8 employment offers before they graduate; experience, on average, over 90 percent job placement; ramp up 50 percent faster with standard company training; have a current average starting salary of $60,000/year; and 77 percent report high career satisfaction.

Southeastern prides itself on working with regional companies to respond to industry needs—the development of curricula in industrial technology and welding inspection are recent examples. The professional sales program is no different.

“Our Marketing Degree Advisory Board was instrumental in confirming the need for graduates with specialized sales training. We also had many companies reaching out to us looking for students interested in going into sales positions,” said Dean of the College of Business Antoinette Phillips.

Once it was obvious that the need was high, Dr. Tará Burnthorne Lopez and Ms. April Field Kemp, marketing faculty members in the College of Business, worked to get the program started. The program helps students differentiate themselves in the job market by enhancing their analytical and tactical skill sets, focusing on consultative selling, relationship building, and developing trusted long-term partnerships with clients.

According to Phillips, “The professional sales concentration was approved to begin in the fall of 2016, but real momentum began in Spring of 2018 when the first Advanced Professional Sales course was offered, and Southeastern students began competing in on-campus and regional sales competitions. We had been teaching an Introduction to Personal Selling course for many years, but we wanted to offer a deeper level of sales training for our students.”

The core sales curriculum consists of courses in Personal Selling, Advanced Professional Selling, and Sales Management, and is supported with other marketing courses in Consumer Behavior, Marketing Research, and Marketing Strategy. Because the current goal is to prepare students for success in the sales profession, the program has been developed for marketing majors with a future goal of including those majoring in areas outside of business who wish to pursue a sales certificate.

“We know that professional sales is not only a starting point for careers, but is becoming more and more important across all sectors of the economy. With the proliferation of technology, data analytics, and CRM applications, the role of the salesperson has become significantly more sophisticated as have the skills needed to be successful. The Southeastern professional sales program will help train the next generation of sales leaders,” said Phillips.

The success of an academic program can be seen in several ways—student interest, industry interest, and third party accolades. After only one year up and running, the professional sales program has achieved all three.

The strength and effectiveness of the program is already being recognized. This past year Southeastern’s sales concentration was named one of the top professional sales programs by the Sales Education Foundation. Student numbers were immediately strong and businesses from all over were looking to participate through support, sponsorships, and recruitment for interns and graduates.

“We’ve been very fortunate that the program started off so strong with so much support,” said Kemp.

As the program got off the ground well over 30 companies have shown interest in participating in some way, many making financial commitments.

Most recently Northwestern Mutual has sponsored the program at a significant level. Through a generous financial commitment, professional sales students will learn in a new Northwestern Mutual Training Room, to be located in Garrett Hall, with renovations to the existing space set to begin early this year. Steven Dugal, managing partner of the Mississippi and Louisiana offices, as well as Paul Hodge, managing director of the Mandeville and Gulfport offices, are supporting the initiative.

“We are excited to get involved in Southeastern’s sales program. From our experience at other universities, sales students ramp up faster than non-sales students, have lower turnover, and are more prepared for the workforce” said Dugal.

“The investment that Northwestern Mutual is making demonstrates that the program is on the right track. We are really appreciative of their support,” concluded Phillips.

By Mike Rivault